Poverty In India

    It is a tragedy that, despite the process and programmes of economic growth, about fifty percent population of India cannot afford to have food twice a day. It was believed that the process which was initiated in 1951 would result in profits. But it proved to be a misconception. The emphasis was given to growth with social justice in fifth and sixth plans and the national programme for Minimum Needs was given priority in these two plans.

   Poverty can be expressed broadly either in absolute or in relative terms. The former is based on some physical norms and standard of living and the latter is based on the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among different sections of society. The planning commission of India redefined, in the sixth five year plan, the poverty on the ground of an average daily food of 2400 calories per person in village areas and 2100 calories per person in towns or cities.

  There have been commissions formed from time to time by the government to measure the poverty. According to V.M.DANDEKAR and Rath commission, the minimum desirable standard for village people is at Rs 180 per capita per annum and for urban people it is at Rs 270, at 1960-1961 prices.

Many reasons can be assigned to poverty in India. These are: a) tremendous growth of population, b) inequality in opportunities in professional education and training, c) unemployment and underemployment to a large extent, d) great inequalities in ownership of possessing valuables like land, industry, buildings, etc.

  The Government has endeavored to eliminate poverty under five year plans. The emphasis has been given at raid economic development besides continuous progress towards equality and social justice. The famous slogan” GARIBI HATAO” was adopted in the fourth plan. Towards this direction, the government has introduced the programmes like national rural development programme (NERP) integrated rural development programme  (IRDP) and rural landless employment guarantee programme (RLEGP). These constitute the main components of the anti- poverty drive in the seventh plan.

  The Government has introduced eight components under Minimum Needs programme- elementary, Education, Rural Health, Rural Electrification, Rural Water supply, Rural Roads, Rural Housing, environmental Improvement of Urban Slums and Nutrition. The Integrated Rural Energy programme (IREP) focused on supplying energy to rural areas to meet their day to day needs like cooking, heating, lighting and demand of power for economic development. This is expected to generate employment, increase productivity and enhance income.