Despite implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India,…

Question

Despite implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India, poverty is still existing.' Explain by giving reasons.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Poverty persists in India because programmes suffer from faulty targeting, leakage and a relief-over-capability design, while informal growth, health shocks, social exclusion and regional concentration keep regenerating it. As late as 2011-12, the Tendulkar method counted 21.9% of Indians as poor.

**Introduction**

From the IRDP (1978) to MGNREGA (2005), India has run anti-poverty programmes for five decades, yet as late as 2011-12 the Tendulkar method counted 21.9% of Indians as poor. The reasons lie in programme gaps and deeper structural roots.

**Gaps in Programme Design and Delivery**

SKETCH: fishbone | Why Poverty Persists
effect: Persistent poverty
- Faulty targeting
- Leaky delivery
- Jobless growth
- Health shocks
- Caste, gender exclusion
- Regional concentration

1. **Faulty targeting**: BPL lists based on dated surveys exclude many of the poorest households while including the better-off, so benefits miss those who need them most.
2. **Leakage and corruption**: Rajiv Gandhi's 1985 remark that only 15 paise of every rupee reached the poor reflected leakage that fake job cards and PDS diversion prolonged.
3. **Relief over capability**: Overlapping, top-down schemes with weak panchayat involvement offered doles or wage work without building the skills, assets or credit that let a household climb out for good.

**Structural Roots Beyond Programmes**

1. **Jobless, informal growth**: Most workers remain in informal jobs, and over two-thirds of farm holdings are marginal (Agriculture Census 2015-16).
2. **Health shocks**: Catastrophic hospital bills push households back below the poverty line, and 35.5% child stunting (NFHS-5) passes poverty on.
3. **Exclusion and geography**: Caste and gender bar Dalits, Adivasis and women from land and credit, while poverty clusters in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, where delivery is weakest.

**Conclusion**

Poverty persists not for want of programmes but because exclusion, informality and weak delivery regenerate it. Better JAM-based targeting, convergence and community-led governance, as in Kerala, can turn welfare into a lasting escape from poverty, in line with SDG 1.

Despite implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India, poverty is still existing.' Explain by giving reasons.

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