Glossary and Important Information - Poverty as a Challenge | Social Studies (SST) Class 9 PDF Download

Glossary 

• Poverty: It is a state in which people do not have sufficient income to fulfil the basic necessities of life like food, clothing and shelter.
• Absolute Poverty: It refers to the total number of people living below the poverty line.
• Relative poverty: It refers to the poverty of people in relation to other people, regions or nations.
• Poverty line: It is the level of income that divides the population as poor and non-poor. It is drawn on the basis of minimum consumption expenditure.
• International poverty line: It is defined by the world bank as an income of less than $ 1 per day.
• Social exclusion: It is the state of living in very poor condition and excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.
• Vulnerability: It describes the level of poverty when people have a greater probability of being adversely affected than other people of the time of natural disasters.
• Economic growth: It is the term that defines an increase in the real output of a country.
• Mass poverty: It is a situation in which a large section of people in the economy is deprived of basic necessities.
• Challenge: Something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a persons’ ability.
• Human poverty: A situation in which people have food, clothing and shelter but don’t have proper education, self-confidence, gender equality and dignity. 
• Poverty alleviation: Removal of poverty.
• Anti-Poverty Measures: The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based on two planks-promotion of economic growth and targeted anti-poverty programmes.

Important Information

• Poverty is a major challenge faced by independent India. It has many dimensions, normally, this is measured through the concept of ‘Poverty line’.
• A common method used to measure poverty is based on income or consumption levels. A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given ‘minimum level’ necessary to fulfil basic needs.
• What is necessary to satisfy basic needs is different at different times and in different countries. Therefore, the poverty line may vary with time and place.
• While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement, etc; are determined for subsistence.
• These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees. The present formula for food requirements while estimating the poverty line is based on the desired calorie requirement.
• The calorie needs vary depending on age, sex and type of work that a person does. The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories per person per day in urban areas.
• For the age 2011-12, the poverty line for a person was fixed at Rs. 816 per month for the rural areas and Rs. 1000 for the urban areas.
• In the year 2011-12, a family of five members living in rural areas and earning less than about? 4,080 per month will be below the poverty line. A similar family in urban areas would need a minimum of Rs. 5,000 per month to meet their basic requirements.
• The poverty line is estimated periodically by conducting sample surveys which are carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
• There is a substantial decline in poverty ratios in India between 1993-94 and 2004-05 but the number of poor remained at about 407 million which further declined to 269 million in 2011-12.
• The social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households. Among the economic groups, the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households are the most vulnerable groups. In poor families, women, elderly people and female infants are considered the poorest of the poor.
• The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state of India. Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7 and 37.6 per cent respectively.
• In states like Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal there has been a significant decline in poverty. States like Punjab and Haryana have also succeeded in reducing poverty to a great extent.
• There has also been a substantial reduction in global poverty. But it is marked with great regional differences. Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian countries but in countries of South Asia i.e. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, the decline has not been rapid.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty rose from 51 per cent in 1981 to 47 per cent in 2008. In Latin America, the ratio of poverty remained the same.
• The causes of widespread poverty in India are—the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration, high growth rate of population, huge income inequalities and socio­cultural and economic factors.
• Removal of poverty has been one of the major objectives of the Indian developmental strategy. The government is focusing on the promotion of economic growth. It has also started many anti-poverty schemes/programmes.
• There are many schemes that are formulated to affect poverty directly or indirectly. Some of them are – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MGNREGA), Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), Swarnajayaanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Pradhanmantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY), and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
• Poverty has certainly declined in India. But poverty reduction is still India’s most compelling challenge. Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years.
• Even though we will be able to provide the minimum necessary in terms of income to all people by the end of the next decade, but the target will move on for many of the bigger challenges that still remain. For example, providing health care, education and job security for all and achieving gender equality and dignity for the poor. These are some of the is