Definition of Poverty line in India:
Affordability to buy food to provide 2400 calories if you live in a rural area, and 2100 calories if you live in an urban area.
The definition of poverty in India does not factor in the basic need for clothes, shelter, education and healthcare. We can clearly see the meaning of “Garibi Hatao” slogans.
The World Bank's definition of poverty line is $2 per day per person. This amounts to earning more than Rs. 2700 a month per person. A family of four should earn about 11000 rupees a month to raise itself above poverty line.
The Government assumes that only 368 rupees (adjusted for inflation) per month is needed for an individual living in a rural area to buy enough food to meet the required calories.
Even with this definition, Indian Govt. estimates that 35% of its population is poor. A little more realistic assumption of Rs. 570 per month to buy enough food for a person puts 75% of rural population below poverty line.
A very recent report of the Centre for Policy Alternatives recommended that the poverty line should be revised to per capita expenditure of rupees 840 a month.
According to the report in filed New Delhi, the authors, Mohan Guruswamy and Ronald Joseph Abraham, said that the existing poverty line based on intake of food is not the right way to go about defining how poor people are. They said it right. Indeed, we are putting ourselves at par with animals if we just underline the need for food only.
The report warned that even the poverty line of Rs 840 a month "only partially reveals the true state of poverty in India.
"A person spending more than Rs 840 per month does not necessarily have access to all the fundamental needs of life."
At the suggested expenditure level, nearly 79 per cent of India's current total population would be below the poverty line.
This is the case when our GDP growth, foreign direct investment and currency reserves are at an all time high. Many people enjoy the luxuries of life, from designer clothes to expensive cars. Obviously there is a great disconnect between the two classes - the haves and have-nots.
Broadly speaking, there are two Indias. India of the rich and India of the poor. The old middle class is disappearing fast – either they are becoming rich or joining the poor.
The poverty and lack of education have ramifications in all aspects of life. Particularly venerable become the neglected groups. Let us talk about fate of the females in India.
A woman in India dies delivering a baby every five minutes. That puts the maternal mortality ratio in India at 540 per 100,000 live births, rising to 620 in rural areas. In developing countries the rate is about 55 per 100,000; and in industrialized /developed nations it is under 10. In Singapore the maternal mortality rate is five, compared to 800 in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Literacy plays a big role. In Kerala, which boasts 100% literacy, the rate is only 70.
India accounts for more than 20% of the global maternal and child deaths, and also records 20% of births worldwide. Approximately 30 million women in India experience pregnancy annually, and 27 million have live births
Affordability to buy food to provide 2400 calories if you live in a rural area, and 2100 calories if you live in an urban area.
The definition of poverty in India does not factor in the basic need for clothes, shelter, education and healthcare. We can clearly see the meaning of “Garibi Hatao” slogans.
The World Bank's definition of poverty line is $2 per day per person. This amounts to earning more than Rs. 2700 a month per person. A family of four should earn about 11000 rupees a month to raise itself above poverty line.
The Government assumes that only 368 rupees (adjusted for inflation) per month is needed for an individual living in a rural area to buy enough food to meet the required calories.
Even with this definition, Indian Govt. estimates that 35% of its population is poor. A little more realistic assumption of Rs. 570 per month to buy enough food for a person puts 75% of rural population below poverty line.
A very recent report of the Centre for Policy Alternatives recommended that the poverty line should be revised to per capita expenditure of rupees 840 a month.
According to the report in filed New Delhi, the authors, Mohan Guruswamy and Ronald Joseph Abraham, said that the existing poverty line based on intake of food is not the right way to go about defining how poor people are. They said it right. Indeed, we are putting ourselves at par with animals if we just underline the need for food only.
The report warned that even the poverty line of Rs 840 a month "only partially reveals the true state of poverty in India.
"A person spending more than Rs 840 per month does not necessarily have access to all the fundamental needs of life."
At the suggested expenditure level, nearly 79 per cent of India's current total population would be below the poverty line.
This is the case when our GDP growth, foreign direct investment and currency reserves are at an all time high. Many people enjoy the luxuries of life, from designer clothes to expensive cars. Obviously there is a great disconnect between the two classes - the haves and have-nots.
Broadly speaking, there are two Indias. India of the rich and India of the poor. The old middle class is disappearing fast – either they are becoming rich or joining the poor.
The poverty and lack of education have ramifications in all aspects of life. Particularly venerable become the neglected groups. Let us talk about fate of the females in India.
A woman in India dies delivering a baby every five minutes. That puts the maternal mortality ratio in India at 540 per 100,000 live births, rising to 620 in rural areas. In developing countries the rate is about 55 per 100,000; and in industrialized /developed nations it is under 10. In Singapore the maternal mortality rate is five, compared to 800 in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Literacy plays a big role. In Kerala, which boasts 100% literacy, the rate is only 70.
India accounts for more than 20% of the global maternal and child deaths, and also records 20% of births worldwide. Approximately 30 million women in India experience pregnancy annually, and 27 million have live births