Explain any one distinguishable causes of rural and urban poverty
Answers
I write only with reference to the situation in India and not any other country.
This is a question that requires an in depth answer so I shall start by outlining the similarities first:
Depravity,vulnerability and helplessness: As defined by the IMF
Generally affects some groups to a larger extent than others eg: Women and children suffer worse consequences than men and minorities more than other communities.
Basic lack of human rights and amenities.
The differences mostly arise from the differences in opportunity provided to each. While in rural areas, most people are cultivators as there are no other job opportunities but urban areas would have other available job opportunities.
The cultivators in rural areas tend to have a slightly better life than those who work in seasonal shifts as there are no other jobs for them to take up during those periods.
Hence, the migration is much higher among the rural poor as many of them move away to look for opportunities. Generally, the rural poor are not migrants but people who live in their native lands.
The rural poor also have very little access to transport, healthcare and in some cases even electricity, especially if the area that they are living in is very backward.
The urban poor on the other hand are mostly migrants who have come to the place looking for opportunities. While such places may have electricity and healthcare, there is a much higher chance for them to be unable to actually afford any amenities.
The urban poor have more job opportunities but, being mostly unskilled workers, they will have to compete for these jobs with the many other migrants. Urban areas being more populated means that they have a lot more competition for any work that they may decide to take up.
Living conditions in a village could mean that the people definitely have more space. As villages are less populated, although the houses may not be fancy, large, pukka houses, they may still have enough space to walk and run around. If it’s not a drought prone region, they may even have a place to swim and run around with their friends.
However, in urban regions, it is not uncommon for people to live in slums, chawls or in worst cases, under bridges or asbestos sheets held up over pavements. There are children in Mumbai who live their entire lives on pavements.
When it comes to casteism and other social evils though, urban areas may be better. Villages are generally filled with backward mindsets and social evils hence, discrimination on all counts may be faced a lot more severely. An example would be of how Sati is still practiced in some remote North Indian villages but it would be unthinkable for it to happen even in a slum in Mumbai.
While currently poverty is a lot more rampant in rural areas, the amount of people migrating to urban areas means that soon, they will outnumber the rural poor.
Hence, the only solution is for us to go to villages and create livelihoods that are also environmentally sustainable, to ensure that the people there have jobs.