Addressing Urban Poverty through Empowerment and Inclusion in India

Abstract

Urban poverty is defined not only as income poverty, but also as human deprivation in terms of health, education, shelter, water supply, and sanitation. Alleviation of poverty does not only address low income, but also ‘capabilities’, such as health, education, and nutrition, by stressing the interactions among these dimensions. Poverty also stands for vulnerability, voicelessness, and powerlessness. Poverty in urban areas is now more widespread than before and continues to be pervasive, intractable, and intolerable. The Indian urbanscape is marked by deprivation, destitution, and oppression. Any poverty reduction intervention should aim at raising the economic, human, political, socio-cultural, and protective capabilities of the urban poor. Two approaches have been put forward to assuage the severity of urban poverty; these are empowerment of the poor in decision making and the inclusion of the poor in the provision of basic urban services. But to be certain that these approaches deliver, we must ensure that both are executed in unison under the supervision of urban governance. While the empowerment approach treats poor people as co-decision makers, with authority and control over decisions and resources devolved to the lowest appropriate level, inclusion of poor people and other traditionally excluded groups is crucial to ensure equity in the provision of various services. Democratic local governance is increasingly seen as a precondition for poverty reduction strategies, although its links to poverty reduction are not always explicit. Adequate diagnostics through participatory planning mechanisms (empowerment) allow for the identification of programmes and projects that have the highest impact on poverty reduction. Local governments must be able to select and prioritize policies based on their expected impact on achieving local poverty targets (inclusion).