CBSE Class 9 - Economics - Poverty As A Challenge - Important Terms You Should Know (#cbseNotes)(#eduvictors)

Poverty As A Challenge
Important Terms You Should Know

Poverty:
It is a situation in which one is unable to get even the minimum basic necessities of life such as food , clothing , shelter for his/he'r sustenance.

Who are poor?
In our daily life we come across many poor people such as landless labourers in villages, people living in jhuggis, daily wage workers at construction sites, child labourers in dhabas, rickshaw-pullers, domestic servants, cobblers, beggars, etc.

Dimensions of Poverty:
  Poverty means hunger and lack of shelter, parents are unable to send their children to school, lack of clean surroundings lack of regular job and therefore, leads to helplessness.

Social indicators of poverty:
  Illiteracy , lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, inability to work, lack of access to health care and lack of jobs.




Social Exclusion: 
  Living in bad conditions, surrounded by poor, does not enjoy social equality with better-off people in good surroundings i.e. the people do not enjoy facilities , benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.


Vulnerability: 
  It describes the greater probability of being more adversely affected than other people when bad time comes for everyone. Vulnerability to poverty is a measure describing a situation in which some sections of the society such as people from the backward classes , physically handicapped become poor or remain in poverty in the coming years.

Poverty Line:
  It is an imaginary line that expresses the income that is required to purchase the minimum subsistence needs of a person. It is a line that demarcates the population into poor and non-poor.


Measurement of poverty: 
In India, the daily minimum nutritional requirements for a person is fixed at 2400 calories in rural areas while in urban areas it is fixed at 2100 calories. The poverty line fixed for rural areas is ₹ 328 per capita per day and for urban areas it is fixed at ₹ 454 per capita per dal.


Vulnerable Groups: 
Under the social groups — Schedule Caste , Schedule Tribes. Under the economic groups agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

Inequality of Incomes within a Family: 
  In poor families, old people, women and female children are denied equal access to family’s available resources. They are the poorest of the poor.

Inter-State Disparities: 
The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. In 20 states and union territories the poverty ratio is less than the national average. Orissa and Bihar are the poorest states of India with poverty ratios of 47 per cent and 43 per cent respectively. Lowest incidence of poverty is found in Jammu and Kashmir with poverty ratio of just 3.5 percent.

Global Poverty Scenario: 
There has been substantial decline in global poverty. However, it is marked with great regional differences. Poverty has declined more in China and South-East Asian countries

Uneven distribution of poverty:
  It is due to differences in social and economic infrastructure in different states.

Causes of Poverty:
  a) British government did not encourage industry in India. Handicraft and small cottage industries were crushed for e.g. textile industry.
 
  b) Backwardness in agriculture.

  c) Due to lack of technology and capital , there is slow rate of economic growth,

  d) the industries , both public and private , did provide some jobs , but these were not enough to absorb all the job seekers.

  e) Unequal distribution of wealth.

  f) Social factors such as illiteracy, social structure and overpopulation.


Anti-Poverty Measures: 
  The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based on two planks-promotion of economic growth and targeted anti-poverty programmes.

Poverty Alleviation Programmes: 
To address the poor, a need for targeted anti-poverty programmes was strongly felt.
Some of them are given below:
1. Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana (PMRY): The aim of this programme (which was started in 1993) was to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

2. Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) : REGP was launched in 1995  to create self-employment opportunities in rural areas.

3. Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) : SGSY was started in 1999. The programme aims at bringing the assisted poor families above the poverty line.

4. Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) was launched in 2000.

5. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for ‘the poorest of poors’ and elders.

6. National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) was launched in 2004.

7. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was passed in September 2005. The Act provides 100-days assured employment every year to every rural household in 200 districts.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA), later renamed as the "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act", MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'.