NCERT Class 11 Economics Poverty

POVERTY

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In previous chapters, you have studied the economic policies that India has taken in the last five and a half decades and the outcome of these policies with relation to the various developmental indicators. Providing minimum basic needs to the people and reduction of poverty have been the major aims of independent India. The pattern of development that the successive five year plans envisaged laid emphasis on the upliftment of the poorest of the poor (Antyodaya), integrating the poor into the mainstream and achieving a minimum standard of living for all.

While addressing the Constituent Assembly in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru had said, “This achievement (Independence) is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the great triumphs and achievements that await us… the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.”

However we need to know where we stand today. Poverty is not only a challenge for India, as more than onefifth of the world’s poor live in India alone; but also for the world, where more than 260 million people are not able to meet their basic needs. Poverty has many faces, which have been changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation that people want to escape. So poverty is a call  to action — for the poor and the wealthy alike — a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities. To know what helps to reduce poverty, what works and what does not, what changes over time, poverty has to be defined, measured and studied — and even experienced. As poverty has many dimensions, it has to be looked at through a variety of indicators — levels of income and consumption, social indicators, and indicators of vulnerability to risks and of socio/political access.

4.2 WHO ARE THE POOR?

You would have noticed that in all localities and neighbourhoods, both in rural and urban areas, there are some of us who are poor and some who are rich. Read the story of Anu and Sudha. Their lives are examples of the two extremes (see Box 4.1). There are also people who belong to the many stages in between. Push cart vendors, street cobblers, women who string flowers, rag pickers, vendors and beggars are some examples of poor and vulnerable groups in urban areas. They possess few assets. They reside in kutcha hutments with walls made of baked mud and roofs made of grass, thatch, bamboo and wood. The poorest of them do not even have such dwellings. In rural areas many of them are landless. Even if some of them possess land, it is only dry or waste land. Many do not get to have even two meals a day. Starvation and hunger are the key features of the poorest households. The poor lack basic literacy and skills and hence have very limited economic opportunities. Poor people also face unstable employment. Malnutrition is alarmingly high among the poor. Ill health, disability or serious illness makes them physically weak. They borrow from money lenders who charge high rates of interest that lead them into chronic indebtedness. The poor are highly vulnerable. They are not able to negotiate their legal wages from employers and are exploited. Most poor households have no access to electricity. Their primary cooking fuel is firewood and cow dung cake. A large section of poor people do not even have access to safe drinking water. There is evidence of extreme gender inequality in the participation of gainful employment, education and in decision-making within the family. Poor women receive less care on their way to motherhood. Their children are less likely to survive or be born healthy.

EXERCISES

1. Define poverty.

2. What is meant by ‘Food for Work’ programme?

3. State an example each of self employment in rural and urban areas.

4. How can creation of income earning assets address the problem of poverty?

5. Briefly explain the three dimensional attack on poverty adopted by the government.

6. What programmes has the government adopted to help the elderly people and poor and destitute women?

7. Is there any relationship between unemployment and poverty? Explain.

8. What is the difference between relative and absolute poverty?

9. Suppose you are from a poor family and you wish to get help from the government to set up a petty shop. Under which scheme will you apply for assistance and why?

10. Illustrate the difference between rural and urban poverty. Is it correct to say that poverty has shifted from rural to urban areas? Use the trends in poverty ratio to support your answer.

11. Explain the concept of relative poverty with the help of the population below poverty line in some states of India.

12. Suppose you are a resident of a village, suggest a few measures to tackle the problem of poverty.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 Economics Poverty