WHERE THE POOR HAVE NO NAME
WHERE
THE POOR HAVE NO NAME
Authored by: Abhijith A, Kriti
Ahuja, Nikita Gambhir, Randhir Singh, Sayan Sen, Simran Kathuria
Group 9, Section C, PGDM (BM) 2019-21 Batch
Group 9, Section C, PGDM (BM) 2019-21 Batch
The Sustainable
Development Goal-1 of “No Poverty” is a direct follow-up to the prior concluded
Goal-1 of the Millennium Development Goal to “Eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger”. The goal targets to eradicate poverty by ensuring rights to – economic
resources, basic services, ownership and control over land, inheritance,
natural resources, new technology and financial services. Further, this goal to
eradicate poverty gains tremendous traction and importance in the contemporary
times due to the clearly visible and destructive effects of climate change.
According to Mercy Corps, 3 out of every 4 people who are in poverty, rely on
agriculture and natural resources to survive. 2.5 billion small holder farmers,
herders and fishery workers depend on climate and natural resources for food
and income. The prevailing and expected effects of climate change will result
in a shift in the environmental, political and economic conditions of the poor
and result in creating new conflicts and exacerbating existing conflicts for
resources that might push people into further poverty. It is therefore
important to rescue people out of poverty and empower them with social standing
and skills to ensure self-sustenance. The failure to achieve the targets set
out under the SDG-1 will result in this portion of population to depend on
humanitarian aids and become a liability on the countries that accommodate
them. To achieve this goal - that sets to halve the population of poor in all
its dimensions according to national definitions - can be achieved only through
international collaboration. This is ensured through the sub goal of creating
sound policy framework at the national, regional and international levels,
based on pro poor and gender sensitive development strategy and to support
accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions. This blog seeks to
explore several aspects of the working of SDG-1 and other supporting actions.
Relevance of SDG-1 to
India
The goal of eradicating
poverty dates back to a period several years before SDGs or MDGs when the
election campaign led by Indira Gandhi in 1971 was steered through the
resonating slogan “Garibi Hatao.” This issue gained a very huge traction that
despite the split in the Indian national congress, Indira Gandhi was able to
secure a landslide victory. 2/3rds of the country lives in abject poverty
conditions and at less than $2/day, and over 30% of the population lives in
less than $1.25/day. Poverty in India has been falling since the implementation
of the New Economic Policy, but the Tendulkar formula, based on which poverty
is calculated in India is very conservative. It categorizes people to be poor
if their earnings per day is less than Rs 32/day for rural and Rs 47/day for
Urban India. It is very much lower than the standards set internationally. With
India,
being a peninsular nation is very susceptible to the vagaries of nature and has
been subjected to several adverse effects of climate change. Ranging from
Mumbai, Chennai floods to the dry spells seen in Vidarbha of Maharashtra and
the Kongu region of Tamil Nadu, the adverse effects of climate change are very
pronounced. This has continuously resulted in pushing people into further
abject poverty. Also, 49% of India is employed in the agriculture sector with
67% of net sown area being rain fed. 76% of farmers in India are poor according
to a report on Down to Earth, and any climate effects will only push them
further into abject poverty. Therefore, the relevance of eradicating poverty in
this country is high and must be pursued with highest priority.
SDGs have guided not
only countries and individuals like you and us, but MNCs like HUL and ITC to
eye sustainable growth and incorporate SDGs in their social and economic
initiatives. HUL and ITC are FMCG firms that play on profits from the bottom of
the pyramid. Engaging directly with the lowest strata and producing goods to
meet their needs in their budget, no poverty is closer to home to no other
organization. Corroborating with the SDGs, HUL launched ‘Unilever Sustainable
Living Plan’ and has since then, supported Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and Health &
Well Being (SDG 3), and contributed indirectly, yet significantly to the final
goal of No Poverty. HUL is tackling malnutrition head on and working towards
food security by helping farmers and other members of the value chain
incorporate sustainable practices through its Seeds of Prosperity program. Their
program “Prabhat” is empowering
local communities through targeted pillars of enhanced livelihood, health,
well-being awareness and water conservation. HUL has set its targets in
consultation with PwC, which are now tracked by its Electronic, Measurement,
Analytics and Reporting Solution to ensure accuracy and maintain sanctity of
data.
HUL’s
competitor in the industry and accomplice in the field of sustainability, ITC’s
focus on sustainable growth is unmatched in the FMCG sector. The company has
prioritized the crying issues of multi-dimensional poverty and job creation,
tackling these challenges of rural India including poverty, food insecurity and
gender inequality. Called “Mission
Sunehra Kal”, ITC’s mission for social inclusiveness provides equal and
sustainable livelihood opportunities as a part of its existing CSR programs. It
involves de-risking rural livelihood by diversifying the farmer’s crop
portfolio, promotion of non-farm employment opportunities, adoption of a
Climate Smart Village Approach, and emphasis on education and skill training.
Other programs such as “Adarsh”
Habitation also contribute to ITC’s vow to end abject poverty and
marginalization of women and rural India. Other firms like Reckitt Benckiser,
with its tagline of ‘Healthier Lives, Happy Homes’ have approached SDGs by
proactively acting and reporting on them. RB has entered into partnerships to
introduce projects on zero hunger and women empowerment, all of which serve the
end goal of no poverty, as defined by the UN.
Access to
finance is a key driver to empowerment and the light at the end of the dark
tunnel of poverty. Citibank has been collaborating with different stakeholders
to institute technology-driven solutions for easy access to micro-credit.
Citibank’s belief and pursuit towards SDGs is reflected through Citi’s Inclusive Finance approach that
aligns itself with SDG 1, to promote equal access to economic resources.
As is evident from the
aforementioned points, poverty remains a deeply ingrained evil in the Indian
context. We have found that while on one side the number of people living in
extreme poverty has decreased progressively over the last few years, reducing
to almost half from 1990 up to 2015, there are still many who struggle to make
both ends meet. Of the 736 million people living in extreme poverty (earning
less than $1.90 per day) almost 5.5% are in India. India has also lifted 271
million people out of extreme poverty in the decade from 2004-2014 such that
every minute 44 Indians are seen to rise out of extreme poverty.
Thus the alpha and omega of the
situation stands such that even though a lot of progress has been made in terms
of raising the living standards of a lot of Indians over the past years, much
work still remains to be done. Here, we will also explore some methods as to
how that can be brought about. One of the major complaints that we find strewn
on the streets around us in the country is how the government doesn’t do enough
for the people. While that is up for debate, what can’t be contested is the
idea that the population of India is a major contributor when it comes to
policies regarding and surrounding poverty. Thus controlling population is a
major proponent when it comes to a long term view with regards to poverty.
A second important factor that
comes into play here is pay equity. Now one factor on which employers play
especially in rural areas is that males are paid more than females and hence
for the same family having male as well as female members, there is an extra
pay that is deserved but not received owing to the hyper-patriarchal practices
that are still prevalent across the land. Moreover for all these people there
is no concept of a paid leave or a sick leave – which are considered to be
luxuries, disregarding the basic human requirements of those in and around the
lower socio-economic backgrounds.
When it comes to poverty though,
there need to be longer term fixes. Sure, short term methods like raising MSPs
and price stability as well as farm loan waivers and the likes can go on to relieve
some short term stress but we merely postpone our problems rather that deal
with them in this case. What we need to have is a longer term outlook. For
instance the government in India should go out and heavily invest in SMEs and
MSMEs. Not only does this breed employment ideas but it also allows for people
to gain more satisfaction out of their work – something that is increasingly
necessary for a better livelihood. The government can also raise minimum wage,
depending on other extrinsic conditions. That acts like a direct shot in the
arm of all folks near the lower end of the economic spectrum and can propel
them towards better living conditions. Plus, the budget spending ratio should
be in proportion with the population of the state and the government should
invest more in more populous states.
The Public Distribution System
(PDS) is another point of leakage when it comes to the distribution of goods to
the poorer sections. The PDS system in India is not well thought out and it
leads to the end user not receiving much of the benefits that were meant for
them. Hence it has to be better maintained. With the advent of Aadhar and
similar services, it should be easier for the government to be able to
implement these services. Moving into the agricultural domain – the main factor
when it comes to the Indian economy, it is imperative that we start addressing
the poverty issue from that end of the table. To that end the government has
tried band-aid measures to deal with it. What we find is that the only way to
permanently deal with poverty is by increasing productivity in the agricultural
sector through the usage of AI and ML as well as improved farming techniques.
The government should also help in the selling of this produce to foreign
markets if surplus remains.
We understand from the total data
available that although the basic level of the poor has improved, there still
remains a long way to go in order to improve the condition of the nation as a
whole. With the advent of digitalization, it is important to use these tools to
empower the poor and raise them to a better standard of lives and livelihoods,
something that can only be done if the government as well as the people come to
a common consensus and work towards it without premonition or inhibition. Poverty
is an evil that has existed for centuries and centuries and it is high time
that we go out and eradicate it as largely as possible, growing together as a
community, in the process.
Confucius
once said –
“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”
“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”
Keeping
that in mind, it is now up to us to decide which road we want to take for that
not only determines what happens to the downtrodden across the land, but also
to the very land we call our own.
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