Poverty Related Issues Notes | Study Social Issue for UPSC 2022 (Pre & Mains) - UPSC

 Page 1


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Poverty 
What is Poverty: 
Poverty is a relative condition of absence of some desirable component in 
society. 
Mostly, the term is used in an economic sense. A condition of lacking vital 
resources- is often qualified as relative and absolute. 
 
Absolute poverty - means lacking the truly basic necessities for living- food, 
water, shelter. 
 
 
Relative poverty - on the other hand, means lacking those things which most 
people in the society possess. 
 
It is a matter of debate if poverty is a result of social divisions and hierarchies 
or vice versa. 
 
 
Multi Dimensional Poverty – The social aspects of poverty may include: 
- Lack of access to information 
- Eeducation 
- Health care 
- Social capital or political power 
 
Lack of intangible assets that cause poverty include: 
- Access to credit 
- Social capital 
- Cultural capital 
- Political capital and  
- Human capital (skills, knowledge, education). 
 
  
Page 2


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Poverty 
What is Poverty: 
Poverty is a relative condition of absence of some desirable component in 
society. 
Mostly, the term is used in an economic sense. A condition of lacking vital 
resources- is often qualified as relative and absolute. 
 
Absolute poverty - means lacking the truly basic necessities for living- food, 
water, shelter. 
 
 
Relative poverty - on the other hand, means lacking those things which most 
people in the society possess. 
 
It is a matter of debate if poverty is a result of social divisions and hierarchies 
or vice versa. 
 
 
Multi Dimensional Poverty – The social aspects of poverty may include: 
- Lack of access to information 
- Eeducation 
- Health care 
- Social capital or political power 
 
Lack of intangible assets that cause poverty include: 
- Access to credit 
- Social capital 
- Cultural capital 
- Political capital and  
- Human capital (skills, knowledge, education). 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Causes of Poverty 
“Poverty is more than an economic problem” – Amartya sen.  
Social: 
1) Disabilities on lower castes  
2) Conspicuous spending, social pressure to spend on marriages  
 
Economic: 
1) Unequal distribution of land  
2) Low wages  
3) Indebtedness 
 
Political:  
1) Skewed policies  
2) Lack of voice, accountability.  
 
Globalisation:  
1) Sidelining of cottage industries  
2) Informalisation of workforce 
 
Natural causes:  
1) Disasters affect poor the most, Most vulnerable   
 
Some people reacted to poverty violently like Naxalite movement and some 
blame government, destiny for their poverty. 
 
Benefits of development are not equally distributed among people leading to 
skewed development of various areas. 
 
Also, there is persistence of poverty in India because of failure of Green 
Revolution to spread. 
Contemporary: Greater awareness of being poor. Causing relative poverty to 
rise.  
 
 
Page 3


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Poverty 
What is Poverty: 
Poverty is a relative condition of absence of some desirable component in 
society. 
Mostly, the term is used in an economic sense. A condition of lacking vital 
resources- is often qualified as relative and absolute. 
 
Absolute poverty - means lacking the truly basic necessities for living- food, 
water, shelter. 
 
 
Relative poverty - on the other hand, means lacking those things which most 
people in the society possess. 
 
It is a matter of debate if poverty is a result of social divisions and hierarchies 
or vice versa. 
 
 
Multi Dimensional Poverty – The social aspects of poverty may include: 
- Lack of access to information 
- Eeducation 
- Health care 
- Social capital or political power 
 
Lack of intangible assets that cause poverty include: 
- Access to credit 
- Social capital 
- Cultural capital 
- Political capital and  
- Human capital (skills, knowledge, education). 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Causes of Poverty 
“Poverty is more than an economic problem” – Amartya sen.  
Social: 
1) Disabilities on lower castes  
2) Conspicuous spending, social pressure to spend on marriages  
 
Economic: 
1) Unequal distribution of land  
2) Low wages  
3) Indebtedness 
 
Political:  
1) Skewed policies  
2) Lack of voice, accountability.  
 
Globalisation:  
1) Sidelining of cottage industries  
2) Informalisation of workforce 
 
Natural causes:  
1) Disasters affect poor the most, Most vulnerable   
 
Some people reacted to poverty violently like Naxalite movement and some 
blame government, destiny for their poverty. 
 
Benefits of development are not equally distributed among people leading to 
skewed development of various areas. 
 
Also, there is persistence of poverty in India because of failure of Green 
Revolution to spread. 
Contemporary: Greater awareness of being poor. Causing relative poverty to 
rise.  
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
 
Calculation of Poverty 
Poverty is measured across countries using the idea of Poverty Line.  
It is important to understand that a poverty line is essentially a monetary value.  
The idea is to collect data on people’s consumption expenditure, and to ascertain 
how many people surveyed fall below that poverty line.  
In India, there were two main ways of collecting data:  
- Uniform Reference Period (URP)  
- Mixed Reference Period (MRP).  
 
Uniform Reference Period (URP): 
Up until 1993-94, the poverty line was based on URP data.  
This involved asking people about their consumption expenditure across a 30-
day recall period.  
In other words, the information was based on the recall of consumption 
expenditure over the last month alone. 
 
Mixed Reference Period (MRP) 
Since 1999-2000, data are being collected according to MRP.  
Under this method, data on five less-frequently used items are collected over a 
one-year period, while sticking to the 30-day recall for the rest of the items.  
The low-frequency items include expenditure on health, education, clothing, 
durables etc.  
Currently, all poverty line data are compiled using the MRP method.  
These include the most recent estimates by the Suresh Tendulkar and Rangarajan 
Committees. 
 
World Bank’s Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP) 
(Also used by Rangarajan Panel) 
In this method, for some food items, instead of a 30-day recall, only a 7-day recall 
is collected.  
Page 4


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Poverty 
What is Poverty: 
Poverty is a relative condition of absence of some desirable component in 
society. 
Mostly, the term is used in an economic sense. A condition of lacking vital 
resources- is often qualified as relative and absolute. 
 
Absolute poverty - means lacking the truly basic necessities for living- food, 
water, shelter. 
 
 
Relative poverty - on the other hand, means lacking those things which most 
people in the society possess. 
 
It is a matter of debate if poverty is a result of social divisions and hierarchies 
or vice versa. 
 
 
Multi Dimensional Poverty – The social aspects of poverty may include: 
- Lack of access to information 
- Eeducation 
- Health care 
- Social capital or political power 
 
Lack of intangible assets that cause poverty include: 
- Access to credit 
- Social capital 
- Cultural capital 
- Political capital and  
- Human capital (skills, knowledge, education). 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Causes of Poverty 
“Poverty is more than an economic problem” – Amartya sen.  
Social: 
1) Disabilities on lower castes  
2) Conspicuous spending, social pressure to spend on marriages  
 
Economic: 
1) Unequal distribution of land  
2) Low wages  
3) Indebtedness 
 
Political:  
1) Skewed policies  
2) Lack of voice, accountability.  
 
Globalisation:  
1) Sidelining of cottage industries  
2) Informalisation of workforce 
 
Natural causes:  
1) Disasters affect poor the most, Most vulnerable   
 
Some people reacted to poverty violently like Naxalite movement and some 
blame government, destiny for their poverty. 
 
Benefits of development are not equally distributed among people leading to 
skewed development of various areas. 
 
Also, there is persistence of poverty in India because of failure of Green 
Revolution to spread. 
Contemporary: Greater awareness of being poor. Causing relative poverty to 
rise.  
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
 
Calculation of Poverty 
Poverty is measured across countries using the idea of Poverty Line.  
It is important to understand that a poverty line is essentially a monetary value.  
The idea is to collect data on people’s consumption expenditure, and to ascertain 
how many people surveyed fall below that poverty line.  
In India, there were two main ways of collecting data:  
- Uniform Reference Period (URP)  
- Mixed Reference Period (MRP).  
 
Uniform Reference Period (URP): 
Up until 1993-94, the poverty line was based on URP data.  
This involved asking people about their consumption expenditure across a 30-
day recall period.  
In other words, the information was based on the recall of consumption 
expenditure over the last month alone. 
 
Mixed Reference Period (MRP) 
Since 1999-2000, data are being collected according to MRP.  
Under this method, data on five less-frequently used items are collected over a 
one-year period, while sticking to the 30-day recall for the rest of the items.  
The low-frequency items include expenditure on health, education, clothing, 
durables etc.  
Currently, all poverty line data are compiled using the MRP method.  
These include the most recent estimates by the Suresh Tendulkar and Rangarajan 
Committees. 
 
World Bank’s Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP) 
(Also used by Rangarajan Panel) 
In this method, for some food items, instead of a 30-day recall, only a 7-day recall 
is collected.  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
For some low-frequency items, instead of a 30-day recall, a 1-year recall is 
collected.  
This is believed to provide a more accurate reflection of consumption 
expenditures. 
 
What’s the impact of this change 
When such data was collected, consumption expenditures for people in both 
urban and rural areas went up by 10 per cent to 12 per cent. 
 
Why this happened 
This happened essentially because people could better recall their food 
expenditure over a shorter, 7-day period than what they might have done over 
the longer 30-day period.  
The higher expenditures, combined with the high population density around the 
poverty line, essentially meant that the poverty rate for India (for 2011-12) came 
down sharply. 
The MMRP method was first used in 2009-10, alongside MRP. 
 
The methodology to measure poverty, as devised by Y K Alagh, in 1979 has been 
improvised by the Expert Group (Lakdawala) in 1993 and then by the Expert 
Group (Tendulkar) in 2009.  
The improvisations have led to a firmer reliance on the NSSO’s sample surveys on 
consumption expenditure by households, a much better method to adjust for 
inter-state and inter-region differences in price changes over time, and the use of 
the better recall period introduced in the NSSO’s surveys.  
 
 
  
Page 5


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Poverty 
What is Poverty: 
Poverty is a relative condition of absence of some desirable component in 
society. 
Mostly, the term is used in an economic sense. A condition of lacking vital 
resources- is often qualified as relative and absolute. 
 
Absolute poverty - means lacking the truly basic necessities for living- food, 
water, shelter. 
 
 
Relative poverty - on the other hand, means lacking those things which most 
people in the society possess. 
 
It is a matter of debate if poverty is a result of social divisions and hierarchies 
or vice versa. 
 
 
Multi Dimensional Poverty – The social aspects of poverty may include: 
- Lack of access to information 
- Eeducation 
- Health care 
- Social capital or political power 
 
Lack of intangible assets that cause poverty include: 
- Access to credit 
- Social capital 
- Cultural capital 
- Political capital and  
- Human capital (skills, knowledge, education). 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
Causes of Poverty 
“Poverty is more than an economic problem” – Amartya sen.  
Social: 
1) Disabilities on lower castes  
2) Conspicuous spending, social pressure to spend on marriages  
 
Economic: 
1) Unequal distribution of land  
2) Low wages  
3) Indebtedness 
 
Political:  
1) Skewed policies  
2) Lack of voice, accountability.  
 
Globalisation:  
1) Sidelining of cottage industries  
2) Informalisation of workforce 
 
Natural causes:  
1) Disasters affect poor the most, Most vulnerable   
 
Some people reacted to poverty violently like Naxalite movement and some 
blame government, destiny for their poverty. 
 
Benefits of development are not equally distributed among people leading to 
skewed development of various areas. 
 
Also, there is persistence of poverty in India because of failure of Green 
Revolution to spread. 
Contemporary: Greater awareness of being poor. Causing relative poverty to 
rise.  
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
 
Calculation of Poverty 
Poverty is measured across countries using the idea of Poverty Line.  
It is important to understand that a poverty line is essentially a monetary value.  
The idea is to collect data on people’s consumption expenditure, and to ascertain 
how many people surveyed fall below that poverty line.  
In India, there were two main ways of collecting data:  
- Uniform Reference Period (URP)  
- Mixed Reference Period (MRP).  
 
Uniform Reference Period (URP): 
Up until 1993-94, the poverty line was based on URP data.  
This involved asking people about their consumption expenditure across a 30-
day recall period.  
In other words, the information was based on the recall of consumption 
expenditure over the last month alone. 
 
Mixed Reference Period (MRP) 
Since 1999-2000, data are being collected according to MRP.  
Under this method, data on five less-frequently used items are collected over a 
one-year period, while sticking to the 30-day recall for the rest of the items.  
The low-frequency items include expenditure on health, education, clothing, 
durables etc.  
Currently, all poverty line data are compiled using the MRP method.  
These include the most recent estimates by the Suresh Tendulkar and Rangarajan 
Committees. 
 
World Bank’s Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP) 
(Also used by Rangarajan Panel) 
In this method, for some food items, instead of a 30-day recall, only a 7-day recall 
is collected.  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
For some low-frequency items, instead of a 30-day recall, a 1-year recall is 
collected.  
This is believed to provide a more accurate reflection of consumption 
expenditures. 
 
What’s the impact of this change 
When such data was collected, consumption expenditures for people in both 
urban and rural areas went up by 10 per cent to 12 per cent. 
 
Why this happened 
This happened essentially because people could better recall their food 
expenditure over a shorter, 7-day period than what they might have done over 
the longer 30-day period.  
The higher expenditures, combined with the high population density around the 
poverty line, essentially meant that the poverty rate for India (for 2011-12) came 
down sharply. 
The MMRP method was first used in 2009-10, alongside MRP. 
 
The methodology to measure poverty, as devised by Y K Alagh, in 1979 has been 
improvised by the Expert Group (Lakdawala) in 1993 and then by the Expert 
Group (Tendulkar) in 2009.  
The improvisations have led to a firmer reliance on the NSSO’s sample surveys on 
consumption expenditure by households, a much better method to adjust for 
inter-state and inter-region differences in price changes over time, and the use of 
the better recall period introduced in the NSSO’s surveys.  
 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
 
 
Consequences of Poverty 
• Culture of poverty  
 
• Dependency culture  
 
• Malnutrition  
 
• Population explosion  
 
• Degradation in morality 
 
• Illiteracy (can’t spend on education.)  
 
• Social deviance (crimes corruption)  
 
• High incidences of IMR, MMR