Poverty in India

Poverty in India is still rampant despite an impressive economic growth. An estimated

250 million people are below the poverty line and approximately 75 per cent of them are
in the rural areas.

In general, poverty can be defined as a situation when people are unable to satisfy the
basic needs of life. The definition and methods of measuring poverty differs from country
to country. According to the definition by Planning Commission of India, poverty line is
drawn with an intake of 2400 calories in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. If a
person is unable to get that much minimum level of calories, then he/she is considered as
being below poverty line.

Causes of Poverty in India

• High level of dependence on primitive methods of agriculture

• High population growth rate
• High Illiteracy (about 35% of adult population)
• Regional inequalities
• Protectionist policies pursued till 1991 that prevented high foreign investment

Government has introduced a number of antipoverty programs since independence to

alleviate poverty. These include various employment guarantee programmes such as
National Rural Employment Programme, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee
Programme etc. Recently, Government has initiated National Rural Employment
Guarantee Program (NREGP). As per NREGP, the government will provide 100 days of
employment per year to whosoever is willing to work. NREGP is considered as a
landmark program in poverty alleviation measures.

One of the major problems with poverty alleviation programs is their implementation.
Rajiv Gandhi once said that out of 100 paisa allocated for poor only 14 paisa reaches
them. But in spite of their weaknesses, poverty alleviated program can be credited for
their success in alleviating poverty to an extent. Greater public-private partnership and
committed and efficient bureaucratic machinery is required to tackle poverty.

Different people think about poverty in different ways. Some people think that poverty is
about being able to buy and sell but other people think about getting a fair share of
education and health care or about being given respect, and having some influence over
what happens in their life. Because of these differences it is useful to think about two
main types of poverty - income poverty and non-income poverty
Income poverty happens when a household takes in less than one US dollar per day.
This means that people will not have enough food or medicine and they will have poor
clothes and houses. Income poverty is due to people not having access to money or other
assets. If people do not have any other assets like land to grow their own food, then
income poverty can result in stunted growth and early death.
The best way to reduce income poverty is to encourage and support the development of
effective businesses (small, medium and large) which make good use of our natural
resources and talents to create wealth and jobs

Non income poverty happens when people may have a little bit of money but otherwise
the quality of their life is not good. They do not have access to affordable social and
physical services (schooling, health care, medicines, safe water, good sanitation, good
transport) and they may not feel safe in their homes either because they cannot trust the
authorities or because they belong to some particularly vulnerable group
The best way to reduce non-income poverty it to make sure that people have access to
affordable and good quality social services and infrastructure, that they feel secure in
their homes, that they trust the authorities and, if they are vulnerable, that there are safety
net programmes to protect them
Poverty in India: Current Situation
Poverty is one of the main issues, attracting the attention of sociologists and economists.
It indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for
a comfortable lifestyle.

Though India boasts of a high economic growth, it is shameful that there is still large
scale poverty in India. Poverty in India can be defined as a situation when a certain
section of people are unable to fulfill their basic needs. India has the world's largest
number of poor people living in a single country. Out of its total population of more than
1 billion, 350 to 400 million people are living below the poverty line. Nearly 75% of the
poor people are in rural areas, most of them are daily wagers, landless laborers and self
employed house holders. There are a number of reasons for poverty in India. Poverty in
India can be classified into two categories namely rural poverty and urban poverty.

Reasons for Rural Poverty

Some of the basic reasons of rural poverty in India are:

• Unequal distribution of income.

• High population growth.
• Illiteracy.
• Large families.
• Caste system.
Problems Of Rural Poverty

• Presence of malnutrition, illiteracy, diseases and long term health problems.

• Unhygienic living conditions, lack of proper housing, high infant mortality rate,
injustice to women and social ill-treatment of certain sections of society.

Steps Taken by Government to Reduce Rural Poverty

The government of India has been trying its best to remove poverty. Some of the
measures which the government has taken to remove rural poverty are:

• Small farmer’s development Programme.

• Drought area development Programme.
• Minimum needs Programme.
• National rural employment Programme.
• Assurance on employment.
• Causes for Urban Poverty.

Causes for Urban Poverty

The causes of urban poverty in India are:

• Improper training
• Slow job growth.
• Failure of PDS system

Problems Of Urban Poverty

• Restricted access to employment opportunities and income.

• Lack of proper housing facilities
• Unhygienic environments
• No social security schemes
• Lack of opportunity to quality health and educational services.

The steps taken by government to remove urban poverty are:

• Nehru Rozgar Yojna.

• Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna.
• Urban Basic services for the poor Programme.
• National social Assistance Programme.

But these processes can be helpful only if the policies go to those people for whom it is
meant. The clash between the central government and the state government often results
in the lack of implementation of these policies. So it is very important that the
governments do not play power politics when it comes to a serious issue such as poverty.
Year All India % Rural % Urban%
1973 54.9 56.4 49.0
1978 51.3 53.1 45.2
1983 44.5 45.7 40.8
1988 38.9 39.1 38.2
1994 36.0 37.3 32.4
1999 26.1 27.1 23.6