POVERTY

POVERTY

Meaning: Poverty refers to a state in which an individual is unable to fulfill even the necessities of life.

Poverty is the inability to secure minimum human needs such as food, clothing, housing, education and health. When a person is unable to fulfill these basic needs, it leads to pain and distress. The poor are people who reside in kutcha hutments with walls made of baked mud and roofs made of bamboo, grass and wood. They are illiterate with low skills and possess few assets for their day-to-day requirement. Based on the occupation and the ownership of assets, the poor can be identified in the rural and urban areas.

Common Characteristics of Poor People

1. Hunger, starvation and malnutrition: Starvation and hunger are the basic problems of the poorest households. Malnutrition is alarmingly high among the poor.
2. Poor Health: They are generally physically weak due to ill health, disability, or serious illness. Their children are less likely to survive or be born healthy.
3. Limited Economic Opportunities: They have Bigger Families very limited economic opportunities due to a lack of literacy and skills. Therefore, they face unstable employment.
4. Debt Trap: They borrow from moneylenders, who charge high rates of interest that push them into chronic indebtedness.
5. Lack of facilities for electricity and water: Most poor households do not have access to electricity. Their primary cooking fuel is firewood and cow dung cake. A large section of poor people does not even have access to safe drinking water.
6. Gender Inequality: Gender inequality prevails within the family in regard to the participation in gainful employment, education and in decision-making. Poor women receive less care on their way to motherhood.
7. Bigger Families: The poor families are bigger in size, which makes their economic condition worse.

Causes of Poverty

1. Inequality in the distribution of income and wealth
   • During the plan periods, the national income of India has been increasing, but it has not been distributed properly among the different sections of people.
   • Majority of the income of the economy has been enjoyed by the rich.
   • These inequalities in the distribution of wealth and income have worsened the problem of poverty in India.
2. Underdevelopment of an economy
   • Physical and natural resources are underutilized because of a lack of technology, capital and entrepreneurial ability.
   • Therefore, the productive capacity and gross domestic product of the economy are low.
   • Primitive technology of production occurs in the agricultural sector.
   • They lack irrigation facilities, fertilizers and a high-yielding variety of seeds.
   • This backwardness in agriculture has given rise to rural poverty.
3. Indebtedness
   • Poor people take loans from the rich section of society to meet their basic needs.
   • In return, they pay a high rate of interest for the amount borrowed from moneylenders.
   • Moneylenders exploit them, and they thus live below the poverty line from one generation to another.
4. Price inflation
   • Upward trends in the consumer price index during the plan periods led to a fall in the real income of fixed and low-income earners.
   • Inflation decreases the purchasing power, and hence, there is a low standard of living and a high incidence of poverty.
5. High rate of population growth
   • Because of an increase in population, the dependency burden has increased.
   • Hence, the provision for their minimum needs becomes a crucial problem.
   • This high growth rate of the population also signifies lower availability of health facilities and other amenities and therefore a lower standard of living.
6. Unemployment
   • The poverty level increases with the rise in the number of unemployed.
   • Because of unemployment, the number of dependents on the employed population increases.
   • This results in a decline in the consumption expenditure per head and a majority of people are living in poverty.
7. Illiteracy
   • Because of a lack of literacy, Indian farmers fail to learn new methods of cultivation or adopt new tools for production.
   • In addition, village moneylenders succeed in cheating them more easily.
   • On the other hand, urban people are employed as unskilled workers and receive very low wages in return.
   • They mostly live in slums and lead miserable lives.
8. Social causes
   • Many social factors such as the caste system, religious faith and beliefs, and joint family system have hindered the process of economic growth.
9. Political causes
   • Policies of the colonial government have ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged the development of textile industries.
   • Even after Independence, the government failed to protect the interests of the poor.

Global Hunger Index

The Global Hunger Index aims to track hunger at the world, regional and country levels. It is an annual report (peer-reviewed) published by Concern Worldwide of Ireland and Welthungerhilfe (a German non-profit organization). 

Global Hunger Index Scoring

GHI ranks countries on a 100 point scale, with 0 representing zero/no hunger. The GHI scores are based on four indicators. Taken together, the component indicators reflect deficiencies in calories as well as in micronutrients. Thus, the GHI reflects both aspects of hunger (undernutrition and malnutrition).

1. UNDERNOURISHMENT: the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient.
2. CHILD STUNTING the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age.
3. CHILD WASTING is the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height.
4. CHILD MORTALITY: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

India ranks 101st out of 116 countries in the GHI 2021 rankings. With a score of 27.5, India has a level of hunger that is ‘serious’.