Short essay on the problem of poverty in South Asia

Most studies on poverty are based on two basic parameters, the calorie count and the level of income to meet the minimum calorie requirement.

They do not take into account other basic necessities of life. Human poverty is much more than income poverty, more than a lack of what is necessary for material well being. Human poverty is the denial of choices and opportunities to lead a long, healthy, creative life and enjoy a decent standard of living. Besides income, what distinguishes the poor from the non-poor is the inadequate access to public services such as education, health, drinking water, and electricity.

From this perspective, the levels of human poverty are alarming. The UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) rates South Asia lower than all regions other than sub-Saharan Africa in terms of average achievements in basic human development. In the context of India, Mahbub-ul-Haq says that “the extent of human deprivation is staggering: 135 million people have no access of basic health facilities; 226 million lack access to safe drinking water; about half of India’s adult population is illiterate nearly one third of the total number of absolute poor of the world live in India”. Poverty is basically a rural problem in South Asia. In all countries of this region, poverty is disproportionately concentrated in rural areas.

This is not surprising given that a large number of the people, from 42 per cent in Sri Lanka to 80 per cent in Nepal are still dependent on agriculture as a source of employment. Most of the poor are employed in agriculture or in related occupations. They are predominantly small farmers and landless labourers. They have limited or no access to land and other productive resources. Poor rural households tend to have larger families, with higher dependency ratios, lower educational attainment and higher underemployment. The poor also lack basic amenities such as water, sanitation and electricity.

Their access to credit, inputs and technology is severely limited. As a result of their low levels of social and physical infrastructure, the poor are vulnerable to not only natural calamities such as famine and disease, but even economic fluctuations.

In Bhutan, no authentic and independent study has been done on poverty and income distribution. However, it is estimated that the majority of the 75 per cent people living in rural areas are poor. There is skewed distribution in the size of landholdings. Bhutan does not have any poverty data based on calorie intake and consumption expenditure.

Even while calculating the Human Development Indices Bhutan National Human Development Report 2000 takes into consideration per capita wealth rather than per capita income. Poverty Assessment and Analysis Report 2000, published by Planning Commission of Bhutan showed that 33 per cent of the households have income below the national average. The same document mentions that, “average per capita household income of around Nu 1200 per month, about Nu 40 per person per day, is less than a dollar per person per day on average.”

This as per the definition of the World Bank paints towards the existence of huge portion of the population living below poverty line. India has 72 per cent of its population living in rural areas. Agriculture contributes 28 per cent of the country’s gross national income (GNP). Poverty in all forms is alarmingly massive in India, The issue of poverty alleviation has been central to the planning process rights the First Five Year Plan (1951 -56).

Though several economists and organisations have been consistently conducting studies on the state of poverty in India, the broad methodological questions like criteria for identifying the people below poverty line, the samples, their geographical coverage and the periodicity have always dominated the poverty studies.

The poverty scenario which has been showing a declining trend after the mid-1970s, has acquired an enigmatic dimension particularly in the 1990s. As per the Tenth Plan Document (2002- 2007), the percentage and absolute population below poverty line came down steadily from 54.88 per cent (321.3 million) in 1973-74 to 26.10 per cent (260.3 million) in 1999-2000. In 1973-74, the concentration in the rural areas used to be as high as 81 per cent of the total which gradually came down to 77 per cent 1999-2000.

Official claims that poverty is declining continuously; however it received sharp criticism particularly in the light of ongoing economic reforms. The Planning Commission estimate has been critically contested by a number of experts and institutions. In India, there are regional imbalances in distribution of poverty.

These imbalances tended to increase gradually during the 1980s and rather steeply after the economic reforms were initiated in the early 1990s. It is expected that there will be a great variation in the projections of people below poverty line in the states by the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan in 2006-07. It varies from 2 per cent in States like Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to 41 per cent and 43 per cent respectively in Orissa and Bihar. In the island state of Maldives, the disadvantaged groups, namely those living in the atolls are synonymous with the poor. Although there is no absolute poverty in the country, about 22 per cent of the rural population is poor. One of the major challenges that are facing Maldives has been to ensure that the benefits of growth and development are equitably shared between the nation’s highly dispersed populations.

In Nepal, agriculture still contributes over 40 per cent to national income. Agricultural growth has been poor and rural poverty is much higher than urban poverty. As per the 9th, 1997-2002, the size of population living below the poverty line has been found to b 42 per cent in 1996. Within this also, 24.9 per cent is considered to be the poor and the remaining 17.1 per cent is estimated to be ultra poor. In Nepal, the per capita consumption level has been treated as the criterion.

The Living Standard Survey launched by Central Statistical Organisation in 1996 determined 2124 calorie as per capita per day necessity. On this basis, the per capita annual expenditure to purchase this determined calorie equivalent of food worked out to be Rs. 2637. If the expenditure on non-food items is added to it, the per capita annual expenditure is estimated to stand at Rs 4404.

‘Those living in the mountainous regions are poorer than those in the hills Pakistan has 64 per cent of its population residing in the rural areas. Agriculture contributes 26 per cent to the country’s GNP. The early substantial decline in rural-urban inequality has now come to a halt and more recently, inequality has started to increase. Rural poverty is now much higher. The latest emphatically mentions that poverty significantly and steadily increased from 26.1 per cent in 1987-88 to 32. i per cent in 2001. In the income inequality trends also, the Gini coefficient rose from 0.355 in 1985-86 to 0.410 in 1998- 99 showing a definite consolidation of inequality in Pakistan.

The highest 20 per cent of the income group continue to usurp almost 50 per cent and the lowest 20 per cent gets hardly 6 per cent of the income. Rural areas of South Punjab and Baluchistan are very poor. At the World Summit for Social Development, the government of Pakistan has admitted that after the first Structural Adjustment Programmes were initiated in 1988, trends in both the incidence of poverty and inequality have shown an increase Three household income and expenditure surveys covering the entire Sri Lanka, except the North and East were conducted during the 1990s.

The Department of Census ^and Statistics (DCS) data suggest the absolute poverty increased significantly from 33 to 39 per cent according to the higher poverty line, and from 20 to 25 per cent according to the lower poverty line. The DCS conducted another Household Income and Expenditure Survey in 2002. A preliminary report, based on the first three months survey data covering about 40000 households indicates that around 28 percent of the population is experiencing consumption poverty.

This finding, even though tentative, suggests that there has been no significant change in the poverty level in the latter half of the 1990s. The World Bank’s poverty assessment found that the incidence of poverty varies across the major ethnic groups (Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils and Muslims) with the exception of Indian Tamils, most of who are classified as poor. Indian Tamils (often referred to as estate Tamils) are among the poorest people in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been immersed in ethnic war from 1982 to 2001 (nearly 19 years).

Qualitative reports suggest that income poverty, healthcare, education and economic conditions are far worse in areas racked by war than in other pans of the nation. Displaced families have lost productive assets, including in some cases lands they had cultivated before being displaced. The Sri Lanka Integrated Survey (SLIS) found that nearly all households in the northeast. (97%) that moved due to the war suffered loss of property.