Definition

Poverty refers to a situation where people deprived of basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, lack of access to education and health etc.

Characteristics

Poverty is multi-dimensional and multi-faceted

Some are Economically-poor, some are health-poor, some are education-poor, Hunger, Lack of shelter, situation in which parents are not able to send their children to school or a situation , sick people cannot afford treatment.
Multi disparities

Rural -Urban
Inter state
Social disparities (caste)
Economic disparities

Lack of freedom to have choices

Social exclusion

Exclusion from society at large
Poor people/groups have to live only in poor surroundings with other poor people excluding from enjoying social equality of better-off people in better surroundings
Social exclusion is both a cause and a consequence of poverty

Popular measurement

A common method used to measure poverty is based on the income or consumption levels
A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given “mini um level” necessary to fulfill the basic needsWhat is necessary to satisfy the basic needs is different at different times and in different countries.
Therefore, poverty line may vary with time and place.

Multi-dimension Poverty Index MPI 2018

MPI 2018 have been revised to better align with the SDGs.
The new global MPI has changes in five of the ten indicators from the original MPI: nutrition, child mortality, and years of schooling, housing and assets
Nutrition: The new threshold for nutrition includes BMI (Body Mass Index)- for-age, and stunting as well as underweight for children
Child Mortality: it considers whether a child has, sadly, perished in the household in the last five years preceding the interview date
Years of schooling, the new threshold requires six years, rather than five years, of schooling.
A household is deprived in the housing indicator if the floor is made of natural materials; or the roof or walls are made of natural or rudimentary materials
Assets indicator now includes ownership of computers and animal carts

Govts Poverty Line

First created by Planning Commission in mid 1970s
It measures the poverty. People below poverty line are poor

Old Way of estimating poverty line

Based on minimum daily requirement of 2,400 and 2,100 calories for an adult in rural and urban areas, respectively
Criticism: Only on food factor and rest are not taken into account

2009 Suresh Tendulkar Committee

Also Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty

Based on consumption expenditure of 27/ - (816/- per month) and 33/- (1000/- per month) per person per day in rural and urban areas respectively
According to this, 22 percent of Indian population are poor in 2011-12. This figure is in practice now
Criticism: unrealistic and other factors such as literacy, health, discrimination etc. not considered

2014 Rangarajan Committee

Based on consumption expenditure of 32/- and 47/- in rural and urban areas respectively.
According to this, 30 percent of Indian population are poor

Govt uses monthly percapita expenditure to measure Poverty

US$ 1.90 per person a day - the internationally agreed poverty line

Poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting sample surveys by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) of the International Food Policy Research Institute

Developed by IFPR International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington HQ)
The GHI tries to capture the hunger level across countries.
The index is constructed using four component indicators:

percentage of undernourished in the population, 1/3
percentage of wasting in children under five years old, 1/6
percentage of stunting in children under five years, 1/6
under-five mortality rates. 1/3

Classified into 5 categories

‘low’ level of ger <= 9.9
Moderate 10.0-19.9
Serious 20-34.9

Alarming 35 and 49.9

Extremely alarming >50
India at 28.5 => Serious
GHI 2019, India ranks 102 out of 117 countries

Pathways to Reducing Poverty and Sharing Prosperity in India (PRPSPI) of the World Bank

India specific
Issued by World Bank
Stated that India's growth is not inclusive

43% STs below poverty line
29% of SCs below poverty line
Poverty -regional variations - high in 3 states -Bihar, UP, MP
Rural urban divide-4/5 poor reside in rural areas

Poverty Gap Ratio

It measures the intensity of poverty
It is defined as the average poverty gap in the population as a proportion of the poverty line

Usual Poverty measures the count of all person who falls below poverty line BPL
While, Poverty gap index estimates the depth of poverty by considering how far, on the average, the poor are from that poverty line

Poverty in India - Facts

India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the world.
In India, Poverty will be measured as per Suresh Tendulkar Poverty Line methodology
As per 2010-11, Poverty line was defined as consumption worth of

816/- per person per month in rural areas
1000/- per person per month in urban areas
Minimum calories required

2400 calories for rural person
2100 calories for urban person

Poor population in 2011-12 =27 crore people => 22% of total population

Total Indian population 121 crore
Roughly, Every fourth person is poor

Urban - Rural divide

80% of poor reside in rural areas
2010-11

Rural areas - Poverty is 26% of total rural population
Urban areas - Poverty is 14% of total urban population

Social divide

ST - 43%
SC - 29%

Economic divide

Casual labour farm - 34%
Casual labour urban (non-farm) - 34%

Regional divide

As per 2011-12, Highest - Chattisgarh -39.9%, Lowest - Goa - 5.1%

Trends

There is a substantial decline in poverty ratios in India

Year	Poverty ratio	No. of poor
1993-94	45%	404 million
2004-05	37%	407 million
2011-12	22%	270 million

Poverty declined at an average rate of 0.74 percentage points per year between 1993-94 and 2004-05, and at 2.2 percentage points per year between 2004-05 and 2011-12

Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

Growth oriented Approach

Growth is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition to end poverty

Experience shows that Growth is skewed towards the rich

Self-employment and wage employment

MGNREGA
Rural Employment Generation Scheme

to create self employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns

Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (financial loan to setup small scale industries)

to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (self and wage employment in urban areas)
National Rural Livelihood Mission
National Urban Livelihood Mission

Basic amenities to people

Food & Nutrition

Public Distribution System PDS
Integrated Child Development Scheme ICDS
Mid-Day Meal Scheme
Antyodaya Anna Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak yojana
Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya yojana

additional central assistance is given to states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

Shelter

PM Awas Yojana (Rural), (Urban)
Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana

National Social assistance program
Education

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), (Now Samagra Shikha Abhiyaan)

Health

National Health Mission (NHM),

National Food Security Act 2013

Aim: Food and nutritional security life at affordable prices and enables people to live a life with dignity
Coverage : 75% of rural population and upto 50% of urban population for receiving highly subsidized food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System.
Special provisions for supplementary nutrition have been made for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years

Integrated Child Development Scheme ICDS

Launched in 1975,
Beneficiary:

children (6 months to 6 years) and
pregnant & lactating mothers irrespective of their economic and social status.

Objective: improvement in nutrition and ensuring healthy lives & promoting well-being for all at all ages respectively
Provides an integrated package of six services which include;

i) Supplementary nutrition programme

Designed to bridge the gap between the Recommended Dietary Allowance (FDA) and the Average Daily Intake (ADI).
Provide Take Home Ration (THR) in the form of Micronutrient Fortified Food and/or energy-dense food marked as ‘ICDS Food Supplement’ for various age groups children (now Energy dense foods prohibited)

(ii) Immunization;
(iii) Health check-up;
(iv) Referral services;
(v) Pre-school non-formal education and
(vi) Nutrition & health education.

Schemes are provided at Anganwadi Centre (AWC).
5-tier monitoring and review mechanism at National, State, District, Block and Anganwadi Levels

Public Distribution System PDS

PDS means distribution of essential commodities to larger section of the society, mostly vulnerable people, through a network of fair Price Shops on a recurring basis. (Issue Price)

There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops/Fair price shops all over the country
There are three kinds of ration cards: (a) Antyodaya cards for the poorest of the poor; (b) BPL cards for those below poverty line; and (c) APL cards for all others

Over the years, PDS has become an important part of Government‘s policy for management of f od economy in the country
PDS is supplemental in nature and is not intended to make available the entire requirement of any of the commodities distributed under to a household or a section of the society
PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments.

Central Government, through Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.
Operational responsibility including allocation within State, identification of eligible families, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc., rest with the State Governments

Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.

Some States/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through the PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc

Under National Food Security Act 2013, all India coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population for receiving highly subsidized food grains is provided. Hence coverage under TPDS has been delinked from the poverty estimates.

RPDS- Revamped PDS, TPDS- Targeted PDS, AAY- Antyodaya Anna Yojana, APS - Annapurna Scheme,

Indigent - poor/needy

Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IMPDS) Scheme

Central Sector scheme (100% funding by Centre)
Ministry of Consumer affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Objectives

Nationwide portability in food grain distribution
Avoiding duplication of ration cards
Continuous improvement

One Nation, One Ration Card
Beneficiaries can buy subsidized food grains from a ration shop in any part of the country
Under present Public Distribution System (PDS), a ration cardholder can buy food grains only from Fair Price Shop (FPS) that has been assigned in the locality in which he/she lives
A person will only be eligible for the central subsidies
Under this, a migrant will be allowed to buy maximum of 50% of family quota. This is to ensure that the individual, after shifting to another place does not buy the entire family quota in one go
No new ration cards are being made specifically for the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme. Old ration cards will also remain valid throughout the nation.
Partha Mukhopadhyay Working Group on Migration recommended for portability of Public Distribution System and its benefits in 2017