\n\n<\/span>Poverty, Deprivation and Inequalities in India<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nPoverty is a level of living that is so low that inhibits the physical mental social cultural economic development of the individuals or the groups. The problem of poverty in India after Independence can be described in terms of the social classes, castes or groups affected with poverty in rural and urban areas. It can also be discussed in terms of magnitude of the problem and the linkage between rural and urban poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Rural and Urban Poor:<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nIn India, large sections of the population live in abject poverty. The poor live in rural and urban areas.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- In the rural areas,\u00a0<\/strong>they consist of small landholders, agricultural labourers, artisans and craftsmen. They mainly belong to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In urban areas,<\/strong>\u00a0the poor people are usually engaged in the informal sector and some low paid jobs in the organized sector.They are employed in unskilled semi-skilled and also some low-income jobs.<\/span><\/li>\n
- They work as wage earners in industries, trade, commerce, transport and construction industry. A large number of them are also engaged in self-employed activities as rickshaw-puller, shoe-repairers, and vendors, owners of a tea shop and pan-bidi shop and even beggars.The urban poor living as slum dwellers and pavement dwellers are found in abundance in Indian towns and cities.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The condition of both the urban and the rural poor is miserable. They own very small assets or negligible assets.Their income and expenditure are very low. Their wages are meager. Many of them are unemployed and underemployed which enhances their pangs of poverty. The rate of literacy is lowest among them. They do not enjoy much of the benefits of available health facilities. They do not get even enough food to eat Their housing condition is sub-human or inhuman. They are severely exploited and oppressed by the privileged class both in the rural and urban areas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Magnitude of Rural and Urban Poverty:<\/span><\/h3>\n\n- The magnitude of poverty in India has been estimated in terms of the nutritional criterion which takes into account only the minimum food intake of a person to maintain working capacity. But some non-food items such as clothing, housing, education and health-care are also equally essential for a minimum standard of human living and hence must be considered while analyzing poverty. Moreover, in a developing country like India, we find that the privileged class enjoys all available modern amenities and also indulges in conspicuous consumption.<\/span><\/li>\n
- This means that they buy goods and services which enhance socio-economic status and which are not affordable to the poor. The majority of the people are, on the other hand, not able to fulfil their minimum needs. There is a situation of wide socio-economic inequalities.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Therefore, a proper approach to the problem of poverty has to take into consideration the prevailing inequalities with regard to distribution of assets, income and consumption expenditure both in the rural and urban areas.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The proportion of people below the poverty line is also very high. It is about 40 per cent of the population after 64 years of Independence even if we take the official figure. Moreover, the number of the rural poor is more than four times the number of the urban poor. According to Dutt and Sundharam rural poverty directly affects urban poverty because most of the urban poor are migrants from the villages. These people have been driven out of their villages due to poverty there.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Causes and Persistence of Poverty<\/span><\/h4>\nIn India, we find co-existence of abject poverty of the masses and affluence of the privileged class both in the rural and urban areas since ages. The failure of the government in resolving the problem of poverty has been generally attributed to rising population, havoc of natural calamities such as drought and flood and resource deficiency of individuals. It is true that the country is still at a low level of economic development<\/span><\/p>\nBut it is also certain that the major benefits of development have been cornered by the richer sections of the population.<\/span><\/p>\n\n- In reality, poverty in India is a social product and not a natural phenomenon, been socially generated reinforced and perpetuated It is consequence of extreme socio-economic inequalities.<\/span><\/li>\n
- It results from differential position of different social classes, castes and groups in economic, political social and religious domains of society. Roots of poverty lies in the economic, political and social set up of society.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Demographic, natural and psychological factors are off-shoots of the highly inegalitarian structure of society though they play an important role in perpetuating poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Historical Factors:<\/span><\/h5>\n\n- One historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration.<\/strong>\u00a0Although the final impact of the British rule on Indian living is still being debated there is no doubt that there was a substantial negative impact on the Indian economy and standard of living of the people. There was substantial deindustrialization in India under the British rule. Imports of manufactured cotton cloth from Lancashire in England displaced much local production, and India reverted to being an exporter of cotton yarn, not cloth.<\/span><\/li>\n
- As over 90 per cent of Indians were engaged in agriculture throughout the British Raj period the impact on that sector was more important on living standards than anything else. British policies involved sharply raising rural taxes that enabled merchants and moneylenders to become large landowners.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Under the British, India began to export food grains and as a result, as many as 26 million people died in famines between 1875 and 1900. Britain\u2019s main goals from the Raj were to provide a market for British exports, to have India service its debt payments to Britain, and for India to provide manpower for the British imperial armies.The British Raj impoverished millions of people in India. Our natural resources were plundered our industries worked to produce goods at low prices for the British and our food grains were exported<\/span><\/li>\n
- The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles.<\/strong>\u00a0The low rate of growth persisted until the nineteen eighties.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Economic Factors:<\/span><\/h5>\n\n- Unequal distribution of Economic Resources\/ Assets\/Wealth:<\/strong>\u00a0The basic economic factor responsible for the problem of poverty in India is the highly unequal distribution of the economic resource of the country among various social classes and castes. We find wide inequalities in distribution of assets and income between the rich and the poor both in rural and urban areas.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The productivity of labour remains low in agriculture due to highly unequal distribution of landholdings.<\/strong>\u00a0Big landowners generally do not care much for raising agricultural production because their needs are fulfilled even at low level of production. The small and marginal farmers do not possess enough resources to make adequate use of modern input raising productivity.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The agricultural labourers do not feel much motivated to work hard due to their low wages.\u00a0<\/strong>The limited spread of the Green Revolution in agriculture has not helped much in removing the problem of mass poverty. The benefits of limited agricultural growth in agriculture have been grabbed by the rural rich.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The urban poor have to lead to miserable life due to their employment in low paid jobs in the unorganized sector, low income activities of self-employment and the problems of unemployment<\/span><\/li>\n
- Low capital formation:<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
- Lack of infrastructure- Lack of Support System for Economic Development<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
- Pressure of population on Available Resources:<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
- Unemployment<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Political Factors:<\/span><\/h5>\n\n- The political factors as also contributed to the prevalence of mass poverty in India since ages.\u00a0<\/strong>The state power has been controlled by the privileged ruling class both in the urban and rural areas. The ruling class controls the machinery. It directly or indirectly protects and promotes its class interests. But the mass of the poor people have always remained powerless.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The need for the alleviation of poverty was well recognized by the leaders of the Independent India.\u00a0<\/strong>The Constitution of India directed government to take initiatives for welfare of weaker and poor sections of society .<\/span><\/li>\n
- Accordingly, development had become the declared goal of the Central government and of its principal agencies i.e. \u2013 the Planning Commission.<\/strong>\u00a0One of the objectives of planning is to remove poverty in society. However, these institutions were to work within overall socio-economic infrastructure of the country and the developing political process. But because of the strategic position of the ruling class and adopted model of development right from the beginning, the development has been drifting away from the desired goals. Land Reform act can not be implemented in many states because of Unwillingness of ruling class (Dominant Castes)<\/span><\/li>\n
- At the beginning, the planning was primarily restricted to the national level Hardly any attention was paid to the problems arising out of exclusion of large sections of society and exclusion of some regions during British Period.\u00a0<\/strong>The few measures that were taken were adopted to deal with specific problems faced by certain areas or ares facing natural calamities. Some of the already developed regions enjoyed the privilege to develop further at the cost of the backward regions which continued to stagnate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Socio-Cultural Factors:<\/span><\/h5>\n\n- The caste system has been an important factor in perpetuating poverty of the masses.\u00a0<\/strong>The rigid stratification of the caste system imposed severe restrictions on occupation mobility. Generally speaking, a person born in poor lower caste lived and dies in the same social position. The caste system imposed social distance between castes with regard to marriage, food habitation and general social interaction. The upper castes were considered socially and ritually superior and the lower castes were declined inferior. The upper castes practiced discrimination against the lower castes in social and religious matters.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Moreover, the belief in \u2018Karma\u2019 \u2018Dharma\u2019 justified the inegalitarian and unjust social order.\u00a0<\/strong>It held that poverty is the consequence of one\u2019s papa karma (bad deeds) in earlier births. Performance of Varna dharma was considered essential was made to ward off any challenge to the existing social system in which the majority of the people suffered from abject poverty while the ruling class lived a happy and prosperous life.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Also most of the Indian states failed to implement land redistribution policies.<\/strong>A large section of the rural poor in India are the small farmers. The land that they have is, in general less fertile and dependent on rains. Their survival depends on subsistence crops and sometimes on livestock. With the rapid growth of population and without alternative sources of employment, the per-head availability of land for cultivation has steadily declined leading to fragmentation of land holdings. The income from these small land holdings is not sufficient to meet the family\u2019s basic requirements. Farmers committing suicide due to their inability to pay back the loans that they have taken for cultivation and other domestic needs as their crops have failed due to drought or other natural calamities.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Most members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are not able to participate in the emerging employment opportunities in different sectors of the urban and rural economy as they do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to do so. A large section of urban poor in India are largely the overflow of the rural poor who migrate to urban areas in search of employment and a livelihood Industrialisation has not been able to absorb all these people. This resulted in less job opportunities and low growth rate of incomes. This was accompanied by a high growth rate of population. The two combined to make the growth rate of per capita income very low. The failure at both the fronts: promotion of economic growth and population control perpetuated the cycle of poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n
- With the spread of irrigation and the Green revolution, many job opportunities were created in the agriculture sector. But the effects were limited to some parts of India. The industries, both in the public and the private sector, did provide some jobs. But these were not enough to absorb all the job seekers.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Unable to find proper jobs in cities, many people started working as rickshaw pullers, vendors, construction workers, domestic servants etc. With irregular small incomes, these people could not afford expensive housing. They started living in slums on the outskirts of the cities and the problems of poverty, largely a rural phenomenon also became the feature of the urban sector.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Further, nowadays priority is given to values which emphasize the fulfillment of one\u2019s self interests.\u00a0<\/strong>Materialism has got an upper hand over humanitarian values.We witness a mad rush among the rich people for raising their social status through indulging in conspicuous consumption, i.e., consuming those goods and services which reflect one\u2019s financial strength and prestige like buying jewellery, cars, latest electronic gadgets, etc. This emphasis on materialism and pursuit of self interest has helped to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Indebtedness :\u00a0<\/strong>In order to fulfil social obligations and observe religious ceremonies, people in India, including the very poor, spend a lot of money. Small farmers need money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer, pesticides etc. Since poor people hardly have any savings, they borrow. Unable to repay because of poverty, they become victims of indebtedness. So the high level of indebtedness is both the cause and effect of poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n
- All this has created two distinct groups in society:\u00a0<\/strong>those who posses the means of production and earn good incomes and those who have only their labour to trade for survival, Over the years, the gap between the rich and the poor in India has widened<\/span><\/li>\n
- Jajmani System and Bondage System:<\/strong>\u00a0The problem of poverty continues as ever with an added momentum.The poor has strong feelings of marginality, of helplessness, of dependence, of inferiority, sense of resignation, fatalism and low level of aspiration. These tendencies are transmitted from one generation to the next Therefore, the children of the poor are very often not psychologically geared to take full advantage of the changing conditions or increased opportunities that occur in their life. Thus the problem of poverty gets perpetuated.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Poverty Analyzed<\/span><\/h3>\nRural and Urban Poor<\/span><\/h4>\nIn India, large sections of the population live in abject poverty.The poor live in both rural and urban areas.<\/strong>\u00a0In the rural areas, they consist of small landholders (Small and Marginal Farmers), agricultural labourers, artisans, and craftsmen. They mainly belong to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes.<\/span><\/p>\nIn urban areas, the poor people are usually engaged in the informal sector and some low paid jobs in the organized sector.<\/strong>They are employed in unskilled semi-skilled and also some low-income jobs.They work as wage earners in industries, trade, commerce, transport and construction industry. A large number of them are also engaged in self-employed activities as rickshaw-puller, shoe-repairers, and vendors, owners of a tea shop and pan-bidi shop and even beggars. The urban poor living as slum dwellers and pavement dwellers are found in abundance in Indian towns and cities.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Regional Pattern of Poverty:<\/span><\/h4>\n\n- Poverty in India also has another aspect or dimension. The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state.<\/strong>\u00a0Although state level poverty has witnessed a secular decline from the levels of early seventies, the success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state.<\/span><\/li>\n
- On the other hand\\ poverty is still a serious problem in Orissa, Bihar; Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.<\/strong>\u00a0As the Graph 3.2 shows, Orissa and Bihar continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 47 and 43 per cent respectively. Along with rural poverty, urban poverty is also high in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In comparison, there has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal States like Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural growth rates.\u00a0<\/strong>Kerala has focused more on human resource development. In West Bengal land reform measures have helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public distribution of food grains could have been responsible for the improvement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Approaches towards poverty alleviation and development<\/span><\/h3>\nPoverty is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The institutions addressing the issues of poor therefore need to engage in many sectors and with several service providers. The Government of India has taken a number of initiatives towards eradicating poverty as poverty remains to be the major hurdle towards sustainable development in the Country.<\/span><\/p>\n |
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