A Study on Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India and Its Efforts to Reduce Poverty
Challenges and Strategies in Targeting Rural Poverty
by Pooja Mahale*, Dr. H. R. Krishnan Gowda,
- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540
Volume 17, Issue No. 1, Apr 2020, Pages 332 - 338 (7)
Published by: Ignited Minds Journals
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India and its efforts to reduce Poverty. The poverty alleviation programmes in India can be categorized according to their targets and formations. Most of the programmes are designed to target rural poverty as the prevalence of the poverty is high in rural areas. Moreover, targeting of the poor is challenging in rural areas due to various geographic and infrastructure limitations.
KEYWORD
poverty alleviation programmes, India, efforts, reduce poverty, rural poverty, targets, formations, geographic limitations, infrastructure limitations
INTRODUCTION
Poverty reduction, often known as poverty relief or alleviation, refers to a combination of economic and humanitarian policies aimed at bringing people out of poverty permanently. Measures that gather or raise money for the vulnerable as a way of permanently ending suffering, such as those proposed by Henry George in his classical economics. The ways in which the disadvantaged will create money for themselves as a method of permanently eliminating or raising poverty are progress and poverty. Different economists in the Georgian revolution advocate measures such as the land value tax in the new age to improve everyone's access to the natural environment. Poverty may be found in both developing and developed countries. Although pain is more prevalent in wealthy nations, it may be eased in any country. Today's lack of economic liberties is stifling future economic growth. Property rights must be extended to the poor as part of economic liberalization, especially in the case of land. Mobile banking, for example, may make financial services, especially savings, more accessible to the poor. Inefficient institutions, corruption, and political instability may all deter investment. Aid and government support in the fields of health, education, and infrastructure help to boost development by boosting human and physical capital (4). Reduced poverty often entails immediate improvements in the lives of the poor. As the Green Revolution and the eradication of Pockets have shown, aid is critical for improving people's lives, especially in the areas of health and science. One of the issues with today's development assistance is the large percentage of linked aid, which forces recipient nations to purchase goods that are frequently more costly and only come from donor countries. Nonetheless, some individuals think that modest adjustments in the way people in wealthy nations conduct their lives may assist to relieve global poverty (as Peter Singer does in his book The Life You Can Save) (5).
Poverty alleviation programmes
The 9th Five Year Plan anticipated a multi-stage approach because of the magnitude and complexity of the project. The approach involves not just understanding that strong economic growth is necessary for poverty eradication, but also the establishment of rights and skills (by way of self-employment and social security programmes, food security and social security. Since Panchayati Raj's expanded involvement was considered to be the most efficient poverty reduction delivery method, the Plan also focused on governance problems. The effectiveness of the Ministry of Rural Development's initiatives in decreasing poverty is examined in this chapter.
• Integrated Rural Development Programme
The Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) began in 1980-1981 as a significant self-employment programme and ran across the nation until 1 April 1999. The SGSY was later reorganized in an effort to assist impoverished rural workers to establish own enterprises. Swarnjayanti SGSY was
decades, the number of rural poor households has remained steady at 55 million, despite strong development and substantial investment in IRDP and wage programmes. The IRDP has touched 53,50 million households for Rs.13,700 crore since it first started out in 1998-99. were covered by 3,37 million people. During this time, the total investment was Rs 6,431, including Rs 2,266, crore subsidies.
• Allied Programmes
TRYSEM, one of the IRDP's enabling components, aims to provide basic technical and entrepreneurial skills to the rural poor between the ages of 18 and 35 in order for them to engage in income-generating enterprises. TRYSEM training was provided to fewer than 4% of recipients, according to the IRDP's contemporaneous assessment (1992-93). The stipends were all that mattered to the rural kids who had been taught; they had not utilized the information acquired via the program to further their self-employment chances. TRYSEM had a shaky relationship with the broader rural self-employment plan and industrial policy. The training had nothing to do with the students' ability or aptitude, nor with the demand for the talent in question. Given the lack of a technical foundation and the unpredictability of finance availability, it was difficult for skilled rural youth to operate a self-employment business.
• Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
With the force of 1 April 1999, the IRDP was merged into a single programme, known as the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, along with other programmes such as TRYSEM, DWCRA, SITRA, and GKY. The SGSY is an extensive programme which addresses all aspects of self-employment, including rural poverty, training, self-employment participation design and infrastructure supplies, technology, credit and marketing arrangements. The plan still has to be firmly drawn out.
• Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY)
The National Rural Jobs Program (NREP) and the Rural Landless Employment Assurance Program were created on 1 April 1989 as a centrally sponsored JRY system (RLEGP). Their main objective was the development of rural economic infrastructure, community and social assets for the unemployed and underworkers of rural areas to improve rural poverty quality of life. The aims were to offer a more meaningful employment.
• Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana
JGSY seeks to build demand-driven community village infrastructure that will help the rural poor get Sabha permission. The general direction, coordination, management, and monitoring of the projects would be the responsibility of the DRDA/Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samities.
• Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS)
The main objective of EAS is to provide rural poor people with extra income possibilities during a time of severe deprivation. A second goal is to create long-term social, economic and communal assets that will allow long-term jobs and growth. The programme will primarily attract low-paid employees who are below the poverty line despite its accessibility to rural poor people, since it only pays the lowest salary.
• Issues with EAS/JRY Programs in General
Although the above examination of employment-oriented programs like the Employment Assurance Scheme and the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana revealed some flaws, Importantly, these initiatives also played essential role in tackling transitory poverty and providing rural communities with rapid assistance in natural catastrophes like as drought, flooding and earthquakes. Such public works projects are needed, according to Indian researchers in the field of rural development, as well as international experts and donor organizations. However, improving these programs and developing a delivery mechanism that ensures they reach their intended beneficiaries without leaking or diverting funds is essential.
Poverty alleviation through government programmes:
Since India's independence, the government has been formulating and executing numerous Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Programs. India's poverty alleviation programs may be classified based on their goals and structures. The majority of the programs are aimed at reducing rural poverty, which is prevalent in rural regions. Furthermore, owing to numerous geographic and infrastructural constraints, addressing the poor in rural regions is difficult. The programs are divided into four categories: Employment Generation Programs, Target Specific Programs, Area Development Programs, and Twenty Point Programs.
Employment generation programmes
These programs assist the poorest sections of society in the upliftment of the whole community • Self-Employment Programmes In the Five-Year Plans, poverty reduction remained a key goal, and efforts were made to expand the scope of Self-Employment Programs by combining different sectoral activities. • Wage-Employment Programmes In the lean season, drips and floods are the main goal of the wage-employment schema. The national rural employment (NREP) and the rural landless employment guarantees programme were the first salary work programmes established under the sixth and seventh plans (RLEGP). In 1989, both initiatives were combined to form the Rozgar Yojana Jawahar (JRY). The Employment Assurance Program for drought-prone, desert, tribal and hill areas in 1993 was established as a one-of-a-kind pay employment programme. In 2001, Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana merged a few of pay schemes. In 2006, NREGS aimed to increase the sustainability of rural people via a hundred days of paid employment throughout the financial year for the country family whose adult members are allowed to work untrained manually.
TARGET SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES:
• Social Security Programmes
√ Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) As the IRDP sub-planning in September 1982, the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) Program began. Since Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana SGSY merged DWCRA, it no longer exists. This programme was primarily aimed at offering rural women living in poverty enough self-employment opportunities to improve their socio-economic condition. In line with local resources, interests and capacities to achieve economic objectives, the strategy of establishing a group of 10 to 15 women was adopted within the framework of this programme.
√ Marginal Farmers Development Agencies (MFDA)
One of the goals of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-74) was to offer loans for small farmers in order to use new farming methods. The planning Commission instructed such organisations to identify small business owners as well as to propose various ideas to banks to resolve their financial problems. A beneficiary had to get financial assistance of Rs.5000 for every business conducted under this programme, depending on unit costs. A 10% p.a. interest rate was imposed on authorised loans with the money being repaid after a three-month interval in 33 equal monthly instalments. The borrower was additionally provided with a capital subsidy of up to 25% of the project cost. The applicant must live three years outside of the Integrated Rural Development Area in any city, town or location. The monthly household income of the candidate should not exceed Rs.600.
√ Self-Employment to the Educated Unemployed Youth SEEUY
The Indian Government established the Educated Unemployed Youth Self-Employment Program between 1983 and 1984. Unemployed young people with matric or higher education between 18 and 35 years of eligibility for loans under this programme, which included a capital allowance of 25% from the central government, with a family annual income of less than Rs10000.
√ Million Wells Scheme (MWS)
In 1988-89, MWS began as a sub-Plan NREP/RLEGP to provide the STs/SCs, the marginalised and small farmers and the destitute, the marginal and the small-scale STs with open irrigation sources. Although this strategy was autonomously maintained in 1995-96, from 1 April 1989 onwards it was implemented under JRY.
√ Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY):
Aiming at achieving a sustainable human development objective in the village in 2000-01, PMGY was started in all states and unions in 2000-01. The PMGY aims to offer Member States and Union territory with greater central support for certain minimal basic services to concentrate on particular government goals.
√ National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP):
Article 41 of the Indian Constitution requires that, within the limitations of economic capacity and the country's progress, the government provide public help to their people in the events of unemployment, age, disease, disability, as well as other unjustifiable poverty. In 1995, the Indian government established the NSAP as a government-funded initiative to construct the foundation of the National Poor Social Support Policy in conformity with State Policy guiding principles. In addition to the benefits that States
√ Rajiv Awas Yojana On 2 June 2011, a new programme for the redevelopment of slums in the cities, the Cabinet committee authorised the first phase of Rajiv Awas Yojana. The Rajiv Awas Yojana will take place in two stages: two years (2011-13) and the twelfth (2011-13) (2013-17). √ Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY)
The VAMBAY encourages the building and modernisation of villagers and offers the municipal toilet of the Abhiyan Nirmal Bharat a healthy urban environment. VAMBAY was especially developed for slum dwellers as the first of its kind. Federal and state spending is divided by 50:50. The Indian State has given a grant for the construction/upgrades of 459728 residential units and 65580 toilet seats under the Program since its inception. Rs. 932.56 crore is allocated. VAMBAY and the National Slum Development Program (NSDP) have been incorporated into the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP), launched with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission on December 3, 2005 (JNNURM).
• Food Security Programmes √ Annapurna Yojana:
This initiative was initiated on 1 April 2000. It is a completely Federal government-supported approach. It provides meals to the elderly. It contains individuals who qualify, but do not get an old age pension and gives them 10 kilogrammes of food at no cost. From 2002-03, this initiative was developed for countries.
√ Public Distribution System (PDS):
The four fair pricing shops under this programme, guaranteeing their food security, provide poor people with feed grains at a reduced price. This initiative is being implemented in rural as well as urban areas in certain states. This programme uses almost 3% of the state budget. The food support allocation under this programme was Rs. 32667 crore in 2008-09.
√ Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY):
The AAY, which was launched in december 2000, supplies impoverished households with markedly reduced food grains: Rs. 2.00 for wheat and Rs. 3.00 for rice in accordance with the public delivery system. The scheme of distribution AAY (TPDS). The emission scale has increased from 1 April 2002 was extended to additional 50 lakh BPL homes. The State/UT governments raised 41,65 lakh of food grain during the 2003-04 financial year, compared with the overall allotment of 45,56 lakh tonnes under the FYA. The programme, with an additional 50 lakh BPL families in Budget 2004-05, was extended from 1 August 2004. The AAY surpassed 2 crore households with this increase.
Area development programmes
Some programmes, such hills, tribal areas, rainfed regions or drought-prone areas, desert areas, and so on, are intended to improve and develop regions that are especially susceptible. Living in such tough settings is not as simple as it is in more frequent areas. The government of India has thus initiated a number of unique initiatives called as the Special Area Development Program to enhance the living conditions of the residents of those particular areas. The government has developed subplans on the basis of certain regions since the Fifth Plan. The sub-planning approach ensures a degree of regular development effort by non-state plan funds, supplemented by specific central assistance.
• Tribal Area Development Programmes (TADP)
The population of the tribes is 104,281,034 according to the 2011 census (about 8.2 percent of the total population of India). There are 58 tribal groupings of 365 tribal peoples. The Mizoram population is 94%, followed by Lakshadweep (93%), Nagaland (87%), Maghalay (85.3%), Dadra and Haveli of Nagar (98%), Arunachal Pradesh (78.99%), and Mizoram (84.75%, respectively) (78.99 percent ). (64%). (52%). Further, 9 nations and tibal populations are more than the national average in the two Union areas (Daman and Diu and the Andambar Islands) (Manipur, Tripura, Madhe Pradesh, Sikkim, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Rajasthan and Maharashtra) (8.08 per cent).
• Hill Area Development Programmes (HADP)
The hills of the country, particularly in the Himalayan and western Ghats areas, make up approximately 21% and 9% of the population, and are supported by essential natural resources and vulnerable ecosystems. government policies and initiatives, particularly to prevent the degradation of sensitive and irreplaceable ecosystems, have long stressed the need to conserve natural resources and the environment. Since the beginning of the 5th Five Year Plan, the HADP was implemented as a major step forward. The and plains interests, is expected to reach a crucial point during plan 7.
In view of the regional imbalance and other unique situation, the HADP has Unique Central Support (SCA), in addition to the normal flow of money from the State Plans into hill areas. Rs 170 crores, Rs 20 crores of Western Ghats Development Program were given to Plan Fifth (WGDP). In the Sixth Plan, Rs. 560 crores was raised. The Seventh Plan budget of the SCA is Rs. 870. The WGDP included Rs. 116.50. 90% of aid is granted and 10% in the form of loans. 90% is provided. In category (a) of the designated hill areas the available SCA is divided among the component States (paragraph 16.4), with an equal weighting given to population and area. The area weighs 75%, the population weighs 25% in category b areas excluding the district of Nilgiris (which is covered under the previous category). A strategy sub-plan was used to ensure the integration and linkage with other sources of finance, for example State Plans, of projects produced under the SCA. A scheme-by-scheme approach was nevertheless used in the case of WGDP. • Dessert Development Programme
The Thar Desert, which is frequently referred to as the Great Indian Desert, includes Rajasthan and Gujarat and Haryana's western half and areas. The cold dry zone is spread across Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in the northern regions of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, with its dazzling wildness.
The plan, which had essentially the same goals, was accompanied by additional efforts in Kutch, in particular in relation to the DPAP. Four of five development blocks in Kargil district were recommended to be omitted since there is significant rainfall, vegetation and irrigation. It was proposed that the Pooh Subdivision be included in the Himachal Pradesh district of Kinnaur. The programme, compared to 132 prior blocks, included 126 blocks during the sixth plan. Under this programme, the following major efforts have been made: development and use of ground water; structural water collection; rural tube electrification; and reforestation, with an emphasis on reclamation, grassland and sand dune stability, agriculture, gardening, production. production of animals The following major efforts have been made. • Draught Prone Area Programme (DPAP)
The main features of this approach are as follows: The implementation of Watershed development projects alone; Programs and activities will cover a watershed of 500 hectares and will take place on a project-by-project basis over four to five years; the aim of the watershed is to include as many groups. Detailed institutional mechanisms at the various level for effective involvement in all phases of project management by local residents and panchayat Raj institutions (PRIs).
Twenty point programme
Late Prime Minister of India, Ms. Indira Gandhi, in addition to the address given to the country by Satyamev Jayate on 14 January 1982 in which she proclaimed the new national goal of "Shram Eva Jayte," calling on the people to provide uncompromising support to make a successful 20-point plan. The programme is referred to as 'an agenda for the nation,' where the government has chosen areas that would benefit rapidly various sectors of the economy. Increased irrigation potential and supply of agricultural inputs from dryland; Enhance and extend integrated rural development and NREP coverage; The provision of potable water for all communities; allocation and building of housing sites for rural households were included in the 20-point programme.
Planning commission's estimation
The poverty line in rupees is the midpoint of the spending class in which calorie requirements are fulfilled, or the 'food energy approach'. On this basis, the cut-off points for rural and urban regions, respectively, are Rs.27,100 and Rs.32,400 at 1995 prices4. The poverty line has been set at Rs. 16,440 in rural areas5 and Rs. 19,440 in urban areas5 for a family of five. According to the Planning Commission's report, one-fifth (19%) of India's total population of 170 million people live in poverty, a rate that is higher than that of Black Africa.
Expert group: its findings
According to an expert group6 established by the Planning Commission, rural poverty in 1987-88 was 221 million (37.6%), while urban poverty was 81 million (38.9%), resulting in a total poverty level of 302 million in India (about 38 per cent). According to the Expert Group, the percentage of persons living in poverty in 1987-88 was higher in urban regions, at about 39 percent, compared to 37.6 percent in rural areas. According to this group, poverty incidence in urban regions decreased only little between 1983 and 1987-88, while it decreased significantly in rural areas, which is partially explained, on the surface, by a greater rise in the cost of living in urban areas. Furthermore, throughout the 1980s, the advantages of fast industrial development remained concentrated in a few hands, increasing intra-urban inequality and doing nothing to alleviate poverty.
has fallen to about 19% in 1993-94, a number of independent studies by well-known academics like as Suresh Tendulkar and L.R. Jain, S.P. Gupta and Abhijit Sen, and C.P. Chandrasekhar have shown that the poverty rate is in the region of 40%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also rejected official statistics.
Inter - state variations
Poverty, on the other hand, is not evenly spread throughout the nation. The states aren't just a bag of potatoes; there are apples and oranges among them. More than 90% of the rural poor reside in ten main states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, according to a recent state-level research.
Chronic poverty in rural India
Poverty, on the other hand, has been far more important than earlier efforts to measure and explain poverty. In past efforts to explain variations in rural poverty, agricultural production increases and price fluctuations have been used as explanatory variables. Long known is the connection between economic growth and poverty (Ahluwalia: 1978). There has been a large degree of negative inflation effect on the purchasing power of the poor and, therefore, on poverty (Saith: 1981; Dharm Narain's report by Desai: 1985). Stagnant agriculture does not only fail to generate the surplus required for quick non-agricultural growth in a traditional economy like India, but it also worsens inequities10. Researchers have disputed such an assumption that non-farm employment is being neglected as a source for rural income. Exiting these pressures to lead to permanent poverty and stratifying for a significant part of the rural community may need a multi-pronged strategy that may at least partly destroy historical processes of human being marginalisation by monopolising forest resources. It is quite probably a beginning to reformulate the agricultural development strategy. This may be done essentially by restoring people's interests in the forest and other natural resources of the area and their right to them. This may lead to greater cultural and political space for the local population. This may lead to a change in education and other systems of support necessary for improving human capabilities and potential.
Dimensions of rural poverty in India
Our policymakers and academics are now focused on determining the economic condition of individuals and family units. However, the existing standards for measuring the impoverished are insufficient. It is past
Lack of basic amenities for rural people
Despite specific efforts and financial commitments, vital services in rural areas are denied to poor and disadvantaged areas. Many towns and hamlets still have minimal amenities that constitute a pipe dream. The problems have intensified, the population has increased, the common area has declined and resource privatisations like water, forests and land have deteriorated, along with water bodies, rivers, meadows, beaches and public property. Smart Villages have been created by the government in the same way as Smart Cities. On the other hand, the poor and disadvantaged should also be part of these communities.
CONCLUSION:
Poverty was at a constant low throughout the 1980s. Recent estimates, however, indicate that the 9th Plan predictions of reducing the percentage and quantity of people linked to poverty have not been implemented during the first two years of the plan era. The government has created Smart Villages in the same way that Smart Cities have. The poor and disadvantaged, on the other hand, should be included in these communities.
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Corresponding Author Pooja Mahale*
PhD Student, Kalinga University, Raipur