Economics 3. Poverty And Hunger

27.7%

Explanation.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is mostly measured in terms of the poverty line. Poverty line represents the elementary, minimum income to acquire all the basic necessities. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) measures poverty according to the different standards and definitions are given by different committees. It was estimated to be 27.7% in 2004-05.

Food Corporation of India (FCI)

Explanation.

The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The FCI has to assure the provision of the basic amount of food at affordable prices to the people. The FCI was established by the government to procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them as buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country.

Yashaswini

Explanation.

The government has taken many steps to completely eradicate poverty. Creation of job opportunities and providing social security benefits is one of the most important steps taken by the government for the eradication of poverty. Health insurance is being provided by the government to the poor people under the scheme of Yashaswini.

Sandhya Suraksha Yojana

Explanation

The government has taken many steps to completely eradicate poverty. Creation of job opportunities and providing social security benefits is one of the most important steps taken by the government for the eradication of poverty, especially among the aged section. Old age pensions are being provided by the government to the aged, poor sections under the scheme Sandhya Suraksha Yojana.

food grains; minimum support price

Explanation.

The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The FCI has to assure the provision of the basic amount of food at affordable prices to the people. The FCI was established by the government to procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them as buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life including food, shelter, clothing, health, education and clean surrounding. It is mostly measured in terms of the poverty line. Poverty line represents the elementary, the minimum income required to acquire all the basic necessities.

The basic requirements of the people include those physical and social factors that enable them to have a much higher standard of living. On the physical side, it includes the requirement of proper, nutritious three-square meals, clothing and shelter. From the social perspective, it includes the requirement of health facilities, clean drinking water, clean surroundings and educational facilities.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life including food, shelter, clothing, health, education and clean surrounding. It is mostly measured in terms of the poverty line. Poverty line represents the elementary, the minimum income required to acquire all the basic necessities. It represents the ability of a person to incur the expenditure to satisfy the basic necessities. Many committees were appointed to analyse and demarcate the poverty line. The Rangarajan Committee has fixed the poverty line expenditure as Rs. 32 in rural areas and Rs. 47 in urban areas.

Hunger is both a cause and consequence of poverty. This creates food insecurity. To measure the prevalence of hunger in the world and in different countries, the International Food Policy Research Institute calculates the Hunger Index for all the countries in the world. It publishes the result in its annual publication Global Hunger Index (GHI). According to the reports, India's score in the world in GHI is 29 and the condition is considered to be in a serious category.

Food security is the mechanism of providing food to all the people in the country at all periods of time at affordable prices. It is providing a proper and nutritious three-square meal for the people at reasonable prices. It includes the following components:

• Providing adequate food items to all the people.

• Enabling the poor to purchase by giving them the required purchasing power.

• Removing all other barriers that restrict their access to acquire food.

The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The FCI was established by the government to procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them as buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country. These grains are then scientifically stored in godowns and distributed among the public through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This purchased and stored food grains are called buffer stock. It will help in reducing the crisis during the shortage of food grains.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life including food, shelter, clothing, health, education and clean surrounding. It is mostly identified and measured in terms of the poverty line. Poverty line represents the elementary, the minimum income required to acquire all the basic necessities.

Poverty line represents the elementary, the minimum income required to acquire all the basic necessities. It represents the ability of a person to incur the expenditure to satisfy the basic necessities. Many committees were appointed to analyse and demarcate the poverty line. The Rangarajan Committee has fixed the poverty line expenditure as Rs. 32 in rural areas and Rs. 47 in urban areas.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life. The basic requirements of the people include those physical and social factors that enable them to have a much higher standard of living. On the physical side, it includes the requirement of proper, nutritious three-square meals, clothing and shelter. From the social perspective, it includes the requirement of health facilities, clean drinking water, clean surroundings and educational facilities.

The absence of any of these physical and social factors can be considered as a situation of poverty.

Hunger is both a cause and consequence of poverty. This creates food insecurity. With the successful implementation of the green revolution, our country has achieved self-sufficiency in the production of food grains, fruits, vegetables and milk. Still, many people are hunger stricken in the country. The basic reasons for the persistence of hunger in the country are:

• Purchasing power: Generally, the purchasing power of the poor will be lesser than that of the richer sections of the people. The rising prices will also reduce the purchasing power of the poor sections. The lack of purchasing power among the poorer sections is the basic reason behind the prevalence of hunger among them.

• Food grain distribution: The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The FCI procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country. These grains are then scientifically stored in godowns and distributed among the public through the Public Distribution System (PDS). But the food grain distribution through PDS has many issues and shortcomings. This is also an important reason for the increasing poverty among the poor.

The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The PDS operates with the view of maintaining food security in the country. The FCI was established by the government to procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them as buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country. These grains are then scientifically stored in godowns and distributed among the public through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This purchased and stored food grains are called buffer stock. It will help in reducing the crisis during the shortage of food grains.

The grains acquired and stored as buffer stock are distributed among the public through the Public Distribution System (PDS). These commodities are distributed among the people at the price less than the market price through fair price shops or ration shops. The commodities that are mainly distributed consists of kerosene, sugar, food grains, oil and other items. The government has opened ration shops in all the villages and towns. Nearly 16 crore families are being benefitted with the scheme.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life including food, shelter, clothing, health, education and clean surrounding. The government has taken many measures to eradicate poverty. Some of the important measures are:

• Economic development measures: The government has taken many measures to eradicate poverty by increasing economic development. The government has initiated many measures to eradicate poverty to fasten the economic development of the country. The government has implemented five-year plans for strengthening the economic development of the country. It aims to achieve not only higher economic growth and achieve equitable distribution of income.

• Self-employment programmes: From the 1960s the government has started implementing many self-employment programmes to eradicate poverty. The government is providing subsidies and loans at low rate of interest. Some of the important self-employment programmes of the government are:

i. The Integrated Rural Development Programme was implemented in 1980.

ii. The Swarnajayanti Grama Swarozgar Yojana was implemented in 1999.

iii. The Swarnajayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana was implemented in 1997.

iv. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana) was implemented in 2011.

• Wage employment programmes: From the 1970s the government has started implementing many wage employment programmes to eradicate poverty. The programme aims to provide jobs on a daily wage basis to the poor, unskilled and the people without any assets. The jobs provided to them will focus on creating community assets like roads, tanks and farm bunds. The most important wage employment initiative of the government was the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme initiated in 2005. The programme aims to provide wage employment to the unemployed for at least 100 days in a year for anyone adult member of the poor households. Minimum wages will be provided to the works through bank accounts or post office deposits. The programme was a huge success in improving the economic status of the people.

The government has taken many steps to completely eradicate poverty. Creation of job opportunities and providing social security benefits is one of the most important steps taken by the government for the eradication of poverty. Some of the important social security measures taken by the government are:

• Sandhya Suraksha Yojana: Under this scheme, the abandoned old aged people get monthly allowances.

• Yashswini: Under this scheme, health insurance is being provided by the government to the poor people.

• Disability pension: It is given every month to the unemployed, disabled people who do not have the potential to achieve a living.

• Widow pensions: It is given to the poor widows every month.

According to the 2011 census, the percentage of population living in slums has increased from 14.02 to 32.91 lakh. In this Bengaluru has 21.5% of the total slum population. It is followed by Bellary and Dharwad with 6.1% and 6% of the total slum population respectively. Out of the 220 towns, 206 is reported to have slums.

The slum dwellers in most cases will be living in utmost poverty. The following facilities are available to them nearby:

• Street lights at the end of each street

• A public health centre

• A government school

• Ration shop

• Cramped houses

The following steps can be adopted to improve their living conditions:

• Better city planning thereby properly constructing the city space to avoid the growth of slums.

• Better housing facilities.

• Better toilet facilities.

• Clean drinking water.

• Proper waste disposal facilities.

• More nutritious food.

• Development of parks and gardens and cleaning the slums.

Poverty is the economic situation in which a person is not able to completely fulfil the minimum requirements needed to lead their life. It is the condition in which people are deprived of their basic and fundamental necessities of life. The basic requirements of the people include those physical and social factors that enable them to have a much higher standard of living. On the physical side, it includes the requirement of proper, nutritious three-square meals, clothing and shelter. From the social perspective, it includes the requirement of health facilities, clean drinking water, clean surroundings and educational facilities.

The Gram Panchayat identifies poor and vulnerable people on the basis of the following physical and social grounds. Also, the income earned by the person in a day is also considered. It is mostly measured in terms of the poverty line. Poverty line represents the elementary, the minimum income required to acquire all the basic necessities. It represents the ability of a person to incur the expenditure to satisfy the basic necessities. Many committees were appointed to analyse and demarcate the poverty line. The Rangarajan Committee has fixed the poverty line expenditure as Rs. 32. With a combination of all these factors, people are divided as rich and poor.

Food insecurity is both a cause and consequence of poverty. With the successful implementation of the green revolution, our country has achieved self-sufficiency in the production of food grains, fruits, vegetables and milk. Still, many people are hunger stricken in the country. Thus the poor sections must be given targeted benefits to eradicate poverty. Some such measures are:

• Purchasing power: Generally, the purchasing power of the poor will be lesser than that of the richer sections of the people. The rising prices will also reduce the purchasing power of the poor sections. The lack of purchasing power among the poorer sections is the basic reason behind the prevalence of hunger among them. Thus the constant inflating prices of the commodities, especially the necessities must be kept under control. This will positively influence the purchasing power of the poor sections.

• Food grain distribution: The Indian government has established the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to purchase and sell food grains and to ensure the maintenance of food security. The FCI procure food from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price and storing them as buffer stocks to ensure food security in the country. These grains are then scientifically stored in godowns and distributed among the public through the Public Distribution System (PDS). But the food grain distribution through PDS has many issues and shortcomings. All these shortcomings of PDS should be reduced to ensure more targeted food distribution.

• Storage: Mostly, the food grains procured by the FCI and stored as buffer stocks are destroyed and damaged by many factors including improper storage facilities and animal attacks. This results in the wastage of the majority of the food grains. More scientific storage facilities should be introduced to reduce this risk.

• Black market: In many instances, the food grains are sold in the black market through dysfunctional ration shops. This creates an artificial deficiency of demand thereby pushing the price up. All these possibilities of the black market and other problems have to be rectified.

(a)

• Kerosene

• Rice

• Wheat

• Wheat flour

• Sugar

b)

c) They distribute the items in the ration shops to all the cardholders in the locality according to the stocks available to them. But more benefits will be given to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders. They will be given most of the items free of cost or at negligible prices. The Above Poverty Line (APL) holders will also be given the items at lower prices as compared to grocery shops.