Poverty as a Challenge
What poverty means, how it is measured by the poverty line, who the poor are, and how India is trying to remove it.
The big idea
Think first
Two families may earn nearly the same few rupees a day, yet one is counted poor and the other is not. Where exactly does India draw the line, and what does the line miss?
Poverty is the greatest challenge India has faced since independence. It is not only a shortage of money. It is a daily experience of hunger, insecurity and lack of dignity. Understanding what poverty is, how it is measured, who suffers it most, and how it can be removed is essential. It is both a deep human concern and a heavily tested topic.
What is poverty
Poverty means being unable to secure the minimum requirements of a decent life: enough food, clean water, shelter, clothing, education and health care.
For a poor family, poverty shows up as hunger and malnutrition, lack of shelter, no access to clean water or sanitation, children kept out of school, and a constant sense of helplessness and insecurity. The poor depend on others and have little voice. They are vulnerable to any shock, such as illness or a bad harvest. Poverty is therefore best understood not just as low income but as a deprivation of basic capabilities.
Check yourself
A student defines poverty simply as having a low income. What does the fuller understanding of poverty add?
The poverty line
To measure poverty, economists draw a poverty line. This is a level of income or consumption below which a person is counted as poor.
In India the line is based on a minimum level of consumption. It is the money needed to buy a basket of essentials. This basket is anchored to a minimum calorie requirement, a daily norm of food energy. The norm is set higher for rural areas, where work is more physical. Anyone whose consumption falls below the value of that basket is below the poverty line.
The poverty line is useful for comparing poverty over time and between regions. But it is a blunt tool. It counts only a bare minimum and ignores other deprivations, such as a lack of education or clean water.
Previous-year questions
Previous-year question
2019UPSCIn a given year in India, official poverty lines are higher in some States than in others because:
Previous-year question
1999UPSCPersons below the poverty line in India are classified as such based on whether:
Who are the poor
Poverty does not fall evenly. It strikes hardest at particular groups:
- Rural: landless agricultural labourers and small farmers.
- Urban: casual labourers and the self-employed poor.
- Social groups: the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have far higher poverty rates than average.
- Within families: women, elderly people and girl children often bear the heaviest burden.
Poverty also varies sharply between states. States like Bihar and Odisha have had much higher poverty than Punjab or Kerala. This shows that policy and growth can make a real difference.
Check yourself
Poverty in India strikes some groups far harder than others. Which of the following correctly names the worst-affected groups?
Causes and anti-poverty measures
The deep causes of India's poverty include the low level of economic development inherited from colonial rule. Colonial rule destroyed traditional industry. Other causes include the rapid rise in population and the unequal distribution of land and resources.
Growth that did not reach every person
India's national income has grown several fold since 1947. Yet per capita income, the income per person, has improved only modestly. Rapid population growth divided the gains among ever more people. Widespread poverty is therefore a consequence of this slow growth in per capita income, not its cause.
Why rural incomes lag behind urban incomes
Rural incomes have remained lower than urban incomes for three standard reasons:
- Low investment in agriculture: investment in farming has been low compared with investment in industry.
- Adverse terms of trade: prices of primary farm products are lower than prices of manufactured products, so farmers earn less for what they sell.
- Illiteracy: widespread illiteracy among farmers limits the use of scientific agriculture, keeping yields and incomes low.
India's strategy to remove poverty rests on two legs:
- Economic growth: a faster-growing economy creates jobs and resources, which can pull people out of poverty.
- Targeted anti-poverty programmes: schemes aimed directly at the poor, such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which guarantees 100 days of wage employment a year to rural households, and various schemes for food, housing and self-employment.
Programmes and the bodies that run them
Two names from the second leg are tested often:
- National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM): aims to improve rural livelihoods by mobilising the poor into self-help groups (SHGs) and providing skill development and training. It does not set up manufacturing industries, and it does not supply free farm inputs such as seeds, fertiliser or pump-sets.
- District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs): district-level coordinating bodies for anti-poverty programmes. They secure coordination across sectors and departments and watch over the effective utilisation of programme funds. They are coordinating agencies, not Panchayati Raj Institutions, and they do not conduct scientific studies of the causes of poverty.
Poverty has fallen over the decades. But it remains widespread, and removing it fully is still India's central challenge.
Previous-year questions
Previous-year question
2012UPSCHow do District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) help in the reduction of rural poverty in India?
- DRDAs act as Panchayati Raj Institutions in certain specified backward regions of the country.
- DRDAs undertake area-specific scientific study of the causes of poverty and malnutrition and prepare detailed remedial measures.
- DRDAs secure inter-sectoral and inter-departmental coordination and cooperation for effective implementation of anti-poverty programmes.
- DRDAs watch over and ensure effective utilization of the funds intended for anti-poverty programmes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Previous-year question
2012UPSCHow does the National Rural Livelihood Mission seek to improve livelihood options of rural poor?
- By setting up a large number of new manufacturing industries and agri-business centres in rural areas
- By strengthening 'self-help groups' and providing skill development
- By supplying seeds, fertilizers, diesel pump-sets and micro-irrigation equipment free of cost to farmers
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
Previous-year question
1996UPSCAssertion (A): Though India's national income has gone up several fold since 1947, there has been no marked improvement in the per capita income level. Reason (R): Sizeable proportion of the population of India is still living below the poverty line. In the context of the above two statements which one of the following is correct?
Previous-year question
1996UPSCIn India, rural incomes are generally lower than the urban incomes. Which of the following reasons account for this? I. A large number of farmers are illiterate and know little about scientific agriculture. II. Prices of primary products are lower than those of manufactured products. III. Investment in agriculture has been low when compared to investment in industry. Select the correct answer by using the codes given below:
Previous-year question
1995UPSCWhich one of the following is true regarding the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY)?
Key takeaways
- Poverty = inability to meet minimum needs (food, shelter, education, health), meaning hunger, insecurity and helplessness
- The poverty line is a minimum income/consumption level, based on a minimum calorie norm (higher for rural areas)
- Worst hit: landless labourers, casual workers, Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Poverty varies sharply between states
- Causes: colonial under-development, population growth, unequal land/resources
- Tackled by economic growth + targeted schemes like MGNREGA (100 days' guaranteed rural work)
- NRLM mobilises the rural poor into self-help groups
- DRDAs coordinate district anti-poverty programmes; not Panchayati Raj Institutions
- National income grew several fold; population growth kept per capita gains modest
- Rural incomes lag: low farm investment, adverse prices, illiteracy
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