Introduction
Poverty is a phenomenon of socio-oriented order. It is projected on the economy, social relations, politics, and culture, directly affects such basic characteristics of a person’s life as health and education. Therefore, it is important to understand what constitutes poverty in recent decades and what will happen to it in the near future.
Between “gold” and “hungry” billions there is an old abyss, they have contrasting levels of quality and lifestyle. In the era of globalization, social and economic polarization of humanity at the extremes increases. At the beginning of 21st century the share of the most developed countries account for less than 12% of the population and about 60% of world GDP. The share of the least developed countries in the population of the Earth is 12% of global GDP – 1%.
The scale and pace of population growth, as an independent global problem, act as a factor affecting the state of other global problems, in particular the problem of poverty. Today, the standard of living of 1.5 billion people (20% of the world population) is below the subsistence level, and 1 billion live in conditions of poverty and hunger.
One of the few excuses of cruel 20th century can be regarded as the realization in its second half by the world community as mass poverty is not only humanitarian, but also the socio-economic, political and planetary problem. It was the objective result of drastic changes in the global arena, the formation of the new system of international organizations and the formation of a large diverse group of nations united by the concept of “developing countries”.
In today’s world, poverty and backwardness are especially characterized for developing countries, where there is nearly 2/3 of the world’s population. Therefore, this global problem is often called the problem of overcoming poverty and backwardness in developing countries.
The Poverty in India
India is developing agro-industrial country with a developed industry.
- GDP expanded 1.2% in Q2 of 2014 over the previous quarter.
- The total population was last recorded at 1233.0 million people in 2013.
- The number of employed persons increased to 29650 Thousand Persons in 2012.
- Unemployment Rate decreased to 5.2% in 2012.
- India Literacy Rate Definition: age 15 and over can read and write.
- Literacy Rate Total Population: 74.04% as of 2011.
- The value for School enrollment, preprimary (% gross) was 54.84 as of 2010; primary (% gross) – 116.00 as of 2008; secondary (% gross) – 63.21 as of 2010, and tertiary (% gross) – 17.87 as of 2010.
- The value for Life expectancy at birth, total (years) was 65.48 as of 2011.
- The value for Number of infant deaths was 1,273,000 as of 2011.
- The value for Income share held by second 20% was 12.22 as of 2005.
Poverty in India has always been considered a terrible and even incurable disease of society and the economy. Today, this figure reached a record, shocking level, namely a third of the Indian population ekes out the existence of poverty. To solve the problem, the authorities are willing to make a radical measure like free food aid, threatened to execute.
Since the independence in India, the theme of poverty in the country remains a matter of serious concern. According to the general definition of poverty, when a person can no longer meet the required levels to maintain this level of life, it is considered poor. This means that in India there are nearly 220100000 people living below the poverty line. This represents almost 25% of India’s population and is truly staggering. Sharing of resources and wealth is very unevenly in India. This inconsistency creates different ratios of poverty for different states. For example, areas such as Delhi and Punjab, have very low rates of poverty. On the other hand, almost half of the population in the states of Bihar and Orissa live below the poverty line.
According to World Bank it is estimated that a third of the world’s poor now live in India, and the country has a higher level of malnutrition among children under the age of three years (53% in 2012) than any other country in the world. Poverty and situations, in which people are forced to live, combined with a burning desire to survive led people to what they are doing some incredible things to stay alive.
Children are taken out of school at a very young age (if they even went to school) and sent to work to feed their families. There are many little children collecting huge piles of debris, removing from it the plastic bottles, rags and other waste which is considered as a secondary raw material. This category of people even lives separately from the other classes – in slums. If it is impossible to feed them in the countryside, the villagers migrate to cities in search of work. Not finding perk in the city, and, respectively, the money to pay for housing, arrived on the outskirts of cities form numerous slums. Miles of strange buildings and debris, open hatches sewer – that is home to many of the poor in India.
A large number of the poorest people in India live in semi-arid regions (tropics). In this region, water shortages and periodic drought hinder the transformation of agriculture. Poverty affects the tribal people in forested areas, where the loss of the right to the resources made them even poorer. In coastal areas, living conditions are deteriorating due to environmental degradation, depletion and vulnerability to natural disasters.
The main cause of poverty among the rural population of India is the lack of access to productive assets and financial resources, namely high rates of illiteracy, poor health care, and extremely limited access to social services. Small businesses that could generate income and enable poor people to improve their living conditions have only recently become the focus of attention.
The huge scale of poverty and backwardness are in doubt whether it is possible to speak of a normal development and progress of human society, when most of the inhabitants of the planet are below the decent human existence. The problem is compounded by the fact that the achievements of the global STP sidestep many developing countries, their colossal size of the labor force are rarely used, and these countries do mostly not actively participate in global economic life.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The appearance, level and dynamics of poverty are affected by a number of factors. Of these, it is important to highlight the following: the level of unemployment; level of wages, social transfers; the policy of state regulation on income and living standards; dynamics of change in the consumer price index; military-political situation in the state.
The primary means of reducing mass poverty is to provide employment. As it is known, having a job creates not only economic, but also social and ethical incentives, changing people’s motivation. India’s experience shows the importance of systematic large public investment in agriculture aimed at industrial construction, infrastructure expansion. Such events allow the use of a large labor force, including labor with low qualifications, which is found in abundance in almost all non-West countries.
Decisive importance in addressing the problem of poverty is the development by developing countries of effective national development strategies, based on internal resources. This requires the transformation not only in production (industrialization, agrarian reform), but also in education, health, etc. However, many of these countries cannot change their position without assistance.
Poverty situation is complicated by the unemployment. Overall, there are about 1 billion unemployed, mostly living in developing countries. With unemployment exceeded 5% level the governments of developed countries are beginning to take tough measures to combat it.
Most economists agree that the decisive importance in addressing the problems of poverty and underdevelopment is the development in the developing countries of effective national development strategies that rely on domestic economic resources in an integrated manner. With this approach, as the prerequisites for a modern economy and achievement of sustainable economic growth not only industrialization and post-industrialization , liberalization of economic life and the transformation of agrarian relations are considered, but education reform, health improvements, mitigating inequality, to conduct a rational population policy, promoting solutions to problems employment.
Another great opportunity for overcoming backwardness is to attract foreign private investment – direct and portfolio, as well as bank loans. The influx of these financial resources to developing countries is growing particularly rapidly and is now the basis of external financing of the “third world”. But the effectiveness of these financial flows is often negated by corruption and simple theft, which is widely prevalent in developing countries, and the inefficient use of the funds received.
References
Index Mundi (2014). India. Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/india
Poverties (2011-2013). Effects of Poverty in India: Between Injustice and Exclusion. Retrieved from http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-india.html
Trading Economics (2014). India – Economic Indicators. Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/india/indicators
