Topic History and Explanation
What is poverty you ask? Poverty can be
defined as "a person who has an extremely low amount of money or is extremely
poor." There are numerous amounts of people that are in the state of
poverty in India. In fact, there is an article that states "India Is Home
to More Poor People Than Anywhere Else on Earth" (http://time.com/2999550/india-home-to-most-poor-people/). This leads into
the history of poverty in India. Poverty in India begins way back before
independence. From the 19th century to the early 20th century, poverty in India
was increasing rapidly. This occurred during the colonial era.
The increase in poverty was due to the colonial government reducing finished
products being manufactured in India, including garments. The colonial
government decided to import from Britain for their innovating industry.
With that being said, the government also started to buoy to create more farms
in place of land, making exports from India to the rest of the world. The work
on these farms was grueling, yet the average income for the workers was
below the poverty line! The Bengal famine of 1943 was estimated to
kill approximately three million people from
starvation, disease, and malnutrition. Two more famines had arisen,
between 12.2 to 20.6 million people died from them. One of the famines had
occurred in 1876 - 1879, and the other in 1896 – 1898. The Bengal famine was
not an isolated event, but it was brutal. The following events display the
estimated poverty percentage of people in India: in the 1950's, the poverty
percentage was calculated to be 65%, in the 1960's, the estimate poverty
percentage was 59%, for the 1970's - 1980's, the poverty percentage was
exceeding 50%, and finally, in the 1990's, the poverty percentage was about 39%.
Well written Isaac. As I am Indian and often visit my native country, it is quite astonishing to read these facts. Every summer I go to India, I always see people on the streets living in poverty. Although it might sound terrible, there are millions of people living this way in India that it almost seems of the norm when a person is homeless. However, that’s not to say I don’t overlook poverty. Wherever my family and I go, India or across the globe, we always donate to the underprivileged.
ReplyDeleteI believe part of the reason why there is so much poverty is because there is such a broad spectrum of financial situations. For example, some of the wealthiest and poorest people live in India. The mindset of the affluent people in India towards the poor are rather appalling. There aren’t of the rich who are putting in the effort for a “greater India”. Nonetheless, times are changing and we cannot categorize people. Philanthropy is now becoming popular in India and there are a lot of charities and NGOs working towards the upliftment of the poor. Also, India’s middle-class is really starting to emerge. This means that there is an increase of the employment. Interesting fact, there are more middle-class people in India than there are people living in the United States. In order for poverty to be allieviated from India, the middle-class must become the Achilles tendon of the economy.
You should pay a visit to my blog. It is about the same issue, yet on a grander scale: global poverty. Once again, great post Isaac.
Great comment, Saran. I appreciate your first-hand global perspective. I hope that Isaac takes advantage of your knowledge and asks you some questions to include on his blog.
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