Discuss the magnitude of poverty in india
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Poverty in India: Concept, Measures and Magnitude of Poverty in India!
The issues of poverty and inflation are of the first rank importance in Indian economy. That 320 million persons or 35.97 per cent of the total population in 1993-94 (37.27% in the rural areas and 32.36% in the urban areas) were living below the poverty line, that today about 5 per cent people are unemployed, that 24 paisa of every rupee that the government earns goes into paying interest on debt, and that 10.7 per cent of our GDP is being spent by the central and the state governments on non-merit subsidies on items like water supply, higher education, irrigation, electricity, etc., all these facts present a shocking image of poverty, income and wealth in our country.
Much debate and discussion have taken place on issues like how much of the nation’s wealth and income should be spent on poverty and unemployment alleviation programmes? How can economic development be accelerated? How can economic inequalities be removed? How much should be spent on public services and welfare schemes? What is the role of welfare schemes? Should it be minimal safety-net for the poor or a comprehensive system of security for all? Are the social inequalities in our country the result of economic inequalities or differential income distribution? We will analyse, in this article, a few of these issues.
Poverty and inequality are not the same. A person with an income of Rs. 15,000 per annum and having a wife and a child to support is not as poor as a person with Rs. 25,000 per year and having a large family of 5-6 children to support. Income and wealth are also two distinct terms. ‘Income’ refers to the flow of economic resources while ‘wealth’ is the total stock of economic resources.
While salary, wages, rent, interest, pension, income from self-employment and dividends from company shares, etc., are regarded as ‘income’, immovable property, gold, share bonds, etc., constitute ‘wealth’. For understanding inequality and poverty, it is necessary to consider the concepts of poverty, income, wealth and inequality.
Concept of Poverty:
What is poverty?
Poverty may be defined either as absolute or relative.
Absolute’ poverty is “insufficiency in basic necessities of existence”.
In practical terms, this usually means “being without adequate food, clothing or shelter”. The notion of ‘poverty line’ describes poverty in subsistence terms, i.e., the ‘minimal’ necessary for the maintenance of physical health.
Berstein Henry (1992) has identified four dimensions of poverty:
(1) Lack of livelihood strategies,
(2) Inaccessibility to resources (money, land, credit),
(3) Feeling of insecurity and frustrations, and
(4) Inability to maintain and develop social relations with others as a consequence of lack of resources.
Three precepts are often used to define poverty:
(i) The amount of money required by a person to subsist,
ii) The life below a ‘minimum subsistence level’ and ‘living standard’ prevalent at a given time in a given place, and
(iii) The comparative state of well-being of a few and the deprivation and destitution of the majority in society. The last approach explains poverty in terms of relativity and inequality. Whereas the first two definitions refer to the economic concept of absolute poverty, the third one views it as a social concept, that is, in terms of the share of the total national income received by those at the bottom. We will explain each of the three views separately.
According to the first view, in terms of a minimum income required for subsistence, poverty has been defined as “an inability to gratify the physiological needs, that is, need for survival, safety and security”. These physiological needs are different from the social needs (ego-satisfaction and self-esteem), the need for autonomy, the need for independence, and the need for self-actualisation. The minimum requirements for fulfilling the physiological needs are food and nutrition, shelter, and preventive and protective health care. This requires ‘minimum’ income (varying from society to society) to buy necessities and avail oneself of basic facilities.
Here, ‘poverty’ is perceived in terms of ‘poverty line’ which is determined by the prevailing standards of what is needed for health, efficiency, nurturing of children, social participation, and maintenance of self-respect. In practice, however, poverty line is drawn on the basis of the barest minimum desirable nutritional standard of calories intake. In India, poverty line is drawn on the basis of per capita (adult) daily intake of 2,400 calories for the rural and 2,100 calories for the urban areas. On the basis of this, the monthly per capita consumption expenditure can be worked out.
The issues of poverty and inflation are of the first rank importance in Indian economy. That 320 million persons or 35.97 per cent of the total population in 1993-94 (37.27% in the rural areas and 32.36% in the urban areas) were living below the poverty line, that today about 5 per cent people are unemployed, that 24 paisa of every rupee that the government earns goes into paying interest on debt, and that 10.7 per cent of our GDP is being spent by the central and the state governments on non-merit subsidies on items like water supply, higher education, irrigation, electricity, etc., all these facts present a shocking image of poverty, income and wealth in our country.
Much debate and discussion have taken place on issues like how much of the nation’s wealth and income should be spent on poverty and unemployment alleviation programmes? How can economic development be accelerated? How can economic inequalities be removed? How much should be spent on public services and welfare schemes? What is the role of welfare schemes? Should it be minimal safety-net for the poor or a comprehensive system of security for all? Are the social inequalities in our country the result of economic inequalities or differential income distribution? We will analyse, in this article, a few of these issues.
Poverty and inequality are not the same. A person with an income of Rs. 15,000 per annum and having a wife and a child to support is not as poor as a person with Rs. 25,000 per year and having a large family of 5-6 children to support. Income and wealth are also two distinct terms. ‘Income’ refers to the flow of economic resources while ‘wealth’ is the total stock of economic resources.
While salary, wages, rent, interest, pension, income from self-employment and dividends from company shares, etc., are regarded as ‘income’, immovable property, gold, share bonds, etc., constitute ‘wealth’. For understanding inequality and poverty, it is necessary to consider the concepts of poverty, income, wealth and inequality.
Concept of Poverty:
What is poverty?
Poverty may be defined either as absolute or relative.
Absolute’ poverty is “insufficiency in basic necessities of existence”.
In practical terms, this usually means “being without adequate food, clothing or shelter”. The notion of ‘poverty line’ describes poverty in subsistence terms, i.e., the ‘minimal’ necessary for the maintenance of physical health.
Berstein Henry (1992) has identified four dimensions of poverty:
(1) Lack of livelihood strategies,
(2) Inaccessibility to resources (money, land, credit),
(3) Feeling of insecurity and frustrations, and
(4) Inability to maintain and develop social relations with others as a consequence of lack of resources.
Three precepts are often used to define poverty:
(i) The amount of money required by a person to subsist,
ii) The life below a ‘minimum subsistence level’ and ‘living standard’ prevalent at a given time in a given place, and
(iii) The comparative state of well-being of a few and the deprivation and destitution of the majority in society. The last approach explains poverty in terms of relativity and inequality. Whereas the first two definitions refer to the economic concept of absolute poverty, the third one views it as a social concept, that is, in terms of the share of the total national income received by those at the bottom. We will explain each of the three views separately.
According to the first view, in terms of a minimum income required for subsistence, poverty has been defined as “an inability to gratify the physiological needs, that is, need for survival, safety and security”. These physiological needs are different from the social needs (ego-satisfaction and self-esteem), the need for autonomy, the need for independence, and the need for self-actualisation. The minimum requirements for fulfilling the physiological needs are food and nutrition, shelter, and preventive and protective health care. This requires ‘minimum’ income (varying from society to society) to buy necessities and avail oneself of basic facilities.
Here, ‘poverty’ is perceived in terms of ‘poverty line’ which is determined by the prevailing standards of what is needed for health, efficiency, nurturing of children, social participation, and maintenance of self-respect. In practice, however, poverty line is drawn on the basis of the barest minimum desirable nutritional standard of calories intake. In India, poverty line is drawn on the basis of per capita (adult) daily intake of 2,400 calories for the rural and 2,100 calories for the urban areas. On the basis of this, the monthly per capita consumption expenditure can be worked out.
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there are many causes of poverty in ndia :
illitracy
illitracy
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