NCERT Solutions Class 9 Social Science Chapter 3 Poverty as a Challenge

Question. Do  you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?
Answer : The official definition of poverty captures only  a limited part of what poverty really means. There are many factors other than income which  are associated with poverty but  these are not taken into  account while measuring poverty in India. For example, common necessities like  health care, safe drinking water, employment, education, shelter, etc. are not considered while  measuring poverty line. Social  exclusion is another aspect which  also needs  to be incorporated in the definition of poverty. Therefore, the definition requires rethinking.

Question. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973?
Answer : There has been a substantial decline  in Poverty after 1973. The poverty ratio in India has declined from about  44.3 % in 1993-94 to 21.9 % in 2011-12. The dynamics of poverty can be seen on the two fronts, which are as follows:
•     Rural  and Urban Poverty: In rural areas the percentage of people  living below  poverty line was 50.1% in 1993-94 whereas in urban  areas it was 31.8%. The percentage of people  living below poverty line  has declined to 25.7% in rural areas in 2011-12 whereas in urban  areas it has declined to 13.7. In rural area small  farmers are amongst the poor whereas urban  poor are working on dhabbs, working as rickhsaw puller, etc.
•     Interstate variation: Bihar and Orissa are continued to be the poorest state with poverty ratio 33.7% and 37.6% respectively in 2011-12. In Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil  Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal, poverty has declined significantly. Punjab and Haryana have  succeeded in reducing poverty due to high  agricultural growth rate.

Question. Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India?
Answer : A person is considered as poor if his income is below  a certain level  and he is not able to fulfill his basic necessities, i.e., food, clothing and shelter. There are various factors causing  poverty in India:
1.      Historical reason: Low level  of economic development under colonial rule did not created jobs in India. The British government followed policies  that ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries. These pursuits decreased the income of Indian citizens and not created adequate job opportunities.
2.      High  growth rate of population: High  growth of population leads to the burden on scarce natural resources like  land, which  leads to poverty.
3.      Lack of job opportunities: Introduction of green revolution, created jobs but  these jobs were limited only  in few areas. Also, after independence industry sector failed  to create adequate job. As a result, people  are unable  find  proper jobs and they remain unemployed, thus, adding to the problem of poverty.
4.      Inequality of Income: From centuries inequality prevails in India. Inequality in distribution of wealth creates disparities between rich and poor. Therefore, the weaker sections of the society are becoming poorer.
5.      Administrative failure: several policies  like  land reforms have  not been implemented properly and effectively by most of state governments. This has aggravated the problem of poverty in rural India.
6.      Illiteracy: It is one of the main  causes of poverty which  is aggravating the problems in India.
7.      Socio-cultural and economic reasons: In order to perform social  obligations and to perform in religious ceremonies people  spend  lot of money and thereby stuck in the poverty.

Question. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.
Answer : Social  and economic groups which  are the most vulnerable to poverty in India are:
(i) Amongst the social  groups, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households are the most vulnerable to poverty in India.
(ii) Amongst the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural households and the urban  casual  labour households.

Question. Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.
Answer : The proportion of people  living below  poverty line in India is not the same  in every state. It is known as inter-state disparities. Though  every state has witnessed decline  in poverty but  still the proportion of poor people is different in different states. The rate of poverty varies from state to state, leading to inter-state disparities. Bihar, Madhya  Pradesh and Orissa are the poorest states in India. In states like  Jammu  & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil  Nadu,  poverty has declined significantly.

Question. Describe global poverty trends.
Answer : To indentify global  poverty World Bank  defines the international poverty line  as $ 1.25 per day. The proportion of people  living in extreme poverty in developing countries has declined from 43%  in 1990  to 22 % in 2008. This decline  in global poverty is marked with regional differences. Due to rapid economic growth and huge  investment in human resource, poverty has declined substantially in China  and South  East Asian countries. The percentage of poor in China  has declined from 85 per cent  in 1981  to 14 per cent in 2008  to 6 per cent in 2011.
In south Asian countries Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh the pace of decline  is slow. And another dismal fact is that though the percentage has declined, the number of poor has declined marginally (from 61 % in 1981  to 36 % in 2008).
In Sub-sahran Africa, poverty has decline  from 51 % in 1981  to 47 % in 2008. Poverty has decreased from 11 % in 1981  to 6.45 in 2008  in Latin America whereas it has resurfaced in Russia.

Question. Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation?
Answer : Poverty has declined in India in last few years. Removal of poverty has been  one of the major objectives of the government. The government has taken measures to eradicate poverty keeping in view  two objectives:
•     Promoting economic growth
•     Anti-poverty programmes
The following programmes are followed to eradicate anti- poverty–
•     Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY): It was started in 1993  and aimed  to create self- employment opportunities for educated employed youth.
•      Pradhan Mantri Gramodya Yojana (PMGY): It was started in 2000  and aimed  to create basic necessities like  health, education, shelter and water.
•     National Food for Work Programme (NFWP): It was started in 2004  and aimed  to generate supplementary wage  employment for rural people, looking for unskilled manual work and wage employment.
•     National Rural  Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA): It was started in 2006  and aimed  at providing 100 days assured  employment to every rural household, covering nearly 200  districts.

Question. Answer the following questions briefly.
I.     What do  you understand by human poverty?
II.    Who are the poorest of the poor?
III.    What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Answer : I.    Human poverty is a broader concept of poverty. The definition of poverty only  captures the consumption aspect of poverty but  it fails  to capture other aspects of life  which  are imperative for surviving like education, shelter, health care, job security, self- confidence, etc. It is widely accepted that the definition of poverty also needs  to change. Thus, to capture maximum aspects of poverty, many  scholars advocate for using  the term “human poverty”.
II.     Women, children (especially girl child) and old people are the poorest of the poor.
III.     National Rural  Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was set up on 2nd  February 2006  by the Parliament. The Act promises 100  days of employment in a year to one member of every rural unemployed family. On 2nd  October, 2009, this act was renamed as Mahatma Gandhi  National Rural  Employment Guarantee Act. If the government fails  to provide employment to the applicant within 15 days, he or she is entitled to an unemployment allowance. It also focuses  on sustainable development to address the cause of draught, deforestation and soil erosion. In MNREGA one-third of the proposed jobs are reserved for women.

Question. Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India.
Answer : Following are the methods which are used in calculating the poverty line in India:
1. A minimum level of food requirement, foot-wear, fuel and light, clothing, educational and medical requirements etc. are the basic factors on which the basis poverty line is calculated.
2. While estimating the poverty line, the present formula is based on the desired calorie requirement.
3. In the urban area, the accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2100 calories per person per day and in rural areas, the accepted average calorie requirement is 2400 calorie per person per day.
The calorie requirement of the people in rural areas is higher than that of the people living in urban areas because they do more physical work as compared to urban people.

Question. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973.
Answer : Poverty trends in India since 1973:

After analyzing the above table, it is clear that poverty has been on the downward curve over the last few decades. The percentage of poor has declined drastically from 45 in 1993-94 to 22 in 2011-12. The poverty level calculation methodology has also been revised over these years.
The percentage of urban poor has declined faster than that of the rural areas. This can be attributed to the fact that there are more availability of economic activities in urban areas than the rural areas.

Question. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.
Answer : Groups vulnerable to poverty can be divided into two groups:
(a) Social groups vulnerable to poverty
(b) Economic groups vulnerable to poverty.
(a) 29% of scheduled castes are poor and 43% of scheduled tribes are not able to meet their basic needs and come under social groups vulnerable to poverty.
(b) The rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households are the most vulnerable groups among the economic groups vulnerable to poverty.

Question. Describe global poverty trends.
Answer : Global poverty trends: 1. In developing countries the percentage of poor people is extremely high and still increasing per day.
2. Population living on less than $ 1.99 per day in developing countries has fallen from 35% in 1990 to 10.68% in 2013 according to World Bank.
3. There has been reduction in global poverty, yet it is marked with great regional deviations.
4. Considerably poverty decline has been observed in China and South East Asian countries leading to economic growth and massive investments in human resources development.
5. Poverty has not declined as swiftly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The percentage decline is meagre in the area when compared with the global average and the performance of other areas in the world.
6. The global percentage of poor has declined from 44 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2013.

Question. Answer the following questions briefly:
(i) What do you understand by human poverty?
(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor?
(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005?
Answer : (i) Human poverty: This concept broadens the general definition of economic poverty by including the aspects like education, healthcare, job security etc. into the methodology of marking poverty line. This is basically a concept to help improve the human life standard instead of just ensuring mere sustenance.
(ii) The poorest of the poor: This category of economic standard means that the people in it are not economically capable of even meeting their basis sustenance requirements. This also can be used to describe the old people, children (especially the girl child) and the women who are conventionally not taken in consideration while making policies for the poor and unemployed.
(iii) Main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005:
1. This provides 100 days assured employment every year to rural household in 200 districts of the country.
2. The scheme was extended to 600 districts later on.
3. Jobs were reserved for women and that also was one third.
4. If an applicant is not rendered employment within 15 days, then s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
5. For the implementation of this scheme, central government and state governments have established national employment guarantee funds and state employment guarantee funds respectively.