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SGD: No Poverty
Target: Mobilise resources to implement policies to end poverty
A brief introduction to India with statistics relevant to the country and the targets under the
chosen UN SGD
With around 60% of India’s population living in poverty, and more than 250 million people
living in extreme poverty (Basu, 2015), India is considered a poor country. It is ranked 124 out
of 191 countries on a rich to poor scale (Ventura, 2020), indicating the poor living standards in
the country for those living in poverty. Due to the high level of illiteracy, and customs such as
early marriage and early pregnancies in the rural areas, contribute and feeds poverty (Goodpal,
2013). The target I have chosen to expound on in relation to India would be to mobilize
resources to implement policies to end poverty. It is feasible as India has resources that they have
yet to make use of. Poverty has a direct impact on the quality and standard of living for those in
poverty. Individuals do not have the financial ability to pay for basic needs such as food, clothes,
shelter (Arora, 2019). Many also do not have access to education and health and medical needs.
This results in vulnerability and spreading of diseases, hunger, and malnutrition (APA, 2009).
These problems result having around 1.4 million children die each year before turning five,
making India one of the countries with the highest child mortality rates (SOS, 2020). Reducing
poverty can give citizens of India a better quality and standard of life, and can give those living
in poverty a higher chance of having access to the basic survival needs.

An explanation on how the target is important to the country and the challenges this country
faces in relation to this target under the chosen UN SGD
India is considered a third world country and is also a developing country today. Many factors
such as high poverty rate, corruption, and an outdate caste system, has hindered the development
of the country (Worldpopulationreview, 2020). This particular target is important as India
already has one major resource that is their population. It has a population of 1.36 billion (World
Bank, 2019). However, those living in poverty stay in poverty is because of illiteracy, an
outdated caste system that encourages discrimination, and gender-based mindsets. Though there
have been efforts by the government to prevent discrimination against those in a lower caste,
discrimination still exists in factors such as unemployment (Jones, 2017). Those from a lower
caste system struggle to find employment, let alone decent paying jobs due to the discrimination
that they face. The discrimination causes a gap in employment for those born into a lower caste
system, making them an untouched resource. Another factor hindering the use of the population
is Gender inequality. Due to the customs of the Indian culture, females are seen as a burden to
the family due to dowry practices and are seen as wives to be sold off to instead of a valuable
asset to the workforce (Parikh, 2018). Females are married off at an early age, and forced to stop
their education, breeding poverty and illiteracy in the rural areas (Goodpal, 2013). Females are
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pre assigned roles when they are born and are seen as home makers and housewives especially in
rural areas (Ratho, 2020). This results in only having 20.5% of females in the workforce
(Kamdar, 2020). If India were to increase the female participation in labour force alone, it would
help instead India’s GDP by 770 billion by 2025 (Woetzel et al., 2019).By refusing to utilise
those in a lower caste and women, India is eliminating a huge source of income, reducing the
GDP, as well as keeping those born in poverty, in poverty. Without a change of perspective in
regards to gender and those in a lower caste, the poverty will continue breeding.

A discussion of the initiatives this country has implemented to achieve this target and an
evaluation of their effectiveness.
The government has taken action by implementing social protection programmes such as
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), to improve the
standard of living and reduce poverty (Das & Mohanty, 2020). Due to the size of India, around
65.53% of the population come from rural villages (World Bank, 2019). The goal of
MGNREGA is to improve the standards of living for those living in rural areas by providing
employment to those willing to do unskilled manual labour, to a maximum of 100 days per
household (Joyita, 2013). This has made a few impacts on the community such as those in
poverty are more likely to work, MGNREGA reduced poverty by overall 32% and prevented 14
million from falling below the poverty line, reliance on money lenders declines, improvement in
children’s education and empowered women as they are equally paid (Dev, 2016). MNGREGA
targets rural areas where poverty is rampant, providing employment right where poverty lies
(Narayanan, 2020). In a study, 65% of villages received quality water supply and a proper
drainage system, and all the villages included in the study had access to health and medical
supplies with the income and the efforts of MGNREGA. MGNREGA has been proven to be
successful in helping to reduce poverty (Naikoo, Thakur, & Shashank, 2017).
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