Who are poor in India?
As per the planning commission or Niti Ayog, A person who does not get a calorie intake of 2400 kilo (KCL) in rural and 2100 kcl in urban is called Poor.
The calories of rural are higher than urban because rural people do more manual work than urban people.
To get these energies from food, pulses, vegetable, etc, the person needs some money to but this person is unable to buy due to lack of money, job. This is said to a person below the poverty line or just poor.
Based on the above criteria about 27 crore people, that 27.5% of people in India in 2004-05 are poor if we considered food as a tool to measure poverty.
But if we measure poverty based on Clothing, shoe, and other non-food items then more than 37%, 37 crore people in India are poor.
Reasons for Unemployment
Employment not doing well in India.
The majority of the population willing to work is unemployed, Poor growth of Industries, Poor Education and Training
Overdependence on agriculture and seasonal employment.
The labor force of the country is estimated to be 43 crores in the age group of 15 to 59 years. Approximately 8% that is 3 to 4 crores are unemployed daily.
Poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes in India
To overcome poverty due to unemployment various Schemes and programmes were introduced by the Union Government.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS)Launched in 2006, Provides 100 days of guaranteed employment to the rural population in a year.
Any adult in a rural area can be employed in this program on a daily wage basis. In 2010, about 4.1 crore households benefited from this programme.
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
Launched in April 1999, it aims to create income generation through self-employment, aimed at SC and ST population, Women, etc.
The beneficiaries are given training and a bank loan to build capabilities to overcome poverty. These Self-employed people are Swarozgaris.
In order to give training, the Rural self Employment Institute(RSETI) was set up in each district.
Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rozgar Yojna (SJSRY)
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Launched in April 1999, Providing employment for the urban poor.
A new thing was added to the scheme in 2009 such as Generation of self-employment, programs for urban women, training for the urban poor, community development programme, and wage employment programme.
As of December 2010 more than 6.5 Lakh families in urban benefited.
Schemes to Promote and Provide Education
Right of children to free and compulsory education Act 2009.
Free education for children aged 6 to 14, is made a fundamental right in 2009 and made effective from April 2010.
Schemes for elementary and secondary education
To develop primary and secondary education are:
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA)
To enforce the Right to Education, this scheme is introduced by the central government with the state government to give education to children aged between 6 to 14.
The idea of this program is:
Enrollment of all children in School. To make sure the children study up to the upper primary level.
Making the dropouts come back to school. Eradication of gaps such as religion, gender, caste, etc in providing education
As of 2010, more than 309727 new schools and 11 lakh teachers are appointed. More than 9 crore students were given textbooks.
For education for Girls, a National Programme for education for girls at the elementary level (NPEGEL) is implemented.
In this scheme, free uniforms and study materials, etc are given to girl students and the teacher are trained specially to teach the girls.
Residential schools for Girls have also been set up called Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV’s) under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme.
More than 75% of girls admitted under Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas are from Scheduled and tribes, OBC, and minorities.
And remaining girl student is from Below Poverty Line families. As of 2010 more than 2 Lakh girls are under this scheme.
The national programme of Mid-day meals in Schools
To make children come to school and to minimize the drop out due to hunger the government started a Mid-day meal programme.
To provide a healthy diet to children in school for free and to bring different societies of people together and make them a sense of oneness.
This programme provides food for more than 14 crore children as of 2009.
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
Launched in 2009 to increase the enrollment ratio in the school.
75% of total expenditure comes from the central government and 25 % from the state government but in the case of Northeast states 90% of funds are from the central government.
Inclusive education for the disabled at the secondary stage (IEDSS)
Came into effect in 2009-10, its motive is to give special children, 100% central assistance for education from class 9 to 12.
Saakshar Bharat
To provide education for adults above 15 years of age and to national literacy. The women are of special focus in this program.
Programme for Higher and Technical Education
To aim to provide higher and technical education such as Medicine, Engineering, Science, Information Technology, etc after Higher secondary education.
GOI has taken several measures to improve higher education such as:
As per the 11th Five Year Plan, 8 new universities and 10 new engineering colleges with assistance from state governments. In educationally backward districts, the new model colleges will be built.
20 more IITs will be set up to promote IT education. More NIT and IIT are to be built across the nation.
IISER(Institute of Science Education and Research) is to be set up in various parts of the country to promote research in science.
IIMS (Indian Institute of Management) to be set up in more numbers across the nation.
Health care
Another major problem in poverty is health care, to provide better health care to its people is the major challenge to the government.
Due to poor facilities in the nation, about 254 females out of 100000 die at the time of pregnancy. This is called the Maternal Mortality rate(MMR).
50 Infants die during birth out of 1000, this Infant mortality rate (IMR). 15 out of 1000 die before the age of 4 which is CMR (Child Mortality Ration).
India spends only 5% of total expenditure on health, 1.27% of National Income.
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
Launched in 2005, to provide affordable health services in Village areas. It aims to improve health and family welfare programmes by improving the public health delivery system.
By September 2010, about 8 lakh health workers have given training and more than 9 Thousand doctors and 26 thousand nurses are appointed in a rural area either On a contract and permanent basis.
NRHM also runs Mobile medical units (MMU) to give health care at the doorstep.
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
This programme is started to provide life-saving treatment to the mother at the time of delivery.
Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)
To provide health infrastructure in all the states, six new AIIMS hospitals are to be constructed in different parts of the country and also upgrading 12 existing government medical colleges in different states.
National AIDS Control
As of 2009, 24 lakh people were affected by AIDS in the country which is the highest in the world.
The government has created centres to make people aware of the prevention of AIDS as well as to treat the patients.
Inflation Control or Price Rise Control
Demand, Drought, and Hoarding increase the price of essential commodities.
In order to control the price rise in the essential commodities, the government takes various measures: Providing Seeds, Fertilizers, Pesticides, etc at subsidized prices and providing free electricity that helps farmers, Building storage facilities, and Strict action on Hoarding.