Poverty : struggle for life

India is already Asia’s third largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It’s the second fastest growing country in the world after China. It’s one of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, which optimists think, are rated to become world’s leading economies in the coming decades. Consumer surveys repeatedly talk of upbeat Indians, who are hopeful of the future. The country is young, and that adds more potential to its growth curve. Its dynamic software industry and huge internal market add to its attractiveness as a place to do business. Combined, all this presents a very rosy picture of India. However, this is only a part of the story.

Preliminary figures from the latest (2011) census estimate a population of a little over 1,210 million (1.21 billion). This means, between 17-18% of world’s population lives in this relatively tiny piece of land (an interesting point here is that India is less densely populated that the UK and South Korea). At the same time, however, a publication from journalist and TIME Editor Bobby Ghosh points out that one in three poor people on the planet lives in India. This makes India home to the largest poor population in the world. Though there has been a reduction in the relative number of poor people in the past few decades, the percentage of those living below poverty line still remains shamefully large. Data from the Planning Commission of India shows that while there were a little less than 40% Indian living in poverty during the mid 1980s, it had fallen to 26% some twenty years later in 2005. That is a giant leap forward. However, in recent years, questions have been raised on the government’s methodology to measure poverty.

The Indian government has several well-intentioned giant poverty reduction schemes. Unfortunately most of them don’t work, including the revolutionary Right to Employment, Right to Education, and now the much discussed but yet to be implemented, Right to Food schemes. However, there are some state level schemes, Midday meal in Tamil Nadu, that do an exceptionally good job of alleviating poverty. Thanks to these local approaches, India is well on its way to meet its target of reducing poverty to less than 22% by 2015. And it’s there a new generation of leaders inside and outside the country is focusing on, a decentralised approach to reducing poverty.

For those travelling to India must realise that poverty is a reality in India. You will actually feel the poverty as you travel across the country. The film “Slumdog Millionaire” was somewhat true depiction of poverty in India and some of the issues poor people of India have to face. However, movies like these that show an image of India that is still frozen in poverty and slums sell like hot cakes in the West which is not entirely true. There are efforts and attempts to change the whole thing. Therefore you must come to India with an open mind and leaving your preconceptions behind.