Abstract
The world of today is now speaking in terms of sustainable development, instead of development only. The process of development will be sustainable only when it raises income, lowers poverty and inequality, eliminates hunger, ensures healthy life, establishes gender equality, and conserves energy and environment. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) of UNDP as a result emphasize on complete eradication of poverty from everywhere in this world. In our country, it was primarily believed that benefits of development automatically trickle down to the poor, and hence, a direct government intervention is not required to pass on the benefits of development to the poor. But later on, it was experienced that development cannot be sustainable until and unless initiatives are taken by the government to alleviate poverty. The poor always drag development initiatives backward, and development always leads to inequality. To phase out this contradiction between development and distress, governments must take initiatives to redistribute with justice the benefits of development among the poor and those who already enjoy the benefits. In a globalized world, these initiatives should be taken on international basis. Otherwise, the poor countries will stand in the way of the development of developing countries. Primarily, the MDGs and then the SDGs were set by the UNDP from this very realization. In respect to the objective of complete eradication of poverty, the progress of India and her states is satisfactory, at least in terms of Indian official statistics.
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Notes
- 1.
Prior to this period, expenditure on health and education was not considered for inclusion in poverty line calculation because it was assumed that expenditure on these two would be borne by the State.
- 2.
The consumer expenditure data collected by the NSSO, on which poverty ratios are estimated, was based on 30 days recall period prior to the 61st round survey. In contrast to this practice of Uniform Recall Period (URP), the NSSO, in their 61st round survey, introduced another method, called Mixed Recall Period (MRP). Under the MRP method for five infrequently used items (clothing, footwear, durables, education, and institutional health expenditure), consumers are surveyed on the basis of 365 days recall period, and for all other items, the 30 days recall period is used as usual.
- 3.
The MDG targeted the population that was under BPL in1990 to be halved by 2015. In 1990, the estimated BPL population of India was 47.8 per cent to its total population. India managed to reduce the number to 21.9 by 2011–2012. The corresponding figures for rural and urban areas were 52.6 and 30.5 in 1990 and 25.7 and 13.7 in 2011–2012 (Ahmed 2016).
- 4.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an international index of poverty which, while defining poverty, considers its multidimensional facets. A ‘poor’ is one who is deprived of two basic necessities of life, namely, health and education, and led a poor standard of living owing to poor earning. To capture the poor earning, poor health, and poor education status of a poor, the MPI depends on ten indicators, namely, years of schooling, school attendance, child mortality, nutritional status, asset ownership, access to electricity, access to improved sanitation, access to safe drinking water, flooring, and cooking fuel. The concept of MPI was developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Programme.
- 5.
In 2017, the top three countries in this regard were Monaco (1.8), Japan (2.0), and Iceland (2.1).
- 6.
A report on employment strategy for India was jointly prepared by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India in 2009. In this report, it was acknowledged that although since the 1980s India achieved remarkable success in accelerating GDP growth, its performance in employment generation is disappointing. Agriculture, till the first half of the first decade of the present millennium contributed less than a quarter of GDP. However, more than half of the total employed labour force rests on agriculture. The share of manufacturing sector, on the other hand, rose marginally from 11:24 per cent in 1983 to only 12–20 per cent in 2004–2005. Growth in employment concentrated mainly in construction and other services (ILO 2009). This trend in employment pattern also reveals how inequality is gradually increasing in India. When more than half of the people earn less than one fourth of the GDP, the inequality is bound to increase.
- 7.
This index measures government commitment in reducing the gap between the rich and the poor on the basis of three indicators, namely, social spending, tax, and labour rights.
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Bhukta, A. (2020). No Poverty: How Much, How Far. In: Hazra, S., Bhukta, A. (eds) Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42488-6_1
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