Introduction

In this article you will learn about " Major Reasons For Poverty In India " in easy language so that you will be able to understand it. But before this, you should know the concept of poverty because this will help you in understanding the further topics. Even in today's time poverty is a big problem facing our country and that is why our country is not developing well. The Government should pay more attention to this or generate more and more employment. 

What is poverty? 

Poverty is the inability to fulfill the basic requirements of life. The minimum requirements include food, clothing, housing, education and health facilities. If these minimum needs are not fulfilled, man undergoes pain and suffering. Sickness and disabilities render him helpless in all walks of life. A country is poor when it is inflicted with hunger and starvation, when a large segment of the population lacks capability to get education and when people feel helpless and powerless to change their plight. 
Poverty is not just a challenge for India but for the entire world. At present, almost 300 million people are not able to fulfill basic needs of food, clothing and shelter and one - fifth of the world's poor reside in India. 




Relative And Absolute Poverty 

Relative and absolute poverty are the two variants of poverty. 

1. Relative Poverty:- It refers to poverty across different classes, regions or countries. The country or class of people whose level of living is low is treated as poor or relative poor in comparison to the country or class of people having higher level of living. 

2. Absolute Poverty :- Absolute poverty is used to describe a condition where an individual does not have the financial means for basic needs of living.In India, the concept of poverty line is used as a measure of absolute poverty. People below the poverty line are classified as ' absolutely poor'. 


Reasons for poverty in India

 Low rate of growth:-

Rate of growth of economy has been quite low during Five Year Plans in India. During the period of planning, growth rate of GDP has been nearly five percent. As compared to growth of population rate, the growth rate income is very low. Low growth rate of per capita income has tended to sustain poverty. 

Heavy pressure of population:-

Population has been rising at a rapid rate. Heavy pressure of population adds to dependency burden, implying greater poverty. Pressure of population is more pronounced in rural areas. The rapid growth in population and lack of employment opportunities causes greater poverty in India. 

Inflation rate :-

Owing to low GDP growth and high growth rate of population, less developed economies like India are vulnerable to high inflation rate. Inflation compounds poverty. It destroy real income of the households. Those who are marginally above the poverty line are driven down to the poverty line. Those already below the poverty line are compelled to suffer poverty over a longer period of time. 


Capital deficiency:-

Capital is one of the principal factors of economic growth. Accumulation of capital points to a rise in production capacity of a nation. Unfortunately, capital stock and capital formation continue to be highly deficient. Lack of capital points leads to low production capacity. In turn, low production capacity leads to low level of employment. And, low level of employment implies higher poverty. 


Lack of infrastructure:-

Energy, transport and communication the vital components of economic infrastructure as well as education, health and housing services the principal components of social infrastructure are grossly deficient. Economic and social infrastructure serves as the foundation of growth and development. Slow rate of infrastructure development leads to poverty. 


Lack of able and efficient entrepreneurs :-

GDP growth needs efficient and skilled entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, India lacks entrepreneurial skill. Consequently, production activity has failed to gather a momentum. Implying that we have failed to tackle poverty. 


Outdated social institutions:-

The social structure of our country is full of outdated traditions and institutions like caste system and joint family system such traditions and institutions obstruct dynamic changes in the economy. Growth rate is hampered and poverty is sustained.