Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 11 Economics Notes Chapter 20 Poverty
→ Poverty is that condition when a person lives in a state of insufficiency with regard to food, housing, necessary things of consumption, education and healthcare.
→ A particular level of income is fixed to make an estimate of the state of poverty, and it is assumed that at this income level, a person can fulfill his/her basic needs.
→ In India, poverty has been linked to “calorie consumption”.
→ The Planning Commission has assumed people in rural areas having a calorie consumption of less than 2400 calories per day, and with calorie consumption of less than 2100 in urban areas to be poor.
→ For the year 2011-12, the Planning Commission fixed the poverty line at the level of rupees 27.20 per person per day for rural areas and rupees 33.33 per person per day for urban areas. That is, rupees 816 for rural areas and rupees 1000 for urban areas per capita per month has been defined as the Poverty line.
→ The ratio of total number of poor people to the total population is called Head Count Ratio.
→ According to the World Bank, per person per day consumption expenditure of less than 1.25 US dollars is termed poor.
→ Due to the difference of opinion about condition of poverty, the Planning Commission formed an expert committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Suresh Tendulkar.
Types of poverty
→ Relative poverty- According to this hypothesis, income distribution is used to measure poverty. The class with income less than the country’s per capita income is considered to be poor. The relative poverty concept is employed in developed countries to measure poverty.
→ Absolute poverty- In this method, a minimum consumption level is fixed to estimate poverty. The number of poor people is estimated on the basis of the consumption level. The definition of poverty linked to calorie consumption in India is an absolute measure of poverty.
Estimate of poverty
→ The early estimate of poverty were represented by B .S. Minhas, V.M. Dandekar, N.K. Rath, RK. Vardhan, and M.S. Ahluwalia.
→ According to B .S. Minhas, in 1967-68, there was 37.1 percent poverty in India.
→ According to PK Vardhan, in 1967-68, there was 54.0 percent poverty in India.
→ According to the Planning Commission, the rural poverty ratio was 56.4 percent and the urban poverty ratio was 49.0 percent in 1973-74.
→ A working group was formed by the Planning Commission in 1989 under the chairmanship of D.T. Lakrawala.
→ According to the Tendulkar system, poverty ratio in rural areas was 50.1 percent and was 31.8 percent in urban areas in 1993-94, which decreased to 25.7 percent in rural areas and 13.7 percent in urban areas in 2011 -12.
→ According to the estimates of the Tendulkar system, in 2011-12, rupees 816 per capita per month in rural areas and rupees 1000 per capita per month for urban areas was defined as the poverty line.
→ According to the Tendulkar system, In 2011-12,216.5 million people were poor in the rural areas and 52.8 million people were poor in urban areas and a total of269.3 million people were poor in the country.
→ The World Bank has fixed an International Poverty line on the basis of the national poverty line of the 10 poorest countries.
→ According to Tendulkar estimates, the highest poverty among the states is in Chhattisgarh. In the year 2011-12, in Chhattisgarh, 44.61 percent in rural areas, 24.75 percent in urban areas and 39.93 percent in combined population was poor.
→ In the background of controversy on Poverty line, an expert group was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan in 2012.
→ A task force was set up by the Govemmeiit of India under the chairmanship of the vice-chairman of the Planning Commission Dr. Arvind Panagaria in 2015 to provide methods of poverty estimation and to suggest a poverty alleviation programme on its basis.
Causes of Poverty
- Rapid population growth and weakness of development strategy.
- Low work participation rate.
- Unequal distribution of land.
- Lack of successful implementation of land reforms in the country.
- Low increase in agricultural production and side-effects of green revolution.
- Lack of employment opportunities.
- Rapid increase in food grain prices.
- Social backwardness and lack of mobility of labour.
- Illiteracy and lack of technical knowhow.
Main Programmes for Poverty alleviation
- Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP): 1978
- JawaharGraminSamriddhiRozgarYojana(JGSY): 1999
- Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS): 1993
- Swama Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SJGSY): 1999
- Pradhan Mantri Gramodya Yojana.
- Swama Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY): 1997
- Sampuma Gramin Rozgar Yoj ana (SGRY): 2001
- Valkimi Ambedkar Awas Yoj ana (VAMB AY): 2001
- National Food for Work Programme: 2004
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yoj ana (PMGSY): 2000
- National Rural Employment Programme (NREP): 2006
- National Rural Livelihood Mission: 2011
- National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM): 2013
Remedy for Poverty Eradication
- Rate of economic development should be high. ,
- Efforts to increase social justice.
- Population control and family planning.
- Wage employment, self employment and social assistance should be extended.
- Emphasis on agricultural development.
- Improvement in Public Distribution System.
- Public participation in poverty eradication schemes.
- Encouragement to petty savings.
- Separate programmes for rural and urban development.
Poverty Class 11 RBSE Notes Important Terms
• Poverty line- The poverty threshold, poverty limit or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of
the poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries than in developing countries.
• Head count ratio- Head count Ratio is the ratio of the total number of poor people to the total population.
• Relative poverty – According to this hypothesis, income distribution is used to measure poverty. The class with income less than the country’s per capita income,is considered to be poor. The relative poverty concept is employed and in developed countries to measure poverty.
• Absolute poverty- In this method, a minimum consumption level is fixed to estimate poverty. The number of poor people is estimated on the basis of the consumption level. The definition of poverty linked to calorie consumption in India is an absolute measure of poverty.
• Trickle down effect- The trickle-down effect is a model of product adoption in marketing that affects various consumer goods and services. It states that fashion flows vertically from the upper classes to the lower classes within the society, each social class influenced by a higher social class.
• Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)-The objective of mpg is to provide healthcare, primary education, drinking water, housing and rural roads and to improve the standard of living of people residing in rural areas. Under this plan, 2500 crore rupees were spent in 2001-02.
• Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)- The objective of this programme was to connect villages with population of 500 people and more to concrete roads by the end of the tenth five year plan. This programme was started in the year 2000.
• National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme- National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed in September 2005. Under this, those rural families who wished to perform labour were provided with the guarantee of unskilled labourer job for 100 days in an year. This programme was implemented in February 2006.