{"id":217382,"date":"2022-12-06T20:48:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T15:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=217382"},"modified":"2022-12-06T20:48:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T15:18:54","slug":"counting-indias-poor-numbers-suggest-the-need-for-a-welfare-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/counting-indias-poor-numbers-suggest-the-need-for-a-welfare-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting India\u2019s poor: Numbers suggest the need for a welfare state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cCounting India\u2019s poor: Numbers suggest the need for a welfare state \u201d <\/strong>published in The Indian Express <\/strong>on 6th December 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Poverty and hunger<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>– Estimation of poverty<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The article explains the issues of estimation of poverty in India and its implications for government.<\/p>\n

What are different approaches used in India for calculating the prevalence of poverty?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The first is the calorie intake approach<\/strong>. 2400 calories per day was taken as a standard and converted into monetary value.<\/p>\n

The World Bank uses the concept of income per day<\/strong>. It is now at $1.90. It translates into Rs 160 a day in India.<\/p>\n

The third approach is use of income tax data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What are the shortcomings of this approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calorie approach<\/strong>– People can not live with just calories. They need other amenities like housing, clothing and education.<\/p>\n

World bank<\/strong>– Using a universal yardstick<\/strong> across the world is not right. A weak currency can give a higher value in India.<\/p>\n

Income tax data<\/strong>– It captures only a small segment as it leaves the big universe of rural people.<\/p>\n

How can we calculate the number of vulnerable populations that need support?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The concept of poor needs to be broadened to represent the needy or vulnerable section of the society.<\/p>\n

The government has been aggressive in reaching out to vulnerable populations that require support to maintain their minimum needs during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

PMGKY<\/strong> covered 800 million people. It means 60% of the population needed support from the government. The National Portal of India<\/strong> in 2020 had put out a static that 42 crore people benefitted from PMGKY. It is around 30% of the population.<\/p>\n

136 million families were covered under MGNREGA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The PM Kisan Yojana<\/strong> covers 110 million farmers. It yields a number close to a third of the population, assuming that families comprise four members. This does not cover vulnerable non-farming classes<\/strong>, especially in urban areas.<\/p>\n

By putting all these numbers together, the proportion of the vulnerable population<\/strong> in the economy would range between 30% to 60%.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward for fulfilling the needs of the vulnerable section?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The government has to assume the role of a welfare state<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The focus has to be on job creation<\/strong>. Agriculture has to be commercialised. Manufacturing has to be revived.<\/p>\n

A joint effort <\/strong>between centre and states is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cCounting India\u2019s poor: Numbers suggest the need for a welfare state \u201d published in The Indian Express on 6th December 2022. Syllabus: GS2- Poverty and hunger Relevance– Estimation of poverty News– The article explains the issues of estimation of poverty in India and its implications for government.… Continue reading Counting India\u2019s poor: Numbers suggest the need for a welfare state<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-217382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1699955962},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}