RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 3 Poverty as a Challenge

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 3 Poverty as a Challenge Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Solutions Economics Chapter 3 Poverty as a Challenge

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Poverty as a Challenge InText Questions and Answers

Question 1.  
Discuss the following issues related to poverty:
(i) Landlessness 
(ii) Unemployment 
(iii) Size of families 
(iv) Illiteracy 
(v) Poor health/malnutrition 
(vi) Child l abour 
(vii) Helplessness 
Answer: 
(i) Landlessness:
Landlessness refers to the situation in which a person does not have agricultural land. In the state of landlessness, the labourer is poor and works at other place.

(ii) Unemployment: Unemployment is a situation when a person willing to work does not get employment at the prevailing wage rate. This increases poverty.

(iii) Size of family: Family size is the number of family members, when the number of persons in a family increase, income is less and often this family is poor. While a family with fewer members is affluent.

(iv) Illiteracy:
Illiteracy refers to lack of education. Often illiterate people have less employment opportunities and earn less income. Therefore, they are poor. An educated person has more employment opportunities.

(v) Poor health/malnutrition:
A person or labour with poor health is less productive, he is not able to work more. Due to this his income is low and he is poor.

(vi) Child labour:
Child labour is the situation in which children are subjected to economic activities. This is a problem caused by poverty. Due to poverty, parents employ their children from childhood. 

(vii) Helplessness: 
People become helpless due to poverty and they depend on others for their small needs.

Let's Discuss

Question 2.
Why do different countries use different poverty lines?
Answer: 
Different countries use different poverty lines bacause what is necessary to satisfy the basic needs is different at different times and in different countries. Therefore, poverty line may vary with time and place. Each country uses an imaginary line that is considered appropriate for its existing level of development and minimum social norms.

Question 3. 
What do you think would he the “minimum necessary level” in your locality?
Answer: 
I live in city so the “minimum necessary level” should be calculated according to the urban area. For year 2011-12 these calculation was fixed at Rs. 1000 for urban areas.

Let's Discuss

Question 4.
Study the Table 3.1 and answer the following questions:
Answer: 
Table 3.1: Estimates of Poverty in India (Tendulkar Methodology)

	Poverty Ratio			Number of Poor (in millions)
Year	Rural	Urban	Total	Total	Urban	combined
1993-94	507	32	45	45	75	404
2004-05	42	26	37	37	81	407
2009-10	34	21	30	30	76	355
2011-12	26	14	22	22	53	270

Source: Economic survey 2017-18

(i) Even if poverty ratio declined between 1993-94 and 2004-05, why did the number of poor remain at about 407 million?
Answer: 
Even if poverty ratio declined between 1993- 94 and 2004- 05, but the number of poor remained at about 407 million because of higher population growth rate during these years.

(ii) Are the dynamics of poverty reduction the same in rural and urban India?
Answer: 
The dynamics of poverty reduction are not the same in rural and urban area. It is because the aspect of poverty is different in both the regions. Urban areas poverty has decreased due to expansion of tertiary sector and industrialisation and as a result of increased employment opportunities. Also many unemployed moved from rural to urban areas for work and better standard of living. In rural areas also poverty has decreased due to improved agriculture practices. But the decrease is poverty in greater in urban areas. 

Let's Discuss
Page No. 36

Poverty Ratio in Selected India States (As per 2011 Census)

Source: Source  Economic Survey 2017-18
Study the graph given above and do the following 
(i) Identify the three states where the poverty ratio is the highest 
Answer:
Bihar, Odisha and Assam.

(ii) Identify the three states where poverty ratio is the lowest.
Answer: 
Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Poverty as a Challenge Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1. 
Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India?
Answer: 
A common method used to measure poverty is based on the income or consumption levels. A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a “minimum level” necessary to fulfill basic needs.
(i) While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc. are determined for subsistence.

(ii) These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees. The present
formula for food requirement while estimating the poverty line is based on the desired calorie requirement.

(iii) The calorie needs vary depending on age, sex and the type of work that a person does. The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per .person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories per person per day in urban areas.

(iv) For the year 2011-12, the poverty line for a person was fixed at Rupees 816 per 
month for the rural areas and Rupees 1000 for the urban areas. It is higher in urban areas because of high prices of many essential products in cities.

Question 2. 
Do you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?
Answer: 
(i) No, present methodology of poverty estimation is not appropriate because the official definition of poverty captures only a limited part of what poverty really means to people. It is about a “minimum” subsistence level of living rather than a “reasonable” level of living.

(ii) Many scholars advocate that the concept of poverty must be broaden into human poverty. Poverty should be looked through various social indicators such as illiteracy level, lack of basic needs, lack of general resistance because of malnutrition, lack of access to health care, lack of job opportunities, etc.

(iii) Worldwide experience shows that with development, the definition of what constitutes poverty also changes.

Question 3. 
Describe poverty trends in India since 1973.
Answer: 
There is a decline in poverty ratios in India from 45 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.
(i) The proportion of people below poverty line further decreased to approximately 22 per cent in 2011-12.
(ii) If the trend continues, people below poverty line may reduce to less than 20 per cent in the next few years.
(iii) The percentage of people living under poverty declined in 1973-1993, the number of poor decreased from 407 million in 2004-05 to 270 million in 2011-12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points during 2004-05 to 2011-12.

Question 4. 
Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India?
Answer: 
The major causes of poverty in India are 
(i) One historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration. The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles. This resulted in less job opportunities and low growth rate of income.

(ii) High growth rate of population is another reason for poverty in India. The increasing population resulted in low level of income and resulted in higher number of poor in India.

(iii) Lack of job opportunities were also a reason for poverty in India. The industries, both in public and private sector did provide some jobs. But these were not enough to absorb all the job seekers. Due to lack of proper job in cities, many people started working as rikshaw pullers, vendors, construction workers, domestic servants, etc. These people started living in slums because they could not afford expensive housing due to small regular income.

(iv) Another feature of high poverty rates has been the huge income inequality. One of the major reason for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. Despite many policies, we have not been able to tackle the issue in meaningful manner. Major policy initiative like land reforms which aimed at redistribution of assets in rural areas have not been implimented properly and affectively by most state government.

(v) Lack of land resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India.

(vi) Many other socio-cultural and economic factors are also responsible for poverty in India. To fulfil social obligations and observe religious ceremony people in India, including poor, spend a lot of money. Small farmers need money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc. Since poor people hardly have any savings, they borrow and become victims of indebtness. So the high level of indebtness in both the cause and effect of poverty.

Question 5. 
Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.
Answer: 
The proportion of people below poverty line is not the same for all social groups and economic categories in India.
(i) Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.

(ii) Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

(iii) Other social groups which are vulnerable to poverty are widows, physically handicapped, orphans, old people, etc.

Question 6. 
Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.
Answer: 
The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state.

1. In 2011-12, all India Head Count Ratio (HCR) was 21.9 per cent for states like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha above all India poverty level.
2. The two poorest states are Bihar and Odisha with poverty ratios of 33.7 and 32.6 per cent respectively. The rural poverty and urban poverty is high in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
3. In states like Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal, there is a significant decline in poverty.
4. With the help of high agricultural growth rates, Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty.
5. In West Bengal, land reform measures have helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, public distribution of food grains held responsible for the improvement in poverty level.

Question 7. 
Describe global poverty trends.
Answer:
(i) Although there has been a substantial reduction in global poverty, it is marked with great regional differences. Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian countries as a result of rapid economic growth and massive investment in human resource development. Number of poors in China has come down from 88.3 per cent in 1981 to 14.7 per cent in 2008 to 0.7 per cent in 2015. 

(ii) In the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has also been rapid with decline in the percentage of the poor, the number of poor has also declined significantly from 510.4 million in 2005 to 274.5 million in 2013. Because of different poverty line definition, poverty in India is also shown higher than the national estimates.

(iii) In sub-Saharan Africa, poverty declined from 51 per cent in 2005 to 41 per cent
in 2015.  

(iv) In latin America, the ratio of poverty has also declined from 10 per cent in 2005 to 4 per cent in 2015.

(v) Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist-countries like Russia, where officially it was non-existent earlier.

Question 8. 
Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation?
Answer: 
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks:
(i) Promotion of economic growth
(ii) Targeted anti-poverty programmes
I. Promotion of Economic Growth:

(i) Promotion of Economic growth: 
There is a strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Over a period of thirty years lasting upto the early eighties, there were little per capita income growth and not much reduction in poverty. Official poverty estimates which were about 45 per cent in the early 1950s remained the same in early eighties. Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world. Economic growth widnes opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in human development.

II. Targeted Anti-poverty Programmes:
(ii) Targeted anti-poverty programmes: 
Inspite of the economic growth the poor was not able to take direct advantage from the opportunities created by economic growth. The growth in agriculture sector was much below expectations. This has a direct bearing on poverty as large poor people live in villages and are dependent on agriculture. In such circumstances, there was clear need for targeted anti poverty programmes. Below are some examples of anti-poverty programme:

(a) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 - This act aims to provide 100 days of wage employment to every household to ensure livelihood security in rural areas.

(b) Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) - This scheme was started in 1993. The aim of this programme is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

(c) Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) - This programme was launched in 1995. The aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns.

(d) swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) - This scheme was brought in the year 1999 by government to bring the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into self help groups through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.

(e) Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) - This was launched in 2000. Under this programme additional central assistance is given to states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

Question 9. 
Answer the following questions briefly.
(i) What do you understand by human poverty ?
(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor ?
(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Answer: 
(i) Human poverty is a situation of not having minimum subsistence level of living which includes food, shelter and clothing but it also takes into account lack of proper education, job security, healthcare facilities, achieving gender equality, etc.

(ii) Women, children especially girl child and elderly people are regarded poorest of the poor because they are denied equal access to resource available to the family.

(iii) (a) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,
2005 aims to provide 100 days of wage employment to every rural household to ensure livelihood security in rural areas.

(b) It also aimed at sustainable development to address the cause of draught, deforestation and soil erosion.

(c) One-third of the proposed jobs have been reserved for women.

(d) Under the scheme, if any applicant is not provided employment with in 15 days he/she will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.