CHAPTER – 4

POVERTY
I. Choose the correct answer. (Each question carries one mark)
1. Poverty Line separates
a) Poor and non-poor b) Rich and non-rich
c) Poor and Weak d) None of the above.
Ans:- poor and non poor
2. In per-independent India, he was the first to discuss the concept of poverty line.
a) Dadabhai Naoraji b) Gopala krishna Gokhale
c) Vinobha bave d) Vinoda Bai
Ans:- Dadabhai Naoroji
3. Some are rich most of the time but may sometime have a patch of bad luck. they
are called
a) Occasionally Poor b) Usually Poor
c) Always Poor d) None of the above
Ans:- Occassionally poor
4.The act provides guaranteed wage employment to every poor household for
minimum of 100 days in a year is called.
a) PMRY b) SJSRY
c) MGNREGA d) SGSY
Ans:- MGNREGA
II. Fill in the blanks. (Each question carries four marks)
1. The causes of poverty lie in the institutional and ----- Social-----factors that mark
the life of the poor.
2. Most poverty alleviation programmes implemented are based on the perspective
of the __Five Year Plans__________
3. __British Raj__impoverished millions of people in India.
4. Economists identify the poor on the basis of their------ occupation and ----
Ownership of assets---------

III. Answer the following question in a word /sentence each. (Each question
carries one mark)
1. Give the meaning of poverty.
 Ans:- Poverty is a situation where an individual does not get access to even the
basic necessities of life.
2. Why the poor are physically weak?
Ans:- Poor are physically weak because of malnutrition, ill health , disability.
3. Who are the churning poor?
Ans:- People who regularly move in and out of poverty are called churning
poor.
4. Define poverty line as per planning commission.
Ans:- Poverty line as described by the planning commission is based on
minimum calorie intake. It is 2400 calories in the rural areas and 2100 calories
in the urban areas.
5. What is Head Count Ratio?
Ans:- The number of poor in our country are estimated through the HEAD
COUNT RATIO this is got by dividing the number of poor by the total
population.
6. What programme has the government adopted to help the elderly
people and poor and destitute women?
Ans:- National Social Assistance Programme.
7. Suppose you are from a poor family and you wish to get help from the
government to set up a petty shop under which scheme will you apply
for assistance.
Ans:- Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana.

IV. Answer the following question in four sentences each. (Each question
carries two marks)
1. List the features of poorest households.
 Ans:- They face problems like malnutrition, ill health, serious illness this
makes them physically weak.
 Starvation and hunger are the key features of the poorest households.

2. Who are the urban poor? Give examples.

Ans:- The urban poor are largely the overflow of the rural poor who had
migrated to urban areas in search of alternative employment and livelihood,
They are the labour class who do a variety of casual jobs and the self-
employed (push cart vendors, cobblers etc) who sell a variety of things on
roadsides and are engaged in various activities
 3. Who are the rural poor ? Give examples.
Ans:- the rural poor work mainly as landless agricultural labourers,
cultivators with very small landholdings, landless labourers who are
engaged in a variety of non-agricultural jobs and tenant cultivators with
small land holdings.

4. What are the social factors that trigger and perpetuate the poverty?
Ans:- The social factors that trigger and perpetuate poverty are illiteracy, illhealth,
lack of access to resources, discrimination, lack of political freedom.

5. Name the self-employment generation programmes of the government

for the poor.
Ans:- Some of the self employment generation programmes for the poor are Rural
Employment Guarentee Programme, Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, Swarna
Jayanthi Shahri Rozgar Yojana etc

6. List the programmes that aims at improving the food and nutritional
status of the poor.
Ans:- The programmes that aim to improve the food and nutritional status of the
poor are
• Public Distribution System.
• Integrated child Development Scheme.
• Midday Meal Scheme.

7. List the factors that prevent the successful implementation of poverty

alleviation programmes.
 Ans:- Due to unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits from
direct poverty alleviation programmes have NOT been benefitting the poor.
 Poor are not actively participating.
 Ineffective methods of identifying the poor.
 Insufficient resources.
 Half hearted efforts by the Govt.
 Corruption.
V. Answer the following question in twelve sentences each. (Each question
carries four marks)
1. What do you mean by Growth oriented approach to poverty reduction?
Why it is not successful in India?
Ans:- The Growth Oriented Approach to reduce poverty aims to improve the
Growth rate of the country which will trickle down and and help in the
upliftment of the poor.
Reasons for the failure of the growth oriented approach in India
• The Increase in GDP and PCI actually did not peculate to the poor, it rested
with the rich only.
• The programme is not successful because the growth of agriculture and
industry is very slow.
• The gap between the rich and the poor has widened.
• The benefits of economic growth has not trickled down to the poor.

1. Explain the employment generation programmes of poverty alleviation

in India.
➢ Ans:- Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY):- The educated
unemployed from low-income families in rural and urban areas can get
financial help to set up any kind of enterprise that generates employment
under PMRY
 Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
Aims to provide self employment opportunities in the rural areas
through bank assistance. This programme is reinstituted as National Rural
Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act:- provides
guaranteed wage employment to every rural household whose adult
volunteer is to do unskilled manual work for a minimum of 100 days in a
year.
 Swarnajayanthi Shahri Rozgar Yojna:-
SJSRY mainly aims at creating employment opportunities—both self
employment and wage employment—in urban areas. Earlier, under self-
employment programs, financial assistance too was given.

2. Critically asses the poverty alleviation programmes of the government.

 Ans:- Despite the efforts made by the Government poverty continues to
exist due to the following reasons.
  Due to unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits from direct
poverty alleviation programmes have NOT been benefitting the poor.
 Poor are not actively participating.
 Ineffective methods of identifying the poor.
 Insufficient resources.
 Half hearted efforts by the Govt.
 Corruption.

VI. Answer the following question in twenty sentences each. (Each question
carries six marks)
1. Explain the causes of poverty.
Ans:- Poverty in India is caused because of a number of social, political and
economic factors.
 Lack of education:- The poor are deprived of quality education and unable
to acquire skills which fetch better incomes.
 Lack of access to health care:- The poor are deprived of basic health care
facilities.
 Caste discrimination:- The main victims of caste, religious and other
discriminatory practices are poor.
 Unemployment:- Due to rapid increase in population and lack of
employable skills there is widespread unemployment, this has aggravated
the problem of poverty
 indebtedness :- the problem of poverty has aggravated due to heavy loans
borrowed by the poor for unproductive purposes. Many a times the poor are
born in poverty, live in poverty and die in poverty.
 unequal distribution of income and wealth:- The increase in income due to
economic growth is cornered by the rich. This has aggravated the problem of
poverty
 Low capital formation:- this is due to low levels of income and low levels of
savings and continues to keep our country in a state of poverty.
 Deindustrialization by the British:- The British dumped their finished goods
in the Indian market and they destroyed most of the cottage and small scale
industries. They plundered our natural resources and collected heavy taxes
from our people.
 Small land holdings:- This is due to the Law of Inheritance and Succession
and economic farming cannot be practiced on these lands.
 2. Explain briefly the three dimensional programmes adopted by the
government to eradicate the poverty in India.
 Ans:- The Indian Constitution and five year plans state social justice as the
primary objective of the developmental strategies of the government.
 The government’s approach to poverty reduction was of three dimensions.
 Growth oriented approach.
 Income and employment generation approach
 Minimum Basic needs approach.
GROWTH ORIENTED APPROACH:- It is based on rapid increase in
gross domestic product and per capita income — through industrialization
and green revolution.
INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION APPROACH :- Some
of the self employment and wage employment programs are as follows
MINIMUM BASIC NEEDS APPROACH:-
The third approach to addressing poverty is to provide minimum basic amenities to
the people.
 provision of food grains at subsidised rates, education, health, water supply
and sanitation—people’s living standard could be improved.
 Programmes under this approach are expected to supplement the
consumption of the poor, create employment opportunities and bring about
improvements in health and education.

VII. Project Oriented Question (Five Marks)

1. Write the Chart of poverty line.
Ans:-
 Poor can be categorized into the following groups
 Chronic poor:- it consists of always poor and usually poor. Includes people
who have always lived in poverty. Eg:- casual workers.
 Transient poor:- it consists of churning poor and occasionally poor. They
regularly move in and out of poverty. Eg:- small farmers and seasonal
workers.
 Non Poor:- it consists of the never poor people.

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