Poverty Alleviation Program

What are poverty alleviation programs?

Poverty alleviation refers to a collection of economic and humanitarian measures taken to eradic
ate poverty in a country. 

According to the World Bank, if a person lives on $1.90 per day or less, he or she is living in sev
ere poverty, which currently affects 767 million people worldwide. 

According to the most recent government figures, 268 million Indians lived on less than $1.90 p
er day in 2011. 

The Government of India has developed a number of programmes and schemes aimed at eradi
cating poverty and providing basic necessities to disadvantaged households.

Poverty alleviation projects in India are classified according to whether they are aimed at rural or 
urban sections of the country.

Because rural poverty is so prevalent, the majority of the initiatives are aimed at helping people i
n rural regions. 

Poverty reduction is also difficult in rural areas due to a variety of topographical and infrastructur
e constraints.

The programs are grouped into:

1) Wage employment programs

2) Self-employment programs

3) Food security programmes

4) Social security programs

5) Urban poverty alleviation programs

6) skill India programs for employment

Poverty Alleviation in India - Five Year Plan

To alleviate poverty in India, eleven five-year plans were created. The following is a list of these
Five Year Plans, which began in 1951:

•) The first five-year plan (from 1951 to 1956): The plan was primarily focused on agriculture and
irrigation, with the goal of achieving a well-balanced development all around.

•) The Second Five-Year Plan (1956-1961) emphasised the expansion of basic and heavy
industries, increased employment possibilities, and a 25% increase in national income.

•)The Third Five-Year Plan (from 1961 to 1966): The third five-year plan was a complete failure
due to Chinese aggressiveness in 1962, the Indo-Pak war in 1965, and the worst drought in
history. From 1966 to 1969, three annual plans were in place to replace it.

•)The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1966-1974) aimed to increase national income by 5.5%, provide
economic stability, reduce income inequalities, and achieve social justice via equality.

•)The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-1979) was primarily concerned with eradicating poverty (Garibi
Hatao) and moving bigger segments of the poor population above the poverty line. It also
guaranteed a monthly minimum income of Rs. 40 per individual, based on 1972-73 costs. When
the Janata Government came to office in 1978, rather than 1979, the plan was terminated.

•)Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-1985): The fundamental goal of the sixth five-year plan was to
eliminate poverty, with a strong emphasis on economic growth, job creation, technological self-
sufficiency, and improving the living standards of the poor.

•)Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-90): The Seventh Five-Year Plan aims to improve the poor's
living standards while significantly lowering poverty rates.

•)The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-97) was designed to increase employment, but it fell short of
most of its goals.

•)The ninth five-year plan, which ran from 1997 to 2002, focused on agriculture, employment,
poverty, and infrastructure.

•)The tenth five-year plan (2002-2007) aims to reduce poverty from 26% to 21% by 2007, as
well as to assist children in completing five years of schooling by 2007.

•)Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012): The eleventh five-year plan aims to reduce poverty by
ten percentage points, create 7 crore new job opportunities, and link all villages to electricity.

Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana

The Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) is a revamped, streamlined, and comprehensive
version of the previous Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). It was established on April 1, 1999, with
the goal of improving the quality of life of the rural poor by providing them with additional
productive jobs.

The objectives of the Yojana are creation Demand-driven village infrastructure, including long-
term assets, to increase prospects for long-term employment and supplementary jobs for the
unemployed poor in rural areas. The JGSY's target group is those who live in villages. SC/ST
families, those living in poverty, and physically challenged people are given priority.

The entire initiative is carried out at the local panchayat level. The monies, including the state m
atching share, would be distributed directly to village panchayats by district rural development a
gencies (DRDAs)/Zila Parishads (ZPs).

The village panchayat is the exclusive authority for preparing and implementing the annual actio
n plan, which must be approved by the Gram Sabha. Individual beneficiary plans for SCs/STs h
ave been allocated 22.5 percent of JGSY money. The building of barrier-free infrastructure for th
e disabled would get 3% of the annual budget.

Under the JGSY, the state government will set wages. With Gram Sabha clearance, village pan
chayats will be able to carry out works/schemes worth up to Rs.50,000. However, for works/sch
emes costing more than Rs50,000, the Village Panchayat must obtain the technical/administrati
ve clearance of appropriate authorities after receiving Gram Sabha approval.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was established at the start of the 1999-2000 fi
scal year to replace six earlier connected schemes. The project was created as a comprehensiv
e scheme to support the rural poor's self-employment. Commercial banks, regional banks, and c
ooperative banks implement it, which is supported 75:25 by the Centre and the State. The sche
me will be planned, implemented, and monitored by other financial institutions, Panchayat Raj in
stitutions, District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), Non-Governmental Organizations (N
GOs), and technical institutes in the district. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness.

Objectives

The scheme is established with the intent of bringing the assisted low-income families (also
referred to as swarozgaris) above the poverty line by providing them with an appreciable
sustained income over a period of time. This shall be fulfilled by organizing the rural poor into
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) through the process of social mobilization, training, capacity building
and provision of income generating assets.
The scheme envisages the development of activity clusters with an emphasis on key activities
identified in the block, both for the group as well as for individual assistance. These activity
clusters will be in geographic clusters of neighbouring villages within a reasonable radius.

Coverage of the Scheme

The programme is aimed at rural populations, including landowners, landless labour, educated 
unemployed, rural craftsmen, and the crippled. A three-member team comprised of a Block Dev
elopment Officer (BDO), a banker, and a sarpanch would choose low-income families from belo
w the poverty line (BPL) families.

The programme focuses on the most vulnerable members of the rural poor. The SC/ST would r
eceive the majority of the monies (50 percent), with a part of the remaining funds going to wome
n and the disabled.

The initiative is targeted at the growth of Swarozgaris through training courses that are tailored t
o the activities chosen and the needs of each swarozgari.

National Food for Work Programme

On November 14, 2004, the Minister of Rural Development of the Central Government started
the National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) in 150 of India's most backward districts with
the goal of creating supplementary wage employment. The programme is open to all Indian
poor people who are willing to do physical, unskilled labour and are looking for a job. It is
implemented as a government-sponsored programme. The states, on the other hand, will be
responsible for transportation costs, handling fees, and food grain taxes. It has always been
preferable to provide food grains for free rather than provide money. The eligibility requirements
were loosened to accommodate both BPL and APL families.

At the district level, the collector is the lead or nodal officer, with ultimate responsibility for
planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and supervision. In addition to 18 million
tonnes of food grains, a total of 2,020 crore (US$270 million) has been set aside for the initiative
in 2004-2005.

Wages are paid on a daily basis and meals are supplied at work.

Since then, the programme has been incorporated into the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act of 2005, which has taken effect in 200 districts across the country, including 150
NFFWP areas. MGNREGA is now the most important right-based employment guarantee
scheme in the country.