Class- 9th Poverty as Challenge (Economics)

Question-5
Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.
Solution:
Social groups, which are most vulnerable to poverty, are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households. Similarly, among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and urban casual labour households.

Question-6
Describe global poverty trends.
Solution:
The proportion of people in developing countries living in extreme economic poverty— defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1 per day—has fallen from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Although there has been a substantial reduction in global poverty, it is marked with great regional differences. Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian countries as a result of rapid economic growth and massive investments in human resource development. The number of poor people in China has come down from 606 million in 1981 to 212 million in 2001.

In the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has not been as rapid. Despite the decline in the percentage of the poor, the number of poor has declined marginally from 475 million in 1981 to 428 million in 2001. Because of different poverty line definition, poverty in India is also shown higher than the national estimates. In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty in fact rose from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001 (see graph 3.3). In Latin America, the ratio of poverty remained the same.

Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist countries like Russia, where officially it was nonexistent earlier. The proportion of people living under poverty in different countries is defined by the international poverty line (means population below $1 a day).

Question-7
Describe the current government strategy of poverty alleviation.
Solution:
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks

·         promotion of economic growth

·         targeted anti-poverty programs.

Question-8
What do you understand by human poverty?
Solution:
Many scholars advocate that we must broaden the concept of poverty into human poverty. A large number of people may have been able to feed themselves. But they do not have education or shelter or health care or job security or self-confidence.
They are not free from caste and gender discrimination. The practice of child labour is still common.

Question-9
Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India.
Solution:
Removal of poverty is one of the major objectives of the Indian developmental strategy. The current government strategy of poverty alleviation is based on two planks:

1.   Promotion of Economic Growth

2.   Targeted Anti-poverty Programmes

Some of the targeted anti-poverty programmes undertaken by the government are:

1.   Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY). This programme was started in 1993. It aims at creating self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

2.   Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY). This programme was launched in 2000. It aims at creating and improving basic services like primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

3.   Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP). This programme was launched in 1995. It aims at creating self-employment opportunities in rural areas and urban towns.

4.   Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This act was passed in September 2005. The act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household in 200 districts. Later, the scheme would be extended to 600 districts. One-third of the proposed jobs have been reserved for women.

Question-10
Who are the poorest of the poor?
Solution:
(ii) Women, children (especially the girl child) and elder people in a poor family are regarded as the poorest of the poor because they are systematically denied equal access to resources available to the family.

Question-11
What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Solution:
The main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 are:

·          

·         The Act assures 100 days of employment every year to every rural household.

·         One-third of the jobs are reserved for women.

·         It also aimed at sustainable development to address the cause of drought, deforestation and soil erosion.

·         The share of SCs, STs and women are 23 percent, 17 percent and 53 per cent respectively.

·         Under this, the average wage has increased from ₹ 65 in 2006-07 to ₹ 132 in 2013-14.

·         The scheme provided employment to 220 crores person-days of employment to 4.78 crore households.

.Multiple choice opitions.

Question 1. How many people in India live below the poverty line?
(a) 30 crores
(b) 26 crores
(c) 28 crores
(d) 24 crores

Ans. 26 crores

Question 2.Which social group is most vulnerable to poverty in India?
(a) Scheduled castes
(b) Scheduled tribes
(c) Casual labourers
(d) All the above

Ans. All the above

Question3. Nutritional level of food energy is expressed in the form of
(a) calories per day
(b) wheat consumption
(c) rice consumption per day
(d) none of the above

Answer: (a) calories per day

Question 4.Which one from the following is considered as poor?
(a) A rich landlord
(b) A businessman
(c) A landless labourer
(d) A teacher

Answer: (c) A landless labourer

Question 5.Who advocated that India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering ?
(a) Mahatma Gandhi
(b) Indira Gandhi
(c) Jawahar lal Nehru
(d) Subhash Chandra Bose

Answer: (a) Mahatma Gandhi