Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

The government was not successful in poverty alleviation through the three-dimensional approach because of the following reasons:

  • Although various initiatives were taken by the government to alleviate poverty, hunger and malnourishment, many regions of India lack basic amenities and educational facilities.
  • The number of resources allocated for poverty alleviation programs was not sufficient to cope with the magnitude of poverty in India.
  • Unequal distribution of income, corruption and mismanagement of poverty alleviation programs created obstacles in the process of removing poverty in India.
  • Thus, government programs for employment generation, economic growth and poverty alleviation failed to alleviate poverty in India. In addition, government policies failed to tackle the majority of vulnerable groups.

Poverty Alleviation Programmes:

  1. Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)
  • It provides financial assistance to set up any kind of enterprise.
  • It generates employment opportunities for the educated unemployed from low-income families in rural and urban areas.
  1. Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP)
  • It is implemented through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission to assist eligible entrepreneurs to set up village industry units.
  • It creates employment opportunities in villages including small towns with a population of up to 20,000.
  1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
  • In this scheme, the state governments provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
  • If work is not provided within a 15-day period, then the applicant is eligible for unemployment allowance by the state government.
  1. Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SJGSY)
  • This was launched in 2000 to reduce the levels of poverty in India.
  • The central government provided financial assistance to the states for the fulfillment of necessities such as primary health and education.
  • It also aims to provide clean drinking water in rural areas and provide shelter to the poor.

Wage Employment Programmes

  1. Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY): The scheme aims to provide additional and supplementary wage employment by undertaking labor-intensive work, thereby providing food security and increasing nutritional levels.
    • Wages were paid as a combination of food grains and cash.
    • The scheme of SGRY is open to all rural poor who need wage employment and desire to do manual and unskilled work in and around their village or habitat.
  2. National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP): This program was launched in 2004 with the objective of intensifying the generation of supplementary wage employment.
    • NFFWP was initially implemented in 150 most backward districts of the country, to provide additional resources apart from the resources available under SGRY
    • The program was implemented as a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
    • Wage Employment under This program was incorporated in Mahatma Gandhi's "Food for Work" Programme National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005.
    • MGNREGA aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
    • All those among the poor who are ready to work at the minimum wage can report for work in areas, where this program is implemented.
    • In 2013-14, nearly five crore households got employment opportunities under this law.

A critical assessment of poverty alleviation programs

  • Due to unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits from alleviation programs have been appropriated by the non-poor.
  • Compared to the magnitude of poverty, the amount of resources allocated for these programs are not sufficient.
  • Resources are inefficiently used and wasted because the officials involved in the implementation of the program are ill-motivated, inadequately trained, corrupt and vulnerable to pressure from a variety of local elites.
  • Government policies have also failed to address the vast majority of vulnerable people who are living on or just above the poverty line.