Poverty In India Essay

Poverty in India Essay
Poverty has been a serious and a long–lasting issue in India. India is set to become a global economic power in decades to come. The hype of this
booming economy causes great socio–economic concerns for this country and is being ignored by the government. This paper will argue the recent
rapid increases in population, growth of cities, the burgeoning economy and government corruption in India. These factors all combine to create
growing inequities in the provision of the basic needs of society; food, water, shelter, health care and education result in an increased gap between rich
and poor in the country. Poverty is a condition in which a person fails to maintain a standard living adequate for a comfortable lifestyle. India has the
...show more content...
Inflation plays a major role towards the economy of the nation. These concerns raise problems within the Indian democracy that have always been
challenged by market prices. In addition, it poses serious threats to welfare of the population and for those living below the poverty line. The
education sector of India has been atrociously affected by inflation rates as they play an important factor for ones' financial educational plans. There
are two expectations among the workforce state of education, the amount of workers in India unable to graduate with college degrees hence creating
a decline in the number of workers with specialized and technical skills. Secondly, the ones graduated seek employment outside of the country.
(Nesmith, K. 2005) India will overtake China for the most populated country title in a couple of decades. A boost in the nation's population increases
burden on natural resources like land and shelter. More people share wealth and land is becoming scarce, especially for one to either own or construct
a property. This leads to poverty and is truly the case with India. Despite all the hype about fast growing economy and a phenomenal GDP, the
government and the citizens will suffer from growing poverty. Around 350–400 million people in India remain below the poverty line. It is worth
mentioning that poverty line will raise the percentage of poor people to greater numbers.
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Causes of Poverty
There are many causes of poverty and inequality in both India and Afghanistan including the poverty circle, problems with population, poor governance
and a lack of access to international markets
The poverty cycle is one cause of poverty. Low income can lead to low savings, poor health, low levels of education and low demand which causes
low capital investment, low productivity which can lead to further low income. For example in India and Afghanistan a large percentage of the people
living below the poverty line are illiterate. 45% of people living below the poverty line in India are illiterate compared to 26% of population.
Additionally, in Afghanistan, 75.6% of poor people are illiterate. This means that poor people in Afghanistan face higher unemployment (8%) and
underemployment (41%) and are more likely to work in agriculture (43.6%) or in the informal sector (84.3%) where they earn low and inconsistent
wages.
Another cause of poverty is inequality which can reinforce relative self–perpetuating poverty. One reason is that when there is a big wealth gap
between the richest section of the population than the poorest section. There may be more investment in urban areas for the wealthy urban population
than the poorer rural population. In India 80% of their poor population lived in rural areas while in poverty in Afghanistan is concentrated in rural
areas as four out of five people live in rural areas.
Population can be both a barrier and a

Causes Of Poverty In India
Nelson Mandela once said, "As long, as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest." In today's world,
poverty is a big issue which needs to be solved for the world to function properly. A country which faces extreme poverty is India, with over 194
million people facing it. India is a beautiful country known for its rich culture, having the third largest ocean, and the world's tallest mountain called the
Himalayas. India faces poverty due to social issues, demographic factors, and economic constraints of the country.
To start off, the main reason why India faces a lot of poverty is due to discrimination among different groups. People in India get discriminated by their
caste. The caste–based segregation system was developed back in the days by the Hindu religion. The caste–based system has four levels. Which
consist of the Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudras. In the hierarchy, the Brahman are ranked first, which consists priest and teachers. After,
Kshatriya falls under, this consists warriors or rulers. Then, Vaishya comes third which is made up of farmers, traders, and merchants. Lastly, Shudras
fall under which consists of laborers. The caste–based system dictates Hindu religion and people's social life for many centuries. The main problem
with this is the people who were ranked low from the caste system would never get the opportunity to change their fate and climb a higher mountain. In
today's generation, it's still

Pros And Cons Of Poverty In India
Across India, the millions of citizens living on less than two dollars a day are barely able to afford some of their most basic necessities. The range in
types of homes they live in, to access to services, such as, electricity, water and sanitation varies from city to city. India, is the most populous nation on
the planet and yet an astonishing number of citizens are living below the poverty line. There are differentiations in poorness, however, evidently, those
living on less than two dollars a day are living in much dire circumstances. As the population increases, the poverty level inflates as well. With a
population of well over one billion, and rising at, some would say, alarming rates, India is the leading nation in regards to population growth.
Currently, India holds the title of the world's most populous country, beating out it's most dominant competitor, China. It is estimated that, according to
World Bank, in 2007, 80% of India's population was living on less than $2 a day. Comparatively, in 2009, two
–thirds of India's population lived on less
than $2 a day. There is no denying that the population of India draws a connection to poverty, more specifically the poverty trap. A poverty trap is a
self reinforcing mechanism which makes it extremely difficult for people to escape poverty. Usually, it persists from generation to generation, and the
situation does not change unless extreme measures are taken. However, usually these poverty–stricken citizens do not have

The Caste System: Effects on Poverty in India
Global Majority E–Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2 (December 2010), pp. 97–106 The Caste System: Effects on Poverty in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka Jasmine
Rao Abstract Though mostly outlawed, the caste system continues to be one of the key drivers of poverty and inequality in South Asia. This article
reviews the linkage between poverty and the caste system in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It also discusses the situation of the so–called Dalits
(untouchables), which are typically considered to fall outside of the caste system. In addition to secondary evidence based on recent literature
analyzing the relevance and impact of the caste system on poverty, the article is also based on an interview with a young male Indian, who experienced
the...show more content...
He discussed what the Hindu scriptures say about caste as well as what the caste system actually turned out to be. The Gita, which is one of the
Hindu scriptures, states that caste is not determined by birth but by behavior. However, today people's castes are determined as soon as they are
born signifying an outside influence on the modern day caste system. With regards to Nepal and Sri Lanka, the literature on linking poverty and
caste is very thin. Shrestha (2002) offers some insights on how Dalits in Nepal are discriminated against. Heitzman (1990) discusses the history of
the caste system in Sri Lanka and how the Portuguese and the British played a part in shaping it into what it is today in Sri Lanka. Heitzman also
describes the impacts of caste on the lives of low caste citizens in Sri Lanka. III. Empirical Background South Asia is one of the most poverty ridden
regions in the world. Although the poverty rate (defined as the percent of people living below $1.25–a–day) has decreased from about 60 percent in
1980 to 51.7 percent in 1990 and to 40.3 percent in 2005 (see Figure 2), there were still about 600 million poor people trying to make a living in South
Asia. Specifically in India, there are still 350 million people who live on less than one dollar–aday (Waldman, 2005). As of 2005, the country ranks
127th out of 177 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which measures life span,

Problem Of Poverty In India
INDIA: PROBLEM OF POVERTY AND REMEDIES
*Renu Assistant Professor (Sociology) C.R.K. College, Jind Haryana.
Renu10392@gmail.com
Introduction– India was called a 'Sparrow of Gold' in the past. Indians were prosperous. Many outsiders attacked and looted it. Some of them went
back while the remaining settled here. Britishers came here and looted it. They spread their colonies all over India. They ruled over India. At that
time the condition of Indian economy and society was very worse. When India got freedom from Britishers in 1947 it tried to develop. The main
focus of Indian policies makers was on the eradication of poverty. Five years plan was made for the purpose of eradication of poverty. But still there
are so many problems in the elimination of poverty. Some important barriers are as follows–
1.Over population– As per census of 2011 Indian total population is 1,210,193,422. India's ranking is second in population. Is assumed by 2026
India would be first in high population in the world and it defeat China in population. Day by day our population is growing more and more but we
are unable to provide employment to our citizens in a good ratio. A large part of our population is illiterate and engaged in un–skilled sector, which is
cause of poverty.
2.Unemployment– Due to overpopulation India suffers from the problem of unemployment which is related with the problem of poverty. Millions of
young are jobless. Millions of young are beaten on very low

I"If a country has widespread government corruption, then poverty will increase."
Country Chosen: India
Introduction
As India celebrated its 65th Republic Day in January 2014, President of India Pranab Mukherjee warned the country of corruption "as a cancer...that
weakens the foundations of our state" (Mukherjee, 2014) and " If Indians are enraged, it is because they are witnessing corruption and waste of
national resources"(Ibid.) Indeed, corruption is an endemic problem in India, with anti–corruption watchdog Transparency International (2013) ranking
the country 94th out of 177 countries in the Global Corruption Perception Index. Tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer revenue have been wasted as a
result of such corruption, and many fear this is only the tip of the iceberg. Some reports suggest that as much as fifty percent of government money
intended for welfare programs and subsidies ends up in the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats, and influential businessmen instead. Such corruption
scandals have rocked the entire country, bringing the current coalition government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under serious criticism.
Despite the Indian economy set to becoming the 3rd largest in the world (Khanna ,2013), poverty in India is widespread, with the nation estimated to
have a third of the world's poor. and with growth being uneven across social and economic groups. In 2010, the World Bank reported that 32.7% of all
people in India fall below the international

Food Scarcity In India
Causes of Food Scarcity in India are:
– Needed of enhanced strategies of cultivation through science and technology
– Poverty and obliviousness of Indian formers
– Tillers are not in feasts and picnics
– Wastage of food in feasts and picnics
– Wastage of food in wrong procedure of cooking
– Wastage of food for ignorance of protecting strategy
– Need of cold storeroom
– Defective food habit
– Dishonesty of suppliers
– Extreme development of populace
The sorts of factors influencing agriculture yields are physical, economic, government and other factors. Physical factors incorporate atmosphere, soils
and topography. Economic factors incorporate market, transport facilities, capitals and labour. Government factors including land utilization and
developing specific yields. Other factors incorporate specific and technological development.
There are numerous natural factors that limit food security. The challenges to food security in India are crop diversification, bio–fuel and medical plant
development, climate change, water accessibility, creation of high yielding varieties, agricultural costs and crop insurance issues. Food security is
severely influenced by environmental change. The changing climate will impact the grain generation in various ways. For instance, the temporal and
spatial varieties in precipitation incorporating rainfall may result in shortage of moisture stress. i.e drought season or excess moisture stress condition.
These elements would likewise

"Poverty and hunger in India: A socio–economic analysis of policies of the government(s)"
Meril Mathew Joy
2009/BALLB/028
IIIrd Semester
____________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION OF POVERTY AND HUNGER
"Poverty"has reduced but still remains a major concern for Nation. Poverty is not only the scarcity of resources, but is set of priorities imposed upon
the rest of the world by the rich. "Hunger" and "Poverty" are powerful but familiar terms. Everyone knows what they mean, yet, they evoke different
descriptions for everyone. Even major international organizations mandated to alleviate hunger and poverty use a variety of interpretations. The
Hunger Project board member Mohini Giri said, "To me, hunger is rape,...show more content...
Since 1950s, Indian government has introduced various planning schemes to help the poor attain self sufficiency in at least the case of food. The most
important initiative that has been taken was the supply of basic commodities, particularly food. Modern day society comprises two general classes:–
1. Those that have more food than appetite.
2. Those that have more appetite than food.
People falling under the second category are hungry people & remain hungry. Generally, the word "Hunger" has three meanings according to the
Oxford English Dictionary. Food is like a moral right of all who are born into this world. Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. The hunger, about
which we are talking here, is the scarcity of food in a country. If hunger is to be eliminated, poverty has to be dealt with simultaneously. The causes of
poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution and conflict between specific countries and obviously, hunger
itself. Hunger is primarily a problem of general poverty, and thus overall economic growth and its distributional pattern cannot but be important in
solving the hunger problem. It is particularly critical to pay attention to employment opportunities, other ways of acquiring economic means, and also
food prices, which influence people's ability to

Review of Literature for Poverty Measurements
Literature Review
From the time of independence, India has been suffering from acute poverty, most of it is chronic in nature. If we look at the percentage of people
below the poverty line, we do notice a sharp fall, but the absolute number remains increasing at a high rate.
The situation keeps aggravating despite of several poverty alleviation programs that are implemented every year. The main reason for such failure, apart
from the implementation issues, would be the measurement and numbers on which these programs are based. Appropriate measurement is central to
analyzing and understanding poverty and its alleviation.
Joshi P.D. (1997) identifies the methods and indices used for measuring the magnitude and extent of poverty are not...show more content...
(Ghosh J, 2010)
The qualitative measures of poverty and wellbeing are also widely criticized by researchers who follow positive research paradigm on the ground that
the relation between participatory exercises and the project or plans to alleviate poverty is often remote. Also there are factors like heterogeneity,
ambiguity in responses, truthfulness etc.
Hayati D. Et al., ( 2004) however recognizes that there is yet another group of researchers who think that both qualitative and quantitative approaches
can be used simultaneously to answer a research question. For example, Poverty Measurement Index (PMI) is one such index. The PMI explicitly
accommodates the multidimensionality of poverty. In the PMI construction process, poverty is viewed as a multidimensional and complex
socio–economic state that relates to many aspects of household living.
Bailey J. makes out that in adopting such an approach, it is necessary to extend the net so as to cover wider dimensions of well–being using
non–conventional indicators of psychosocial and mental health, and environmental, relational and subjective components. In addition to this there
should be an appropriate use of econometric and mathematical tools in order to quantify the variables.
Tiwari M, (2008) argues that some researchers emphasizes on the qualitative and holistic approach to measure poverty.A more holistic understanding of
poverty and wellbeing will have important

India A Developing Country
India is a developing country. The factors hindering development of the country are many. Some of them can be attributed to the low per capita income
and larger chunk of the population living under the poverty line. India is a country with poor people but with rich natural resources. It can be said that
the country's potential is either the human resource or the natural resources are not adequately utilized to the maximum extent and that resulted in low
per capita income. India is an agrarian economy. The economy is marred with unemployment and under employment. Since the economy is basically
agrarian, disguised unemployment is also rampant among the farmer community. Apart from the reasons mentioned, the money market as well as
capital market witnessed the presence of private moneylenders, landlords etc. They have acted as bankers for centuries and have amassed major wealth
from people of India that adversely affected capital formation. The need for a better financial institution and credit infrastructure was thus felt necessary
by the planning commission when the five–year plans were initiated. An efficient banking system and well functioning capital market, capable of
mobilizing the savings &channeling them to productive uses, are essential if the efforts at economic restructuring are to succeed. While both the
banking systems and capital markets have shown impressive growth in the volume of operations. Unless major reforms were initiated it was difficult to

Boleking And Poverty In India
India is home to over 1.2 billion people with 4 percent of the population being orphans.
India is overloaded with orphans and statistics show that the problem is not going to be getting any better anytime soon. There are many factors that
contribute to the reasoning behind the amount of orphans, like poverty and some kids being forced into sex trafficking and prostitution.
There are over 20 million orphans in in India because the country is very poor, some families simply can't support a child so they abandoned them,
and some children are unfortunately forced into sex trafficking. There are many reasons that India alone has 20 million orphans in their country but by
far the most dominant factor is poverty. Around 67 percent of India's population lives below the poverty line (10 Facts about Poverty in India). Parents
simply cannot afford to provide for themselves or for their children. Many children lack basic life necessities like nutrition, shelter, and care from their
parents, not because their parents don't love them, but because most of the time parents cannot afford anything. (5 terrible causes of the Orphan Crisis).
46 percent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished. 31 percent of infants are born with low birth–weight. All children in India are underweight
by 18 percent or more (Facts on Children in India). Theses truly statistics show how badly the country is suffering, and even worse how the children
are suffering. Although in some rare cases parents

Poverty Line Essay
What causes India to be below the poverty–line? "The proximate causes of the increased extent of rural poverty in India and in other low–income
developing countries are obvious: the growth of population and the continued dominance of agriculture in their labor force and because of limited
expansion of non–farm job opportunities. Those that fall below the poverty level make anywhere from 42 to 51 cents a day. Anyone that makes 40
cents and higher are not considered to be in poverty, but they would have to be going through the same challenges daily" (Kaur, 2013). Could any of
us live with so little?
India's rate of population growth of some 2.2 per cent has been relatively slow as compared to other developing countries" (Johnston & Clark, n.d., p.
405). "High population growth rate is one of the major reasons for poverty in India and the lack of success to financial resources" (Kaur, 2013).
Therefore, "There are a number of people in India who still live on the street and beg the whole day to eat a meal. Underprivileged children are
unable to attend school and those that have the opportunity drop out after a year or so. People below the poverty line live in unhygienic conditions
and are prone to many health problems. With this, the vicious cycle of poor health, lack of education and more poverty keeps on increasing" (Kaur,
2013, para. 3).
Also, "High population growth affects the per capita income and makes the per capita even lower" (Kaur, 2013, para. 10). With the

Poverty and Underdevelopment of India
Health– education linkages inequality in distribution of stock of human capital means underinvestment on the one hand and mal–investment on the
other, as total and per capita stocks of human capital figures in women and backward castes indicate. Perhaps, the main reason lies in the failure of
human investment revolution in economic thought to really revolutionize common thinking. individuals as well as state policy makers still perceive
education expenditure as 'consumption' and as a burden on the state which reduces public savings. it is misleading to treat public expenditures of
backward castes and women as 'welfare' but must be treated as 'capital formation'.
Poverty and underdevelopment of India does not permit adequate investment in general, including education. From the private angle, weaker sections
who should invest more in education have their present consumption needs focusing on survival where education is perceived as luxury. Even if people
took loans, they prefer investment in more tangible and resale able assets which yield higher ROR in short gestation periods to investment in human
capital. The state is constrained by its available resources and by its welfare expenditure approach to education. Further, the capital market is too poorly
organized to provide funds for investment in education. Thus to bring equity in distribution of human capital between different groups serious efforts
have to be made towards reducing discrimination in schooling, improving

Ethical Issues On India And Poverty
Poverty is a major global problem, with over 4 billion people currently living in it. The poverty level is set at people living on $2 a day. Yet, like
most people, they too need to buy the essentials and other items for daily uses. Companies realize that there is a market out there for these
impoverished people. Some of them might take advantage of them, and some have a little humanity in them. There are several ethical ways to target
them without putting a hefty price on their budget and at the same time, companies can make a profit on these products. Hammond's and Prahalad's
article "Selling to the Poor" clearly defines that people in poverty are just as capable of conducting business as anyone else in their respective sectors. It
is just that they do not have access to technology and information. In the beginning of the article it states that Indian farmers use "e–Choupals",
computers connected to the internet in rural India created by the company ITC, to track market prices and futures on soy crops. They used to
technology to avoid paying a middle–man in local auction markets and were able to make $6 more per ton on their crops. The internet is allowing
them to increase their productivity and benefit both parties. India and China are two examples of developing countries that have most of their
population in poverty: 171 million households in India, 286 million households in China, but with the same access as everyone else, they can earn a
decent living. Combine the annual income of the two, and it reaches over $1 trillion. It is up to the private sector to tap into this market. However,
traditional methods will not work. Hammond and Prahalad point out how three examples of different items: cell phones, table salt, and cosmetics,
have changed a company's business process and marketing strategy to accommodate the needs and the budgets of the lower class. The major trend to
market cell phones in the poorer countries is to sell more prepaid phone cards, as people pay from them as needed instead of paying a monthly plan,
which could overwhelm some people's budgets. In India, iodine salt is an important nutritional supplement, yet only four out of 10 households use it
due to a large portion of the salt

Despite the corruption involved in dispersing of funds in poverty alleviating programs, the Government, the World Bank and the U.S. are helping India
eradicate poverty through dispersing funds to build the economy, battle disease and also improve infrastructure. Corruption can occur through bribes
and red tape from low level government levels to high levels. Even though there is corruption detected by politicians and bureaucrats. The Government
of India has presented strategies to alleviate poverty through subsidies and other programs to help the rural poor. The Government offered programs
like the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment and Development of Women and Children in
Rural Areas...show more content...
These wasteland maps can provide information to NGOS and State Forest and Agriculture Departments. This can generate employment in rural areas
and also in other rural development programmes. Desert Development Programme and Drought Prone Areas Programme can benefit from wasteland
mapping. "Driven by public policies and institutional interventions, economic and spatial integration of markets occurs and several new marginal
income–earning opportunities become available in the informal sector of the economy. Consequently, the dependence of the poor on the natural
resource base for livelihood may actually get reduced." (Srivastava) Better education followed by improving infrastructure can shift the poor to non
farm activities.
One of the states poverty alleviation programmes in India is Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). "The basic objective of IRDP is to
enable identified rural poor families to augment their incomes and cross the poverty line through acquisition of credit based productive
assets."(Ministry of Rural Area and employment) This program has shown problems like unskilled workers, low investment, lack of technology, lack
of credit in banks, corruption, overcrowding in lending of dairy commodities. Another program is Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment
(TRYSEM) which helps youths from poor rural areas with training skills and entrepreneurship skills as well.

Poverty In India
The issue of poverty has blighted India for several decades. It seems to be a vicious cycle that simply doesn't seem to go away despite continuous and
constant efforts of the government and the general public.The main argument opposing Indians make is that the programs to bring people out of
poverty are far too expensive to be paid for by the government. The government already gives out millions in subsidies, however poverty remains.
After, much research and analysis, the truth regarding the severity of the situation and the efforts made to ameliorate it, come to the forefront of the
argument regarding this topic. There have been several extremely relevant studies that have been conducted to try and address poverty in India , its
causes and its solutions. Chronic Poverty in India which is an overview study assesses chronic poverty in India by looking at the seriousness, duration
and multidimensional deprivation that have led to the current poverty stricken state of the country. For the purposes of this paper, the aim will be to
address poverty alleviation measures as well as the effectiveness of Government policies that specifically target poverty. Next, the book Red tape:
bureaucracy, structural violence, and poverty in India will be explored to analyze topics such as corruption, education and population policies which
will also provide insight into why, despite rapid industrial and economic growth, the country remains poor. After, the book, The state and poverty in

Poverty In India Essay

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