Poverty in India - Annotated Bibliography Example

Poverty in India Annotated Bibliography Agentor, P.R. et. al (2003). The integrated macroeconomic model for poverty analysis: a quantitative macroeconomic framework for the analysis of poverty reduction strategies. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. 126p Print. The book puts a presentation of dynamic and quantitative macroeconomic work that has its design for analysis of the impact of policies in a country that cause poverty and affect income distribution. The book emphasizes on the role of market segmentation to curb poverty, urban informal activities, and the impact of public expenditure on supply and demand. Hegazy, S.M. (2014). Conservation of Omani Archaeological Sites, Haratal Bilad – A Case Study. International Journal of Arts & Sciences - Scientific College Of Design. The article talks about Oman as a country and its high development rate that was as a result of conserving their culture and heritage. The government of Oman has a plan of documenting all the heritage sites and it is working for the country in terms of wealth creation. Urbanization is a problem in the country to maintain its sites. The article seeks to address the problem of adopting the western culture in terms of planning and development. Littrell, M. A. & Dickson, M. A. (2010). Artisans and fair trade: Crafting development. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press. The book focuses on the impact of fair trade on the workers that work for the fair trade organizations in India. Its focus is on one of the organizations that has its location in Mumbai India. The company produces jewelry, household textiles, and accessories. The workers, however, are living in extreme poverty despite the organization making massive profits. Solomon, B. (2004). From income to urban contest in global settings: chronic poverty in Bangalore. New Delhi: Chronic Poverty Research Centre and Indian Institute of Public Administration, 59p The book gives an analysis of political, economic and socio-cultural activities that affect poverty levels in India. The authors assume that poverty is as a result of power relations that have accumulated over a period. The article shows the economic inequality in India. Fields, G.S. and Pfeffermann, G, (2003). Pathways out of poverty: private firms and economic Mobility in developing countries. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Print. The book cites the drop in poverty levels all over the world. It identifies the different ways private firms and organizations contribute economically to reduce the poverty levels. The authors provide solutions the government could use to end poverty in developing countries especially India. Seabrook, J. (2003). The no-nonsense guide to world poverty. London: Verso. The book provides a general view of poverty all over the world including first world countries. There are several quotes from people that are considered poor and from people who have studied and worked with the poor. The study is interesting and shows how poor people do not need to be rich, but require a sense of security. He has much criticism regarding free trade. Abstract The poverty levels in India are widespread, and there have been several proposals to curb its increase. The measure of Indian government initially was based on food security. It was before 2005, and things have changed incredibly since then. The World Bank has come up with new ways to measure the levels of poverty in India. There have been proposals on how to measure the poverty levels in India without using economic data. Poverty levels and the number of poor people in India is a historical reality. The poverty levels started during the British rule and intensified in the 1920s. The people that live above the poverty line in India lead a fragile economic life. India has a large number of world’s poorest people at 20.6% that is a very high number (Agentor, 2003). The article will talk about India’s poverty levels, its effects, causes and the solution to the problem. Introduction and Presentation of Problem “Conservation of Omani Archaeological Sites, Haratal Bilad – A Case Study” by Soheir Mohamed Hegazy was a source of inspiration while writing about Poverty in India. Hegazy elaborates the problems of Oman as a country in terms of westernization and urbanization (Hegazy, 2014). The book is an inspiration in writing about poverty in India because of the level of growth the country of Oman has gone through in developing its country. Oman is a small architectural country that has managed to eradicate poverty in its country through its policies. India is also facing the problem thus it gets difficult to eradicate Poverty in India. There has been a vicious circle of poverty for people living in India. Generations after generation have been living in abject poverty while a few individuals enjoy wealth in the country. India is a rich country with destitute people living in it. It is the state with the highest percentage of poor people in the world according to a World Bank survey. The people under the classification as poor in India earn 28.65 rupees which is less than a dollar in a day. The money is very little and is not enough for people’s survival. Food is very expensive in urban areas of India, and the money does not help even in a rural part of India (Agentor, 2003). The number of poor people is going up every day and is becoming a hurdle for them. The people who are poor in India are the tribal people, Dalit’s, and the laborers of India. The primary cause of poverty in India is overly large population. The number of industries and service grew by double over the last twenty years, and agriculture growth has gone down from 4.8% to 2%. The poverty levels, thus continue to increase in the country. The little surplus the country gets from agriculture has caused more people to lose their jobs. There is an increasing price of every commodity in India that is causing the country’s poverty levels to increase. Every other commodity in India has increased in price over the last ten years with the average wage not increasing. The people are still earning the same salary they did a couple of years back, and it is not helping in the growth of the economy. The people who are living below the poverty line in India are finding it challenging to survive. The unskilled workers of India are getting very inferior pay that cannot sustain their families. The sector is unorganized, and the owners of businesses do not care about the lives of people working for them. Poverty in India has led to a number of effects on the people and the country. The most typical effect of poverty in India is malnutrition. Children of people living in abject poverty have a lack of nutrition. The parents cannot afford to feed the children with food that is rich in nutrients, and this has a reflection on their body types. The nutritious foods are expensive to purchase for the people living below the poverty line. The families live on a small budget thus they are not able to buy the nutritious food for their young ones. Others have malnutrition from not eating at all. Their immune system is not healthy enough to be able to protect them from diseases. The life expectancy goes down quickly for people due to lack of proper health care. Health care is expensive, and the sparse population of India is not able to access medication because they do not have insurance covering for them. Sanitation conditions for poor people are usually very low because of congestion and lack of proper bathroom and cooking conditions. The common diseases are minor, but sometimes they can lead to significant and life-threatening conditions. The mortality rate and life expectancy are also low in poverty stricken communities. Most poor people of India reside in rural areas and the ones in urban areas are faced with congestion and overpopulation. Thesis/Solution & Presentation of Solution Agriculture in India was the backbone of the economy. The government should find ways in reviving Agriculture to reduce if not to end poverty in India. The country is rich in the land that can have Agricultural purposes. China used agriculture in the 1990s to improve their economy and lift them to areas they are right now. India could use the same tactic and do productivity of the land to improve the economy (Fields & Pfeffermann, 2003). The government should come up with plans that are appropriate to ensure agriculture is the highest contributor to the economy. The increase in agriculture means an increase in employment rates, hence decrease in poverty levels. Agriculture leads to increase in the manufacturing industries that then resulted in other services and service industries. The Indian government has come up with ways that make the poor families self-sufficient in terms of food production. Food production went up by more than 50% over the last decade in India. The government offers help to the poor families in the south by giving them rice and other cereals for survival. Fig. 1 – Sacks of wheat being loaded into a track. There is an increase in food production. The problem with the governments arrangement is that the children remain malnutrition as they do not take other types of food that contain proteins and vitamins. There has been price control in the primary commodities, and the poor have rational cards. The government has come up with food policies that ensure the poor buy wheat and rice at a much-reduced price than the other people. The new food policy law will ensure nobody in India goes hungry. The conditions are good in reducing famine in the country, but are not appropriate for the reduction of the poverty levels. The poor people should have ownership of land so that they can have the right place to do agriculture. Large-scale agriculture is also important in the reduction of the poverty levels. India grows so much food that it exports some of it to other countries like Australia and Saudi Arabia (Seabrook, 2003). The food products are however too much those others have rotted when they were in the open air. The government goes at a loss when this happens, but the farmers gain when they sell their produce to the government. Fig. 2 - Sacks of rice stored in the open air get destroyed. People in rural India should invest in agriculture as the land in the area is fertile. The number of unemployment is higher in rural regions, because 85% of the tribal people are from these areas. The areas suffer from drought conditions while others are prone to flooding. It is hard for agriculture to thrive in such regions. The government should ensure the people get water to irrigate their farms for better agriculture. It means if agriculture is not growing then the people working in the sector are also not growing. Poverty is however expected to drop by 2016 according to the Development Goals Report. The population growth rate in India continues to increase every single year at an alarming rate. The increase in the number of people further leads to more harm as the level of illiteracy is high in the country. The high population growth rate is a symptom rather than a cause of poverty as seen by experts (Seabrook, 2003). The high population growth rate can get control from the government when they advocate for a compulsory family planning for the people. The majority of India’s population has employment in agriculture that is suffering economically. The state requires a growth rate in the creation of jobs as the number of population increases. India’s population is expected to have grown to 1.5billion by the year 2026. In order to curb poverty in the country, the country need to come up with ways that will ensure the creation of 20 million jobs every year. Poverty rates will continue to rise if these jobs are not there every year. The area of concern is how entrepreneurs are to maximize their profits and do not care about their workers. The unskilled workers have to work and earn less pay as the number of people seeking employment, higher than the jobs in the market. The employers should get rules from the government that curbs this kind of acts. The minimum wage should also go up. India’s economic policy is another cause of poverty for the country. The average annual income for people in India was higher than that of China, South Korea, and Taiwan in 1947. Fifty years later and the average income for people in India have dropped tremendously compared to that of China, South Korea, and Taiwan. The economic policies of these countries are what led to either their success or failure. India for the first forty years was using the Soviet-style of economic planning, industries being owned by the government and nationalization programs. These economic policies saw India’s growth rate to be about 3.5%, while countries like South Korea were doubling their economic growth rates. The affluent population of India was rising very slowly in the forty years (Littrell & Dickson, 2010). The licenses required to set up business in India were many and expensive. Hence very few people could afford them. License Raj, the license needed to start a business was in order for India to have a planned economy. All aspects of the economy were therefore being controlled by the state. The economic crisis of the country was due to the wrong decisions the government made between 1947 and 1990. The policy change will lead to a better economy, thus a reduction in poverty levels. Alternative Solutions & Rebuttals Selling the grains produced by the government farmers at a low price would help end poverty in India. The United Nations World Food Program questioned the definition of poverty in India in 2009. WHO was wondering if the said eleven kilograms of grains per person was enough in reducing the poverty levels in the country? There was a large political debate that resulted from the findings, and the government launched a National Food Security Act that became law. The law ensured that the grains were sold at a very low price for the poor people to be able to afford them. There are various sources who are questioning India’s decision on selling the grains at a lower price. The people do not survive on grains alone and they should have a balanced diet, thus need for fruits and vegetables also in their diet. The selling of the grains at a reduced price is a good idea for India, but would not work perfectly on eradicating poverty in the country. The Indian government is, however, quick to note that there has not been an increase in poverty levels since the 1990s (Solomon, 2004). Part of the reason is providing food to their people at an affordable price. Critics suggest that India should focus on their Human Development Index, which is a statistic on life expectancy, income indices, and education. Education is another factor that is primarily affected by the poverty levels in India. The level of illiteracy is very high as the education system cannot accommodate the rising number of population. The poor people are not able to attend school at an early age like their fellow middle-class and upper-class people. The school supplies or the necessary clothing for school is very expensive for most families. Thus, they decide not to educate their children. There should be compulsory schooling for the people and free primary and secondary education. The reasons for poor families not being able to educate their children are too many. It matters little, what the reason is, the fact is that education is expensive for the people living in abject poverty. The illiteracy levels eventually affect a country and a community as it lacks enough skills in the labor force and also politically. Indians obtaining a primary education could help bring more than 150 million people out of poverty. There is a dangerous cycle where poverty is preventing people from getting a suitable and primary education and in turn lack of knowledge cannot bring the people out of poverty they face. The impact of poverty on a countrys economy is too big. The employment rates are influenced heavily by the number of people living in poverty. Lack of basic education cannot get Indians jobs. Unemployment is a problem for India’s economy as they cannot develop their economy with no employment. The economic growth rate of India is not increasing as the number of poor people is too high. The labor force of India in return suffers from no economic growth. The crime rate increases as many poor people living in cities indulge in crime for survival. Most of the people are homeless. There is a high social unrest in cities and towns as the jobless people result to crime as a means of survival. Getting an education, however, is not the only solution that will help eradicate poverty in India. Justification and Conclusion India is a country among a few with highest grossing economies in the world. The economy has been growing steadily in the last three decades, but the poverty levels in India are still high. The factors that matter in ensuring reduction or elimination of poverty in India is the nature of the economy growth. The extent at which the economy is growing and eliminating inequality in India is what will end poverty in the country. The countrys economy is growing, but the rich are getting richer, and the poor remain with no source of income thus weak. The government should ensure that the poor find a source of income to eradicate the inequalities. The extent and level of structural change in the process of economic growth give opportunities to the people to have productive employment that has involvement with agriculture. It goes to the extent of marketing and states function in ways that assure the poor the get basic needs and also have access to the essential social services that are universal. The solution means that the government has to have an involvement in mediating the process of global economic integration to ensure the growth gives a better condition for the poor. The government of India has come up with several Programs examples that include IRDP and JRY and are implementing them to eradicate the poverty levels in India. The objectives may be genuine in the process of trying to eliminate the poverty levels, but their belief of spending much money in poverty eradication is the problem. The idea makes the non-monetary process of poverty eradication not matter. The non-monetary policies play a significant role in the lives of the poor people and should not have a down payment by the processes that involve much money in poverty eradication. Many of the grassroots workers in India have the experience of some of the government policies harming them instead of helping them in poverty eradication. An example of a scheme and policies that hurt the poor is the IRDP. The plans should be amended and take a different direction if their aim is to eradicate poverty levels. Many of the policies have the anti-poor bias in their sectors. The Rural Development Ministry does not have control over the anti-poor sectors in the policies. The systems should allow amendments to enable the rural development ministry put measures in developing rural areas in India. The solution to eradicating the poverty is mainstream of poverty concerns. It will happen by overhauling the government policies in all government departments. It should be under close supervision of the Planning Commission that will develop the rural areas. Conclusion India has high poverty levels, mainly due to the size of its population. The government should have different ways of ensuring the poverty levels of India reduce tremendously in order for them to have a significant economic growth. The different statics carried out about the causes, effects and solutions to the problem should be in consideration, and experts work on eradicating poverty in the country. The ultimate goal of the government should be to reach prosperity in developing the rural areas of India. The nature of the economic growth will be better if the people from rural India are part of the economic growth and not only the rich getting richer while the poverty levels keep rising. Amendments to the policies that regard anti-poverty in India should have changes to allow the Ministry of Rural Development takes the full course in rural development. References Agentor, P.R. et. al (2003). The integrated macroeconomic model for poverty analysis: a quantitative macroeconomic framework for the analysis of poverty reduction strategies. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. 126p Print. Fields, G.S. and Pfeffermann, G, (2003). Pathways out of poverty: private firms and economic Mobility in developing countries. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Print. Hegazy, S.M. (2014). Conservation of Omani Archaeological Sites, Haratal Bilad – A Case Study. International Journal of Arts & Sciences - Scientific College Of Design. Littrell, M. A. & Dickson, M. A. (2010). Artisans and fair trade: Crafting development. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press. Seabrook, J. (2003). The no-nonsense guide to world poverty. London: Verso. Solomon, B. (2004). From income to urban contest in global settings: chronic poverty in Bangalore. New Delhi: Chronic Poverty Research Centre and Indian Institute of Public Administration, 59p Read More