India is a haven to 22% of the world's poor. Such a high incidence of poverty is a matter of apprehension, in view of the fact that poverty eradication has been one of the major objectives of the development process. Really, poverty is a global dialog. Poverty eradication is considered integral to humanity's mission for sustainable development. Thus, reduction of poverty in India is vital for the attainment of international goals. The philosophy underlying the poverty alleviation programs is to tackle the rural poverty by endowing the poor with productive assets and training for raising their skills so that they are assured of a regular stream of employment and income in raising themselves above the poverty line. This paper discusses various poverty alleviation programs and focuses on programs like Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP), National Rural Employment Program (NREP), Jawar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), and Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP).
Today,
one billion children live in poverty, 640 million live without adequate shelter,
400 million have no access to safe drinking water, 270 million have no access
to health services, 100 million children live in the streets, railway and bus
stations and 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of five because
of poverty. Every three seconds, poverty kills a child somewhere. The real problem
is about three billion people live on less than $2 a day. Recently the World Bank
reported that Sub-Saharan African countries have the largest share of people living
below $1 a day. The number of poor people in this region is expected to rise from
315 million in 1999 to about 404 million in 2015. In the world of poverty, almost
163 million children are malnourished. For instance, an American child born in
2004 has a life expectancy of 70, will learn to read and write, and is likely
to complete an advanced degree. Similarly, a baby born in Angola has a life expectancy
of 46 and little chance of finishing high school. The World Development Report
2000-01 states that a fifth of the world's population lives on less than $1
a day, and 44% of them are in South Asia. Table 1 explains the income-poverty
by region during the period of 1987 to 1998. In Europe and Central Asia the number
of poor increased from 1.1 million in 1987 to 24 million in 1998. In South Asia
the number in poverty soared from 474.4 million to 522 million during the same
period. Similarly, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of poor people increased
from 217.2 million to 290.9 million over the same period, leaving almost half
the residents of that continent poor. So, these poor people lack ownership of
or access to assets such as land, water, dwelling units, credit, literacy, longevity,
voice and capital. |
