Hello Everyone
Today we are going to study Chapter third of Economics POVERTY AS A CHALLENGE
In our everyday life, we get to see a lot of poor people who we think are poor.
like rickshaw pullers, vegetable sellers,
BUT if I will compare myself with Mukesh Ambani
people who collect plastic
people who are homeless
or people who live in slums
BUT if I will compare myself with Mukesh Ambani
then even I will be considered very very very poor 😐
So, how do we know if a person is poor ?
That's how we came up with the concept of POVERTY LINE
We measure Poverty line with - Income and Consumption
We have decided a minimum level of Income and Consumption level
whoever consumes below this "minimum level" or has income below this  "minimum level"
then that person will be considered POOR
And this "minimum level" is our POVERTY LINE
And the Poverty Line changes with TIME and Place
Let's take an example of USA
In USA, car is a necessity
So, if anyone does not possess a car then he is considered POOR
But, in our country
our poverty line is at a lower level
car is still a luxury for us
So, in USA and India, we have different standards for considering who is poor and who is not.
In India, Poverty line is measured by NSSO
It looks at Minimum Subsistence level
i.e.  what basic things are required by anyone for meeting his/her daily needs
NSSO takes account of minimum food requirement
clothes, footwear,
fuel and light, education and medical requirement
So, first things first
How do we decide what is the minimum food requirement ?
This depends on our Calorie requirement.
Calorie requirement is the amount of calories you require for your body so that you can live a normal everyday life.
It depends on our age, gender, and type of work we do.
And depending upon these factors,
We have measured the average calorie requirement of urban and rural areas.
In Urban areas, a person needs to consume atleast 2100 calories per day
And in rural areas, a person needs to consume atleast 2400 calories per day
Now you'll be like - " Why is the average calorie requirement higher in Rural areas ?"🤔
It is because people have to do more work in rural areas as compared to urban areas, so they require more calories also.
So all this "minimum subsistence" things value is converted in Rupees
Then we'll get to know the minimum money required to live in urban and rural areas
So, based on the calculations the minimum money required in urban areas for minimum subsistence is 1000 rupees per person per month.
And in rural areas, a person needs 816 rupees per month for minimum subsistence
And if we consider a 5 member family,
In urban area the family will need 5000 rupees per month
while in rural area the family will need 4080 rupees per month
I know this is less but you have to know the reality
some people have to survive even below this minimum subsistence level
We see two types of poverty in India
urban poverty and rural poverty
Be it urban or rural poverty, some things are common in both
like
people don't have food to eat and they dont have a house for living
Poor people don't have money to send their children to school
They are in a dilemma - they have to decide, whether they send their children to school for studying or make them work so that they can get more money for survival
Poor people don't have enough money for treatments
According to Government Reports,
In 1993-94
45.3% people of India lived below Poverty line
in 2004-05
37.2% people lived below poverty line
in 2009-10, the population below poverty line came to 29.8%
and in year 2011-12, 21.9% people lived below poverty line.
Apart from income and consumption, we should take other factors into consideration as well while measuring poverty level.
like social exclusion
Social Exclusion is like we have divided people on the basis of rich and poor category
rich people live in different locality and poor people live in different area
this is really negative effects
as the facilities that rich people get , poor people are excluded from such facilities
like hospitals, schools
safe drinking water
We will see state-wise poverty level in India
Before that we need to know what is Head count ratio
how many people of the population live below poverty line
There are some states in which poverty level is MORE than all India Head count ratio
these states are
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Assam
But there are some states in which poverty level is less than all India head count ratio
these states are
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal
So this is all about India, what about Poverty In the world
World Bank measures poverty at world level
According to World Bank reports,
in 1990, 36% people lived below poverty line
and in 2015, 10% people lived below poverty line
There has been a drastic reduction in the level of poverty in various parts of the world
In Sub-Saharan Africa, between 2005 and 2015 there has been a 10% decline in poverty level
In Latin America, there was a decline of 6% in poverty during the same time period
But most importantly China, the most poverty reduction happened in China
What are the Causes of Poverty In India
