DIGNITY AND QUESTION OF POVERTY

DIGNITY AND QUESTION OF POVERTY

Accessibility to dignity is fundamental requirement for a human being. The central issue is this accessibility to dignity. Right to have a dignified life is the right of every human being irrespective of any classificatory criteria. Becoming a  biological human being is not sufficient to be qualified as being a human being. Biologically every human being is just an animal. But this is only one part of truth. Truth is that human beings being a species of animal kingdom has certain neurological and genetic distinctions which compel a biological animal of human being to transform into a social animal with a quality of having a large scale of cooperation . No other animal has such quality of such a big network of cooperation. This essentiality of becoming a social animal transforms activities to the level of cgnitivity.  This sociability and cognitively necessitate the accessibility to dignity. Dignity is first right of any human being in order  to enjoy the natural qualifications of socia bility and cogitivity in absence of which all biological advancements and all political, social and cultural bewilderments become useless.

     Accessibility to dignity is pre faced by certain requirements which enables human beings in attainment of dignity. If a person has freedom to access the requirements of having a dignified life that freedom must be enabled by equitability of resources and this is accomplished by a system of justice , but that system of justice works only when it's objective is dignity and which tools are values of freedom and equitability exercised with common fraternity with one's fellow persons and  environment. Thus we see dignity of human beings is preceded by freedom, justice, equality and fraternity. In this way dignity along with these four values-freedom, justice, equality and fraternity which together are four pillars of dignity provide roof over human beings.

        Now we may proceed to analyze how poverty operates . In practice Poverty  is defined by economic indices . This practice enables us to see poverty from the lens of availability of tangible resources. However availablity of tangible resources does not capable of explaining the ideas of poverty. Such ideas of poverty act as seeds which germinate poverty. We often read the claims of  governments that such number of people have been lifted above a pre defined poverty line but here again the quantum of  justifiably distributed equality is ignored and such exercise also ignores ease and quantum of freedom and fraternity . Pulling such number of people from a poverty line is no guarantee that such number of people have become self sufficient in  availing a dignified life- life in material terms having affordable access to market of commodities, health, education, clean environment and decent income and a certain minimum amount of wealth. No one bothers about the condition availability  of material conditions which are responsible for ensuring dignified life of such pulled up population such as  health services, quality of education, type of environment in which residence is situated  quality of food and nutrition,  types of employment , amount of wealth obtained by fair means of earning, conditions of civic amenities being availed  , and opportunity to get some stable source of income . All these and many more are material determinants of poverty. We do not find a linear relationship between the data of  claimed number of people fetched out of poverty on one hand and data showing improvement in such material determinants otherwise with decreasing poverty we must also have found data showing increasing number of quality  employment , better status of health and nutrition, improvement in quality and quantity  of education , increasing trend of consumption of commodities and food items etc.  

         This inconsistency is due to inconsistency that exists between idea of dignity and idea of poverty allevaton. In real means if we see dignity and poverty by different lenses we are bound to find such inconsistencies in data of claim regarding number of people being lifted above poverty and data of consumption of civic amenities by such people . If our focus moves towards enabling freedom to people, providing a reliable and affordable system of justice, avaiding discrimination and ensuring equality of opportunity and strengthening the sense of solidarity and common brotherhood then our policies and implementing of policies will be oriented towards ensuring a dignified life. Any attempt to ensure the end of poverty without ensuring a life free from indignity is just a game of manipulation . A person bereft of dignity may have fulfilled the conditions imposed by a poverty line but such fulfilment may remain far from the conditions required to be fulfilled for a life full with dingnity which stands   four pillars of freedom, justice, equality and fraternity.