Poverty — NCERT Class 11 Economics

The common dimensions of poverty include: 1. Income poverty — insufficient income to buy basic necessities. 2. Consumption poverty — inability to afford adequate food, clothing, and shelter. 3. Human development poverty — lack of access to education, health, and nutrition. 4. Social poverty — exclusion from social participation, discrimination based on caste, gender. 5. Asset poverty — ownership of no productive assets like land, tools, or livestock. 6. Vulnerability — high risk of falling deeper into poverty due to illness, crop failure, or job loss.

Different countries use different poverty lines because: 1. The cost of living varies across countries — basic needs cost more in developed nations. 2. Social norms differ — what is considered a basic need in one country may be a luxury in another. 3. Per capita income levels differ significantly — a uniform line would be meaningless. 4. Each country defines its own poverty line based on local conditions, food habits, and prices. 5. The World Bank uses a common international line ($2.15 per day, 2017 PPP) for cross-country comparisons.

In India, the poverty line is determined by: 1. The Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) sets the line based on calorie intake norms — 2,400 kcal/day in rural areas and 2,100 kcal/day in urban areas. 2. The monetary equivalent of this calorie intake, plus a small allowance for non-food items, gives the poverty line. 3. The Tendulkar Committee (2009) revised the methodology to include education and health expenditure. 4. Household consumption surveys (NSSO) are used to estimate the proportion of people below this line. 5. The poverty line is updated periodically to account for inflation.

Poverty is a state in which a person lacks the financial resources and essential means to meet minimum basic needs — food, clothing, shelter, education, and healthcare. It is both an economic condition (low income) and a social condition (exclusion, deprivation, vulnerability).

The poverty line is the threshold level of income or consumption expenditure below which a person is considered poor.

It is determined by: 1. Defining the minimum calorie requirement — 2,400 kcal/day (rural) and 2,100 kcal/day (urban). 2. Calculating the monetary value of the basket of goods that provides these calories. 3. Adding a modest allowance for non-food essentials (clothing, fuel, transport, education, health). 4. The Tendulkar Committee refined this by including normative levels of education and health expenditure. 5. Using NSSO consumption expenditure survey data to estimate the number of people below this threshold.

There are significant inter-state variations: 1. High poverty states — Bihar (33.7%), Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh have poverty ratios well above the national average. 2. Low poverty states — Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh have poverty ratios below the national average. 3. Reasons for variation — states with higher agricultural productivity, better infrastructure, higher literacy, and industrial development have lower poverty. 4. Bihar and Odisha suffer from low industrialisation, poor infrastructure, low agricultural productivity, and high population growth. 5. Kerala has low poverty due to high literacy, effective land reforms, and strong social safety nets. 6. Punjab and Haryana benefited from the Green Revolution, raising farm incomes. 7. Urban poverty is also uneven — Maharashtra and Delhi have significant urban slum populations despite higher average incomes.

1. Low economic growth — for decades after independence, India's GDP growth was too slow to generate enough jobs. 2. Population explosion — rapid population growth meant resources had to be shared among more people. 3. Unemployment and underemployment — lack of productive work, especially in rural areas, keeps incomes low. 4. Inequality in land ownership — a small fraction of the population owns most agricultural land; millions are landless. 5. Social factors — caste discrimination, gender inequality, and lack of access to education trap people in poverty. 6. Inadequate access to credit — the poor cannot borrow from formal sources; moneylenders charge exorbitant interest. 7. Poor health and nutrition — malnourished workers are less productive, perpetuating the poverty cycle. 8. Environmental degradation — deforestation, soil erosion, and water scarcity reduce the livelihoods of rural poor. 9. Inflation — rising prices hit the poor hardest since they spend most of their income on food.

1. MGNREGA (2005) — guarantees 100 days of wage employment per rural household; workers get minimum wages for public works (roads, ponds, land development). 2. National Food Security Act (2013) — provides subsidised food grains (Rs. 3/kg rice, Rs. 2/kg wheat) to 67% of the population. 3. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana — subsidised housing for the urban and rural poor. 4. Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) — self-employment programme for rural poor; provides training and credit for micro-enterprises. 5. Swarnjayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) — urban self-employment and wage employment programme. 6. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana — financial inclusion; bank accounts for all, with overdraft facility and insurance. 7. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana — free LPG connections to poor households to replace unhealthy cooking fuels. 8. Mid-Day Meal Scheme — free lunch for school children to improve nutrition and school attendance.

1. Population growth offsets economic gains — GDP must grow faster than population to reduce poverty. 2. Inequitable distribution — growth benefits have not trickled down; the rich have captured a disproportionate share. 3. Implementation failures — anti-poverty programmes suffer from corruption, leakage, and targeting errors. 4. Insufficient social spending — India's public expenditure on health (about 2% of GDP) and education (about 4%) is well below global norms. 5. Structural issues — land reforms were incomplete; caste and gender discrimination persist. 6. Informal economy — most workers are in the informal sector with no job security or social protection. 7. Agricultural distress — small and marginal farmers face low productivity, debt, and climate risks. 8. Urban migration — rural poor migrate to cities but end up in slums with poor living conditions.

1. Absolute poverty — a person is poor if their income is below a defined minimum needed for survival (e.g., the poverty line). 2. Relative poverty — a person is poor if their income is significantly below the average income in that society, even if they can meet basic needs. 3. Multidimensional poverty — poverty measured not just by income but by deprivation in health, education, and living standards (UNDP's MPI uses 10 indicators). 4. Chronic poverty — long-term, persistent poverty passed across generations. 5. Transient poverty — temporary poverty caused by shocks like illness, crop failure, or job loss. 6. Urban poverty — poverty in cities, characterised by slums, informal work, and lack of basic services. 7. Rural poverty — poverty in villages, linked to landlessness, low agricultural wages, and seasonal unemployment.

1. Poverty and inequality are related but distinct — poverty is about not having enough; inequality is about the gap between rich and poor. 2. High inequality makes poverty harder to reduce — growth benefits go disproportionately to the wealthy. 3. In India, the top 10% of the population holds over 55% of wealth, while the bottom 50% holds less than 6%. 4. Redistributive policies (progressive taxation, social spending) can reduce both inequality and poverty. 5. High inequality can increase poverty by creating political systems that favour the rich — they resist redistributive policies. 6. The Gini coefficient measures inequality; India's has been rising, indicating growing inequality alongside poverty reduction.

1. Scheduled Castes (SCs) — higher poverty rates due to historical discrimination, landlessness, and limited access to education and jobs. 2. Scheduled Tribes (STs) — the poorest social group; live in remote areas with poor infrastructure; dependent on forests and common property resources being degraded. 3. Women — female-headed households are poorer; women have lower literacy, lower wages, less access to property, and bear the burden of unpaid domestic work. 4. Children — poverty leads to malnutrition, child labour, and school dropouts, perpetuating intergenerational poverty. 5. Elderly — without pensions or social security, the aged poor are extremely vulnerable. 6. Minorities — some religious and ethnic minorities face higher poverty due to social exclusion.

1. Accelerate inclusive growth — focus on sectors that employ the poor (agriculture, small industries, construction). 2. Improve agricultural productivity — irrigation, technology, and market access for small farmers. 3. Expand social protection — universal basic services (health, education, housing) funded by progressive taxation. 4. Strengthen MGNREGA — increase days of work, raise wages, ensure timely payments. 5. Financial inclusion — expand access to banking, micro-credit, and insurance for the poor. 6. Invest in human capital — quality education and healthcare break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. 7. Complete land reforms — redistribute ceiling-surplus land and secure tenancy rights. 8. Rural industrialisation — promote agro-processing, cottage industries, and rural MSMEs. 9. Women's empowerment — education, skill training, property rights, and self-help groups. 10. Targeted programmes — use data and technology (Aadhaar, DBT) to reduce leakage and improve targeting.