Karnataka 1st PUC Economics Question Bank Chapter 4 Poverty
1st PUC Economics Poverty Textbook Questions and Answers
I. Choose the correct answer (each question carries 1 mark)
Question 1.
Poverty line separates
(a) Poor and non-poor
(b) Rich and non-rich
(c) Poor and Weak
(d) None of the above
Answer:
(a) Poor and non-poor
Question 2.
In independent India, he was the first to discuss the concept of the poverty line.
(a) Dadabhai Naoroji
(b) Gopala Krishna Gokhale
(c) Vinoba Bhave
(d) Vinoda Bai
Answer:
(a) Dadabhai Naoroji
Question 3.
Some are rich most of the time but may sometimes have a patch of bad luck. They are called
(a) Occasionally poor
(b) Usually poor
(c) Always poor
(d) None of the above
Answer:
(a) Occasionally Poor
Question 4.
The act that provides guaranteed wage employment to every poor household for a minimum of 100 days in a year is called.
(a) PMRY
(b) SJSRY
(c) MGNREGA
(d) SGSY
Answer:
(c) MGNREGA
II. Fill in the blanks (each question carries one mark)
Question 1.
The causes of poverty lie in the institutional and ________factors that mark the life of the poor.
Answer:
Social
Question 2.
Most poverty alleviation programmes implemented are based on the perspective of the ___________
Answer:
Five-year plans
Question 3.
_______ impoverished millions of people in India.
Answer:
British Raj
Question 4.
Economists identify the poor on the basis of their occupation and_________
Answer:
Ownership of assets
III. Answer the following questions in a word/ sentence. (each question carries 1 mark)
Question 1.
Give the meaning of poverty.
Answer:
Poverty is a state of living where people are unable to get the basic necessities of life.
Question 2.
Why are the poor physically weak?
Answer:
Malnutrition, ill health and disability make the poor physically weak.
Question 3.
Who is churning poor?
Answer:
These are the group of people who regularly move in and out of poverty. Example small, farmers and seasonal workers.
Question 4.
Define poverty line as per Planning Commission.
Answer:
According to the Planning Commission of India, the poverty line is measured on the basis of the minimum nutritional calories required for the rural and urban population. It is estimated that a person is said to be poor if he is unable to consume 2,400 calories per day in rural areas and 2,100 calories per day in urban areas.
Question 5.
What is the ‘headcount ratio’?
Answer:
When the number of poor is estimated as a proportion of people below the poverty line, it is called the headcount ratio.
Question 6.
What programme has the government adopted to help elderly people and poor and destitute women?
Answer:
National Social Assistance Programme.
Question 7.
Suppose you are from a poor family and you wish to get help from the government to set up a petty shop under which scheme will you apply for assistance?
Answer:
Pradhana Manthri Rozgar Yojana and Swamajayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana.
IV. Answer the following questions in four sentences (each question carries two marks)
Question 1.
Poverty has many dimensions. How it has to be looked at?
Answer:
As Poverty has many dimensions, it has to be looked at through a variety of indicators i.e., levels of income and consumption, social indicators and indicators of vulnerability to risks and of sociopolitical access.
Question 2.
List the features of the poorest households. . (N-2018)
Answer:
Starvation and hunger are the main features of the poorest households. They do not possess any assets. The life in slums and some sleep in public places. In rural areas, they are landless labourers. Many do not get even two meals a das’. They lack basic literacy and skills and have limited economic opportunities.
Question 3.
Who is the urban poor? Give examples.
Answer:
Urban poor are those who live in cities and towns without basic needs. Example: pushcart, vendors, street cobblers, women who string flowers, rag pickers. vendors and beggars.
Question 4.
Who are the rural poor? Give examples. (S-2018)
Answer:
Rural poor are those people who live in villages without basic needs. Example landless labourers. Even if some have land, it is only dry or wasteland. Many do not get even two meals a day. They borrow from moneylenders or landlords who charge high rates of interest that leads to rural indebtedness.
Question 5.
What are the social factors that trigger and perpetuate change in poverty?
Answer:
The social factors that trigger and perpetuate poverty arc as follows:
- Illiteracy
- Iii health
- Lack of access to resources
- Discrimination or lack of civil and political freedoms.
Question 6.
Name the states where the poverty level is far above the national poverty level.
Answer:
The states where the poverty level is far above the national poverty level are Odisha. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Question 7.
Name the states where the poverty level is lower than the national poverty level.
Answer:
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the states where the poverty level is lower than the national poverty level.
Question 8.
How can the creation of income-earning assets address the problem of poverty?
Answer:
While looking for alternatives to specifically address the poor. policymakers 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.
Question 9.
Name the self-employment generation programmes of the government for the poor.
Answer:
The self-employment programmes and wage employment programmes are as follows:
- Rural Employment Generation Programme
- Pradhana Manthri Rozgar Yojana
- Svamajayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana.
Question 10.
Why are employment generation programmes important in poverty alleviation in India?
Answer:
The employment generation programmes are important in poverty alleviation in India because of the following reasons:
- Under this programme, people can get financial assistance to set up small industries
- The educated unemployed from low-income families get financial help to set up small enterprises
- They create both self-employment and wage employment in urban areas.
Question 11.
List the programmes that aim at improving the food and nutritional status of the poor.
Answer:
There are three major programmes that aim at improving the food and nutritional status of India. The’ arc as follows:
- Public Distribution System
- Integrated Child Development Scheme
- Mid-day Meals Scheme.
Question 12.
List the factors that prevent the successful implementation of poverty alleviation programmes.
Answer:
The eminent scholars, while assessing the poverty alleviations programmes. state these major areas of concern that prevent their successful implementation. They are as follows:
(a) The benefits from direct poverty alleviation programmes have been appropriated by the non-poor
(b) The amount of resources allocated for poverty alleviation programmes is not sufficient
(c) These programmes depend mainly on government and bank officials for their implementation. These are ill-motivated, inadequately trained, corruption-prone and vulnerable
(d) The resources are inefficiently used and wasted
(e) There is also non-participation of local-level institutions in programme implementation.
V. Answer the following questions in twelve sentences (each question carries 4 marks)
Question 1.
Write the chart of the poverty line and give the meaning of chronic poor, Transient poor non-poor.
Answer:
Chronic poor: These are the persons who always remain poor for a long period of time. For example, casual workers, agricultural labourers, rag pickers, beggars, etc. They include always poor and usually poor.
Transient poor: The transient poor are those people who are rich most of the time but may sometimes have a patch of bad luck. They also include churning poor who regularly move in and out of the poverty line example, small farmers and seasonal workers and occasionally poor who are rich most of the time.
Non-poor: These are the groups of people who live above the poverty line and they are never poor.
Question 2.
What do you mean by a growth-oriented approach to poverty reduction? Why it is not successful in India.
Answer:
The growth-oriented approach is based on the expectation that the effects of economic growth i.e., rapid increase in gross domestic product and per Capita Income, would spread to all sections of the society and will trickle down to the poor sections also.
The growth-oriented approach to reduce poverty was not successful in India because of the following reasons:
(a) It was felt that the rapid industrialization and green revolution would benefit the underdeveloped regions and the more backward sections of the community. But, the overall growth and growth of agriculture and industry have not been impressive.
(b) Population growth has resulted in very low growth in per capita incomes.
(c) The gap between poor and rich has actually widened.
(d) The green revolution increased the disparities regionally and that between large and small farmers.
(e) ‘Tliere was unwilling and inability to redistribute land.
(f) Economists say that the benefits of economic growth have not trickled down to the poor.
Question 3.
Explain the employment generation programmes of poverty alleviation in India.
Answer:
The income and employment generation approach was started during the third five-year plan.
It is based on specific poverty alleviation and employment generation aspects.
(a) Self-employment programmes: The major self-employment programmes are:
- Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY): This programme aims at providing financial assistance to self-help groups which then decide whom the loan is to be given to for self-employment activities among the members.
- Swarnajayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY): It aims at creating employment opportunities for both self-employment and wage employment opportunities in urban areas. Under self-employment programmes, financial assistance was given to families or individuals. Now, programmes are encouraged to form self-help groups.
- Pradhana Manthri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY): The educated unemployed from low-income families in rural and urban areas can get financial help to set up any kind of enterprise that generates employment, under the scheme.
(b) Wage employment programmes: The major national programmes to generate wage employment are as follows:
- National Food for Work Programme (NFWP).
- Sampooma Grameena Rozgar Yojana ( SGRY).
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP): it provides guaranteed wage employment to every household whose one adult volunteer will get unskilled labour for a minimum of 100 days in a year.
Question 4.
Explain the programmes that provide minimum basic amenities to the people to reduce the poverty in India.
Answer:
These programmes dimension aims to tackle poverty by providing minimum basic facilities to the poor people. The Government of India is trying to provide social consumption needs like foodgrains, education, health, sanitation, water, electricity at subsidized rates to improve the standard of living of the poor. There are three programmes introduced by the government to improve the food and nutritional status of the poor.
They are as follows:
- Public Distribution System (PDS)
- Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
- Mid-day Meals Scheme.
Question 5.
Critically assess the Poverty Alleviation Programmes of the government.,
Answer:
Though the policy towards poverty alleviation has evolved in a progressive manner, over the last 6 decades, it has not undergone any remarkable transformation. Eminent scholars, while assessing the poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes, have given their opinion that there are three major areas of concern that prevent their successful implementation.
They are as follows:
- The unequal distribution of land and other assets have made misappropriation of benefits of poverty alleviation programmes by the non-poor.
- The resources allocated to each poverty alleviation programme are not sufficient to meet the actual requirements.
- The resources are inefficiently used and wasted due to corruption-prone officials and being vulnerable to pressure from a variety of local people.
- Lack of interest and non-participation of local bodies in the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes.
- Failure on the part of the Government to address the vast majority of vulnerable sections of people who are living below or just above the poverty line (known as churning poor).
To conclude, we can state that poverty and unemployment can be solved through a process of social mobilization, encouraging poor people to participate. This will create jobs that may lead to an increase in levels of income, skill, development, health and literacy. It is also necessary to identify poverty affected areas and steps should be taken to provide basic amenities like roads, schools, power, etc., and decentralization of economic activities.
VI. Answer the following questions in twenty sentences (each question carries six marks)
Question 1.
Explain the causes of poverty.
Answer:
The major causes for poverty in India are as follows:
(a) Unemployment: Poverty is closely related to the nature of employment, unemployment and underemployment. A large section of urban and rural poor are unable to get proper income-generating employment opportunities. Industrialization has failed to absorb the unemployed youths in India. Casual labourers are most vulnerable as they do not have job security, no assets and have limited skills.
(b) Inflation: A continuous rise in the price of food grains and other essential commodities has intensified the poverty of the poor. The purchasing power of poor people is deteriorating due to inflationary’ situations in the country.
(c) Unequal distribution of income and wealth: The unequal distribution of income and assets has also led to the persistence of poverty in India. There is a wide gap between the rich and the poor, where the poor are unable to get opportunities to come out of the poverty line.
(d) Negative impact of British rule Indian economy: During British rule there was de-industrialisation. The import of cotton textiles displaced many Indian producers. More than 70% of Indians were engaged in agriculture throughout the British period. As the British made India a market for their finished products, Indian merchants incurred huge losses due to their inability to compete with the low priced products of Britain imported to India. Our natural resources were overexploited by the British and foodgrains were exported. Many Indians died due to famine and hunger. So, this had continued even after independence.
(e) Unequal distribution of income and wealth: There is a large scale unequal distribution of income and wealth in India. The wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. Though the Government had tried to redistribute land among the landless agricultural labourers to reduce the magnitude of poverty, it was successful only to a limited extent as large sections of agricultural workers were not able to cultivate small land holds due to shortage of money or lack of skills to make the land productive and the land holdings were too small.
(f) Lack of skills and knowledge: Most of the people who belong to backward communities are not able to participate in the emerging employment opportunities in different sectors of the urban and rural economy due to their ignorance and illiteracy. Many of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people do not have the necessary knowledge and skills in this regard.
(g) Excess population: The excess population in India is also one of the causes of poverty. The supply of labourers is more than the demand for labour. The employment generation is then the growth rate of the population in India. The government is struggling hard to provide basic amenities due to the rapid growth of the population in India.
(h) Other causes for poverty are:
- Social and political inequality
- Social exclusion
- Indebtedness (excessive borrowings of loans)
- Low capital formation
- Lack of infrastructure
- Lack of effective demand
- Inefficient and corrupt administration.
Question 2.
Explain briefly the three-dimensional programmes adopted by the government to eradicate poverty in India.
Answer:
The Government’s approach to poverty reduction was of three dimensions.
They are as follows:
I. Growth-oriented approach: It is based on the expectation that the effects of economic growth viz., rapid increase in gross domestic product and per capita income would spread to all sections of society and improve the standard of living of poor people also.
II. Income and employment generation approach: The income and employment generation approach was started during the third five-year plan. It is based on specific poverty alleviation and employment generation aspects.
(a) Self-employment programmes: The major self-employment programmes are:
- Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY): This programme aims at providing financial assistance to self-help groups which then decide to whom the loan is to be given for self-employment activities among the members.
- Swarnajayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY): It aims at creating employment opportunities both self-employment and wage employment opportunities in urban areas. Under self-employment programmes, financial assistance was given to families or individuals. Now, programmes are encouraged to form self-help groups.
- Pradhana Manthri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY): The educated unemployed from low-income families in rural and urban areas can get financial help to set up some kind of enterprise that generates employment under this scheme.
(b) Wage employment programmes:
The major national programmes to generate wage employment are as follows:
- National Food for Work Programme (NFWP)
- Sampoorna Grameena Rozgar Yojana ( SGRY)
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP): It provides guaranteed wage employment to every household whose one adult volunteer will get unskilled labour for a minimum of 100 days in a year.
III. Providing minimum basic amenities to the people approach: This dimension aims to tackle poverty by providing minimum basic facilities to the poor. The Government of India is trying to provide social consumption needs like foodgrains, education, health, sanitation, water, electricity at subsidized rates to improve the standard of living of the poor. The major programmes in this regard are as follows:
- Public Distribution System (PDS)
- Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
- Mid-day Meals Scheme.
The programmes introduced to provide basic infrastructure in a rural area are:
- Pradhana Manthri Gram Sadak Yojana: Construction of roads to even village.
- Indira Awas Yojana: Rural housing scheme to poorest among the poor.
- Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana: Housing scheme for urban poor of slum areas.
- Basava Vasathi Yojana (Karnataka).
VII. Project-oriented Question (5 Marks)
Question 1.
Suppose you are a resident of a village, suggest a few measures to tackle the problem of poverty.
Answer:
If we support implementing the following programmes successfully, we can easily eradicate poverty:
- Swamajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
- Swarnajayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)
- Pradhana Manthri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)
- National Food for Work Programme (NFWP)
- Sampooma Grameen Rozgar Yojana ( SGRY)
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP)
- Public Distribution System (PDS)
- Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
- Mid-day Meals Scheme
- Pradhana Manthri Gram Sadak Yojana
- Indira Awas Yojana
- Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yoj ana.