Poverty in India — Important Questions

It does not account for social factors like illiteracy, ill health, lack of access to resources, and political freedoms.

Step 1: The MPCE method uses monetary expenditure on food and a few select items as a proxy for income to determine whether someone is below the poverty line. Step 2: This is a narrow definition – it only looks at ECONOMIC/MONETARY aspects. Step 3: It completely ignores non-monetary dimensions of poverty such as: illiteracy, ill health, lack of access to drinking water and sanitation, lack of civil and political freedoms, and social discrimination. Step 4: It also groups ALL the poor together without differentiating between the 'very poor' and the 'other poor,' making it hard to target those w

Focus on human resource development, resulting in India's highest literacy rate of 94%

Step 1: Different states in India have used different strategies to reduce poverty. It is important to know which strategy is associated with which state. Step 2: Kerala focused on HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT – investing in education, health, and social welfare. This gave Kerala India's highest literacy rate of 94%. Step 3: Punjab and Haryana achieved poverty reduction through AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (Green Revolution). Step 4: West Bengal reduced poverty through LAND REFORM MEASURES (land ceiling and redistribution of land to the landless). Step 5: Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu focused on FOO

The greater possibility of certain communities or individuals to remain poor in the coming years due to lack of assets, education, and opportunities.

Step 1: Recall that two new indicators of poverty have emerged – 'Social Exclusion' and 'Vulnerability.' Step 2: SOCIAL EXCLUSION (Option C) refers to the poor being excluded from living in good surroundings and enjoying social equality with better-off people. This is NOT vulnerability. Step 3: VULNERABILITY refers to the FUTURE risk – the greater possibility that certain groups (e.g., backward castes, widows, handicapped persons) will remain or become poor in the future. Step 4: Vulnerable groups are especially disadvantaged because they lack alternative sources of livelihood in terms of asse

Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP)

Step 1: This question requires precise knowledge of government programme mergers – a commonly asked factual yet hard question. Step 2: MGNREGS was notified under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in September 2005 and launched on February 2, 2006. Step 3: At the time of its launch, two ongoing wage employment programmes were merged into it: (i) Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) – started in 2001, and (ii) National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) – started in November 2004 for 150 most backward districts. Step 4: PMEGP was created by merging REGP and PMRY – that is