Problems of poverty

2. Prepared By
GROUP-2
M.F.A.
1
ST
YEAR

3.  What Is Poverty ?
 What Is Poverty Line ?
Two Ways Of Poverty
 Measurement Of Poverty
 Poverty Head Count Index
 Types of poverty
 Causes Of Poverty
Effects Of Poverty
 Measures to Reduce Poverty
 Efforts to alleviate poverty
 Outlook for poverty alleviation
Government Programmes For Poverty
Alleviation

4. What Is Poverty ?
Poverty is about not having enough money to
meet basic needs including food, clothing and
shelter.  However, poverty is more, much more
than just not having enough money.
The world bank describes poverty as:
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter.
Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a
doctor. Poverty is not having access to school
and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not
having a job, is fear for the future, living one
day at a time.”

6. What Is Poverty Line ?
•Poverty Line is drawn on the basis of
Expenditure that is necessary to Secure the
Minimum Acceptable Living Standard for
Work & Efficiency.
• Since, Food is the most Basic Requirement,
thus, Poverty Line is drawn on the basis of
a Minimum Necessary Nutritional Standard
expressed in terms of Calories Per Day.

7. In India, the Minimum Calories intake of a
Person has been put at 2,400 in Rural Area &
2,100 in Urban Areas.
• To convert this Calorie intake based Poverty
Line into a Monetary Measure of Poverty, the
Cost of Minimum Consumption Requirements of
Food providing the minimum calories is calculated
at prevailing Price.
• Thus, Government defined a Person with an
Income of Less than Rs.672 (Rural) & Rs.859
(Urban) per month as living below Poverty Line.

8. Two Ways Of Poverty
1)Relative Poverty
2)Absolute Poverty

9. 1) Relative Poverty
Relative Poverty refers to the Income or Asset
Position of one Class or Group of People in
comparison with the other Classes or Groups, or of
one Individual visavis the Others.
‐ ‐
• The essential point here is that Poverty of One is
Relative to the Richness of the other.
• For Example, an Average Middle Class Person
is Poor when compared to the Upper Middle Class
Person, who in turn, may be poorer than the Richer
Person and so on.

10. Absolute Poverty
It is associated with a Minimum Level of
Living or Minimum Consumption
Requirements of Food, Clothing, Housing,
Health, etc.
• All those People who fail to Secure Income
or Assets to have access to even these Minimum
Consumption Requirements are classified as
‘Poor’.
• Is relevant for the LessDeveloped
‐
Countries.

11. Measurement Of Poverty
•EXPENDITURE
METHOD
•Under this the
minimum food
requirements for
survival is
estimated.
•The food value is
converted into
calories.
•The caloric value of
food is then
converted into the
money value i.e. in
rupees.
•The total equivalent
amount is considered
as the poverty line.
•INCOME
METHOD
•This method is used
by the government
while distributing
food through PDS at
the local level.
•Under this a poverty
line is fixed by the
government.
•All the families
whose total income is
less than the poverty
line fixed by the
government are
considered as BPL.

12. Poverty Head Count Index

13. Types of poverty
1.Economic Poverty
2. Income poverty

14. Causes Of Poverty
•Caste System
•Heavy Pressure Of Population
•Unemployment
•Illiteracy
•India’s Economic Policy

15. Caste System
According to S. M. Michael, Dalits constitute the
bulk of poor and unemployed.
According to William A. Haviland, casteism is
widespread in rural areas, and continues to segregate
Dalits. Others, however, have noted the steady rise
and empowerment of the Dalits through social
reforms and the implementation of reservations in
employment and benefits.
Caste explanations of poverty fail to account for the
urban/rural divide. Using the UN definition of
poverty 65% of rural forward castes are below the
poverty line.

16. The population in India as at 0:00 hours on
1st March 2001 stood at 1,027,015,247
persons. With this, India became only the second
country in the world after China to cross the one
billion mark. ( India is the 2nd most populated country
in the world).
Heavy Pressure Of
Population

17. India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 -
2001. The sex ratio (i.e., number of females per
thousand males) of population was 933, rising from
927 as at the 1991 Census.
Persons      1,220,200,000
Males          190,075,426
Females      172,799,553

18. Current Population of India in 2012is around
1,220,200,000 (1.21billion) people. Currently, India
is second largest country in the world after China in
terms of population. By 2030, the population of
India will be largest in the world estimated to be
around 1.53 billion. There has been rapid increase in
Indian population in the last 60 years. Population of
India at the time of Independence was only 350
million. So Indian Population has increased more
than three times.
Current Population of India in 2012-
1,220,200,000 (1.21billion)
Population of India in 1947 was - 350
million

20. Unemployment
Unemployment refers to the situation where
the Persons who are able to Work & Willing
to Work, Fail to Secure Work or Activity
which gives them Income or Means of
Livelihood.
Those who are fit to Work but do not want to
Work & hence do not actively seek Work are
not included among the Unemployed Persons.

21. Illiteracy
There is a close connection between illiteracy and
poverty at all levels--global, national, and
subnational; the countries with the lowest levels
of literacy are also the poorest economically.
Poverty breeds illiteracy by forcing children to
drop out of school to work, and these illiterate
people are forced to stay on the lowest levels of
the work force and thus remain in poverty. Thus
illiteracy in turn reinforces poverty, and poverty
is cyclical in families. Women and girls are
especially vulnerable to the cycle.

22. India’s Economic Policy
In 1947, the average annual income in India was
$439, compared with $619 for China, $770 for
South Korea, and $936 for Taiwan. By 1999, the
numbers were $1,818; $3,259; $13,317; and
$15,720. (numbers are in 1990 international
Maddison dollars) In other words, the average
income in India was not much different from South
Korea in 1947, but South Korea became a developed
country by 2000s. At the same time, India was left
as one of the world's poorer countries.

23. India had started out in the 1950s with:
•High growth rates
•Openness to trade and investment
•A promotional state
•Social expenditure awareness
•Macro stability
But ended the 1980s with:
•Low growth rates (Hindu rate of growth)
•Closure to trade and investment
•A license-obsessed, restrictive state (License Raj)
•Inability to sustain social expenditures
•Macro instability, indeed crisis.

24. Effects on Children
•According to UNICEF, 22,000
children die each day due to poverty. 
•Around 27-28 % of all children in
developing countries are estimated to be
underweight or stunted.
•10.6 million died in 2003
before they reached the age of
5 (same as children population
in France, Germany, Greece
and Italy)

25. For the 1.9 billion children from
the developing world, there are:
640 million without
adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access
to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access
to health services (1 in 7)

26. Effects on Women
•Women make up half of the world's
population and yet represent a
staggering 70% of the world's poor.
•Of the 500,000 women who die in
childbirth every year, 99% live in
developing countries. In other words, in
developing countries, a girl or a woman
dies every minute in giving birth. 
•4 million girls and women a year are
sold into prostitution.

27. Effects on Education
•Based on enrollment data, about 72
million children of primary school age in
the developing world were not in school
57 per cent of them were girls. And these
are regarded as optimistic numbers.
•Nearly a billion people entered the 21st
century unable to read a book or sign
their names.
•121 million out of education
worldwide.

28. Measures to Reduce Poverty
•Agriculture & other Rural Vocations should be
rapidly developed so as to Eradicate Rural Poverty.
• Village and Small Industries should be developed
to create greater Employment both in Rural &
Urban Areas.
• Programmes should be implemented that directly
target the Poor & help them increase their Income &
Consumption.

29. •Income Inequalities should be reduced:
Labour Legislation should ensure better Wages.
Goods consumed by the Poor should not be Taxed.
Goods required by the Poor must be Subsidized.
Free Health Care & Education should be provided
to the Poor.
Persons belonging to Poor Families must be
provided Employment.
•Rapid Growth of Population must be controlled &
Population Growth Rate brought down through
Family Planning, Education, Incentives, etc.

30. Efforts to alleviate poverty
Since the early 1950s, govt has initiated,
sustained, and refined various planning
schemes to help the poor attain self
sufficiency in food production. Probably the
most important initiative has been the supply
of basic commodities, particularly food at
controlled prices, available throughout the
country as poor spend about 80 percent of
their income on food.

31. Outlook for poverty
alleviation
Eradication of poverty in India is generally
only considered to be a long-term goal.
Poverty alleviation is expected to make
better progress in the next 50 years than in
the past, as a trickle-down effect of the
growing middle class. Increasing stress on
education, reservation of seats in
government jobs and the increasing
empowerment of women and the
economically weaker sections of society, are
also expected to contribute to the alleviation
of poverty.

32. It is incorrect to say that all poverty reduction
programmes have failed. The growth of the
middle class (which was virtually non-existent
when India became a free nation in August
1947) indicates that economic prosperity has
indeed been very impressive in India, but the
distribution of wealth is not at all even.

33. Government Programmes For
Poverty Alleviation
•Pradhan Mantri Gramoday Yojana (PMGY)
•Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)
•Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY)
•Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS)
•Jawahar Gram Sammridhi Yojana (JGSY)
•National Food For Work Programme
•Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY)
The Swaran Jayanti Shahkari Rozgar Yojana
(SJSRY)

34. Government Programmes For
Poverty Alleviation
•Pradhan Mantri Gramoday Yojana
(PMGY)
Launched in December, 2000 to provide Road
Connectivity through good all weather roads to all
the eligible unconnected habitations in the Rural
Areas by the end of Tenth Plan.
• Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)
Major Scheme for construction of Houses to be
given to the Poor, Free of Cost.

35. •Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY)
Launched in 2001.
Aims at
i. Providing Wage Employment in Rural Areas
ii. Food Security
iii. Creation of Durable Community, Social &
Economic Assets.
Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) & Jawahar
Gram Sammridhi Yojana (JGSY) were merged since
April, 2002.

36. •National Food For Work Programme
 Launched in November, 2004 in 150 backward
Districts of the Country with the objective of
providing more Opportunities of Wage Employment
& ensuring certain Minimum Nutritional Levels for
Rural Poor.
• Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY)
Launched in 2001 to facilitate the construction
and upgradation of Dwelling Units for the Slum
Dwellers & Provides a Healthy & Enabling Urban
Environment through Community Toilets.

37. The Swaran Jayanti Shahkari Rozgar Yojana
(SJSRY)
 Came into operation from December, 1997
submerging the three earlier Urban Poverty
Alleviation Programmes viz., Nehru Rozgar Yojana
(NRY), Urban Basic Services Programmes (UBSB) &
Prime Minister Integrated Urban Poverty
Eradication Programme(PMIUPEP).
Seeks to provide Employment to the Urban
Unemployed or Under Employed Poor by encouraging
the setting up of Selfemployment Ventures or
‐
Provisions of Wage Employment.

38. What can we do?
In our own small way,
let us not waste resources,
the fruit of hard earned tax payer’s
money,
which might better be used to eradicate
the misery of others.
Let us show that we care and realize
the dream of seeing a poverty free India.

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