Poverty: Causes and reductions

This paper explains that poverty is a social phenomenon in which a section of society is unable to fulfill even its basic necessities of life. The countries of world exhibit invariably the existence of mass poverty, although poverty also exists even in the developed countries of Europe and America. In almost all underworld countries where per capital income is very low, income inequality has resulted in a member of evils, of which poverty is certainly the most serious one. The major problem before any economy is to achieve consistently rising levels of economic growth. In recent years, there has grown disillusionment both in rich and poor countries about the pursuit of growth as the main socio-economic objective. In the countries of Third world, e.g. in India economic growth has resulted in glaring inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth; it has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. The paper covers characteristics, causes of rural and urban poverty, strategies to remove, and poverty alleviation programmes for rural and urban poverty. The paper also provides estimates about poverty. Planning Commission, as the Government's nodal agency, estimates the incidence of poverty at the national and state levels, on the basis of large sample survey on household consumer expenditure conducted by National Sample Survey (NSS) Organization approximately every five years. India has emerged at the 4th largest economy globally with a high growth rate and has improved its global ranking in terms of per capita income. India has moved up the ranks, but is still the poorest among theG-20. The paper explains New BPL Criteria formed by N. C. Sexena panel in August 2008. This paper also explains Tendulkar Committee's Recommendations about poverty. The committee suggested a formula based on 'Consumption Expenditure' for identifying BPL families. A 'Basket of Minimum List' has been included in consumption expenditure. Tendulkar's new formula adopted the 'Cost of Living' as the basis for identifying proverty. The paper shows India's ranking in Global Hunger Index.