Revision Notes

Class – 9 Economics
Chapter 3 - Poverty As A Challenge

● In India every 4th person is poor. Roughly, around 70 million people in the
country live under poverty, according to the estimates of year 2011-12. India-
also has the largest population of poor in the world. In our day-to- day lives,
we generally come across people who suffer from poverty. They can be people
who landless labourers of villages, or who generally live in overcrowded
juggis in the city, and daily wage earners at construction sites or even child
labourers at dhabas.

● Various Aspects Related to Poverty

❖ There could be two causes of poverty. One is the rural poverty and other is
urban poverty. Poverty is also associated with landlessness, illiteracy,
unemployment, poor health or even malnutrition, child labour, helplessness
and also the family size.

❖ Poverty means lack of any kind of shelter & suffering from hunger. Poor
people are not being able to send their children to school or afford treatment
when they are sick. Poor people also lack the basic means of life

❖ like clean water and basic sanitation facilities. They also lack a regular job
with kind of proper wages. Poor people are then mistreated everywhere.

● Poverty Line

❖ To measure poverty, a common method is generally used which is based on

income & consumption levels. If a person is unable to satisfy his/her basic
 needs then he or she is considered as poor. Poverty line also varies with time
and place. For each country, poverty line is considered different.

❖ Basic amenities like food requirements, clothing, footwear, fuel, education,

light & the medical requirements are determined for measuring poverty. Food
items like cereals, pulses, vegetables, oil and sugar together provide calories
to body. Calorie requirement varies with age, sex and type of work that a
person does. In India, the average calorie requirement is 2400 calories / day
in rural areas and 2100 calories / day in urban areas. People living in rural
areas are also associated with more heavy physical work hence that calorie
requirement is higher in people living in rural areas in comparison to urban
areas. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) is responsible for
doing surveys to determine the standard of the poverty line in the country.

● Vulnerable Groups in India

❖ The proportion of people who are below the poverty line is not equal for all
the social groups & the economic categories in the country. Some groups are
more vulnerable than other. These are Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribe households. Also, among the economic groups, agricultural labourers &
the urban casual labours are more vulnerable. In India, out of 100 poor people,
43 of them are of Scheduled Tribes. 34% of casual urban workers are also
below the poverty line. 23% percent of the Scheduled Castes community are
also poor.

❖ Recent studies have shown that except Scheduled Tribe households the other
groups of Scheduled Castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual
labourers have seen a decline in poverty since 1990. In poor families, some
people also suffer more than others. In some cases, women, female infants
and elderly people are denied equal access to resources available to the family.
● Interstate Disparities in Poverty Levels

❖ Not every state in the country has the same proportion of poor people. The
success rate of poverty reduction since the early seventies generally varies
from state to state.

❖ The all-India headcount ratio is 21.9% in states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar & Orissa. This was also lower than the all-India
poverty levels in the year 2011-12. Till date Bihar and Orissa are the two of
the poorest states having poverty ratios of 33.7 and 32.6. However, there has
been a good decline of poverty in states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat & the West Bengal. States of Haryana and
Punjab have also succeeded in poverty reduction with the help of high
agricultural growth. Kerala has focused on human resource development.

❖ In West Bengal, the land reform measures had been undertaken which helped
in poverty reduction. Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu had distributed food
grains amongst the public which reduced the poverty levels.

● Causes of Poverty

There are various reasons for the prevalence of widespread poverty in India.
Some of these are:

❖ Economic exploitation under the British colonial rule can be seen as one of
the reasons. The policies of the British government ruined traditional cottage,
handicrafts & textile industries. The low growth rate was also persistent till
the 1980s. There were low job opportunities and incomes accompanied by
high population growth. The growth rate per capita income was also
extremely low.

❖ With the dawn of the Green Revolution in the country, new job opportunities
were created also present in the agricultural sector. The problem with this was
that it was limited to some parts of the country. There were industries in the
 public & private sectors which provided some jobs but were unable to provide
jobs to all the seekers. People who were unable to find proper jobs started
working as construction workers, vendors, domestic servants, rickshaw
pullers, etc. These people then could not afford proper housing and hence
started living in slums.

❖ Another reason for this high poverty rates in the country has been huge income
inequalities. This was because of the unequal distribution of land & resources.
In India, there is also a lack of proper land resources and this has also been a
major cause of poverty.

● Proper implementation of government policies will improve the conditions of

poverty-stricken people.

● Farmers in the country also require money to buy agricultural inputs like
fertilizers, pesticides, seeds etc. They used to borrow money which they were
then unable to repay because of poverty. When they are unable to repay the
loan, they become victims of the indebtedness which is both a cause and effect
of poverty.

● Money is then spent in the country by both the poor and the non-poor to fulfil
social and religious obligations and ceremonies. This spent money could be
used for something else in a meaningful manner.

● Anti-Poverty Measures

Presently, the anti-poverty scheme has two parts to it. First is the promotion
of economic growth and second is targeted anti-poverty programmes. Since
1980 India's economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world.
 Economic growth and poverty reduction are associated with each other. There
were some schemes formulated aimed at reducing poverty. These are-

❖ The MGNREGA or rural employment act of 2005. This act provided 100
days of wage employment to every household in rural areas to ensure their
livelihood security. It proposed that one-third of job vacancies would be
reserved for women. It aimed to manage situations of deforestation, drought
and soil erosion.

❖ Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana of 2000 was started to assist states for
services like primary health and education, rural shelter, rural drinking water
and rural electrification.

❖ In 1999, the Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was also started which
aimed to assist low-income families in coming above the poverty line by
organising them into self- reliant groups by the help of bank credit and
government subsidy.

❖ Rural Employment Generation Programme - Launched in 1995 in order to

create self-employment opportunities in the small towns, and rural areas.

❖ In 1993, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana was launched. This initiative aimed
to create as well as provide employment opportunities in rural areas and small
towns.

● Upcoming Challenges

The poverty rate in India has been declining but it remains a challenge. It is
expected that poverty reduction would make better progress in the upcoming
years. Economic growth, free elementary education, declining population and
empowered women will help in reducing poverty levels in the country.