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Poverty Alleviation

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Poverty Alleviation

Poverty Alleviation Programmes aims to reduce the rate of poverty in the country by providing proper access to food, monetary help, and basic essentials to the households and families belonging to the below the poverty line.

According to the World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.

As per the Planning Commission of India, the level of poverty in a country can be estimated based on the consumer expenditure surveys that are conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This article will talk about the various Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India and the initiatives taken by the Government of India towards poverty alleviation.

What is Poverty Alleviation?

Poverty Alleviation is the set of steps taken in an economic and humanitarian way for eradicating poverty from a country. According to the World Bank, if a person is living on $1.90 a day or less, then he/she is living in extreme poverty, and currently, 767 million people of the world fall under that category. According to the last released official data, in 2011, 268 million people in India were surviving on less than $1.90 a day. Various Programmes and Schemes under the Government of India were launched to eradicate poverty and for providing basic amenities to the poor households. 

Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Housing for All by 2022 were developed to provide housing to the rural and urban poor. The latest government schemes like Start Up India and Start Up India focuses on empowering people to earn their livelihood

What is Below Poverty Line (BPL)?

Below Poverty Line (BPL) can be defined as an economic benchmark used in the identification of economically weaker people and households. BPL is set by the Government of India based on a threshold income. The households or individuals having an income below this threshold value are considered to be under the below poverty line.

Measuring BPL in India

The poverty line solely depends on the per capita income in India rather than the level of prices. The poverty line is the minimum income required to purchase the basic goods and services that are essential to satisfy the basic human needs. The proportion of the population that is below this poverty line is called the poverty ratio or headcount ratio. Similar approaches are followed by most countries and international institutions for determining BPL. 

In India, the first official rural and urban poverty lines at the national level were introduced in 1979 by Y. K. Alagh Committee. Criteria for the measurement of BPL are different for the rural and urban areas. 

  • Currently, according to the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the degree of deprivation is measured with the help of parameters with scores given from 0–4, with 13 parameters. 
  • Families with 17 marks or less (formerly 15 marks or less) out of a maximum of 52 marks have been classified as BPL. 
  • The poverty line is calculated every 5 years. According to the recent estimation based on inflation,  the threshold income should be more than Rs. 962 a month for urban areas and Rs 768 a month in rural areas i.e., above Rs. 32 a day in an urban area and above Rs. 26 a day in a rural area. 

 

Poverty Alleviation in India- Five Year Plans

Eleven Five Year Plans were launched to eradicate poverty from India. The list of these Five Year Plans that started in the year 1951 is given below:

  • First Five Year Plan (1951- 1956): The plan focused mainly on agriculture and irrigation and aimed at achieving an all-round balanced development. 
  • Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961): It focused on the growth of basic and heavy industries, expansion in employment opportunities, and an increase of 25 per cent in the national income.
  • Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966): The  Chinese aggression (1962), Indo-Pak war (1965), and the severest drought led to the complete failure of the third five-year plan. It was replaced by three annual plans that continued from 1966 to 1969. 
  • Fourth Five Year Plan (1966-1974): It aimed at increasing national income by 5.5 per cent, creating economic stability, reducing inequalities in income distribution, and achieving social justice with equality.
  • Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-1979): This plan mainly focused on the removal of poverty (Garibi Hatao) and aimed in bringing larger sections of the poor masses above the poverty line. It also assured a minimum income of Rs. 40 per person per month calculated at 1972-73 prices. The plan was terminated in 1978 instead of (1979) when the Janata Government came to power.
  • Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985): Removal of poverty was the main objective of the sixth five-year plan with a major focus on economic growth, elimination of unemployment, self-sufficiency in technology, and raising the lifestyles of the weaker sections of the society.
  • Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90): The Seventh Five Year Plan aimed in improving the living standards of the poor with a significant reduction in the incidence of poverty.  
  • Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97): This plan aimed at employment generation but later failed in achieving most of its targets.
  • Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002): The ninth five-year plan focused on the areas of agriculture, employment, poverty, and infrastructure. 
  • Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007): The tenth five-year plan aimed at the reduction of the poverty ratio from 26 per cent to 21 per cent by the year 2007 and also to help the children in completing five years of schooling by 2007. 
  • Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012): The eleventh five-year plan targets towards reducing poverty by 10 percentage points, generating 7 crore new employment opportunities, and ensuring electricity connection to all villages. 

 

Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

As per the 2011-2012 estimation by the Planning Commission of India, 25.7 % of the rural population was under the below-poverty line and for the urban areas, it was 13.7 %. The rate of poverty in the rural areas is comparatively higher than that in the urban areas due to the lack of proper infrastructure, insufficient food supply, and poor employment system. 

The major Poverty Alleviation Programmes that were developed with an initiative to eradicate poverty are mentioned in the table below:

List of Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

Name of the Scheme/Programme

Year of Formation 

Government Ministry

Objectives

Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)1978Ministry of Rural Development
  • To raise the families of identified target groups living below the poverty line through the development of sustainable opportunities for self-employment in the rural sector.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana1985Ministry of Rural Development
  • To create housing units for everyone along with providing 13 lakhs housing units to the rural areas.
  • To provide loans at subsidized rates to the people.
  • To augment wage employment opportunities to the households by providing employment on-demand and through specific guaranteed wage employment every year.
Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)15th August 1995Ministry of Rural Development
  • To provide pension to the senior citizens of India of 65 years or higher and living below the poverty line.
  • It provides a monthly pension of Rs.200 for those aged between 60-79 years and Rs.500 for the people aged above 80 years.
National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)August 1995Ministry of Rural Development
  • To provide a sum of Rs.20,000 to the beneficiary who will be the next head of the family after the death of its primary breadwinner.
Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY)1st April 1999Implemented by the Village Panchayats.
  • Developing the infrastructure of the rural areas which included connecting roads, schools, and hospitals.
  • To provide sustained wage employment to the families belonging to the below poverty line.
Annapurna1999-2000Ministry of Rural Development
  • To provide 10 kg of free food grains to the eligible senior citizens who are not registered under the National Old Age Pension Scheme.
Food for Work Programme2000sMinistry of Rural Development
  • It aims at enhancing food security through wage employment. Food grains are supplied to states free of cost, however, the supply of food grains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns has been slow
Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)––
  • The main objective of the scheme continues to be the generation of wage employment, creation of durable economic infrastructure in rural areas and provision of food and nutrition security for the poor.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)2005Ministry of Rural Development
  • The Act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household. One-third of the proposed jobs would be reserved for women. The central government will also establish National Employment Guarantee Funds.
  • Similarly, state governments will establish State Employment Guarantee Funds for implementation of the scheme. Under the programme, if an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
National Food Security Mission2007Ministry of Agriculture
  • To increase production of rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country
National Rural Livelihood Mission2011Ministry of Rural Development
  • It evolves out the need to diversify the needs of the rural poor and provide them jobs with regular income on a monthly basis. Self Help groups are formed at the village level to help the needy
National Urban Livelihood Mission2013Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
  • It focuses on organizing urban poor in Self Help Groups, creating opportunities for skill development leading to market-based employment and helping them to set up self-employment ventures by ensuring easy access to credit
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana2014Ministry of Finance
  • It aimed at direct benefit transfer of subsidy, pension, insurance etc. and attained the target of opening 1.5 crore bank accounts. The scheme particularly targets the unbanked poor
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana2015Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
  • It will focus on fresh entrant to the labour market, especially labour market and class X and XII dropouts
Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)2014Ministry of Rural development
  • To develop the institutional and physical infrastructure in three villages by 2019. The scheme aims to develop five ‘Adarsh Villages’ or ‘Model Villages’ by 2024.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana2015Ministry of Finance
  • The scheme provides life coverage to the poor and low-income section of the society. The scheme offers a maximum assured amount of Rs.2 lakhs
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana2015Ministry of Finance
  • The scheme is an insurance policy to the people belonging to the underprivileged sections of the society
National Maternity Benefit Scheme2016Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW)
  • To provide a sum of Rs.6000 to a pregnant mother who is aged above 19 years.
  • The sum is provided normally 12–8 weeks before the birth in three instalments and can also be availed even after the death of the child.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)2016Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
  • It envisages the distribution of 50 million LPG connections to women below the poverty line
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)2016Ministry of Finance
  • the scheme provides an opportunity to declare unaccounted wealth and black money in a confidential manner and avoid prosecution after paying a fine of 50% on the undisclosed income. An additional 25% of the undisclosed income is invested in the scheme which can be refunded after four years, without any interest.
Solar Charkha Mission2018Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
  • It aims at Employment generation for nearly one lakh people through solar charkha clusters in rural areas
National Nutrition Mission (NNM), Poshan Abhiyan2018Ministry of Women and Child Development
  • to reduce the level of under-nutrition and also enhance the nutritional status of children in the country. Also, to improve the nutritional outcomes of adolescents, children, pregnant women and lactating mothers
Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM)2019Ministry of Labour and Employment
  • It is a central government scheme that is introduced for old age protection and social security of Unorganised Workers (UW)
Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi – PM SVanidhi2020Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)
  • It aims to provide micro-credit facilities to street vendors affected due to COVID-19 pandemic

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