Poverty is the worst form of violence

(i wrote this one recently and i kind of liked it)

When two people meet they compare their lives, their assets and their ways of living.  And from this comparison arises the idea of hierarchies- hierarchies of rich, middle-class and poor. These hierarchies draw us closer to the idea of poverty. Poverty exists because the idea of rich exits and vice-versa. Poverty is a much contested concept because it can be of two types. One is absolute poverty and the other one is relative poverty. Now, absolute poverty as visible from the name itself is the one which is of the worst kind, where even the basic needs of a human as discussed by the maslow’s hierarchy of needs(physiological needs- food, water, shelter and clothing) are not fulfilled. Second one is the relative poverty which has no end to it because one will always be poor relative to some other person.

World over, there is a war being waged against poverty. It won’t be wrong to say that it is the relevant poverty which causes the absolute one. This brings us to the statement in title- what makes poverty worse then violence? How you would feel if you don’t get sufficient meal a day, your family is dying of hunger or diseases because you have no access to health services? But obvious, you will fight but who will be your opponent? A violent fight gives you a chance to win over your rival. Atleast you will get a chance to strike back but with poverty, whom you will hit—your fate? This facelessness of enemy gives it a worst character.

What could be the reasons for poverty?

·         Core-periphery relations:- Immanuel Wallerstein gave idea of three kinds of nations – core, semi-periphery and periphery. Core is rich because it exploits periphery and semi-periphery. This is very similar to the hierarchies among individuals or within a single a nation too. Rich can eat a $100 meal only because some cannot even afford a $2 meal. Core is getting richer and poor is getting poorer, this gap is widening. america and sub-saharan Africa share this kind of bond only.

·         Growth and development imbalance:- Countries compare their status in world on the basis of their economic standing that is the GDP (gross domestic product). Country is progressing but how well the individuals are doing is not visible. For example –where India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, still one-third of India’s population lives under poverty.

·         Problem with poverty measurements, no clear definition of poverty:- In India, poverty is defined on the basis of calorie intake by a man in a day and world over a person is considered below poverty line (BPL), if he earns less than $2.5 a day. This measurement of poverty is very insufficient and unjust. What about shelter, clothing needs and health facilities? Countries like India even after declining health status of the country still spends only 1% of GDP on health sector. Focus is only on food security where as good diet and health is not given enough credit.

·         Lack of opportunities:- One of the biggest reasons for poverty is lack of work opportunities for people.

Lack of education opportunities (including skills) ---->  Unemployment -----> Poverty

This brings into focus the growth versus development debate.

·         Development of underdevelopment: - Liberalism in the garb of development opportunities is driving less developed economies towards further impoverishment. Neo-colonialism or neo-imperialism, or economic imperialism where countries like china, us and Western Europe are exploiting Latin American and sub African countries through free trade policies. In the name of development funds and development aid, the agencies like WTO, World Bank, etc. impose conditions where poor countries have to open up their economies. They export raw materials at cheap prices and import finished costs at higher prices. This is further impoverishing the Global South.

·         Political, social, economic and technological restraints:- Eradicating poverty to the core would take away one of the vote gathering strategies from demagogues of the present day. Lack of hierarchies in the society, makes opportunities of employment and education accessible to very few. For already under-developed countries, investing in infrastructure and creating opportunities would be little difficult. Even access of technology is restricted to such countries, which acts further as a hindrance in the growth.

These were some of the probable reasons for growing poverty. But looking at the situation of poverty world over is as important as knowing it reasons. Different faces of poverty-

Malnutrition:- recent 13 children deaths in palghar, Maharashtra  due to malnutrition are enough to show India’s declining situation. Half of the deaths world over among under 5 are due to lack of nutrition.

Rising infant mortality rate and maternity deaths – due to lack of health facilties, deaths of neonatal and mothers are a common phenomenon.

No proper shelter:-  even a shelter is a dream for some. Rising slum areas and ghettos is a very example of this.

Rising Crime rates and rising terrorism:- What option you are left with when you cannot even a afford a decent meal with a day’s work or no employment is available. The rise of Islam against western hegemony can be attributed to lack of opportunities and growing people whereas the west was growing at unbelievable rates.

This leads to an overall decline in human development and society. When Hobbes promoted the idea of social contract which every individual consented to, he was not aware that the state which promised ‘no harm to life’ would find out indirect means to harm. The stunted growth of our future i.e.our children gives a very inhuman character to this problem of poverty which makes it violent as well as oppressive.

Government has been unable to tackle this issue. But the need is to identify the enemy first. The objective is to work for the over-all development of all- where giving them food would be as important as giving them access to education. Creating a self reliant population should be the aim of poverty control measures. Rich countries in 1970 agreed to provide 0.7% of their GNP to poorer countries. This should be regulated by UN and more transparency should be brought into it. Million Development Goals under the UNDP includes poverty as one of the targets and countries are aided and given targets accordingly. This is a positive step but it could be made more relevant by giving a better and clear definition to poverty, which will help aiming reform in a more defined direction. The debt cycle African countries are lost into should be reduced as agreed in the 2005 G8 summit. Taking a cue from India’s PDS (public distribution system) i.e. food at subsidized costs, food security should be insured. Schemes like MGNREGA should be started to ensure definite employment generation. Inclusive growth financially as well as in other sectors is as important, recent Jan Dhan Yojana and Direct Benefit Transfers acts like a heads-up here. Increasing access to health facilities and easy availability of vaccinations to poor are equally important

The idea of a better future lies in the hands of our children. Not a few but a larger number of reforms are needed to wipe out this faceless evil. Like a masked devil, poverty is eating up our past, present and future. It has to be resolved not in isolation but in interdependence. Otherwise after world wars, there will be now clash of civilizations as predicted by Samuel Hartington. One of them in the face of terrorism is already on rise and to nullify it, west must give up self greed and give poor a chance to grow.