Question

15. (a) Read the following passage and comment on it.
Rural poverty at the time of Independence:
When India became independent, the biggest challenge faced by the Country was acutely poor,
especially in the rural areas. It is estimated that more more than half of the rural population (55%)was very
poor; thatis,about 18.6crore people. They did not have access to any resources like land nor did they have
education which could help them get some gainful employment. In fact opportunities for employment were
very few .The only employment open to them was the extremely low agricultural labourers. A very large
proportion of peasants were land less.
(OR)
(b) Read the following passage and comment on it.
Poverty as chronic hunger
Hunger is not just painful to bear, it is also destructive. Chronic hunger and calorie deficiency is
related to undernourishment. People who are chronically hungry do not have access to sufficient amounts of
safe and nutritious food and therefore are undernourished. Their undernourishment makes it hard to study,
work or otherwise perform physical activities. Undernourished children do not grow as quickly as healthy
children. Mentally, they may develop more slowly. Constant hunger weakens the immune system and makes
them more vulnerable to diseases and infections. Mothers living in constant hunger often give birth to
underweight and weak babies.​

Answer 1

Answer:

After post-idependence India's major facing challenge was poverty especially in rural areas due to limitations on employment opportunities so agriculture was the one and the last option left to most of the people.

So, several measures were taken by Indira Gandhi, Nehru to eliminate poverty. But still, we can't break the vicious cycle of poverty.

Poverty leads to destructive economic growth and development. Hunger and thirst in society is a symbol of lack of efficiency in governance.

Which leads to inflation, undernourishment, deprivation of basic facilities.