Ncert Book for Class 9 Economics Chapter 3 PDF

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Economics ncert 9 and 10 for students taking economics as their core subject. this is the basic readings to get the....

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Poverty as a Challenge

Chapter

Overview This chapter deals with one of the most difficult challenges India—poverty. A m ul ti -di m en si on examples, the cha poverty is seen in s tren ds i n In di a illustrated throug poverty line. Cause an ti -poverty mea g overn men t are chapter ends with concept of poverty

dhabas. They could also be beggars with children in tatters. We see poverty all ourth person in s, roughly 270 le in India live lso means that e concentration This illustrates allenge.

ty e m Saran works r in a wheat n Jharkhand. und Rs 1,500 employment, money is not amily of six— four children o six months.

Introduction In our daily life, people who we thin be landless laboure living in overcrowde coul d b e dai l y construction site

Picture 3.1 Story of Ram Saran Poverty as a Challenge

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He has to send money home to his old parents who live in a village near Ramgarh. His father a landless labourer, depends on Ram Saran and his brother who lives in Hazaribagh, for sustenance. Ram Saran lives in a one-room rented house in a crowded basti in the outskirts of the city. It’s a temporary sh clay tiles. His as a part tim and manages They manage rice twice a enough for a works as a h supplement earns anothe year-old dau younger siblin go to school. of hand-me-d ones are bou clothes becom a luxury. T undernourish to healthcare

Rural case Lakha Singh belongs to a small village near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. His family doesn’t own any land, so they do odd jobs for the big farmers. Work is erratic and so is income. At times they get paid Rs 50 for a hard day’s work. But often it’s in kind like a few or dal or even ng in the farm e family of eight age two square ives in a kuchha s of the village. amily spend the r and collecting ds. His father a away two years medication. His from the same wly ebbing away. e has a primary went there. He when he was 10 es happen once soap and oil are ily. ve cases of poverty he following issues verty: ess ment milies th/malnutrition

Picture 3.2 Story of Lakha Singh 30

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•

Child labour

•

Helplessness

These two typical cases illustrate many dimensions of poverty. They show that poverty means hunger and lack of shelter. It also is a situation in which parents are not able to send their children to school or a situation where sick people cannot afford treatment. Poverty also means lack of clean water and sanitation facilities. It also means lack of a regular job at a minimum decent le living with a sense people are in a si are ill-treated at farms, factories, hospitals, railway s nobody would like On e of the b i independent Indi millions of its peop Mahatama Gandh India would be tr when the poorest o of human sufferin

Poverty as seen b Since poverty ha scientists look at indicators. Usuall rel ate to the l e consumption. But throug h other s illiteracy level, lac due to malnutriti healthcare, lack of of access to sa sanitation etc. Ana on social exclusio now becoming very Social According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor havi n g to l i ve on l y i n a p oor surrounding with other poor people, excluded from enjoying social equality of b etter- of f p eop l e i n b etter surroundings. Social exclusion can be

b oth a cause as wel l as a consequence of poverty in the usual sense. Broadly, it is a process through which in dividuals or g roups are excluded from facilities, benefits and op p ortun i ti es that others (thei r “betters”) enjoy. A typical example is the working of the caste system in India in which people belonging to cluded from cial exclusion n cause more a very low y is a measure, he g reater communities kward caste) a widow or a d person) of , poor in the erab i l i ty i s ons available s for finding in terms of alth and job t is analysed er risks these e of natural s, tsunami), al analysis is nd economic isks. In fact, the greater ore adversely ple when bad dy, whether a or simply a fall in the availability of jobs!

Poverty Line At the centre of the discussion on poverty is usually the concept of the “poverty line”. A common method used to measure p overty i s b ased on the i n com e or Poverty as a challenge

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con sum p ti on l evel s. A p erson i s considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given “minimum level” necessary to fulfill the basic needs. What is necessary to satisfy the basic needs is different at different ti m es an d i n di fferen t coun tri es. Therefore, poverty line may vary with time a n d p l a ce. Ea ch coun try uses a n i m ag i n ary l i n ap p rop ri ate f development a social norms. F having a car in considered poo is still consider While deter India, a minimu clothing, fo o educational and are determined physical quanti prices in rupee food requirem poverty line i calorie requirem cereals, pulses, etc., tog ether calories. The ca on age, sex an person does. Th requirement in person per day calories per p areas. Since pe engage themsel calorie require considered to areas. The mo capita needed requirements in terms of food grains, etc., i s revi sed p eri odi cal l y tak i n g i n to consideration the rise in prices. On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2011–12, the poverty line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban areas. Despite less calorie requirement,the 32

higher amount for urban areas has been fixed because of high prices of many essential products in urban centres. In this way in the year 2011-12, a family of five members living in rural areas and earning less than about Rs 4,080 per month will be below the poverty line. A similar family in the urban areas would need a minimum of Rs 5,000 per month equirements. The ated periodically ars) by conducting ese surveys are nal Sample Survey O). However, for etween developing i n tern a ti on a l World Bank use a the poverty line: of the equivalent of ay (2011, ppp).

ntries use different n k would be the ary level” in your

3.1 that there is a poverty ratios in er cent in 1993-94 n 2004–05. T he below poverty line about 22 per cent d continues, people come down to less than 20 per cent in the next few years. Although the percentage of people living under poverty declined in the earlier two decades (1973–1993), the number of poor declined from 407 million in 2004–05 to 270 million in 2011–12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points during 2004–05 to 2011–12.

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Table 3.1: Estimates of Poverty in India (Tendulkar Methodology) Poverty ratio (%) Year

Rural

1993–94 2004–05 2009–10 2011–12

Number of poor (in millions)

Urban

Total

Rural

Urban

Combined

507

32

45

329

75

404

42 34 26

26 21 14

37 30 22

326 278 217

81 76 53

407 355 270

Source: Economic Survey 2017–18

ups, the most e the rural eholds and the seholds. Graph of poor people ugh the average ne for all groups of 100 people Tribes are not eeds. Similarly, rkers in urban line. About 34 farm (in rural of Scheduled . T he do ub l e andless casual in the socially g ro up s o f t he

Let’s Discuss Study Table 3.1 an questions: • Even if poverty 1993–94 and 2 number of poo million? • Are the dynami the same in ru

Vulnerable Group The proportion of p is also not same fo economic categ o groups, which ar p overty a re S c Scheduled Tribe h G

Source: www.worldbank.org/2016/India-s-Poverty-Profile Poverty as a Challenge

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scheduled cast population hig the problem. S shown that exc households, all scheduled ca labourers and households) ha in the 1990s. Apart from is also inequality of incomes within a family. In poor families all suffer, but some suffer more than others. In some cases women, elderly people and female infants are denied equal access to resources available to the family.

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araman a small village amil Nadu. Karur han dl oom an d There are a 100 e. Sivaraman an ler) by caste now ural labourer for t that’s only for a year. At other times, he does odd jobs in the town. His wife Sasikala too works with him. But she can rarely find work these days, and even if she does, she’s paid Rs 100 per day for the same work that Sivaraman does. There are eight members in the family. Sivaraman’s 65 year old widowed mother is ill and

seventies, the success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state. Recent estimates show while the all India Head Count Ratio (HCR) was 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 states like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pardesh, Bihar and Odisha had above all India poverty level. As the Graph 3.2 shows, Bihar and Odish a continue to be the two poorest states with d 32.6 per cent rural poverty, gh in Odisha, d Uttar Pradesh. e has been a erty in Kerala, radesh, Tamil Bengal. States a rya n a ha ve d i n reduci n g igh agricultural ocused more on ment. In West easures have rty. In Andhra Na du p ub l i c could have been vement.

needs to be helped with her daily chores. He has a 25-year- o l d unmarried sister and four children aged between 1 year to 16 years. Three of them are girls, the youngest is a son. None of the girls go to school. Buying books and other things for school-going girls is a luxury he cannot afford. Also, he has to get them married at some doesn ’t wan t education now. interest in life a die someday. H daughter take ca Sivaraman plans school when he unmarried siste with his wife. S burden but Siva suitable groom d Although the fam a rra n g i n g tw Sivaraman mana in a while, but o

o

Let’s Discuss Observe some o around you and tr • • • •

Which social a they belong to? Who are the ea family? What is the con in the family? Are all the chi attending schools?

Inter-State Disparities Poverty in India also has another aspect or dimension. The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. Although state level poverty has witnessed a secular decline from the levels of early

e in dif ferent eme economic World Bank as 0 per day—has 90 to 10 per cent e has b e en a lobal poverty, it nal differences. tially in China tries as a result of rapid economic growth and massive i n vestm en ts i n hum a n resource development. Number of poors in China has come down from 88.3 per cent in 1981 to 14.7 per cent in 2008 to 0.7 per cent in 2015. In the countries of Sout h Asia (I n di a, Pak i stan , S ri L a n k a , Nep a l , Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has also Poverty as a challenge

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Graph 3.2: Poverty Ratio in Selected Indian States, (As per 2011 Census)

Source: Economi

development goals ns (UN ) proposes ypes by 2030.

Let’s Discu Study the Grap • Identify the poverty rati • Identify the ratio is the been rapid 34 per cent in 20 percentage of poor has also d 510.4 million in 2013. Because definition, pove higher than th In Sub-Sah declined from 5 per cent in 201 A merica, the declined from per cent in 2015 (see graph 3.3). Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist countries like Russia, where officially it was non-existent earlier. Table 3.2 shows the proportion of people living under poverty in different countries as defined by the international poverty line (means population below $1.90 a day). 36

nd do the following: f the world, where declined. he globe which has ation of the poor. Count Ratio Selected Countries opulation below a day (2011ppp)

4. Pakistan 5. China 6. Brazil 7. Indonesia 8. Sri Lanka

53.5 (2009) 14.8 (2016) 21.2 (2011) 4.0 (2015) 0.7 (2015) 3.4 (2015) 5.7 (2017) 0.7 (2016)

Source: Poverty and Equity Database, World Bank Data; (databank.worldbank.org)

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Graph 3.3: Share of people living on $1.90 a day, 2005–2015

Source: Poverty and (http://databank.wo

database)

Grap

Year Source: Poverty and Equity Database; World Bank (http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=poverty-and-equity-database) Poverty as a Challenge

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Causes of Poverty There were a number of causes for the wi desp read p overty i n In di a. On e historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration. The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles. The low rate of growth persis ei g hti es. T hi opportunities incomes. This w g rowth rate o combined to m capita income v the fronts: prom and population cycle of poverty With the sp Green revolutio were created in the effects wer India. The indu and the private jobs. But these all the job seek jobs in cities, m as ri ck shaw construction w etc. With irreg people could no They started outskirts of th of poverty, lar also became t sector. Another fea has been the h One of the major reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. Despite many policies, we have not been able to tackle the issue in a m ea n i n g ful m a n n er. Major p ol i cy initiatives like land reforms which aimed at redistribution of assets in rural areas have not been implemented properly and 38

effecti vel y b y m ost of the state governments. Since lack of land resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India, proper implementation of policy could have improved the life of millions of rural poor. Man y other soci o-cul tural an d economic factors also are responsible for poverty. In order to fulfil social obligations ceremonies, people very poor, spend a rmers need money nputs like seeds, . Since poor people ngs, they borrow. se of poverty, they ebtedness. So the dness is both the verty.

es s been one of the ian developmental en t an ti -p overty rnment is based s (1) promotion of rgeted anti-poverty hirty years lasting s, there were little wth and not much . Official poverty about 45 per cent ined the same even Since the eighties, h has been one of d. The growth rate ge of about 3.5 per 70s to about 6 per s and 1990s. The hi g her g rowth ra tes ha ve hel p ed significantly in the reduction of poverty. Therefore, it is becoming clear that there is a strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Economic growth widens opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in human development. This also encourages people

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to send their children, including the girl child, to schools in the hope of getting better economic returns from investing in education. However, the poor may not be able to take direct advantage from the op p ortun i ti es created b y econ om i c g rowth. Moreover, g rowth i n the ag ri cul ture sector i s m uch b el ow expectations. This has a direct bearing on poverty as a l people live in villa on agriculture. In these circu cl ear n eed for t programmes. Altho schemes which ar poverty directly o them are worth m Gandhi National Guarantee Act, 20 days of wag e em household to ensu in rural areas. It als development to a draught, deforestr One-third of the pr reserved for women employment to 220 employment to 4. The share of SC, S in the scheme ar cent and 53 per average wage has 2006–07 to 132 in March 2018, the w manual workers h wise, the range of states an d un i on terri tori es l i es i n between ` 281 per day (for the workers in Haryana) to ` 168 per day (for the workers of Bihar and Jharkhand). Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) is another scheme which was started in 1993. The aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities

for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns. They are helped in setting up small business and industries. Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched in 1995. The aim of the p rog ram m e i s to create sel femployment opportunities in rural areas and small towns. A target for creating 25 l ak h n ew job s has b een set for the enth Five Year am Swarozgar ed in 1999. The ng the assisted poverty line by lf help groups k credi t an d er the Pradhan zana (PMGY ) tional central ates for basic health, primary rural drinking ation. A nother tyodaya Anna ch you will be chapter. ogrammes have major reasons e lack of proper g ht targ etin g . e en a l ot of Despite good these schemes the deserving or emphasis in monitoring of programmes. The Challenges Ahead Poverty has certainly declined in India. But desp i te the p rog ress, p overty reducti on rem ai n s In di a ’s m ost compelling challenge. Wide disparities in poverty are visible between rural and urban areas and among different states. Poverty as a challenge

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Certain social and economic groups are m ore vul n erab l e to p overty. Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years. This would be possible mainly due to higher economic growth, increasing stress on universal free elementary education, declining population growth, increasing empowerment of the women and the economically w T he of fi ci a however, captu what poverty re about a “minim living rather th living. Many s must broaden poverty. A larg have been able

do they have education? Or shelter? Or health care? Or job security? Or selfconfidence? Are they free from caste and gender discrimination? Is the practice of child labour still common? Worldwide experience shows that with development, the definition of what constitutes poverty also changes. Eradication of poverty is . Hopefully we will e the m i n i m um of only income to of the next decade. ve on for many of that still remain: education and job achieving gender or the poor. These sks.

Sum You have is measu analysed of povert Similarly into hum

Normally, this is concept we years, analysis ocial exclusion. ng the concept

Ex 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

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Desc Do y appropriate? Desc Disc Iden ble to poverty in In Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India. Describe global poverty trends. Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation? Answer the following questions briefly (i) What do you understand by human poverty? (ii) Who are the poorest of the poor? (iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005? Economics

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References DEATON, A NGUS AND VALERIE KOZEL (Eds.) 2005. The Great Indian Poverty Debate. MacMillan India Limited, New Delhi. Economic Survey 2015–2016. Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi. (Chapter on social sectors, [Online web] URL: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ es_2004–05/social.htm) Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Five Year Plan 2002–2007. Planning Commission, New Delhi. Part II, Chapter 7: Poverty Elimination and Rural Employment, [Online w /englishpdf/cha National Rura rajaswa.

ral.nic.in/

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