The economic developments in India has lowered the percentage of population living below the poverty line.As per the estimation of the planning commission ,27.5% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2004–2005 down from 51.3% in 1977–1978 and 36% in 1993-1994.It is a good news that India has made substantial progress at reducing poverty.The US poverty rate has increased to 17% in 2007 as compared to 14% in 1979.It's a bad news for the US.I don't intend to make a comparison between India's success at poverty reduction and the failure of the US government to reduce poverty. Inspite of all the economic developments in the 21st century a significant proportion of the global population still suffers from poverty.
Following are some of the facts about poverty which I have taken the information from Anup Shah's site http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp.
1) Half of the world population live on less than two dollars a day.
2) The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
3) The illiteracy figure stands close to a billion.
4) 1 billion children live in dire poverty among which 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5.
In the era of globalization why do we have such sad figures? Is the government responsible or the people themselves are to be blamed for their plight? The interconnectedness caused by globalization are making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Only a few benefit from this globalization. From the external influence of any developed nation the government of the poor nation are often left powerless. As a result a few become wealthy and a majority struggle.
Why don't the developed nations and the developing nations come together to sort out this issue at a fast pace which has been a cancer since the dawn of modern civilization? Why don't the influential leaders and MNCs design a plan to eradicate the causes of poverty and create opportunities for all the poor to earn their livelihood? Now with the advancement of science and technologies why aren't the causes of poverty reduced to a greater extent, if not eliminated completely as this initiative will take a long time? Even in the 21st century when we see such sad figures ,it is hard to accept that we are making major progress to make the earth a better place to live in.
Why don't the developed nations and the developing nations come together to sort out this issue at a fast pace which has been a cancer since the dawn of modern civilization? Why don't the influential leaders and MNCs design a plan to eradicate the causes of poverty and create opportunities for all the poor to earn their livelihood? Now with the advancement of science and technologies why aren't the causes of poverty reduced to a greater extent, if not eliminated completely as this initiative will take a long time? Even in the 21st century when we see such sad figures ,it is hard to accept that we are making major progress to make the earth a better place to live in.
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