Poverty in India

By – Supriya

Even after more than 60 years of independence , poverty remains the most serious problems that India faces. India still has the world ‘s largest number of poor people dwelling on its land. Of its population of more than 1.2 billion, an estimated 444 million are below the poverty line, out of which 61 percent dwell in the rural areas of the country. Most of them are daily workers, landless  labourers and self employed householders. A major percentage of this population is illiterate , with women, tribal and Scheduled Castes particularly being affected in large numbers. Today, one in every three persons living in abject poverty all over the world in an Indian. Poverty is a situation, which gives rise to the discrepancy between what one has and what one should have. Berstein Henry identifies a few dimensions of poverty such as lack of livelihood strategies , inaccessibility to resources like money , land or credit , feeling of insecurity or frustration and inability to maintain and develop social relations due to lack of resources. The three things that are usually used to define the concept of poverty are the amount of money required by a person to sustain , the life below a minimum subsistence level and the living standard prevalent at the time, and the comparative state of well – being of a few and the deprivation of the majority in the society. The first two concepts refer to the economic dimensions of poverty whereas the last one to its social needs. In terms of gratifying the basic physiological needs, poverty is measured in terms of an imaginary ‘ poverty line’. The poverty line serves as a cut – off line for separating the poor from the not – poor, given the size distribution of population by per capita consumer expenditure classes. Population with per capita consumer expenditure levels below the level defined by the poverty line is counted as poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate ,41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25. The purchasing power parity (PPP) as per Indian standards is ₹21.6 a day in urban areas and ₹ 14.3 in rural areas. The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report which says that 37% of people in India live below the poverty line.
A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multi – dimensional Poverty Index(MPI) found that there were 645 million poor living under the MPI in India,421 million of whom are concentrated in eight North Indian and East Indian 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. Presence of a massive parallel economy in the form of black (hidden) money stashed in overseas tax havens and underutilization of foreign aid have also contributed to the slow pace of Poverty alleviation in India. The poor can be classified into four groups – the destitute , extremely poor, very poor and poor. Poverty is that condition in which a person fails to not only fulfill his basic physiological needs but also fails to protect himself from diseases , get balanced nutrition , maintain good health etc. In simple terms, a person in order to survive should have proper food, clothing , shelter , health care and education. Thus poverty refers to a person failing to acquire these minimum levels of subsistence and thus suffers from starvation , malnutrition , and diseases. Poverty is in fact  not just an economic or a political problem. In order to combat this grave problem , first and foremost , there should be a strict check on population increase . Creation of employment opportunities, spread of education , elimination of black money , decentralisation of planning , helping women and youth to become self – reliant are some other ways to combat this problem . It is not due to lack of resources or technical assistance that we are failing in achieving our goals but more so due to lack of execution of these plans and programs.