Eradication of Poverty
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 17 2011 -

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Today, the 17th of October is being observed as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The United Nations General Assembly through a resolution in December 22, 1992 officially declared this day as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Through this resolution, the United States called upon all states to devote the day to presenting and promoting concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution.

But the observance of this day is generally traced back to 1987 when a crowd of around 100,000 congregated on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza in Paris to honour the victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear.

Besides commemorating October 17 every year, the UN General Assembly also proclaimed the decade 1997 to 2006 as the United Nations Decade for the eradication of Poverty, following the Copenhagen Summit.

Among other important official resolve to fight poverty was the commitment of world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000 to cut by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

"From Poverty to Sustainability: People at the Centre of Inclusive Development" is the theme of this year's observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP). The UN resolution proclaiming the International Day for Eradication of Poverty calls eradicating poverty "the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development"

As per the Human Development Report of 2010, 55% of the population of India or 645 million people in this country are living in poverty. This figure was reached through the international Multi - dimensional Poverty Index taking into account ten markers of education, health and standard of living achievement levels.

One third of the total population of the poor is said to belong to India. While there has been some reduction in poverty since the introduction of economic reforms in the early 1980s, it has also led to ever increasing income disparity. Many argue that the neo liberal policy of the government of India has led to the collapse of rural economy.

Incentivizing cash crop cultivation which requires relatively higher financial input has put many farmers in a debt trap difficult to get out. As per official statistics, from 1997 to 2007, around 200,000 farmers committed suicide unable to pay off their debts and seeing no way of ever doing so.

P Sainath, of the Hindu who has reported extensively on issue affecting rural India and particularly on farmers’ suicides, points out that with food crops, in contrast to cash crops, even if the price falls, there is still food left to survive.

When India became a proud nation with the second highest population of billionaires, at the same time ironically, investment in the agricultural sector shrank by 2% of the GDP, and consequently the country suffered its worst agrarian crisis.

The poor is most vulnerable to diseases, to natural calamities like flood, drought etc. they have no access to education, health care, employment opportunities, drinking water and sanitation.

Eradicating poverty would mean taking care of all these issue from all angles. Though there have been some laudable moves like the implementation of MGNREGS which has given some relief to the rural poor by providing some livelihood security by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household.

This is just not enough, the government has to to a lot more, it should increase allocation to the agricultural sector, to education, in health sector manifold. Rather than basking in its achievements, it should show some real concern about the plight of the poor, show some real intent that it is serious of about fighting poverty.

When millions go to bed hungry in this country we have the spectacle of food grains rotting as godowns for the same could not be constructed. And when the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia defends Rs 32 per day income as sufficient amount for measuring poverty line.

These instances do not give the impression of a government at war with poverty but as one which has accepted the presence of the poor in such a huge number as inevitable and about which nothing much could be done.