| An academic study over three decades indicates a disturbing trend in India - poverty is chronic and persistent. It takes just common sense to see why some people remain poor while others climb out. Now there is an academic study that maps this even more closely. Two economist, Professor Aasha Kapur and Professor Shashanka Bhide, have analysed data collected by the National Council of Applied Economic Research over three decades. First in the 70s, then in 80s and finally in late 90s, researchers went back to the same 3,000 odd families in 260 villages across the country to find out how they had fared. What they found was deeply disturbing. Between 1971 and 1981, 52 per cent of the poor had remained poor. While the number came down in the next two decades (1981-1998), at 38.6 per cent it was still alarmingly high. This confirms that in India, poverty is chronic, persistent and often unshakeable. "There are people in parts of India who have lived in poverty themselves, whose parents are living in poverty and whose children are also going to inherit that poverty. Even though poverty has declined in aggregate at the national level, but the truth is there are people who have lived and are living in poverty. The issue is how do you track people's lives and understand poverty in that context," says Professor Aasha Kapur. Drivers: What keeps people stuck in poverty? * High healthcare costs * Adverse market conditions * Loss of assets * High interest loans from moneylenders * Social expenses, deaths, marriages * Crop failure Maintainers: What keeps people stuck in poverty? * Casual agricultural labour * Landless households * Illiterate households * Large households with more children Interrupters: What helps escape from poverty? * More income earning opportunities * Proximity to urban areas * Improved infrastructure * Initial literacy status of household head * Income from physical assets: cropland, livestock, house Another important finding of the study is that while more people among the Scheduled Castes have been able to escape poverty, fewer among scheduled tribes have been able to do so. No wonder, remote tribal areas show up as India's hunger spots. Regards Shail |
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