Dear All
Please find the brief details of the recent publication made in the Journal of Desh Vikaas of Oct - Dec 2021 as:
“Poverty is not an accident. It is manmade and can be removed by the actions of human beings”….Nelson Mandela.
‘Poverty’ is the biggest
barrier of development and affect the People, Communities, and Nation in all
forms. Nation has got sufficient resources to cater the needs of its people but
not their greed. The limitations of service delivery systems in catering benefits
of development to the targeted groups who are poor and vulnerable on one side
and on the other side widened the gap between the poor and rich and thus
affected the larger population both socially and economically leading for poor
quality of life. It is the fact that the needs of the human covering food, shelter,
health care, education, employment, and other needs moves around poverty
limiting their access and affordability. After Water, the Goal of ‘No Poverty’
gains priority and it is very much linked up with the progress of other goals
of Sustainable Development Goals. With such agenda, Nation is moving with the
missions of achieving Water for All, Food for All, Health Care for All, Education
for All, Equality & Equity for All, and others on the mode of empowerment
and sustainability and thus to become empowered Nation. The progress made in
respect of the targets and indictors of ‘No Poverty’ is significant and at the same
time do face several limitations to achieve the same by 2030. The limitations
of the Government will be minimized by working with Private and NGOs on partnership
basis. The opportunities emerged out of such partnership are significant and expected
to build connectivity and collaboration with relationships among the stakeholders.
The initiatives taken up are need based and very well matches to the dynamics
of the people and communities and thus to achieve sustainability with improved quality
of life.
Key Words: Poverty, Health Care, Education, Development, Environment, Isolation, Quality of Life, Sustainability.
Statement of the Problem
The limitations of service delivery systems
in catering the benefits of development to the targeted groups who are poor and
vulnerable on one side and on the other side widened the gap between the poor
and rich and thus affected the larger population both socially and economically
leading poor quality of life.
Introduction & Background
‘Poverty’ is a state or condition in which a Person or Community lacks the financial resources and other essentials for a minimum standard of living covering human critical needs covering Food (Roti), Clothing (Kapada), and Shelter (Makhan). Poverty means that the income level from employment and other sources of income generation is so low that basic human needs of an individual, family or community can't be met. Based on the observations made by the experts and policy makers, Nation has got sufficient resources to cater the needs of the its people but not their greed. On the other side, the limitations of Service Delivery Systems (SDSs) in reaching the targeted groups who are poor allows its exploitation by a smaller group and thus affect the larger population both economically and socially with poor quality of life (QOL). Later, Nation came up with a mission of Poverty Alleviation or eradication (Garibi Hatao) and the magical figure or line fixed to group the people into two groups as Below Poverty Level (BPL) and Above Poverty Level (APL) is in mismatch with the ground realities. Inspite of several efforts made, still several factors are influencing to fix or draw the line between BPL and APL. Lack of opportunities for employment and other sources of income generation, people are getting migrated to urban areas leaving their children, family and elder people as the victims of poverty with vulnerabilities for basic food, health care, education, and other minimum facilities. Shifting of the imaginary line between BPL and APL on one side and shift towards business oriented development (which widens the gap between rich and poor with low priority for people and environment) on the other side given a feeling that the mission of Poverty Eradication or Alleviation (Garibi Hatao) is slowly shifting towards remove the poor People (Garibonko Hatao). It reflects the limitations of the systems on one side and lack of willpower of the groups who are behind such systems. In spite of working on poverty eradication or alleviation since decades, still majority of the people are lacking basic facilities for food, shelter, sanitation, health care, education, and other such required for minimum standard of living. The Nation came up with several Acts and Policies and accepted to move forward to achieve the targets and indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. After Water, the goal of No Poverty (SDG 1) gains priority and it is very much linked up with the progress of other goals of SDGs. With such agenda, Nation is moving with the missions of achieving Water for All, Food for All, Health Care for All, Education for All, Equality & Equity for All, and others on the mode of empowerment and sustainability and thus to be empowered Nation. Without going much into to the details of definition, and what has done previously, this paper will concentrate more on the targets and indicators Poverty (SDG 1) and the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The Author is well connected with the areas
of exploration cum management of natural resources, mentoring of NGOs, and training
cum facilitation for developing livelihoods and some of the key initiatives taken
up during the last four decades are listed below as:
ü
Creation
of awareness in advocacy mode in respect of the causes and consequences of
poverty, acts & policies, schemes & benefits, and other opportunities
of income generation.
ü
Training
cum workshops on entrepreneurship opportunities for the targeted groups both in
urban and rural areas.
ü
Mapping
and management of water resources for domestic, irrigation, industries, and
other utilities of the people and community with the focus of water security (both
in quantity and quality) for all.
ü
Mentoring
of CSOs or NGOs working for the development of people and communities in general
and particular connected with poverty alleviation.
ü
Vocational
Training cum Skill Development for enhancing the employable skills or employability.
ü
Guidance
cum facilitation for employment in general and particularly in creation of livelihoods
(both self employment & group employment) as part of Income Generation
Programme (IGP).
ü
Guidance
to the Students of Master Courses for Project Works and Research Scholars for finding
out better solutions to the challenges of the people and communities in general
and particularly related with poverty and development.
ü
Trained
and facilitated the people and communities to face the unhealthy consequences resulted
out of hazards, disasters and other environmental emergencies (including present
pandemic of Covid 19) as part of disaster risk reduction (DRR).
ü
Presentation
of study papers connected with development covering both economic and social
areas at Workshops, Seminars, Conventions, and other forums of Social
Development making online forums more effective.
ü
Use
of e forums for sharing and dissemination of such models and benefits to the larger
groups as part of learning cum motivation for its replication.
ü
Publication
of success models in Journal (both National & International), Books
(Edited), Souvenirs, and other such publications of Government and Private.
Cumulatively, the initiatives taken up have resulted for the growth and development of the people and communities in general and particularly in respect of poverty alleviation. The initiatives taken up are simple and flexible matching to the dynamic of the people and communities and more and more need to be done as the poverty is dynamic and time variant.
Conclusions
The study made on Poverty gains priority as
it is the biggest challenge or barrier of development of the People, Community
and Nation and key conclusions emerged include:
ü
The
limitations of Service Delivery Systems in catering the benefits of the development
to the targeted groups who are poor and vulnerable on one side and on the other
side widened the gap between the poor and rich and thus affected the larger
population both socially and economically leading poor quality of life.
ü
Poverty
is a state or condition in which a Person or Community lacks the financial
resources and other essentials for a minimum standard of living covering human
critical needs covering Food (Roti), Clothing (Kapada), and Shelter (Makhan).
ü
Nation
has got sufficient resources to cater the needs of the its people but not their
greed.
ü
The
limitations of Service Delivery Systems (SDSs) in reaching the targeted groups
who are poor allows its exploitation by a smaller group and thus affect the
larger population both economically and socially with poor quality of life
(QOL).
ü
Nation
came up with a mission of Poverty Alleviation or eradication (Garibi Hatao) and
the magical figure or line fixed to group the people into two groups as Below
Poverty Level (BPL) and Above Poverty Level (APL) is in mismatch with the
ground realities.
ü
Inspite
of several efforts made by the Government, still several factors are influencing
to fix or draw the line between BPL and APL as it is dynamic and time variant.
ü
Lack
of opportunities for employment and other sources of income generation, people
are getting migrated to urban areas leaving their children, family and elders
as the victims of poverty with vulnerabilities for basic food, health care,
education, and other minimum facilities.
ü
After
Water, the goal of No Poverty gains priority and it is very much linked up with
the progress of other goals of SDGs.
ü
Poverty
and Development will work as a cause and consequences of each other and every
effort should be made to eradicate Poverty.
ü
Nation
has got specific action framework with matching targets and indictors to achieve
the same by 2030.
ü
The
efforts made (2016-2019) have resulted for very good progress in respect of targets
and indicators and more need to be done.
ü
On
the other side, Nation do face several challenges or limitations and needs the support
of other players at all levels.
ü
Government
working with Private or Corporate and NGOs on partnership basis will have
better opportunities for making the whole processes of poverty alleviation and development
into reality.
ü
NGOs
do play a key role in minimizing the limitations faced by the Government and
further to empower the targeted groups to come out of the clutches of poverty
with better connectivity and relationship.
ü
The
initiatives taken up have resulted for need based outputs, outcomes and impact
with change in their living.
ü
The
initiatives and other opportunities made are simple, flexible, replicable, scalable
and sustainable matching to the dynamics of the given targeted Groups and Community.
Recommendations
In view of the need to continue the study on
Poverty and Development for the benefit of People, Community and Nation, recommendations
made include:
ü
To
encourage and support students to take up Project Works and Research Studies in
developmental areas with focus on Poverty Eradication.
ü
To
organize more and more Trainings, Workshops, and Seminars at all levels
focusing on Poverty and Development.
ü
To
get better supports from Private or Corporate with participation with access
for advocacy, reach, connectivity, technologies, product making, marketing and
other matching areas.
ü
To
support NGOs to work with Government and Private or Corporate on Partnership
(GPNP) mode.
To Train the people and communities for better preparedness to face hazards and disasters as part of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
................................................................
with thanks and looking forward
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