Question

Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.

Answer 1

• In India, the Scheduled tribes and Scheduled castes are the social groups that are highly vulnerable to poverty.
• In India, the casual labour households in urban areas and households in rural areas that are dependent on agriculture labour, are the most vulnerable economic groups.
• In rural areas, on an average there are 48 out of 100 people belonging to Scheduled tribes who are not able to meet their basic needs, although on national level the average for all groups, who are below poverty line are 30 out of 100 people.
• Considering different social groups, around 43 percent of scheduled castes, 50 percent of landless agricultural workers, 47 per cent of casual workers in urban areas are poor and are below poverty line.
• There is a serious problem of double disadvantage when the scheduled tribes or the scheduled castes who are under socially disadvantaged groups are working as landless casual wage labourers.
• As per some of the recent studies, since the 1990s there has been a decline in poverty in three groups – urban casual labour households, rural agricultural labourers and the scheduled castes except the scheduled tribes.
• Within families, also one can find inequalities of income, apart from social groups.
• Although everyone suffers in a poor family, some of them suffer for example, female infants, elderly people, and women.
• The resources which are available in the family, equal access is systematically denied to female infants, elderly people and women.
• Hence girl child, old people, and women are considered the poorest of the poor.