Question

Describe how some social and economic groups are most vulnerable to poverty in India.

Answer 1

The proportion of people below poverty line is not same for all social groups and economic categories in India. 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. The following graph shows the percentage of poor people in all these groups:
Although the average for people below poverty line for all groups in India is 26. 51 out of 100 people belonging to scheduled tribes are not able to meet their basic needs. Similarly, 50 per cent of casual workers in urban areas are below poverty line. About 50 per cent of landless agricultural workers and 43 per cent of scheduled castes are also poor. However, some recent studies have shown that except for the scheduled tribe households, all the other three groups mentioned earlier have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s. In families also we see some suffer more than others. Such families are usually poor.
In these families women, elderly people and female infants are poorest of the poor because they are denied equal access to resources available to the family.