Poverty As Challenge
NCERT Exercise Solution
Part 2
Question 6: Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.
Answer: Poverty level shows wide variations in different states of India. Kerala has the least poverty ratio at about 15%, while tops the chart with 81% of the population living below poverty line.
Question 7: Describe global poverty trends.
Answer: The percentage of people living below povery line has fallen from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015; in the world. The reduction was quite sharp in China, and percentage of poor reduced from 88.3% in 1981 to 14.7% in 2008. The decline in number of poor was also significant in other countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan), where it reduced from 34% in 2005 to 16% in 2013.
In Sub Saharan Africa, poverty decreased from 51% in 2005 to 41% in 2015. In Latin America poverty level decreased from 10% in 2005 to 4% in 2015.. Poverty has resurfaced in Russia and some of the former communist countries.
Question 8: Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation?
Answer: The current anti-poverty measures are targetted at two planks, viz. promotion of economic growth and anti-poverty programmes. Economic growth helps in overall improvement of income through employment generation and hence is highly important to reduce poverty. Anti-poverty programmes are aimed to help those who suffer because of socioeconomic inequality. Such programmes are an attempt to support poor people so that they can improve their condition.
Question 9: What do you understand by human poverty?
Answer: A general scarcity of basic necessities of life is called poverty. The basic necessities include food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, sanitation, etc. Some of the issues which are related to poverty are; Landlessness, Unemployment, Size of families, Illiteracy, Poor health/malnutrition, Child labour and Helplessness.
Question 10: Who are the poorest of the poor?
Answer: People who are unable to fulfill even the most basic needs; like food, shelter and clothing are called the poorest of the poor.
Question 11: What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Answer: MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme): This programme was originally started in 2005 as NREGA. Under this programme, one member of each rural household shall be given 100 days employment in a year. The person should be willing to work for unskilled job. If the government fails to provide employment to a person within fifteen days, he would be getting unemployment allowance in lieu of that. National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) has also been merged with MNREGA.