Poverty is still heavy in India, due to overpopulation and unemployment

Satyavan 'Saurabh'

Poverty is still heavy in India, due to overpopulation and unemployment

Most of the rural poor are agricultural laborers (who are generally landless) and self-employed small farmers with less than 2 acres of land. They do not even get employment throughout the year. As a result, they remain unemployed and under-employed for a large number of days a year. Inflation, especially rising food prices, raises the cost of the minimum consumption expenditure required to meet basic needs. Thus, inflation pushes many families below the poverty line. Because of the unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits of direct poverty alleviation programs have been appropriated by the non-poor. The amount of resources allocated for these programs is not substantial compared to the magnitude of poverty. The programs depend mainly on the government and bank officials for their implementation. Since such officers are unfairly motivated, inadequately trained, prone to corruption, and vulnerable to pressure from various types of the local elite, resources are used inefficiently and wasted.

India's population in 1991 was 84.63 million and the current population of India as of Saturday, October 15, 2022, is 1,641,067,722,554, based on the world meter expansion of the latest United Nations data. Rapid population growth causes excessive subdivision and fragmentation of holdings. As a result, there has been a sharp decline in the availability of land per capita and households do not have access to sufficient land to generate sufficient production and income. The rapid increase in population in India since 1951 has resulted in low growth in per capita income, which has lowered the standard of living of the people. Due to the continuous increase in population, there is chronic unemployment and under-employment in India. There is educated unemployment and disguised unemployment, and poverty is just a reflection of this aspect. The first important reason for widespread poverty in India is the lack of adequate economic development in India. Despite the increase in national income and savings rate since independence, poverty in India has not been reduced sufficiently. Industrial development did not create many employment opportunities. Growth strategy primarily benefited the rich rather than aiding the poor. Capital-intensive and labor-displacing technology was adopted in growing industries. As a result, unemployment and under-employment increased.

Moreover, due to the increase in income inequalities during this period, the increase in the average per capita income could not bring about a significant increase in the per capita income of the weaker sections of society. Furthermore, the trickledown effect of overall economic growth was only somewhat lasting. The experience of Punjab and Haryana shows that, through the use of new high-yielding technology (during the Green Revolution), the poverty ratio in agricultural development can be significantly reduced. However, in various states of the country like Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the poverty ratio is still very high; The new high-yielding technology has not been adopted on a significant scale and as a result, the agricultural performance has not been good. As a result, poverty is widespread among them. Moreover, Indian policymakers have neglected public sector investment in agriculture, especially irrigation. As a result, irrigation facilities whose availability ensures the adoption of new high-yielding technology and leads to higher productivity, income, and employment, are not available in more than 33 percent of cultivable land. As a result, many parts of the country remain semi-arid and rainfed, where agricultural productivity, income, and employment are not sufficient to ensure a significant poverty reduction. Equal access to land is an important way to reduce poverty. Full employment of the members of an agricultural family requires access to sufficient land, a productive asset.

Most of the rural poor are agricultural laborers (who are generally landless) and self-employed small farmers with less than 2 acres of land. They do not even get employment throughout the year. As a result, they remain unemployed and under-employed for a large number of days a year. Inflation, especially rising food prices, raises the cost of the minimum consumption expenditure required to meet basic needs. Thus, inflation pushes many families below the poverty line. Because of the unequal distribution of land and other assets, the benefits of direct poverty alleviation programs have been appropriated by the non-poor. The amount of resources allocated for these programs is not substantial compared to the magnitude of poverty. The programs depend mainly on the government and bank officials for their implementation. Since such officers are unfairly motivated, inadequately trained, prone to corruption, and vulnerable to pressure from various types of the local elite, resources are used inefficiently and wasted.

There is also non-participation of local-level institutions in program implementation. The overlapping of similar government schemes is a major reason for being ineffective as it creates confusion among poor people and officials and the benefits of the scheme do not reach the poor. The poverty alleviation program may not correctly identify and target the exact number of poor households in rural areas. As a result, some households that are not registered under these programs benefit from facilities instead of eligible ones. Capital and efficient entrepreneurship play an important role in driving growth. But these are in short supply, making it difficult to significantly increase production compared to other developing countries. Successful implementation of any program is not possible without the active participation of the poor. Poverty can be effectively eradicated only when the poor start contributing to development through their active participation in the development process. This is possible through the process of social mobilization, encouraging poor people to participate to empower them and efforts should be made to accelerate economic growth, avoiding the use of capital-intensive technologies imported from Western countries. Instead, we should follow the labor-intensive path of economic development. Monetary and fiscal policies should be adopted that provide incentives for using labor-intensive techniques.

Higher agricultural growth leads to a lower poverty ratio. The experience of Punjab and Haryana has confirmed this inverse relationship between agricultural development and poverty. It is also true that the all-India level of employment generated by the new Green Revolution technology has been canceled by increasing the mechanization of agricultural operations in different parts of the country. Thus, in light of the discovery of zero employment elasticity of agricultural production, the positive impact of agricultural development on the income of small farmers and in particular on the wage income of agricultural laborers cannot be denied. Therefore, there is a need to balance the two aspects, simultaneously increasing public investment in infrastructure and ensuring adequate access to credit for small farmers. The focus on education, health, and skill development not only creates good employment opportunities but also increases the productivity and income of the poor. Therefore, there is a need for efficient implementation of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), etc. The growth of non-farm employment in rural areas is of particular importance for reducing poverty. Non-farm jobs can be created in marketing (ie, small business), transportation, handicrafts, dairy and forestry, processing of food and other agricultural products, repair workshops, etc. The rapid growth of population after independence has led to greater sub-division and fragmentation of agricultural holdings, and consequently a lack of employment opportunities for agricultural laborers.

The redistribution of land through effective measures, such as the implementation of tenancy reforms to ensure tenure security and the fixation of reasonable rents, can be an important measure of alleviating rural poverty. Poverty alleviation has always been acknowledged by policymakers as one of India's main challenges. Per capita income and the average standard of living have improved; Even though some progress has been made towards meeting basic needs; compared to the progress made by many other countries, our performance has not been impressive. Therefore, there is a need for actions to take the fruits of development to all sections of the population.