POVERTY ERADICATION IN THE NEW MILLENIUM

POVERTY ERADICATION IN THE NEW MILLENIUM ABSTRACT Poverty in India emerged out of a long established malaise in the economic structure skewed distribution of ownership of income yielding assets. The institutional malady needs to be rectified in the long run. The effect of an unequal distribution of income yielding assets has been cumulative, resulting in the continuance and intensification of this skewness. Any attempt to break the vicious circle of poverty without tampering with the vicious circle of affluence will not affect the cumulative process or halt the widening gap between the rich and the poor. It is in this context that Garibi Hatao (Removal of poverty) is incomplete as a drive in the eradication of poverty. In other words it must be complemented with Amiri Hatao (Removal of affluence) .The removal of poverty continues to be an elusive goal, and thus the progress in achieving this goal is rather halting. So the present study is based on the analysis of effectiveness of poverty eradication programme in the new millennium. Key words: Poverty, Parameters, Categories of poverty, Human Poverty Index, Poverty eradication, HDI. INTRODUCTION Fundamentally, poverty is denial of choices and opportunities, a violence of human dignity .It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having a school or clinic to go to; not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation. Poverty is understood in common parlance as shortage of income. However social development treats poverty as going beyond income and considers it a multidimensional issue. It asserts that poverty is the by-product of livelihood systems which are shaped by socio-political and economic forces. The government effort to remove poverty can only be directed towards improving the material well-being of the poor and not to spiritual and political freedom. This article analyse the current trends in the area of poverty reduction. ( Dandekar and Rath 1971). THE CONCEPT OF POVERTY Poverty can be derived as a social phenomenon in which a section of the society is unable to fulfill even its basic necessities of life. When a substantial society of a segment of a society is deprived of the minimum level of living and continues at a bear subsistence level, that society is said to be plagued with mass poverty. The countries of the third world exhibit invariably the existence of mass poverty, although pockets of poverty exist even in the developed countries of Europe and America. In India, the generally accepted definition of poverty emphasizes minimum level of living rather than a reasonable level of living. This attitude is born out of a realization that it would not be possible to provide even a minimum quantum of basic needs for some decades and, therefore to walk about a reasonable level of living or good life may appear to be wishful thinking at the present stage. Thus, political considerations enter the definitions of poverty because programmes of alleviating poverty may become prohibitive as the vision of a good lines widen. The upshot of the entire argument is that the absolute standard of poverty expressed in terms of minimum requirements of cereals, pulses, milk, vegetables, butter or calorie intake is conditioned by the relative levels of living prevalent in the country. The deprivation of a significant section of the society of minimum basic needs in the face of the luxurious life for the elite classes makes poverty more glaring. PARAMETERS TO MEASURE POVERTY At world level, United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) sets parameter to measure poverty, whereas in India, Planning Commission, on the recommendations of committees, set the parameter. Earlier, United Nation Development Programme had set Human Poverty Index (HPI) as a parameter to measure poverty in its Human Development Reports, but 2010 onwards it switched over to a new parameter, namely, Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). Similarly in India, Planning Commission constitutes expert committees at regular intervals to suggest new formula for identifying the people below the poverty line. The HPI concentrates on the deprivation in the three essential elements of human life longevity, knowledge and a decent standard of living. It includes The first deprivation relates to survival, the likeliness of death a relatively early age and is represented by the probability of not surviving to ages 40 and 6 respectively. The second dimension relates to knowledge, being excluded from the world of reading and communication and is measured by the percentage of adults who are illiterate. The third aspect relates to a decent standard of living, in particular, overall economic provisioning. CATEGORIES OF POVERTY The Nobel Laureate and economist, Amartya Sen., has elaborated poverty is more than just lack of income, even though this is an important factor. Although poverty is a relative concept, but where there is an absolute poverty we can categorise the poor people by defining the poverty line. Some are always poor, some are occasionally poor and some are never poor, so it is important to categorise them for better understanding. The three categories are: Chronic poor, Transient poor and Non-poor. In chronic poor group, some people are always poor and some are usually poor, but who may sometimes have a little more money (e.g. casual worker). Another group is the churning poor, who regularly move in and out of poverty (e.g. small farmers and seasonal workers) and the occasionally poor, who are rich most of the time, but may, sometimes have patch of bad luck. They are called the Transient Poor. And then there are those, who are never poor and they are the non-poor. (General studies 2005) POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMMES The problem of poverty eradication is one of providing employment and raising the productivity of low level employment. The Approach Document to the fifth Plan categorically states: “Employment is the surest way to enable the vast numbers, living below the poverty level to rise above it. Conventional fiscal measures for redistribution of income, cannot by themselves, make a significant impact on the problem.” The following measures can help to enlarge employment and in the process lead to removal of poverty:- Redistribution of land acquired after the imposition of a ceiling 10-12 acres among the small and marginal farmers. Provision of security of tenure of sharecroppers and temporary tenants. To workout of a programme of providing employment to 5.63 million families on uncultivable and barren lands, current fallows and cultivable wastes. The schemes of land redistribution and land colonization cannot be considered sufficient in themselves to solve the problem of rural poverty, although they form an important basic component in this direction. Consequently, industrialization of rural India with labour intensive techniques, along with egalitarian distribution of land ownership, can alleviate poverty in India. Consistent with the poverty eradication programme, 10 million needs to be created every year. The Government has now taken three major programmes, IRDP, NREP and RLEGP for the purpose. A major problem of these programmes is to organise public works to create durable assets by assigning them to contractors. Such a scheme fails to create permanent machinery which can take up programmes of creation of durable assets on a continuing basis throughout the year. It has been observed that the contractors try to recruit labour and push the programme at high speed in a short period of time. Besides, the contractors do not pay a high wage but are interested in maximizing their profit. The upshot of the entire argument is that the contractor system defeats the very purpose of the programme because of differences in motivation. It is, therefore, necessary to provide an institutional framework in which the village people, more especially the small farmers and landless agricultural labourers, are given the authority and responsibility to executive the programme. Only then can the cause of providing employment for 10 months in a year be furthered. Development of towns with a population range of 10,000 to 20,000 as growth centers using local labour and available raw materials. For this, detailed district level planning is needed. Such centers can become nuclei of growth and landless labourers or other non-cultivating workers can be drawn in without altering the routine of their lives. The new growth centres should take up investment in dairying and animal husbandry, poultry farming, fishing, forestry, small-scale industries, etc. in this context, the PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas) programme suggested by President APJ Abdul Kalam needs to be implemented. Provision of water to dry lands by extending minor irrigation. Create opportunities of self-employment by extending credit to low income groups both in the rural and urban areas. Encourage production of items of mass consumption, especially wage goods, small cage and cottage industries so that employment potential of the economy is enlarged. Provide a much greater quantum of grants for schools in the backward areas and for backward classes so that inequality of opportunity can be reduced. Most of the schemes for the amelioration of the poor get distorted during the process of implementation. Either they are abandoned or are soft-pedaled. It is, therefore, essential that programmes of rural development are not put under the charge of panchayats. Instead, special development council should be setup in which majority representation should be given to the small and marginal farmers, the artisans and landless labourers. Unless the structure of development councils is revolutionized, it would not be possible to implement the policies designed for the poor. The present nexus between the bureaucrat, the landlord-capitalist and politician can be broken only by the creation of people’s development councils. It is only then that a overt eradication programme has a chance of success. (Sen& Abjith 2000) INDIA’S RECORD OF POVERTY REDUCTION: CURRENT ANALYSIS The planning commission is responsible for the estimation of poverty in India. It makes poverty estimates based on a large sample survey of household consumption expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) after an interval of every five years. The commission has been estimating the poverty line and poverty ratio since 1997on the basis of methodology spelt out in the report of the expert group on Estimation of Number and Proportion of poor, also known as Lakdawala Committee Report. After that the government also appointed several committees like Prof. Suresh Tendulkar, Dr .N.C Saxena etc are appointed to analyse the situation of our country.(General Studies 2013). According to the NSSO survey 2011-12, over a span of seven years the incidence of poverty declined from 37.2 per cent to 21.9 percent, a sharper decline in the number of rural poor. The following table shows the trends and India’s position in global HDI. TRENDS AND INDIA’S POSITION IN GLOBAL HDI COUNTRY HDI 2013 VALUE RANK CHANGE IN RANK OVER 2012-13 2008-13 GNI GII 2013 VALUE RANK NORWAY US GERMANY UK RUSSIAN FED BRAZIL CHINA SOURH AFRICA INDIA BEGLADESH PAKISTAN 0.944 0.914 0.911 0.892 0.778 0.750 0.744 0.719 0.658 0.586 0.558 0.537 1 5 6 14 57 73 79 91 118 135 142 146 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 -2 -1 -2 5 -4 10 2 1 2 -1 63,909 52,308 43,049 35,002 22,617 9,250 14,275 11,477 11,788 5,150 2,713 4,652 0.068 0.262 0.046 0.193 0.314 0.381 0.441 0.202 0.461 0.563 0.529 0.563 9 47 3 35 52 75 85 37 94 127 115 127 WORLD 0.702 - - 13,723 0.451 - Source: HRD 2014. The 2014 Human Development Report(HDR)presents the Human Development Index(HDI)values and ranks for 187 countries in terms of three basic parameters :to live a long and healthy life, to be educated and knowledgeable and to enjoy a decent standard of living .India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586,positioning the country at 135 out of 187 countries and territories-the lowest among the BRICS countries, with Russia at 57,Brazil at 79,China at 91 and, South Africa at118,and slightly ahead Bangladesh and Pakistan. Significantly, while China improved its ranking by ten places between 2008 and 2013, India’s position improved by just one rank. Thus a lot remains to be done to bridge the gap. RECOMMENDATIONS Participation of people’s representatives in governmental programmes. The governmental programmes should be growth with equity oriented. Government should make time to time check on various programmes before allotting funds. Raise the minimum wages. Proper vocational training for future generations. Create entrepreneurs. CONCLUSION We wanted to be a super-economic power by 2020, it a vision that we want to tackle. For this, it is necessary to take steps to reach out the benefits of economic growth to ‘aam admi’ (common people).The conclusion emerges from the analysis was that; poverty can create a situation of social exclusion. It inhibits the participation of certain groups in social affairs, much wider than the mere concept of poverty. It is because of this reason our government initiated a new idea of inclusive growth. It provides an opportunity to empower all. The government initiated skill development programme as a part of poverty eradication inaugurated in 2015 July15 was one of the latest development. So, there is a hope before us. It remember us one thing, we have miles to go before we sleep. REFERENCE Abijith, S. (2004). Estimates of Consumer Expenditure and its Distibution. Economic and Political Weekly , December 16. Dandekar V,M.&Ragh. (1971, January 9). Poverty in India:Dimentions and Trends. Economic&Political Weekly . Hills, T. M. (2013). General Studies 2013. New Delhi: Tata Macgrew Hills Private Limited. India, G. o. (2014-15). Economic Survey of India. Economic Division, Department of Economic Affairs. Phorpe, A. (2005). General Studies for civil sevice.