. Write an essay on ‘Democracy and Poverty’ using the information given in this report but using examples from India.
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
DEMOCRACY :-
“Democracy is that form of government in which the ruling power is vested not in any individual, or in a particular class or classes but in the members of the community as a whole.” “A form of government in which the governing body is comparatively a large fraction of the entire nation.” Abraham Lincoln gave the historic definition by calling democracy as “government by the people, of the people and for the people.”“A government in which everybody has a share.”“Democracy is a political method by which every citizen has the opportunity of participating through discussion in an attempt to reach voluntary agreements as to what shall be done for the good of the community as a whole.” As a matter of fact, democracy is both a form of government and a way of life.Although democracy has a definite and set method of its own, it has such a strong appeal that everybody and every institution tries to go by the name of democracy.“Democracy has been the battle cry of the twentieth century.”Everyone is for democracy as he understands it. In the USA democracy means the existing scheme of things or some idealized version of it or even what the men of Philadelphia intended the constitution to be. In Britain too it means whatever one considers the government and politics of the country to be, but also more particularly what the Labour Party aspires to and has been seeking to accomplish, when it has been in power. In the USSR and communist China such American and British views are laughed at as reactionary.According to each, their particular brand of communism is ‘true’ democracy. Such democracy presupposes a classless society and can only come after capitalism has been destroyed by the dictatorship of the proletariat since the end of the Second World War, and especially in the period of the Cold War these classes of outlook became acute.
POVERTY :-
We can define poverty as the condition where the basic needs of a family, like food, shelter, clothing, and education are not fulfilled. It can lead to other problems like poor literacy, unemployment, malnutrition, etc. A poor person is not able to get education due to lack of money and therefore remains unemployed. An unemployed person is not able to buy enough & nutritious food for his family and their health decline. A weak person lacks the energy required for the job. A jobless person remains poor only. Thus we can say that poverty is the root cause of other problems.For measuring poverty United nations have devised two measures of poverty – Absolute & relative poverty. Absolute poverty is used to measure poverty in developing countries like India. Relative poverty is used to measure poverty in developed countries like the USA. In absolute poverty, a line based on the minimum level of income has been created & is called a poverty line. If per day income of a family is below this level, then it is poor or below the poverty line. If per day income of a family is above this level, then it is non-poor or above the poverty line. There are various causes of poverty but the most important is population. Rising population is putting the burden on the resources & budget of countries. Governments are finding difficult to provide food, shelter & employment to the rising population.The other causes are- lack of education, war, natural disaster, lack of employment, lack of infrastructure, political instability, etc. For instance- lack of employment opportunities makes a person jobless & he is not able to earn enough to fulfill the basic necessities of his family & becomes poor. Lack of education compels a person for less paying jobs & it makes him poorer. Lack of infrastructure means there are no industries, banks, etc. in a country resulting in lack of employment opportunities. Natural disasters like flood, earthquake also contribute to poverty.In some countries, especially African countries like Somalia, a long period of civil war has made poverty widespread. This is because all the resources & money is being spent in war instead of public welfare. Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. are prone to natural disasters like cyclone, etc. These disasters occur every year causing poverty to rise.Ill Effects of PovertyPoverty affects the life of a poor family. A poor person is not able to take proper food & nutrition &his capacity to work reduces. Reduced capacity to work further reduces his income, making him poorer. Children from poor family never get proper schooling & proper nutrition. They have to work to support their family & this destroys their childhood. Some of them may also involve in crimes like theft, murder, robbery, etc. A poor person remains uneducated & is forced to live under unhygienic conditions in slums. There are no proper sanitation & drinking water facility in slums & he falls ill often & his health deteriorates.
Answer:
There is no gainsaying that poverty has a direct and deep impact on democracy. A Black family earns much lesser than a White family so inequality in their income was clearly visible in their voting pattern. In the President’s election, nearly 9 out of 10 individuals with income over $75000 and above had voted but nearly 5 people out of 10 from families less than $15000 had voted. Not only this, but also the difference in their income also shaped their abilities to influence the decisions taken by the government. Because 95% contribution to the political parties came from rich so, they were in a better position to influence the political parties and through them the government as compared to most of the citizens with lower incomes. As poor participate less in politics, the government does not pay much attention towards them and to their main concerns like education, healthcare, employment, housing problems and poverty etc. The government formed by the different politicians, are more concerned to the business or rich class of the society.
Like USA, in India too, the different political parties pay more attention to the concerns of the rich who contribute most to their funds
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