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POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES

INTRODUCTION:

POVERTY IN INDIA : AN OVERVIEW

India is a haven to 22% of the worlds poor. At the beginning of thenew millennium, 260 million people in the country did not haveincomes to access a consumption basket which defines the poverty

line. Of these, 75 per cent were in rural areas. Such a high incidenceof poverty is a matter of apprehension, in view of the fact that povertyeradication has been one of the major objectives of the development

process. Poverty eradication is considered integral to humanitysmission for sustainable development. Thus, reduction of poverty inIndia is vital for the attainment of international goals. The philosophyunderlying the poverty alleviation programs is to tackle the rural

poverty by endowing the poor with productive assets and training for

raising their skills so that they are assured of a regular stream of employment and income in raising themselves above the poverty line.

THE POVERTY LINE

The concept of basic human needs has recently gained favour in thethinkingof experts concerned with new strategies of development for

poor countries.These thinkers are unanimous in their agreement that production and planningmust be specifically geared to the satisfaction


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of these needs. Poverty is thecondition where human beings are notable to meet the basic needs of life.One way to determine the number of people in this condition is to use theconcept of the poverty line.There are several indicators we can use to determine where to drawthis line:

. per capita income

household consumption

per capita consumption of specific items such as cereals

proportion of expenditure on food items

calorie intake

OVER POPULATION AND POVERTY - ITS TIME TO WAKE UP ......

A number of factors are responsible for poverty in the rural areas of India. Rural populations primarily depend on agriculture, which is highly dependant on rain patterns and the monsoon season. Inadequate rain and improper irrigationfacilities can obviously cause low, or in some cases, zero production of crops.

Additionally, the Indian family unit is often large, which can amplify the effects

of poverty. Also, the caste system still prevails in India, and this is a major reason for rural poverty - people from the lower casts are often deprived of themost basic facilities and opportunities. The phenomenal increase in populationin the cities is one of the main reasons for poverty in the urban areas of India. Amajor portion of this additional population is due to the large scale migration of rural families from villages to cities. This migration is mainly attributed to poor employment opportunities in villages.


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POVERTY ALLEVIATION : THE NEED FOR A

DIRECT ATTACK

A large proportion of the Indian population is not in a position to meet basic needs as defined in terms of employment, consumption, health,nutrition, life expectancy, child mortality, and literacy, opportunitiesfor schooling, and access to public goods or property. As a long-termmeasure for the eradication of poverty and improving the quality of life, broad-based literacy and basic education for all is the main

foundation and an essential precondition. Thus, in the developingcountries, raising literacy and education levels should be viewed asthe principal instrument of poverty eradication. It is recognized that adramatic increase in incomes is by itself not enough to improve thequality of life of the poor. Unless all citizens, especially the poor,have certain basic minimum services, their living conditions cannotimprove. These minimum services include, among other things,literacy, education, primary health care and safe drinking water.

The Government of India has identified seven basic minimumservices: safe drinking water, primary health care facilities, universal

primary education, nutrition for school and preschool children, shelter for the poor, accessible roads for all communities, and a publicdistribution system with a focus on the poor. The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) places special emphasis on these seven basic minimum servicesand their provision in partnership with State governments and local

government institutions.


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POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN RURAL INDIA -

PROGRAMMES AND STRATIGIES

Alleviation of poverty remains a major challenge before theGovernment. While there has been a steady decline in rural povertyover the last two decades, there were 244 million rural poor (37 per cent of the rural population) in the country in 1993-94, as per thelatest available estimates. Acceleration of economic growth, with afocus on sectors which are employment-intensive, facilitates theremoval of poverty in the long run. However, this strategy needs to

be complemented with a focus laid on provision of basic services for improving the quality of life of the people and direct Stateintervention in the form of targeted anti poverty programmes. Indiahasimplemented a number of income and employment generating

programmes in the last three decades.

A. Self-Employment Programmes

1 Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)2. Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM)

3. Supply of Improved Toolkits to Rural Artisans (SITRA)

B. Rural Wage Employment Programmes

1. Rural Manpower Programme (RMP)

2. Crash Scheme for Rural Employment (CSRE)

3. National Rural Employment Programme (NREP)

4. Rural Labourers Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP)


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5. Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) (a rural works programmeintroduced in1989-1990, which later incorporated the NREP andRLEGP)

C. Special Area Development Programmes1. Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPEP)

2. Desert Development Programme (DDP)

3. Hill Area Development Programme (HADP)

D. Development of women and children in rural areas (DWCRA)

A. Self-Employment Programmes

IRDP launched on October 2nd. 1980 all over the Country. Theobjective of I.R.D.P. is to enable identified rural poor families tocross the poverty line by providing productive assets and inputs to thetarget groups. The assets which could be in primary, secondary or

tertiary sector are provided through financial assistance in the form of subsidy by the Govt.and and term credit advanced by financialinstitutions. The programme is implemented in all the blocks in thecountry as a centrally sponsored scheme funded on 50:50 basis by theCentre and State. The Scheme is merged with another Scheme namedS.G.S.Y. since 01.04.1999. the main objectives of the programme are:-

y TR AINING OF RUR AL YO UTH FO R SELFEMPLOYMEN T ( TR YSEM)

y SU PPLY OF IMP R OVED T OOL-KI T S T O RUR ALART ISANS(SI TR A)

y MILLION WELLS SC H EME( M.W.S.): Million WellsScheme was taken up as a sub-scheme of N.R.E.P. (National


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Rural Employment Programme) and Rural LandlessEmployment Guarantee Programme( R.L.E.G.P.) during theyear 1988-89 has continued under J.R.Y. Till 1989-90, theobjective of the scheme was to provide open irrigation wells tosmall and marginal farmers amongst the ScheduledCaste/Scheduled Tribes and freed Bonded Labourers who are

below poverty line, free of cost. From 1990-91 onwards, under Million Wells Scheme, the following works were also included.(a) Construction of open irrigation wellls for the target group;(b) Where wells are not feasible, other scheme of minor irrigation like irrigation tanks, Water Harvesting Structures for the benefit of target group can also be taken up. (c) The

provision under M.W.S. can also be utilised for the landdevelopment of the target groups. From 01.01.1996, this schemehad been delinked from J.R.Y. and made an independent scheme

by itself. Now the scheme is no more in operation and mergedwith S.G.S.Y. since 01.04.1999.

y INDI R A AWAS YOJANA( I.A.Y.): Indira AwasYojana(I.A.Y.) which was launched during 1985-86 as a sub-

scheme of R.L.E.G.P. has continued as part of J.R.Y. since itslaunch on April,1989. However from 01.01.1996, I.A.Y. has

been made a separate scheme. The objective of I.A.Y. then wasto provide dwelling units, free of cost to the members of Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribes and freed BondedLabourers living below the poverty line..

y EMPLOYEMEN T ASS UR ANCE SC H EME ( E.A.S.): TheEmployment Assurance Scheme( E.A.S.) aims at providingwage employment in unskilled mannual works to the rural poor who are in need of employment and seeking it. The secondaryobjective is to create economic infrastructure and communityassets for sustained employment and development. TheEmployment Assurance Scheme for generating employment


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opportunities to the rural poor on an assured basis has beenlaunched from 2nd. October,1993.

y JAWA H AR G R AM SAM R ID H I YOJANA(J.G.S.Y.): Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana( JGSY) is therestructured streamlined and comprehensive version of erstwhileJawahar Rojagar Yojana, designed to improve the quality of lifeof the poor, JGSY has been launched on 1st. April,1999. The

primary objectives of the JGSY is creation of demand drivencommunity village infrastructure including durable assets at thevillage level and assets to enable the rural poor to increase theopportunity for sustained employment. The secondary objectiveis the generation of supplementary employment for theunemployed poor in the rural areas. The wage employmentunder the programme shall be given to Below Poverty line (B.P.L. ) families.

B. Rural Wage Employment ProgrammesThe Sampoorna Grameen R ozgar Yojana : Universal Rural wageEmployment Programme was a scheme launched by the Governmentof India to attain the objective of providing gainful employment for the rural poor. From 1 April 1999, EAS became an allocation-basedscheme. [2] The programme was implemented through the PanchayatiRaj institutions.

The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana was launched on 25

September 2001 by merging the provisions of Employment AssuranceScheme (EAS) and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY). The

programme is self-targeting in nature and aims to provideemployment and food to people in rural areas who lived below the

poverty line.


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Employment Assurance SchemeThe Employment Assurance Scheme was concerned with wageemployment and was introduced to create employment opportunitiesin times when there is a shortage of jobs.The sort of employment

provided mostly involved manual labour.EAS was first implemented on 2 October 1993 in 1778 blocks locatedin the rough, rugged, sparsely populated areas of the country.

Jawahar Gram Smridhi YojanaThe Jawahar Gram Smridhi Yojana, named after India's first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru aimed at creating a need-based ruralinfrastructure. Both these programmes have contributed a great dealtowards alleviating rural poverty. In 2001, the Food for Work

Programme was initiated to meet demands for wage employment andfood grain requirements.

The scheme was launched in 1989 by merging two wage employment programmes: National Rural Employment Programme(NREP) andRural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme(RLEGP).It wasthe single largest wage employment programme implemented throughPanchayat Raj institutions. The programme is implemented by theDistrict Panchayats, Intermediate Panchayats and GramPanchayats. The resources are allocated in the 203050 ratio.

The Gram Panchayats commence their work based on the approval of the Gram Sabha 50 percent of the funds for the Gram Panchayats areused for the development of infrastructure in SC/ST dominatedareas. 22.5 percent of the funds allocated to District and IntermediatePanchayats are also used for the development of individuals

belonging to SC/ST communities.

The employment of contractors or middlemen are not permitted under this scheme.

JAWA H AR R OJAGA R YOJANA( J. R .Y.): Alleviation of rural poverty has been one of the main objective of the development programes. Since independence various schemes of employment


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generation were taken up from time to time in the country. The Eigth plan has also stressed the need for having a larger focus on the programmes aimed at giving self employment and wage employmentto the poorer section of the community. During the first four years of the Seventh Five Year Plan, two Wage-employment Programme viz;

N.R.E.P.(National Rural Employment Programme) and RuralLandless Employment Guarantee Programme (R.L.E.G.P.) were inoperation in the country. From 01.04.1989 i.e. last year of the SeventhFive Year Plan, these programmes were merged in to a single wageemployment programme known as Jawahar Rojagar Yojana( J.R.Y.).The primary objectives of J.R.Y. is generation of additional gainfulemployment for the un-employed and under-employed men andwomen in rural areas. The secondary objectives of this programme iscreation of sustainable employment by strengthening the ruraleconomic infrastructure

C. Special Area Development Programmes

DR

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PR

ONE AR

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AMME( D.P.A.P.): TheDrought Prone Area Programme(DPAP) aims to mitigate the adverseeffect of drought on the production of crops and livestock ,productivity of land, water and human resources.It strives toencourage restoration of ecological balance and seeks to improve theeconomic and social condition of the poor and the disadvantagedsections of the rural community. Now DPAP is a people's programmewith Government assistance. There is a specific arrangement for

maintenance of assets and social audit by Panchayati Raj institutions.Development of all catagories of land belonging to Gram Panchayat,Government and individuals fall within the limits of the selectedwatersheds for development.Allocation is to be shared equally by theCentre and State Government on 50:50 basis Watershed Committeesis to contribute for maintenance of the assets created. Utilisation of 50


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% of allocation under the Employment Assurance Scheme(EAS) isfor the Watershed Development funds are directly released for sanction of projects and release of funds to Watershed Committeesand Project Implementing Agencies(PIAs).

Desert Development Programme (DDP)- The basic object of the programme is to minimise the adverse effect of drought and controldesertification through rejuvenation of natural resource base of theidentified desert areas. The programme strives to achieve ecological

balance in the long run. The programme also aims at promotingoverall economic development and improving the socioeconomicconditions of the resource poor and disadvantaged sections inhabiting

the programme areas. Upto 1994-95, Desert DevelopmentProgramme was under implementation in 131 blocks of 21 districts in5 States.

3. Hill Area Development Programme (HADP)

The Hill Area Development Programme, introduced in Nilgiris District since the year 1975, is funded by theGovernment of India to supplement the plan resources of thestate by providing Special Central Assistance.

OBJECTIVES:

The main objective of HADP is eco-restoration, eco- developmentand eco preservation. While taking care of the socio economic anddevelopmental needs of the District, the HADP is to develop land use

planning for forest areas to cultivable areas to conserve soil, water

and increase productivity of land, economic upliftment of tribals in anisolated settlements and also to ensure peoples participation in alldevelopmental activities. This translated on the field consist of thefollowing components:


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1. To preserve and conserve sholas and grasslands of Nilgiris.

2. Development of land use plan for forest area as well ascultivated areas.

3. Conserve soil and water to increase productivity of theland by using vegetative methods and changing thecropping pattern.

4. Promote non-land based economic activities to uplift the poor people and to ensure environment Protection.

5. Economic upliftment of tribals in isolated locations,

settlements.

6. To evolve a comprehensive human settlement policyand discourage migration.

7. "Area based Approach" adopted and integrated plans to be prepared for all watersheds and high priority watershedshall be chosen for treatment.

8. Use of scientific interventions will be encouraged i.e.Application of Remote sensing, etc.,

9. Promotion of Non-Conventional Energy sources i.e.Solar, Hydro, Bio-gas, etc.,

D. DEVELOPMEN T OF WOMEN AND C H ILD R EN INRUR AL A R EAS(DWC R A) : The Development of Women and

Children in rural areas(DWCRA) programme was launched as a sub-component of IRDP and a centrally sponsored scheme of theDepartment of Rural Development with UNICEF cooperation tostrengthen the women's component of poverty alleviation

programmes. It is directed at raising the income levels of women of poor households so as to enable their organised participation in socialdevelopment towards economic self reliance. The DWCRA's primary


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thrust is on the formation of groups of 15 to 20 women from poor household at the village level for delivery of services like credit andskill training, cash and infrastructural support for self employment.Through the strategy of group formation, the programme aims to

improve women's access to basic services of health, education, childcare, nutrition and sanitation. It is merged with S.G.S.Y. since01.04.1999.

B UT THE FACT :

In India, the need for poverty alleviation has been recognized almost

since the nations independence 50 years ago. While initially it wasexpected that the overall economic development strategiesincorporated in the Governments five-year development plans wouldalso reduce poverty among the masses, later on (perhaps in the 1960s)

programmes specifically designed and addressed to the cause of poverty alleviation among the rural poor became indispensable. In thelast four decades a number of such programmes have been and stillare being implemented in this country. Simultaneously, the control of

population growth through family welfare programmes and theeradication of illiteracy through special literacy drives were conceivedand implemented as important planks of human development.

In addition to these national-level programmes (past and present)undertaken by the federal Government, several NGOs and voluntaryassociations have initiated micro-level training with or withoutoutside assistance. These programmes, using the methods of non-

formal education, have proved to be very popular, especially amongstwomen and children who either dropped out of school or never attended in the first place. The programmes have emphasized thedevelopment of income-earning capacities and self-sufficiency on the

part of their beneficiaries. There is no doubt that these income andemployment generation programmes implemented by both the


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Government and NGOs during the last three decades have had someimpact on the level of poverty in the country. The Government claimsthat the proportion of the population below the poverty line has gonedown by more than 20 percentage points, in other words, from a littlemore than 50 per cent in the 1960s to a little less than 30 per cent inthe 1990s.

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