Here, you will find summaries, questions, answers, textbook solutions, pdf, extras etc., of (Nagaland Board) NBSE Class 12 (Arts/Commerce) Economics Part II Chapter 4: Poverty in India. These solutions, however, should be only treated as references and can be modified/changed.
Introduction
Poverty, a state of deprivation that leaves individuals struggling to meet basic needs, continues to be a significant challenge in India despite the country’s impressive GDP growth. The poor in India are often vendors, cobblers, rickshaw pullers, construction site laborers, and beggars in urban areas. In rural regions, they are typically agricultural labor households with no or very small land holdings, village artisans, and casual workers.
Poverty is measured in both absolute and relative terms. Absolute poverty refers to the inability to fulfill minimum requirements of life, including food, clothing, housing, education, and health facilities. Relative poverty, on the other hand, involves comparisons across different regions, areas, or classes, and is often interpreted in terms of income inequality within an economy.
The causes of poverty in India are multifaceted. A rapidly increasing population, high unemployment rates, and a predominantly agricultural economy with a significant portion of the population dependent on it are some of the major factors. Other causes include insufficient industrialization, under-utilization of natural resources, unequal distribution of income, corruption, and a lack of technical education.
To combat poverty, the Indian government has initiated several Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs). These include the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for providing all-weather connectivity in rural areas, and the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) for providing additional wage employment in rural areas. However, these programs have been criticized for focusing more on income generation than on increasing social inputs such as family welfare, nutrition, and social security. They have also been criticized for neglecting the most disadvantaged groups and not adequately addressing factors like the price of food, supply, and time of distribution, which are crucial in increasing the consumption of the poor.
Video tutorial
Textual questions and answers
A. Very short-answer questions
1. Define poverty.
Answer: Poverty is the state of having to live with little or no food, of not having a social identity and the means to live with dignity, of living on the fringe with no security. It is about being uneducated and unemployed, of being exploited and taken advantage of, it is being at the mercy of others.
2. Who is a poor person?
Answer: The poor in India are the vendors, cobblers, rickshaw pullers, pushcart sellers, construction site workers, daily wage workers, village artisans and casual workers such as barbers, sweepers, handloom workers, basket weavers, etc. who are denied opportunities.
3. What is meant by absolute poverty?
Answer: Absolute poverty is the measure of the percentage of people living below the poverty line (BPL).
4. What do you mean by relative poverty?
Answer: Relative poverty requires a comparison in pairs. It can also be interpreted in terms of the inequality of income within an economy.
5. Define poverty line.
Answer: Poverty line is the criterion which divides the poor from the non-poor on the basis of minimum consumption or income required to maintain a minimum standard of living.
9. With what reference is absolute poverty measured?
Answer: Absolute poverty is measured with reference to the poverty line, which is based on minimum calorie intake norms.
10. Give one main cause of poverty in India.
Answer: India’s Industrialisation is backward. Consumer goods industries are not developed to such a large extent and have to depend on foreign countries for capital and producers’ goods. This has led to low national income and high poverty.
B. Short-answer questions-I
1. What do you mean by poverty?
Answer: Poverty is the state of having to live with little or no food, of not having a social identity and the means to live with dignity, of living on the fringe with no security.
2. How is a poor person identified?
Answer: A poor person is identified based on whether they fall below the poverty line, which is the criterion that divides the poor from the non-poor on the basis of minimum consumption or income required to maintain a minimum standard of living.
3. What are the different types of poverty?
Answer: The two different types of poverty are absolute poverty and relative poverty. The measure of absolute poverty requires a certain limit or a demarcation, which will separate the poor from the non-poor. Relative poverty requires a comparison in pairs.
7. Mention any two causes of poverty.
Answer: Two causes of poverty are:
i. India’s Industrialisation is backward. Consumer goods industries are not developed to such a large extent and have to depend on foreign countries for capital and producers’ goods. This has led to low national income and high poverty.
ii. Corruption leads to the failure of different poverty alleviation programmes, Social welfare programmes and even does not allow economic planning to reach their actual targets. Because of corruption, poor people suffer more.
8. Give any two Poverty Alleviation Programmes undertaken in India.
Answer: Two Poverty Alleviation Programmes undertaken in India are the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
C. Short-answer questions-II
1. Who are the poor? Explain.
Answer: The poor in India are the vendors, cobblers, rickshaw pullers, pushcart sellers, construction site workers, daily wage workers, village artisans and casual workers such as barbers, sweepers, handloom workers, basket weavers, etc. who are denied opportunities. The agricultural labor households having no land holdings or very small holdings, marginal farmers, small land operators, and tribals whose land has been taken away also comprise the poor.
2. Explain relative poverty and absolute poverty.
Answer: Relative poverty requires a comparison in pairs to determine if one person is better off than the other in terms of income. Absolute poverty is measured by the poverty line which is the criterion that divides the poor from the non-poor based on minimum consumption or income required to maintain a minimum standard of living. The percentage of people living below the poverty line indicates absolute poverty.
5. What initiative has the government undertaken to overcome poverty?
Answer: The government has initiated various poverty alleviation programs like the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana etc. that aim to provide employment, housing, infrastructure development and income generation opportunities to the poor.
6. How can poverty eradication programmes be improved in the future?
Answer: Poverty alleviation programs can be improved by better targeting, reducing corruption, making them more relevant to local needs, backing them with suitable infrastructure, embracing a wider spectrum beyond income generation, and creating accountability in implementation. The number of overlapping programs should also be reduced.
D. Long-answer questions-I
1. Briefly describe any four categories of the poor in India.
Answer: Four categories of the poor in India are:
(i) Agricultural labor households having no land holdings or very small holdings. They comprise nearly 6 per cent of the agricultural labor households.
(ii) The agricultural labor households having very small holdings. They comprise nearly 40 per cent of the agricultural labor households.
(iii) Marginal farmers and small land operators having holdings between 1-2 hectares.
(iv) Village artisans and casual workers such as barbers, sweepers, handloom workers, basket weavers, bidi rollers, etc. They are fast losing, if not already lost, their traditional employments.
2. How can poverty be measured?
Answer: Poverty can be measured in both absolute and relative terms. Absolute poverty is measured by the poverty line which divides the poor from non-poor based on minimum consumption or income required to maintain a minimum standard of living. The proportion of people below the poverty line, known as the Head Count Ratio, reflects the percentage of poor population. Poverty Gap measures the extent of poverty by calculating the difference between the poverty line and actual consumption of the poor. Relative poverty requires comparison between people to determine who is better off in terms of income or other criteria. Indices like the Sen Index and Poverty Gap Index have also been developed to measure poverty.
5. What are the factors responsible for poverty?
Answer: The factors responsible for poverty are:
- Increase in Population: There is a widespread increase in the population. This huge and rapidly increasing population is a major obstacle to economic development. Increasing population is the major cause of poverty.
- Unemployment: Another cause of poverty is the problem of unemployment. In 2011-12, the number of unemployed in India was around 2.45 crore. As per International Labour Organisation (ILO), about 18.3 million people were unemployed in 2017 and the unemployment rate is expected to remain static at 3.5 per cent for the years 2018 and 201.
- Lack of proper Industrialisation: India’s Industrialisation is backward. Consumer goods industries are not developed to such a large extent and have to depend on foreign countries for capital and producers’ goods. This has led to low national income and high poverty.
- Under-Utilisation of Natural Resources: India has a rich natural resource base such as iron, coal, manganese, etc. However, all these resources have not been utilised in a proper manner or have not been utilised at their efficient level. Such under-utilisation of natural resources leads to less economic activities, which leads to poverty.
- Corruption: Corruption leads to the failure of different poverty alleviation programmes, Social welfare programmes and even does not allow economic planning to reach their actual targets. Because of corruption, poor people suffer more.
- Lack of Technical Education: Indian education system is more of general education as compared to the one which provides technical education. Indian Education System does not ensure jobs even after graduation and leads to a vicious circle of poverty.
6. How successful were the poverty allevation programmes?
Answer: It is incorrect to say that all poverty reduction programmes have failed. The growth of the middle class (which was virtually non-existent when India became a free nation in August 1947) indicates that economic prosperity has indeed been very impressive in India, but the distribution of wealth is not at all even.
The approach to poverty alleviation has been found lacking in some respects. For instance, poverty alleviation programmes have focused more on income generation than increasing social inputs such as family welfare, nutrition, social security, etc. Disabled, sick, and socially handicapped individuals and women have been neglected. These are the most disadvantaged groups.
Leakages in funds and materials are high due to misuse of funds, corruption, and inefficient implementation. Future poverty alleviation programmes (PAPs) have to embrace a wider spectrum than merely determining the number of people that have crossed the poverty line. Such a coverage will surely make a greater dent on poverty in India.
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) have been successful in providing employment opportunities and improving infrastructure in rural areas. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has also provided job opportunities to a significant number of households.
E. Long-answer questions-II
1. Is it enough to determine the number of poor people below the poverty line? Explain.
Answer: No, it is not enough to determine just the number of poor people below the poverty line to understand and alleviate poverty. There are many limitations to just using the headcount ratio of people below the poverty line:
- It does not account for the depth of poverty i.e. how far below the poverty line the poor are. Those very close to the line suffer much less than those well below it.
- It ignores inequality among the poor. Two countries can have the same headcount ratio but different levels of inequality.
- It does not show changes in income distribution among the poor over time. A rise in incomes just above the poverty line would show as a reduction in poverty even if income disparity has risen.
- Non-income aspects of poverty like education, health, sanitation are not captured. Two families with same income but differing in access to schools and healthcare would suffer very differently.
2. How has India performed in reducing poverty since Independence?
Answer: India’s performance in reducing poverty since Independence has been modest and uneven. According to the document, the percentage of population below poverty line has come down from about 55% in 1973-74 to 21.9% in 2011-12. While this indicates that poverty has reduced significantly, the pace of decline has been slow and poverty still afflicts over 20 crore people.
The trends also reveal disparities:
- Across states – poverty rates vary widely from 8.1% in Himachal Pradesh to 33.7% in Bihar showing backwardness in parts of the country.
- Rural vs urban – In 2011-12, 25.7% rural population was below poverty line compared to only 13.7% urban, highlighting the rural-urban divide.
- Inter-generational – Poverty tends to get transmitted over generations especially for historically disadvantaged groups like SCs, STs etc.
Reasons for the modest progress include – high growth being unequally distributed, population pressure, low public spending on health and education, governance issues in implementing programs, persistence of caste and gender inequalities etc.
While some poverty alleviation schemes like MGNREGA, PDS have helped, others suffered from design flaws, corruption, leakages and inadequate funding. The pace of poverty reduction has been slower than needed to meet basic needs of the entire population.
5. Critically examine the Poverty Alleviation Programmes initiated in India.
Answer: The Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs) in India have had mixed results. While it’s incorrect to say that all poverty reduction programmes have failed, as the growth of the middle class indicates some level of economic prosperity, the distribution of wealth is uneven. The approach to poverty alleviation has been found lacking in several respects:
- PAPs have focused more on income generation than increasing social inputs such as family welfare, nutrition, social security, etc.
- The most disadvantaged groups, including disabled, sick, socially handicapped individuals, and women, have been neglected.
- Factors like the price of food, supply, and time of distribution, which are crucial in increasing the consumption of the poor, have not been adequately addressed. Additional incomes alone cannot overcome poverty.
- The focus should have been on removing exploitative practices and developing resources in favour of the very poor rather than focusing on income increase.
- There have been high leakages in funds and materials due to misuse of funds, corruption, and inefficient implementation.
Future PAPs need to embrace a wider spectrum than merely determining the number of people that have crossed the poverty line. Improving the efficacy of these programmes by better targeting, reducing waste and corruption, making the programmes more relevant to local needs and priorities, and creating institutional conditions for greater accountability can help make a greater dent on poverty in India. The number of PAPs should also be reduced as most overlap one another.
Additional/extra questions and answers
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Additional/extra MCQs
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Ron’e Dutta is a journalist, teacher, aspiring novelist, and blogger who manages Online Free Notes. An avid reader of Victorian literature, his favourite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. He dreams of travelling the world. You can connect with him on social media. He does personal writing on ronism.
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