By

Ujjwal Shibu
9G
 Definition of Poverty
• Poverty means hunger and
lack of shelter. It is a
situation where parents are
unable to send their children
to school, sick people cannot
afford treatment, lack of
clean water and sanitation
facilities, lack of regular job
at a minimum decent level.
• Above all it means living
with a sense of helplessness.
 Poverty Line
• A common method used to measure poverty is based
on the income or consumption levels. A person is
considered poor if his or her income level fall below a
given ‘minimum level’ necessary to fulfil basic needs.
• Poverty line may vary with time and place.
• Each country uses an imaginary line that is
considered appropriate for its existing level of
development and its accepted minimum social
norms(social standards).
 Poverty as seen by Social Scientists
• Social Scientists look at poverty
through a variety of indicators,
which relate to the levels of income
and consumption.
• But in todays world poverty is
looked through other social
indicators such as illiteracy level,
lack of general resistance to
malnutrition, lack of access to
healthcare, lack of job
opportunities, lack of access to safe
and potable water, sanitation etc.
• Analysis of poverty based on
vulnerability and social exclusion is
becoming very common.
 Social Exclusion
• According to this concept, poverty must
be seen in terms of the poor having to
live only in a poor surrounding with
other poor people, excluded from social
equality of better-off people in better
surroundings.
• Social exclusion can be both a cause or
a consequence of poverty.
• Broadly it is a process through which
individuals or groups are excluded from
their facilities, benefits and
opportunities that their ‘betters’ enjoy.
• For eg:- Caste System in India. The
lower caste people were not allowed to
use the wells or temples the upper
caste people used. They were not
allowed in or near the upper caste
people’s house.
 Vulnerability
• Vulnerability to poverty is a measure
which describes the greater
probability of certain communities
(say, backward communities) or
individuals(say, a widow or a
handicapped person) of becoming or
remaining poor in the coming years.
• Vulnerability is determined by the
options available to different
communities for finding an
alternative living in terms of assets,
education, health and job
opportunities.
• It is also determined by the greater
risks these communities or
individuals face during times of
 Measurement of Poverty: Income
Expenditure Method
• Income Expenditure Method is a method used to
determine whether an individual is living under poverty or
not.
• Basically, if an individual’s income is lesser than the
minimum set by the Government he/she is said to be
living under poverty. He/she is unable to buy basic human
necessities.
• This minimum can vary from place to place. In India, the
minimum income in rural areas is Rs. 816 per month,
while in urban areas it is Rs. 1000 per month. This is
because many essential products have a much higher
Measurement of Poverty: Consumption
Method
• Consumption Method is a method used to
determine whether an individual is living under
poverty or not.
• Basically, if an individual’s calorie intake is
lesser than the minimum calorie requirement by
the Government he/she is said to be living under
poverty. The minimum calorie requirement varies
based on age, sex, type of work that a person
does etc.
• This minimum can vary from place to place. In
India, the minimum calorie intake is 2400
calories per person per day in rural areas,
whereas in urban areas it is 2100 calories per
person per day.
• Since people living in rural areas engage
themselves in more physical work than people
living in urban areas the minimum calorie
 Poverty Estimates
• The above table shows the estimates of poverty in India.
• It is clear that there has been a substantial decline in
poverty ratios in India from about 45 percent in 1993-94
to 37.2 percent in 2004-05.
• The proportion of people below the poverty line further
came down to about 22 percent in 2011-12. If this trend
continues then people below the poverty line may come
down to less than 20 percent in the next few years.
• The number of poor declined from 407 million in 2004-05
to 270 million in 2011-12 with an average annual decline
of 2.2 percent points during 2004-05 and 2011-12.
Vulnerable Groups
• The proportion of people
below the poverty line is not
same for all social groups and
economic categories in India.
• Social groups which are most
vulnerable are Scheduled
Caste(SC) and Scheduled
Tribe(ST) households.
• Similarly among the economic
groups, the most vulnerable
groups are the rural
agricultural labour
households.
 Analysis of Graph
• The above graph shows the percentage of poor people in
all the listed groups.
• It is clearly shown in the graph that 43 out of 100 people
belonging to Scheduled Tribes are not able to meet their
basic needs.
• 34 percent of casual workers in urban areas are below the
poverty line.
• About 34 percent of casual labour farm(rural areas) and
29 per cent of Scheduled Castes are also poor.
• Some recent studies have shown that except for
scheduled tribe households the other three groups have
seen a decline in poverty in 1990s.
 Interstate Disparities
• The proportion of poor is not the same in every state.
• Recent estimates show that, while the all India Head
Count Ratio(HCR) was 21.9% in 2011-12 states like
Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Odisha had percentages above all India poverty level.
• As the below graph shows, Bihar and Odisha continue
to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of
33.7 and 32.6 per cent respectively. Urban poverty is
high in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh.
• In comparison there has been a significant decline in
poverty in Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal.
• States like Punjab and Haryana have
traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty by
increasing agricultural growth rates.
• Kerela focused more on human resource
development.
• In West Bengal, land reform measures have
helped in reducing poverty.
 Global Poverty Scenario
• The proportion of people in different countries living in extreme
economic poverty - defined by the World Bank as living on less than
$1.90 a day- has fallen from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015.
• Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian
countries as a result of rapid economic growth.
• Numbers of poor in China has come down from 88.3% in 1981 to
14.7% in 2008 to 0.6% in 2019.
• In the countries of South Asia(India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, Bhutan) the percent has come down from 34% in 2005
to 15.2% in 2014.
• In Sub Saharan Africa, poverty declined from 51% in 2005 to 40.2%
in 2018.
• In Latin America the poverty ratio declined from 10% in 2005 to 4%
in 2018.
• Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist
 Causes of Poverty
• There are a number of causes for the poverty in India.
• One historical reason is the low level of economic development under
the British. Their policies ruined traditional handicrafts and destroyed
the Indian textile Industry. This low growth rate persisted till 1980s.
• Due to lack of job openings and abundance of job seekers many people
started working as rikshaw drivers, vendors, construction workers,
domestic servants etc. With irregular and small incomes, they could
not afford expensive housing. They started living in slums on the
outskirts of the city, and poverty which was till then a rural problem
became an urban problem too.
• Another cause is the huge income inequalities and unequal distribution
of land and natural resources. Despite many policies being introduced,
we have not been able to tackle this problem in a meaningful manner.
This is largely due to the improper implementation of these policies by
state governments.
• Many other socio-cultural and economic factors do contribute to high
 Anti-Poverty Measures
• Removal of poverty has been one of the major objectives of Indian
developmental strategy. Thu current anti-poverty strategy of the
government is based on two planks: (1) promotion of economic growth
(2) targeted anti-poverty programmes.
• Over a period of thirty years there was very little per capita income
growth and not much reduction in poverty. Official poverty estimates
were 45% in the early 1950s and remained the same in the eighties.
• Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest
in the world. The growth rate jumped from the average of about 3.5% a
year in 1970s to 6% during 1980s and 1990s. These higher growth rates
have helped significantly reduce poverty.
• This growth rate encourages people to send their children to school,
including their female child, in the hope of better economic returns from
investing in education.
• However growth in the agricultural sector is much below expectations.
This has a direct bearing on poverty as a large number of poor people
live in villages and are dependent on agriculture. In these circumstances
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act, 2005
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 aims to
provide 100 days of wage employment to
every household to ensure livelihood
security in rural areas.
• It also aimed at sustainable development
to address the cause of draught,
deforestation and soil erosion.
• One-third of the proposed jobs have been
reserved for women. The scheme provided
employment to 220 crores person days of
employment to 4.78 crore households.
• In March 2018 the wage rate for unskilled
manual workers has been revised, state
wise, the range of wage rate for different
states and union territories lies in
between 281 rupees per day(for the
workers in Haryana) to 168 rupees per
Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP)
• It was launched in 1995, with the
aim of creating self employment
opportunities in rural areas and
small towns.
• A target for creating 25 lakh new
jobs has been set for the programme
under the Tenth Five Year Plan.
• It aimed to generate employment
opportunities by supporting micro
enterprises(small businesses) in
both rural and urban areas
• The program provided financial
assistance to traditional artisans and
unemployed youth, thereby fostering
sustainable employment growth
across the country.
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
• Launched in 1999, the
programme aims at
bringing the assisted poor
families above the poverty
line by organizing them into
self help groups through a
mix of bank credit and
government subsidy(grant).
• It aims to
provide sustainable
income to poor people
living in rural areas.
 Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY)
• Launched in 2000, additional
central assistance is given to
states for basic services such
as primary health, rural
shelter, rural drinking water
and rural electrification.
• It aims to uplift rural areas
by addressing critical issues
such as poverty, healthcare,
education, infrastructure, and
employment.
 Antyodaya Anna Yozana (AAY)
• AAY was launched in December 2000.
• Under the scheme one crore of the poorest
among the BPL families covered under the
targeted public distribution system were
identified.
• Poor families were identified by the respective
state rural development departments through
a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey.
• Twenty five kilograms of food grains were
made available to each eligible family at a
highly subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat
and Rs 3 per kg for rice. This quantity has
been enhanced from 25 to 35 kgs with effect
from April 2002.
• The scheme has been further expanded twice
by additional 50 lakh BPL families in June 2003
and in August 2004. With this increase, 2 crore
families have been covered under the AAY.
 The Challenges Ahead
• Poverty has certainly declined in India, but, despite the
progress, poverty reduction remains India’s most
compelling challenges.
• Certain social and economical groups are more
vulnerable to poverty than others.
• Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in
the next 10-15 years . This would be mainly due to high
economic growth, increasing stress on universal free
elementary education, declining population growth,
increasing empowerment of the women and
economically weaker sections of society.
 The Limitations to the Definition of Poverty

• The official definition of poverty only captures a limited part of

what poverty really means to people.
• It is about a ‘minimum’ subsistence level of living.
• Many scholars advocate for the broadening the concept to
human poverty.
• Worldwide experience shows that with development, the
definition of what constitutes poverty also changes.
Eradication of poverty is a moving target.
• Hopefully we will be able to provide the ‘minimum’ in terms of
income to all people in the next decade or two.
• But the bigger challenges that still remain are providing health
care education and job security for all and achieving gender
 The 2030 Aim
• By 2030, the UN(United Nations) aims
to achieve the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals or SDGs in short.
• The first goal is No Poverty and UN
aims to eradicate Extreme Poverty
worldwide.
• It also has goals to reduce number of
poor people globally by half.
• It aims to pool resources from all over
the world to help reduce poverty.
• They also plan to enhance resilience
among the poor to reduce exposure to
climate-related events and other