1. Poverty

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”

This quote by Mahatma Gandhi precisely sums up the overall impact of poverty on the lives of the poor. It places many disabilities hampering the development of the poor by restricting their freedoms and trapping generations in poverty if adequate level of support is not provided to them.

The natural questions that rise are- What is poverty? What are its causes? How is poverty measured? What steps have been taken to mitigate poverty? What more needs to be done? We will find answers to these in subsequent sections of this document.

1.1. What is Poverty?

Poverty, in simplest terms, is a condition where people are unable to fulfil basic needs of life such as- food, clothes, shelter etc. for want of money. Over the time, poor access to healthcare services, education and poor standard of living have also come to be attributed to poverty.

1.2. Types of Poverty

Poverty is defined in either relative or absolute terms. Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. United Nations defines it as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also access to service. The World Bank has defined the absolute poverty line as the percentage of population of country living on less than

$1.90 a day (PPP) at constant prices at 2011 price levels.

However, the concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society. The concept therefore fails to recognize that individuals have important social and cultural needs. This, and similar criticisms, led to the development of the concept of relative poverty.

Relative poverty defines poverty in relation to the economic status of other members of the society: people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context. One of its criticisms is that it is merely a measure of inequality, using the term 'poverty' for it is misleading. For example, if everyone in a country's income doubled, it would not reduce the amount of 'relative poverty' at all. However, others have pointed out that the problem of poverty in the industrialized nations today is mostly a problem of relative poverty. That after a certain minimum level of economic development the effects of poverty is not seen in any absolute form but the effects of the contrast, daily perceived, between the lives of the poor and the lives of those around them. Nonetheless, poverty is not equal to inequality and both are two distinct concepts affecting each other which we will deal with later in this document.