Poverty in India ...
Though India is an emerging economy and is now standing on the threshold of becoming an economic superpower, in reality only a small part of Indian society is becoming any wealthier. The majority of people are still poor with a large percentage (300 million) being actually destitute and living below the poverty line.
India’s economic growth in recent years is largely due to the outsourcing of jobs from developed nations and to globalization. But it is only about 20% of the population of India that is receiving the benefits of this growth. A large percentage of those remaining have actually suffered as a result since there have been huge hikes in the prices of commodities.
Food and fuel prices are soaring as a result of these rising global prices. This crisis is being felt even in remote villages of India. Many Indians cannot afford a proper meal each day. India has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under three years of age than any other nation in the world. The percentage of underweight children is even higher here than it is in sub-Saharan Africa. Forty-three percent of the children go hungry each day. Infant mortality is high and a woman dies in childbirth every five minutes.
There is a middle class but as wealth distribution is uneven the poor continue to get poorer. In urban areas the standard of living has gone higher but so has the cost of living. Rural areas continue to be plagued by droughts and famines. Many people from rural areas are flocking to the cities in search of work and this is leading to even more overcrowdedness and other problems. In the cities these migrants will be “day laborers” with no regular jobs and no security of any kind, living in abject poverty. Along with poverty there is always the ugly reality of corruption in government, crime and child labor.
Farmers comprise about 60% of the population of India and this is where the concentration of poverty is greatest. More and more they are feeling the negative effects of globalization as their crops do not bring in the income they once did because of the great competitiveness in the world market. Consequently many have fallen prey to loan sharks and are unable to extricate themselves from indebtedness. In recent years suicides among farmers have numbered in the thousands. These deaths have left more orphans, widows, school dropouts, and more preying upon the vulnerable by corrupt individuals.
There is
no adequate system of support on the village and district government levels. Rising
costs of cultivation along with repeated crop failures, sinking farm prices and
the uncertainty of agricultural enterprise has left an even wider gap between those
who have and those who have not.
Elementary school is compulsory in India but it is not well enforced. Consequently countless children fall through the cracks. They are not sent to school because they must work and contribute towards family survival. There is no extra money for school clothing and school supplies. Teachers in the public school system are poorly paid and often are not very dedicated to their jobs. Some don’t even show up to teach on a regular basis. Harsh discipline is often the norm. So parents who have the means will send their children to private schools rather than to public schools. The rest must get what quality of education they can.
The caste
system, though abolished by the Indian Constitution, continues to be a very real
fact in Indian society. This 3500 year old system places social restrictions and
defines social classes. It is particularly rigid in some rural areas and small towns.
It is also a factor in the politics of India. Though the caste system is identified
with Hinduism it is observed by other religions as well, including Muslims and Christians
and even the Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains.
Lowest on the social rung are the Dalits (formerly untouchables). There are about 300 million Dalits in India today and even though strides have been made to better their chances of good educations and good jobs, yet there is still much discrimination and prejudice against them. Nearly 25% of government and university jobs have been set aside for people of this group, yet more than a million of the openings have remained unfilled. Members of this group are still, for the most part, unskilled workers who are educationally backward (average literacy rate is about 37%) and have low paying jobs. Many suffer from acute poverty. Hate crimes against this group include rape, harassment, violence and murder. Only about 1 % of those who commit these crimes ever gets convicted.
Only half the population of India has access to safe drinking water and nearly half of the country’s 600,000 villages are not even connected to a road.