Project plan -- NATIONAL POVERTY
ERADICATION PROGRAMMES
Introduction
Poverty Alleviation Programmes aims to
reduce the rate of poverty in the country by
providing proper access to food, monetary
help, and basic essentials to households and
families belonging to below the poverty line
threshold.
According to the World Bank, Poverty is a
pronounced deprivation in well-being and
comprises many dimensions. It includes low
incomes and the inability to acquire the basic
goods and services necessary for survival with
dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels
of health and education, poor access to clean
water and sanitation, inadequate physical
security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity
and opportunity to better one’s life.
Problem statement
As per the 2011-2012 estimation by the
Planning Commission of India, 25.7 % of the
rural population was under the below-poverty
line and for the urban areas, it was 13.7 %.
The rate of poverty in the rural areas is
comparatively higher than that in the urban
areas due to the lack of proper infrastructure,
insufficient food supply, and poor employment
system.
Important terms and explanations
What is Poverty Alleviation?
Poverty Alleviation is the set of steps taken in
an economic and humanitarian way to
eradicate poverty in a country. According to the
World Bank, if a person is living on $1.90 a day
or less, then he/she is living in extreme
poverty, and currently, 767 million people in the
world fall under that category. According to the
last released official data, in 2011, 268 million
people in India were surviving on less than
$1.90 a day. Various Programmes and
Schemes under the Government of India were
launched to eradicate poverty and to provide
basic amenities to poor households.
Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and
Housing for All by 2022 were developed to
provide housing to the rural and urban poor.
The latest government schemes like Start-Up
India and Stand Up India focus on empowering
people to earn their livelihood.
What is Below Poverty Line (BPL)?
Below Poverty Line (BPL) can be defined as an
economic benchmark used in the identification
of economically weaker people and
households. BPL is set by the Government of
India based on a threshold income. The
households or individuals having an income
below this threshold value are considered to be
under the below poverty line.
Measuring BPL in India
The poverty line solely depends on the per
capita income in India rather than the level of
prices. The poverty line is the minimum income
required to purchase the basic goods and
services that are essential to satisfy the basic
human needs. The proportion of the population
that is below this poverty line is called the
poverty ratio or headcount ratio. Similar
approaches are followed by most countries and
international institutions for determining BPL.
In India, the first official rural and urban poverty
lines at the national level were introduced in
1979 by Y. K. Alagh Committee. Criteria for the
measurement of BPL are different for the rural
and urban areas.
Currently, according to the Tenth Five-Year
Plan, the degree of deprivation is measured
with the help of parameters with scores given
from 0–4, with 13 parameters.
Families with 17 marks or less (formerly 15
marks or less) out of a maximum of 52 marks
have been classified as BPL.
The poverty line is calculated every 5 years.
According to the recent estimation based on
inflation, the threshold income should be more
than Rs. 962 a month for urban areas and Rs
768 a month in rural areas i.e., above Rs. 32 a
day in an urban area and above Rs. 26 a day
in a rural area.
Objectives:
1. Alleviation of poverty through direct
financial aid, employment generation, and
economic growth.
2. Reduction in inequality by uplifting
marginalized and disadvantaged
populations.
3. Improvement in quality of life through
better healthcare, education, and
infrastructure.
4. Empowerment of vulnerable groups,
especially women, Scheduled Castes
Scheduled Tribes, and rural poor.
History of Poverty Alleviation in India – Five-
Year Plans
Eleven Five Year Plans were launched to
eradicate poverty in India. The list of these Five
Year Plans that started in the year 1951 is
given below:
First Five Year Plan (1951- 1956): The plan
focused mainly on agriculture and irrigation
and aimed at achieving an all-round balanced
development.
Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961): It focused
on the growth of basic and heavy industries,
expansion in employment
opportunities, and an increase of 25 per cent in
the national income.
Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966): The
Chinese aggression (1962), Indo-Pak war
(1965), and the severest drought led to the
complete failure of the third five-year plan. It
was replaced by three annual plans that
continued from 1966 to 1969.
Fourth Five Year Plan (1966-1974): It aimed at
increasing national income by 5.5 per cent,
creating economic stability, reducing
inequalities in income distribution, and
achieving social justice with equality.
Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-1979): This plan
mainly focused on the removal of poverty
(Garibi Hatao) and aimed in bringing larger
sections of the poor masses above the poverty
line. It also assured a minimum income of Rs.
40 per person per month calculated at 1972-73
prices. The plan was terminated in 1978
instead of (1979) when the Janata Government
came to power.
Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985): Removal of
poverty was the main objective of the sixth five-
year plan with a major focus on economic
growth, elimination of unemployment, self-
sufficiency in technology, and raising the
lifestyles of the weaker sections of the society.
Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90): The
Seventh Five Year Plan aimed in improving the
living standards of the poor with a significant
reduction in the incidence of poverty.
Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97): This plan
aimed at employment generation but later
failed in achieving most of its targets.
Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002): The ninth
five-year plan focused on the areas of
agriculture, employment, poverty, and
infrastructure.
Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007): The tenth
five-year plan aimed at the reduction of the
poverty ratio from 26 per cent to 21 per cent by
the year 2007 and also to help the children in
completing five years of schooling by 2007.
Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012): The
eleventh five-year plan targets towards
reducing poverty by 10 percentage points,
generating 7 crore new employment
opportunities, and ensuring electricity
connection to all villages.
Poverty Alleviation
Programmes in India
Integrated Rural Development
Programme (IRDP) 1978-
Ministry of Rural Development:
To raise the families of identified
target groups living below the
poverty line through the
development of sustainable
opportunities for self-employment
in the rural sector.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas
Yojana:1985 Ministry of Rural
Development
To create housing units for
everyone along with providing 13
lakh housing units to the rural
areas.
To provide loans at subsidized
rates to the people.
To augment wage employment
opportunities to the households
by providing employment on-
demand and through specific
guaranteed wage employment
every year.
Indira Gandhi National Old Age
Pension Scheme (NOAPS)
1995Ministry of Rural
Development
To provide pensions to the senior
citizens
of India of 65 years or higher and
living below the poverty line.
It provides a monthly pension of
Rs.200 for those aged between
60-79 years and Rs.500 for
people aged above 80 years.
National Family Benefit Scheme
(NFBS)1995 Ministry of Rural
Development
To provide a sum of Rs.20,000 to
the beneficiary who will be the
next head of the family after the
death of its primary breadwinner.
Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana
(JGSY)
1st April 1999 .
Implemented by the Village
Panchayats.
Developing the infrastructure of
the rural areas which included
connecting roads,
schools, and hospitals.
To provide sustained wage
employment to families
belonging to the below poverty
line.
Annapurna yojana: 1999-2000.
Ministry of Rural Development
To provide 10 kg of free food
grains to eligible senior citizens
who are not registered under the
National Old Age Pension
Scheme.
Food for Work Programme:2000.
Ministry of Rural Development.
It aims at enhancing food
security through wage
employment. Food grains are
supplied to states free of cost,
however, the supply of food
grains from the Food Corporation
of India (FCI) godowns has been
slow
Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar
Yojana (SGRY)
The main objective of the
scheme continues to be the
generation of wage employment,
the creation of durable economic
infrastructure in rural areas and
the provision of food and nutrition
security for the poor.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) 2005 Ministry of
Rural Development
The Act provides 100 days of
assured employment every year
to every rural household. One-
third of the proposed jobs would
be reserved for women. The
central government will also
establish National Employment
Guarantee Funds.
Similarly, state governments will
establish State Employment
Guarantee Funds for
implementation of the scheme.
Under the
programme, if an applicant is not
provided employment within 15
days s/he will be entitled to a
daily unemployment allowance.
National Food Security Mission
2007 Ministry of Agriculture
To increase production of rice,
wheat, pulses and coarse
cereals through area expansion
and productivity enhancement in
a sustainable manner in the
identified districts of the country
National Rural Livelihood Mission
2011 Ministry of Rural
Development
It evolves out of the need to
diversify the needs of the rural
poor and provide them with jobs
with regular income on a monthly
basis. Self Help groups are
formed at the village level to help
the needy
National Urban Livelihood
Mission 2013-
Ministry of Housing and Urban
Affairs
It focuses on organizing urban
poor in Self Help Groups,
creating opportunities for skill
development leading to market-
based employment and helping
them to set up self-employment
ventures by ensuring easy
access to credit
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
Yojana 2014
Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship.
It will focus on fresh entrants to
the labour market, especially
labour market and class X and
XII dropouts
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana 2015 Ministry of
Finance
The scheme provides life
coverage to the poor and low-
income sections of society. The
scheme offers a maximum
assured amount of Rs.2 lakhs
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
(PMUY) 2016 Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas
It envisages the distribution of
50 million LPG connections to
women below the poverty line
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
Yojana (PMGKY) 2016
The scheme provides an
opportunity to declare
unaccounted wealth and black
money in a confidential manner
and avoid prosecution after
paying a fine of 50% on the
undisclosed income. An
additional 25% of the
undisclosed income is invested
in the scheme which can be
refunded after four years, without
any interest.
Apart from eradicating poverty in
India, the Poverty Alleviation
Programmes also took the
initiative to provide employment
opportunities to the households
of the BPL categories.
Role of Public Distribution
System in
Poverty Alleviation
The Public Distribution System
(PDS) which evolved as a
system of management for food
and distribution of food grains
plays a major role in poverty
alleviation. This programme is
operated jointly by the Central
Government and the State
Government of India. The
responsibilities include:
Allocations of commodities such
as rice, wheat, kerosene, and
sugar to the States and Union
Territories.
Issue of Ration Cards for the
people below the poverty line.
Identification of families living
below the poverty line.
Management of food scarcity and
distribution of food grains.
PDS was later relaunched as
Targeted Public Distribution
System (TPDS) in June 1997
and is controlled by the Ministry
of Consumer Affairs,
Government of India. TPDS
plays a major role in the
implementation and identification
of the poor for proper
arrangement and delivery of food
grains. Therefore, the Targeted
Public Distribution System
(TPDS) under the Government of
India plays the same role as the
PDS but adds a special focus on
the people below the poverty
line.
Importance of employment
generation in poverty alleviation
in India.
The unemployment issue in India
is considered as one of the major
causes of
poverty in India. The poverty rate
of a country can be reduced with
high economic growth and by
reducing the unemployment
problem. Various poverty
alleviation programmes are set
up under the Government of
India that aim to eradicate
poverty by providing employment
on-demand and through specific
guaranteed wage employment
every year to households living
below the poverty line.
The generation of employment is
important in poverty alleviation
because of the following
reasons:
It will increase the income level
of poor household families and
will help in reducing the rate of
poverty in the country. Hence,
there is a significant relationship
between unemployment and
poverty.
It will decrease the rural-urban
migration
through the generation of
employment programs in rural
areas.
An increase in the income level
through the generation of
employment programs will help
the poor in accessing basic
facilities including education,
health facilities, and sanitation.
What are the reasons
for the
ineffectiveness of
poverty alleviation
programs?
The major reasons for the
ineffectiveness of the poverty
alleviation programs are
mentioned below:
The poverty alleviation program
may not properly identify and
target the exact number of poor
families in rural
areas. As a result, some of the
families who are not registered
under these programs benefit the
facilities rather than the eligible
ones
Overlapping of similar
government schemes is a major
cause of ineffectiveness as it
leads to confusion among poor
people and authorities and the
benefits of the scheme do not
reach the poor.
Overpopulation in the country
increases the burden of providing
the benefits of the schemes to a
large number of people and thus
reduces the effectiveness of the
programs.
Corruption at various levels of
implementation of schemes is
another major reason.