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The problem of poverty is considered the biggest challenge to development planning in India. High poverty levels are synonymous with poor quality of life, deprivation, malnutrition, illiteracy and low human resource development. Poverty can be defined as a social phenomenon in which a section of society is unable to fulfill even its basic necessities of life.
There has been a sharp decline in poverty over the last five years with the percentage of population BPL declining to 26.1% from 35.97%. The rural poor stands at 19.32 crore while the urban poor stands at 6.71 crores. At the state level, although the percentage of the BPL population in Orissa has declined to 47.15% from 48.56%, it has overtaken Bihar to reach the top slot with the highest incidence of poverty.
There are two basic prerequisites of poverty eradication programs. First is the reorientation of agricultural relations so that the ownership of land is shared by a larger section of the people. Second is that no program for the removal of poverty can succeed in an economy plagued by inflation and spiraling rise of prices. A poverty eradication program, therefore, must mop up the surplus with the elite classes. These two prerequisites a strong political will in the national leadership to implement the much-needed structural reforms.
Besides, the government must aim at a strategy for the development of the social sector of which the key component should be population control, universal primary education, family welfare and job creation mainly in rural areas. These and the other aspects of poverty alleviation have not given any importance so far in our planning, though we have always thought that poverty can be removed through economic development.
The poverty ratios over the time periods are not strictly comparable. The survey methodology has undergone changes over the years. Before feeling too good about the drop in “Below Poverty Line”, it would be as well to remember that 26 crore is a very large number.