Exercises
J. Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India?
2. Do you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?
3. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973?
4. Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India?
5. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty
in India.
6. Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.
7. Describe global poverty trends.
8. Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation?
9. Answer the following questions briefly
(i) What do you understand by human poverty?
(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor?
(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act 2005?
Economics
Answers
Answer:
1. In India, the poverty line is estimated by multiplying the prices of physical quantities like food, clothing, footwear, fuel, light, education, etc. in rupees. The numbers involved in determining the poverty line vary for different years
2. No, the present methodology of poverty estimation is in appropriate because it takes into account only the basic needs of food, clothing, fuel, etc. But the quality of these basic necessities is the lowest quality available, which is not appropriate.
3. There is a substantial decline in poverty ratios in India from about 55 per cent in 1973 to 36 per cent in 1993. The proportion of people below poverty line further came down to about 26 per cent in 2000. If the trend continues, people below poverty line further came down to less than 20 per cent in the next few years.
4. The major reasons for poverty in India ;
- Increase rate of rising population
- Less utilization of resources
- A short rate of economic development
- Increasing price rise
- Unemployment
- Shortage of capital and able entrepreneurship
- Social factors
- Political factors
- Unequal distribution of income
- The problem of distribution
- Regional poverty
- Provisions of minimum requirements of the poor
5. In India, the Scheduled tribes and Scheduled castes are the social groups that are highly vulnerable to poverty. In India, the casual labour households in urban areas and households in rural areas that are dependent on agriculture labour , are the most vulnerable economic groups.
6. In 20 states and union territories, the poverty ratio is below the average national ratio. There is a significant decline in poverty in Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir. Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two of the poorest states of India with 33.7% and 32.6$ respectively.
7. In 2021 an estimated 698 million people, or 9% of the global population, are living in extreme poverty – that is, living on less than $1.90 a day. Over one-fifth of the global population live below the higher $3.20 poverty line (1,803 million people), and over two-fifths (3,293 million people) live below $5.50 a day.
8. The current government strategy of poverty alleviation is based on two planks: (i) Promotion of economic growth and (ii) Targeted anti-poverty programs (i) Promotion of economic growth: Till the early eighties, there were little per capita income growth and not much reduction in poverty.
9.
(i) It refers to the denial of political, social and economic opportunities to an individual to maintain a reasonable standard of living Illiteracy, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to proper healthcare and sanitation, caste and gender discrimination, etc. are all components of human poverty.
(ii) Women, infants and elderly are considered as the poorest of the poor. This is because, in a poor household, these people suffer the most and are deprived of the maximum necessities in life.
(iii) The main feature of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is as follow: It guarantees the 100 days of wage employment in the financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In this scheme, one-third of the proposed job will be reserved for women.