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POVERTY IN INDIA

According to a recent Indian government committee constituted to estimate poverty, nearly 38% of India’s population (380 million) is poor. This report is based on new methodology and the figure is 10% higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5%.

The committee was headed by SD Tendulkar has used a different methodology to reach at the current figure. It has taken into consideration indicators for heath, education, sanitation, nutrition and income as per National Sample Survey Organization survey of 2004-05. This new methodology is a complex scientific basis aimed at addressing the concern raised over the current poverty estimation.

Since 1972 poverty has been defined on basis of the money required to buy food worth 2100 calories in urban areas and 2400 calories in rural areas. In June this year a government committee headed by NC Saxena committee estimated 50% Indians were poor as against Planning Commission’s 2006 figure of 28.5%.

Poverty is one of the main problems which have attracted attention of sociologists and economists. It indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency. It is a situation people want to escape. It gives rise to a feeling of a discrepancy between what one has and what one should have. The term poverty is a relative concept. It is very difficult to draw a demarcation line between affluence and poverty. According to Adam Smith - Man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, the conveniences and the amusements of human life.

Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which 193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in urban areas. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Poverty level is not uniform across India. The poverty level is below 10% in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below 50% in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40% in Northeastern states of Assam, Tripura, and Mehgalaya and in Southern states of TamilNadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Poverty has many dimensions changing from place to place and across time. There are two inter-related aspects of poverty - Urban and rural poverty. The main causes of urban poverty are predominantly due to impoverishment of rural peasantry that forces them to move out of villages to seek some subsistence living in the towns and cities. In this process, they even lose the open space or habitat they had in villages albeit without food and other basic amenities. When they come to the cities, they get access to some food though other sanitary facilities including clean water supply still elude them. And they have to stay in the habitats that place them under sub-human conditions. While a select few have standards of living comparable to the richest in the world, the majority fails to get two meals a day. The causes of rural poverty are manifold including inadequate and ineffective implementation of anti-poverty programmes.The overdependence on monsoon with non-availability of irrigational facilities often result in crop-failure and low agricultural productivity forcing farmers in the debt-traps. The rural communities tend to spend large percentage of annual earnings on social ceremonies like marriage; feast etc.Our economic development since Independence has been lopsided .There has been increase in unemployment creating poverty like situations for many. Population is growing at an alarming rate. The size of the Indian family is relatively bigger averaging at 4.2.The other causes include dominance of caste system which forces the individual to stick to the traditional and hereditary occupations.

Since the 1970s the Indian government has made poverty reduction a priority in its development planning. Policies have focused on improving the poor standard of living by ensuring food security, promoting self-employment through greater access to assets, increasing wage employment and improving access to basic social services. Launched in 1965, India's Public Distribution System has helped meet people's basic food needs by providing rations at subsidized prices. Although it has affected less than 20% of the Poor's food purchases, the system has been important in sustaining people's consumption of cereals, especially in periods of drought. It has provided women and girls with better access to food and helped overcome the widespread discrimination against female consumption within households. It has also reduced the burden of women, who are responsible for providing food for the household.

The largest credit-based government poverty reduction programme in the world, the Integrated Rural Development Programme provides rural households below the poverty line with credit to purchase income-generating assets. Launched in 1979, the programme has supplied subsidized credit to such groups as small and marginalized farmers, agricultural laborers, rural artisans, the physically handicapped, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Within this target population, 40% of the beneficiaries are supposed to be women. Although the programme has reached 51 million families, only 27% of the borrowers have been women. The programme has significantly increased the income of 57% of assisted families.

Rural poverty is largely a result of low productivity and unemployment. The Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, a national public works scheme launched in 1989 with financing from the central and state governments, provides more than 700 million person days of work a year about 1% of total employment for people with few opportunities for employment. The scheme has two components: a programme to provide low-cost housing and one to supply free irrigation wells to poor and marginalized farmers. The public works scheme is self-targeting. Since it offers employment at the statutory minimum wage for unskilled manual labor, only those willing to accept very low wages the poor are likely to enroll in the scheme. By providing regular employment and thereby increasing the bargaining power of all rural workers, the public works scheme has had a significant effect in reducing poverty. It has also contributed to the construction of rural infrastructure (irrigation works, a soil conservation project, drinking water supply). Evaluations show that 82% of available funds have been channeled to community development projects. Targeting was improved in 1996 when the housing and irrigation well components were delinked and focused exclusively on people below the poverty line.

TRYSEM (Training rural youth for self employment) was started to provide technical skills to the rural youth and to help them to get employment in fields such as agriculture, industry, services and business activities. Youth of the poor families belonging to the age-group of 18-35 are entitled to avail the benefits of the scheme. Priority is given to persons belonging to ST/SC and ex-servicemen and about 1/3 seats are reserved for women. Minimum Needs Programme was taken up as an integral part of the 5th Five Year Plan and it was intended to cater to the minimum needs of the people such as rural water supply, rural health, road building, adult education, primary education, rural electrification and improvement of the urban slums etc.With the intention of removing urban unemployment some schemes such as SEPUP (Self-employment programme for the urban poor); SEEUY (Scheme for self-employment of the educated urban youths) .These schemes gives loans and subsidies for the urban unemployed youths to create or to find for themselves some jobs. The SEPUP had provided financial help for about 1.19 urban unemployed youths in the year 190-91.

The participation of civil society organizations in poverty reduction efforts, especially those directed to women, has increased social awareness and encouraged governments to provide better services. Cooperatives such as the Self-Employed Women's Association provide credit to women at market rates of interest but do not require collateral; they also allow flexibility in the use of loans and the timing of repayments. These civil society organizations have not only contributed to women's material well being; they have also helped empower them socially and politically. Such credit initiatives, by bringing women out of the confines of the household, are changing their status within the family and within village hierarchies. The demands of civil society organizations for better social services have spurred the government to launch campaigns to increase literacy and improve public infrastructure. And their calls for greater accountability and real devolution of power are increasing the likelihood that expenditures for poverty reduction will reach the needy, especially women.

The Indian state has undoubtedly failed in its responsibilities towards its citizens over the last 50 odd years. There is a need for the state to move out of many areas and the process has been started with economic liberalization. The process of decentralization should devolute lot more powers, both functional and financial, to panchayats. The lack of transparency and accountability has hampered our economic development at all levels. The problem of poverty persists because of a number of leakages in the system. New laws have to be evolved to ensure more accountability. Bodies like the Planning Commission should be modified into new constitutional bodies that can hold governments accountable for their failure to implement development programmes. A strong system of incentives and disincentives also needs to be introduced. The encouragement of non-governmental organizations and private sector individuals in tackling poverty is imperative, as the state cannot do everything.

SERVING HUMANITY

FATHER TERESA OF RANCHI SLUMS

Hindustan Times : Nov 17th 1994

Ranchi slums dwellers have shown an admirable community spirit, finds Osama Manzar
David Werner of Hesperian Foundation is a famous name, radiating hope in an improperly illuminated world of hopelenesses. Among Werner’s books Where there is no doctor is a household title in many Indian slums where the development work has been done. The Voluntary Health Association of India has translated the book into Hindi.
In the slums of Ranchi, where there is no doctor is a house hold book for daily use.
Only two years ago, the “bus-teewalas” had come together with the concern that “we weren’t doing enough for the community.” Fortunately, the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) and many voluntary organisations stood by the bustee community. “From there we never looked back and started learning how to meet our need,” said All Akhtar of Gudri mohalla. Thereafter, the bustees got involved and started setting up small community centres.
“Surprisingly, the busteeresi dents turned out to be good in a wide variety of rehabilitation skills, from the making of wheel chairs to that of rehabilitation equipment and aids, counselling of families and involvement of the slum residents for their acceptance and rights within the community as well as within the twonship”, observes Dr Kafeel Ahmad, a veterinary doctor practising for the past 20 years in many of Ranchi’s remote slums.
Behind this metamorphosis is Colonel Subhash Bakshi, popular ly known in Ranchi, especially in the slums, as Father Teresa. Bakski took premature retirement, recently, so that he could devote all his time for the development of the “bustees” in Ranchi. Bakshi was the Station Commandant, Army Headquartcrs, Ranchi. “The only thing these people required was the motivation and I gave that.Now they do everything them selves,” says Col Bakshi. “So much so that, they have gone beyond WHO norms to design their own programmes to explore their abilities and the extent of possibilities of various plants.” As a matter of fact, many a time WHO has offered help to Col Bakshi for developmental work in the area.
In any development project, whether it is for drinking water, health and sanitation or social forestry, the most desired aim is “community participation”. Particularly when the project is externally aided, the donor agency would like to see that the benefits reach the right target groups.
In the bustees of Ranchi, the benefits are visible without any external participation. A methodology that has become very useful in this respect in recent years is known as “participative rural appraisal” (PRA).
Of course, a lot of information is available with these local people about local resources and local problems. Certainly, if they are involved in planning any scheme meant for them they can come up with useful ideas and contribute to the planning process as well. This also ensures proper use of facilities provided to them, as they are involved right from the planning stage.
“Amazingly; such progressive development has never come from Dharavi, the sprawling shanty town in North Bombay, the largest slum in Asia. Whereas, the slums in Ranchi deserve all kind of appreciation, the situation in slums all over India is extremely pathetic,” believes Col Bakshi.
The urban poor in India manage only a fraction of the access to basic amenities like housing and drinking water provided by the Government and even these are vulnerable to manipulation by vested interests.
Ranchi, Bihar’s summer capital and home of the best schooling facilities of India, is witnessing a new experiment. The total sub dued consciousness in slums is being raised at the very grassroot levels through their own community participating and voluntary effects. Says the RRDA chairman: “Money is not a problem, we are sound for another one year”. “In fact, we wanted to involve the people and we succeeded.”
The population in the “bustees” of Ranchi is 2.2 lakh as against the total of eight lakh of the city. To get the work done properly, the bustee dwellers have formed the Bustee Vikas Munch (BVM), its wings spread in 65 narrow clusters.
The BVM has chosen these clusters as “major slum areas”. Hundred formal education centres are functioning in these clusters. Also, every bustee is supervised by a woman health assistant, provided with a first-aid kit that includes Wener’s book.
“It is for the first time in India,” according to Col Bakshi, that a committee like BVM has been formed to develop, educate and in form the “bustee” dwellers. Remarkably, 35 bustees have achieved total literacy since the BVM was formed. The slum dwellers have free acceess to the conference hall of the RRDA for all kinds of developmental meetings.

 A WINNING BATTLE

Hindustan Times : July 24th 1993

SHEFFALI CHIKERMANE on the rehabilitation of Ranchi’s lepers
For many, leprosy is a disease, which makes its patient the most hated human creature on earth. Although there are hundred of societies and NGOs, who are working exclusively for lepers, yet, Ranchi, is a place which constitutes more than 2,000 lepers.
Recently, a ‘different’, person came into the life of the Ranchi lepers. He is Assistant commandant, Army Head Quarter, Ranchi, Colonel, Subhash Bakshi. People call him Mr. ‘Mother Teresa’. For his work among lepers, Col. Bakshi has been awarded the ‘Birsa Award’ by MECON (Metallurgical & Engineering Consultants).
Under the banner of ‘Yogda Samaj Seva’, Col. Bakshi, at the cost of Rs. Five lakh, has provided these 102 lepers, apart from a concrete house, a small nursing home with a doctor available once a week, all kinds of necessary medicines, a reading cum TV room, permanent water supply and a public convenience. The Ranchi Regional Development Authority has also contributed Rs. One lakh for the development of ‘Nirmala Kusht Colony’.
For Col, S. Bakshi, lepers are not new. He has been serving the lepers for a long time. He has even dedicated his services exclusively for the most oppressed, helpless and hated class of society, the lepers. Asserts Col. Bakship  “On the banks of the river hermu, rigt in the heart of the  city for the last 35 years, 48 families suffering from leprosy have been fighting a battle against physical, social, economical. Psychological and spiritual breakdowns”.
What is appreciable about the lepers is, a gradual change in their attitude, confidence and responsibility. They are now found to be more active, more sensible, more aggressive to assert their right and above all a sense o f management.
They only survive on begging. Ninety per cent of the inmates go six days a week, except Mondays, for begging return only after a week.
Since, the main drawback of lepers are their deformed physical parts and the loss of energy. They cannot walk for long. Therefore, an energetic partner carries his invalid partner in a small wheeled cart miles in search of a better area and well off persons. Still the most unfortunate are the children of the ‘Kusht’ Colony., Their future is uncertain and hopeless. Nonetheless, Virendra Kujoor. 21, who is a matriculate and totally out of the grip of the disease, teaches some basics to such children. He is paid a token amount of Rs. 200 by the Yogda Samaj Sewa.
Indira Nagar Kusht Colony is the only and the biggest whose responsibility of rehabilitation has been taken by Col. Bakshi. After thrice being displaced since 1960’, ‘Indira Nagar its finally going to be established in concrete by this year. The long and regular struggle of the Colonel is finally on the verge of its destination. The Heavy Engineering Corporation has agreed to donate 20 acres of land to the Nagar and the Ranchi Regional Development Authority has also sanctioned Rs. 10 lakh for the rehabilitation of the lepers. Reveals Col. Bakshi, “Twenty lakh is the estimated cost of the colony which includes all kinds of necessary facilities”. Besides, there is a proposal of projects like, fish farming, piggery, ggatery, poultry, vegetable garden, nursery, seed pockets and manufacturing of wire cut bricks and tillers”. 
All eyes are now on Indira Nagar, which will give shelter to 375 lepers in 157 houses. Says happy Mukhia of the colony, Abdul Hayat, 55, “If there was no Col. Bakshi, we would have been living the same age old traditional bad life of the lepers”.