With India achieving higher growth trajectory and acquiring the status of most promising emerging economy, have we ever thought of status of poor people in India whose conditions are deteriorating day by day?

Well, here, I would like to discuss about that even after 63 years of independence the subject of Indian poverty still remains a cause of concern.

It’s a well known fact that even urban poverty is prevalent due to impoverishment of rural peasantry which pushes them to migrate from villages in search of subsistence living in towns and cities.

Why Indian people are poor?
Well we have answered this question several time in exams, but answering it again will take us to jovial memories of our school times!

Major cause of poverty in India is lack of productive assets and financial resources for both communities and individuals.

High levels of illiteracy, inadequate health care and extremely limited access to social services are common among poor rural people.

Microenterprise development, which could generate income and enable them to improve their living conditions, has only recently become a focus of the government.

Poverty map of India
Poverty is most prevalent in parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal.

Large population of rural India resides in India’s semi arid tropical region.

In these areas shortages of water and recurrent droughts inhibit the transition in agriculture which green revolution has been able to achieve elsewhere.

There is also high incidence of poverty in flood prone areas such as those extending from eastern utter Pradesh to the Assam plains and especially in northern Bihar.

Poverty affects the lives of tribal people in forest areas, where loss of resources has made them even poorer.

In coastal fishing communities’ people’s living conditions are deteriorating because of environmental degradation, stock depletion and vulnerability to natural disasters.

Statistics reveal that about 2/3 of India’s population live in rural areas and almost 170 million of them are poor.

Poverty in India can be defined as a situation where certain sections of people are unable to fulfill their basic needs.

The economics of urban poverty

There is huge momentum in growth of big cities than smaller towns.

India’s mega cities constitute of highest percentage of slum dwellers in the country.

As India is transforming into more urbanized economy, more it is getting prone to urban poverty.

The reasons behind this urban poverty can be stated as below:

1. · Improper training
2. · Growing population
3. · Slower job growth
4. · Failure of PDS system

The urban poor population of India is estimated to be nearly 8 crores, while slum population 4 crores.

The complicated scenario of poverty

Urban poverty is diagnosed by following symptoms:

1. · Scanty household income: resulting in insufficient consumption of basic necessities, sometimes exacerbated by uneven distribution of consumption within household, between men and women and between adult men and children.
2. · Partial asset base : for individuals households or communities
3. · Inadequate provision for public infrastructure and services
4. · Exploitation and discrimination

Conundrum of urban poverty

Urban poverty was by far detectable due to lack of land tenure, access to affordable shelter and basic amenities, particularly health, education and social security.

The bulk of urban poor are residing in extremely deprived conditions with inadequate physical amenities like low cost water supply, sanitation, sewerage, drainage, community centers and social services relating to health care, Pre School, non-formal education.

Workers who are engaged in informal sector form the majority of urban poor.

Workers in this sector earn low wages or if they are self employed their income is poor.

Large number of people among them consists of low skilled rural migrants or migrants from small towns.

There is hardly any working regulation for these people and they earn wages which are less than specified minimum wages.

Informal sector comprises people like vegetable vendors, rickshaw pullers, maids who come to work in our homes, people employed on streets and many more.

When these people come to the city, due to lack of appropriate skills they get into the informal sector.

The only difference which they get in migrating from village to city is that now they come under urban poverty level rather than rural poverty.

Many people in these urban areas are homeless, without access to clean water and hygiene systems of waste disposal and they live in polluted degraded environment.

Poverty alleviation programmes
Any work on poverty of India is incomplete without mentioning of poverty alleviation programmes.

So to provide all you readers full information on urban poverty lets have look at some of these poverty alleviation programmes.

Urban poverty alleviation is one of the most challenging tasks for government which calls from some imaginative new approaches in this direction.

The basic need of the hour is to provide these urban poor with assistance in setting up of microenterprises there by providing them avenues for enhancement in their incomes, so that they get access to physical amenities like clean drinking water, drainage , sanitation , community centers , health care , nutrition , preschool and formal education.