Poverty as a Challenge
Poverty is one of the biggest challenges independent India has faced. It is a complex problem with many dimensions, affecting people in both villages and cities. This chapter explores what poverty means, how it is measured, its causes, and the steps being taken to fight it.
Introduction
In our daily lives, we see many people we consider poor, such as landless farm workers or people living in crowded city slums (jhuggis). To understand and tackle this problem, the government body NITI Aayog uses a measure called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). This index shows that India has made significant progress in reducing poverty.
- In 2005-06, about 55% of the population was considered multidimensionally poor.
- This fell to 25% by 2015-16.
- By 2019-21, it had further dropped to 15%.
The goal is to bring this number down to a single digit soon.
Two Typical Cases of Poverty
To understand the reality of poverty, let's look at two examples.
Urban Case
Ram Saran, a 33-year-old daily-wage labourer in Jharkhand, earns about ₹3,500 a month, but work is not always available. This is not enough to support his wife, four young children, and his elderly parents back in his village. His wife, Santa Devi, works as a part-time maid, earning another ₹1500. Their eldest son also works in a tea shop to help the family. They live in a one-room rented shack and can only afford a simple meal of dal and rice twice a day. New clothes are a rarity, and shoes are a luxury. This story highlights issues like irregular employment, low income, poor housing, and child labour.
Rural Case
Lakha Singh lives in a small village near Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. His family is landless and does odd jobs for big farmers for about ₹200 a day, though sometimes they are paid in grains or vegetables instead of cash. They live in a mud and straw hut (kuchha hut) and struggle for two meals a day. His father died from tuberculosis due to a lack of medication, and his mother now suffers from the same illness. Basic items like soap and oil are considered luxuries. This case shows the problems of landlessness, erratic income, poor health and sanitation, and lack of access to healthcare.
Note
These two stories show that poverty isn't just about a lack of money. It involves hunger, lack of shelter, poor health, limited opportunities, and a sense of helplessness. As Mahatma Gandhi said, India would be truly independent only when its poorest people are free from human suffering.
Poverty as seen by social scientists
Social scientists view poverty through various indicators, not just income and consumption. They look at a broader picture that includes health, education, and standard of living. Two important concepts they use are social exclusion and vulnerability.
Social Exclusion
This concept suggests that poverty is about more than just having low income; it's about being excluded from the rest of society. Poor people often live in poor surroundings, cut off from the facilities, benefits, and opportunities that wealthier people enjoy.
Example
The caste system in India is a typical example where people from certain castes have historically been excluded from equal opportunities, which can be both a cause and a consequence of poverty. This exclusion can cause more damage than just having a low income.
Vulnerability
Vulnerability to poverty describes the higher probability that certain communities or individuals will become or remain poor in the future.
- Vulnerable Communities: These can include members of backward castes or tribes.
- Vulnerable Individuals: This can include widows or people with physical disabilities.
Vulnerability depends on the options people have in terms of assets, education, health, and jobs. These groups are at a greater risk during bad times, such as natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis) or a sudden loss of jobs, because they have a lower ability to cope with these challenges.
Poverty Line
The poverty line is a central concept used to measure poverty. It is an imaginary line representing the minimum level of income or consumption required to satisfy basic needs.
- A person is considered poor if their income or consumption falls below this minimum level.
- The poverty line can vary with time and place because what is considered a "basic need" differs.
Example
In the United States, not owning a car might be a sign of poverty. In India, however, a car is still considered a luxury for many.
Estimating the Poverty Line in India
Traditionally, India's poverty line was determined based on a minimum calorie requirement.
- Rural Areas: 2400 calories per person per day.
- Urban Areas: 2100 calories per person per day.
The higher requirement in rural areas is because people there often do more physical work. The monetary value needed to buy food to meet these calorie needs, along with other essentials like clothing and fuel, was calculated to set the poverty line. This amount was updated periodically to account for rising prices.
More recently, the government has started using the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMPI), which measures poverty based on 12 different indicators, providing a more comprehensive view than just income or consumption.
Poverty Estimates
Using these methods, the proportion of poor people in India, known as the Head Count Ratio (HCR), is estimated.
- Consumption-based poverty fell from 45% in 1993-94 to 22% in 2011-12.
- Multidimensional poverty fell from 25% in 2015-16 to 15% in 2019-21.
- Between 2015 and 2021, an estimated 13.5 crore people escaped multidimensional poverty, with rural areas showing a faster decline than urban areas.
Twelve Indicators of National Multidimensional Poverty Index
The NMPI, developed by NITI Aayog, considers a person multidimensionally poor if their household is deprived in several of the following 12 indicators, grouped into three main categories:
1. Health
- Nutrition: Any child, adolescent, or adult in the household is undernourished.
- Child-Adolescent Mortality: A child under 18 has died in the household in the last five years.
- Maternal Health: A mother did not receive skilled medical assistance during childbirth in the last five years.
2. Education
- Years of Schooling: No household member aged 10 or older has completed six years of schooling.
- School Attendance: A school-aged child is not attending school.
3. Standard of Living
- Cooking Fuel: The household uses polluting fuels like dung, wood, or coal.
- Sanitation: The household lacks an improved sanitation facility or shares one.
- Drinking Water: The household lacks access to safe drinking water within a 30-minute round trip walk.
- Housing: The house has a natural floor or rudimentary walls/roof.
- Electricity: The household has no electricity.
- Assets: The household owns no more than one basic asset (like a radio, TV, or bicycle) and does not own a car or truck.
- Bank Account: No household member has a bank or post office account.
Inter-State Disparities
The level of poverty is not the same across all states in India. While poverty has declined overall, the rate of reduction varies.
- States like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Maharashtra had a Head Count Ratio (HCR) of less than 10% in 2019-21.
- States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan have also made remarkable progress in reducing poverty.
Different states have adopted different strategies to reduce poverty:
- Kerala focused on human resource development.
- West Bengal used land reform measures.
- Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu improved their public distribution system for food grains.
Vulnerable Groups
Within society, certain social and economic groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others.
- Most Vulnerable Social Groups: Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households.
- Most Vulnerable Economic Groups: Rural agricultural-labour households and urban casual-labour households.
According to 2011-12 data, while the all-India average for people below the poverty line was 22%, the figures were much higher for these groups:
- Scheduled Tribes: 43 out of 100 people were poor.
- Urban Casual Workers: 34% were below the poverty line.
- Rural Agricultural Labour: 34% were poor.
- Scheduled Castes: 29% were poor.
Note
The problem is most serious for households that face a "double disadvantage," such as being a landless casual labourer from an SC or ST community. Inequality also exists within poor families, where women, elderly people, and female infants are often denied equal access to resources.
Global Poverty Scenario
Poverty is a global issue. To compare poverty across countries, international organisations like the World Bank use a uniform standard: living on less than $2.15 per person per day.
- Global poverty has fallen significantly, from 16.27% in 2010 to 9.05% in 2019.
- China and Southeast Asian countries have seen a dramatic decline in poverty due to rapid economic growth and investment in human resource development.
- South Asia (including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) has also seen a rapid decline.
- In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty has declined but remains high.
- In Latin America and the Caribbean, the poverty ratio has slightly increased.
Poverty and Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations (UN) has established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. These goals provide a blueprint for peace and prosperity for all.
- SDG 1 is "No Poverty," which aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.
- One of its key targets is to reduce by at least half the proportion of men, women, and children living in poverty.
- India's success in reducing multidimensional poverty shows its commitment to achieving this global goal.
Causes of Poverty
There are several reasons for widespread poverty in India.
- Historical Reason: The British colonial administration's policies ruined traditional industries like textiles and handicrafts, leading to low economic development.
- Slow Growth and Population Rise: After independence, a low rate of economic growth until the 1980s, combined with a high rate of population growth, meant fewer job opportunities and low-income growth.
- Limited Reach of Green Revolution: The Green Revolution created jobs in agriculture, but its effects were limited to certain parts of the country.
- Unequal Distribution of Resources: A major cause of poverty is the unequal ownership of land and other assets. Land reform policies were not implemented effectively in most states.
- Socio-cultural Factors: People, including the poor, often spend a lot on social obligations and religious ceremonies, which drains their limited savings.
- Indebtedness: Small farmers often borrow money at high-interest rates for agricultural inputs. When they are unable to repay due to poverty, they fall into a debt trap. Indebtedness is both a cause and an effect of poverty.
Anti-Poverty Measures
The Indian government's strategy to fight poverty is based on two main approaches:
- Promotion of economic growth.
- Targeted anti-poverty programmes.
There is a strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Higher growth rates since the 1980s have helped significantly reduce poverty by creating opportunities. However, growth in the agricultural sector has been slow, and not all people can benefit directly from economic growth. This is why targeted programmes are necessary.
Some key anti-poverty schemes include:
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA): Aims to provide 100 days of wage employment per year to every rural household. It also focuses on sustainable development projects like preventing drought and soil erosion. One-third of the jobs are reserved for women.
- Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Abhiyan (PM Poshan): Aims to improve the nutritional status of school children (Classes I-VIII) and increase school enrolment and attendance.
- Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (2016): Aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality by providing quality antenatal care to pregnant women.
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) (2016): Aims to empower rural women by providing free LPG (clean cooking fuel) connections to poor households. This protects them from health issues caused by smoke from traditional fuels and promotes environmental sustainability.
The Challenges Ahead
Although poverty has declined in India, it remains the country's most compelling challenge. Disparities still exist between rural and urban areas, among different states, and across social and economic groups.
To continue reducing poverty, India needs higher economic growth, a focus on universal education, declining population growth, and the empowerment of women and weaker sections of society.
The concept of poverty should also be broadened to human poverty. This goes beyond just having enough money to feed oneself. It asks whether people have:
- Education and shelter?
- Health care and job security?
- Self-confidence and freedom from caste and gender discrimination?
Note
Human poverty considers a 'reasonable' level of living, not just a 'minimum' subsistence level. As a country develops, its definition of what constitutes poverty also changes and expands.