What are the Government Approach to remove Poverty?

Poverty is a particular issue that affects many countries around the world. There can not be a universally acknowledged definition of poverty. Broadly it can be said that: Poverty refers to a state in which an individual is unable to fulfil even the basic necessities of life. The minimum requirements include food, clothing, shelter, education, and health facilities.

A nation suffers from a cycle of poverty when a large portion of the population is deprived of even the most necessities of life for an extended period. If the minimum needs are not fulfilled, a person has to undergo pain and suffering. Sickness and disabilities render him helpless in all aspects of life. Generation after generation person lives in poverty grows in poverty and dies in poverty. The population either breeds or multiplies itself. Therefore, in order to remove poverty, the Government of India has taken different approaches.

Government Approach to Remove Poverty

According to the Indian Constitution and the Five Year Plans, the primary objective of the government’s developmental strategies has always been Social Justice. Therefore, all five-year plans and policies till now give more emphasis on poverty alleviation, for which the government uses three approaches; viz., Growth-oriented Approach, Poverty Alleviation Programmes, and Minimum Needs Programme.

1. Growth-oriented Approach:

The first and foremost approach to remove poverty is growth-oriented and was initiated from the first Five Year Plan. The expectation behind the growth-oriented approach is that the effect of economic growth; i.e., the rapid increase in the country’s GDP and its per capita income would spread to all the sections of the society and will ultimately trickle down the poor sections. Besides. the government felt that if there is rapid industrial development and transformation of agriculture through green revolution in the selected regions, then it would have a positive impact on the backward sections and underdeveloped regions of the society.

However, this approach proved to be ineffective. It is because of the following reasons:

• As expected, the benefits of economic growth didn’t trickle down to the poor.
• There was very low growth in per capita income because of the population growth.
• Disparities between regions and between small and large farmers intensified due to green revolution.
• Ultimately, people were unwilling and unable to redistribute land.

2. Poverty Alleviation Programmes:

The next approach of government to remove poverty is the introduction of Poverty Alleviation Porgrammes which has been initiated from the third Five Year Plan. This approach has been enlarged since then. Under this, the government has introduced different programmes for the reduction of poverty. These programmes are distributed into two categories; viz., Self-employment Programmes and Wage Employment Programmes.

Self-employment Programmes consist of four Poverty Alleviation Programmes; namely, Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), and Swamjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). However, Wage Employment Programmes consist of three Poverty Alleviation Programmes; namely, Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

3. Minimum Needs Programme:

The last approach of government to remove poverty has been initiated from the fifth Five Year Plan. The basic aim of this programme is provision of minimum basic amenities to the people. India was among the world’s pioneers who were able to visualise that the living standard of people could be improved with the help of public expenditure on social consumption needs; i.e., health, education, food grains at subsidised rates, sanitation, and water supply. Different programmes covered under this approach are expected three things:

• To supplement poor’s consumption,
• Create employment opportunities, and
• Bring improvements in education and health.

There are three major programmes aiming at improving the food and nutritional status of the poor. These programmes are Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Scheme, and PM Poshan Scheme (Mid-Day Meal).

1. Public Distribution System (PDS): Public Distribution System is an Indian Food Security System which is established for the distribution of essential commodities to the needy at affordable prices. The commodities include rice, wheat, sugar, kerosene, etc. The Central and the State Governments are jointly responsible for the operation of Public Distribution System. The Central Government has the responsibility of procuring, storing, transporting, and allocating food grains in bulk to the State Government. It does so through the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

During Coronavirus, the Indian Government started PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Under this, the eligible beneficiaries received 5 kg food grains and 1 kg gram per month for free.

2. Integrated Child Development Scheme: The Government of India launched Integrated Child Development Scheme on October 2^nd, 1975. This scheme represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes launched for early childhood care and development. The beneficiaries of this scheme are children of the age group 0-6 years, feeding mothers, and pregnant women. 

Some of the major objectives of this scheme are as follows:

• Improvement of nutritional and health status of children in the age group of 0-6 years.
• Laying out foundation for proper physical, psychological, and social development of the children.
• Enhancement of the mother’s capability to look after the child’s normal health and nutritional needs by providing proper nutrition and health education to her.
• Reducing the incidence of morbidity, mortality, school dropout, and malnutrition.
• The last objective is achievement of effective coordination of the policy and its proper implementation among different departments with the motive of promoting child development.

3. PM Poshan Scheme (earlier known as Mid-Day Meal): Mid-Day Meal or PM Poshan Scheme was launched by the Government of India so they can increase the rate of enrollment, retention, attendance of children in schools, simultaneously improving the nutritional levels. In simple terms, under this scheme, children get free lunch on working days in primary and upper primary classes of a government, local body, government aided, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Maqtabs and Madarsa. The PM Poshan Scheme covers around 12,00,00,000 children in over 12,65,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres.