Class 9 Economics Poverty as a Challenge

Question 1.
What is poverty?
Answer:
Poverty is a situation in which people are unable to get the minimum basic requirement of life, i.e. food, clothing and shelter
for their sustenance.

Question 2.
What is poverty line?
Answer:
The estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life is called poverty line.

Question 3.
Poverty line may vary with time and place. Why?
Answer:
It is because what is necessary to satisfy basic needs is different at different times and in different countries.

Question 4.
What is the accepted average calorie requirement in India?
Answer:
The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories per
person per day in urban areas.

Question 5.
Why is calorie requirement higher in rural areas than urban areas?
Answer:
People in rural areas do more physical work. Therefore their calorie requirement are considered to be higher than urban
areas.

Question 6.
Mention the poverty line fixed for a person for the year 2011-12.
Answer:
For the year 2011-12, the poverty line for a person was fixed at ? 816 per month for the rural areas and ₹ 1000 for the urban
areas.

Question 7.
How is the poverty line estimated periodically?
Answer:
The poverty line is estimated periodically by conducting sample surveys.

Question 8.
Name the organisation which conducts sample surveys for estimating poverty line.
Answer:
National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

Question 9.
The World Bank use a uniform standard for the poverty line. What is it?
Answer:
Minimum availability of the equivalent of $ 1 per person per day.

Question 10.
Name two social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty.
Answer:
  Scheduled caste
 Scheduled tribe
Question 11.
Name the social and economic groups which have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.
Answer:
Scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour households.

Question 12.
Which two states continue to be the poorest states of India?
Answer:
These are Bihar and Odisha.

Question 13.
Name any two states, which have seen a significant decline in poverty.
Answer:
Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir.

Question 14.
What caused substantial decline in poverty in China and Southeast Asian countries?
Answer:
These countries witnessed substantial decline in poverty as a result of rapid economic growth and massive investments in
human resource development.

Question 15.
What does the International Poverty Line mean?
Answer:
The International Poverty Line means population living below $ 1 a day.

Question 16.
What does the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations call for?
Answer:
It calls for reducing the proportion of people living on less than $ 1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015.

Question 17.
Mention one historical reason for poverty in India.
Answer:
It is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration.

Question 18.
What is the reason behind the huge income inequalities in our country?
Answer:
It is the unequal distribution of land and other resources.

Question 19.
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based on two planks. Name them.
Answer:

 Promotion of economic growth.

 Targeted anti-poverty programmes
Question 20.
Growth in the agriculture sector is much below expectations. How does this aggravate the issue of poverty?
Answer:
This has a direct bearing on poverty as a large number of poor people live in villages and are dependent on agriculture.

Question 21.
When was Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) launched?
Answer:
This scheme was launched in 1993.

Question 22.
What is the aim of Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana?
Answer:
Its aim is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

Question 23.
What is the aim of the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY)?
Answer:
It aim is to give additional central assistance to states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural
shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

Question 24.
Why is proper monitoring of all the property alleviation programmes necessary?
Answer:
It is because the benefits of these schemes are not fully reached to the deserving poor.

Question 25.
Mention some bigger challenges that are coming in the way of poverty alleviation.
Answer:
A big section of the society has failed to get health care, education and job, the tasks of achieving gender equality and
dignity for the poor still remains unfulfilled. These are some bigger challenges.

Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer Economics Chapter 3 Short Answers
Type
Question 1.
Describe how economic growth and poverty reduction are interlinked.
Answer:
(i) Over a period of thirty years lasting up to the early eighties, there were little per capita income growth and not much
reduction in poverty.

(ii) 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 per cent a year in the 1970s to about 6 per cent during the 1980s and 1990s. The higher growth rates
have helped significantly in the reduction of poverty.

(iii) Economic growth widens opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in human development. This also
encourages people to send their children, including the girl child, to schools in hope of getting better economic returns from
investing in education.

Question 2.
Mention some indicators of poverty as suggested by social scientists.
OR
Why do social scientists look at poverty through a variety of indicators?
Answer:
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.

Question 3.
How did the following states succeed in reducing poverty—Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil Nadu?
Answer:
There has been a significant decline in poverty in these states.
  Kerala has focused more on human resource development.
 States like Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural
growth rates.
 In West Bengal, land reform measures have helped in reducing poverty.
 In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public distribution of food grains could have responsible for the improvement.
Question 4.
How was the British colonial administration responsible for the widespread poverty in India?
Answer:
The major reasons for poverty in India are given below:
(i) The economic development under the British colonial administration was at low level. The policies of colonial government
mined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles. The low rate of growth remained till the
Nineteen-eighties. As a result, job opportunities became less. The promotion of economic growth would have changed the
scenario but it could not be done.

(ii) The ever-increasing population is also a major reason for poverty in our country. Population control measures failed
achieve the desired goal. This perpetuated the cycle of poverty.

(iii) There are huge income inequalities In our country. One of the major reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land
and other resources. Major policy initiatives like land reforms which aimed at redistribution of assets in rural areas have not
been, implemented properly and effectively by most of the state governments.

(iv) The socio-cultural and economic factors are also responsible for poverty. People in India, including the very poor, spend
a lot of money on religious ceremonies.

(v) Small farmers have hardly any savings. So, they borrow money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertiliser, pesticides,
etc. Unable to repay, they become victims of indebtedness which push
them into poverty.

Question 5.
“The results of the poverty alleviation programmes have been mixed”. Support the statement with three valid reasons.
Answer:

 One of the major reasons for less effectiveness is the lack of proper implementation and right targeting.
 Besides, there has been a lot of overlapping of schemes.
 Despite good intensions, the benefits of these programmes are not fully reached to the deserving poor. So, proper
monitoring of all the poverty alleviation programmes is being given much importance.
Question 6.
Explain the concept of social exclusion.
OR
Make an analysis of poverty through the concept of social exclusion.
Answer:
(i) Social exclusion is a concept-adopted to analyses poverty in a broader sense. According to this concept, poverty must be
seen in terms of the poor having live only in a poor surrounding with other poor people. These people are excluded from
enjoying social equality of better-off people in better surroundings.

(ii) Social exclusion can be both a cause as well as a consequence of poverty. Broadly, it is a process through which
individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that better-off people avail.

(iii) We can mention here the caste system which has been in existence in India since time immemorial. In this system
people belonging to certain castes are excluded from equal opportunities. Thus, social exclusion can cause more damage
than having a very low income.

Question 7.
Mention any six issues related to poverty.
Answer:
Here are the issues related to poverty:
  Landlessness
 Unemployment
 Size of families
 Helplessness
 Poor health/ Malnutrition
 Child labour
 Illiteracy
Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer Economics Chapter 3 Long Answers
Type
Question 1.
How can you say that poverty is a multi-dimensional problem?
OR
What are the main features of poverty? Describe.
OR
Describe the various dimensions of poverty.
Answer:
Poverty is one of the most difficult challenges faced by independent India. There are many dimensions of poverty:

 Poverty means hunger and lack of shelter.

 It is also a situation in which parents are not able to send their children to school or a situation where sick people
cannot afford treatment.
 Poverty also means lack of clean water and sanitation facilities.
 It also means lack of a regular job at a minimum decent level.
 Poverty also means living with a sense of helplessness. Poor people are in a situation in which they are illtreated
at almost every place. They face insult in their daily life. Mahatma Gandhi always insisted that India would be truly
independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering.
Question 2.
‘Poverty is a curse upon humanity’. Support the statement.
Answer:
(i) Poverty is a curse upon humanity. It fills people with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. The victims of poverty
face social exclusion. They are excluded from enjoying social equality of better-off people in better surroundings.

(ii) These people fail to get health care, safe drinking water, proper education and respect. They do not lead a life of dignity.
Rather, they are ill-treated at almost every place.

(iv) Those living in abject poverty face greater risks at the time of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, etc. Their safety
is ignored in these circumstances.

(iv) Children of poverty-ridden families are not sent to school. These children are forced to earn money by working at
dhabas, or at construction sites or at houses of well-off people.
Obviously, nobody would like to live in poverty. It is a curse of which its victims should be brought out without delay.

Question 3.
Give a detailed description of all the poverty alleviations programmes.
Answer:

Removal of poverty has been a major objective of Indian development strategy. The current anti-poverty
strategy of the government is based on two planks:

 Promotion of economic growth, and

 Targeted anti-poverty programmes
Promotion of economic growth:
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 per cent a year in the 1970s to about 6 per cent during the 1980s and 1990s. The higher growth rates
have helped significantly in the reduction of poverty.
Targeted anti-poverty programmes:
The government has started many schemes for the removal of poverty. Some of them are:

 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MGNREGA) 2005 aims to provide loo days of wage
employment to every household to ensure livelihood security in rural
areas.
 Prime Minister Rozgar Yoj ana (PMRY) was started in 1993 with an aim to create self-employment opportunities
for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.
 Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched in 1995. Its aim is to create self-employment
opportunities in rural areas and small towns.
 Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched in 1999. The programme aims at bringing the
assisted poor families above the poverty line by orgamsing them into self-help groups through a mix of bank credit
and government subsidy.
 Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Rozgar Yojana was launched in 2000. Under this scheme additional central
assistance is given to states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural
drinking water and rural electrification.
Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer Economics Chapter 3 Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS) Questions
Question 1.
What does the following graph show? Describe briefly.
Answer:

(i) The above graph shows the various social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty. The social groups
include scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households and the economic groups include the rural agricultural labour
households and the urban casual labour households.

(ii) The above graph also shows the percentage of poor people in all these groups. Although the average for people below
poverty line for all groups in India is 30, 48 out of 100 people belonging to scheduled tribes in rural areas are not able to
meet their basic needs.

(iii) Similarly, 47 percent of casual workers in urban areas are below poverty line.

(iv) About 50 percent of landless agricultural workers and 43 percent of scheduled castes are also poor.
Question 2.
How did the problems of poverty become the feature of the urban sector? Explain.
Answer:

 The spread of irrigation and the Green Revolution created many job opportunities in the agriculture sector. But the
effects could be seen only in a few states of India.
 The industries, both in the public and the private sector, did provide some jobs, but these were not in proportion to
the job seekers.
 Unable to find proper jobs in cities, many people started working, domestic servants, etc.
 With irregular small incomes, these people started living in slums on the outskirts of the cities.
 Thus, the problems of poverty, largely a rural phenomenon, also became the feature of the urban sector.
Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer Economics Chapter 3 Value-based
Questions (VBQs)
Question 1.
What are the achievements of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005?
Answer:
MGNREGA is an anti-poverty measure which was launched in 2005. Its main achievements are:

 The scheme provided employment to 220 crores person days of employment to 4.78 crore households.
 The share of scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, women present days in the scheme are 23 per cent, 17 per cent
and 53 per cent respectively.
 The average wage increased from 65 in 2006-07 to 132 in 2013-14.
Question 2.
Enlist some measures to reduce poverty in the coming years.
OR
Describe how poverty reduction would be possible.
OR
Suggest some ways to reduce poverty in India.
Answer:
Poverty is a curse upon humans and therefore we must think of ways to eliminate it. Some of the measures of its removal
Eire given below:
(i) Higher economic growth would prove to be the most effective measure in the reduction of poverty. Economic growth
widens opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in human development.

(ii) Stress on universal free elementary education should be increased. By providing proper education to all, we will definitely
overcome the problems of poverty.

(iii) High growth rate of population should be checked. If the size of family is big, it will be difficult to provide proper
nourishment, education and other basic facilities to all the members.