"It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty"
BIBLE
Given the breathtaking scientific progress mankind has made over the past few centuries, we would think it has banished inconvenient words like hunger, poverty and starvation. After all, if the last century witnessed the two catastrophic wars, it also saw man take the impossible leap into space and on to Moon and beyond. Yet hunger remains the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century.
Every time I try to understand and think independently, I am deeply pained by the abject poverty that prevails among our people apart from other sufferings they undergo. During the national movement for independence we were told that our people are poor because the British exploited them. But now 63 years since we became independent we are ruled by our elected representatives. Still no significant dent has been made in the poverty or other sufferings of the people. According to the World Bank 41% of our people are below the poverty line, that is, they have to go to bed on an empty stomach. Many live by begging or on charity.
We, as common Indians, feel pride that IT experts stride confidently up to the 21 century. The prestigious Forbes magazine list of the world’s top billionaires made room for 10 new Indian names. The four richest Indians in the world are collectively worth a staggering 180 billion dollars, greater than the GDP of a majority of member states of the United Nations.
India is considered to be great, as we possess a number of bombs, ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads, strong army, navy, and air force. We have core industries, big dams and many more. When the rest of the world, including China, is ageing, we have a great demographic advantage of maximum number of young people living under 25 years of age. There are 55 crore young Indians. This means we should have a dynamic youthful and productive work force for the next 20 years. Indians today have more money to splurge and enjoy luxuries of good life that they could have only dreamt of until the last decade. This growing affluence and new prosperity is visible everywhere, in swank cars of international brands on the road and in plush, luxury malls that these days adorn all major cities across India. We can feel proud about all these things. It will increase our confidence level.
While we celebrate the prosperity of the few thousands, it is high time to pay serious attention towards the crores of Indians who are poor, sick and living a sad life. Poverty is a very sorrowful condition of life. It pains much due to lack of money or material possessions. Poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. Absolute poverty is a serious suffering without resources to maintain basic necessities of life. People living under the bridge, with torn clothes, belly touching the back bone usually describes the extremity of the problem. We do not realize how sad it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it.
Although India has made great progress yet it’s not possible to deny the reality that if the rich have become richer in the new, post-liberalization India, the poor have become poorer. Even as the country has given the world more millionaires and billionaires, it has driven many more into the welcoming arms of poverty. When India lifted the ancient, frustrating curbs on the economy in the 1990s, opening its doors for foreign investors and virtually everything else, this is what many pundits had feared. They had feared that an economy free of government controls meant the poor and economically vulnerable would suffer. This is what appears to be happening.
To the shock of everyone, a new measure of global poverty has found that eight states in India account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined. These states not surprisingly include Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the most populous states.
We are still not self-sufficient in food. Why this poverty amidst plenty as Poet Goldsmith described, where wealth accumulates, and men decay? One of the root causes is massive unemployment and underemployment that deprive the people of adequate purchasing power. Therefore, one remedy is to create jobs- gainful employment so as to enable the poor people to purchase at least bare necessities. Government should launch employment schemes like MNREGA, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan for educating people at least to earn their livelihood and launching compulsory and free education for children up to 14 years.
Another reason for poverty is Inflation. Inflation acts as tax for poor people. They are not even able to buy two square meals. Keeping inflation under check by making essential commodities available in adequate quantities and at affordable prices must be a national resolve. Food comes first in the hierarchical needs of a human being. Therefore eradicating hunger arising from deprivation must be a national priority and an all-party endeavor.
Also, there is wastage of food grains in India. We don't have proper storage godowns for stocks. We daily read or hear that millions of tonnes of food grains are being rotten as they were lying in open space. This wastage should be avoided by building bigger godowns.
It was always assumed that the benefits of growth would automatically trickle down to all classes, communities and regions, including the weakest. It should be realized that market forces by themselves do not ensure equitable distribution. Government intervention is required for bringing the benefits to the poorest of the poor.
India is likely to have the world’s largest population by 2040 or even earlier. We also have the world’s largest farm animal population, which needs food, fodder and water.
The challenge of poverty reduction is one that should arouse strong passions among people at large. We must remember that we have a social and political responsibility to address the problem of poverty If there were more better paying jobs, there would be much less poverty. While some argue that economic growth is the only remedy and that the trickledown effect will ultimately take care of the dispossessed, others consider redistributionist policies the only way forward. Without strong economic growth, there is nothing to redistribute. One of government’s prime duties is to create the sort of microeconomic environment that is business friendly and conducive to high investment rates, which in turn lead to high growth and job-creation. There will be large number of people who, for a variety of reasons, are left behind and need assistance to find their feet again. This is where social approach comes in. The whole society must be involved in the eradication of poverty. While we celebrate the new prosperity of the few thousands we cannot ignore the compelling needs of crores of people who remain poor and vulnerable. We must be vigorous in implementing the plan to eradicate the poverty. It is not a slogan. It should be our "sankalp" and determination to wipe out the tears.
While it’s nobody’s case that India should reintroduce economic curbs, the government must exercise some control to protect the most vulnerable. Else, what’s the point of all this economic prosperity of some when the country has nearly half a billion of the poorest of the poor?
rite!!
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