Structure

1. Introduction- define poverty alleviation programmes and their significance in India
2. Body –
   1. name the kinds that have been implemented and
   2. trace the reasons for such a
   3. Significance of the programmes implemented today
3. Conclusion- suggestions on how to alleviate programmes- special focus on capacity building rather than giving out doles

Content

Various trends seen are

1.  The poverty alleviation programmes in India can be categorized based on whether it is targeted for rural areas or urban areas. Most of the programmes are designed to target rural poverty as the prevalence of the poverty is high in rural Also targeting of the poverty is challenging in rural areas due to various geographic and infrastructure limitations.
2. The programmes can be mainly grouped into
   • Wage employment programmes – eg- NREGA
   • Self-employment programmes: eg- national rural employment mission
   • Food security programmes :Eg –National food security mission
   • Social security programmes: Eg- Indira Gandhi national old age pension scheme
   • Urban poverty alleviation programmes: Eg- national urban livelihood mission
3. The government has relied mainly on three approaches for reduction of
   • The first entails pursuit of higher economic growth which will improve the levels of living of all groups of people in the society including the poor,
   • the second involves direct anti-poverty programmes eg: Antyodaya yojana and
   • the third has stressed high priority to government expenditure on social sectors eg- national rural health mission

Trends in five year plans

• The Indian Constitution and five year plans state social justice as the primary objective of the developmental strategies of the

GROWTH APPROACH

• To quote the First Five Year Plan (1951-56), “the urge to bring economic and social change under present conditions comes from the fact of poverty and inequalities in income, wealth and opportunity”.
• The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) also pointed out that “the benefits of economic development must accrue more and more to the relatively less privileged classes of society”. One can find, in all policy documents, emphasis being laid on poverty alleviation and that various strategies need to be adopted by the government for the
  • The government’s approach to poverty reduction was of three dimensions. The first one is growth oriented approach. It is based on the expectation that the effects of economic growth — rapid increase in gross domestic product and per capita income — would spread to all sections of society and will trickle down to the poor sections also. This was the major focus of planning in the 1950s and early
  • It was felt that rapid industrial development and transformation of agriculture through green revolution in select regions would benefit the underdeveloped regions and the more backward sections of the community. Population growth has resulted in a very low growth in per capita incomes. The gap between poor and rich has actually widened. The Green Revolution exacerbated the disparities regionally and between large and small farmers. There was unwillingness and inability to redistribute land. Economists state that the benefits of economic growth have not trickled down to the

ANTI POVERTY PROGRAMMES

• While looking for alternatives to specifically address the poor, policy makers started thinking that incomes and employment for the poor could be raised through the creation of additional assets and by means of work generation. This could be achieved through specific poverty alleviation programmes. This second approach has been initiated from the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) and progressively enlarged since then. One of the noted programmes initiated in the 1970s was Food for Work
• Most poverty alleviation programmes implemented are based on the perspective of the Five Year Plans (2002-2007) Expanding self employment programmes and wage employment programmes are being considered as the major ways of addressing
  • Examples of self-employment programmes are Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) and Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY). The first programme aims at creating self-employment opportunities in urban
  • The Khadi and Village Industries Commission is implementing Under this programme, one can get financial assistance in the form of bank loans to set up small industries. The educated unemployed from lowincome families in rural and urban areas can get financial help to set up any kind of enterprise that generates employment under PMRY. SJSRY mainly aims at creating employment opportunities—both self-employment and wage employment—in urban areas.

• Earlier, under self-employment programmes, financial assistance was given to families or Since the 1990s, this approach has been changed. Now those who wish to benefit from these programmes are encouraged to form self-help groups. Initially they are encouraged to save some money and lend among themselves as small loans. Later, through banks, the government provides partial financial assistance to SHGs which then decide whom the loan is to be given to for self-employment activities. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is one such programme. This has now been restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).
• The government has a variety of programmes to generate wage employment for the poor unskilled people living in rural areas. Some of them are National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY).
• In August 2005, the Parliament has passed a new Act to provide guaranteed wage employment to every household whose adult volunteer is to do unskilled manual work for a minimum of 100 days in a year. This Act is known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Under this Act all those among the poor who are ready to work at the minimum wage can report for work in areas where this programme is In 2011- 12, nearly 4 crore households have been provided employment.

SOCIAL EXPENDITURE APPROACH

• The third approach to addressing poverty is to provide minimum basic amenities to the India was among the pioneers in the world to envisage that through public expenditure on social consumption needs — provision of food grains at subsidised rates, education, health, water supply and sanitation—people’s living standard could be improved. Programmes under this approach are expected to supplement the consumption of the poor, create employment opportunities and bring about improvements in health and education.
• One can trace this approach from the Fifth Five Year Plan, “even with expanded employment opportunities, the poor will not be able to buy for themselves all the essential goods and services. They have to be supplemented up to at least certain minimum standards by social consumption and investment in the form of essential food grains, education, health, nutrition, drinking water, housing, communications and ”
• Three major programmes that aim at improving the food and nutritional status of the poor are Public Distribution System, Integrated Child Development Scheme and Midday Meal Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana, Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana are also attempts in the same direction. It may be essential to briefly state that India has achieved satisfactory progress in many aspects.
• The government also has a variety of other social security programmes to help a few specific groups. National Social Assistance Programme is one such programme initiated by the central government. Under this programme, elderly people who do not have anyone to take care of them are given pension to sustain themselves. Poor women who are destitute and widows are also covered under this scheme. The government has also introduced a few schemes to provide health insurance to poor people

Additional info- Some of the programmes are detailed below

Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY)

Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana(JGSY) is the restructured, streamlined and comprehensive version of the erstwhile Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). It was started on 1 April 1999. The main aim of this programme was development of rural areas. Infrastructure like roads to connect the village to different area, which made the village more accessible and also other social, educational (schools) and infrastructure like hospitals. Its secondary objective was to give out sustained wage employment. This was only given to BPL (below the poverty line) families and fund was to be spent for individual beneficiary schemes for SCs and STs and 3% for the establishment of barrier free infrastructure for the disabled people. The village panchayats were one of the main governing body of this programme. Rs. 1841.80 crore was used and they had a target of 8.57 lakh works. 5.07 lakh works were completed during 1999–2000

National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)

This scheme came into effect on 15 August 1995. The scheme provides pension to old people who were above the age of 65 (now 60) who could not find for themselves and did not have any means of subsistence. The pension that was given was Rs 200 a month. This pension is given by the central government. The job of implementation of this scheme in states and union territories is given to panchayats and municipalities. The states contribution may vary depending on the state. The amount of old age pension is Rs. 200 per month for applicants aged 60–79. For applicants aged above 80 years, the amount has been revised in Rs. 500 a month according to the 2011–2012 Budget.

National Maternity Benefit Scheme

This scheme provides a sum of 6000 Rs to a pregnant mother in three installments. The women have to be older than 19 years of age. It is given normally 12–8 weeks before the birth and in case of the death of the child the women can still avail it. The NMBS is implemented by states and union territories with the help of panchayats and municipalities. During 1999–2000 the total allocation of funds for this scheme was 767.05 crores and the amount used was Rs 4444.13 crore. It is for families below the poverty line. The scheme was updated in 2005-06 into Janani Suraksha Yojana with Rs 1400 for every institutional birth.

• First instalment (in first trimester of pregnancy) - 3,000/- Early Registration of Pregnancy, preferably within first three months. • Received one antenatal check-up.
• Second instalment - At the time of institutional delivery - 1500/-
• Third instalment (3 months after delivery) - 1500/- Child birth is registered, Child has received BCG vaccination, Child has received OPV and DPT-1 & 2

Annapurna

This scheme was started by the government in 1999–2000 to provide food to senior citizens who cannot take care of themselves and are not under the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), and who have no one to take care of them in their village. This scheme would provide 10 kg of free food grains a month for the eligible senior citizens. The allocation for this scheme in 2000-2001 was Rs 100 crore.They mostly target groups of 'poorest of the poor' and 'indigent senior citizens'.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana

This scheme aimed at creating housing for everyone. It was initiated in 1985. It aimed at creating 20 lakh housing units out of which 13 lakhs were in rural area. This scheme also would give out loans to people at subsidized rates to make houses. It was started in 1999–2000. In 1999–2000, Rs 1438.39 crore was used for this scheme and about 7.98 lakh units were built. In 2000-01 a central outlay of Rs 1710.00 crores was provided for this scheme.

Indira Awas Yojna

IAY is the flagship rural housing scheme which is being implemented by the Government of India with an aim of providing shelter to the poor below poverty line. The Government of India has decided that allocation of funds under IAY (Indira Awas Yojna)will be on the basis of poverty ratio and housing shortage

Objective:

The objective of IAY is primarily to help construction of new dwelling units as well as conversion of unserviceable kutcha houses into pucca/semi-pucca by members of SC/STs, freed bonded labourers and also non-SC/ST rural poor below the poverty line by extending them grant-in-aid.

Scope:

IAY is a beneficiary-oriented programme aimed at providing houses for SC/ST households who are victims of atrocities, households headed by widows/unmarried women and SC/ST households who are below the poverty line. This scheme has been in effect from 1st April, 1999.

Funding:

IAY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme funded on cost sharing basis between the Govt. of India and the States in the ratio of 75:25 respectively.

Strategy:

Grant of Rs. 20,000/- per unit is provided in the plain areas and Rs. 22,000/- in hilly/difficult areas for the construction of a house. For conversion of a kutcha house into in pucca house, Rs. 10,000/- is provided. Sanitary laterines and chulahs are integral part of the house. In construction/upgradation of the house, cost effective and environment friendly technologies, materials and designs are encouraged. The household is allotted in the name of a female member of beneficiary household.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

The NREGA bill notified in 2005 and came into force in 2006 and further modified it as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Oct 2,2009. This scheme guarantees 100 days now 150 days of paid work to people in the rural areas. The scheme has proved to be a major boost in Indian rural population's income.

To augment wage employment opportunities by providing employment on demand and by specific guaranteed wage employment every year to households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work to thereby extend a security net to the people and simultaneously create durable assets to alleviate some aspects of poverty and address the issue of development in the rural areas.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) is the nodal Ministry for the implementation of NREGA. It is responsible for ensuring timely and adequate resource support to the States and to the Central Council. It has to undertake regular review, monitoring and evaluation of processes and outcomes. It is responsible for maintaining and operating the MIS to capture and track data on critical aspects of implementation, and assess the utilization of resources through a set of performance indicators. MRD will support innovations that help in improving processes towards the achievement of the objectives of the Act. It will support the use of Information Technology (IT) to increase the efficiency and transparency of the processes as well as improve interface with the public. It will also ensure that the implementation of NREGA at all levels is sought to be made transparent and accountable to the public.Now 100 to 150 days work for all is provided