India Chronic Poverty Report

The India Chronic Poverty ...

The Report notes that chronic poverty continues because almost all past growth-mediated poverty-reducing strategies have bypassed various historically marginalised groups and deprived regions. Persistent spatial backwardness and inequality have led to concentration of poverty in certain parts of the country, so there is a geographical dimension to poverty. Additionally, since poverty remains especially prevalent among certain occupational groups, there is a sociological dimension to its persistence. It summarises the debates around the measurement of poverty in India and suggests that while there are differences with regard to measuring poverty, longitudinal tracking of households through panel data enables analysis of the dynamics of poverty. Poverty dynamics recognises the existence of processes through which the poor either escape from poverty or fail to escape it and the non-poor either remain non-poor or become poor. Through analysis of a rural panel dataset covering about 3,000 households across the country it draws attention to the significant scale of incidence of chronic poverty; of non-poor households falling into poverty; and of a proportion of those who are poor managing to escape from it.

This book discusses critical policy issues that need to be addressed if India wishes to achieve the SDG 1 based elusive goal of ending poverty in the country. In its nine chapters, it takes the readers through trends and estimates of poverty in India, explains changes in the way it has been measured over time and the factors that lead to persistence of poverty, draws attention to the fact that hunger is both a cause and an effect of poverty and has gender and age dimensions too. The book revisits strategies that were successful in addressing poverty emanating from situations of conflict, presents a discussion on migration as a critical coping mechanism among poor, analyses the links between ill health and poverty as well as education and poverty to draw attention to the policy imperatives that need attention. India’s report card on poverty remains dismal even though there is recognition of the importance of reducing or eliminating or ending it at both national and global levels. Despite rapid economic growth and improvement on a range of development indicators, an unacceptably high proportion of India’s population continues to suffer poverty in multiple dimensions. SDG 1 or “ending poverty in all its forms everywhere” cannot be achieved unless policies and poverty alleviation programmes understand and address chronic poverty and its dynamics. This requires that we estimate and understand the extent of poverty, the factors that lead to people getting stuck in it and the ways this can be addressed. It also requires understanding the dynamic nature of poverty or the fact that many of those who are poor are able to move out of poverty as well as the fact that many others who are not poor become impoverished. These are the issues that are comprehensively examined and addressed in this book. In addition to students, teachers and researchers in the areas of development, economic growth, equity and welfare, the book is also of great interest to policy makers, planners and non‐government agencies who are concerned with understanding and addressing poverty-related issues in the developing countries.

Focusing on the nature and politics of chronic poverty in India, this book provides an analysis of poverty reduction policies from a chronic poverty perspective. Using quantitative and qualitative data, the volume offers an account of the major causes and consequences of chronic poverty. Among other concerns the book explores: the phenomenon of chronic poverty among rural casual labourers; the effect of involuntary displacement and relocation on marginal groups that are chronically poor; the opportunities afforded by technology for empowerment of the poor and the underprivileged; and possible ways and means to strengthen existing safety nets for the vulnerable section of India′s population.

Inclusive growth needs to be achieved to reduce poverty and other disparities and raise economic growth. This book develops a poverty profile for India in view of the ongoing national and global efforts toward ensuring inclusive growth and bringing poverty levels down. This poverty profile will enable academics and policy makers to reassess and improve on the existing methodologies in estimating poverty rates, evaluate the effectiveness of existing poverty programs, and suggest alternative and complementary options for strategic intervention based on the lessons drawn from program implementation both at the state and national levels.

This paper attempts to su ...

Contributed articles presented earlier at Research Design Workshop for Exploring Appropriate Solutions to Chronic Poverty held at Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi on 15th and 16th May, 2002.