essay on democracy and poverty in india

Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Growth and Hunger in India

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With 37.2 percent of its 1.2 billion citizens officially estimated to be living in poverty, India has the unenviable record of being home to a third of the world’s poor. And while the country has averted famines since independence, it has not been as successful at preventing chronic hunger. This article provides a broad overview of Indian democracy’s struggle with development and discusses the type of progress democratic India has made over the years in fighting poverty and inequality. Thereafter, it specifically examines undernutrition and starvation deaths in Orissa, one of India’s poorest states. It argues that instead of sustained commitment to long-term policies that aim to reduce vulnerability to hunger, the political-administrative response is typically short-term, ad hoc, populist, and clientelistic in character.

About the Author

Dan Banik is associate professor at the Center for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. His most recent books are  The Legal Empowerment Agenda: Poverty, Labour and the Informal Economy in Africa  (2011) and  Poverty and Elusive Development  (2010).

View all work by Dan Banik

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Further Reading

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• > Indian Democracy
• > DEMOCRACY AND POVERTY IN INDIA

Book contents

• Frontmatter
• List of Contributors
• Introduction DEMOCRATIC POLITICS IN INDIA: CONCEPTS, CHALLENGES AND DEBATES
• 1 RECONSTRUCTING DEMOCRATIC CONCERNS IN INDIA
• 2 ARE WE READY FOR DEMOCRACY? A FEW OBSERVATIONS
• 3 DEMOCRACY AND POVERTY IN INDIA
• 4 DEMOCRACY AND FEDERALISM IN INDIA: TWO EPISODES AND A SET OF QUESTIONS
• 5 INDIA'S COALITION FUTURE?
• 6 HOW DEMOCRATIC IS OUR PARLIAMENT? ELITE REPRESENTATION AND FUNCTIONAL EFFICIENCY OF LOK SABHA
• 7 DEMOCRACY'S JANUS FACE: A REVIEW OF ELECTIONS IN POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• 8 THE NATURE OF THE OPPOSITION IN INDIA'S PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY
• 9 RESTYLING DEMOCRACY? MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND PUBLIC SPACE VIS-À-VIS INDIAN TELEVISION
• 10 THE POOR WORKING WOMEN: THE ACHILLES HEEL OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY – A PROFILE OF THE MAIDSERVANT FROM THE BUSTEES OF KOLKATA
• 11 HOW IS DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH ASIA? A COMPARISON OF THE ELITE AND THE MASS ATTITUDES

3 - DEMOCRACY AND POVERTY IN INDIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

The present paper is an attempt to discuss the paradox that is critical to making sense of ‘democratic India’ or democracy in India and lies at the heart of the radical democratic enterprise in the country. Simply stated, the paradox of Indian democracy lies is the continued coexistence of democracy and poverty in India since independence. Or to state it more carefully, the paradox involves the continued existence of electoral democracy with mass participation, along with mass poverty. This chapter attempts to develop an explanatory framework that gives us a sense of the mechanism that makes this paradox possible and allows us to understand the changes over time and differences across the various states in the relationship of democracy with poverty.

The paper includes two parts. In the first part, it specifies the meaning of the two crucial terms – democracy and poverty, and defends the claim that their coexistence is indeed a paradox, that there is something to be surprised about their being together. It sketches a simple model of why we should expect electoral democracy with mass participation to expend its principal energy and resources in reducing mass poverty. It then goes on to suggest that in the case of India, the paradox is deeper than what is thought of, for some of the most common reasons for which democracies do not attend to poverty do not apply in the case of India.

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• DEMOCRACY AND POVERTY IN INDIA
• By Yogendra Yadav , Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.
• Edited by M. Manisha , Sharmila Deb
• Book: Indian Democracy
• Online publication: 05 March 2012
• Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.7135/UPO9781843318132.005

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Cultural India

Poverty in india: causes, effects and solutions.

“Poverty is humiliation, the sense of being dependent on them, and of being forced to accept rudeness, insults, and indifference when we seek help.” —Latvia 1998

In the simplest term, poverty may be defined as a social condition where individuals do not have financial means to meet the most basic standards of life that is acceptable by the society. Individuals experiencing poverty do not have the means to pay for basic needs of daily life like food, clothes and shelter.

Poverty also staves people off from accessing much needed social tools of well-being like education and health requirements. The direct consequences stemming from this problem are hunger, malnutrition and susceptibility to diseases which have been identified as major problems across the world. It impacts individuals in a socio-psychological way with them not being able to afford simple recreational activities and getting progressively marginalized in the society.

The term poverty is interconnected with the notion of the poverty line/ threshold that may be defined as the minimum figure of income that is required in a particular country for maintaining the socially acceptable quality of life in terms of nutritional, clothing and sheltering needs. The World Bank has updated its international poverty line figures to 1.90 USD (Rs. 123.5) per day on October 2015 (based on prices of commodities in year 2011-2012), from 1.5 USD(Rs. 81) as a response to the changes in the cost of living across the world as per current economy. The organization estimates that – “Just over 900 million people globally lived under this line in 2012 (based on the latest available data), and we project that in 2015, just over 700 million are living in extreme poverty.”

Poverty is a worldwide cause of concern even in economically stable countries like the USA. Current statistics state that over half the populations in the world, about 3 billion people, are forced to live on less than 2.5 dollars per day. In India, as per 2014 government reports, monthly per capita consumption expenditure is Rs. 972 per person in rural areas and Rs. 1407 per person in urban areas. This data is currently being accepted as the poverty threshold of the country. As of 2015, 21.9% of the total population lives below the national poverty threshold, as per the data of Asian Development Bank, that’s a whopping 269.7 million individuals not having enough money.

Causes of Poverty in India

Factors contributing to the persistent problem of poverty in the country are many and they need to be identified in order to be addressed properly. They can be categorized under the following heads.

1. Demographic – the main factor that contributes to poverty-ridden state of the country from a demographical point of view is the problem of over population. The growth of population in the country has so far exceeded the growth in economy and the gross result is that the poverty figures have remained more or less consistent. In rural areas, size of the families is bigger and that translates into lowering the per capita income values and ultimately lowering of standard of living. Population growth spurt also leads to generation of unemployment and that means diluting out of wages for jobs further lowering income.

2. Economic –there are a host of economic reasons behind persistence of the poverty problems which are outlined hereunder:-

a. Poor Agricultural Infrastructure –Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. But outdated farming practices, lack of proper irrigation infrastructure and even lack of formal knowledge of crop handling has affected the productivity in this sector tremendously. As a consequence there is redundancy and sometimes complete lack of work leading to decreased wages that is insufficient for meeting daily needs of a labourer’s family plunging them into poverty.

b. Unequal distribution of assets – with the economy changing directions rapidly, the earning structure evolves differently in different economic income groups. Upper and middle income groups see a faster increase in earnings than lower income groups. Also assets like land, cattle as well as realty are distributed disproportionately among the population with certain people owning majority shares than other sectors of the society and their profits from these assets are also unequally distributed. In India it is said that 80% wealth in the country is controlled by just 20% of the population.

c. Unemployment – another major economic factor that is causative of poverty in the country is the rising unemployment rate. Unemployment rates is high in India and according to a 2015 survey data, at the all-India level, 77% of families do not have a regular source of income.

d. Inflation and Price hike – the term Inflation may be defined as an increase in prices of commodities coinciding with the fall in the purchasing value of money. As a direct consequence of inflation, effective price of food, clothing items as well as real estate rises. The salaries and wages do not rise as much in keeping up with the inflated prices of commodities leading to effective decrease of the per capita income.

e. Faulty economic liberalization – the LPG (Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization) attempts initiated by the Indian Government in 1991 were directed towards making the economy more suited to international market-trends to invite foreign investments. Successful to certain extent in reviving the economy, the economic reforms had detrimental effects on increasing the wealth distribution scenario. Rich became richer, while the poor remained poor.

3. Social – The various social issues plaguing the country that contributes towards poverty are:-

a. Education and illiteracy – Education, rather its lack thereof and poverty form a vicious cycle that plagues the nation. Not having enough resources to feed their children, the poor consider education to be frivolous, preferring children to start contributing to the family’s income rather than draining them. On the other hand, lack of education and illiteracy prevent individuals from getting better paying jobs and they get stuck at jobs offering minimum wages. Improvement of quality of life gets hindered and the cycle once again comes into action.

b. Outdated Social Customs – Social customs like the caste system cause segregation and marginalization of certain sections of the society. Certain castes are considered untouchables still and are not employed by upper caste, leaving very specific and low paying jobs that they can live off. Economist K. V. Verghese put forth the problem in a very lucid language, “Caste system acted as a spring­board for class exploitation with the result that the counterpart of the poverty of the many is the opulence of the few. The second is the cause of the first.”

c. Lack of skilled labour – lack of adequate vocational training makes the huge labour force available in India largely unskilled, which is unsuitable for offering maximum economic value. Lack of education, much less higher education, is also a contributing factor towards this.

d. Gender inequality –the weak status attached with women, deep-rooted social marginalization and long embedded perceptions of domesticity renders about 50% of the country’s population unable to work. As a result the women of the family add to the number of dependents that need to be fed instead of being able to contribute considerably in the family income which might assuage the poverty situation of the family.

e. Corruption – despite considerable efforts from the government in the forms of various schemes to mollify the poverty situation, allegedly only 30-35% actually reaches the beneficiaries due to wide-spread practices of corruption in the country. Wealthy people with privileged connection are able to acquire more wealth simply by bribing government officials to maximize their profits from such schemes while the poor remain in a state of neglect for not being able to assert such connections.

4. Individual – individual lack of efforts also contribute towards generating poverty. Some people are unwilling to work hard or even not willing to work altogether, leaving their families in the darkness of poverty. Personal demons like drinking and gambling also leads to draining of the family income inciting poverty.

5. Political – in India, socio-economic reform strategies has been largely directed by political interest and are implemented to serve a choice section of the society that is potentially a deciding factor in the elections. As a result, the issue is not addressed in its entirety leaving much scope of improvements.

6. Climatic – maximum portion of India experiences a tropical climate throughout the year that is not conducive to hard manual labour leading to lowering of productivity and the wages suffer consequently.

Effects of Poverty

The resounding effect of poverty echoes through various layers of an India citizen’s life. If we try to have a systematic look at them, we should proceed under the three following heads:-

1. Effect on Health – one of the most devastating effects that poverty has is on the overall health of the nation. The most prominent health issue stemming from poverty is malnutrition. The problem of malnutrition is widespread in all age-groups of the country but children are most adversely affected by this. Limited income in larger families leads to lack of access to sufficient nutritious food for their children. These children over time suffer from severe health problems like low body weight, mental, physical disabilities and a general poor state of immunity making them susceptible to diseases. Children from poor backgrounds are twice as susceptible to suffer from anemia, nutrient deficiencies, impaired vision, and even cardiac problems. Malnutrition is a gross contributor of infant mortality in the country and 38 out of every 1,000 babies born in India die before their first birthday. Malnutrition among adult also leads to poor health in adults that leaches their capacity for manual labour leading to a decrease in income due to weakness and diseases. Poverty also causes definite decline in the sanitary practices among poor who cannot afford proper bathrooms and disinfectants. As a result susceptibility to waterborne diseases peak among the poor. Lack of access to as well as means to procure appropriate treatment also affects overall mortality of the population which is lower in poor countries than developed nations like the USA.

2. Effects on Society – poverty exerts some gravely concerning effects over the overall societal health as well. These may be discussed along the following lines:-

a. Violence and crime rate – incidence of violence and crime have been found to be geographically coincident. In a backdrop of unemployment and marginalization, the poor resort to criminal activities to earn money. Coupled with lack of education and properly formed moral conscience, a poverty ridden society is more susceptible to violence by its people against its own people from a sense of deep-seated discontent and rage.

b. Homelessness – apart from a definite drop in the esthetic representation of the country, homelessness affects child health, women safety and overall increase in criminal tendencies.

c. Stress – lack of money is a major cause of stress among the middle-class and the poor and leads to decline in productivity of individuals.

d. Child labour – one of the hallmarks of a poverty-ridden society is the widespread practices of exploitation and the worst of it comes in the form of child labour. Large families fail to meet the monetary needs of the members and children as young as 5 years are made to start earning in order to contribute to the family income.

e. Terrorism – proclivity of youth towards terrorism stems from a combination of extreme poverty and lack of education making them susceptible to brainwashing. Terrorist organizations offer poverty-ridden families money in exchange for a member’s participation in their activities which induces a sense of accomplishment among the youth.

3. Effect on Economy –poverty is a direct index indicating success of the economy of the country. The number of people living under the poverty threshold indicates whether the economy is powerful enough to generate adequate jobs and amenities for its people. Schemes providing subsidies for the poor of the country again impose a drain on the economy.

The measures that should be taken to fight the demon of poverty in India are outlined below:-

1. Growth of population at the current rate should be checked by implementation of policies and awareness promoting birth control.

2. All efforts should be made to increase the employment opportunities in the country, either by inviting more foreign investments or by encouraging self-employment schemes.

3. Measures should be taken to bridge the immense gap that remains in distribution in wealth among different levels of the society.

4. Certain Indian states are more poverty stricken than others like Odhisha and the North East states. Government should seek to encourage investment in these states by offering special concessions on taxes.

5. Primary needs of people for attaining a satisfactory quality of life like food items, clean drinking water should be available more readily. Improvement of the Subsidy rates on commodities and Public Distribution system should be made. Free high school education and an increased number of functioning health centers should be provided by the government.

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Poverty in India: Real-Life Consequences & Sustainable Solutions

Over the last several decades, India has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But even with this impressive progress, poverty in India continues to be an enormous problem. A small percentage of people in India have benefitted from this growth, while the vast majority still struggle to meet their basic daily needs. This inequity is exacerbated by a long-standing social caste system in India that disproportionately affects women and children.

In this blog post, we’ll explain the complex causes of poverty in India, the consequences it has on so many of its people, and the work Outreach International is doing to help people lift themselves out of poverty, and into a life of prosperity and hope.

Understanding the Causes of Poverty in India

Poverty in India is a result of various overlapping factors , spanning a long history of social and economic issues. The social issues include a caste system that causes inequity among the citizens of India. People who are born into certain socioeconomic groups or ethnicities can find it more difficult than others to access education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. Economic issues include a history of financial pressure from foreign countries which makes the economy of India sensitive to external markets which are beyond its control.

Outreach Project: Sumita accessed an Usha School Program sewing machine from Outreach’s Program Partner, Outreach India, in Feb, 2023.

Statistics and Facts

• The September 2023 Global Poverty Update by the World Bank revealed that at the $3.65 poverty line, India accounts for 40% of the global poverty rate of 24.1%. ( The World Bank )
• Over a third of all people living in poverty in the world live in South Asia, which amounts to roughly 389 million people. ( The World Bank )
• In South Asia, the rate of extreme poverty, measured by the international poverty line of $2.15, increased by 1.9 percentage points to 10.5%. India accounts for almost 70% of this global change in extreme poverty. ( The World Bank )
• Between 2012 and 2021, 40% of the wealth created in India has been captured by just the wealthiest 1% of the population. ( BBC )

Factors Contributing to Poverty in India

The complex causes of poverty in India lead to equally complex factors that perpetuate the problem. These include:

Limited Access to Education

Despite making strides in improving literacy rates in general, access to adequate education remains out of reach for many groups in India, especially for those who live in remote areas.

Unemployment and Underemployment

The uneven distribution of economic growth creates limited job opportunities in many geographic areas, especially among young people who are actively seeking employment.

Inadequate Healthcare Infrastructure

The healthcare that the government provides for people who live in poverty in India is inadequate in many geographic areas. Serious health issues, often related to childbirth, can go undertreated, leading to overwhelming debt and feelings of hopelessness.

Social Inequality

Discrimination based on social caste, gender, and ethnicity make it harder for marginalized groups to experience basic socio-economic advancement. This creates a cycle of poverty that passes these issues on to the next generation.

Outreach Project: A new 4G cell tower benefits Sumita and everyone in Khambesu Village.

Historical, Economic, and Social Factors of Poverty in India

India has dealt with a long history of colonization that led to the export of wealth and resources for generations. Although this issue is a part of India’s past, the legacy of uneven trade continues to put financial pressure on India’s poorest citizens. Also, like many economies of the world, social disparity makes it almost impossible for people who live in poverty to climb out of it alone.

The Cost of Poverty in India

The consequences of poverty in India are profound and far-reaching. These include:

Unequal Distribution of Wealth and Resources

The concentration of wealth among a small percentage of the population of India limits access to essential resources and opportunities for the majority of its citizens. According to the Harvard Business Review , the wealthiest 10% of people in India hold 77% of the nation’s wealth. It also states that as of 2023, there were 119 billionaires in India, whose wealth continues to grow at disproportionate rates.

Barriers to Receiving Healthcare

The social healthcare system in India ranks very low among other countries. Expert care and the most advanced treatments remain expensive, and so only those who can afford it have access to it. Those who live in poverty sometimes have to make the choice between health or debt. This can be especially difficult when it comes to the health of their children. This lack of access to quality healthcare is evident in the relatively high infant mortality rates .

Outreach International’s Impact in India: Community-Led Solutions to Change this Reality

It can be nearly impossible for people who live in poverty to solve their issues alone. Outreach International works tirelessly to empower people to help themselves. Our partners at Outreach India bring community groups together to learn to identify their unique poverty-related issues, and then mobilize to solve them.

Many people who live in remote areas in India must deal with a lack of adequate infrastructure. This means that there may be no central power grid, or regional sewage and water treatment system. People who live under these conditions must spend much time and effort fulfilling their basic daily needs. But with the help of Outreach facilitators, solutions can be found.

Solar Water Systems

Until 2010, the citizens of Nandibadi had to walk a kilometer each day to collect water from a river. That year, they had a single spout well installed, which was considered a significant improvement at the time. Even then, however, people had to wait in line and take turns using the hand pump from what was their only water source. With the help of Outreach facilitators, they had a solar-powered water well and storage system installed. This improvement not only made life easier, but it freed up large amounts of time for people to spend making progress in other areas of their lives. ( Read about the Nandibadi Solar Water System )

Solar Street Lights

In Lelibadi, people stayed home after dark because of fear of predatory animals and the possibility of crime. There were no streetlights or electric grid to power them. The community-based organization mobilized to have streetlights installed, each powered by an individual solar panel. Now, the nights are brighter, and the community can gather together, socialize, and travel safely. ( Read about the Lelibadi Solar Street Lights )

Safe Sanitation

Safe sanitation is a crucial factor in the health and wellbeing of a community. Illness from contaminated drinking water and unpleasant surroundings due to a lack of a sanitation system in a community would make life difficult for anyone. Community leaders in Kurumpeta successfully managed a latrine construction project that solved their sanitation issues. ( Read about Solving the Sanitation Crisis )

Disability Inclusion

In Kunjibadi Village, Naika lost his leg in a road accident in 2016. This left him and his wife dependent on her income alone, which placed them well below the poverty line. With help from Outreach India, Naika learned that he was eligible for disability benefits. He prepared his documentation, visited the government offices, and now receives benefits that cover basic daily needs for the family. Naika and his wife feel empowered, and able to look to the future with hope. ( Read about Disability Inclusion in Community-Led Development )

Help Outreach Break the Cycle of Poverty in india

Usha will finish school soon and hopes to work for the government so she can help people.

How to Help

Poverty in India is a multifaceted and pervasive issue that affects millions of people. By understanding its root causes, addressing its consequences, and supporting initiatives that promote socio-economic empowerment, we can all help India find truly equitable prosperity.

Make your donation to support our life-saving work today.

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Essay on Poverty in India

Students are often asked to write an essay on Poverty in India in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Poverty in India

Introduction.

Poverty is a significant issue in India, affecting millions of lives. Despite India’s economic growth, poverty remains prevalent, especially in rural areas.

Many factors contribute to poverty in India. Lack of quality education, unemployment, overpopulation, and inadequate public health are some of these factors.

Poverty affects individuals and communities. It leads to malnutrition, illiteracy, and low life expectancy. Children are the most affected as they lack access to basic needs.

Addressing poverty requires concerted efforts. Improving education, creating job opportunities, and enhancing public health services could help alleviate poverty.

250 Words Essay on Poverty in India

India, despite its substantial economic growth, is home to a significant portion of the global poor. Poverty in India is a multifaceted issue, shaped by socio-economic, political, and cultural factors.

Underlying Causes

The root causes of poverty in India are manifold. The country’s historical caste system has perpetuated socio-economic disparity, while gender bias has further limited opportunities for women. Additionally, rapid population growth has strained resources, leading to inadequate access to basic amenities such as education, healthcare, and employment.

The impacts of poverty are profound. It perpetuates a cycle of illiteracy and low-skilled labor, trapping generations in a poverty loop. Furthermore, it exacerbates health issues and malnutrition, particularly among children, undermining India’s future human capital.

Government Initiatives

The Indian government has implemented multiple poverty alleviation programs, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. However, their effectiveness is limited by issues such as corruption, lack of awareness, and inadequate implementation.

Addressing poverty in India requires a holistic approach that addresses its root causes. This includes promoting inclusive growth, gender equality, and sustainable development. Equally important is the need for transparent and efficient implementation of poverty alleviation programs. Only then can India truly leverage its demographic dividend and achieve its development goals.

500 Words Essay on Poverty in India

Poverty, a socio-economic issue, is a multi-dimensional problem that affects a large portion of the Indian population. Despite the country’s significant economic growth, poverty remains a persistent challenge, with millions of people living below the poverty line.

The Magnitude of Poverty in India

India, home to more than a billion people, is the world’s largest democracy. However, it also houses a significant portion of the world’s poor. According to the World Bank, in 2019, 21.9% of the Indian population lived below the national poverty line. The issue is more pronounced in rural areas where agriculture, the primary source of income, is often affected by unpredictable weather patterns and poor infrastructure.

The Causes of Poverty

Poverty in India can be attributed to a myriad of interconnected factors. First, the country’s rapid population growth has put immense pressure on its resources, exacerbating poverty. Second, the lack of access to quality education and healthcare, particularly in rural areas, has perpetuated a cycle of poverty. Third, social inequality and discrimination based on caste, religion, and gender have further entrenched poverty. Lastly, corruption and inefficient public distribution systems have hindered poverty alleviation efforts.

Impact of Poverty

The impacts of poverty are far-reaching and multi-faceted. It affects physical health due to malnutrition and inadequate healthcare. It restricts access to quality education, thus limiting opportunities for upward mobility. Poverty also exacerbates social tensions and can lead to a rise in crime rates. Moreover, it hinders the country’s overall economic progress, as a significant portion of the population remains unable to contribute effectively to the economy.

Poverty Alleviation Measures

Poverty in India is a complex issue that requires a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to address. While significant strides have been made, much work remains to be done. Efforts must be made to improve access to quality education and healthcare, promote social equality, and ensure the effective implementation of poverty alleviation programs. Only then can India hope to break the cycle of poverty and ensure a prosperous future for all its citizens.

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Essay on poverty in india: meaning, types, measures.

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Read this article to learn about the meaning, types and measures to reduce poverty in India.

Essay # Meaning of Poverty:

Poverty as a phenomenon has existed since the beginning of known history. But as centuries rolled by and populations increased, it began to appear on a mass scale.

About 74 percent of India’s population lives in villages. The incidence of poverty is much higher in villages-roughly 39 percent of the rural population.

“Poverty is that condition in which a person either because of inadequate income or unwise expenditures does not maintain a scale of living high enough to provide for his physical and mental efficiency and to enable him and his natural dependents to function usually according to the standards of society of which he is a member”. —Gillin and Gillin

Thus poverty is a condition of extremely lower standard of living. In villages, agriculture is a source of livelihood for 70 percent of the population but agriculture accounts for less than 40 percent of the national income.

One of the reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land, 10 to 20 percent of land holders hold 70 percent of the total land and 50 percent of landholders are marginal farmers with less than one hectare (2.471 acres) of land. Thus any agenda for fighting poverty must address itself to the rural sector.

According to the IRDP definition, approved by the Ministry of rural development (Revised in May 1991) a rural household with an annual income less than Rs. 11,000/- is described as a poor household.

These ‘poor households’ have been further classifies into four groups:

At 1991-92 price level

1. The destitute (with an income of less than Rs. 4,000 per annum).

2. Extremely poor (with an income between Rs. 4,001 and Rs. 6,000 per annum).

3. Very poor (with an income between Rs. 6,001 and Rs. 8,500 per annum).

4. Poor (with an income between Rs. 8,501 and Rs. 11,000 per annum).

According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) survey:

The all India annual income in village India in 1994 was Rs. 4,485.

It was Rs. 3,028 in Orissa.

Rs. 3,157 in West Bengal.

Rs. 3,169 in Bihar.

Rs. 4,185 in U.P.

Rs. 9,166 in Madhya Pradesh.

Rs. 4,229 in Rajasthan.

Rs. 6,380 in Punjab.

Rs. 6,368 in Haryana.

Who is Poor?

1. Landless or marginal farmers cultivating low value products, mostly for family subsistence.

2. Self employed artisans/service rendering people catering to low income customers/markets.

3. Women headed households and groups with large families but limited assets and earning opportunities.

4. People with limited skills and education engaging in seasonal casual work.

5. Socially excluded, depressed groups (for example lower castes), tribal, nomads etc.

6. Victims of the side effects of development of infrastructure and other changes which disintegrated their past sustenance strategies (for example, people affected by breakdown of traditional occupations, collective sustenance systems etc.)

The incidence of poverty is greater in certain communities in India. Scheduled Tribes who reside in the more fragile areas of the country, exhibit higher incidence of poverty. The other social indicators of health, education and related facilities are also very poor in these areas. Even though tribals may have access to land, the poor quality of land contributes to their poverty.

Scheduled castes who are dispersed across the country also show a higher incidence of poverty. Most of the agricultural labourers in the country are landless scheduled castes. Their educational and skills levels are also limited. As a result they show higher incidence of poverty than the general population.

Poverty by Social Groups (%) :

Poverty in the Global Context :

The world community committed itself to achieve eight goals. These are known as the millennium development goals (MDG). Each goal has specific targets and has to be achieved by the year 2015.

The MDGs are to:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women.

4. Reduce child mortality.

5. Improve maternal health.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

8. Ensure global partnership for development.

The world bank has estimated poverty based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The three P’s takes into account price differences across the countries and allows international comparison of real output and income. The monetary measures of poverty do not capture the deprivation and disabilities that the poor suffer.

The concept of poverty is therefore considered to cover more than the word poor may convey ordinarily. It includes health, education, sanitation and other aspects that have an impact on the living conditions of the people/poor. The international community in the 1990s had committed itself to achieve specific targets on the provision of health facilities, education and eradication of diseases.

Conventions on environmental sustainability were also signed. In October, 2000, the heads of Governments of the United Nations member-countries committed themselves to “eradicate Poverty, promote human dignity and equality and achieve peace, democracy and environmental sustainability”.

As a part of the global agreement the developed countries have agreed to reduce debt and increase aid, trade and technology transfers to the poor countries so that the MDGs could be achieved. In March 2002, In Monterrey in Mexico and in September 2002 in Johannesburg. South Africa, the developed countries agreed to a frame work for assistance to the poor countries in their fight against poverty. It is expected that the rich nations would facilitate greater resource transfer (o the poor countries to achieve the MDGs.’

Essay # Types of Poverty :

Poverty has different meanings for different people. The perception of |30verty differs from person to person.

There are basically two types of poverty.

Absolute poverty is measured against a pre-determined level of living that families should be able to afford. Consumption of food grains, vegetables, milk products and other items that are necessary for a healthy living and access to other non-food items are included in the absolute minimum consumption basket.

These standards are then converted into monetary units and defined as the poverty line. People with consumption expenditure below this threshold are considered poor.

Relative poverty is closely associated with the issues of inequality. The income or consumption of the last quintile of the population would be termed poor even though on absolute poverty definition non of the people in the last quintile group may be poor. Per capita income of a country could also be used to identify the poor.

Persons with per capita incomes of half the country’s per capita income could be termed as poor even though they may be in a position to afford the minimum basket of goods and services that may represent the poverty line. This again reflects concerns of equality.

Relative poverty is thus different from absolute poverty, which looks more at a household’s consumption, or income available for it to meet its minimum consumption needs.

Essay # Measures to Reduce Poverty :

The most common measure of poverty is to count the number of persons below the poverty line and express it as a percentage of total population in the country. This is known as the head-count measure of poverty or head-count ratio.

While this measure is simple and readily understandable its main weakness is that it gives equal weight to all the poor irrespective of their distance from the poverty line. The marginally poor and the very poor are treated equally In the head count ratio.

Amartya Sen has suggested a measure popularly known as Sen’s measure of poverty, which removes the above weakness of the head-count measure. His measure takes into account not only the number of the poor, but the intensity of poverty as well. The intensity of poverty is reflected by a concept known as the poverty gap, which shows how far a poor person falls short from the poverty line.

In other words, it is the difference between the poverty line and the income of the poor. Sen’s index is a weighted sum of poverty gaps of all the poor, the weights being such that less poor persons get lower weight than those who are poorer.

This measure is normalized so that it lies between 0 and 1. This means that the index is on an ascending scale between 0 and 1. A higher value of Sen’s index implies a higher Incidence of poverty. This index can be higher or lower for the same head count measure of poverty depending upon the distribution of the poor between less and more poor.

Anti-Poverty Programmes by Indian Government :

The government has Initiated, sustained and refined many programmes since independence to help the poor attain sell sufficiency. The planning commission has been estimating the incidence poverty using the methodology of Lakadwala Committee (Expert group on estimation of proportion and number of poor). The estimates of incidence of poverty from 1973-74 to 1999-2000 and poverty projection for 2007.

There was a significant decline in proportion of people living below poverty line, from 51.3 percent in 1977-78 to 26.1 percent in 1999-2000. The percentage of rural and urban poverty was 53.1 and 45.2 respectively, in 1977-78, which declined to 27.1 and 23M percent respectively and in 1999-2000. In absolute terms, particularly the number of rural poor declined from 264 million in 1977-78 In 193 million in 1999-2000.

Government has made an array of Interventions in the past for reduction of rural poverty. Among the various programmes launched for poverty alleviation, (since independence) Community Development Programme (CDP), the Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA), Crash Programme for Rural Employment (CPRE), National Food for Work Programme (NFWP), Minimum Needs Programme (MNP), Antyodaya Programme, Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Hill Area Development Programme (HADP), Common Area Development Programme (CADP), Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY), Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) are important.

Related Articles:

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• Rural Poverty in India: Classification of Causes
• Can Economic Reform Movement Eradicate Poverty in Our Society? (India)
• Eradication of Poverty from India: Five Year Plans | Rural Sociology

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• Poverty in India Essay for Students in English

Essay on Poverty In India

People living in poverty do not have enough money for basic necessities such as food and shelter. An example of poverty is the state a person is in when he is homeless and does not have enough money. The rate of poverty in India is increasing because of the population in the urban areas. Most importantly, crores of peoples are below the poverty line and most of the people are on the borderline of poverty. Poverty in India is seen mainly in the rural areas because of the uneducated and unemployed and increased population. Many people do not afford to get proper foods for their daily life and even they don’t have their own homes, they sleep on the footpath or road, more populations need more food, money, and for staying houses but due to lack of this poverty grows very quickly, thus in addition rich are growing richer and the poor becoming more poorer which becomes difficult to fill the gap. Poverty has many effects like it reduces poor housing, illiteracy, increase the rate of child labour and unemployment, poor hygiene hence these poor people can not afford a balanced diet, nice clothes, well education etc. reason only because they don’t have much money to afford this. Poverty can be controlled by giving them proper education and also providing the proper facilities to the farmers so that those farmers get more profitable and do not migrate to cities in search of employment. Also, the illiterate people should get proper education to make their life better. Family planning is also essential for coming out of poverty. Poverty in our country is from ancient times. Even earlier times the poor people were not given the place that rich people used to get even if they were not allowed to enter religious places. Main causes of poverty are like unemployment, lack of education, poor utilization of resources, corruption and poor government policy.

How You Can Improve or Solve Poverty in India?

Poverty can be solved by improving food security by providing three meals a day and making them healthy and providing houses for those people at low cost and giving them proper education and facilities so that they can earn well and take care of their family and live a peaceful life. Awareness on population so that once the population is under control, the economy of the country will improve and move towards development and decrease in the poverty line. Poverty is becoming a complex problem for the people and for the government. How to overcome this, in India the poverty is high compared to other countries because the growth rate of per capita income per person is very low.

With lack of job opportunities many people move as a rickshaw puller, construction workers, domestic servants etc, with irregular small incomes hence they live in slum areas. Also, lack of land resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India, even the small farmers of our country lead to poverty because they cultivate but do not get proper money in terms of profit and leads to poverty.

Population of India

The population has been increasing in India at a rapid speed, India’s population in 1991 was around 84.3 crores where was poverty at a high rate but now the current population of our country is around 130 crores whereas the population is almost doubled in last three decades but still not enough done for controlling the poverty in our country. Due to an increase in population, there is more unemployment, hence poverty is just the reflection of unemployment. More capital is required for making industry, giving proper transport facilities and other projects, hence the deficiency of its country is still underdeveloped and causes more poverty. Lack of skilled labor also leads to poverty because less-skilled labor have insufficient industrial education and training. Lack of infrastructure means that transport and communication have not been properly developed so that the farmers are not getting fertilizers for cultivation on time and industries do not get power supply and raw materials on time and thus end products are not marketed properly and not reachable on time. Because of poverty sometimes we don’t get those things for what we actually are. Hence to come out of poverty our government has to be more serious and also the citizens should take equal responsibilities. Remove the poverty from country governments has started many steps, in last 2-3 years we have seen that they become more serious by bringing GST in the action, demonetization so because of GST all the businessman can pay full tax and which will help to develop the country and the poverty ratio can be reduced. Steps of demonetization were taken so that black money can be utilized for the poor people and poverty can be reduced. We can overcome poverty by following all the guidelines of the government and can be free from poverty.

India's Poverty Factors

One of the biggest problems of poverty in India is the country's rapid population growth. As a result, there is a high rate of illiteracy, poor health-care facilities, and a lack of financial resources. Furthermore, the high population growth rate has an impact on individual income, making individual income much lower. By 2026, India's population is predicted to surpass 1.5 billion, making it the world's largest country. However, Economic growth is not rising at the same rate as the rest of the world. This indicates a labor shortage. About 20 million new jobs will be required to accommodate this big population. If such a vast number of people are poor, the number of poor will keep rising.

How Much Research is Important for Students to Write Good Essays?

The students must realize that brainstorming and a mind map of the essay will take them in the direction of their research. With the advent of the internet, the days are numbered for students who rely on a well-tipped encyclopedia from the school library as their only authoritative source for their story. If there is any real problem for our readers today is reducing their resources to a manageable number. At this stage, it is important to:

Make sure the research material is directly related to the essay work

Record detailed sources of information that they will use in their story

Communicate in person by asking questions and challenging their own bias

Identify the main points that will be highlighted in the story

Gather ideas, arguments, and opinions together

Identify the major issue they will discuss in their case.

Once these stages have been completed by the student, the student will be ready to make his points in a logical order and prepare an essay.

Therefore, the topic discussed on this page is poverty and poverty is not a human problem but a national one. Also, it should be addressed immediately with the implementation of effective measures. In addition, the eradication of poverty has been a prerequisite for sustainable and inclusive growth for individuals, communities, the country and the economy.

Paragraph Tips on Essay Writing

Each paragraph should focus on one main idea

The Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence, students should collect similar ideas together to avoid collisions

Paragraphs should be stated consistently, learners should be able to choose which line to reverse or skip.

Transition words and similar phrases, as a result, should instead be used to provide flow and provide a bridge between Paragraphs.

General Structure of an Essay

Introduction: Give the reader the essence of the essay. It sets out the broader argument that the story will make and informs the reader of the author's general opinion and method of questioning.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘flesh’ of the essay and outline the point made in the introduction by a point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually the conclusion will repeat the middle argument while providing a summary of the main reasons supporting the story even before linking everything back to the first question.

FAQs on Poverty in India Essay for Students in English

1. What are the Causes of Poverty in India?

The cause of poverty is very obvious in a country like India. The people in India are very careless about the population growth and due to which there is a lot of hassle and unnecessary elevation in population growth rate. This is automatically leading to poverty as there are fewer resources and more people to be served in each state in India. Various causes affect poverty:

Unemployment.

The intensity of population.

The high rate of inflation.

Lack of skilled labor

2. What are the Types of Poverty?

Although there are only two main types of poverty existing in India we will be learning all of them as mentioned in the following lines. The two main classifications of poverty are relative poverty and absolute poverty and both of them emphasize income and consumption. Sometimes, poverty cannot be blamed or associated with economic problems but also it must be associated with society and politics.

There are six types of poverty which are listed below:

Situational poverty.

Generation poverty.

Absolute poverty.

Relative poverty.

Urban poverty.

Rural poverty.

3. How to Reduce the Poverty Line in India?

India is a country that has been under the radar of poverty for centuries. The people of India are making efforts to take themselves out of the poverty line but there are a lot of hindrances. The lack of resources and limited alternatives have thrown the rural and urban residents below the poverty line making life unhealthy and miserable for them. 

Here are some measures listed below

Provide food, shelter and clothes facilities to poor people.

Encourage them for education either male or female. 

Give employment.

4. Why choose Vedantu for referring to the Poverty in India essay for students in English?

Students should refer to Vedantu for downloading as these solutions will be filling you with the basic knowledge of writing essays. There are loads of vocabulary words and phrases which will enable the students to write high-class essays. The Vedantu website provides 100% authentic content which will lead to additional accuracy of the student’s essay. Basic concepts of writing an essay are available free of cost on the Vedantu website. Avoid problems and enjoy hassle-free preparation with the help of Vedantu.

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Poverty in India Essay for School Students in English [Easy Words]

January 13, 2021 by Sandeep

Essay on Poverty in India: People who are unable to satisfy basic necessities of life like food, water, shelter and education are considered unprivileged and face poverty. They may not be able to afford even a single square meal for their families. They are deprived of healthy and nutritious food. Population increase, migration to cities and rampant unemployment are some of the reasons for growing poverty in India. Increasing literacy and providing sustainable living conditions for the poor can curtail poverty.

Essay on Poverty in India 500 Words in English

We have provided Poverty in India Essay in English, suitable for class 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10. This essay is useful for UPSC aspirants too!

India is the world’s largest democracy and fastest-growing economy. It is one of the chief developing nations with an international level of influence. Yet, it is still viewed as a poor man’s country. This is because a large population of our country is still living below the poverty line. Even after almost seventy-two years of independence, poverty has plagued our nation. Our Union, as well as State governments, have collaborated with many private and public sector institutions. Together they have been able to roll out successful schemes to keep their citizens satisfied.

They are trying their best to provide us with our daily requirements. Yet this task has not helped remove poverty at all. The situation of poverty in India cannot be solved by judging it by its face value. It is essential to understand the nature of polity in India through a historical context. That way, we would be able to find reforms that can be implemented to curb this social evil.

Origin of Poverty in India

From the earliest kingdoms to the Mughal era, India has always had a rich history. Historians had given the Indian sub-continent the title ‘Golden Bird’. The vast reserves of gold and resources were the major indicators of a prospering economy during that era. Over time, invaders plundered these resources, and the economical health of this golden bird rapidly deteriorated. The most significant damage was done by the colonials. They entered our land as traders but slowly established their monopoly over various regions and services, and the entire sub-continent was then in their control.

Around the 19th and the 20th century, poverty bloomed under the British Raj. Industrial expansion and agricultural exports were increasing day by day. Farming was forced upon every labourer in India even when they were not farmers by profession. Though employment existed in the form of farming, farmers were being underpaid. While Nawabs and Maharajas enjoyed wealth and privileges, most of these workers could not even buy one proper meal a day. By 1943, poverty had reached a point where millions of people died of starvation, disease, and destitution (during the Bengal famine). Sir Antony MacDonnell, a civil servant of British India, quoted in the 1900’s “people died like flies”.

Poverty in Free India

Post-independence, India was divided into two different countries. This caused an inflow of refugees along the western border. This further aggravated the condition of poverty prevailing in the nation, according to B.S. Minhas, an economist, about 65% of the Indian population was living in poverty during the 1950’s. In the 1960’s, a new poverty line was set for the country to be at ₹ 20 a month. The estimated percentage of the population below this line was found to be 44%. The following decades noticed the common man’s frustration about the nation’s poor economic condition.

Slogans like ‘Garibi Hatao’ were being raised, and people were desperate to improve society’s condition. Over the years, many committees redefined the poverty line as per the changing dynamics of the Indian economy. At present, as per the World Bank estimates, 5.4% of our population is still suffering from extreme poverty. The figures have improved since the last century. Poverty can only be abolished if the developmental schemes keep evolving according to the country’s needs.

Causes of Poverty in India

Many factors directly contribute to the continual rise of poverty in India. To address and solve them, we need first to identify these factors. Here we have listed down some of these causes:

• Demography of a country plays a vital role in its state of poverty. Rural areas have larger families who owe to a lower per capita income. Ultimately, this results in a low standard of living.
• The increasing urban population has raised the rate of poverty in our country. The migration of rural people to urban areas has diluted out the wages. People eventually get closer to the poverty line.
• One of the major economic causes includes the surge in unemployment. The survey reports of 2015 say that 77% of Indian families lack a regular source of income.
• India is marked for its unequal distribution of assets. These assets and shares are disproportionately distributed among masses having different economic levels. 20 % of our population is reaping the seeds of 80 % of the total wealth.
• Maximum economic value cannot be attained when we have an abundance of the unskilled labour force in our country. Moreover, the caste system has caused marginalization and discrimination of specific portions of our society. Some places still exist where lower caste people are treated as untouchables.
• Besides, corruption is one of the leading causes of poverty. The poor are being neglected, whereas the wealthy can bribe their way to get their jobs done.

Effects of Poverty in India

The effects of poverty are far-fetched. One of its most disturbing effects includes the overall health conditions. Poor people are often malnourished. Children are devoid of a balanced and nutritious diet. Their poor immune system makes them prone to several ailments. Poverty makes them susceptible to anaemia, impaired vision, cardiac issues, etc. This is why 38 out of every 1000 infants die before turning 1.

India’s economy is correlated to its poverty rate. Poverty determines the possibility of rendering adequate amenities to our society’s underprivileged people. A poverty-ridden society is vulnerable to violence and crimes. Poor people indulge in criminal activities to feed themselves. Apart from that, homelessness is a typical outcome of poverty. This risks the safety of women and promotes child labour. It also increases terrorism.

Solutions for Eradicating Poverty in India

The following measures will help us fight against poverty in India:

• Increasing employment opportunities in India is a beneficial option.
• Farmers must be provided with proper agricultural resources. It will help them make a profit and will control their migration to urban regions (in search of jobs).
• Growing population must be checked. Schemes promoting birth control must be implemented.
• The Government must invest in the poverty-stricken states of India.
• Free education and healthcare units must be set up.
• Public Distribution System must be effective in its duty. People below the poverty line must be able to access free food and fresh water.
• Illiterate labourers must be provided with skill-based training so that they can make a better living out of it.

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The text of the writer’s speech as she received the 45th european essay prize on september 12..

I thank the Charles Veillon Foundation for honoring me with the 2023 European Essay Award. It may not be immediately apparent how delighted I am to receive it. It’s even possible that I am gloating. What makes me happiest is that it is a prize for literature. Not for peace. Not for culture or cultural freedom, but for literature. For writing. And for writing the kind of essays that I write and have written for the past 25 years.

They have mapped, step by step, India’s descent (although some see it as an ascent) into first majoritarianism and then full-blown fascism. Yes, we continue to have elections, and for that reason, in order to secure a reliable constituency, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party’s message of Hindu supremacism has relentlessly been disseminated to a population of 1.4 billion people. Consequently, elections are a season of murder, lynching and dog-whistling – the most dangerous time for India’s minorities, Muslims and Christians in particular.

It is no longer just our leaders we must fear, but a whole section of the population. The banality of evil, the normalisation of evil is now manifest in our streets, in our classrooms, in very many public spaces. The mainstream press, the hundreds of 24-hour news channels have been harnessed to the cause of fascist majoritarianism. India’s Constitution has been effectively set aside. The Indian Penal Code is being rewritten. If the current regime wins a majority in 2024, it is very likely that we will see a new Constitution.

It is very likely that the process of what is called “delimitation” – a reordering of constituencies – or gerrymandering as it is known in the US, will take place, giving more parliamentary seats to those Hindi-speaking states in North India where the BJP has a base. This will cause great resentment in the southern states and has the potential to balkanise India. Even in the unlikely event of an electoral defeat, the supremacist poison runs deep and has compromised every public institution that is meant to oversee checks and balances. Right now, there are virtually none, except a weakened and undermined Supreme Court.

Let me thank you once again for this very prestigious prize and for the recognition of my work –although I must tell you that a lifetime achievement award makes a person feel old. I’ll have to stop pretending that I’m not. It’s a great irony in some ways to receive a prize for 25 years of writing warning about the direction in which we were headed – that was not heeded, but instead often mocked and criticised by liberals and those who considered themselves “progressive” too.

But now the time for warning is over. We are in a different phase of history. As a writer, I can only hope that my writing will bear witness to this very dark chapter that is unfolding in my country’s life. And hopefully, the work of others like myself lives on, it will be known that not all of us agreed with what was happening.

The Hindenburg Report accuses the Adani Group of engaging in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”, which – through the use of offshore shell entities – artificially overvalued its key listed companies and inflated the net worth of its chairman. According to the report, seven of Adani’s listed companies are overvalued by more than 85%. Modi and Adani have known each other for decades. Their friendship was consolidated after the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.

At the time, much of India, including corporate India recoiled in horror at the open slaughter and mass rape of Muslims that was staged on the streets of Gujarat’s towns and villages by vigilante Hindu mobs seeking “revenge”. Gautam Adani stood by Modi. With a small group of Gujarati industrialists he set up a new platform of businessmen. They denounced Modi’s critics and supported him as he launched a new political career as “Hindu Hriday Samrat”, the Emperor of Hindu Hearts. So was born what is known as the Gujarat Model of “development”: violent Hindu nationalism underwritten by serious corporate money.

In 2014, after three terms as chief minister of Gujarat, Modi was elected prime minister of India. He flew to his swearing-in ceremony in Delhi in a private jet with Adani’s name emblazoned across the body of the aircraft. In the nine years of Modi’s tenure, Adani became the world’s richest man. His wealth grew from $8 billion to $137 billion. In 2022 alone, he made $72 billion, which is more than the combined earnings of the world’s next nine billionaires put together. The Adani Group now controls a dozen shipping ports that account for the movement of 30% of India’s freight, seven airports that handle 23% of India’s airline passengers, and warehouses that collectively hold 30% of India’s grain. It owns and operates power plants that are the biggest generators of the country’s private electricity.

Yes, Gautam Adani is one of the world’s richest men, but if you look at their roll-out during elections, the BJP is not just India’s, but perhaps even the world’s richest political party. In 2016 the BJP introduced the scheme of electoral bonds to allow corporations to fund political parties without their identities being made public. It has become the party with by far the largest share of corporate funding. It looks very much as though the twin towers have a common basement.

Just as Adani stood by Modi in his time of need, the Modi government has stood by Adani and has refused to answer a single question raised by members of the opposition in Parliament, going so far as to expunge their speeches from the parliament record.

While the BJP and Adani accumulated their fortunes, in a damning report Oxfam said that the top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth. Seventy three per cent of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1%, while 670 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth. While India is recognised as an economic power with a huge market, most of its population lives in crushing poverty.

Millions live on subsistence rations delivered in packets with Modi’s face printed on them. India is a very rich country with very poor people. One of the most unequal societies in the world. For its pains, Oxfam India has been raided too. And Amnesty International and a host of other troublesome NGOs in India have been harassed into shutting down.

None of this has made any difference whatsoever to the leaders of Western democracies. Within days of the Hindenburg-BBC moment, after “warm and productive” meetings, Prime Minister Modi, President Joe Biden and President Emmanuel Macron announced that India would be buying 470 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Biden said the deal would create over million American jobs. The Airbus will be powered by Rolls Royce engines. “For the UK’s thriving aerospace sector,” PM Rishi Sunak said, “the sky is the limit.”

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Democracy Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on democracy.

Democracy is known as the finest form of government. Why so? Because in a democracy, the people of the country choose their government. They enjoy certain rights which are very essential for any human being to live freely and happily. There are various democratic countries in the world , but India is the largest one. Democracy has withstood the test of time, and while other forms have the government has failed, democracy stood strong. It has time and again proved its importance and impact.

Significance of a Democracy

Democracy is very important for human development . When people have free will to live freely, they will be happier. Moreover, we have seen how other forms of government have turned out to be. Citizens are not that happy and prosperous in a monarchy or anarchy.

Furthermore, democracy lets people have equal rights. This ensures that equality prevails all over the country. Subsequently, it also gives them duties. These duties make them better citizens and are also important for their overall development.

Most importantly, in a democracy, the people form the government. So, this selection of the government by the citizens gives everyone a chance to work for their country. It allows the law to prevail efficiently as the rules are made by people whom they have selected.

In addition, democracy allows people of various religions and cultures to exist peacefully. It makes them live in harmony with one another. People of democracy are more tolerant and accepting of each other’s differences. This is very important for any country to be happy and prosper.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

India: A Democratic Country

India is known to be the largest democracy all over the world. After the rule of the British ended in 1947 , India adopted democracy. In India, all the citizens who are above the age of 18 get the right to vote. It does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, gender, color, or more.

Although India is the largest democracy it still has a long way to go. The country faces a lot of problems which do not let it efficiently function as a democracy. The caste system is still prevalent which hampers with the socialist principle of democracy. Moreover, communalism is also on the rise. This interferes with the secular aspect of the country. All these differences need to be set aside to ensure the happiness and prosperity of the citizens.

In short, democracy in India is still better than that in most of the countries. Nonetheless, there is a lot of room for improvement which we must focus on. The government must implement stringent laws to ensure no discrimination takes place. In addition, awareness programs must be held to make citizens aware of their rights and duties.

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• Will India’s new government turbocharge the fight against poverty?

India and China have taken very different approaches to the problem

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W hen it won its independence in 1947, India suffered from appalling poverty. Campaigning in rural districts, Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, had seen the “mark of this beast” on every brow. “Life had been crushed and distorted,” he wrote, by “continuous lack and ever-present insecurity”.

Campaigning in this year’s election, Nehru’s great-grandson, Rahul Gandhi , a leader of the opposition Congress party, also addressed himself to the poor. He promised to give needy women 100,000 rupees ($1,200) a year. His party said it would double families’ monthly allotment of free grains. These “gigantic schemes of fiscal splurge”, as India’s finance minister called them, may help explain why the opposition did better in the election than expected, depriving Narendra Modi, the prime minister, and his Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) of a majority without coalition support.

India’s politicians clearly believe that the country’s poor are still numerous enough to sway elections. But what do its statisticians think? In 1990 the World Bank tried to put a number on the kind of deprivation Nehru described. Inspired by national poverty lines in India and six other poor countries, the bank defined poverty as living on less than a dollar a day. That line has since been revised to $2.15 a day at the prices prevailing in 2017.

The bank calculates that roughly 2bn people lived below this line in 1990, once you allow for differences in prices across countries and time. Most of these unfortunates (roughly 1.2bn) lived in two countries: India and China.

Today the landscape of deprivation is quite different. China declared victory in the war against extreme poverty in 2021, when only 0.11% of its population was below the World Bank’s line. And earlier this year Surjit Bhalla and Karan Bhasin, two economists, concluded that India, 75 years after independence, had also nearly eliminated extreme poverty (see chart 1), which, they calculated, still marked only 2% of the population—or even less, if the full value of subsidised food is counted. The basis of their confidence was a government factsheet released in February that summarised the results of a nationwide survey of household consumption, the first in over a decade.

If the new figures are right, about 95% of the world’s remaining poor live outside China and India. The largest number are in Congo, Nigeria and other countries south of the Sahara. This progress resonates far beyond the people who directly benefit from it. Advances against poverty make for economic pride and political legitimacy. The changing map of deprivation could shift some ideological co-ordinates, too.

Poverty is political, even in China. Its eradication, say the country’s leaders, is proof of the wisdom of party rule. China’s success has roots in the ruthless land reform of the 1950s as well as widespread investment in literacy and primary education. It gained pace in the 1980s as collective farms were dismantled, agricultural prices improved and village enterprises flourished. “Poverty is not socialism,” declared Deng Xiaoping, then China’s leader. In 1986 a “leading group” of officials introduced China’s first poverty line and identified almost 700 counties being left behind. By 2001 the government could claim to have met basic needs, such as food and clothing, for more than 200m poor people in little over 20 years. This “fully reflects the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics”, it said.

In the 2000s China rebuilt rural health care, cut agricultural taxes and introduced rural pensions. Then in 2013 it adopted what it called “precise” poverty alleviation, aimed at poor people rather than places. It deployed 800,000 officials to build a database of almost 90m impecunious souls. Eradicating their poverty was one of the “decisive battles” Xi Jinping, China’s new ruler, resolved to win by 2021, the centenary of the party’s founding.

Politics aside, the country’s success against poverty has added lustre to its growth model. It combined smallholder agriculture, rapid urbanisation and export-led manufacturing. As farms became more efficient, millions of peasants could migrate from the overmanned countryside to the cities. Many found work in coastal factories, which attracted foreign capital and served global customers.

On the face of it, India’s progress against poverty challenges both these narratives. In glaring contrast to China, the country is an impatient, fractious democracy. Its political system imposes many competing claims on the state and a similar number of constraints on its action. In 2014 Mr Modi’s BJP was the first party in three decades to win a majority by itself. After its less convincing performance this year it will have to govern in a potentially messy coalition that will include several former opponents.

India’s attempts at land reform were a disappointment, not least to Nehru, who complained ruefully about obstructive courts. Its elite colleges and institutes are world-renowned, its primary schools a pedagogical embarrassment. India’s rural poor have migrated to its less dynamic cities more slowly than China’s. And many of them work in construction or low-productivity service jobs, peddling goods or guarding malls, rather than export-oriented manufacturing.

India, like China, has profited from globalisation. But its most eye-catching successes have been in exporting services, not goods. Thanks to patchy education, onerous labour laws and adversarial unions, India’s unskilled labour is abundant but not cheap. As a result, Indian manufacturing has a lot of technology and surprisingly few workers. In a survey of over 10,000 Indians by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a research institute, 62% said finding jobs had become harder in the past five years. That concern may have been one reason the BJP lost its majority in the election.

India’s February factsheet suggested another distinctive feature of the country’s progress. It showed a decline in inequality over the previous 11 years. Rural consumption grew faster than urban. And the gap in consumption between rich and poor narrowed both in the cities and in the countryside. The result prompted Noah Smith, an economics commentator, to draw a sharp cross-Himalayan contrast. “India has accomplished something China never managed to do: reducing poverty by huge amounts, while also decreasing inequality,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Maybe democracy isn’t so bad for development after all.”

What to make of these challenges to conventional development wisdom? On the face of it, the claim that India has eliminated poverty seems absurd. If it had, the country’s politicians would not be trying so hard to win the poor’s votes. But definitions of deprivation differ. And even in India, most people’s idea of poverty differs from the horribly abstemious $2.15 line.

When the line was first drawn, the World Bank provided several examples of the kind of person it was meant to capture. They included landless labourers eating just two meals a day, sleeping on a mud floor, under burlap sacks, with dried palm leaves serving as walls. When India’s politicians talk of “the poor”, by contrast, they have in mind a much wider range of income brackets. Over 800m people are eligible for free food. That could include people living on more than $5 a day. In America, by comparison, an individual earning as much as $30 a day (in 2017 dollars) falls below the official poverty line.

A 2% poverty rate is also less startling in light of a methodological tweak to India’s survey. In decades past, survey teams would ask people to report their consumption of hundreds of items (eggs, shoes, bicycles) over a uniform “recall period” of 30 days. In 2011-12, they instead experimented with a more subtle approach, using shorter recall periods for perishables, like onions, and longer ones for consumer durables, like quilts. This “mixed” approach captures more of a household’s consumption and results in dramatically lower poverty estimates. By the old method, India’s poverty rate in 2011-12 was almost 23%. The new mixed method put it at 12%. Let this “huge discrepancy…sink in”, writes Mr Bhalla.

From this lower starting-point of 12%, a reduction to 2% seems more plausible. Indeed it is what a number-cruncher might expect, given India’s economic growth in the intervening period. The February factsheet implied that the consumption of the bottom bracket had grown by 3.1% a year in rural areas and by 4.1% in urban areas since the previous nationwide survey. That is less than the 4.6% growth in GDP per person in the same 11 years.

Scrutinise the stats

Among some experts, however, the new survey has drawn a cautious—and sometimes suspicious—response. One reason is that the government has not yet released the full results and disaggregated data, which would let scholars estimate poverty more precisely and evaluate the survey more fully. Another reason is that the credibility of India’s statistics has suffered in recent years. The previous consumption survey, for 2017-18, was not released, because of doubts about its quality. (Leaks suggest the figures were unflattering to the government.) The census, interrupted by covid-19, is also long overdue. And India’s impressive growth statistics have been called into question by Arvind Subramanian, the government’s former chief economic adviser. Scholars of poverty have been operating in a “statistical black hole”, says one expert.

The notion that inequality has narrowed has attracted particular scorn. Taken at face value, the February figures suggest that in India’s cities the consumption of the richest tenth has grown by only 1% a year (even as the consumption of the poorest tenth grew several times faster). This pattern does not pass the smell test. “It is hard to associate [it] with the development experience of this country over the last decade”, according to S. Subramanian, an economist in Chennai.

Mr Smith’s contrast with China is anyway overdrawn. China’s income inequality fell in the six years or so before 2014—the period when it reduced poverty to the 2% rate now ascribed to India. Chinese inequality rose earlier in its miracle, when coastal provinces were allowed to get rich first. Moreover, the source Mr Smith cites to show soaring inequality in China—Thomas Piketty at the Paris School of Economics and his co-authors—shows gruesome disparities in India, too. By their estimates, the top 10% get 43% of the income in China and 58% in India.

There are more illuminating differences between the two countries’ wars on want. India, for example, has achieved a low poverty rate at a surprisingly early stage of development. For countries in its income bracket, the poverty rate has historically averaged 10%. When China’s GDP per person was comparable with India’s today, its poverty rate was as high as 18%.

On other indicators of progress, India is also at an earlier stage of development than China was when it had cut poverty to a similar rate (see chart 2). Life expectancy in India is about 70 years (setting aside the pandemic), a threshold China achieved in the 1990s. The lag in literacy is similar. Agriculture still accounts for over 42% of employment in India, according to the International Labour Organisation. China passed that threshold in 2006.

Ahead of the game

India has been called a “precocious” economy by Arvind Subramanian for fostering democracy, a high-tech service industry and acquisitive multinationals at an unusually low level of GDP per person. It also looks like a precocious poverty-fighter.

What explains this unusual record? How has India succeeded in cutting poverty so deeply while lagging behind on other measures of economic and social progress? It might be a statistical quirk. India’s latest survey may be better than similar exercises elsewhere in winkling out the consumption of the poor. But something more fundamental is probably also at work. India’s precocity may reflect its political parties’ competing experiments with “welfarism”, which China views as a dirty word.

China’s development strategy has always prized jobs and infrastructure investment over handouts and social spending, especially when its poverty rate was over 10%. Its rural poverty plan in 2011 included “self-reliance and hard work” as one of its basic principles. Aid-dependency has been a constant fear. Until 2013 its explicit anti-poverty policies were aimed predominantly at poor places, not people. Its plan in 1994 focused on 592 counties, many of them in the mountains. It then drilled down to about 148,000 villages after 2001.

It did introduce dibao cash payments for the urban poor in 1997 and their counterparts in the countryside in 2007. But coverage was limited. One study found that it missed over 80% of the rural poor in 2013. Adding together cash transfers, in-kind transfers and fee waivers, China spent just 0.76% of its GDP on social-safety nets in 2014, according to a World Bank study.

How does that compare with India’s welfare programmes? The same study reckons India spent over 1.5% of its GDP on them at that time, including public-works projects and school feeding schemes, as well as transfers and waivers. A more recent estimate puts India’s welfare spending at 1.8% of GDP , including direct cash payments to farmers and others, facilitated by the spread of no-frills bank accounts under one of Mr Modi’s signature schemes.

A number of goods distributed free, including rice, wheat and school uniforms, cannot explain India’s 2% poverty rate, because they were purposely excluded from the headline consumption figures released in February. Purchases of subsidised goods are included only at their low, discounted price, which understates their impact.

Unheralded success

But India’s efforts at redistribution have still made a difference to its poverty figures. The government’s cash payments to small farmers would have appeared in the statistics, assuming they were spent. The same is true of subsidies to help poor women buy gas cylinders. One of the most prominent interventions is a workfare programme, known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which offers 100 days of minimum-wage work per year to rural households, building dams and digging ditches. Spending on this programme, which spiked during the pandemic, was budgeted at about 0.3% of GDP last year.

Critics worry that it has crowded out private employment. But Karthik Muralidharan of the University of California, San Diego, and his co-authors have shown that the scheme could raise both wages and jobs in the surrounding labour market, where employers had earlier had an incentive to underpay their workers, even if that meant attracting fewer of them.

Introduced in 2006 by the previous government, India’s employment guarantee scheme might have fallen victim to the vicissitudes of party politics. But it was too popular to kill. The same is true of several other programmes introduced by the current government’s political opponents. Rather than ditching them, Mr Modi has rebranded them and tightened up delivery, making use of the combined technologies of bank accounts, biometric identity cards and mobile phones. (“Computers are the new babus [bureaucrats],” one woman, who lacked an identity number, complained to Ranjit Pal Singh of Data & Society, a research firm.)

The previous government tried to enshrine the poor’s claims on the state as “rights”—including rights to employment, food, information and education. Mr Modi has replaced that approach with something more transactional. He has made use of India’s newly direct welfare machinery to distribute goodies to the needy in his own name. That has made him popular. But it does not make his party unique or indispensable. The BJP has no comparative advantage in doling out welfare. Any leader can offer to throw money around: hence Mr Gandhi’s gigantic fiscal “splurges”. Insofar as the BJP ’s appeal rests on its generosity with taxpayers’ money, it can be easily outbid by other parties.

What about the future of India’s poverty fight? It took China seven years to remove the final 2% of its population from poverty. It increased handouts to the worst-off households. But it did not entirely dispense with its “productivist” approach. Local officials found jobs for the poor in warehouses, agribusiness, security or sanitation. In one “model” community in Shaanxi province, poor households worked in a dried-tofu factory, according to research by Sarah Rogers of the University of Melbourne and her colleagues.

China’s government also tried to remove the chronically destitute from the social and geographical circumstances that kept them poor. This entailed a huge bureaucratic effort—monitoring, relocating, training—and a degree of bossiness that sometimes bordered on coercion. In 2016-20, China resettled 9.6m people, severing ties to the land in return for modern housing in closer reach of public services. “My kids tell me to move,” an elderly woman in a mountain village told Ms Rogers and her colleagues. “I still don’t want to move out. Here it’s cool, the air is good.”

India, for its part, has adopted a new measure of its progress which better reflects the dizzying variety of schemes it offers the poor. Its “multidimensional” poverty index, which it embraced in 2021, combines a dozen indicators, spanning health and education as well as material assets, such as animal carts and refrigerators.

The index counts people as poor if they suffer a combination of hardships, for example if their child is not in school, they lack antenatal care during pregnancy, or they must walk for more than 30 minutes to find safe drinking water. By this broader measure, India has made rapid progress, according to NITI Aayog, a government think-tank. But over 11% of India’s population still qualified as poor last year. That is a lot of voters for any new coalition government to please. ■

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Two wars on want”

Asia June 8th 2024

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Lydia Polgreen

India Keeps Its Glorious, Messy Tradition Alive

By Lydia Polgreen

Opinion Columnist

Back in January, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India looked all but unstoppable, he visited the small city of Ayodhya for the unofficial start of his campaign to win a third term. The location was freighted with symbolism. For decades, Hindu nationalists had sought to build a temple in Ayodhya, at a spot they believe to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram. The only problem was that there was already a house of worship on the spot, a mosque built by a Mughal emperor in 1528. A Hindu mob had dismantled the mosque in 1992, setting off riots that killed 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. The ruins were a flashpoint of religious tensions in India for decades.

Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party promised to build the temple, and the lavish event at which Modi officially opened it was a showcase for that achievement. At the time it seemed like strong election-year messaging for a politician who built his career on the twin planks of Hindu nationalism and building a muscular new India. Unlike other politicians, the event implied, Modi made promises and kept them.

“It is the beginning of a new era,” he declared .

Feeling supremely confident, Modi had boldly asked the Indian electorate for something akin to a blank check to remake the country — control of 400 seats in Parliament in elections that began in April and concluded on June 1. And why shouldn’t he have been confident? India’s economy was the fastest-growing in the world. India had overtaken China as the world’s most-populous country. World leaders sought Modi’s support on issues ranging from the war in Ukraine to the climate crisis, cementing India’s ascent in global affairs.

But the ever unpredictable electorate of the world’s largest democracy responded to Modi’s demand for still more power resolutely: No thanks.

In a stunning rebuke, election results released on Tuesday showed that India’s voters have reduced the parliamentary share of Modi’s party by more than 60 seats , not enough for an outright majority, never mind the supermajority he had sought.

It struck me as particularly apt that despite all the fanfare about the glorious new temple in Ayodhya, Modi’s party lost the city’s parliamentary seat to a political opposition that had been all but left for dead.

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NCERT solutions for Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) chapter 1 - What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy? [Latest edition]

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Solutions for chapter 1: what is democracy 1 why democracy.

Below listed, you can find solutions for Chapter 1 of CBSE NCERT for Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1).

NCERT solutions for Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) Chapter 1 What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy? Exercise [Pages 37 - 39]

Here is some information about four countries. Based on this information, how would you classify each of these countries. Write ‘democratic’, ‘undemocratic’ or ‘not sure’ against each of these (a) Country A: People who do not accept the country’s official religion do not have a right to vote (b) Country B: The same party has been winning elections for the last twenty years. (c) Country C: Ruling party has lost in the last three elections (d) Country D: There is no independent election commission.

Here is some information about four countries. Based on this information, how would you classify each of these countries. Write ‘democratic’, ‘undemocratic’ or ‘not sure’ against each of these. (a)Country P: The parliament cannot pass a law about the army without the consent of the Chief of Army (b) Country Q: The parliament cannot pass a law reducing the powers of the judiciary (c) Country R: The country’s leaders cannot sign any treaty with another country without taking permission from its neighbouring country. (d) Country S: All the major economic decisions about the country are taken by officials of the central bank which the ministers cannot change.

Which of these is not a good argument in favour of democracy? Why? (a) People feel free and equal in a democracy (b) Democracies resolve conflict in a better way than others (c) Democratic government is more accountable to the people (d) Democracies are more prosperous than others

Each of these statements contains a democratic and an undemocratic element. Write out the two separately for each statement. (a) A minister said that some laws have to be passed by the parliament in order to conform to the regulations decided by the World Trade Organisation. (b) The Election Commission ordered re-polling in a constituency where large scale rigging was reported. (c) Women’s representation in the parliament has never reached 10 per cent. This led women’s organisations to demand one-third seats for women.

Which of these is not a valid reason for arguing that there is a lesser possibility of famine in a democratic country? (a) Opposition parties can draw attention to hunger and starvation. (b) Free press can report suffering from famine in different parts of the country. (c) Government fears its defeat in the next elections. (d) People are free to believe in and practise any religion.

There are 40 villages in a district where the government has made no provision for drinking water. These villagers met and considered many methods of forcing the government to respond to their need. Which of these is not a democratic method? (a) Filing a case in the courts claiming that water is part of right to life. (b) Boycotting the next elections to give a message to all parties. (c) Organising public meetings against government’s policies. (d) Paying money to government officials to get water.

Write a response to the following arguments against democracy. (a) Army is the most disciplined and corruption-free organisation in the country. Therefore army should rule the country. (b) Rule of the majority means the rule of ignorant people. What we need is the rule of the wise, even if they are in small numbers. (c) If we want religious leaders to guide us in spiritual matters, why not invite them to guide us in politics as well. The country should be ruled by religious leaders.

Is the following statement in keeping with democracy as a value? Why?

Father to daughter: I don’t want to hear your opinion about your marriage. In our family children marry where the parents tell them to.

Teacher to student: Don’t disturb my concentration by asking me questions in the classroom.

Is the following statement in keeping with democracy as a value? Why? Employee to the officer: Our working hours must be reduced according to the law.

Consider the following facts about a country and decide if you would call it a democracy. Give reasons to support your decision. (a) All the citizens of the country have right to vote Elections are held regularly. (b) The country took loan from international agencies. One of the conditions for given loan was that the government would reduce its expenses on education and health. (c) People speak more than seven languages but education is available only in one language, the language spoken by 52 percent people of the country. (d) Several organisations have given a call for peaceful demonstrations and nation wide strikes in the country to oppose these policies. Government has arrested these leaders.(e) The government owns the radio and television in the country. All the newspapers have to get permission from the government to publish any news about government’s policies and protests.

Consider the following facts about a country and decide if you would call it a democracy. Give reason to support your decision.

All the citizens of the country have the right to vote Elections are held regularly.

The country took loans from international agencies. One of the conditions for giving loans was that the government would reduce its expenses on education and health.

People speak more than seven languages but education is available only in one language, the language spoken by 52 per cent people of in the country.

Several organisations have given a call for peaceful demonstrations and nationwide strikes in the country to oppose these policies. The government has arrested these leaders.

The government owns the radio and television in the country. All the newspapers have to get permission from the government to publish any news about government policies and protests.

In 2004 a report published in USA pointed to the increasing inequalities in that country. Inequalities in income reflected in the participation of people in democracy. It also shaped their abilities to influence the decisions taken by the government. The report highlighted that :

If an average Black family earns $ 100 then the income of average White family is $ 162. A White family has twelve times more wealth than the average Black family.

In a President’s election ‘nearly 9 out of 10 individuals in families with income over $ 75,000 have voted. These people are the top 20% of the population in terms of their income. On the other hand only 5 people out of 10 from families with income less than $ 15,000 have voted. They are the bottom 20% of the population in terms of their income.

About 95% contribution to the political parties comes from the rich. This gives them opportunity to express their opinions and concerns, which is not available to most citizens.

As poor sections participate less in politics, the government does not listen to their concerns − coming out of poverty, getting job, education, health, car and housing for them. Politicians hear most regularly about the concerns of business persons and the rich.

Write an essay on ‘Democracy and Poverty’ using the information given in this report but using examples from India.

NCERT solutions for Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) chapter 1 - What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy?

Shaalaa.com has the CBSE Mathematics Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) CBSE solutions in a manner that help students grasp basic concepts better and faster. The detailed, step-by-step solutions will help you understand the concepts better and clarify any confusion. NCERT solutions for Mathematics Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) CBSE 1 (What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy?) include all questions with answers and detailed explanations. This will clear students' doubts about questions and improve their application skills while preparing for board exams.

Further, we at Shaalaa.com provide such solutions so students can prepare for written exams. NCERT textbook solutions can be a core help for self-study and provide excellent self-help guidance for students.

Concepts covered in Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) chapter 1 What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy? are Features of Democracy, Why Democracy, Broader Meanings of Democracy, What is Democracy?.

Using NCERT Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) solutions What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy? exercise by students is an easy way to prepare for the exams, as they involve solutions arranged chapter-wise and also page-wise. The questions involved in NCERT Solutions are essential questions that can be asked in the final exam. Maximum CBSE Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) students prefer NCERT Textbook Solutions to score more in exams.

Get the free view of Chapter 1, What is Democracy? 1 Why Democracy? Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) additional questions for Mathematics Class 9 Social Science (Democratic Politics 1) CBSE, and you can use Shaalaa.com to keep it handy for your exam preparation.

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How the Planet's Biggest Democracy Deals with a Major Scandal

Lauren Frayer

Demonstrators protest in Mumbai on June 8, 2018, over the arrests of social activists by Indian police. Satish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images hide caption

Demonstrators protest in Mumbai on June 8, 2018, over the arrests of social activists by Indian police.

In India, the world's largest democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently won a third term in office. While he is clearly popular, during his time in power there has also been brutal repression of dissent. We examine a major scandal that unfolded in the run-up to the previous election, five years ago, and examine what it means for the health of Indian democracy.

Write an essay on 'Democracy and Poverty 'using the examples from India.

A true democracy is one where there is no poverty. But this has not been achieved by and democratic nation including India.

The weaknesses in the democracy of India:

• The existence of corruption and lack of accountability in public institution weakens the democracy.

• Lack of transparency in agendas and funding of political parties.

• Though there are laws to put control of corruption, yet there is a lack of implementation

• The citizens in India are not motivated towards taking part in election, i.e. casting of votes. The election is a key feature of the democracy and abstaining from voting the citizens run away from their duties.

• Even if the people cast their votes, they remain unaware of the candidates' profile, which reduces the accountability of the contestants.

Look inside

A World of Insecurity

Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries

Pranab Bardhan

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ISBN 9780674259843

Publication date: 10/18/2022

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An ambitious account of the corrosion of liberal democracy in rich and poor countries alike, arguing that antidemocratic sentiment reflects fear of material and cultural loss, not a critique of liberalism’s failure to deliver equality, and suggesting possible ways out.

The retreat of liberal democracy in the twenty-first century has been impossible to ignore. From Wisconsin to Warsaw, Budapest to Bangalore, the public is turning against pluralism and liberal institutions and instead professing unapologetic nationalism and majoritarianism. Critics of inequality argue that this is a predictable response to failures of capitalism and liberalism, but Pranab Bardhan, a development economist, sees things differently. The problem is not inequality but insecurity—financial and cultural.

Bardhan notes that antidemocratic movements have taken root globally in a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic groups. In the United States, older, less-educated, rural populations have withdrawn from democracy. But in India, the prevailing Hindu Nationalists enjoy the support of educated, aspirational urban youth. And in Europe, antidemocratic populists firmly back the welfare state (but for nonimmigrants). What is consistent among antidemocrats is fear of losing what they have. That could be money but is most often national pride and culture and the comfort of tradition.

A World of Insecurity argues for context-sensitive responses. Some, like universal basic income schemes, are better suited to poor countries. Others, like worker empowerment and international coordination, have broader appeal. But improving material security won’t be enough to sustain democracy. Nor, Bardhan writes, should we be tempted by the ultimately hollow lure of China’s authoritarian model. He urges liberals to adopt at least a grudging respect for fellow citizens’ local attachments. By affirming civic forms of community pride, we might hope to temper cultural anxieties before they become pathological.

Situating American Trumpism within a global story of the rise of antidemocratic politics in other big, diverse countries like Brazil and India,…[Bardhan] presents a sober contemplation of demagogues like Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi, who weaken democracy with the support of disaffected electoral majorities. —Alexander Burns, New York Review of Books

Ambitious…[This book] makes an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on the erosion of democracy worldwide. —Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Bardhan argues that the ills plaguing the world are best understood not in terms of inequality but in terms of insecurity—simmering economic and social anxiety about job loss, declining incomes, poverty, and cultural change. —Daron Acemoglu, Foreign Affairs

Not poverty, not inequality, but insecurity is at the root of the worldwide upsurge in populism and disenchantment with democracy. This is the main message of A World of Insecurity …[Bardhan’s] impressively comprehensive, richly informed and balanced book. —Philippe Van Parijs, Brussels Times

Bardhan’s contribution to a growing body of literature on the phenomenon of disenchantment is particularly welcome as it not only contains piercing commentaries and fresh insights but also offers some workable solutions to this conundrum…The book hands us a great opportunity to bridge the widening gap between intellectual rigour and popular opinion. —Iman Kumar Mitra, Telegraph India

Wide-ranging…Policy makers, labor activists, and economists will find much to chew on. —Publishers Weekly

[Bardhan] proposes that liberalism’s ethical principles—its normative claims—are still as palpable today in our present historical circumstances, in the political ruins we call neoliberalism and populism, as they were at their origin in the seventeenth century. —James Livingston, Project Syndicate

A work of expansive ambition and breadth. In particular, the sweeping catalogue of proposals to relaunch social democracy…will offer food for thought to progressive thinkers around the world. —Alessandra Pelloni, Journal of Economics

An accessible book, challenging but with impressive and topical examples. —Christine Shields, Society of Professional Economists

In his bold new book [Bardhan] explains the rise of authoritarianism, in many cases driven, as he says, by populist demagogues—leaders who claim to embody the popular will and who, though they may emerge in formal democracies, then trample upon the rules and institutions of representative government. —John Harriss, Today's Totalitarianism

A World of Insecurity well points out the critical issues of a world where democracy loses the postulate of the people’s participation in collective decision-making. —Albertina Nani, History of Economic Thought and Policy

A significant contribution which weaves the economic, political, and social questions together…must be read by those interested in the erosion of democracy. —Aashita Dawer, Jindal Global Law Review

In this important book, Pranab Bardhan explores how and why the insecurities of our age have metastasized into our democratic institutions. These cancers on democracy block the cooperation necessary for solution of all other major problems. Thus, they are arguably the most consequential developments of our times. —George Akerlof, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics

Pranab Bardhan is one of the wisest social scientists writing today, and the hallmarks of his writing are parsimony, clarity, and the depth of ideas. Indeed, the ratio of ideas to pages is among the highest in our field. A World of Insecurity is a panoramic book weaving together an analysis of the current economic and political crisis, acutely discussed by a master political economist. —John Roemer, Yale University

A World of Insecurity is an outstanding work. Bardhan tackles hard questions without illusions but also without becoming disillusioned. —Samuel Bowles, Santa Fe Institute, author of The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens

• Pranab Bardhan is Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Awakening Giants , Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India , and Scarcity, Conflicts, and Cooperation: Essays in the Political and Institutional Economics of Development .

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• Harvard University Press

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Essays about: "democracy and poverty in india"

Found 2 essays containing the words democracy and poverty in india .

1. The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in the Development of Mauritius: The Marginalization of the Creole Community

Author : Marie-Laure Sundman ; [2015-07-29] Keywords : Mauritius ; India ; poverty reduction ; development strategy ; foreign direct investment ; economic growth ; ethnic groups ; Creole community ; marginalization ;

Abstract : The success of Mauritius has often been mentioned as a lesson for African countries to learn from involving a decreased inequality gap, improved living standards and full democracy in Africa, which is unique for the continent. The liberalization of its policies has resulted in openness to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to attain increased investment from abroad and a rapid economic growth. READ MORE

2. The Impact of a Quota System on Women’s Empowerment - A field study in West Bengal, India

Author : Joakim Persson ; [2009] Keywords : empowerment ; Leadership ; India ; women ; power ; local ; democracy ; panchayat ; West ; Bengal ; Economics ; econometrics ; economic theory ; economic systems ; economic policy ; Nationalekonomi ; ekonometri ; ekonomisk teori ; ekonomiska system ; ekonomisk politik ; Business and Economics ;

Abstract : Women’s empowerment is thought to be one of the main issues when talking about gender equality, economic growth and poverty in the academic world today. In India many states are using a reservation bill to ensure women’s participation in the political decision-making at local level. READ MORE

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