In-Chapter Questions and Activities
Questions from Page 30
Question: Study the cases of Ram Saran (urban case) and Lakha Singh (rural case) and discuss the following issues related to poverty: Landlessness, Unemployment, Size of families, Illiteracy, Poor health/malnutrition, Child labour, Helplessness.
Answer: By looking at the stories of Ram Saran and Lakha Singh, we can understand the different problems caused by poverty:
- Landlessness: Neither Ram Saran’s family nor Lakha Singh’s family owns any land. This is a huge problem because they cannot grow their own food or build a permanent house. They are forced to work for others on their land.
- Unemployment: Both men face unemployment. Ram Saran works as a daily labourer and does not get work every day. Lakha Singh also does odd jobs for big farmers, and his work is not regular. When they don’t find work, their families don’t get any money.
- Size of families: Both families are large. Ram Saran has to support a family of six, plus his old parents. Lakha Singh’s family has eight members. Having a large family with a very small and uncertain income makes it very difficult to feed everyone properly.
- Illiteracy: The children in Ram Saran’s family do not go to school. Lakha Singh also never went to school because he had to start earning money from a young age. Not being able to read or write makes it very hard to get a good job later in life, trapping them in poverty.
- Poor health/malnutrition: Poverty leads to very poor health. Ram Saran’s younger children are undernourished (not getting enough food to be healthy) and have no access to doctors when they get sick. Lakha’s father died from TB because they couldn’t afford medicine, and now his mother is also very sick with the same disease.
- Child labour: To help the family survive, children are forced to work. Ram Saran’s oldest son works at a tea shop instead of going to school. Lakha Singh also had to start working when he was just 10 years old. This robs them of their childhood and education.
- Helplessness: Above all, poverty brings a feeling of complete helplessness. These families cannot afford basic things like new clothes, shoes, or even soap and oil. They live in weak, temporary huts and struggle every single day, which makes them feel powerless to change their situation.
Questions from Page 32
Question 1: Why do different countries use different poverty lines?
Answer: Different countries use different poverty lines because the meaning of “basic needs” changes from place to place. The poverty line for a country is based on its level of development and what its society considers a minimum standard of living. For instance, in a rich and developed country like the United States, a person might be considered poor if they don’t own a car. However, in India, owning a car is still considered a luxury, not a basic need. So, each country sets its own poverty line that is appropriate for its own economic situation.
Question 2: What do you think would be the “minimum necessary level” in your locality?
Answer: The “minimum necessary level” would be very different depending on where I live.
- In a big city: The minimum level would have to include enough money for high rent, daily bus or train fare to get to work, bills for electricity and clean water, food, clothing, and money for school fees and doctor visits. Life in a city is expensive, so the minimum amount of money needed would be quite high.
- In a village: The minimum level might not need to include rent if the family has its own small hut. Travel costs might also be lower. However, they would still need money for food, clothes, healthcare, education for children, and to buy things for farming like seeds and fertilizers.
Questions from Page 33
Question 1: Even if the poverty ratio declined between 1993-94 and 2004-05, why did the number of poor remain at about 407 million?
Answer: This happened because of population growth. During that time, the percentage of poor people in India went down, which is good news. However, the total number of people in India was increasing rapidly. So, even though the slice of the “poverty pie” was getting smaller, the whole pie was getting bigger. The increase in the total population was so much that it kept the actual number of poor people almost the same (it went from 404 million to 407 million).
Question 2: Are the dynamics of poverty reduction the same in rural and urban India?
Answer: No, the way poverty has been reducing is not the same in rural (village) and urban (city) areas. If we look at the table in the chapter, we can see that the percentage of poor people has dropped in both areas. However, the drop has been much bigger in rural areas. The number of poor people in villages has come down a lot, while the number of poor people in cities first increased slightly and then came down. This shows that the process of fighting poverty is different in villages and cities.
Questions from Page 35
Question: Observe some of the poor families around you and try to find the following: Which social and economic group do they belong to? Who are the earning members in the family? What is the condition of the old people in the family? Are all the children (boys and girls) attending schools?
Answer: This activity helps us see the real face of poverty around us. If we were to observe poor families, we might find:
- Social and Economic Group: We might notice that many poor families belong to socially backward groups like Scheduled Castes (SC) or Scheduled Tribes (ST). Economically, they are often daily wage workers who do not have a steady job, like construction workers, rickshaw pullers, or farm labourers.
- Earning Members: In poor families, often many members have to work to earn enough for survival. This can include the husband, the wife, and sometimes even young children, who should be in school.
- Condition of Old People: The elderly in poor families are often in a very bad condition. They may be sick and not get proper medical care because the family cannot afford it. They are usually completely dependent on the earning members for food and care.
- Children Attending School: We might see that many children from poor families do not attend school. Even if they do, they might drop out early to start working. Sometimes, there is discrimination where boys are sent to school, but girls are kept at home to do household chores or look after their younger siblings.
Questions from Pages 36 & 37
Question 1: Identify the three states where the poverty ratio is the highest.
Answer: Based on the bar graph in the chapter (Graph 3.2), the three states with the highest poverty ratios are:
- Bihar (33.7%)
- Odisha (32.6%)
- Assam (31.9%)
Question 2: Identify the three states where poverty ratio is the lowest.
Answer: Based on the same graph, the three states with the lowest poverty ratios are:
- Kerala (7.1%)
- Himachal Pradesh (8.1%)
- Punjab (8.3%)
Question 3: Identify the areas of the world, where poverty ratios have declined.
Answer: Poverty has declined in many parts of the world. The decline has been fastest and most impressive in China and other Southeast Asian countries. Poverty has also reduced quickly in South Asia (which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.). There has also been a decline, though a slower one, in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Question 4: Identify the area of the globe which has the largest concentration of the poor.
Answer: Today, Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest concentration of poor people in the world. Even though poverty is falling there, it is falling much more slowly than in other regions. Because of this, a larger share of the world’s poor now lives in this region. The chapter even forecasts that by 2030, nearly 9 out of every 10 extremely poor people will live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
End-of-Chapter Exercises
1. Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India.
Answer: In India, the poverty line is estimated mainly by looking at how much money a person needs to fulfill their basic needs. The traditional method focused on two things:
- Food Requirement: First, they calculate the minimum calories a person needs to survive. This is set at 2400 calories per day for people in rural areas (because they do more physical work) and 2100 calories for people in urban areas. Then, they figure out how much money is needed to buy food like cereals, pulses, and vegetables to get these many calories.
- Non-Food Requirement: They also add the money needed for other essentials like clothing, footwear, fuel, electricity, education, and medical care. The total of these costs gives the poverty line in rupees. For example, in 2011-12, this was ₹816 per person per month in rural areas and ₹1000 in urban areas.
2. Do you think that the present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?
Answer: Many experts believe that the present method of just using money to estimate poverty is not fully appropriate. It only looks at a “minimum” survival level and not a “reasonable” or dignified level of living. It does not consider other important factors like access to education, good health, clean water, job security, or whether people are treated with respect. This is why a broader concept called “human poverty” is now being used, which looks at all these other factors to give a better picture of poverty.
3. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973.
Answer: There has been a very positive trend of poverty reduction in India. Although the number of poor people remained high for a long time, the percentage of poor has been steadily falling.
- The chapter shows that the poverty ratio was about 45% in 1993-94.
- It came down to 37.2% in 2004-05.
- It further fell to about 22% in 2011-12.
- This means that both the percentage of poor people and the total number of poor people have come down significantly over the last few decades.
4. Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India.
Answer: There are several major reasons for widespread poverty in India:
- British Colonial Rule: The British government’s policies destroyed India’s traditional industries and did not encourage economic development, leaving the country very poor at independence.
- Slow Economic and High Population Growth: For many years after independence, the economy grew very slowly while the population grew very fast. This meant there were not enough jobs or resources for everyone.
- Inequality: There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. A major reason for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources.
- Lack of Jobs: Industries did not create enough jobs to hire all the job seekers. Many people ended up doing low-paying, irregular jobs in cities.
- Social Factors: People, including the poor, often spend a lot of money on social ceremonies like weddings, which can push them into debt.
- Indebtedness: Poor farmers often have to take loans for farming. If they cannot repay the loan, they get caught in a cycle of debt, which is a big cause of poverty.
5. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.
Answer: Some groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others.
- Social Groups: The most vulnerable social groups are Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) households. For example, 43 out of every 100 people belonging to Scheduled Tribes are poor.
- Economic Groups: The most vulnerable economic groups are rural agricultural labour households (farm workers who don’t own land) and urban casual labour households (city workers with no regular job).
6. Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.
Answer: Poverty is not the same in every state in India. Some states are much poorer than others.
- High Poverty States: States like Bihar and Odisha have been the poorest for a long time. Other states with poverty levels higher than the national average include Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh.
- Low Poverty States: On the other hand, there has been a big decline in poverty in states like Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. These states have succeeded because of different reasons, such as investing in education (Kerala), high agricultural growth (Punjab), or providing subsidised food (Tamil Nadu).
7. Describe global poverty trends.
Answer: The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide has fallen a lot. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day. The percentage of people living like this fell from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. However, this progress is very uneven:
- China and Southeast Asia saw a very rapid reduction in poverty due to fast economic growth.
- South Asia has also seen a quick decline.
- Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a decline, but it has been very slow, and this region now has the largest number of poor people.
- In some former socialist countries like Russia, poverty has actually reappeared.
8. Describe the current government strategy of poverty alleviation.
Answer: The government’s current strategy to reduce poverty has two main parts:
- Promotion of Economic Growth: The government believes that as the economy grows faster, it will create more jobs and opportunities, which will help reduce poverty. A growing economy also gives the government more resources to spend on education and health.
- Targeted Anti-Poverty Programmes: Since the benefits of economic growth don’t always reach the poorest people, the government also runs specific schemes that directly help the poor. A famous example is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which guarantees 100 days of work to rural households.
9. Answer the following questions briefly:
(i) What do you understand by human poverty?
Answer: Human poverty is a much broader idea than just not having money. It means being deprived of the essential things that allow a person to live a decent life. A person is considered to be in “human poverty” if they lack access to education, healthcare, job security, and safe shelter, even if they have enough food to eat. It also includes not having self-confidence and being a victim of caste or gender discrimination.
(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor?
Answer: The “poorest of the poor” are those who suffer the most. This includes people within a family who are often denied equal resources, like women, elderly people, and female infants. It also refers to people who face a “double disadvantage,” like a landless casual worker who also belongs to a socially disadvantaged group like a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Answer: The main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 are:
- It aims to provide livelihood security in rural areas.
- It guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- One-third of the jobs created under this scheme are reserved for women.
- It also helps in development work like preventing drought and soil erosion.