Poverty as a Challenge & Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India
In this article, we are going to discuss the Poverty line in India, Poverty as Challenge, and Poverty alleviation Programmes in India. Poverty as a challenge is one of the major problems of any country and in India, it is the root cause of many problems. To tackle this poverty challenge the government implemented various Poverty alleviation Programmes in India.
What is Poverty?
Poverty is defined as it is a state or condition of a person or a community that does not have the basic material and the financial resources for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that an employed person whose income level is so low that he/she is unable to meet his/her basic human needs. The people and the family in Poverty might go without proper medical attention, healthy food, clean water for drinking, and a house to live in. There are different standards and criteria by the different countries to determine how many numbers of their people are under poverty.
Poverty may include political, economic, and social elements.
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Relative Poverty
This relative poverty method usually followed by the developed countries. When the income of a household is below the median income in a given country then the household is said to be under relative poverty.
Relative poverty is different from poverty that is if a household or a person is said to be under relative poverty. He/she does not necessarily deprive of all the basic needs as enjoyed by other section of society also the person not having the same standard of living as others are having or it can be said he/she is relatively deprived.
Vicious Cycle of Poverty
Vicious Cycle of Poverty or Poverty Trap caused by self-reinforcing reasons that cause poverty remains exists once it exists until there will be intervention from the outside. This Vicious Cycle of Poverty can be carried to generation and in the developing countries, it is called the development trap.
The family or a person who is into the Cycle of Poverty, have no or limited resources. One of the major reasons for this Vicious Cycle of Poverty is that the low level of income which makes low investment and saving which traps them in the cycle of poverty and this cycle keeps on repeating.
Causes of Cycle of Poverty
The following are the causes of the cycle of poverty that keeps people in the trap of poverty:
- Low gross domestic product (GDP).
- High unemployment.
- High-income inequality.
- Low social mobility.
- Low saving and investment.
Poverty in India
India as a developing nation posse’s poverty as one of the biggest challenges, although its economy is growing still India has one of the highest numbers of poor population, the poverty in India is in decline but India still has more than 84 million people in the extreme poverty and more than 364 million that is 28 per cent of India’s population living below the poverty, which is the highest number of poor people in any country.
In India, around 68 per cent of its population lives below 2$ a day and out of which 30 per cent of people have less than 1.25$ a day. The weakest section of Indian society is children and women are the ones who suffer the most.
The poverty line in India (Poverty Estimation in India)
The most common method of poverty estimation in India is based upon consumption or income levels that is if the consumption or income levels decline below the certain given minimum level, then the family or the household is considered to be Below Poverty Line (BPL).
How Poverty Line is estimated in India?
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) carries out the surveys and collect the data, based on which the NITI Aayog carries out the Poverty estimation in India.
Poverty as a Challenge in India
Poverty is the major change in the development of India because a large portion of the population in India is in poverty. In India Poverty impacts Individuals, families, and children in a number of different ways, these are:
- High infant mortality
- Malnutrition
- Child labour
- Lack of education
- Child marriage
- HIV / AIDS
Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India
To eradicate poverty from a country the set of steps taken in a humanitarian and economic way is known as Poverty Alleviation. For poverty alleviation in India, the government of India has taken major steps in the form of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAJ) for providing housing for all by the year 2022, schemes like Stand-up India and Startup India focuses on the empowerment of the people to make their standard of living better.
The poverty in India in a rural area is higher than in an urban area. The government intervention programmes for poverty alleviation are given below:
1) Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)
2) Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana
3) Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)
4) National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)
5) Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY)
6) Annapurna
7) Food for Work Programme
8) Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)
9) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
10) National Food Security Mission
11) National Rural Livelihood Mission
12) National Urban Livelihood Mission
13) Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
14) Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
15) Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
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