EXPANDING WEB RESOURCES - WEEK 3

 Childhood Poverty in India.

When Mahatma Gandhi said “Poverty is the worst form of violence”, I never took it serious until I started studying about poverty all over the world and especially how it affects children. According to research, in South Asia alone, more than 90 million children go hungry every day (UNICEF). It is more shocking when we realize that half of these children are unable to learn or go to school at all, they stand the risk of developing social, emotional and behavioral problems and may even die of preventable diseases, and then if nothing is done, the world is at risk and in danger. Early care and Early Childhood intervention is highly essential.

 I read about poverty in India from childhood poverty website www.childhood.org. and my discoveries are overwhelming. First, India is a highly populated country, coming second to China and according to statistics; there are 1.03 billion citizens in 2001. About 400million are between 0 – 18years. From this staggering figure, about 260.2 million people are living in real poverty and roughly 62million children under the age of five are malnourished. With little to eat, life is hard for children. It is more important for them to work than to go to school.

Second, Education is at risk as there are no funds and pre-natal health care is a challenge because 34 percent of new born are significantly underweight, this is a major pointer to hunger and poverty for women raising children. Despite the efforts being made to improve school attendance, India still accounts for 20 percent of the worlds’ out of school children.

Thirdly, India has the largest numbers of working children in the world with nearly a third of children below 16 years working. The pressure to work so that they can fend for themselves undermines their education and jeopardizes their health. Another discovery that came to my notice is the differences that existed based on gender, class and caste. Girls are more at risk and despite government efforts; they still receive inferior health and educational services. Girls attendance at school reduced significantly.

The government of India, through state wide policy is running some anti poverty programs to cover rural employment creation and infrastructure development, food subsidy program and self-employment initiatives to build better lives. These programs have undergone some major improvement in recent years to improve lives and make it more accessible to people. To further complement government efforts, CHIP research in India examined the evidence for and factors underpinning intergenerational poverty cycles. This research focused on rural areas, where the vast majority of the population live and where poverty is more severe than in urban areas.

My new insights were gained from the findings of the research. Their findings revealed that drought and environmental deterioration have significantly undermined livelihoods and exacerbated poverty in Rajasthan. Responses which may contribute to poverty cycles include pressures on children to work, undermining their education and health. Children from 10-15 per cent of households had migrated for work, usually with parents, but sometimes alone. Income from migrant children's work constituted between 18 and 45 per cent of the poorest households' income. Indebtedness, related to drought-related pressures and social obligations (e.g. marriages, death feasts) affected over 80 per cent of households, and was a major factor leading to intergenerational poverty cycles. Poverty is passed from one generation to another.

Tackling poverty and facing it with all the seriousness it deserves is critical to overall wellbeing of the worlds’ population and it is the only way to demonstrate love and care for the children.

References

^{World Development Indicators Database,     April2003.http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/databytopic.html}      

 ^{Government of India, 2001, Census of India, 2001, New Delhi}

 ^{World Bank, 1997, India - Achievements and Challenges in Reducing Poverty http://poverty.worldbank.org/library/view/8680}

 ^{World Bank, 2000, India -Reducing Poverty, Accelerating Development, OUP, New Delhi}     

 ^{UNICEF Country Statistics: India  http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html}