Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Economics NCERT Solutions & Notes

Ans: In India, the poverty line is estimated using the income and consumption method. A minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel, light, educational, and medical requirements are determined. For food, the accepted average calorie requirement is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. The monetary value of these minimum requirements determines the poverty line, which is updated periodically to adjust for inflation.

Ans: No, the present methodology is not entirely appropriate. It only identifies a "minimum subsistence level" of living rather than a "reasonable level" of living. Many scholars advocate broadening the concept to "human poverty," which should include factors like access to education, shelter, healthcare, job security, self-confidence, and freedom from caste or gender discrimination, rather than just focusing on food and income.

Ans: Since 1973, there has been a substantial decline in the poverty ratio in India from about 55% in 1973 to 36% in 1993, and further down to roughly 22% in 2011-12. However, despite the decline in the percentage, the absolute number of poor people remained high for a long time due to population growth. Only in recent decades has the absolute number of poor begun to decline significantly.

Ans: The major reasons for poverty in India are:
1. Historical Policies: The low level of economic development under British colonial administration ruined traditional handicrafts and industries.
2. Population Growth: A high population growth rate led to a lower per capita income.
3. Unequal Distribution of Land and Wealth: Despite land reform laws, proper implementation was lacking, leaving millions as landless laborers.
4. Socio-Cultural Factors: People spend massive amounts of money on social obligations and religious ceremonies, forcing them into debt traps.

Ans: Social exclusion is a concept where the poor have to live only in poor surroundings with other poor people, excluded from enjoying social equality with better-off people in better surroundings. It is both a cause and a consequence of poverty in India, notably seen in the caste system.

Ans: Vulnerability describes the greater probability of being more adversely affected than other people when bad times come (like a flood, earthquake, or a fall in the availability of jobs). It mostly affects specific social groups like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, or individuals like widows and physically handicapped persons.

Ans: The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. It is higher in rural areas because people living in villages generally engage themselves in much more physically demanding manual labour than people in urban areas.

Ans: The poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting sample surveys. These surveys are carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), which is under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Ans: The social groups most vulnerable to poverty are the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) households. Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

Ans: Inter-state disparity means that the proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. While states like Punjab and Haryana have succeeded in reducing poverty, states like Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two poorest states in India with significantly high poverty ratios.

Ans: Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty primarily with the help of high agricultural growth rates, which was triggered by the successful implementation of the Green Revolution, leading to better incomes for farmers and labourers.

Ans: West Bengal significantly reduced poverty through the strict implementation of land reform measures (distributing land to the landless). Kerala reduced poverty by focusing heavily on human resource development, investing massively in education and healthcare.

Ans: The World Bank defines extreme economic poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day (as per older definitions; it gets updated). While global poverty has fallen substantially over the decades (especially in China and East Asia), progress has been slower in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Ans: Passed in 2005, MGNREGA aims to provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. If an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days, they are entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.

Ans: PMRY is another anti-poverty scheme started in 1993. The aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns by helping them set up small businesses and industries.

Ans: Launched in 1999, SGSY aims at bringing the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organizing them into Self Help Groups (SHGs) through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.

Ans: Launched in 2000, under PMGY, additional central assistance is given to states for improving basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water, and rural electrification.

Ans: Anti-poverty programmes often yield less than desired results because of a lack of proper implementation, lack of right targeting (the benefits sometimes reach the non-poor), overlapping of schemes, and corruption within the distribution system.

Ans: Human Poverty broadens the definition of poverty beyond just a lack of money. It suggests that poverty also means being illiterate, not having access to healthcare, lacking job security, living without safe drinking water and sanitation, and being subjected to caste, gender, and social discrimination.