AN APPRAISAL OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN POVERTY

ALLEVIATION IN INDIA (NDA VS. UPA)

SUBMITTED BY: DEV KARN BARDHAN SINGH

DIVISION: C
PRN: 16010223070

SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, NOIDA.

SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL (DEEMED)UNIVERSITY, Pune.

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

DR POOJA KAPOOR
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, NOIDA.

AUGUST 2018
 CERTIFICATE

The project entitled An Appraisal Of The Role Of Government In Poverty Alleviation In

India (NDA Vs. UPA) submitted to the Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA for the subject
Public Administration as part of internal assessment is my original work carried out under the
guidance of Dr Pooja Kapoor from JULY 2018 TO DECEMBER 2018.

The research work has not been submitted elsewhere for award of any publication or degree.
The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the work has been duly
acknowledged. I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for
plagiarism, if any, detected later on.

Signature of the candidate :

Date:
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to firstly thank Dr Pooja Kapoor for giving me the opportunity to work on this
specific project. It has enabled me to learn and understand the subject better. I would also like
to thank Dr C.J Rawandale the director of Symbiosis Law School, Noida, for giving me the
opportunity of learning in Symbiosis. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family for
the constant support and help they have provided me with.
INTRODUCTION – WHAT IS POVERTY?

Poverty is a multidimensional concept that seeks to measure levels of deprivation

encountered by a person, household or community. Although most of the literature focuses
on indicators of deprivation such as income, food, access to housing and so on, the choice of
indicators to measure levels of deprivation can often be arbitrary and hence may not reflect a
full-scale measure of unmet basic needs in different social contexts. This discrepancy leads to
concepts such as poverty, social exclusion and vulnerability being used interchangeably in
development discourse. While allowing for variations in indicators of unmet basic needs,
poverty is generally considered to be a measure of deprivation of the basic needs that a
person, household or community requires to have a basic standard of living. Deprivation can
be measured either in terms of a lack of resources (eg income, assets), capabilities (eg skills,
knowledge, technology) or both.

Therefore, poverty is nothing but the below standard level of anything ranging from
education, basic health facility and finances to lead a basic life. Poverty is measured on a
yearly basis, the UN plays a major part in poverty alleviation throughout the world,
organisations such as the WHO and UNESCO are two major organisations that help develop
the poverty-stricken countries. The way such organisations measure poverty or how much of
poverty a country is living, they genertally use the physiological deprivation model to assess
lack of access to economic resources (income) to satisfy basic material needs.

A person (or household) is considered poor if the person’s income cannot acquire the basket
of goods and services used to define a threshold for poverty. The monetary value of the
basket is the poverty line and the population of people and households whose incomes are
below this line, is then derived through a head count. While this approach is the most
currently used in household and poverty surveys, it is important to understand that its focus is
exclusively on income and expenditure as surrogates for measuring access to goods and
services. Concerns about its limitations as a tool for assessing people’s level of deprivation
has led to definitions that consider other nonmonetary aspects such as human rights values
enshrined in the UN Human Rights Charter, The UN Development Programme’s Human
Development Index has integrated more dimensions to the income/expenditure measures,
notably life expectancy, educational attainment and a measure of income (GNI Index).
Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people's freedoms and
opportunities and improving their well-being. Based on income/expenditure measures of
poverty, the prevalence of poverty is highest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

POVERTY IN INDIA

India, as a country of the 21st century is known to be underdeveloped, it is a third world

country, a third world company basically means countries with high mortality rates,
especially infant mortality rates. They also have an unstable and inconsistent economy. These
are countries that contain massive amounts of poverty and in some cases, have fewer natural
resources than other nations throughout the world. These countries often have to rely on more
industrialized countries to aid them and help stabilize their economy.

Basic statistics indicate that, At present, 28.5% of the Indian populace lives beneath the
poverty line. In the class of poor falls the general population whose day by day wage is under
33 rupees per day in urban areas and 27 rupees per day in towns. This implies, the genuine
number of individuals living beneath the neediness line is considerably higher, as per the
measurable information, anybody procuring 40 rupees won't be considered as poor yet should
confront similar challenges throughout everyday life. Some basic statistics on the basis of
question and answers are as following :-

 Which part of the country are considered the most poverty sticken?
The most poor section of the country are the Dalits, the minorities and tribes. One of the
reasons why Dalits and minorities face poverty is because of the caste system, they are not
allowed education, they are not being offered jobs because of their caste and are considered
untouchables, therefore, it is almost like a vicious cycle without the people actually being at
fault.

 What states in India are considered to be poorest of them all?

60% of the poor still reside in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh,
Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The reason for these states to be in the category
of the poorest state is because 85% of tribal people live there. Also, most of these regions are
either flood-prone or suffer from calamities. These conditions hamper agriculture to a great
extent, on which the household income of these people depends.

As indicated by the ongoing Global Hunger Index Report 2012 by the International Food
Research Institute, India positions 97th in Global Hunger Index. Despite the fact that there is
no deficiency of sustenance generation in India, our country still has the most noteworthy
level of underweight youngsters under five. India is striving to end up a superpower in 2020,
however shouldn't something be said about these poor in India as our country still lingers
behind in enhancing GHI.

India at show has a more prominent offer of the poor around the globe. Thirty years back,
India was home to one-fifth of world's poor however now it is a home to 33% of destitute
individuals. This implies we presently have poorer in India when contrasted with thirty years
before.

Worldwide destitution line remains at $ 1.25 every day and in 2010, 32.7% of the aggregate
populace in India was beneath this line. As indicated by a 2011 neediness Development
Goals Report, destitution in India is relied upon to drop by 22% out of 2015.

REASONS FOR POVERTY IN INDIA

The major reasons for poverty in India can be explained by two major reasons. One being the
genesis of poverty in India, which is connected to the British Raj and what the British rule did
to the economy of India, and the second reason is because of the current situation in India.
The second reason having a connection with the first reason. Both reasons will be discussed
in the discussion below

THE BRITISH RAJ

Dadabhai Naoroji, a recognized financial specialist of India, in book 'Destitution in India'

(1876) investigated that the huge amount of economic wealth out of India which began after
1857 was for the most part in charge of the monetary backwardness in India. Indeed, even
after the exchange of intensity of crown in 1858, the deplete still proceeded and it was
generally as Home Charges.

Amid early piece of twentieth century around 10 for each penny of the aggregate national
salary of India was transmitted to England. This prompted a colossal deplete of financial
excess of a poor nation like India which had brought about further being worked on of the
nation. The spine of the Indian economy was gravely harmed amid the two hundred years of
the British Raj in the nation. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Indian economy was
considered as a mechanically propelled nation. Be that as it may, the British did not allow to
modernize the mechanical part of the nation amid the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

World famous Indian handicrafts and cottage industries were totally destroyed by the advent
of cheap British manufactures in India. In this way Indian economy was turned into an
importer of British manufactured goods and exporter of tea, coffee, oil seeds, foodstuffs and
other industrial raw materials which were considered essential for running British industries
in England.

Word related structure of Indian individuals amid the British time frame obviously delineates
a photo of stagnation and neediness in the Indian economy. The evaluation information of
1818 uncovered that around 61 for every penny of our populace remained absolutely reliant
on agribusiness and both in 1921 and furthermore till the finish of British administration,
around 73 for each penny of Indian individuals were subject to horticulture. Albeit British
rulers understood the significance of agrarian segment on the Indian economy yet they took
no activity of their own for any changeless change of the farming segment. This had brought
about disappointment of products and starvation in India occasionally.During the two
hundred long periods of British administer, misuse of the economy was proceeded and this
prompted add up to being worked on of the economy of the nation.

Toward the finish of two hundred long periods of British lead, Indian economy was subjected
to the issues of low per capita salary, joblessness, smashed structure of cabin and little
ventures, low capital development, low level of speculation, high birth and passing rates and
preservationist demeanors of Indian individuals. Every one of these issues had prompted the
stagnation, neediness and backwardness of the Indian economy.
CURRENT SCENARIO

Economy as a concept has been prevailing in the Indian and the world context for the largest
amount of time. Economy before the colonization by the British were basically agricultural
based or small trade. However, the British ruled out ways and methods of draining out the
economy of the country for their selfish motives.

As mentioned earlier, the current scenario of poverty in the country has its genesis in the first,
being the British raj and the effects it had and still has on our economy, poverty and
eventually our country. When the British left the country and India was an independent
country, it was seen to be one of the worst econimies in the country alongside with issues
such as poverty, unemployment etc. Following are certain points because of which, poverty
prevails in Modern India. :-

 POPULATION
Population has been rising in India at a rapid speed. This rise is mainly due to fall in death
rate and more birth rate. India’s population was 84.63 crores in 1991 and became 102.87
crores in 2001. This pressure of population proves hindrance in the way of economic
development. Currently, India’s population stands at 1.3 Billion and is predicted to become
1.4 Billion in 2021.

 UNEMPLOYMENT
Since there is a rapid increase in population, unemployment of the country is also lacking,
having more people and less jobs is what is known to be the issue of unemployment in the
country

 CAPITAL DEFICIENCY
Capital is basically money which is needed to run and organisation or a company, however in
this case running a country. India faces with issues of capital deficiency mainly because of
corruption and tax evasions. Only 10% of the country is paying tax at the moment, out of that
10% , most of the money is being used by the corrupt of the country.
  UNDER- DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY
The country is known to be under developed or a developing country, numerous factors are
the reaons for under development of the country. This is known to be one of the major
reasons for poverty in India.

 NET NATIONAL INCOME

The net national income is quite low as compared to size of population. Low per capita
income proves its poverty. The per capita income in 2003-04 was Rs. 20989 which proves
India is one of the poorest nations.

 LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE
The means of transport and communication have not been properly developed. The road
transport is inadequate and railway is quite less. Due to lack of proper development of road
and rail transport, agricultural marketing is defective. Industries do not get power supply and
raw materials in time and finished goods are not properly marketed.

OBJECTIVES/AIM

The government plays a very important role in every sphere of its governance and in the
general uplifting of the country. Poverty is one such aspect which has proved to be one of the
biggest problems in historic as well as modern India. The objective of this project is to
understand and acknowledge what a government is and what are its role in poverty
alleviation. This assignment will conclude by understanding which administrative unit has
helped better in poverty alleviation.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The main portal of research for this specific research will be internet sources which include
articles, journals, publications and various internet pages. As I have mentioned before, the
topic is highly exhaustive, not many books have been used considering poverty and political
parties are changing on an ever day basis.
LITERATURE REVIEW

A case study and article written by Agus Andrianito in purview of Poverty alleviation talks
about the poverty and its alleviation in Malinau and West Kutai Districts, East Kalimantan,
Indonesia. The article basically talks about how poverty is to be tackled and how it will give
rise to employment and ultimately a better economy. It talks about various aspects some
being as follows

 Malinau District Government

 Policies and district budget allocation
 New sub districts and village mergers
 District Budget (APBD)
 The Poverty Alleviation Committee’s handling of poverty
 Government programmes and perceptions of poverty
 Community Empowerment Service (PMD)
 Agriculture Service
 Forestry and Plantations Service Social-Economics and Investment Division

Another case which is somewhat similar to the Indian context post colonisation by the British
is a case study on Nigeria. The case study has been articulated by Alhaji Garba Buwai. The
same talks about issues which the country faces being

 Poor Drinking water

 Poor nutrition,
 Unfit housing
 High rate of infant mortality
 Low life expectancy
 Low educational opportunities.
The above listed is however in the context of when the country had just taken birth, how the
British had completely eroded our sources and income and how the genesis of the parasite of
poverty took place. 71 years later, the governments have worked hard to progress in the
above issues, as they have, but issues still have not been solved.
LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

Talking about poverty has been something all of us have been doing for decades now, it is
something which is really hard to alleviate and eradicate considering numerous reasons like
unemployment and basic education. All of the above are somewhat connected and the reason
why India is still considered one of the poorest countries in world has been connected
because of a vicious cycle.

The limitations to this study of poverty alleviation and a comparison to both the political
parties is that we cannot know in exact numbers or statistics which political party has done a
better job in uplifting the poor. It will take immense amount of research and analysis to do the
same considering the governments have changed numerous times. It is also hard because both
governments have been both successful and failures in some sphere of their administration in
their time. Another limitation to this study is the concept of poverty itself and how it is to be
improved. Every party and every Prime minister the country has seen has done something or
the other in understand what are the reasons for poverty and what could be the reason for
poverty still prolonging even after 71 years of independence from the British.

CONCLUSION- POVERTY

Poverty is defined in terms of income, expenditure and nutritional value (calorie intake).
Poverty is more of social marginalisation of an individual, household or group in the
community or society rather than inadequacy of income to fulfill the basic needs. The goal of
poverty alleviation programme should aim merely at the increasing of the income level of
individual, household or group but generally marginalised in the development process of the
country. The country cannot claim economic growth when sections of the people are
marginalised to the periphery of the society. So, the government should provide better
development programme facilities, so that people living below poverty line can improve their
livelihood. It also suggests that Poverty alleviation programmes should also take up the issue
of poverty from the social and economic perspectives.

As far as the governments and their comparison is considered, both the said governments
have done to their fullest to eradicate and improve living standards of all 1.3 Billion people
residing in the country
 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE AND UNITED
PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE (BRIEF)

UPA and NDA are basically alliance of different parties in the country. The NDA consists of
parties such as Bhartiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Naga’s people front. On the other hand,
the UPA consists of parties such as Indian National Congress (Congress), Rashtriya Janata
Dal etc. However, in this specific research project, emphasis will be mainly focused on the
Bhartiya Janata dal and the Indian National Congress or the Congress Party representing the
National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance respectively.

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE (NDA)

The National Democratic Alliance is an inside right political collusion driven by the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As of 2015, it is the decision coalition in the Parliament of
India under the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and standards more than 13 state
governments.[4] The NDA was framed by the BJP in the 1998 general races; it comprised of
its current partners like the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena
notwithstanding the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Biju Janata Dal.

Among these provincial gatherings, the Shiv Sena was the special case which had a belief
system like that of the BJP. The coalition initially came to control at the Central Government
after the 1998 general decisions, and kept on decision till 2004.
As of September 2015, the NDA has thirty-five part parties (two of them are political fronts
and one is an association), out of which the BJP is the main national gathering

UNITED PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE

The United Progressive Alliance was formed in 2004 with Sonia Gandhi being its
chairperson. The UPA is again, a coalation of parties, the parent and the main party meing the
Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress was founded by Nehru when India
attainred freedom in 1947. Nehru, From 1951 until his death in 1964,  dominated the
Congress Party, which won overwhelming victories in the elections of 1951–52, 1957, and
1962.
The party united in 1964 to elect Lal Bahadur Shastri and in 1966 Indira Gandhi (Nehru’s
daughter) to the posts of party leader and thus prime minister of the country. In 1967,
however, Indira Gandhi faced open revolt within the party, and in 1969 she was expelled
from the party by a group called the “Syndicate.” Nevertheless, her New Congress Party
scored a landslide victory in the 1971 elections, and for a period it was unclear which party
was the true rightful heir of the Indian National Congress label. The most recent leadership of
the congress was shown in the year 2014 by Mr Manmohan Singh.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION – AN EFFORT BY THE TWO

GOVERNMENTS

As it has been mentioned above, ever since the genesis of the country, poverty has been one
of the major issues. It is almost like a vicous cycle, since there is lack of education and
poverty prevails, employment and other sectors suffer because of the same. However, with
time and ever since the year 1947, the two parties which have been seen in the forefront and
have been a part of a major debate in the country. Which party has done a better job at
eradicating poverty?

There have been numerous ‘programmes’ which have been initited by both the said parties,
and about 10 have been shortlisted, however, we will be focusing on the ones that have
actually helped in alleviation of poverty.
Analysis of both the parties will be done along with their programmes over the years.

POVERTY PROGRAMMES UNDER BHARTIYA JANATA

PARTY(JANATA DAL)

 JAWAHAR GRAM SAMRIDHI YOJNA (JGSY)

Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) is the restructured, streamlined and comprehensive
version of the erstwhile Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). Launched on 1st April 1999, it has
been designed to improve the quality of life of the rural poor by providing them additional
gainful employment. The main objectives of the said progamme is the creation of demand-
driven village infrastructure including durable assets for increasing the opportunities for
sustained employment and generation of supplementary employment for the unemployed
poor in rural areas. People living in villages constitute the target group of JGSY. Preference
is given to the SC/ST families, living below the poverty line and physically handicapped
persons.

The secondary objective is for the supplementary employment for the unemployed youth in
the rural areas of the country.

 INTEGRAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (IRDP)

Under the Integrated Rural Development Program, each year 600 families are provided help,
of which 400 families are related to agriculture and related fields, 100 families to rural and
cottage industries, and 100 families, to employment areas. First, each poor family is selected
and then an appropriate plan is prepared with their consultation, which is partly carried out
with the help of subsidy and partly by bank loan.

The main objective of this program was to bring the very poor families of rural areas, above
the poverty line. The major work area of this program is the 30 crore people living in rural
areas who are below the poverty line.
This program has the following main objectives
To bring the families living below the poverty line, above this line and increasing their
incomes.
Increase the employment opportunities of poor people and provide them all kind of help and
resources.

 SWARAN JAYANTI GRAM SWAROZGAR YOJANA (SJGS)

Swaran Jayanyi Gram Swarozgar Yojna was launched in April 1999 and it aims at bringing
the assisted poor families (Swarozgaris) above the poverty line by organizing them into Self
Help Groups (SHGs) through a mix of Bank credit and Government subsidy. In this scheme
IRDP and other programmes have been included. Under this scheme, poor are granted bank
loans and subsidies to establish small enterprises.

This scheme is centrally sponsored on 75: 25basis, by centre and states. From this programme
about 121 lakh self-employed persons were benefited upto 2009. Rs. 27,183 crore was spent
on this plan.

1. Focussed Approach to poverty Alleviation by setting up a large number of Micro

enterprises in rural areas of our country.
2. Capitalising group lending
3. Overcoming the problem of running multiple programmes overlapping each other.
4. A holistic programme of micro enterprises covering all aspects of self employment
which includes organising rural poor into Self help groups.
5. Integration of various agencies like District Rural Development Agencies, Banks,
Line Departments., Panchayati Raj Instituions, NGOs etc.
6. Bring the assistated poor family above Belove Poverty Line (BPL) by providing them
a mix of income generating assets like bank credit and Government subsidy.

 PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJNA (PMAY – G)

Even though the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna was initiated by the then congress government
as IAY (Indira Awas Yojna) it has been developed and the BJP has immense amount of
contribution towards this progamme which aims at housing and legitimising living standards
in the country

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna – Gramin aims at providing a pucca (legitimate) houses , with
basic amenities, to all houseless householder and those households living in kutcha and
dilapidated house, by 2022. The immediate the objective is to cover 1.00 crore household
living in kutcha house/dilapidated house in three years from 2016-17 to 2018- 19.

The minimum size of the house has been increased to 25 sq.mt (from20sq.mt) with a hygienic
cooking space. The unit assistance has been increased from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1.20 lakh in
plain and from Rs75,000 to Rs 1.30 lakh in hilly states, difficult areas and IAP district. The
beneficiary is entitled to 90.95 person day of unskilled labour from MGNREGS.

The assistance for construction of toilet shall be leveraged though convergence with SBM-G,
MGNREGS or any other dedicated the source of funding. Convergence for piped drinking
water, electricity connection, LPG gas connection etc. different Government programmers
are also to be attempted.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION UNDER THE INDIAN NATIONAL

CONGRESS (CONGRESS PARTY)

 MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT

(MGNREGA)

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) is not

exactly a programme but it is an act which has been initially proposed by the Congress
government in the year 2005. However, the BJP government has adopted this particular act as
its policy for poverty alleviation

MGNREGA aims at enhancing livelihood security by providing at least one hundred days of
guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult
members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

The Act covered 200 districts in its first phase, implemented on February 2, 2006, and was
extended to 130 additional districts in 2007- 2008. All the remaining rural areas have been
notified with effect from April 1, 2008. 1.1

Right based Framework was one of the major features of the said act. For adult members of a
rural household willing to do unskilled manual work.
There is a provision for time bound guarantee of employment and guarantees 15 days for
provision of employment, else unemployment allowance , also includes upto 100 days in a
financial year per household, depending on the actual demand.
  NATIONAL FAMILY BENEFIT SCHEME (NFBS)

National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) came into effect from 15th August, 1995. It is a
social sector scheme and forms part of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
This scheme provides social assistance and benefits to the poor and backward families.
Thus, we can say that the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) is an integral part of the
National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).

Under this scheme, Families living below the poverty line are entitled to get financial benefits
after the death of the sole bread winner. This scheme was launched to assure some financial
help in the event of the death of an earning member of a poor family. This scheme ensures a
one-time payable sum of Rs 20,000/- to the bereaved family once after the death of the main
earner of the family. Any kind of death (Natural or Accidental) will make the family entitled
and eligible for such an allowance.

 GARIBI HATAO ANDOLAN (PROGAMME)

Garibi Hatao which literally means remove poverty was a programme initiated by Indira
Gandhi and was one of the first programmes related to poverty which was launched by free
India. Since Congress was in power, they exercised such a power to try and eradicate or
reduce poverty, which was thriving in the country.

The slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programmes that came with it were designed to
reach out directly to the poor and marginalised, by-passing the dominant rural castes. For
their part, the previously voiceless poor would at last gain both political worth and political
weight. In the 1971 elections, she popularised the slogan of Garibi Hatao and made it a point
to reach out to the various sections of the unprivileged groups of the rural India.

The slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programs that came with it were designed to give
Gandhi an independent national support, based on rural and urban poor, which would allow
her to by-pass the dominant rural castes both in and out of state and local government.
The programs created through garibi hatao, though carried out locally, were funded,
developed, supervised, and staffed by Government officials in New Delhi and Congress
Party officials. All in all, garibi hatao did little and accomplished less amd only about 4% of
all funds allocated for economic development went to the three main anti-poverty programs,
and precious few of these ever reached the 'poorest of the poor', but it did help secure
Gandhi's election and was part of the 5th Five-Year Plan.

 INDIRA AWAAS YOJANA (IAY)

This is a major scheme for construction of houses of unserviceable kutcha houses to semi-
pucca houses has also been added. From 1999-2000, the criteria for allocation of funds to
states/UTs has been changed from poverty ratio to the housing shortage in the state.

Similarly, the criteria for allocation of funds to a district have been changed to equally reflect
the SC/ST population and the housing shortage. During 2007-08 Rs. 4033 crores have been
earmarked for constructing 21.27 lakh houses. As per information by the states 9.40 Lakh
houses have been built upto 2008. The Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) provides
equity support to the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) for this
purpose.

 SWARNA JAYANTI SHAHRI ROZGAR YOJANA (SJSRY)

This programme was launched in Dec. 1, 1997. Its main object is to provide self employment
to unemployed youth of urban areas. It includes youth educated up to 9th standard yet living
below poverty line.

It is also based upon 75% centre and 25% state‟s contribution in expenditure required for the
scheme. The expenditure during 2003-04 was Rs.103 crore. For 2004-05, the allocation is
Rs.103 crore, out of which Rs. 90.38 crore were utilized by December 31, 2004.In 2008-
2009, 9.47 Lakh beneficiaries were covered under it. Rs. 541 crore was spent on this plan in
2008-09.

 MID DAY MEALS SCHEME (MDMS)

Under this scheme, school children are provided with free mid day meals. The children in
primary classes have been covered under this scheme. Under this scheme, 2.5 crore additional
children got benefit it. Children in primary classes and upper primary classes have been
coveredin 2008-09 (Verma and Pardeep, 2010). For this purpose Amount of rs. 8000 crore
was spent in 2009-10.

CONCLUSION AND ANALYSIS

The different governments of the county has basically worked on two or three major spheres
of poverty alleviation. The emphasis is on household and housing, employment and the need
to provide basic and minimum wages.

In general, the governments have worked tremendously towards alleviating poverty. The
progammes mentioned above are just about 10-11 of the numerous ones initiated by the
governments for example the annupuurna yojna, National Social Assistance program,
Intergrated Child Development Scheme, and so many more. Right after independence, the
legacy of Jawahar Lal Nehru and the reign of congress was initiated and the Indian National
Congress was on the forefront majority of the times. On the other hand, the Janata Dal is a
party which rose to popularity only during the late 1980’s. Since the congress government
has been elected and has ruled the country for over 54 years, it is obvious in nature it will be
having more influence, success and popularity in terms of most of the spheres of
development and specially poverty.

The Janata party and the Bhartiya Janata Party have been in power for merely approximately
9 years. However, in most of there poverty alleviation and poverty programmes they have
been a success. The current Bhartiya Janata party government and the Modi government has
shown immense growth in poverty alleviation with improving job opportunities, programmes
such as ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ has proved to be one of the most successful programmes
related to poverty and cleanliness in general. Therefore, to answer the question as to which
government has been more successful in terms of poverty alleviation programmes in the
country, Indian National Congress (INC) has had an upper hand. Saying the same, even
though the Bartiya Janata Party (JD) has been in power for less years, the programmes
initiated by them may have had more effect on poverty alleviation. That being another study
all together, about quality being over quantity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INTERNET SOURCES

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https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/indias-upa-government-and-foreign-policy/

 Lewis P. Fickett, Jr, Vol. 33, No. 12 (Dec., 1993), pp. 1151-1162, The Rise and Fall
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 (December 17, 2015), Short Notes on The National Rural Employment Programme
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 Social and Welfare Schemes, https://community.data.gov.in/noapsignoaps-

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http://indiragandhi.in/en/timeline/index/garibi-hatao-timeline

 (August 21, 2018), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS),

https://pmyojana.online/sarkari-yojana/national-family-benefit-scheme/

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http://nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx

 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),

http://mnregaweb4.nic.in/netnrega/workers/wrkinfo.aspx

 B - The National Rural Employment Programme (NREP),

http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=d-00000-00---off-0fnl2.2--00-0----0-10-0---0---
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 https://pmayg.nic.in/netiay/about-us.aspx

 http://zenithresearch.org.in/.../14_ZIJBEMR_VOL2_IS SUE2_FEB2012.pdf

 planningcommission.nic.in/plans/annualplan/.../ap2021c h5-2.pdf

2. ARTICLES
 Dr. M. Sreedhar ,International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN
(Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2015): 78.96 | Impact Factor
(2015): 6.391 Volume 6 Issue 5, May 2017 www.ijsr.net