Living In Poverty Essay

“Ragnar Nuskre once said that a country is poor because it is poor.” (Nuskre) It is very hard to identify who is living in poverty or what makes a person poor, does it mean poor only in the sense of money but also in terms of basic necessities they receive for example clothing but we know this for certain that people who are discriminated against or disadvantage tend to be poor for example in India it is seen that people who belong to the Dalit community are poor. We first have to identify what does poverty actually mean? United Nations defines poverty as “the inability of getting choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed

Social exclusion is a much broader concept than poverty but it does encompass it. It focuses on what factors prevents an individual from having the same opportunity given to the majority of the community. In India even though the caste system was abolished in the 1950’s it is yet hard to get rid of the age old system that segregates the society groups such as the Adivasi’s and davits aka untouchables or even out caste are considered to be the lowest in the caste system and are excluded in many spheres of life. This I believe in some way creates an artificial poverty line which divides people based on caste, gender and religion. Birth would decide their occupation and their economic fate. K. V. Verghese rightly observes, “Caste system acted as a spring¬board for class exploitation with the result that the counterpart of the poverty of the many is the opulence of the few. The second is the cause of the first.”

“Article 38 of the Constitution reads: "The state shall strive to promote the welfare the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may, a social order in which justice-social economic and political-shall pervade all institutions of national life." provides a broad framework for the establishment of the welfare state ideal. While Article 39(a) spells that all citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate me of livelihood, Article 43 enjoins that the state shall endeavor to secure to all workers work, a living wage and conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of living Provision of employment opportunities which is yet another objective of the welfare state is emphasized by Article 41 which directs the state for securing the right to work. Provision against insecurity is also incorporated in this Article which directs the state make effective provision for securing right to education, and to public assistance in ca of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement. Protection and special care of the weaker sections of the community is provided Article 46 which directs the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the scheduled castes a the scheduled tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation” (Constitution of