class-3
Later in this dimension 2 another ways also considered for addressing the poverty:
- SELF-EMPLOYMENT
- Changes under this program: Before 1990s, financial assistance (FA) was given to families or individuals now poor encourage to form self-help groups.
- Initially encouraged to save & lend among themselves. Later through banks, Govt. provides partial FA to SHGs (It decide to whom)
- Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP);
- Aim: Generating self employment in rural, To financial assistance from bank (loan) to set up small industries.
- Implementation body: Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
- Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)
- To provide financial help to unemployed educated low income family, for setup any employment generating enterprise in R/U
iii. Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)
- Aim: creating employment opportunities— both self-employment and wage employment—in urban.
- now become Prime Minister’s Empolyment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
- Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY):
- Works as Self helping group.
- Now restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)
- Renamed- Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Yojana
- National Urban Livelihoods Mission:
- WAGE EMPLOYMENT:
- Programs for poor unskilled people living in rural areas.
- MGNREGA (August 2005):
- to provide guaranteed wage employment to every rural household whose adult volunteer is to do unskilled manual work for a minimum of 100 days in a year.
- now known as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya
- In 2018-19, nearly five crore households got.
- The central government bears the full cost of unskilled labour, and 75% of the cost of material (the rest is borne by the states).
- It is a demand-driven, social security and labour law that aims to enforce the ‘right to work’.
- Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Government of India in association with state governments, monitors the implementation of the scheme.
- Agriculture and allied activities constitute more than 65% of the works taken up under the programme.
- At least one-third of beneficiaries have to be women.
- Even after 2nd approach when poor couldn’t able to buy for themselves all the essential goods and services. Govt. made:
- PROVIDED MINIMUM BASIC AMENITIES:
- Third approach to addressing poverty from 5th
- Provide food grains at subsidised rate, education, health, water supply, sanitation to improve living standard.
- public expenditure on social consumption needs to supplement the consumption of poor, create employment opportunities and bring about improvements in health and education.
- supplemented minimum standards by social consumption and investment in the form of essential food grains, education, health, nutrition, drinking water, housing, communications and electricity.
- To Improve food and nutritional status:
- Public Distribution System:
- Integrated Child Development Scheme
- Midday Meal Scheme
To improve infrastructure and housing conditions:
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
- Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana
social security programmes:
- National Social Assistance Programme:
Pension to old age care, destitute and widows, By: Cen. G.
health insurance:
- Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (2014)
- to open bank accounts, saving habits, & to DBT.
- 1 lakh accident insurance and Rs. 30,000 life insurance also covered.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES — A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
- Due to unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits from alleviation programmes have been appropriated by the non-poor.
- Compared to the magnitude of poverty, the amount of resources allocated for these programmes is not sufficient.
- Resources are inefficiently used and wasted because the officials involved in the implementation of the programme are ill-motivated, inadequately trained, corrupt and vulnerable to pressure from a variety of local elites.
- Government policies have also failed to address the vast majority of vulnerable people who are living on or just above the poverty line.
Q1: Why is the calorie-based norm not adequate to identify the poor?
Q2: Why are employment generation programmes important in poverty alleviation in India?
Q3: Is there any relationship between unemployment and poverty? Explain.
Q4: Explain any 2 measures taken by the government of India to remove poverty
- by NITI Aayog’s task force through the calculation of poverty line based on the data captured by the National Sample Survey Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI).
- Based on the consumption expenditureand not on the income levels.
- The incidence of poverty is measured by the poverty ratio, which is the ratio of the number of poor to the total population expressed as a percentage. It is also known as head-count ratio.
- Alagh Committee (1979)determined a poverty line based on a minimum daily requirement of 2400 and 2100 calories for an adult in Rural and Urban area respectively.
- Subsequently different committees;Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009), Rangarajan committee (2012) did the poverty estimation.
- As per the Rangarajan committee report (2014), the poverty line is estimated as Monthly Per Capita Expenditure of Rs. 1407 in urban areas and Rs. 972 in rural areas.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMS IN INDIA
- Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP):introduced in 1978-79 and universalized from 2nd October, 1980, aimed at providing assistance to the rural poor in the form of subsidy and bank credit for productive employment opportunities through successive plan periods.
- Jawahar Rozgar Yojana/Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana:The JRY was meant to generate meaningful employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed in rural areas through the creation of economic infrastructure and community and social assets.
- Rural Housing – Indira Awaas Yojana:The Indira Awaas Yojana (LAY) programme aims at providing free housing to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in rural areas and main targets would be the households of SC/STs.
- Food for Work Programme:It aims at enhancing food security through wage employment. Food grains are supplied to states free of cost, however, the supply of food grains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns has been slow.
- National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS):This pension is given by the central government. The job of implementation of this scheme in states and union territories is given to panchayats and municipalities. The states contribution may vary depending on the state. The amount of old age pension is ₹200 per month for applicants aged 60–79. For applicants aged above 80 years, the amount has been revised to ₹500 a month according to the 2011–2012 Budget. It is a successful venture.
- Annapurna Scheme:This scheme was started by the government in 1999–2000 to provide food to senior citizens who cannot take care of themselves and are not under the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), and who have no one to take care of them in their village. This scheme would provide 10 kg of free food grains a month for the eligible senior citizens. They mostly target groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ and ‘indigent senior citizens’.
- Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY):The main objective of the scheme continues to be the generation of wage employment, creation of durable economic infrastructure in rural areas and provision of food and nutrition security for the poor.
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005:The Act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household. One-third of the proposed jobs would be reserved for women. The central government will also establish National Employment Guarantee Funds. Similarly, state governments will establish State Employment Guarantee Funds for implementation of the scheme. Under the programme, if an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
- National Rural Livelihood Mission: Aajeevika (2011):It evolves out the need to diversify the needs of the rural poor and provide them jobs with regular income on a monthly basis. Self Help groups are formed at the village level to help the needy.
- National Urban Livelihood Mission:The NULM focuses on organizing urban poor in Self Help Groups, creating opportunities for skill development leading to market-based employment and helping them to set up self-employment ventures by ensuring easy access to credit.
- Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana:It will focus on fresh entrant to the labour market, especially labour market and class X and XII dropouts.
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana:It aimed at direct benefit transfer of subsidy, pension, insurance etc. and attained the target of opening 1.5 crore bank accounts. The scheme particularly targets the unbanked poor.
CONCLUSION
- The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index-2018released by the UN noted that 271 million people moved out of poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16 in India. The poverty rate in the country has nearly halved, falling from 55% to 28% over the ten-year period. Still a big part of the population in india is living Below the Poverty Line.
- Rapid economic growth and the use of technology for social sector programs have helped make a significant dent in extreme poverty in the country.
- Despite rapid growth and development, an unacceptably high proportion of our population continues to suffer from severe and multidimensional deprivation. Thus, a more comprehensive and inclusive approach is required to eradicate poverty in India.