Poverty figure in India and its dark reality

Weekend Blog-

My dear friends, we often cry for what we lost or what we didn't achieve.  We often cry for what we deserve and what exactly we got.  We often remain dissatisfied with our lives in what we have been blessed with.   But if we could really look back and think about others, we would find ourselves, how lucky we are from many others.  Let me give you one example.  I am going to associate this with recent report conducted by former RBI governor Sri C Rangarajan regarding poverty in India.  The report says that those who are in rural areas and earn Rs. 32 a day and those who are in urban areas and earn Rs. 47 a day are not poor.  The report further says that the people who are poor that means they do not earn that much I mentioned in the previous statement constitute 29.5 percent of our total population.  Can you imagine friends it's close to one third of our population.   Rs.32 a day for a person in rural area comes to Rs. 960 a month and if he is in urban area, it comes to Rs 1410 a month.  What a paltry sum this is!  In Rs. 960 or Rs. 1410, one has to have his meal, take care of his dependents, like spending on clothing, accommodation, education, health care, travel, marriage,  I can't imagine how a person can do all these things even if he earns Rs.100 a day.  As it's an official figure, I can't question the number of people who come in this bracket, but definitely I or many persons like me who have got their conscience would disagree that those who earn more than Rs. 32(rural) and Rs.47(urban) are not poor.  

I am really disturbed to know that 29.5 percent is the figure of percentage that our population has got reeling under poverty as per Government's own estimates.  But it's then when it tries to show poverty level at low.  Otherwise, if someone takes this level as Rs. 100 a day, the percentage will swell to unimaginable levels.  It may come to about half of our population.  But it's a bitter reality even in Rs. 100 a day with today's purchase prices and affordability of the people, hardly one can have his basic needs fulfilled, forget about the other necessities.  

Today in Government jobs, the sub-staffs get around Rs. 8000 a month and he is thought to be the poor guy in our society.  This should be made the real scale of poverty.  That means if someone runs less than Rs. 10000 a month, he should be treated as poor.  Who doesn't know that a Rickshaw Puller who earns Rs. 200 a day or a daily labourer who earns Rs. 150 a day, or a tea seller who earns Rs. 300 a day or a Pan- Bidi seller, a door to door cloth seller, a vegetable seller, street side namkeen-chat seller, auto driver, motor mechanic etc. who earn in the same range more or less all are seen as poor fellows by our society due to their incapacity to bring their families up to what is the minimum expectation that they should have.  

But why Government cannot declare those earning less than Rs. 10000 a month are poor is the fear that if it does so around seventy percent of the population would come in this range.  That means 70 percent of people will come into the sphere of poverty.  And then what would be the image of India that even after around seven decades of its independence, India is the poorest of the poor.  What next is left for me to say.  This is the self acclaimed India Shining or the different names that our previous governments have given it to and we feel proud about, it's the time to introspect that really India has progressed a lot?

Now think about yourself and say whether you are better than millions or not.  You will get the answer and probably when you compare yourself with those unfortunates, you will feel that you are better placed.  Their are many whose lives are so miserable that every day they have to dig the well and then they can drink water. 

======================================================================== मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।