Poverty alleviation in India Focus on education
Introduction
Poverty Estimates historical trend
A third of the poor people in the world live in India according to 2005 estimates by World Bank. 42 percent of the Indian population lives below the international poverty line. The World Bank (2006) estimates the international poverty line to be 1.25 per day.
The purchasing power parity indicates that the poverty line is Rupees 21.6 per day in the urban centers and Rupees 14.3 in the rural areas according to 2005 estimates. There is a reduction in the poverty level since 1980 whereby the poverty levels were estimated to be 60 percent. Planning Commission of India estimated that 27.5 percent of the Indian population was living below the poverty line in 2004-2005. The commission issued the information that in 1977-1978, the poverty level was 51.3 percent and 36 percent in 1993-1994 (World Bank, 2006).
Causes of poverty in India
The high level of poverty in India was caused by several factors. The British era (also called British Raj) which occurred between 1858 and 1947 was a major cause of the poverty in India (Griffiths, 1952). The British colonial rule deindustrialized the country. This was done through privatization of industries, economic regulations, increases in tariffs on commodities made in India, direct seizures and others. Most of the resources were exhausted by the British rule during the colonial period (Griffiths, 1952). The large population in India has created a huge burden to the government. There are low literacy levels in India since a large percentage of the population has not yet accessed formal education especially the women (Mukhopadhyay Seymour, 1994). Dependency on agriculture has caused the high poverty levels in India. The country has improved and the industrial sector is up coming in the recent years. The Indian caste system has been a cause of the poverty in India. Lower caste Hindus form a large percent of the poor in the country. The Indian caste system defines social stratification which restricts some social groups from doing certain activities. The social stratification describes social classes within the society. The low class people are exploited by the upper class individuals, hence causing a very big gap between the poor and the rich. For example, large portions of land are owned by the high ranking people who exploit the low rank people. The role of women in the Indian society is another cause of poverty. The Purdah restricts women from interacting freely and there are other practices which do not give the women a better position to contribute to the economic success of the country. It is only a few years ago that women started to fight for their rights and equality. The culture of the Indians has contributed a great extent to the high poverty levels being experienced in the country (Indian Council of World Affairs 2006).
Indias economic policies
Social democratic policies have been practiced in India since 1947 to 1991. The policies promoted government regulation, protectionism and public ownership of property. The policies caused a lot of corruption and slow economic growth. A market based economic system has been adopted since 1991. This has liberalized the economy and the government has reduced its control over many economic activities. The economic policies of the 2000s have increased the rate of economic growth. The reforms have placed the country in the second position of the fastest growing economies in the world. The economic meltdown of the 2008-2009 caused a great threat to the economy of India. The growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product reduced to 6.1 in 2009. The fiscal deficit increased to 10.3 of the GDP in the same year. The service industry is growing at a very high rate. It contributes to 62.6 of the GDP of the country. Agriculture still remains the main economic practice of the country and accounts for 52 of the employment (Mukhopadhyay Seymour, 1994).
Neo-liberal policies and their effects
The neo-liberal policies established in India in the 1990s have caused the reduction in economic performance. The government introduced the policy of growing cash crops instead of traditional food crops. This has led to a sharp increase in the costs of farm input. The international market dictates the prices for cash crops. The food crops are better than the cash crops since a fall in the prices for food crops does not affect the availability of food in the country. Neo-liberal policies have promoted inequality in the country and this has reduced the agricultural productivity. During the period 2003-2007, the country experienced agrarian crisis. On the other hand, the country attained the second position in the number of dollar billionaires. The policies have caused inequality, hunger, and collapse of the rural economies. Farm suicides have increased since the establishment of the policies. Employment in the agricultural sector has declined while non-farm employment has not progressed. Rural urban migration has been on the increase since the introduction of the neo-liberal system. Many rural households have become landless. The policies have worsened the poverty crisis instated of improving the lives of the Indians (Sharma, 2002).
Analysis
Efforts to alleviate poverty - Outlook for poverty alleviation
India has established long-term goals to eradicate poverty in the country. The increase in the number of the people in the middle class will alleviate poverty in the next 50 years. The government has emphasized on education to increase the literacy levels of the people as a strategy to alleviate poverty. Other strategies to eradicate poverty are empowering women and the poor in the society. The government has introduced the policy of reserving seats for women in government jobs as a measure to improve the participation of women in the economy. The poverty alleviation programmmes have been very successful and this has been indicated by the rising number of middle class individuals in the economy. Income distribution has not been even and major efforts should be made to create income equality. The strategy of establishing the capitalist system of government has led to the rise in the middle class individuals. Approximately, 390 million Indians are in the middle class. A third of these people belonged to the low class some few years back. By the year 2030, a big number of the people in India will be middle class. 65 percent of the people have become literate an increase from 52 percent during the last decade (Sen Drze, 2008).
Controversy over extent of poverty alleviation
There have been several controversies over the poverty alleviation success in India. UN World Food Programme has questioned the definition of poverty by the Indian government. There has been an increase in the calorie deprivation despite the reduction in poverty. The increase in economic performance has not reduced rural-urban migration and this has made urban poverty more persistent. Despite the fact that poverty has decreased, other dimensions such as the education levels, health, and crime remain to be questioned. While poverty levels have remained constant since 1994, the UN Human Development Index (HDI) has given a very low economic rank about the country. The 2007-2008 UN HDI placed India in the 132 position which is the lowest rank for the last decade. The lowest ever achieved index was position 122 in 1992. The low ranking has resulted from factors such as the malnourishment of the people of Indian, rural urban migration, increase in crime, low literacy levels among other negative indicators. 230 million of the Indians are malnourished while 43 percent of the children under the age of 5 years are underweight (Sen Drze, 2008).
Several economists have supported the statistics about the reduction in poverty in India. The Finance Minister of India has confirmed that poverty has reduced to a great extent despite the large number of criticisms leveled against the success of the country in poverty alleviation. The vice president of the World Bank has supported the validity of the statistics about the success of India in poverty alleviation. India has shown tremendous progress in globalization and increase in the per-capita income (Baviskar Attwood, 2003).
Contrary to the success stories given by several individuals and organizations, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) indicate that more than half the Indian population live on less than 20 rupees a day. Many people work in the informal sector and have no jobs. They have no social security and live in abject poverty (Baviskar Attwood, 2003).
Persistence of malnutrition among children
Malnutrition in India among the children has been persistent. Approximately 42.5 percent of the children are malnourished. It has been estimated that India has 49 percent of the underweight children the world. 46 percent of the wasted children in the world live in India. India also contributes to 34 percent of the stunted children in the world. Poverty and low education standards have contributed to the high levels of malnourishment of children in India (Baviskar Attwood, 2003).
Rural living standards
Rothermund and Kulke (2004) estimated that 75 percent of the poor people in India live in the rural areas. The rural poor are the landless, self-employed, and daily wagers. The growth in the economy has been uneven between the urban and the rural population. Poverty rates are 43 in Orissa and 41 in Bihar. The rural poor have little access to education and literacy levels are low compared to the urban people. Schools in the rural areas have poor infrastructure and the teachers are not adequate to teach in these schools. The distribution of resources in the country is not balanced and the rural areas receive inadequate resources (Sen Drze, 2008).
Growing bridge between the rich and the poor
The economic progress in India has reduced the gap between the rich and the poor. The people in the middle class are increasing. The number of the low class (the poor) is reducing as incomes increase. However, the gap between the rich and the poor is still big despite the efforts to improve the incomes of the poor. The rich are able to access education facilities and acquire skills which enable them get better opportunities. Most of the poor people live in the rural areas where there is little access to education facilities (Baviskar Attwood, 2003).
Corrupt politicians
The Indian politics is characterized by corruption. Most of the political leaders are illiterate and have no sound economic ideas. This has resulted into poor policies that are being made by the politicians in the country. The politicians are the policy makers and they do not involve the professionals in decision making. This has caused the country a lot of economic loss. Poor management and lack of focus on the elite society has created the poverty levels in the country. India has the highest levels of corruption and this has affected the growth of many states in the country. Corruption in India has been criticized by the international community since this is creating hindrances to poverty alleviation in the country (Sen Drze, 2008).
Economic boom in India and its effects on poverty alleviation
The economic boom in India has not improved the living standards of the Indians to a great extent. The rate of decline in poverty levels is lower than expected. Despite the fact that India may attain the third position in the world economy by 2020 due to the high rate of economic growth, the poverty levels are stagnant. However, the poorest states have received a great progress in poverty reduction in the recent years. For example, Assam has a 4 percent decline in poverty within a period of five years. Jharkhand has experienced a 2.51 percent decline in poverty levels while Chhattisgarh and Bihar have 1.69 percent decline. The urban areas have experienced a slower growth rate compared to the rural areas. This could be caused by the increase in rural urban migration. Poverty alleviation remains a major challenge to the Indian government despite the economic boom being experienced by the country (Sen Drze, 2008).
Rapidly expanding population lack of awareness
The rapidly expanding population has worsened the problem of poverty in India. The population of India is still high at 1.17 billion people as per 2009 census. The urban centers have a 29 population density. The annual growth rate is still high at 1.55. The population density is 324 people per square kilometer. Literacy level is 61 of the total population. There are no compulsory years for education. The large population has created stress on the available education resources and educating the people has become a major challenge to the government. The government has not established adequate measures to reduce the high population growth rate. This will create crisis in the near future due to inadequate resources to sustain the large population (Sen Drze, 2008).
Education - Overview, national literacy, attainment
The Union Government and the states control the education system in India. The constitution for India stipulates that education is a fundamental right to all people. Many universities are controlled by Union or the Sate Government. The country has made tremendous progress in promoting primary education and expansion of literacy levels. Almost two thirds of the population is literate now. The improvement in the education system in India is one of the contributing factors to the rapid economic growth that has been experienced in the country. Illiteracy levels in India have been high despite efforts to promote private and public education by the government. 40 percent of the Indian population is illiterate. Approximately 15 percent of the primary school students reach high school. The post secondary high schools can offer 7 percent of the students from high schools. A survey done in 2008 indicates that there are 25 percent vacancies in the teaching career. More than half of the tutors in the college have no qualifications in masters or PhD degree. There has been a lot of international concern about the quality of education in India since most of the academic institutions lack facilities. However, in 2006, three universities in India were recorded in the top 200 universities in the world. Six Institutes of Technology were listed in the top 20. Several academic institutions have received global recognition due to their good performance (Guha, 2005).
Private education, womens education, rural education
The private sector has invested in the education industries and has contributed a lot in the promotion of literacy levels in the country. According to the research conducted in 2008 the private education market has attained a value of 40 billion. By the year 2012 the private education market is estimated to expand to 68 billion. Major transformations are being made in the education system to promote education for the marginalized and women in the country. The reservation system was introduced such that certain percent of the seats in the institutions of higher education are reserved for the marginalized people. Minority groups are allowed by the constitution to set up their own academic institutions. Certain institutions are being developed to offer education to women only. Under the current constitution women are reserved certain percent of seats in the educational institutions. Democracy in higher education in India has increased with establishment of distance learning programmmes as well as open learning systems of the universities (Guha, 2005).
Lack of higher education spending
Despite the economic expansion in India there has been inadequate funding on the higher education. Compared to other countries in the region India has low budget allocation on the higher education. The public universities and colleges face shortage of resources and professors. The private colleges and universities have improved in the provision of education (Grant Lei, 2009).
Poor quality
Some of the education institutions have been challenged by the international community due to the poor quality of the education offered in these institutions. Inadequate government funding has resulted into poor infrastructure especially in the public education systems. There are not enough professors to teach in the public colleges and universities. Some of the professors in the institutions of higher education do have a masters degree or a PhD degree. This has reduced the quality of education offered in the education institutions especially the public universities and colleges (Grant Lei, 2009).
Budget
The government established the five year plan of 2002 to 2007 to increase expenditure on education budget. The government had a 65.6 percent budget allocation of Rs. 438250 on elementary education. Secondary education was allocated 9.9 percent of the total education budget. Adult educated had an allocation of 2.9 percent. Technical education was apportioned 10.7 percent while 1.4 percent was allocated to miscellaneous education schemes (Guha, 2005).
In 2009 the government of India increased its budget allocation on higher education from 2.22 billion to 2.79 billion. The government has intentions to establish 12 new institutions of higher education within five years. The country has approximately 400 universities and 18,000 colleges which serve the 1.1 billion people. This has been a great challenge to the government and the Prime Minister has announced the creation of new universities and colleges (Grant Lei, 2009).
Public expenditure on education in India
The government has announced a progressive increase in expenditure on education by 6 of the gross domestic product. Education cess on taxes would be imposed to support the programme of improving the quality of education the increased expenses on education. The government also announced that people should be allowed to access education despite their economic status. Education was made a fundamental right to children aged between 6 and 14. Some programmes have been established to universalize the education system. Such programmes include Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid Day meal. These announcements were made to develop the poor education status in India (Grant Lei, 2009).
Public expenditure on education in India is the lowest compared to any other developing or developed nation. The government announced a 150 percent increase in public expenditure on higher education in the financial year 2007-2008. Despite the efforts to increase public expenditure, India still remains behind compared to other Asian countries. Currently the public expenditure per student is US 400. The government has proposed to improve the expenditure to around US 1,000. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has suggested that the public expenditure of US 400 per student on higher education is the lowest among developed and developing nations (Guha, 2005).
Legislative framework
Article 45 of the constitution of India indicated that the state should provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 years. The article provided that the government could not be held accountable if the clauses were not adhered to. The Supreme Court of India amended the article in the 1990s. The 93rd bill provided made three amendments to the article that the state should provide free and compulsory education to children aged 6-14 according to the provisions of the law. The Article 45 was replaced by the article which stated that the state should ensure it provides early childhood care and education to all children up to the age of 16. Article 51A provided that parentsguardians should educate their children between 6 and 14 years of age. In November 28, 2001 the bill was passed by a large number of the members of Lok Sabha. The upper house latter passed the bill on May 14, 2002. The president signed the bill and it was affected into the constitution of India. Article 46 of the Indian constitution provides that the state should provide education to the poor especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The article also indicates that the state should prevent social injustices and exploitation against these groups of people (Guha, 2005).
Conclusion
India has experienced a great expansion in the growth of the national economy. Education is one of the factors that can be used to reduce poverty in India. Lack of focus on education has caused the high poverty levels in India. The education to women is low and their position in the society is negligible. The gap between the rich and the poor is decreasing and there has been an emergence of middle class people.
Recommendation
More emphasis should be placed on the education and empowerment of women and the minority in the Indian society. The government of India should focus on increasing the public expenditure on higher education per student. The government should develop the agricultural sector since it provides employment to a large population of people.