It is a great pleasure to spend the next 5 minutes with the biggest leader of this world.
Poverty is the scarcity of basic amenities like food, water, shelter, health care, sanitation and education. It is a problem which stands invisible and cannot be predicted.
Poverty is measured as either absolute or relative. Absolute poverty is nothing but extreme poverty. Whereas, Relative poverty is the condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income required in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they already live.
- I would like to ask Mr Obama about his views on poverty and the plans and programmes provided by the government to eradicate it.
The World Bank aimed at eradicating half of the poverty rates by 2015. The actual output is not that impressive.
Everyone is curious to know that how long we will keep hearing that in next five years we will be poverty free? In my opinion the government should make yearly plans to move step-wise towards achieving its motive and instead of side-lining funds for programmes we should appoint more people to be a part of it. Out of many problems associated with poverty the biggest one is lack of education.
- In President Mr Barak Obama’s words -“The best anti-poverty program is a world-class education”. Sir, do you believe it is the best way to curb poverty?
As we are all aware of the importance of education in our lives is not only to get a job but to become a well-managed and smart individual. People living under the cruel roof of poverty lack education. This is not only because of unavailability of income but also due to the fact that their families believe that begging is a much better option. The education requirements are equal for both male and female children. Due to unavailability of jobs for these people and the male-dominance in the working sector they fear entering into that world. Some of these people think that women should remain at home. Education and counselling programmes can play a vital role in changing the mind-set of these people. Can’t the government introduce better education facilities to at least provide the elementary level education to everyone so that they can apply for related jobs? Can’t there be availability of such jobs which are specifically designed for them? Special programmes to educate and simultaneously make them job-ready can bring a change. Agencies monitored by government for providing jobs, where they can get registered can be established in my view.
- In 2012-2013, it was estimated by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that among 7.1 billion people in the world nearly 870 million people, were suffering from chronic undernourishment. (“2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics”)
Such data not only sounds scary but is a sad fact as well. Where we will waste food people die of hunger and malnourishment. Although there are various programmes introduced by the government like for example providing food stamps, the poor remain to be hungry and also die with hunger. The question is where is the food going? During the distribution of food there are many people involved. These intermediaries stock the good quality food and other items to sell in the local market and what is left is the bad quality and non-edible food. Even after spending crores on these programmes, the poor is still suffering. Proper management of improvising the quality of these items and also monitoring that it reaches the needy is what we all hope from the government.
Living each day in fear that will tomorrow come? Will tomorrow be better? This is not wanted by anyone. Serious efforts should be made to eradicate poverty. A world free of poverty will have educated people with shelter, food, healthy environment, jobs and this will all lead into the overall development of the world.
References
Econ.worldbank.org,. 'Poverty Research'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Finance and Development | F&D,. 'Finance And Development'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Health Poverty Action,. 'Health Poverty Action'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Worldbank.org,. 'Poverty Home'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Worldhunger.org,. 'World Hunger Notes Homepage'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
