Poverty In Urban India | EssayIvy.com

Running Head: POVERTY IN URBAN INDIA 1

Poverty in Urban India

John Ford

Institution

POVERTY IN URBAN INDIA 2

Poverty can be defined as the overall scarceness of money. It is a state of lacking

money and material possessions leading to the inability of one to provide for oneself and

family. Poverty is a complex concept with several dimensions including socio-economic

and political facets. On the very extreme end, poverty makes one unable to acquire basic

and essential needs such as shelter, food, and clothing. Such a level of poverty is described

as absolute. Sometimes people may not be poor but are unable to delight in a definite least

standard of life. Such people are said to be relatively poor. The advent of industrial

revolution saw a decline in the cost of production of goods. This was to eventually lead to

a reduced cost of living. However, as governments established their authorities, several

factors sprang up that saw the poverty level begin to rise and reach the unprecedented

maximum levels. This paper seeks to address the causes and levels of poverty in urban

India. The paper will also address how various levels of poverty has affected the present-

day Government of India. In addition, this paper will put forward the measures that have

been set in place to curb this menace in the country that now threatens to rob the nation of

its international reputation (Lu?sted, 2010, p.51). Based on sources ranging from books

and journals to online primary sources and repositories, the subject of the paper intends to

provide an insight into issues of poverty among the people living in urban India.

As aforementioned in the preceding paragraph poverty is regarded as a state of

deprivation where there is a lack of essential needs for subsistence. Poverty is often

characterized by several indicators including inadequacy of food, shelter, and clothes. India

is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is considered as one of the poorest countries

in the world; with a large section of its population being unable to get two meals a day and

the living standards is far below the stated standard (Asian Development Bank, 2009, p.99).

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Poor people are the depressed and deprived class. They do not get proper nutrition and diet.

Their conditions have not sufficiently improved even long after over 65 years of the

Country's Independence.

Nearly 70 years since India attained independence, the condition of poor people in

India may have improved but the task is far from complete. This menace of poverty is

killing India slowly and making it not to get to its fullest potential due to several reasons.

First, poor people are constantly migrating from rural areas into cities and urban towns in

search of employment/financial activity to enable them to meet the basic needs. Secondly,

there are millions of urban people whose income level is on borderline of what is

considered the minimum poverty level. Also tied to this is the fact that the income of the

urban poverty stricken population is highly unstable. A large number of them are either

casual workers or self-employed. Thirdly, financial institutions and banks have been

reluctant to provide the people with loans because of their unstable income. Fourthly, about

35% of the total population of the four metro cities (Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai)

consists of slum population. This is further worsened by the fact that a large portion of

people living in slums is illiterate. It is imperative to note that the initiatives that were taken

to deal with the problem of urban poverty in India has not yielded the desired results

(Gupta, 2008, p.154).

These come after collection of the door to door data that was used by the

government to analyze the rate at which poverty has been curbed in urban India. The

government of India used a parameter that excluded government employment, ownership

of two-wheelers, refrigerator, farming of at least more than 5 acres piece of land and many

others. But this estimation is just part of the story, solving it is another task that is

POVERTY IN URBAN INDIA 4

considered to be equally important as the other. India's economy had only grown by 4.7%

at the end of February report release (Group, 2016, p.85). The urban centers of India are

considered as the home of a third of the world's poor; the slave of the world as it is

commonly known (Group, 2016, p.94).

Worldwide, the gap between the poor and the rich is increasing and at a faster rate

than before. It has been noted that only 35 million people in India have been elevated from

poverty as compared to that of China where about 678 million people have been elevated

from poverty and because of this the poor in India continue to suffer as the rich continue

to enjoy (Menon, 1997, p.37). This, in fact, has brought about neglect to the concerns of

development. As the International Monetary Fund has stated in its meeting last year that

"inequality harms the pace and sustainability of growth over the long term". This comes

because of a number of factors which includes rural to urban migration that is still going

on, an industrial sector that is contracting and the growing labor force that is unskilled.

The rate at which urbanization is growing in India is high with its population set to grow

from about 28 % that was in 2011 to roughly about 37.8% that is by 2025. The

manufacturing sector of the country is shrinking slowly and has been unable to absorb the

pressure of the labor force of the migrants. This has created more problems in urban

unemployment and slums are continuing to grow and spread far and wide. The end result

is a widening income inequality gap that continues to grow each day. It is said that the

persistent policy with regard to poverty eradication is to be blamed since this issue has been

there for a long gestation (Paik, 2014, p.63) and continues to evade the matter of addressing

poverty and the legitimate needs that are of the urban India which is growing fast.

POVERTY IN URBAN INDIA 5

In a speech, one India's Finance Minister was quoted saying, "Indian industry is the

Achilles heel of the country's economy" (Mashru, 2014, p.74). The manufacturing

industries have the capability to be the engine of the economic growth in India but this

sector is still looming in darkness and hobbled with skilled workers shortage, their

electrification is much worse and there is an inflexible system of hiring and firing of

workers. It has been noted that the ability of India to create more job opportunities is

declining with each year as it passes that is' Reverse migration' its biggest stock is being

squandered because of the shortages of job opportunities, the manufacturing sector being

a stumbling block and is much desperate for the skills that are in deficit. (Barnett, 1973,

p.128).

Generally, an increase in urban population comes with a cost. Most of them come

in search of financial activities and employment. With an increased population, the income

of 8 crore people in this urban settlement drops to below the threshold whereby they start

living below the poverty lines due to the unskilled expertise which compromises the quality

of the final products in the usage of the existing resources (Barnett, 1973, p.147); others

have unstable income, leading to lack of the ability to get loans and mortgage, resulting in

the issues of slums that cities like Kolkata, Delhi, and Mumbai have been at the helm.

Housing is a major parameter to gauge the quality of life in cities. With slum dwellings

mushrooming all over, sanitation becomes an issue of concern, the gap between the rich,

the middle class and poor is drawn and widened. Among the large poor population fall

mainly those who are illiterate and unskilled, making it difficult and challenging for the

government initiatives to curb poverty levels. This has further deepened the crisis of

poverty that continues to grow.

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On the contrary and unlike the rural areas where domestic and foreign investments

are sparse, the urban centers are seen as an area of economic growth. Despite, urban centers

continue to languish in poverty like the headless chicken having no sense of direction

(D'Monte, 2013, p.169). The social corruption and rivalries bring out the division, more so

from the Indian culture and when the state steps in it becomes worse as people start to

segregate themselves in social classes; that is one will get the advantage of getting the

social services while the other will not. It is a form of an institutional segregation (Rahman,

2007, p.271)

There are high levels of illiteracy among members due to the high rate of poverty.

The majority of the population in India are poor thus they have been deprived the privilege

of basic necessities thus getting education becomes difficult for them. There has been an

increase in child labor as children are exposed to different manual activities in a bid to meet

the needs of their families. (Kaur, 2011, p.107). The kind of diet and nutrition that they get

is not balanced and lacks adequate nutrition. With the limited resources, they work

tirelessly in order for them to afford a meal. Unemployment becomes another issue with

high rise in poverty level. Chances of one getting a job are minimal.

In conclusion, poverty is a national problem and it must be solved on a war footing.

The government is taking a number of steps to mitigate poverty. Eradication of poverty

would ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth of economy and society. We all should

do everything possible and within our limits to help alleviate poverty from our country.

The most concerns should be placed on bringing out equity in resources in the urban areas

more so in slum dwellings more so the government should support the upcoming small

dwellings in towns. Organizing of committees in the slums is another important aspect to

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be considered, the expansion of the sewer systems in order to improve on sanitation and

availability of clean water; all this will be maintained by the committee formed in the slum

dwellings and act as a watchdog to proper lifestyle. They should also include the poor in

the data collected by the government, for as long as they are still left out, it renders them

as the invincible population and investments will be much delayed as the data will be

skewed. The government needs to invest more on the slums pillar as this will help minimize

the growth of the slums and transform them for better living standards. The incident of

poverty in urban India has been archetypal with regard to the mismanagement urban

growth. It is in the cities that poverty and destitution are now fostered at a rate that has not

been seen before. Poverty in urban India has led to the addition of an entire fresh type of

nauseating facets to it. These include violence, disease, social disintegration and moral

decay. This must be stopped.

POVERTY IN URBAN INDIA 8

References

Analysis of Poverty, Openness and Literacy in India, Sadananda Prusty, Paradigm Dec.

2009

Asian Development Bank. (2009). Urban poverty in India. New Delhi, India: BS Books.

Barnett, S. (1973). Urban Is As Urban Does: Two Incidents On One Street In Madras City,

South India1. Urban Anthropology, pp. 129-160.

Cuases, Effect, Injustice and Exclusion. (2016, February 5). Retrieved from POVERTIES:

http://www.poverties.org/blog/poverty-in-india

D'Monte, D. (2013). Mumbai MegaCity. In M. Kamat, Mumbai Past And Present (pp. 169-

176). Indus Source Books.

Dossal, M. (2013). Eating up the sky:Private Greed Versus Public Need in Mumbai 's

Housing. In M. Kamat, Mumbai Past and Present (pp. 154-166). Indus source

Book.

Group, W. B. (2016). India's Poverty Profile. The World Bank.

Kaur, R. (2011). Framing the Body and the Body of Frame:Item songs in popular Hindi

cinema. Delhi: University of Delhi.

sted, M. A. (2010). Poverty. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub.

Mashru, R. (2014). India's Growing Urban Poverty. The Diplomat.

Menon, A. G. (1997, November 15-21). Imagining the Indian City. Economic and Political

Weekly, pp. 2932-2936.

Paik, S. (2014). Building Bridges: Articulating Dalit and African American Women's

Solidarity. Women's Studies Quarterly, pp. 74-96.

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Pandey, G. (2014, May 8-14). Politics of Difference: Reflections on Dalit and African

American Struggles. Economic and Political Weekly, pp. 62-69.

Rahman, M. R. (2015). Locale, Everyday Islam, and Modernity: Qasbah Towns and

Muslim Life in Colonial India, 170-182.

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