Introduction:
Poverty means not having access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothes and having a very little scope of improvement shortly soon. Children in slums go to school and their parents work hard too to give them the best of education as per their affordability. Unfortunately, due to the absolute negligence on the part of the government and their teachers for imparting the quality education and then lack opportunities to them which render their scenario to worsen.
Poverty in India:
India is one of the fastest-growing economies globally, but still two-thirds of people here live in poverty. 68.8% of the Indian population lives on less than Rupees 152.58 paisa a day. Over 30% even have less than Rupees 95.29 paisa per day available, which makes India one of the poorest countries in the world. After implementing so many schemes by the Governments millions of people live in slums.
According to the 2011 Census, nearly 22 percent of India’s population was poor which, in 2004-05 was 37 percent. In India, many places or districts are poorest compared to their neighboring places despite living in natural resource-dense areas. In those places, people are dying from disasters and diseases. They take their fast step towards chronic poverty.
What is chronic poverty?
For Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) economists, the definition of chronic poverty is “People, households, and social groups who are poor for sustained and significant or extended periods of their lives and whose families and children may inherit this persistent condition. While chronic poverty is dynamic in that people do climb out of, or fall into poverty in significant numbers, existing such poverty can prove difficult.” According to their study: “those who are chronically poor may pass on poverty to their next generation.” From the studies, chronic poverty indicates that 50 percent of India’s poor could be termed as chronic poor, which means millions of people inherit poverty from their parents and grandparents.
Condition in the Different States:
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Telangana are 6 states where poverty is concentrated and chronic and they host India’s 200 poorest districts. Apart from these states, poverty could be found in every state of India. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and many other states have a high number of rich people. However, slum areas could be found there too in huge numbers. The reason behind this is that people go there in search of jobs, some get it by their luck or by hard work, but many end up staying in slum areas working in small factories. These people mainly come from rural areas or small cities. India is the country where very rich people can be found and at the same time very poor people can be found too, who stay on footpaths.
The Population of India:
After China, India is the second-most populous country with about 1.2 billion people and is the seventh-largest country in the world. The highly contrasted country has enjoyed growth rates of up to 10 percent over many years and is one of the largest economies in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of 1,644 billion US dollars. But only a small percentage of Indians have benefited from this economic boom so far. As most people in India are still living in abject poverty, women and children are suffering the most.
Government Schemes:
Despite this, many schemes such as the Five Years Plan immediately after independence tried to focus on poverty alleviation through sectoral programs. Other schemes are Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana(JGSY), National Family Benefit Scheme(NFBS), Annapurna, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana, etc. The poverty alleviation programs in India are targeted either in rural areas or urban areas. Poverty prevails mostly in rural areas where it is a great challenge to target these areas because of various geographic and infrastructure limitations.
In 2017, Modi promised to eradicate poverty by 2022, as a part of his “New India” agenda and his finance minister Arun Jaitley also spoke on poverty eradication while addressing students in a college in Delhi, that “ India may become the third-largest economy by 2030 and poverty will fall below 10 percent by 2025.”
Top 5 poorest and richest States in India in 2021:
According to NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Bihar, Jharkhand, and Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the poorest states in India. Bihar’s 51.91 percent of the population is poor, thus making the state the poorest in the country.
However, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat are the richest states. Maharashtra’s total GDP is 27.96lakh crore. Mumbai, the state capital, is also known as the economic capital of the country.
States with Lowest Poverty Rate:
Kerala: 0.71 per cent
Goa: 3.76 percent
Sikkim: 3.82 percent
Three dimensions of the Multidimensional Poverty Index of India are there, that is, health, education, and standard of living. These three dimensions represent nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, antenatal care, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, bank accounts, assets, and housing.
In 2020–21, Mizoram, Haryana, and Uttarakhand have done great in terms of improvement, informed by NITI Aayog.
Delhi – 12th Richest
Delhi’s total GDP generated in the year 2014-15 is 4.51 lakh crore. Being the capital of the country, Delhi has numerous company headquarters. For people seeking job opportunities, Delhi become their first choice. Banking, financial services, processed food, construction and real estate, IT and ITeS, Tourism, and Logistics.
Agriculture: 2 percent
Industry: 12 percent
Services: 86 percent
West Bengal:
West Bengal’s total GDP is 13.14 lakh crores. There are many steel plants in the state as well. West Bengal is producing a huge amount of potatoes in India. Moreover, it is the second-largest tea-producing state. The economy of the state is based on:
· Agriculture: 21 percent
Industry: 26 percent
Services: 53 percent
The position of West Bengal in terms of poverty has improved relative to other states since the 1970s. The gap between rural and urban poverty is low.
West Bengal:
To alleviate poverty, programs like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) were implemented. Bengal did well in terms of the percentage of rural households, provided employment, and ranks among the top 5-7 major states. Even Center has adjudged West Bengal as the best state on the parameter of achieving “convergence and livelihood augmentation.” Similarly, the state figures among the three best states in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Grameen, rural housing scheme. Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas were the best performing districts among others. Senior central government officials told Economic Times that West Bengal performed better than most other states with other schemes too. That is, PM Jan Arogya Yojana or Ayushman Bharat Scheme, and in Saubhagya, Swachh Bharat, and Ujjwala Schemes.
Conclusion:
In a country of 133 crores where 75% is dependent on agricultural production. A huge number of poverties prevails there in the rural areas, farmers commit suicide and children die of hunger. The main reason behind that is they depend mostly on nature and animals for farming. In many places’ the government provides pesticides and machines, but in certain areas, farmers do not get hold of these too.
This leads to failure in crop production.
It is very easy for one to say that we should help them or when we will earn money, then we donate some to them. But what do you do when you get high-paid jobs? People forget about them but yes not every one of us. A privilege never realizes that despite their education, their knowledge, they do too little to help even one, to come out of this vicious cycle. You move to them only when you need them but very little to help them.
