Explanation
For making comparisons between developing countries, many international organisations like the World Bank use a uniform standard for the poverty line: minimum availability of the equivalent of $1.90 per person per day (2011, ppp).
The poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting sample surveys. These surveys are carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
Every fifth person in India is poor. (This means, roughly 270 million (or 27 crore) people in India live in poverty 2011-12.) This also means that India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the world.
Usually the indicators used relate to the levels of income and consumption. But now poverty is looked through other social indicators like illiteracy level, lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, lack of access to healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation etc.
In this way in the year 2011-12, a family of five members living in rural areas and earning less than about Rs 4,080 per month will be below the poverty line. A similar family in the urban areas would need a minimum of Rs 5,000 per month to meet their basic requirements.
One of the biggest challenges of independent India has been to bring millions of its people out of abject poverty. Mahatama Gandhi always insisted that India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering.
The historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration. The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles.
With the spread of irrigation and the Green revolution, many job opportunities were created in the agriculture sector. But the effects were limited to some parts of India.
High poverty rates has been the huge income inequalities. One of the major reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. Despite many policies, we have not been able to tackle the issue in a meaningful manner.
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks (1) promotion of economic growth (2) targeted anti-poverty programmes.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employmen 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, deforestration and soil erosion.
Group members take the important decisions of Self Help Groups because:
-The group owes responsibility for the repayment of loans.
-Other members of the group follow seriously if in case of non-repayment of loan by one member.
-The groups decide with respect to the loans to be granted-the purpose, amount, interest to be charged, repayment schedule, etc.
The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) was set up in 1950, with the idea of having a permanent survey organization to collect data on various facets of the economy. In order to assist in socio-economic planning and policy making, NSSO conducts nationwide sample surveys known as National Sample Survey (NSS). The NSS is a continuing survey in the sense that it is carried out in the form of successive “rounds”, each round usually of a year's duration covering several topics of current interest. The surveys are conducted through household interviews, using a random sample of households covering practically the entire geographical area of the country.
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