Poverty in India

Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41% of India falls below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms Indian rupee 21.6 a day in urban areas and Indian rupee 14.3 in rural areas); having reduced from 60% in 1981.According to the criterion used by the Planning Commission of India 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–1978, and 36% in 1993-1994.A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 421 million poor living under the MPI in eight north India states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations.However, latest estimates by NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research), show that 48% of the Indian households earn more than Indian rupee90,000 (US$ 2,043) annually (or more than US$3 PPP per person). According to NCAER, in 2009, of the 222 million households in India, the absolutely poor households (annual incomes below Indian rupee 45,000) accounted for only 15.6 % of them or about 35 million (about 200 million Indians). Another 80 million households are in income levels of Indian rupee 45,000-90,000 per year.


Reduction in Poverty

Despite all the causes, India currently adds 40 million people to its middle class every year.[citation needed] Analysts such as the founder of "Forecasting International", Marvin J. Cetron writes that an estimated 300 million Indians now belong to the middle class; one-third of them have emerged from poverty in the last ten years. At the current rate of growth, a majority of Indians will be middle-class by 2025. Literacy rates have risen from 52 percent to 65 percent in the same period.

Poverty is one of the main issues, attracting the attention of sociologists and economists. It indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for a comfortable lifestyle.

Though India boasts of a high economic growth, it is shameful that there is still large scale poverty in India. Poverty in India can be defined as a situation when a certain section of people are unable to fulfill their basic needs. India has the world's largest number of poor people living in a single country. Out of its total population of more than 1 billion, 350 to 400 million people are living below the poverty line. Nearly 75% of the poor people are in rural areas, most of them are daily wagers, landless laborers and self employed house holders. There are a number of reasons for poverty in India. Poverty in India can be classified into two categories namely rural poverty and urban poverty.

Reasons for Rural Poverty
Some of the basic reasons of rural poverty in India are:

    * Unequal distribution of income.
    * High population growth.
    * Illiteracy.
    * Large families.
    * Caste system.

Problems Of Rural Poverty

    * Presence of malnutrition, illiteracy, diseases and long term health problems.
    * Unhygienic living conditions, lack of proper housing, high infant mortality rate, injustice to women and social ill-treatment of certain sections of society.

Steps Taken by Government to Reduce Rural Poverty
The government of India has been trying its best to remove poverty. Some of the measures which the government has taken to remove rural poverty are:

    * Small farmer’s development Programme.
    * Drought area development Programme.
    * Minimum needs Programme.
    * National rural employment Programme.
    * Assurance on employment.
    * Causes for Urban Poverty.

Causes for Urban Poverty

The causes of urban poverty in India are:

    * Improper training
    * Slow job growth.
    * Failure of PDS system

Problems Of Urban Poverty

    * Restricted access to employment opportunities and income.
    * Lack of proper housing facilities
    * Unhygienic environments
    * No social security schemes
    * Lack of opportunity to quality health and educational services.

The steps taken by government to remove urban poverty are:

    * Nehru Rozgar Yojna.
    * Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna.
    * Urban Basic services for the poor Programme.
    * National social Assistance Programme.

But these processes can be helpful only if the policies go to those people for whom it is meant. The clash between the central government and the state government often results in the lack of implementation of these policies. So it is very important that the governments do not play power politics when it comes to a serious issue such as poverty.

Even more than 50 years after independence from almost two centuries of British rule, large scale poverty remains the most shameful blot on the face of India.India still has the world’s largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line, 75 per cent of them in the rural areas. More than 40 per cent of the population is illiterate, with women, tribal and scheduled castes particularly affected. It would be incorrect to say that all poverty reduction programmes have failed. The growth of the middle class (which was virtually non-existent when India became a free nation in August 1947) indicates that economic prosperity has indeed been very impressive in India, but the DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH has been very uneven. The main causes of poverty are illiteracy, a population growth rate by far exceeding the economic growth rate for the better part of the past 50 years, protectionist policies pursued since 1947 to 1991 which prevented large amounts of foreign investment in the country. Poverty alleviation is expected to make better progress in the next 50 years than in the past, as a trickle-down effect of the growing middle class. Increasing stress on education, reservation of seats in government jobs and the increasing empowerment of women and the economically weaker sections of society, are also expected to contribute to the alleviation of poverty.Eradication of poverty can only be a very long-term goal in India.