Poverty in India Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Poverty in India - Research Paper Example About 29% of the population lives below the national poverty line; other estimates2 that are the indication of the current situation of India which will be used for further analysis of the situation include the infant mortality rate is 62 per 1000 births; child malnutrition for under 5 years old is 47%; around 86% people have access to an improved water source, and literacy is supposed to be around 61%. India was basically an agriculture based economy, in the year 2005, agriculture's proportion to GDP has been declining as the economy is progressing and agriculture was 18.3% of GDP and showed a growth was 6% year on year basis, industries' contribution was 27.3% and it posted a growth of 9.4% in which manufacturing grew at a rate of 9.1% whereas services now comprises more than half of GDP by contributing 54.4% to GDP and growing by 9.9%. Today, India faces problems such as escalating population and growing income inequalities; thus poverty remains quite a serious problem; although some social and demographic factors might seem to show some positives when compared over the years since India's independence in 1947 from the British rule. India: Poverty Retreats with Globalization's Advance (Nayar)3 suggests that with globalization of the world and the opening doors of the economy, India has shown a considerable growth has improved its own economic position. The reason for this is attributed to the deregulated policies that have now welcomed the multinationals to the country which has spurred the growth, employment, foreign direct investment into the boundaries of the country. But, the author still argues that with all the changes or step towards improvement is not quite visible in the masses of the country; that is the effect is not quite trickled down to the lower economic classes and only the top 20% have been benefiting from it. Though much of deregulation and liberalization have occurs but measures that are most reflective of poverty reduced situation has not shown quite remarkable improvements as reflected by calorie intake etc. Strategies for Combating Poverty in India, as mentioned earlier that the biggest challenge countries like India are facing today are to combat poverty; this article also highlights the same issue and discusses some of the ways poverty can be tackled in India. The article pinpoints that it is the policies of the government, and its priorities that are irrational and misplaced respectively; therefore, government over these last many years has failed to get rid of such a menace from the country. According to the author is important that the government should channel national resources in the right manner and to the desired objectives; first recommendation relates to unemployment, and suggestion is made regarding the law which should guarantee employment to be enacted, and if the state fails to provide employment then minimum wages in lieu should be paid to the unemployed too. Next, it suggests that for people it is necessary to develop skills, increase their productivity in areas inclu ding, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, technology etc. because according to the author poor are poor because they lack such skills and there is no focus on their skill development. Poverty in India (Jaya)4 states the measures of poverty in India. The article points out that the most popular estimate of poverty measure is by making use of household consumer