Social Studies SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS(3 Mark)

1. MGNREGA.
2. Food for Work Programme.
3. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana.
4. Pradhanmantri Gramodaya Yojana.
5. Antodaya Anna Yojana.

The poverty alleviation programmes were not successful in most parts of India because:

1. Lack of proper implementation and right targeting.
2. There has been a lot of overlapping of schemes.
3. Every year a huge number is added to the population pool of the country. This renders the scheme ineffective.
4. Despite good intentions, the benefits of these schemes do not fully reach to the deserving poor.

Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam figure among the poorest states where over 40 per cent of people are below poverty line, according to the C Rangarajan panel.

1. This scheme is known as the National Food for Work Programme, launched in 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country.
2. The programme is open to all rural people who are in need of wage employment and desire to do manual unskilled work.
3. It is implemented as a 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme and food grains are provided free of cost to the states.

1. It was Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojna, launched in 2000.
2. Accordingly, additional central assistance is given to the states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

1. Wide disparities in poverty are visible between rural and urban areas and among different states.
2. Certain social and economic groups are more vulnerable to poverty.
3. Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years.

Economic growth widens opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in human development. This also encourages people to send their children, including the girl child, to schools in the hope of getting better economic returns from investing in education.

Four main causes of poverty in India:

1. The low level of economic development persisted for many years after independence and due to population increase, per capita income growth was low, increasing poverty
2. The green revolution improved opportunities in agriculture, only in certain areas of the country.
3. Socio-cultural and economic factors lead to extra expenditure, which ultimately increases poverty.
4. There is unequal distribution of land and other resources, that is why there are large income inequalities also.

There are several dimensions of poverty:

1. Poverty means hunger and lack of shelters.
2. It is a situation in which parents are not able to send their children to schools.
3. It is a situation where sick people cannot afford treatment.
4. Poverty also means lack of clean water and sanitation facilities.
5. It also means lack of regular job at a minimum decent level.
6. It also means living with a sense of helplessness.

1. Low level of nutrition.
2. Minimum level of subsistence does not exist.
3. Calorie intake is low.
4. Per capita income is low.
5. Basic needs should be satisfied.

Since poverty has many facts, social scientists look at it through a variety of indicators. These social indicators are:

1. Illiteracy level.
2. Lack of general resistance due to malnutrition.
3. Lack of access to health care.
4. Lack of job opportunity.
5. Lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, etc.

Proerty reduction the most compelling challenge for India because of many more reasons:

1. Lack of jobs-most of the above 70% adult unemployment in India.
2. Not facility for better shelter.
3. Scarcity of food for poor due to day by day increasing of food cost.
4. So they can't afford better quality of food and nutrition.
5. Not proper facility for bathroom/ toilets for them so they get ill.

We can see many examples of poor people in our day to day life and daily we see them at least once a day but r not helping them in any way. Some of them r sweepers, beggars, people sitting on the roadside and starving for food, labourers, etc. but noone is ready to help them.

1. MGNREGA 2005 was passed in September 2005.
2. The act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household in 200 districts.
3. Later, the scheme will be extended to 600 districts. One-third of the jobs could be reserved for women.
4. If government failed to provide employment, the salary for 100 days would be given.

Social exclusion is the process in which individuals or people are systematically blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to members of a different group, and which are fundamental to social integration and observance of human rights within that particular group (e.g., housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation, and due process).

Identification of poverty on the basis of social exclusion: According to this concept, poverty must be viewed in terms of the poor leaving in dirty surroundings. They are excluded from enjoying social equality of better-off people in better surroundings. Broadly, it is a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.
Identification of poverty on the basis of vulnerability: Vulnerability to poverty is a measure which describes the greater probability of certain communities such as members of a backward caste or individuals such as a widow or physically handicapped person of becoming, or remaining poor in the coming years.

People of rural areas require higher calorie intake as compared to the people residing in urban areas because in rural areas people do ploughing, sowing etc.
While in urban areas people sit in the comfort of their offices while working.
People in rural areas have to walk for distances to get food and water while these things are easily available in the urban areas.

Social indicators seens by social scientists can be literacy level, lack of resistance due to malnutrition, lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

1. Vulnerability to poverty is a measure which describes the greater probability of certain communities or individuals of becoming or remaining poor in the coming years.
2. Vulnerability is determined by the options available to different communities for finding an alternative living in terms of assets, education, health and job opportunities.
3. Vulnerability describes the greater probability of being more adversely affected than other people when bad times prevails for everybody, whether a flood or an earthquake or simply a shortage in the availability of jobs.

Women, children (especially the girl child) and elder people in a poor family are regarded as the poorest of the poor because they are systematically denied equal access to resources available to the family.

1. Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
2. Similarly among economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour house holds.

Two reasons of poverty:

1. In India, people from scheduled castes & scheduled tribes get in the vicious circle of poverty. In this system, people from such communities are excluded from equal opportunities and facilities that others enjoy.
2. Illiteracy is also one of the main causes for not getting better employment opportunities and they do migrate to cities in search of jobs and end up as Rickshaw Pullers or casual labourers.

1. Healthcare.
2. Job security.
3. Gender discrimination.
4. Human misery.
5. Education.

The social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
Similarly, among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

Regular growth of population is one of the major causes of poverty because:

1. When the population increases the limited resources have to be shared amongst more people.
2. Job opportunities are not sufficient for the increased number of job seekers.
3. More food and money is required to meet the increased needs and demands.
4. The poor people who have large families cannot provide education or vocational training to their children so they do not get good jobs. They have to live in poverty.

1. The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state.
2. Poverty is still existing in Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
3. Bihar and Orissa continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 47 and 43 percent, respectively. Along with rural poverty, urban poverty also exists in these states.

Major reasons for less efectiveness ofthe anti-poverty measures:

1. Lack of proper implementation and right targeting.
2. There has been a lot of overlapping of schemes. Despite good intentions, the benefits of these schemes are not fully reached to the deserving poor.
3. Improper monitoring of the poverty alleviation programmes.

1. Each country uses an imaginary line that is considered appropriate for its existing level of development and its accepted minimum social norms.
2. For example, a person not having a car in the United States may be considered poor. In India, owning of a car is still considered a luxury.

The economic groups vulnerable to poverty are the rural agricultural labour and the urban casual labour households. The rural agricultural labour have no land of their own and are thus not able to earn enough to meet their daily needs, leading to poverty.

1. Due to improper implementations of the programmes.
2. There is a lot of overlapping of schemes.
3. Their aren't targeted properly .
4. Corruption.
5. People for whom these are unaware about it .

Social exclusion is the process in which individuals or people are systematically blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to members of a different group, and which are fundamental to social integration and observance of human rights within that particular group (e.g., housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation, and due process).

Poverty reduction would be possible in India through higher economic growth, increasing stress on universal free elementary education, declining population growth, increasing empowerment of the women and the economically weaker sections of society.

The two planks on which the anti poverty strategy of government is based are:

1. Promotion of economic growth.
2. Targeted anti-poverty programmes.

There were number of reasons which lead to the failure of poverty alleviation programmes in most parts of India.

1. There was no proper implementation of poverty alleviation programmes.
2. No right targeting.
3. Corruption.
4. No proper monitoring.
5. Overlapping of poverty alleviation schemes.

These are eight international development goals that were officially established following the Millanium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenium Declaration.

1. The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was launched in 1999.
2. It aims at bringing up the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into self-help groups through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.

1. This would be possible due to higher growth in income.
2. Universal free elementary education would make people literate and enable them to earn.
3. Increasing empowerment of the women and the economically weaker sections of society.

1. 50 percent of casual workers in urban areas are below poverty line. About 50 percent of landless agricultural workers and 43 percent of scheduled castes are also poor.
2. The double disadvantage of being a landless casual wage labour household in the socially disadvantaged social groups of the scheduled caste or the scheduled tribe population highlights the seriousness of the problem.
3. Some recent studies have shown that except for scheduled tribe households all the other three groups that is, scheduled caste, rural agricultural labour and the urban casual labour have seen a decline in poverty

According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor surroundings with other poor people, excluded from enjoying the company of better off people in better surroundings.

1. According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor surrounding with other poor people, and excluded from enjoying social equality with better-off people in a better surrounding.
2. Socal exclusion can be both a cause as well as a consequence of poverty in the rural sense.
3. It is a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy. An example is the prevalence of the caste system in India in which people belonging to certain castes are excluded from equal opportunities.

1. This would be possible due to higher growth in income.
2. Universal free elementary education would make people literate and enable them to earn.
3. Increasing empowerment of the women and the economically weaker sections of society.

It stands for Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana, started in 1993. The aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

1. Small farmers are many in numbers. They need money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc.
2. Since they are poor people, they hardly have any savings. In such circumstances, they are bound to borrow money from money-lenders at a high rate of interest.
3. Unable to pay because of poverty, they become victims of indebtedness.
4. So, it is right to say that the high level of indebtedness is both the cause and effect of poverty.

There has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal.
States like Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural growth rates. Kerala has focused more on human resource development. In West Bengal, land reform measures have helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public distribution of food grains could have been responsible for the improvement.

Human poverty is a concept that goes beyond the limited view of poverty as lack of income. It refers to the denial of political, social and economic opportunities to an individual to maintain a “reasonable” standard of living. Illiteracy, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to proper healthcare and sanitation, caste and gender discrimination, etc., are all components of human poverty.

One of the major reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. Major policy initiatives like land reforms, which aimed at redistribution of assets in rural areas, have not been implemented properly, leading to poverty in India.

According to Mahatma Gandhi India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free from human sufferings. In India thousands of people suffer due to poverty. Only a few sections of society are free from this suffering. Those sections dominate the poorer sections. Until the majority of the people get rid from the cycle of poverty India cannot be regarded as an independent country in the true sense.

Vulnerability determination is an advanced hazard assessment which is usually performed in areas that have highly ranked calamities or hazards. This is usually done by providing monetary support and help, etc.

Main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005:

• The Act assures 100 days employment every year to every household.
• Initially covering 200 districts, the Act would be extended later on to cover 600 districts.
• One-third of the jobs are reserved for women.

Haryana has reduced poverty by the introduction of new jobs in the field of farming and agriculture. Haryana reduced poverty to increase the agriculture with the use of agriculture many persons can joint this work and reduced poverty.

Illiteracy is responsible for poverty as:

1. People are liable to be exploited.
2. Unemployment increases as almost all jobs require skilled labour.
3. Also illiterate parents don't understand the importance of education and don't educate their children.