Poverty in India

Dr.B.Reena Rajkumari
Poverty
• Poverty is the scarcity or the lack of a certain (variant) amount of
material possessions or money.
• Poverty is a multifaceted concept
• It include social, economic, and political elements.
• It refers to the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic
personal needs such as food, clothing and shelter

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Dr.B.Reena Rajkumari / Vellore Institute of Technology 3
 Analysis of Reserve Bank
of India(2012)

• In its annual report of

2012, the Reserve
Bank of India named
the state of Goa as
having the least
poverty of 5.09%

• while the national

average stood at
21.92%.

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Three Dimensions of Poverty (MPI)

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Three Dimensions of Poverty

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Some causes of poverty in India
• Rapid growth of population in an overpopulated country
• Low level of productivity in agriculture and industry
• Large inequalities in the ownership of earning assets such as land
• Large scale unemployment and under-employment.
• Inequality of opportunity in acquiring education and skills.

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Major Government measures for poverty
alleviation are.
• From 1950–1980
• Five year plans,
• Land Reforms,
• Green revolution and
• Operation Flood.
• Performance- partial success.
• It reduced poverty from 65% in 1950 to 35% in 1980.

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Major Government measures for poverty
alleviation are.
Post 1980’s

• LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation in 1991) reforms.

It opened up India’s economy to world and industries were deregulated.
• It brought in huge Foreign Direct Investment and boosted our Export, leading to more
employment and growth.
• MGNREGA- It aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the
country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment.
• Food security act 2013- Aims to provide subsidized food grains to 2/3rd population of India.
• Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Yojana (DAY)- For urban poor households by enabling them
to access gainful self employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.
• National Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna,Atal Pension Yojana
• Pradhan Matri Awaas Yojana- Affordable housing for urban and rural poor and low income
group.
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The World Bank on India’s poverty
• The World Bank’s Global Monitoring Report for 2014-15 on the
Millennium Development Goals
• It says India has been the biggest contributor to poverty reduction
between 2008 and 2011, with around 140 million or so lifted out of
absolute poverty.
• Unfortunately, even this remarkable feat is not enough—the report
says that in 2011, India accounted for 30% of those living in extreme
poverty in the world.

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Poverty is exacerbated by inequality - why?

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Difference between Poor and Rich class

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 THANK YOU
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