Poverty, deprivation, inequality and unemployment problems are closely linked and any effort to tackle one must necessarily take into account the other problems. Poverty in India is the inability to secure the minimum consumption requirements for life, health and efficiency.

Poverty Line

1962- A working group recommended a national minimum expenditure level of Rs. 20 per capita. Per month for rural areas and Rs. 25 per capita per month for urban areas at 1960-61 prices.

 In September 1989, an Expert Group was constituted by the Planning Commission to consider methodology and computational  aspects of estimation of  proportion and number of poor in the country owing to issues raised in respect of estimates on poverty and also poverty alleviation.

The official consensus since the late Seventies has been to estimate the number of people who live in households with a consumption expenditure that is insufficient to command the minimum number of calories necessary or sustenance. The per capita daily calorific minimum has been defined as 2,400 calories in villages and 2,100 calories in the cities. This is the ‘poverty line’ and all those who live below this line are the official poor. Every few years the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) conducts surveys around the country to estimate the expenditure of different household classes. It is from these surveys that the Planning Commission periodically derives its numbers about the poor in rural and urban India. The latest poverty estimates are based on preliminary results of half of the NSSO’s survey of consumption expenditure in 1993-94.

Since the particular measure of poverty is based only on consumption of food, access to innumerable other essential is ignored. Adequate fuel, clothing, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health and education are just a few of the many essential goods and services that are not covered by this measure of poverty.

In 1993 the expert group (Lakadwala committee)that was asked by the Government to examine the methodology for  measuring poverty suggested in the main two correlatives to the procedure being used by the Planning Commission. The first relates to the choice of prices. The monetary equivalent of the poverty line was originally drawn for 1973-74. That value is periodically updated. But what price index should be used  to update the 1973-74 line? Clearly, an approximate index is one that reflects the prices of commodities consumed by the poor. But the Planning Commission has been using a standard price deflator. The 1993 expert group suggested the use of separate price indices for most of the commodities included in the existing consumer price series for agricultural labour and industrial workers. The second corrective was to end the practice of uniformly inflating the NSSO’s estimates of consumption expenditure in all household classes. This was being done to ensure compatibility between the NSSO and the National Accounts Statistics (NAS) estimates of total private (household), consumption. The excess of NAS estimate over that of the NSSO has been between nine and as much as 33 per cent. The expert group felt this inflation of the NSSO consumption estimate was not required. Recently the recommendations of the expert group has been accepted by the government and now the poverty line is taken as  given by the expert group.

The Planning Commission estimates persons living below the poverty line at national and state level from the large sample surveys on consumer expenditure conducted by the National Sample Survey (NSS) Organisation. The last such survey was conducted in the 56th Round of the NSS covering the period 2003 to June 2004. On the basis of the 30-day recall tabulation in the Key Results of the 55th Round large sample survey of Household Consumer Expenditure in India carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation, the percentage of persons living below the poverty line in the country in 1999-2000 is estimated as 26.1%.

POVERTY ESTIMATES FOR 2004-05

The Planning Commission as the Nodal agency in the Government of India for estimation of poverty[1] has been estimating the number and percentage of poor at national and state levels from the large sample survey data on household consumer expenditure conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

MRP consumption = Mixed Recall Period consumption in which the consumer expenditure data for five non-food items, namely, clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses are collected from 365-day recall period and the consumption data for the remaining items are collected from 30-day recall period.

Strategy to remove poverty

Three-pronged action to alleviate and reduce the poverty

These are:

• acceleration of economic growth,
• human, and social development through literacy, education, health, nutrition, meeting of the minimum needs, elevation of social and economic status of the weaker sections of the society, etc., and
• direct attack on poverty through employment and income generating programmes and assets-building for the poor.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMS IN INDIA

On 15 August 1947, India got political Independence but still it was in economic bondage and faced with the acute problem of poverty (mainly rural) when almost half of its population was below poverty line. In the first three Five Year Plans (1951-1966), the dominant thinking in the policy planning was that poverty could be effectively tackled through general growth process and that the benefits of higher growth would automatically ‘trickle down’ to poor masses and alleviates their poverty. In the First Plan the emphasis therefore, was placed on agriculture development which shifted to industry in the next two plans. During this period, emphasis was also placed on land reforms, communist development and cooperative movements but many things went wrong and hence no specific attempts were made to tackle rural poverty directly. But nonetheless, various anti poverty programs were put to experiment around this period. It was during the Fourth Five Year Plan that the focus shifted from growth to the ‘direct attack’ on poverty; and special attention was given to poverty alleviation i.e. ‘Garibi Hatao’. We will come back to this phase a little later. It is sufficient to note here that alleviation of rural poverty has been centered on the development agenda of the country since Independence. In this paper, we will take stock of the various poverty alleviation programs launched in the last fifty years in India and argue that they were experimented and tested before they were implemented. The rural poverty alleviation schemes which are now being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment, can be grouped in four categories viz. (i) wage employment schemes; (ii) self employment schemes, (iii) area development and land reforms schemes and (iv) the social benefit schemes. Let us see these schemes in detail one by one.

Wage Employment Schemes

The Rural Manpower Program (RMP) was started in 1960-61 in 32 community development blocks on a pilot basis for utilizing rural labour force which was later extended to 1000 blocks by 1964-65 and remained in operation till 1968-69. The objective was to generate employment of 100 days to at least 2.5 million persons during the Third Plan, but could generate only 137 million mandays of employment. In the Fourth Five Year Plan, the Crash Scheme for Rural Employment (CSRE) was started (April, 1971) for three year period for generation of 315 million mandays for 1000 persons in each of 350 districts of the country every year through labour intensive works. Alongwith CSRE, a Pilot Intensive  Rural Employment Program (PIREP) was started in November 1972 in 15 selected community blocks for a three year period, to provide additional employment opportunities for unskilled labour 18.16 million mandays of employment were generated under PIREP. Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP) was launched as Rural Works Program (RWP) in 1970-71 in the end of Fourth Five Year Plan the program was changed to an Area Development scheme on the recommendations of the task force on Integrated Rural Development Program (1973). In the Fourth Five Year Plan, Small Farmers Development Agency and Marginal Farmers and Agricultural labour were started in 85 districts and later expanded in 160 districts in the Fifth Five Year Plan. The emphasis in both the schemes was on self employment through diversification of farm economy of small & marginal farmers and agricultural laborers.

Culmination of earlier experiences was in the Food for Work Program (FWP) which started in 1997, as wage employment scheme, and Integrated Rural Development Program (RDP) in 1976. We will come back to IRDP a little later and continue with wage employment scheme. The FWP aimed at generation of employment by utilizing available stocks of foodgrains. Employment of 979.32 million mandays were generated during the year 1977-78 to 1979-80 (September). This scheme became very popular in the rural areas and came to be recognised as a major instrument of rural employment. FFW was restructured and renamed as National Rural Employment Program in October, 1980. The program became part of Sixth Five Year Plan from April. 1981 and was implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme on 50-50 sharing basis between the Centre and states with the objectives of generation of additional gainful employment, creation of durable community assets and raising of nutritional standards of the rural poor During Sixth Plan the total expenditure on implementation of NREP was Rs. 1873.00 crore and the employment generation during the period was 1775.18 million mandays. To supplement NREP and also to provide employment to at least one member from each landless household for 100 days in a year, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP) was launched in August, 1983,  as 100% Central funded program covering the entire country. During the Seventh Plan, an expenditure of Rs. 7809.93 crore was made and 3496.30 million mandays were generated under NREP & RLEGP. It has however, not been possible to provide 100 days of employment to at least one member of each landless household in a year as was envisaged under RLEGP.

It was found in the evaluation of NREP  that about 53% villages of the country were such that not a single work was taken up under NREP in its implementation of nine years or so. In spite of the clear guidelines that the felt needs of the village people should be reflected in the works program, there was not much involvement of the people at the grassroots level in identifying the works and implementation of these programs. It is in this background, in 1989-90 a massive program of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana was launched by merging NREP and RLEGP. The expenditure under JRY is shared between the Centre and the states on 80-20 basis. Apart from the commitment of Government to empower the village level institutions, one of the reasons for the launching of JRY was to take to wage employment programs to each and every village in the country. In 1993-94, the element of assurance was added in the wage employment programs by launching Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) in 1746 blocks and to supplement the efforts of JRY to generate additional gainful employment. EAS is quite similar to JRY except that an assurance  of 100 days of employment is provided under EAS is quite similar to JRY except that an assurance of 100 days of employment is provided under EAS in the form of casual manual work to all those rural poor who need and seek employment in lean season. The worker who wants to get employment has to register with the village panchayat and when 10-20 such persons demand work, the block level officer provides employment by opening up new works or on the existing works. Under JRY and EAS employment is provided in the form of casual manual work on minimum wages in the rural areas, by taking up useful community and social assets. In 1993, JRY was also strengthened and deepened, particularly, in backward districts by launching the intensive JRY. The last year of Eighth Plan (1996-97), purely asset oriented programs were de-linked from JRY and EAS was also broadened to include the entire country under its ambit. Now there are basically two programs for the wage employment i.e. JRY and EAS which are being implemented in all the rural areas in the country. Quite substantial amount of funds for these schemes have been allocated in recent years. Thus two programs taken together are perhaps the largest wage employment schemes anywhere in the world. The allocation pattern ensures that more funds go to the most backward regions in the country where majority of rural poor live. The disadvantaged sections of the society mostly benefited under these schemes as the concurrent evaluation of JRY shows, is that share of SC/STs and Landless labour was 54% and 38% respectively which also indicates that schemes are self targeting in nature. These schemes develop infrastructure which creates market for other goods and services and improves the operation of product market. It provides congenial environment for investment to perform and prosper.

Million Wells Scheme which started in 1988-89, alongwith wage employment, also creates imitation sources like wells, minor irrigation scheme and land development works which contribute to the production of agricultural commodities including food and well being of the concerned. The target group is the poor, small & marginal farmers and among whom 2/3rd portion has to be from SC/STs.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)

NREGS, which was launched on February 2, 2006, in 200 most backward districts in the first phase, has been expanded to 330 districts in the second phase.. The remaining 266 districts have been notified on September 28, 2007 where the scheme has come into effect.

SAMPOORNA GRAMEEN ROZGAR YOJANA

The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) was launched on 25 September, 2001 by merging the on-going schemes of EAS and the JGSY with the objective of providing additional wage employment and food security, alongside creation of durable community assets in rural areas. The programme is self-targeting in nature with provisions for special emphasis on women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and parents of children withdrawn from hazardous occupations. While preference is given to BPL families for providing wage employment under SGRY, poor families above the poverty line can also be offered employment whenever NREGA has been launched.

The annual outlay for the programme is Rs.10,000 crore which includes 50 lakh tonnes on food grains. The cash component is shared between the Centre and the States in the ratio of 75:25. Food grains are provided free of cost to the States/UTs. The payment of food grains is made directly to FCI at economic cost by the Centre. However, State Governments are responsible for the cost of transportation of food grains from FCI godown to work-site/ PDS shops and its distribution. Minimum wages are paid to the workers through a mix of minimum five kg of food grains and at least 25 per cent of wages in cash. The programme is implemented by all the three tiers of Panchayat Raj Institutions. Each level of Panchayat is an independent unit for formulation of Action Plan and executing the scheme. Resources are distributed among District Panchayat, Intermediate Panchayats and the Gram Panchayats in the ratio of 20:30:50.

The Gram Panchayats can take up any work with the approval of the gram sabha as per their felt need and within available funds. Fifty per cent of the funds earmarked for the gram panchayats are to be utilised for infrastructure development works in SC/ST localities. 22.5 per cent resources must be spent on individual beneficiary schemes meant for SCs / STs out of the resource share of District Panchayat and Intermediate Panchayats. Contractors are not permitted to be engaged for execution of any of the works and no middlemen/intermediate agencies can be engaged for executing works under the scheme. The programme is regularly monitored. The programme is being evaluated through impact studies conducted by reputed institutions and organisations sponsored by the Central/State governments.

Self Employment Programs

We have noted that in the first three five year plans 1951-6, the dominant thinking in the Policy Planning was that poverty could be effectively tackled through the general growth process. Emphasis was, therefore, given to the projects and policies which were expected to have higher growth rate. In the Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-74), special attention was given to alleviation of rural poverty. Special Programs were introduced for the benefit of the poor, relatively less privileged classes and backward -areas. The objective of these Programs was creation of assets, skill development and creation of infrastructure as well as to take up development works in the backward areas. Beneficiary oriented Programs like small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA). Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Laborers Agency (MFAL) aimed at helping the specific target groups of beneficiaries were started.

For taking up any economic activity one needs capital. Poverty one needs capital. Poverty leaves very little with poor to save and invest in economic activity. Credit to poor is rarely available and if available it is on very high rate of interest which affects the profitability of the project taken up with this credit. All India Rural Credit Survey (Gorwala Committee) found that in 1951-52, institutional credit covered about 7% of the rural households. The supply of credit at reasonable rate of interest to poor becomes important for taking up self employment schemes. It is in this background that the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) was initially started in 1976 in 20 selected districts of the country with the aim to providing subsidized credit to the rural poor for taking up self employment micro enterprise. The program was reviewed in 1978-79 to integrate the methodology and approach of the three major on going special Programs of SFDA, Community Area Development (CAD) and Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP). The underlying contents of these three major Programs were integrated into a new program of IRDP and taken up in 2300 blocks of the country in 1978-79. Upto 1978-79, IRDP was a Central sector scheme and 100% funds were provided by the Central Government. During 1979-80, this program was made a centrally sponsored scheme in which funding was shared on 50-50 basis between the Centre and the states. IRDP was extended to all the blocks in the country w.e.f. 2nd October, 1980. Since then IRDP continues to be a major instrument of poverty alleviation in the rural areas. IRDP a self employment scheme, aims at enabling the identified rural poor families to augment their income and cross the poverty line through acquisition of credit based productive assets. Assistance is given in the form of subsidy and credit. Under this scheme 50% of the assisted families are supposed to be from SC/STs. More than 50 million families have been assisted under IRDP. The program is being further strengthened by promotion of group activities and cluster approach where 5 beneficiaries can secure a subsidy of upto Rs. 1.25 lakh for a project costing Rs. 2.5 lakh. Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM) is another self employment scheme which aims to impart technical skill to the rural youth, from the families below the poverty line to enable them  to take up self employment activities. The stipend to trainees, honorarium to trainees and cost of raw materials have been enhanced significantly to make the program attractive, both to trainees as well as to the trainers. Strengthening of training Infrastructure, enlarging training facilities and exploring new areas of training in modern ventures are emphasized. The need to impart training through established recognised training institutes like ITIs, Polytechnics, Krishi Vigyan Kendras has been stressed. To enable the rural artisans to enhance the quality of their products increase their production, productivity efficiency and income as also to reduce their  drudgery and migration to urban areas, a special scheme for Supply of Improved Tool-kits was introduced as sub scheme of IRDP in 1992. A tool-kit costing Rs. 2000 is being provided to the identified rural artisans who are required to contribute only 10% of this cost. In case of power driven tool-kits, this limit is Rs. 4,500. Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) was implemented in only 355 districts in 1993-94, and now it has been extended to all the districts of the country and aims at strengthening the gender component of IRDP. The scheme provides a revolving fund to groups of women for taking up self employment activities. Rs. 25000 is provided as revolving fund to groups of 10 to 15 women members. Child care activities have been incorporated in DWCRA program with specific emphasis on girl child dropouts and illiterate members of the DWCRA groups. The Community Based Convergent Services (CBCS), a component of DWCRA was started in 1991 in a few districts (now in 141 districts) of the country with the objective of creating more awarness  among village communities to enable them to demand social services provided by the State in a better manner and also share responsibilities in the management and implementation of  these services, thus leading to sustained development. The Program of ICDS, Drinking Water, National Literacy Mission, Mahila Samakhya are some of the program which are sought to be converged at the grassroots level.

The Union Government has started Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY) with effect from 1-2-1997 in all districts of the country, with the objective of providing irrigation through exploitation of ground water (Borewells and Tubewells) to individuals and groups of beneficiaries belonging to poor, small & marginal farmers. The individual/groups would be assisted through Government subsidy and term loan by financial institutions. Under this new scheme 80% funds were given by the Centre and 20% by the state governments.

SWARNAJAYANTI GRAM SWAROZGAR YOJANA

The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) was launched as an integrated programme for self-employment of the rural poor with effect from 1 April 1999. The objective of the scheme is to bring the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into Self Help Groups (SHGs) through the process of social mobilisation, their training and capacity building and provision of income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy. The scheme emphasizes establishment of activity clusters through selection of key activities based on aptitude and skill of the people, availability of resources and market potentiality. The scheme adopts a process approach and attempts to build the capacities of the rural poor. It provides for involvement of NGOs/CBOs/Individuals/Banks and /Self Help Promoting Institutions in nurturing and development of SHGs, including skill development. The scheme provides for the cost of social intermediation and skill development training based on the local requirement. Flexibility has been given to the DRDAs/States in the utilisation of funds for training, sanction of Revolving Fund, subsidy for economic activity based on the stage of development of groups. The focus of the programme is on establishing a large number of microenterprises in rural areas based on the ability of the poor and potential of each area, both land-based and otherwise, for sustainable income generation. Due emphasis is being laid on different components such as capacity building of the poor, skill development training, credit, training, technology transfer, marketing and infrastructure. The subsidy allowed under the SGSY is 30 per cent of the total project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 7,500 (for SC/STs and disabled persons subsidy limit is 50 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 10,000). For Self-Help Groups(SHGs), subsidy would be 50 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs. 1.25 lakh or per capita subsidy of Rs. 10,000, whichever is less. There is no monetary ceiling on subsidy for minor irrigation projects for SHGs as well as individual swarozgaris. The SGSY has a special focus on the vulnerable groups among the rural poor. SC/STs account for at least 50 per cent, women 40 per cent and the persons with physical disability constitute 3 per cent of the Swarozgaries respectively. The SGSY seeks to promote multiple credits rather than a one-time credit injection The SHGs may consist of 10-20 members and in case of minor irrigation,and in case of disabled persons and difficult areas, i.e., hilly, desert and sparsely populated areas, this number may be a minimum of five. Self Help Groups should also be drawn from the BPL list approved by the Gram Sabha. The SHGs broadly go through three stages of evolution such as group formation, capital formation through the revolving fund and skill development and taking up of economic activity for income generation. Selection could be made up to 10 key activities per block based on local resources, occupational skills of the people and availability of market so that the Swarozgaris can draw suitable incomes from their investment. Under SGSY each block should concentrate on 4-5 selected key activities and attend to all aspects of these activities in a cluster approach, so that swarozgaris can draw sustainable income from their investments. The scheme lays special emphasis on development of swarozgaris through well designed training courses tailored to the activities selected and the requirement of each swarozgari. SGSY is being implemented through the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), with active involvement of panchayati raj institutions, banks and NGOs. It is financed on 75:25 cost-sharing basis between the Centre and the states.

Social Benefit Programs

Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)

One of the social benefit schemes for the poor household is rural areas in Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) Under IAY which was a sub scheme of JRY and is now independent scheme (from Jan., 1996) houses are provided free of cost to the SC/STs family and freed bonded laborers and now to the other poor as well in rural areas. Every year a target construct on of one million houses is fixed and already more than 3 million houses have been constructed under the scheme.

National Of Age Pension Scheme (NDAPS)

National Of Age Pension Scheme (NDAPS) and National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) which were started in 1995, aim to provide social security to the disadvantaged sections of society, who can not participate in the development process due to their age, sex, infinity etc. Under the NCAPS, persons over 65 years who have no regular means of subsistence, are provided Rs. 75 per month. Under the NFBS, in care of the death of the primary breadwinner of the family below poverty line is provided Rs. 5000 (natural death) and Rs. 10,000 (death due to accidental cases). Under the NMBS a lump sum cash assistance of Rs. 300 is given to the pregnant women for the first two live births.

Safe drinking water and sanitation are basic needs for the improvement of quality of life and enhancement of productive efficiency of the citizens. Drinking water is defined as safe if it is free from bacteria and chemical contamination (fluoride, brackishness, excess iron, arsenic, nitrate be bond their permissible limits). Accelerate of Rural Water Supply Program e(ARWSP) aims to provide sustainable safe drinking water, o the entire rural population over the next few years, by following the norms of 40 liters of safe drinking water per capita per day (lpcd) for human beings 30 lped additionally for cattle in the desert areas. One handpump for every 250 persons. There is also a scheme for construction of sanitary latrines in rural areas which is called Central Rural Sanitary Program.

National Rural Health Mission

The National Rural Health Mission was launched on April 12, 2005, to provide accessible, affordable and accountable quality health services to the poorest households in the remotest rural regions.

Conclusion

Development has to encompass all aspects of improvement in the quality of life on the people economic betterment of people and social transformation. It has to ensure that benefits of growth should reach the poor. Poverty being a complex and multidimensional problem, multipronged approach and a wide away of efforts have rightly been initiated to tackle the poverty in rural areas. The alleviation of rural poverty is sought to be done through special wage employment, self-employment, area development and social assistance programs. The creation of work opportunities for very poor who are heavily dependent on the slender work opportunities available to them in terms of labour days need special attention Panchayati Raj bodies in rural areas are directly involved in the development process, to ensure genuine democratic decentralization. One of the notable achievements in Indian Development process is eradication of widespread famine in post independence period. Only economic growth would not have done much. This became possible be cause we launched timely and appropriate multi pronged direct attack on poverty. The various programs   started were first tested in the form of pilot or demonstration projects before launching full fledged programs.

In the midst of economic liberalization, adequate attention is being given to the social sector schemes and to those sections of population which are vulnerable to exploitation by market forces. The various sectoral programs, complement and supplement the social sector programs launched by the Government to tackle rural poverty.