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Overview:: General Causes of Poverty

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35 views2 pages

Overview:: General Causes of Poverty

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purple.bless74
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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NOTES

ECONOMICS
CHAPTER 3: POVERTY AS CHALLENGE

CONTENT
• Overview
• General Causes of Poverty
• Poverty as seen by social scientists
• Poverty Line
• Poverty Estimates
• Vulnerable Groups
• Inter-State Disparities
• Global Poverty Scenario
• Causes of Poverty in India
• Anti-Poverty Measures
• The Challenges Ahead
OVERVIEW:

This chapter deals with one of the most difficult challenges faced by independent India—poverty. After
discussing this multi-dimensional problem through examples, the chapter discusses the way poverty is
seen in social sciences. Poverty trends in India and the world are illustrated through the concept of the
poverty line. Causes of poverty as well as anti-poverty measures taken by the government are also
discussed. The chapter ends with broadening the official concept of poverty into human poverty.
Helplessness

Illiteracy
Landlessness

Poor health / Malnutrition GENERAL CAUSES Unemployment


OF POVERTY
Child labour Size of families

Poverty seen by
social scientists Economic indicator→ Level of income and consumption
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.
They also make analysis of poverty based on Social exclusion
and Vulnerability
Social Exclusion:
Poverty is seen in terms of poor
Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, which describes the
having to live only in a poor greater probability of certain communities (say, members of
surrounding and excluded from a backward caste) or individuals (such as a widow or a
enjoying social equality of better-off physically handicapped person) of becoming, or remaining,
people. Social exclusion is both a poor in the coming years.
cause as well as a consequence of
poverty.
Vulnerability→ It describes the greater probability of above mentioned people being more
adversely affected than other people when bad time comes for everybody, whether a flood or an
earthquake or simply a fall in the availability of jobs

Vulnerability is determined by the options available to different communities for finding an


alternative living in terms of assets, education, health and job opportunities. Further, it is analysed
on the basis of the greater risks these groups face at the time of natural disasters (earthquakes,
tsunami), terrorism etc. Additional analysis is made of their social and economic ability to handle
these risks.

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 or consumption level falls below a given “minimum level”
necessary to fulfill basic needs.

Q. Why do different countries use different poverty lines?


Things which are necessary to satisfy basic needs are different at different times and in
different countries. Therefore, 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. For example, a person not having a car in the United States may be
considered poor. In India, owning of a car is still considered a luxury.

Determining the poverty line in India→


➢ A minimum level of food requirement, clothing,
footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc. are
determined for subsistence. These physical quantities are multiplied
by their prices in rupees.
➢ The present formula for food requirement while estimating the
poverty line is based on the desired calorie requirement. (Food items
such as cereals, pulses, vegetable, milk, oil, sugar etc. together provide
these needed calories)
➢ 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.
➢ On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2011-12, the poverty
line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for the rural areas
and Rs 1000 for the urban areas.
Q. Why the poverty line for a person is fixed at Rs 1000 for the urban areas.
Despite less calorie requirement, the higher amount for urban areas has been fixed because of high prices
of many essential products. 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.

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