Chap 3 : Poverty as a Challenge

Step 1: What is Poverty and Who is Poor? (An Introduction with Stories)

This first part of the chapter introduces the main topic—poverty—and helps us understand what it looks like in real life through two stories. It also explains how experts, or “social scientists,” think about poverty in a way that goes beyond just not having money.

Chapter Overview

The text begins by giving a roadmap of what we will learn. It says the chapter will:

Explain what poverty is using examples from both city and village life.
Discuss how social scientists study and measure poverty.
Look at poverty trends in India and around the world using something called the “poverty line”.
Explore the causes of poverty and the steps the government has taken to fight it.
Finish by discussing a broader idea of poverty called “human poverty”.

Introduction to Poverty in India

We see poor people in our daily lives, like farm workers without their own land in villages or people living in crowded slums (jhuggis) in cities.

The text mentions that India has made progress in reducing poverty. It uses a measure called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which looks at many factors, not just money. According to this index, the percentage of poor people in India has dropped significantly:

In 2005-06, about 55% of people were considered poor.
By 2015-16, this number fell to 25%.
By 2019-21, it was down to 15%.

The chapter is optimistic that soon, the percentage of poor people will be in the single digits (less than 10%).

Two Stories of Poverty

To help us feel what poverty is like, the chapter shares two detailed stories.

The Urban Case: Ram Saran’s Story (Poverty in the City)

Who is he? Ram Saran is a 33-year-old man who works as a daily wage laborer at a flour mill near Ranchi, a city in Jharkhand. This means he only gets paid on the days he finds work.
His Income: He earns around ₹3,500 per month, but his employment isn’t regular.
His Family: This small income has to support a family of six: himself, his wife, and four children aged between 6 months and 12 years. He also has to send money to his elderly parents who live in a village. His father is also a landless laborer, and his brother depends on him too, which means Ram Saran is supporting a total of nine people.
His Living Conditions: He lives in a one-room rented shack in a crowded slum (basti) on the edge of the city. The house is temporary, made of basic materials like bricks and clay tiles.
Family’s Struggle: His wife, Santa Devi, works as a part-time maid and earns another ₹1,500. Their combined income is still not enough. They can only afford a simple meal of lentils (dal) and rice twice a day, and often there isn’t enough for everyone. His oldest son has to work at a tea shop to help the family, earning ₹700. His 10-year-old daughter goes to school and also has to take care of her younger siblings. The children get their meals at school, which is a big relief.
Other Hardships: They have very few clothes, usually hand-me-downs, and only buy new ones when the old ones are completely unwearable. Shoes are considered a luxury they cannot afford. The picture on page 1 shows his wife thinking about how, after paying rent, there is no money left for his parents in the village. Another woman tells her that her husband has gone to work without food because she was late.

The Rural Case: Lakha Singh’s Story (Poverty in the Village)

Who is he? Lakha Singh lives in a small village near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
His Work: His family doesn’t own any land, so they are landless laborers. They do odd jobs for big farmers. The work is not steady, so their income is also unpredictable. Sometimes they get paid ₹200 for a full day of hard work, but often they are paid in kind—with a few kilograms of wheat, lentils, or vegetables instead of money.
His Family and Living Conditions: His family of six struggles to get two full meals a day. They live in a weak, temporary hut (kuchha hut) on the outskirts of the village. The women in his family spend their days cutting fodder for animals and collecting firewood.
Health and Helplessness: His father died from tuberculosis two years ago because they couldn’t afford medicine. Now, his mother has the same disease and is slowly getting weaker. Although there is a primary school in the village, Lakha never went, but he is happy his children are able to attend.
Other Hardships: The family gets new clothes only once in several years. Even basic items like soap and oil are a luxury for them. The picture on page 2 shows Lakha working in the fields, wondering if he will ever be able to afford new clothes for his family.

What Do These Stories Teach Us about Poverty?

These two stories show that poverty is not just about a lack of money. It’s a complex problem with many dimensions:

Hunger and Lack of Shelter: Poor people struggle to get enough food and live in unsafe, temporary housing.
Poor Health: They cannot afford proper medical treatment when they get sick, and children don’t get nutritious food.
Lack of Basic Facilities: They often lack access to clean drinking water and sanitation (toilets).
Lack of Regular Jobs: They don’t have stable jobs with a decent, guaranteed wage.
Helplessness and Ill-treatment: Above all, poverty means living with a feeling of helplessness. Poor people are often treated badly in many places, like farms, factories, government offices, and hospitals.

The chapter quotes Mahatma Gandhi, who said that India will only be truly independent when its poorest people are free from human suffering.

How Social Scientists See Poverty

Because poverty is so complex, social scientists look at it through various “indicators” or signs.

Traditional Indicators: Traditionally, poverty was measured by looking at a person’s income (how much they earn) and consumption (how much they spend on necessities like food and clothing).
Broader Indicators (MPI): Now, they use more indicators, like the National Multidimensional Poverty Index, which considers three main areas:

Health: Nutrition levels, child mortality, and maternal health.
Education: Years of schooling and whether children are attending school.
Standard of Living: Access to cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, housing, electricity, assets (like a radio or bicycle), and a bank account.

Two other important concepts social scientists use to understand poverty are Social Exclusion and Vulnerability.

Social Exclusion: This is the idea that poverty isn’t just about having less money, but about being shut out from the rest of society. Poor people often have to live in poor surroundings, only with other poor people, and are excluded from the social equality and opportunities that better-off people enjoy. A classic example in India is the caste system, where people from certain castes were historically excluded from equal opportunities. This exclusion can be both a cause of poverty and a result of it, and it can be more damaging than just having a low income.
Vulnerability: This concept describes how likely certain groups of people are to become or remain poor. For example, communities like backward castes, or individuals like a widow or a person with disabilities, are more vulnerable. Their vulnerability is determined by the options they have—in terms of assets, education, health, and job opportunities—to cope with bad times. They are at a greater risk during natural disasters (like earthquakes or floods) or when jobs become scarce. Vulnerability means these groups are more likely to be hurt badly when things go wrong for everyone.

This completes the first step. We have looked at what poverty is, seen real-life examples, and understood how social scientists study it using various indicators beyond just money.

Step 2: The Poverty Line – How Do We Measure Poverty?

Now that we have a feel for what poverty is, we need a way to measure it. Think of it like a doctor needing a thermometer to measure a fever. For poverty, economists and governments use a concept called the “poverty line.”

What is the Poverty Line?

At its core, the poverty line is an imaginary line that separates the “poor” from the “non-poor.” It represents a minimum level of income or spending (consumption) that is considered necessary to meet a person’s basic needs.

How it works: If a person’s income or what they spend falls below this line, they are officially counted as poor.
A flexible concept: The poverty line isn’t the same everywhere or for all time. What is considered a “basic need” in a rich country is very different from a poor country. For example, the text points out that in the United States, not owning a car might be considered a sign of poverty, whereas in India, a car is still seen as a luxury for many. Each country sets its own poverty line based on its level of development and what its society considers a minimum acceptable standard of living.

How Was the Poverty Line Traditionally Calculated in India?

For many years, India’s poverty line was primarily based on the money needed to buy a certain amount of food, along with a few other essentials. Here’s how it was done:

The Calorie Requirement: The starting point was the minimum energy a person needs to survive and function. This is measured in calories. The government set an accepted average requirement:
- Rural Areas: 2400 calories per person per day.
- Urban Areas: 2100 calories per person per day.
- Why the difference? The text explains that people in rural areas are generally involved in more physical labor (like farming), so they need more energy (calories) than people in urban areas who might have less physically demanding jobs.
Putting a Price on Calories: The next step was to figure out how much money it would cost to buy food items (like cereals, pulses, vegetables, milk, oil, etc.) that would provide these required calories.
Adding Other Basic Needs: It was recognized that people need more than just food. So, a minimum amount of money for other necessities like clothing, footwear, fuel and electricity, education, and medical care was also factored in.
The Final Number: The total monetary value—the cost of the food plus the cost of other essentials—became the poverty line. This amount was updated from time to time to adjust for inflation (the increase in prices of goods).

A New, Broader Approach: The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

The old calorie-based method was simple, but many felt it was too narrow. It defined poverty only in terms of money. So, the Government of India has also started using a more comprehensive method called the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

This index doesn’t just ask, “How much money do you have?” Instead, it looks directly at different aspects of a person’s life and asks, “Are you deprived in key areas?” It measures deprivations across 12 important indicators related to health, education, and standard of living. This gives a much richer and more accurate picture of poverty because it captures the various ways poverty affects people’s lives directly.

Let’s Discuss: Thinking Deeper about Measuring Poverty

The book asks two thought-provoking questions:

What could be the difference between the consumption-based Poverty Line and the National Multidimensional Poverty Index?
- The consumption-based poverty line is a one-dimensional It reduces the complex problem of poverty to a single number: money. You are either above or below the line. It’s an indirect way of measuring well-being, assuming that if you have enough money, you can buy what you need.
- The National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is, as the name suggests, multi-dimensional. It is a direct measure of poverty. It looks at multiple areas of life and acknowledges that a person can have enough money to be above the poverty line but still be “poor” if, for example, their children aren’t in school, they lack access to clean water, or a family member is malnourished. It gives a more holistic view of human suffering.
What do you think would be the “minimum necessary level” in your locality?
- This is a great question to think about personally. The answer depends heavily on where you live. For someone in a small village, the minimum might include basic food, a simple house, and access to a local school and clinic. For someone living in a big city like Mumbai or Delhi, the “minimum necessary level” would be much higher. It would have to include high rent for a safe place to live, daily transportation costs to get to work, money for electricity and clean water bills, and often higher costs for education and healthcare. The cost of living makes a huge difference.

Poverty Estimates in India: A Look at the Data

The chapter presents a table (Table 3.1) showing how poverty levels in India have changed over the years. The key term used here is the Head Count Ratio (HCR), which is simply the percentage of the population living below the poverty line.

Here are the key takeaways from the data:

A Steady Decline: Both the percentage and the absolute number of poor people in India have been falling.
- Using the old consumption-based method, the poverty ratio fell from 45% in 1993-94 to 22% in 2011-12.
- The number of poor people decreased from about 404 million to 270 million in the same period.
Success with Multidimensional Poverty: The trend is even more impressive when looking at the MPI.
- The proportion of multidimensionally poor people fell from 25% in 2015-16 to just 15% in 2019-21.
- This means a massive 135 million people (13.5 crore) escaped this form of poverty in just five years.
Rural vs. Urban: The progress has been faster in rural areas than in urban areas, which is a very positive sign.

This completes our second step. We have learned what the poverty line is, how it has been calculated, and the modern, more comprehensive approach of the MPI. We have also seen the data that shows India is making significant progress in reducing poverty.

Step 3: A Deeper Look at Poverty – Indicators, States, and Vulnerable Groups

This step breaks down the specifics. We’ll look at the 12 signs of poverty used in the modern index, see which Indian states are the poorest, and identify which groups of people are most at risk.

The 12 Indicators of Multidimensional Poverty

The text explains that the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMPI), developed by NITI Aayog (a government think tank), uses 12 specific indicators to determine if a person is “multidimensionally poor”. A household is considered deprived if it faces issues in any of these areas. Let’s break them down:

Health Indicators:

Nutrition: The household is deprived if any child (under 5), woman (15-49 years), or man (15-54 years) is undernourished.
Child-Adolescent Mortality: Deprivation is counted if any child or adolescent under 18 has died in the household in the last five years.
Maternal Health: A household is deprived if a woman who gave birth in the last five years did not get help from trained medical staff during childbirth.

Education Indicators:

Years of Schooling: The household is deprived if no member aged 10 or older has completed at least six years of schooling.
School Attendance: Deprivation exists if any school-aged child is not attending school up to the age they would complete their class.

Standard of Living Indicators:

Cooking Fuel: A household is deprived if it uses dirty fuels like dung, wood, charcoal, or coal for cooking.
Sanitation: Deprivation is counted if the household has no toilet, an unimproved toilet, or has to share its toilet with other households.
Drinking Water: The household is deprived if it lacks access to safe drinking water or if the water source is more than a 30-minute round trip walk away.
Housing: Deprivation is noted if the house is inadequate, meaning it has a floor made of natural materials (like dirt) or a roof/walls made of rudimentary materials (like thatch or plastic sheets).
Electricity: A household is considered deprived if it has no electricity connection.
Assets: Deprivation exists if the household does not own more than one of these items: radio, TV, telephone, computer, animal cart, bicycle, motorbike, or refrigerator, AND does not own a car or truck.
Bank Account: The household is deprived if no family member has a bank or post office account.

Let’s Discuss: Analyzing the Data

The chapter asks us to think about the data presented in Table 3.1 and Graph 3.1.

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 is a classic statistics puzzle. The percentage (poverty ratio) of poor people went down, from 45% to 37%. However, during this same period, India’s total population was growing rapidly. So, even though a smaller slice of the pie was “poor,” the whole pie got bigger. The increase in the total population was large enough to keep the absolute number of poor people roughly the same (from 404 million to 407 million).
Question 2: Are the dynamics of poverty reduction the same in rural and urban India?
- Answer: No, they are not. According to the text, deprivation has declined “more sharply in rural areas than in urban areas”. This means that while both areas are improving, the progress in fighting poverty has been faster in the villages.

Poverty Across Indian States (Inter-State Disparities)

Poverty is not spread evenly across India. Some states have much higher rates of poverty than others. Graph 3.1 on page 6 shows the Head Count Ratio (HCR) for selected states in 2019-21.

Let’s Analyze Graph 3.1:
- Identify the three states where the HCR is the highest.

Bihar: 34%
Uttar Pradesh: 23%
Madhya Pradesh: 21%

- Identify the three states where the HCR is the lowest.

Kerala: 1%
Tamil Nadu: 2%
Delhi: 3%

- List states with HCR lower or higher than the All India average.

- - The All India HCR is 15%.
  - States with higher HCR: Bihar (34%), Uttar Pradesh (23%), Madhya Pradesh (21%), Assam (19%), and Odisha (16%).
  - States with lower HCR: Rajasthan (15% – same), Tripura (13%), West Bengal (12%), Maharashtra (12%), Gujarat (12%), Karnataka (8%), Haryana (7%), Andhra Pradesh (6%), Punjab (5%), Himachal Pradesh (5%), Tamil Nadu (2%), and Kerala (1%).

Why the Differences? The text explains that states have used different strategies to reduce poverty.
- Kerala focused heavily on human resource development (investing in education and health).
- West Bengal used land reform measures to help the poor.
- Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu relied on their public distribution system (PDS) to provide subsidized food grains to the poor.

Vulnerable Groups: Who Suffers the Most?

Even within a state, poverty affects different social and economic groups differently. Graph 3.2 on page 7 shows that some groups are far more vulnerable than others.

The all-India average poverty ratio was 22 (this data is from 2011-12, so it’s older than the state data).
Social Groups Most Vulnerable:
- Scheduled Tribes (ST): This is the most vulnerable group. 43 out of every 100 people in this group are poor.
- Scheduled Castes (SC): 29 out of every 100 people are poor.
Economic Groups Most Vulnerable:
- Casual Labour Farm (Rural): 34 out of every 100 rural casual farm workers are poor.
- Casual Labour (Urban): 34 out of every 100 urban casual laborers are poor.

The text points out the “double disadvantage”. If a person is a landless casual laborer and belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, they face the most severe risk of poverty.

Inequality within the Family

Finally, the chapter notes that poverty doesn’t affect everyone in a poor family equally. Often, women, elderly people, and female infants suffer the most. They are sometimes denied the same access to the limited resources the family has.

This completes the third step. We have looked closely at the 12 indicators of poverty, compared poverty levels across Indian states, and identified the social and economic groups that are most at risk.

Step 4: The Global Poverty Scenario

Poverty isn’t just a problem in India; it’s a major global challenge. This section of the chapter zooms out to look at poverty trends across different countries and regions.

Measuring Poverty Globally: The World Bank’s Yardstick

To compare poverty between different countries, international organizations like the World Bank need a single, uniform standard. You can’t just compare India’s poverty line (in rupees) to America’s (in dollars) because the cost of living and what is considered “basic” are completely different.

The Global Poverty Line: The World Bank defines extreme economic poverty as living on less than $2.15 per person per day. This figure is based on the poverty lines in the world’s poorest countries and is adjusted for purchasing power to account for different price levels between countries.
Why the US Dollar? The text explains that the US dollar is used as a common currency by international agencies to make it possible to compare data from all over the world.

Global Poverty Trends: Good News with a Catch

The big picture is positive: the number of people living in extreme poverty has been falling.

The proportion of people living on less than $2.15 a day dropped from 16.27% in 2010 to 9.05% in 2019.

However, this progress is not uniform across the globe. There are huge regional differences.

China and Southeast Asia: These regions have seen a massive and rapid reduction in poverty. This success is attributed to fast economic growth and large investments in human resource development (like education and health). In China, the poverty rate has fallen to a remarkable 0.1% in 2020.
South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.): Poverty has also declined rapidly here. The percentage of poor people in this region fell from 13% in 2017 to 11% in 2021.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Poverty has declined, but at a much slower pace, going from 36.6% in 2017 to 35% in 2019. As poverty has fallen faster elsewhere, this region now has the largest concentration of poor people in the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean: In this region, the poverty ratio has actually seen a small increase, from 4.4% in 2017 to 4.6% in 2021.
Former Socialist Countries (like Russia): Poverty has resurfaced in some of these countries, where it was officially considered non-existent in the past.

Let’s Discuss: Understanding the Global Data

The chapter asks us to analyze the graphs and think about the global situation.

Identify the areas of the world where poverty ratios have declined.
- As seen in Graph 3.3, poverty ratios have declined significantly in China, East Asia & Pacific, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Identify the area of the globe which has the largest concentration of the poor.
- Graph 3.4 clearly shows that Sub-Saharan Africa (the yellow area) now has the largest number of extremely poor people. The graph also forecasts that by 2030, nearly 9 out of 10 extremely poor people will live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Why do different countries use different poverty lines?
- Because the very definition of a “basic need” and the cost to fulfill it varies enormously from one country to another. A minimum standard of living in a developed, cold country (requiring heating, sturdy housing) is completely different from a developing, tropical country. Each country’s poverty line reflects its own economic reality and social norms.

The World’s Plan to Fight Poverty: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The global community has a shared plan to tackle poverty. The United Nations (UN) has set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. These goals are a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for everyone.

Goal 1: No Poverty: The very first goal is to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”.
The Target: One of the key targets under this goal is to reduce the proportion of men, women, and children living in poverty (in all its dimensions) by at least half by 2030.
India’s Role: The text notes that India’s recent success in reducing multidimensional poverty shows its commitment to achieving this global goal.

The infographic on page 10 shows all 17 goals, which cover everything from zero hunger (Goal 2) and quality education (Goal 4) to climate action (Goal 13) and gender equality (Goal 5). They recognize that poverty is linked to many other issues and must be tackled on all fronts.

This completes the fourth step. We’ve seen that while global poverty is decreasing, the progress is uneven, with Sub-Saharan Africa facing the biggest challenge. We also learned about the global commitment to ending poverty through the SDGs.

Step 5: Causes of Poverty and the Government’s Action Plan 🇮🇳

This section gets to the heart of the issue: Why are so many people in India poor? And what is the strategy to help them?

Causes of Widespread Poverty in India

The text identifies several key reasons, both historical and contemporary.

The Legacy of British Colonial Rule: A major historical cause was the low level of economic development under the British administration. Colonial policies destroyed India’s traditional handicrafts and discouraged the growth of industries like textiles. This left the economy weak at the time of independence.
Slow Growth and High Population: For decades after independence, until the 1980s, India’s economy grew very slowly. At the same time, the population was growing rapidly. This combination was a recipe for poverty: a slow-growing economic pie had to be divided among more and more people, resulting in fewer job opportunities and low incomes.
Uneven Agricultural Growth: The Green Revolution in the 1960s and 70s created many jobs in agriculture, but its benefits were limited to only a few parts of the country, like Punjab, Haryana, and Western UP. Many regions were left behind.
Not Enough Industrial Jobs: While industries were set up in both the public and private sectors, they failed to create enough jobs to absorb the entire workforce. People who couldn’t find good jobs in cities ended up in low-paying, insecure work like being rickshaw pullers, construction workers, or domestic servants. This led to the growth of slums, and poverty, which was once mainly a rural problem, became a major feature of urban life too.
Huge Income Inequality: A key reason for poverty is the massive gap between the rich and the poor. This is largely due to the unequal distribution of land and other resources. Policies like land reforms, which were supposed to redistribute land to the poor, were not implemented properly by most state governments.
Social and Cultural Factors: The text points out that social obligations and religious ceremonies often force people, including the very poor, to spend a lot of money, sometimes pushing them into debt.
The Debt Trap: Small farmers often need to borrow money to buy seeds and fertilizers. Since they have no savings, they take loans at high-interest rates. If their crop fails or the income is too low, they are unable to repay the loan and become trapped in a cycle of indebtedness, which is both a cause and a result of poverty.

The Government’s Anti-Poverty Strategy

India’s strategy to fight poverty is based on two main pillars:

Promoting Economic Growth.
Targeted Anti-Poverty Programmes.

The idea is that a growing economy creates opportunities, and targeted schemes help the poorest of the poor to take advantage of those opportunities.

The Power of Economic Growth: The text shows a clear link between economic growth and poverty reduction. When the economy was growing slowly (around 3.5% a year until the 1980s), poverty levels stayed high. When growth accelerated (to 6% and higher after the 1980s), poverty started to fall significantly. A faster-growing economy creates more jobs and provides the government with more resources to invest in health and education.
The Need for Targeted Programmes: However, economic growth alone is not enough. The benefits don’t always “trickle down” to the poorest people. Also, growth in the agriculture sector, where most of the poor work, has been disappointing. This is why the government needs specific schemes that directly target the poor.

Key Government Schemes to Fight Poverty

The chapter highlights several important programmes:

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA): This is a landmark law that aims to provide livelihood security in rural areas. It guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It also has a special provision reserving one-third of the jobs for women.
Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Abhiyan (PM POSHAN): You might know this by its older name, the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. It has two goals: (1) to improve the nutrition of school children and (2) to encourage poor children to attend school regularly and concentrate on their studies. It provides cooked meals to students in classes I to VIII in government schools.
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA): Launched in 2016, this scheme focuses on reducing maternal and infant mortality by providing free and high-quality antenatal (pre-delivery) care to pregnant women.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY): This scheme, launched in 2016, aims to empower women and protect their health by providing them with clean cooking fuel (LPG). This replaces traditional, unhealthy cooking methods like using firewood or cow dung, which cause respiratory diseases. The LPG connections are issued in the name of the female member of the family.

Let’s Discuss: Observing Poverty Around You

The chapter encourages you to look at poor families in your area and ask:

Which social and economic group do they belong to? (This connects to the idea of vulnerable groups).
Who are the earning members? (This tells you about dependency and child labor).
What is the condition of the old people? (This highlights vulnerability within the family).
Are all the children attending school? (This relates to the education indicators of poverty). These questions help you see the concepts from the chapter in real life.

This completes the fifth step. We have covered the complex causes of poverty in India and the government’s two-part strategy of promoting economic growth and running targeted welfare schemes.

Step 6: The Challenges Ahead and a Broader View of Poverty

Even with all the progress, the fight against poverty is far from over. This final section discusses what still needs to be done and encourages us to think about poverty in a much deeper way.

The Challenges Ahead

Poverty in India has certainly declined, but getting rid of it completely remains the country’s most urgent and compelling challenge. The text highlights several key issues that still need to be addressed:

Wide Disparities: The progress is uneven. There are still big gaps in poverty levels between rural and urban areas, and among different states.
Vulnerability: Certain social and economic groups continue to be much more at risk of being poor than others.
The Path Forward: The text suggests that poverty reduction will continue to improve, thanks to several factors:
- Higher economic growth.
- Increasing focus on providing education for all.
- Slowing population growth.
- Empowerment of women and economically weaker sections of society.

Thinking Beyond Money: The Concept of “Human Poverty”

Perhaps the most important idea in this section is that we need to broaden our understanding of what poverty really is.

A Limited Definition: The traditional, income-based definition of poverty (the poverty line) only captures a small part of the real experience. It’s about a “minimum” level of subsistence, just enough to survive, rather than a “reasonable” level of living, which allows a person to live with dignity.
A Broader View: Many experts argue that we must think in terms of human poverty. This concept asks questions that go beyond just food and money. A person might have enough to eat, but…
- Do they have access to education or a safe shelter?
- Can they get healthcare when they are sick?
- Do they have job security?
- Do they have self-confidence and feel respected?
- Are they free from caste and gender discrimination?
- Is the practice of child labor still common in their community?

Human poverty, therefore, is about the denial of opportunities and choices that are essential for a decent human life. The text concludes by noting that as countries develop, their definition of what constitutes poverty also changes and becomes broader.