Poverty is one of the biggest challenges retarding the pace of development of a society. The sheer number of poor people makes it a major socio-economic problem. Poverty results in physical, social and economic regression. Conversely, the scourge of poverty is to be faced by adoption of suitable means, within the four corners of law, on divergent fronts.
It is to be appreciated that one of the primary objects of development is to address and remove poverty. The Law has to deal with elimination of poverty and this alone can facilitate and accelerate development. Therefore, a need arises to find out who are poor who need to be helped. Further, what exactly is meant by poverty?
1. The state of being poor, want of the necessities of life.
2. The state of being insufficient in amount.
3. Scarcity or lack.
The condition or state of being poor and needing money.
There are various definitions of poverty. According to Goddard, “Poverty is insufficient supply of those things which are requisites for an individual to maintain himself and those dependent upon him in his health and vigour.”
Study of poverty throws up a number of relevant questions. What is poverty? Who are poor? What is the extent or magnitude of poverty? What are the major causes of poverty? How to measure poverty? What are the consequences of poverty? Does it pose any threat to the society? What are its economic, social and legal dimensions? How to combat or eradicate poverty?
Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, nutrition, healthcare, education, clothing and shelter because of one’s inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution.
This implies inability to attain a minimum standard of living. This is also called subsistence poverty or destitution because it is based on assessment of minimum subsistence requirements or basic physical needs such as food, shelter, clothing, health necessities etc. However, such needs vary between and within the societies. Notions and signs of poverty in developed, developing and under developed communities are quite different.
The inability to attain a given contemporary standard of living. It is more a measure of income distribution and inequality than a measure of absolute deprivation. It is measured in terms of judgments by members of a particular society of what is considered as a reasonable and acceptable standard of living and styles of life according to the notions of the day. Just as conventions change from time-to-time, and place-to-place, so will definitions of relative poverty.
It may also be indicated as the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, as compared to worldwide averages.
It is earnings insufficient to obtain the minimum necessities for the maintenance of mere physical efficiency. To live in primary poverty is to have insufficient income to afford basic needs.
Income is sufficient but allocation is inefficient due to poor ability. It is not the lack of resources but a problem of insufficient management. It may be illustrated as a household which has access to money but the same is frittered away. Reasons could be gambling, drinking alcohol and inefficient housekeeping.
The minimum income level needed to secure the necessities of life. Poverty line or poverty threshold is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country. It is a yardstick below which poverty begins and above which it ends. Another relevant term in this regard is ‘poverty stricken’ which means extremely poor
The Planning Commission has specified Rs. 20 daily expenditure as the cut off for identifying the poor in India. The poverty line of Rs. 20 works out from the sum of Rs. 578 per capita expenditure considered ample by the Planning Commission for a city dweller to survive. This amount includes Rs. 31 a month on rent and conveyance, Rs. 18 a month on education, Rs. 25 per month on medicine and Rs. 36.50 on vegetables. Any one spending something more than this may officially not qualify to be called a poor.
A situation in which an increase of income incurs a corresponding or greater loss of State benefits, making real improvement impossible. Therefore, a slight or marginal upward mobility brings about denial or ineligibility to materials and resources which are meant for the poor. A poverty trap is any self-reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist. To illustrate, an employee by getting a promotion or pay rise may become disentitled to buy rations from public distribution system or to free education for his children or rent-free housing. Hence, for him in real term it results into deprivations. It seriously weakens the incentive for the poor to work their way out of poverty.
It is a set of factors or events by which poverty once started, is likely to continue unless there is an outside intervention. It is a phenomenon where poor families become trapped in poverty for at least there generations. Poor people experience disadvantages due to their poverty and as a result cannot break out of their misery.
1. The rich rob the poor and poor rob one another.
2. Society comprises two classes: those who have more food than appetite, and those who have more appetite than food.
3. 33% of the total income of the country being earned by the top 10% of the income group.
4. According to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, poverty cannot increase in our country and it can only decrease.
1. 77% of the people lived on less than Rs. 20 a day. (Data from National Commission on Enterprises in Unorganised Sector).
2. According to the Planning Commission, number of poor in India constitute 27.5 per cent. out of the total population.
3. India figured at 66 rank among 88 poor countries and was placed in alarming category.
5. India is the only country in the world with highest number of poor people in a single nation. Its population growth rate is around two per cent. per annum. It means an addition of 20 million human beings every year, a figure equivalent to the entire population of Australia.
6. According to World Bank estimates about one billion people in the world – that is one in every five – live in absolute poverty. One in four of the world’s hungry people live in India.
7. A preliminary study conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has revealed that Maharashtra, one of India’s most progressive States, has the dubious distinction of housing the largest slum population in the country. The NSSO report pegs the current slum population in the State at 1.81 crore, an increase of massive 38 lakhs in one decade.
8. According to UNICEF, 50% of all the deaths of children aged below five years are from malnutrition. That works out to 2438 children dying every day for lack of food.
BPL is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold. It is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country. It is used by the authorities to identify individuals and households in need of State assistance and aid. There are no fixed parameters to determine it. Sometime poverty line is also described as starvation line.
According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 42% of India’s population falls below the international poverty line of those earning less than $ 1.25 a day. India suffers serious deprivations in education and health. The decision to raise the BPL would mean more than 10 crore families will have access to food.
During the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002), BPL for rural areas was set at annual family income less than Rs. 20,000, holding of not more than two hectares land, and no television or refrigerator. The number of rural BPL families was 6.5 lakh during the 9th Five year Plan.
A review by the World Bank of centrally sponsored social security schemes in India has found serious problems with the current BPL measure. Over a third of the poorest 10% of the country were incorrectly identified as non-poor in the 2002 BPL census. This under coverage rises to over a half and close to two thirds for the poorest 20% and poorest 30% respectively.
Relative dimensions: measurement and discrimination
1. Dictionary meaning of poor refers to those lacking material possession, a person having little or no means to support oneself, needy, and impoverished.
2. Those having little or no money, goods or other means of support.
3. The persons lacking financial or other means of subsistence.
1. Poor are those who do not meet their daily needs.
2. Poor are those who are socially deprived.
3. Poor are those who feel relatively deprived.
1. The process of development would be meaningless unless the poor segment of India’s population is brought under the poverty reduction plans. To undertake such an effort it would need to be identified who are to be granted relief. A definition and some quantification is necessary to assess the magnitude and direction of efforts required for poverty alleviation.
2. Such a study is also required to evaluate the success or failure of programmes and policies and also modification needed, if any.
3. It would facilitate identification of poor and thereby selection of proper direction and targeting of anti-poverty efforts.
A large number of persons living in object poverty lead the life of deprivation for no fault of theirs. Poverty in their case is due to denial of equal opportunities imposed by certain groups of society upon them which leads to inability of an individual to participate in the basic political, economic and social functioning of the society. Social exclusion may also be defined as lack of participation in society. Its causes could be problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown.
What would be the yardstick to label a person as poor? Identification is the method of nominating a group of people as poor. The process include categories of activities which require inclusion and exclusion criteria, so that poor can be separated from the non-poor. To illustrate, identification could be carried out by taking into account housing conditions, number of earners in the family, land-access, ownership of live-stock and consumer durables etc.
Determination of such norms does not find acceptance from all. It often gives rise to a debate whether the acquisition of assets - motorized two wheelers, refrigerators, landline telephone – should be treated as a disqualification for entry on the BPL list.
Not withstanding divergence of views about the identification norms, the poverty figure stands at 37% as pegged by the Tendulkar Committee. This committee had been set up after the National Development Council meeting of March, 2009 to look into the methodology for estimating poverty.
This is a method of aggregating the characteristics of a set of poor people into an overall image of poverty. Such a process is necessary because one or two characteristics taken in isolation may otherwise lead to an erroneous finding of poverty. To explain, poverty may be associated with malnutrition, lack of education, poor health and low life expectancy. However, every person in bad health may not be poor. Further, all people who are not educated may not be poor. Similarly, life expectancy in a middle class family may also be low.
These could be viewed as consequences or after effects of poverty. Some of these are:—
1. Poor income and dearth of resources (income poverty).
2. Starvation and malnutrition.
3. Poor health and sanitation.
4. Lack of access to education and other related facilities.
5. Homelessness.
6. Unsafe environment.
7. Social exclusion and negative discrimination.
Poverty typically is measured by the purchasing power or per capita expenditure made by a household.
Unfair treatment of individuals on the basis of difference regarding personal characteristics or preferences, such as when a woman is not hired for a job because the employer believes women are inferior to men. This discrimination is a negative treatment to one because of belonging to a particular race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Poverty could be broadly divided into two groups viz., income and non-income. Income poverty is the one caused due to people not having access to money or other assets. Non-income poverty is in the context of people having a little money but otherwise leading an unsatisfactory quality of life. They may not have access to education, health care, medicine, clean water and proper sanitation etc.
1. Absolute income poverty.
2. Low income poverty.
This group would reveal great variation from other types. This category is placed above those who constitute absolute poverty bracket. Generally a person is considered to fall in low income group if his total monthly income does not exceed Rs. 5000. The government has framed schemes for loan, work opportunity and assistance for them.
3. Relative income poverty. Explained earlier.
4. Subjective income poverty.
This type of poverty is based on the notion of people’s own opinion about their financial situation. This group consists of those who describe themselves as poor or very poor. A study has shown that men are more likely to indicate they are in poverty than women. This type was also found to be high among lone parents. Education is also associated with subjective poverty. It tends to be highest among those who did not complete school level studies.
1. Chronic Poor (CP) – A household is identified as chronic poor if its income is below the poverty line as well as its children and adults are suffering from malnutrition. Those households which are below the income poverty line with at least one stunted child fall in this group.
2. Other Poor (OP) – Rest of the poor households.
3. Non Poor (NP) – Those whose income is greater than the income poverty line. This group also refers to those who are said to belong to above the poverty line (APL). This segment is not accorded the attention and focus that is given to CP. The Supreme Court had observed during July, 2010 that APL population should be kept out of the purview of the public distribution system.
Primary manifestation of malnutrition in early childhood is a basic indication of reduced growth rate in human development. Malnutrition and deficiency of healthy food would often result in retarding proper physical growth of children. It would significantly affect their physical, mental and psychological development. It may further manifest in following forms.
Stunting or low height for age is caused by under nutrition. Stunted children may never regain the height lost as a result of stunting. It also leads to premature death later in life because vital organs never fully develop during childhood.
Deficiency in weight for height. These children usually look very thin and have very low weight while their height and head circumference are in normal range. Their growth curve may show weight faltering. Such children are acutely malnourished. They have a higher risk of dying from common diseases like diarrhoea or pneumonia.
This denotes deficient in weight for age. This would manifest when a child can be either thin or short for his/her age. This reflects a combination of chronic and acute malnutrition.
Over sixty per cent. of Indian children, according to one study, are wasted, stunted, underweight or a combination of above.
Various efforts directed towards estimation of poverty proceed to measure the extent or magnitude of poverty. In this regard important aspects are:—
1. People’s assets
2. The return to (or productivity of) these assets.
3. The volatility of returns
4. Using a poverty threshold is problematic because having an income marginally below it and slightly above it may not have much difference.
These goals for development were named in the Millennium Declaration decided on 20-22 September, 2010. It shows formation of a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty by fixing clear goals. Their importance lies in the fact that they provide quantifiable targets that are to be reached within a certain time frame i.e., 2015. All 192 UN members and 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these by the year 2015. These eight goals are split into 18 targets with 48 indicators.
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality rates.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop global partnership for development.
The aim of the goals is to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in the poorest countries of the world.
1. Lack of analytical approach and justification behind the goals set up.
2. Absence of strong objectives and indicators for equality in light of disparities of progress in poverty reduction between nations.
3. Lack of focus on local participation and empowerment.
4. Lack of emphasis on sustainability.
5. Difficulty in measurement of some of the goals.
6. Aid from developed countries is not going to the poor but to their closest allies.
1. Capability Poverty Measure (CPM)
2. Human Poverty Index (HPI)
It is a multi-dimensional measure of human deprivation. Rather than examining the average state of people’s capabilities, it reflects the percentage of people who lack basic, or minimal essential human capabilities.
It is a composite index of deprivations in the shape of lack of following three basic capabilities:—
(a) To be well-nourished and healthy represented by the proportion of children under five years who are underweight.
(b) For healthy reproduction represented by the proportion of births unattended by trainer health personnel.
(c) To be educated and knowledgeable represented by female illiteracy.
All the indicators carry equal weight.
CPM considers mainly deprivations suffered by women and children as individuals.
Considers indicators reflecting individual, household as well as regional deprivations. It is an indication of the standard of living in a country developed by the United Nations. HPI is used by the United Nations to indicate a list of highest to lowest standards of living. The list is prepared based on four factors. These are probability at birth of not surviving to age 60, people lacking functional literacy skills, long-term unemployment, and population below 50% of medium income. According to a study carried out in 2008, human poverty has not reduced considerably as per HPI values. The under-nutrition among pre-school children is still a major public health problem. HPI is often analyzed in conjunction with Human Development Index (HDI). In HDI, various countries are ranked by level of human development. The index is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living. It distinguishes countries into a developed, a developing or underdeveloped category. HPI is used to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.
(a)
Survival deprivation represented by people not expected to survive to age
of 40?
(b) Deprivation in education and knowledge represented by the adult illiteracy rate?
(c) Deprivation in economic provisioning which is a combined index of the indicators of population without access to safe water, health services and undernourished children below age of 5?
Harijan meaning ‘child of God’, was a word used by Mahatma Gandhi for ‘dalits’. He believed it was wrong to call people ‘untouchables’. He also named one of his weekly publications as ‘Harijan’. These people were individuals who were at the bottom of, or outside the Hindu caste system. Until 1947, when India gained its freedom, Harijans constituted 15 to 20% of India’s population. They were subjected to discrimination and social exclusion. Under the Constitution, they were recognized as Scheduled Castes and Tribes entitled to educational and vocational opportunities.
Dalit also called ‘untouchables’, ‘outcastes’ comprise a large segment of India’s population. The term dalit means those who have been broken and ground down deliberately by those above them in the social hierarchy. In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has been historically associated with occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as involving leather work, butchering or removal of rubbish etc. Dalits were commonly segregated and banned from full participation in Hindu social life.
This term meaning in Hindu ‘abolish poverty’ was the theme and slogan of Ms. Indira Gandhi’s 1971 election campaign and later also used by her son Rajiv Gandhi. The slogan was in Indira Gandhi’s perception a means of putting more purchasing power into the pockets of the needy. The slogan and the associated anti-poverty programmes were designed to focus on rural and urban poor. However, the programme had very limited practical impact. The programme was not being financed through a genuine effort at redistribution through taxation but a massive creation of fictitious money through the budget deficit.
It was set up in 1979 by the Janta Party Government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Its mandate was to identify the socially or educationally backward. It was headed by Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal, a Parliamentarian, to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination. Its report affirmed the affirmative action practice under Indian law whereby members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Scheduled Castes and Tribes were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public universities.
Social Engineering is the act of manipulating people into performing actions. It refers to efforts to influence popular attitude and social behaviour on a large scale. Virtually all law and governance has the effect of changing behaviour and is in a way ‘social engineering.’ This concept has been used by political leaders in different States in India to portray themselves as defender of the oppressed segments of the society at a time when caste and class warfare is fast emerging as a favoured national political strategy. It was an attempt at social engineering when BSP leader Mayawati shed her image of being only a Dalit leader and aligned with upper castes against whom her party had in the past carried out a consistent campaign. She ensured a substantial number of tickets to Brahmins and also others while keeping her Dalit vote bank intact.
Affirmative action is a crucial component of social justice. It has been defined as an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women. The effort could be by preferential treatment in college admissions, employment, the awarding of government contracts or social benefits.
It is also described as a policy designed to redress past discrimination against minority groups and women through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities.
Affirmative action has been introduced in India by providing reservations for the marginalized segments of the society. Increased quotas, it is claimed, are the only way to foster social equality at the institutions that are driving the Indian economy forward. However, it has been bitterly criticized also. The opponents assert – don’t mix politics with merit.
Affirmative action schemes are in place in many countries including USA, South Africa, Malaysia, Brazil, etc. Affirmative action has been found, in many American States, to have helped many, if not everyone from under privileged.
It implies an equitable allocation of resources with benefits accruing to every section of society. It entails responsible and sustainable creation as well as just distribution of wealth and welfare. Social cohesion and human dignity lie at its core. It has two mutually reinforcing strategic pillars, namely, sustainable growth and inclusion to ensure the diffusion of opportunities. The scope for development should not be focused only towards one or few but must strive to take all targeted segments.
Promoting inclusive growth would require revamping labour regulations, improving agricultural infrastructure and production, helping backward States and regions to catch up. It also calls for empowering the poor through proactive policies that would assist their upward mobility in development on suitable terms. The strategy for inclusive growth in the Eleventh Five Year Plan is based on sound macro-economic policies which establish the macro-economic pre-conditions for rapid growth and support key drives of this growth.
This term is used to refer to the relatively wealthier and better educated members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) who are not eligible for government sponsored educational and professional benefit schemes. OBC children belonging to any family that earns a total gross annual income (from sources other than salary and agricultural land) of Rs. 4,56,000 belong to the creamy layer and so are excluded from being categorised as ‘socially and educationally backward’ irrespective of their social/educational backwardness.
The Supreme Court has upheld the controversial law providing 27 per cent. quota for OBCs in IITs, IIMs and other Central Educational Institutions but excluded the creamy layer from its ambit.
Non-creamy layer certificate is to be produced by ‘non-creamy’ OBCs applying against reserved vacancies for appointment to posts or admission to Central Educational Institutions under the Government of India.
It was held in Ashok Kumar Thakur v. Union of India, MANU/SC/1397/2008 : (2008) 6 SCC 1 that non-exclusion of the creamy lawyer or inclusion of forward castes in the list of backward classes will be totally illegal. The illegality offends the roots and foundation of the Constitution and cannot allowed to be perpetuated.
Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or the groups to make choices into desired actions and outcomes. The process aims at removal of hindrances from the path of the people of a particular group or strata that prevent them from making the right decision on their own. It is a process to increase the political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. This action is directed towards groups or communities who have remained excluded from decision making process through discrimination based on gender, race, and ethnicity, religion or disability. The use of the term ‘empowerment’ refers to increasing the capacity of the low power group, so that it more nearly equals the power of the high power group. Government of India has set up a Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for greater focus in this area.
The broad vision of the Eleventh Five Year Plan for empowerment is to be attempted by education and skill development.
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