Poverty a social evil
Poverty has many dimensions, what do you understand by it?. Through this blog we will dive deep into the complicated challenges of poverty. The United Nations has included this problem in its Sustainable Development Goals.The SDGs were introduced by the United Nations in 2015, and are a collection of 17 goals . These goals aim at improving the quality of people’s life and our mother Earth’s problems. NITI Aayog is the nodal institution for achieving SDGs in India.
The generic definition of poverty is “when a person is not that financially able to fulfill their basic needs. For example, food,clothes,housing,and access to basic medical care.” Depending on the time and need and the country the parameters of poverty
may differ.
From India’s point of view, poverty is measured on the consumption level. Consumption level as in, the minimum level of food requirements, clothing, medical requirements, etc towards their livelihood. These requirements are multiplied by the prices in rupees. Another aspect is the minimum consumption of calories.
The calorie requirement differs from age, type of work, gender etc. In India, a person per day should consume 2400 calories in rural areas and in urban areas 2100 calories. For the income point of view, a monthly income of above Rs.2400 is considered above the poverty line. These are revised frequently by the National Sample Survey Organisation.
From the world view, many international organizations like the World Bank have set the uniform standard for the poverty line of US$2.15 per person per day survey taken in 2022. In India, the poorest states are Bihar (GDP per capita as INR. 46,000); Uttar Pradesh (GDP per capita as 65,000).
As for the rich states…Madhya Pradesh (GDP per capita of Rs.13.87 lakhs crores); Telangana ( GDP per capita of Rs.14 lakhs crores). And as per countries, the poorest countries are South Sudan with the GDP PPP of $ 476;Burundi with the GDP PPP of $ 890. International organizations and The Government of India have made many programmes to give relief to the poor. In India, many Poverty Alleviation programmes such as the Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY),etc… have been established.
Poor people face problems like vulnerability and social exclusion. Some vulnerable groups are backward, tribal and down-trodden people who engage themselves in black collar works, farm cultivation, construction, and various services towards their livelihood. Hence, poverty is a social evil to be eradicated and uplift all people by providing basic infrastructure, education, medical care,etc.. These are the prime responsibilities of all state and central governments by implementing proper SDGs to all underprivileged communities.
Sai Aashrita Vemavarapu
Epistemo Vikas Leadership School