SDG 1: No Poverty

Setting the Context

With 2015 marking the changeover from the Millennium to the Sustainable Development Goals,
the international community witnessed many development successes since 2000. India has not
only committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it was a leading
proponent of the first sustainable development goal that focuses on the eradication poverty. This
goal commits the signatories to eliminating poverty according to the common international
poverty line of $1.90 per person per day and cutting it in half “according to national
definitions”.1 Poverty manifests itself in the form of hunger and malnutrition (SDG 2), limited
access to education (SDG 4), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and health facilities (SDG 3),
social discrimination, exclusion and inequality (SDG 10) as well as the lack of participation in
decision-making. The philosophy of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ forms the corner stone of the
current model of governance in India. This is in line with the basic principle of agenda 2030-
“Leaving no one behind”.

India’s ability to achieve rapid, sustainable development will be central to the world’s collective
ambition of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, as well as for achieving
the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the most recent estimates, in
2015, 10 percent of the world’s population lived on less than $1.90 a day, down from nearly 36
percent in 1990.2 According to UN, global reduction in extreme poverty was driven mainly by
Asia – notably China and India. Between 2005-06 and 2015-16, the incidence of
multidimensional poverty in India was almost halved, climbing down to 27.5 percent from 54.7
percent as per the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index report.3

The National Context

India’s Approach
In recent years, India has made a significant deduction in poverty levels, with extreme poverty
dropping from 45.3% percent to an estimated 21.9 percent from 1993-94 to 2011-12.4 The total
number of people living below poverty line in 2011 accounted to 273.1 million. However, it is
seeking to achieve resilient growth, as well as to promote inclusion and sustainability by
reshaping policy approaches to achieve gender parity, human development, increase coverage

1
http://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-1/
2
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty
3
http://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-1/
4
http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/pre_pov2307.pdf
and effectiveness of social protection and the size, reach and diversity of microcredit
programmes, financial inclusion, rural transformation, and infrastructure development.5

It is widely recognized that economic growth is the most powerful tool to improve the living
conditions of poor. Many national plans are now targeted towards reduction of poverty by having
explicit quantitative targets in terms of provisions of basic needs. However, in a rapidly changing
global environment, developing countries would face greater challenges in their development
journey.

For decades, India remained stubbornly in the top spot, the place with the most people living in
extreme poverty, a reflection of its huge population and its enduring struggle against poverty.
However, according to Multidimensional Poverty Index released by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative
(OPHI), suggests that over 270 million people in India moved out of poverty in the decade since
2005-06 and the poverty rate in the country nearly halved over the 10-year period.6 The growth
of cities, has been beneficial for overall poverty reduction in India. Urban growth has been
responsible for about 80 per cent of the total fall in poverty. The poor living in rural areas have
gained more from urban growth than from rural growth.7

India is committed to the goal 1 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to promote

sustainable development and eradicate poverty. In doing so, India follows a well-rounded and
holistic anti-poverty strategy of sustained rapid growth. Conceptually, sustained rapid growth
works through two channels to rapidly reduce poverty. First, it creates well-paid jobs and raises
real wages. Second, rapid growth leads to growth in government revenues. In turn, enhanced
revenues allow the expansion of social expenditures on the government’s programmes to provide
basic service. However, growth is not the sole objective of economic policy. It is necessary to
ensure that the benefits of growth accrue to all sections of the society.8

The policy initiatives/schemes taken up by the government are either universal or targeted. For
programs that are universal, identification of the poor is not required. The programme is
available to all. For example, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MNREGA) scheme guarantees hundred days of employment per year to one adult in every rural
household. This benefit is available to all rural households and therefore requires no information
on poverty. In case of the second category of programs that are not universal and are targeted at
the poor, official poverty estimates can be used to both compute the total expenditure required
and to allocate the latter among states.9

5
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview
6
https://ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/G-MPI_2018_2ed_web.pdf
7
https://in.one.un.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UNSDF_Print-Revised-To-be-Approved-low-res.pdf
8
https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/OccasionalPaper_No2_Poverty.pdf
9
https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/OccasionalPaper_No2_Poverty.pdf
Recent economic reforms have focused on cooperative federalism, rapid liberalization of FDI
policy, structural reforms which have set the stage for decades of high growth like GST,etc.
Introduction of 10% reservation in educational institutions and government services for poor,
promotion of Swachh Bharat Programme, promotion of electricity and health facilities in poor
have also been a part of the governance policies.

Schemes, Policies and Programmes

India’s efforts to eradicate poverty have always emphasized on education and skills
development, income generation, employment creation and provision of access to basic needs
such as electricity, clean water, food transportation and housing, as well as social safety nets.
The government has targeted expenditure to improve their quality of life in all its dimensions
with the aim of providing urban facilities in villages while keeping the soul of rural life intact.
The various policy initiatives and schemes that have been implemented at national, state and
local levels are:

 MGNREGA
MGNREGA is the world’s largest employment generating scheme which targets
to benefit 2.55 crore household in 2019-2020 guaranteeing 100 days of unskilled
manual work to all rural households in India. Total number of individuals that
worked under MGNREGA in 2018-19 accounts to 7.78 crore. In FY 2018-19,
267.9 crore persondays of employment was generated. Total expenditure of 60000
crore was allocated to MGNREGA for the financial year 2019-2020.10
 Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin
PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless
householder and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by
2022. The objective was to cover 1.00 crore household living in kutcha
house/dilapidated house in three years from 2016-17 to 2018- 19.11 The launch of
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G) offers significant opportunity
to improve the coverage and quality of housing for the poor and to introduce cost-
effective and environmentally-friendly building technologies and materials.
Through subsidies for new construction and renovation, the government aims to
build 10 million houses for the poor by 2019 and 20 million more by 2022. Total
expenditure of 25853.26 crore was allocated to PMAY for the financial year
2019-2020.
 Mission Antyodaya
The primary objective of this programme is to Survey and Collect the Village
Infrastructure Data for all the Villages in the GP. Mission Antyodaya is a
convergence framework for measurable effective outcomes on parameters that
transform lives and livelihoods. Mission Mode Project envisaged by the Ministry
of Rural Development. Comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the

10
https://www.nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx
11
https://pmayg.nic.in/netiay/about-us.aspx
 efficiency and effectiveness at Gram Panchayat Level.12 Mission Antyodaya has
covered a total of 577230 villages.
 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a National Mission on Financial Inclusion
which has an integrated approach to bring about comprehensive financial
inclusion and provide banking services to all households in the country. The
scheme ensures access to a range of financial services like availability of basic
savings bank account, access to need based credit, remittances facility, insurance
and pension. As of January 23, 2019, there were 21.26 crore and 14.61 crore
beneficiaries of the scheme in rural and urban India respectively, with a total
deposit of Rs 99104.45 crore.13
 National Social Assistance Programmes
The programme introduced a National Policy for Social Assistance for the poor
and aims at ensuring minimum national standard for social assistance in addition
to the benefits that states are currently providing or might provide in future.
NSAP at present, comprises of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
(IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira
Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), National Family Benefit
Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna. 14 A total expenditure of 9200 crore was
allocated to National Social Assistance Programmes for the financial year 2019-
2020.15
 Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
The campaign, undertaken under the name of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka
Vikas”, is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives
of government, reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their
feedback on various welfare programmes. Govt. of India has extended it in 117
Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog. During this abhiyan,
saturation of eligible households/persons would be made under seven flagship
pro-poor programmes namely, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala
scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush. In
addition, 5 priority are related activities under Education, Health, Nutrition, Skills
and Agriculture also been identified as per district plan.16 A total expenditure of
830.75 crores has been allocated to gram swaraj abhiyan for the financial year
2019-2020.
 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
Under the scheme an income support of Rs.6000/- per year in three equal
instalments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having
combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares. Around 12 crore small and

12
https://missionantyodaya.nic.in/preloginAboutMA.html
13
https://pmjdy.gov.in/account
14
http://nsap.nic.in/
15
https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/budget/doc/eb/stat4a.pdf
16
http://gsa.nic.in/Home.aspx
 marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this. This programme will
entail an annual expenditure of ` 75,000 crore.17

 Saubhagya,
Under Saubhagya free electricity connections to all households (both APL and
poor families) in rural areas and poor families in urban areas will be provided. Of
the total households, 99.99% of the households have been electrified and only
18734 households are yet to be electrified.18 This has resulted into a savings of
approximately ` 50,000 crore per year in electricity bills of poor and middle class
families.
 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health of
women & children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that
they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in
unsafe areas collecting firewood. coverage of LPG connections as a result of
PMUY has jumped from 55% in 2004 to 90% now. By January 2019, 64 million
LPG connections have been provided under the Ujjwala scheme. 19 The Centre has
earmarked ₹32,989 crore as cooking gas subsidy for the financial year 2019-2020.
 National Urban Livelihood Mission
 National Rural Livelihood Mission
 National Land Record Management Programme
 Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana
 Atal Pension Yojana
 Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity- for financial inclusion
 Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY)
 National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)
 National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)
 National Maternity Benefit Scheme
 Annapurna
 Integrated Rural Development Program(IRDP)
 Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana
 Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana of Pradhan Mantri- Ajeevika
A total of 1220 households have been mobilized into SHGs. A total expenditure
of 9524 crores has been allocated to the Ajeevika scheme for the financial year
2019-2020.
 Gram Panchayat Development Plan Campaign (Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas)
 Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
 Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,
 Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and
 Mission Indradhanush.
 Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

17
https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/budget/budgetspeech.php
18
https://saubhagya.gov.in/
19
http://www.pmujjwalayojana.com/about.html
  National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013
A direct consequence of poverty is food insecurity.
 Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT),
 Smart Cities Mission
 Digital India
 Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

Global Partnership

 UN’s support to India

 UN in collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NITI Aayog,
is working to produce the first national Tribal Human Development
Report highlighting the socio-economic challenges hindering the
development of tribal groups in the country.

 UN has also provided technical support to Odisha for a state-level

mapping study on social protection. The group continues to support and
disseminate evidence-based knowledge products to influence policy and
programme decisions in relation to poor and socially excluded groups.

 Niti Aayog and United Nations in India have signed Sustainable

Development Framework for 2018-2022. The programmatic work outlined
in the UNSDF targets the seven low-income states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, MP, Odisha, Rajasthan, UP), the North-East region, and the
aspirational districts identified earlier this year by the NITI Aayog. Work
will focus on improving the lives of the most marginalized, poor, and
vulnerable communities and people in the country, especially women and
girls.20

 Other areas of cooperation include integrating citizen-centred planning

and implementation of programmes and local levels linked to the SDGs;
increasing access to entitlements and quality services; improving access to
information on legal rights and opportunities; increasing access to
innovative, digital service delivery solutions and increasing access to and
21
ownership of economic assets.

20
https://in.one.un.org/un-press-release/niti-aayog-and-united-nations-in-india-sign-sustainable-development-
framework-for-2018-2022/
21
https://in.one.un.org/poverty-and-urbanisation/
  World bank’s support to India
 The World Bank and the Government of India today signed a $250 million
agreement for the National Rural Economic Transformation
Project (NRETP) which will help women in rural households shift to a
new generation of economic initiatives by developing viable enterprises
for farm and non-farm products. The National Rural Economic
Transformation Project (NRETP) is an additional financing to the $500
million National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) approved by the
World Bank in July 2011.

Challenges and Emerging Issues

Availability of funds for any government’s initiative alone is not a sufficient condition for
tackling the problems of poverty and backwardness. The determining factor seems to be the
capability of the funding Governments or Ministries to formulate viable schemes, and the
delivery system to optimally utilize funds and achieve sustainable growth.

 Most of the poor live in natural resources-dense areas, most likely in forest areas.
70% of India’s poor live in rural areas and so their dependence on natural
resources is high.22 The efforts to treat poverty are successful in raising economic
status of poor people temporarily but these people do not have the resources to
absorb unforeseen natural shocks like disasters, economic shocks, food insecurity,
climate change or personal emergencies like health issues. With each disaster, or
with each shock that impacts these factors, a poor person takes the first and fast
step towards chronic poverty. Many of those who have officially "escaped"
poverty still live unsteady and grim lives. This is a group for whom slipping
backward into absolute poverty often remains a major risk too.

 Implementation Challenge: The commitment of government of India to eradicate

poverty can be realized only if actions on the national levels are complimented by
initiatives of State governments/Union Territories and that by the local
authorities. There are leakages at various points and at the various stages of any
government’s scheme. For instance, there are leakages at various points in the
Public Distribution System: : in storage, along the distribution chain as grain
makes its way down to the PDS shop, and through ghost and multiple ration

22
https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/70-indians-live-in-rural-areas-census-
111071500171_1.html
 cards. There are also times when part of the grain sits in storage for two or more
years and becomes unfit for human consumption. Adding to this, the MGNREGA
scheme of the government of India also faces some implementation challenges.
As against the guarantee of 100 days of wage employment to one person in each
household annually, MGNREGA’s average achievement has been less than 50
days except in 2009-10 when it touched about 54 days. The average days of work
for a household in 2007-08 were 42, touching 46 in 2012-13 and 2013-14 but
dropped to 40.02 in 2014-2015.23
 Regional Disparities: The commitment of government of India to eradicate
poverty can be realized only if actions on the national levels are complimented by
initiatives of State governments/Union Territories. The states of India reflect
enormous socio-economic disparities. Much of India’s poverty is concentrated in
rural areas and in low-income states. The seven states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for 62
percent of people living in poverty in India. Low-income states as a group,
excepting Rajasthan, have a poverty rate that is twice that of the rest of the
country. People of these states are largely residing in rural areas. The difference
between the states/UTs with highest proportion of people living below poverty
line and states/UTs with the lowest proportion of people living below poverty line
is huge with Chhattisgarh having 39.93% of people living below poverty and
Andaman and Nicobar Islands having 1% of people living below poverty. From
2004-05 to 2011-12, percentage of people below poverty line has decreased from
13.8% to 5% in Goa but in Chhattisgarh it is has decreased from 40.9% to 39.93%
only. This reveals that there are disparities in poverty reduction. Adding to that,
maternal mortality rates also vary between 61 deaths per 100,000 births in Kerala
to over 300 deaths in Assam.24

 Inclusivity problem and gender Inequality: Access to good schools, health care,
electricity, safe water, and other critical services remains elusive for many people,
often determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography. In
the case of India, 43% of ST, 29% of SC and 21% of OBC are poor. Only 29% of
Indians are SC and ST but 43% of poor are SC and ST. The total number of poor
living in India was 270,000,000 (27 crore) in 2012, as per latest data by the World
Bank. Of the total poor, a higher percentage was from Scheduled Castes (SCs)
and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The most vulnerable communities, include, but are
not be limited to: households in extreme poverty, both rural and urban;
households residing in urban slums and informal settlements; vulnerable women,

23
https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/OccasionalPaper_No2_Poverty.pdf
24
http://in.one.un.org/poverty-and-urbanisation/
 children, and young people (15-29 years), especially those belonging to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; orphans and street children; manual
scavengers, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers; the elderly; displaced
populations; religious and other minorities; people with disabilities; the LGBTI
community, sex workers and drug users; people in prisons; and persons living
with HIV. 25 Social customs like the caste system cause segregation and
marginalization of certain sections of the society. ertain castes are considered
untouchables still and are not employed by upper caste, leaving very specific and
low paying jobs that they can live off.

 The process of measurement of poverty in India has been subjected to repeated

contestations. The fact that judgments on what represents a basic necessity of life
vary from person to person makes the choice of a poverty line difficult. Poverty
line and the poverty ratio have three potential uses: identification of poor;
allocation of expenditure on antipoverty programs across states or regions; and
tracking poverty over time and across regions. However, other methods are also
used to allocate the expenditure on anti-poverty programmes. For example, the
expenditure on the provision of housing across states can be done according to the
proportion of households without house within a given state. 26
Likewise, there is no agreed approach to aggregating across various dimensions of
poverty to arrive at a single indicator of poverty. Adding to that, the present
measure of poverty using Tendulkar Poverty line also has some weaknesses. The
key source of public dissatisfaction with the Tendulkar line was that it would
deprive many households in need of government assistance from such assistance
by classifying them as above poverty line (APL) households.27

 Rapidly increasing population: By 2030, the world’s population will have

increased by as many as 1.7 billion people. 90% of this urban explosion will occur
in Asia and Africa. By 2030, more than 400 million people will be living in cities
in India. Furthermore, today, one in every six of India’s urban households live in
slums, a number forecast to rise exponentially over the coming years. 28 With little
employment and bigger families, incomes per head of the family are inadequate
even to meet the basic needs. This is one aspect of the “vicious circle of poverty.”
Population growth spurt also leads to generation of unemployment and that means
diluting out of wages for jobs further lowering income. 29

25
https://in.one.un.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UNSDF_Print-Revised-To-be-Approved-low-res.pdf
26
https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/OccasionalPaper_No2_Poverty.pdf
27
https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/OccasionalPaper_No2_Poverty.pdf
28
http://in.one.un.org/poverty-and-urbanisation/
29
https://learn.culturalindia.net/essay-poverty-india-causes-effects-solutions.html
  According to international poverty line ($1.90) 268.1 million people live below
poverty line. However, according to lower middle income class poverty line
($3.20), 762.9 million people live below poverty line. Thus, the performance of
India is not as satisfactory with respect to the lower middle income class criteria.30
 There is also an ongoing debate involving the impact of growth on the poor.
Whether the overall growth is helping the poor or it is leaving certain social and
religious groups behind remains a contested discourse. In a society characterized
by gross inequality in the distribution of assets, economic growth itself fails to
reduce poverty.
 Rapid urbanization: The urban share of India’s population was around 31 percent
according to the 2011 census and is expected to cross 40 percent by 2030. While
bringing a range of economic benefits, such rapid urbanisation has brought with it
enormous challenges, most noticeably in the form of demand-supply gaps in
housing, infrastructure and services. One in six people in urban areas lives in
slums.31
 In a deeper sense, India's progress raises a dilemma. India upholds impressive
records in terms of absolute poverty reduction. However, the human development
indicators paint a different picture. In terms of maternal mortality rate, India ranks
56 and in terms of infant mortality rate, it ranks 47. 32

Way forward

 Population control
 Shifting from agriculture to industries
 Human resource development- concentration on health and education

Inclusion is central to the broader aims of sustainable, resilient economic growth and poverty
reduction. Equality across all the SDGs should be at the centre of India’s policies which are
aimed at achieving sustainable development goals. Adding to that, there is a need to shift the
discourse towards gender equality and mainstream it across all the SDGs.

India ranks 130 out 189 countries on Human Development Index as per the 2018 Global Human
Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
India’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development
category.33 Disparity in education by income has decreased in all types of education over the

30
http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/IND
31
https://in.one.un.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UNSDF_Print-Revised-To-be-Approved-low-res.pdf
32
https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?t=0&v=29&l=en
33
https://in.one.un.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UNSDF_Print-Revised-To-be-Approved-low-res.pdf
years. More emphasis should now placed on ensuring access to quality education as poor quality
education leading to low skills fails to get poor children out of poverty and binds them in this
vicious circle. Other types of disparity in education such as disparity by disability and ethnic
groups need to be addressed. On the other hand, there are several areas in which, if modified,
MGNREGA could deliver significantly better outcomes than currently. For example, the scheme
could be modified to impart skills which would not only pave the way for many workers to exit
the program but also make them competent for other jobs.

Due the inherent information asymmetries prevalent in public provision, there are inefficiencies
in the way the benefits reach the intended beneficiaries. Since revamping entire systems of
public provision are very costly for governments, cheaper solutions such as the use of technology
can help improve monitoring and supervision of government programmes.

Strengthening partnerships with the private sector, research organizations, civil society, NGOs
and local and international organizations, to co-create development solutions will ensure that the
poor gain better market access and benefit from sustained earnings and enhanced incomes, and
will provide innovative, affordable, development solutions.

Thus there is a need to focus on steps necessary to accelerate growth such that it generates
employment opportunities in large volume and helps raise wages; and steps towards making anti-
poverty programs more effective. Ensuring people have not only access to good education,
employment, health facilities but also ensuring the quality of these provisions is the need of the
hour. Targeting the welfare system to those who need it the most will ensure maximum inclusion
both financially and socially.

While the government has taken big strides in improving the lives of the urban poor, the private
sector must also start contributing. If companies can place equally important value on profit,
planet and people, they could be change enablers. It makes good business sense. After all, some
of India’s most vulnerable people also happen to be one of the biggest market segments.34 The
government will also have to create an enabling environment, where businesses are incentivized
to invest in urban infrastructure and services.

34
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/these-are-the-challenges-faced-by-india-s-urban-poor-and-how-
we-can-solve-them/