(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.
