Introduction: Poverty refers to a situation when people are deprived of basic necessities of life. It is often characterized by inadequacy of food, shelter and clothes.India is one of the poorest countries in the world. Many Indian people do not get two meals a day. They do not have good houses to live in. Their children do not get proper schooling.Poor people are the depressed and deprived class. They do not get proper nutrition and diet. Their conditions have not sufficiently improved even long after over 65 years of our Independence.
Poverty in urban India: Just like most of the growing and developing countries, there has been continuous increase in Urban population.
• Poor people migrate from rural areas to cities and towns in search of employment/financial activity.
• The income of more than 8 crore urban people is estimated to fall below poverty line (BPL).
• In addition to this, there are around 4.5 crore urban people whose income level is on borderline of poverty level.
• A income of urban poors is highly unstable. A large number of them are either casual workers or self-employed.
• Banks and Financial institutions are reluctant to provide them loan because of the unstable income.
Poverty in rural India: It is said that rural India is the heart of India. In reality, the life of people living in rural areas is marked with severe poverty. Inspite of all the efforts, the condition of poor villagers is far from satisfactory. The report on Socio-economic and Caste Census (2011) reveal the following facts:
• Deprived: Around 48.5 percent of rural households are deprived according to the census.
• Assets: Only 11.04 percent of families own a refrigerator while there is a vehicle (including two-wheeler, boat, etc. )in around 29.69 percent of the rural houses.
• Income Tax: Only 4.58 percent of rural households pay income tax.
• Land ownership: Around 56 percent of village households doesn’t own a land.
• Size of rural houses: The houses of around 54 percent rural families consists of either one or two-rooms. Out of them, around 13 percent lives in a one-room house.
Solutions
We have to solve this problem of India’s poverty.
• Farmers must get all facilities for irrigation.
• They should be trained and educated.
• Agriculture must be made profitable.
• The ever-rising population should be checked.
• Family planning schemes should be introduced.
• More and more industries should be set up to meet the needs of our country.
Conclusion
Poverty is a national problem and it must be solved on a war footing. The government is taking a number of steps to mitigate poverty. Eradication of poverty would ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth of economy and society. We all should do everything possible and within our limits to help alleviate poverty from our country.
