Poverty reduction

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 Basic thinking
• India has more than 300 million poor
• Development will reduce this number
• Yet to expedite reduction in poverty we need:
 Rapid employment expansion
 Greater investment in health, education,
water/sanitation, and child nutrition
 Directly targeted poverty reduction
programmes
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• Poverty declined from 54.9 percent in 1973 to
44.5 percent in 1983, 36 percent in 1993-94, and
further to 27.5 percent in 2004
• Poverty line - Rs. 356 monthly per capita
consumption expenditure for rural areas and Rs.
539 for urban areas
• The poverty line is too low and this implies that
poverty is more than what the figures show
• Separately rural and urban poverty is 28.3 and
25.7 percent respectively
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 Low poverty States
• J&K – 5.4
• Punjab – 8.4
• Himachal Pradesh – 10
• Haryana – 14
• Andhra Pradesh – 15.8
• Gujarat – 16.8

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 High poverty States
• Orissa – 46.4
• Bihar – 41.4
• Chhattisgarh – 40.9
• Jharkhand – 40.3
• Uttarakhand – 39.6
• Madhya Pradesh – 38.3
• Uttar Pradesh – 32.8

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 Absolute numbers
• 3,213 lakhs in 1973
• 3,229 lakhs in 1983
• 3,204 lakhs in 1993-94
• 3,017 lakhs in 2004-05

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 In some States during last 30 years number
of poor people increased
• Uttar Pradesh
• Uttaranchal
• Rajasthan
• Maharashtra
• Nagaland

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In Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, and
Mizoram their number has remained same

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 Composition of the poor people
• Poverty concentrated in rural areas
• Among agricultural labor and artisanal households
• SCs, STs, OBCs more poor
• Rural SCs – 36.8 percent
• Urban SCs – 40 percent
• Rural STs – 47.3 (though they have more land than
SCs but the quality of land is low)
• Urban STs – 25.7

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 Multiple deprivations
• Income
• Land
• Values of assets
• Health, education, nutrition
• The mean body mass index (BMI) for SCs, STs, and OBCs is
close to cut-off for malnutrition
• Enrolment/Drop out rates at different levels
• Drop out rates at primary stage (I-V): 34.21 for SCs, 42.32
for STs, and 29.00 for Generals
• Home – 18 million rural people do not have a home over
their head
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 Poverty among women
• More women living in poor households
• Women worse-off in terms of other indicators
• In age group 15-49, 73 percent SC women, 79
percent ST women, 61 percent OBC women
and 61 Muslim women are illiterate. More
Muslims are living in urban areas. Separately,
condition of Muslim women is worse than of
other women.

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 Directly targeted poverty reduction
programmes
• Sociology of poverty – certain communities
found more among the poor
• Geographical concentration
• Wage labor
• Self employed

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 MGNREGA
• Rights based framework for wage employment
• Starting with 200 districts across the country in Phase-I
during 2006-07 covered the whole country since 2008
• The objective is to enhance the livelihood security of
the people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of
wage employment in a financial year to a rural
household whose members volunteer to do unskilled
manual work.
• Choice of work – causes of chronic poverty like
drought, deforestation, soil erosion, etc.

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 For availing benefit
• A person has to apply for registration and get
a job card
• Ask for employment, through a written
application, for the time and duration chosen
by him/her
• There is legal guarantee of job, within 15 days
of demand, with the provision of
unemployment allowance
• 90 percent funded by the centre
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 Centre bears the following costs
• The entire cost of wages of unskilled manual
workers
• 75% of the cost of material, wages of skilled and
semi-skilled workers
• Administrative expenses – salary and allowances
of programme officer and his supporting staff
and work site facilities
• Expenses of the National Employment Guarantee
Council
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 State bears the following costs
• 25 % of the cost of material, wages of the skilled and
semi-skilled workers’ (as a ratio of 60:40 is to be
maintained for wages of the unskilled manual workers
and the material, skilled/semi-skilled workers’ wages,
the state government has to bear only 25 percent of
the 40% component, which means a contribution of
10%)
• Unemployment allowance when the State cannot
provide employment on time
• Administrative expenses of the State Employment
Guarantee Council
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 Vigilance
• www.nrega.nic.in
• 100% verification at block, 10% at district, and
2% at state level especially of works muster
rolls, and records
• Right to Information
• Social audit of all works in a GP by the Gram
Sabha

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 Permissible works
• Water conservation and water harvesting
• Drought proofing
• Irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation
works
• Flood control and protection works
• Minor irrigation, horticulture and land development on
the land of SC/ST/BPL/IAY and land reform beneficiaries
• Renovation of traditional water bodies
• Land development
• Rural connectivity

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 Other programmes
• Empowerment – knowledge levels, skills,
social security
• NRHM
• SGSY – SHGs
• Rural housing for the houseless – IAY (Rs.
25,000 per dwelling in the plain areas and Rs.
27,500 in the tribal and hilly areas)

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• National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) – Rs. 200 per month to persons of
age 65+ who are destitute
• National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) – Rs. 10,000 to the bereaved BPL
household in case of the death (natural or accidental) of the primary
breadwinner (male or female), aged 18-64
• National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) – Rs. 500 per pregnancy to
women belonging to poor households for pre-natal and post-natal care upto
first two live births, 19 years and above
• Now Rs. 500 for home delivery
• Janani Suraksha Yojana (1400 for mother, 600 for ASHA in rural areas, 1000
for mother and 200 for ASHA in urban areas) in low performing States
• Rs. 700 per mother in high performing States in rural areas, Rs. 600 in urban
areas, no incentive to ASHA
• Low performing States all births, HPS only two births
• Rs. 250 or more (such as UP and Bihar) was earmarked for transportation
• Some States provide ‘108 ambulance service’

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