POVERTY ,POWER & POLICY

POVERTY, POWER & POLICY 

Poverty and the poor are the product of the social order we build and we live in. Hence if we desire poverty and the poor are to be eliminated we require to build a fresh social structure free from discrimination and full with the options for enrichment-material, social, civic & political and informational. Poverty is the injustice done to a certain section of people by some policy choice. It's a handiwork of some people of the society.  Injustice divests such people from dignity. In fact any person who looses her dignity due to the social structure and it's order is a poor by all standards.

     Any attempt to remove poverty which involves strategies to improve the income of the poor above the certain standard is an attempt to maintain the inequality which is the consequential product of denial of justice . Certain income can not change and has not changed the lot of marginalized community of the poor . Here it should be noted that standard of living is not a holistic manifestation of access to dignity on the scales of equality and  justice  on the one hand and on the scales of social, political, economic and informational liberty on the other hand. For example being capable of sending child by a SC/ST person to a high class school doesn't imperatively means that that child feels equality with the children of the Savarn castes in the  school.

Here it must be borne in mind that  freeing the poor from poverty is not just a common good as debated but it is one of the ultimate irreducible Human Right which is borne of  being a human being.

    Poverty is not something which can be dealt with by limiting the efforts of alleviation of poverty with the boarders of the nation's. In fact poverty and it's consequences in one area may be produced the acts of some people and policies being done in some other areas.

   Three approaches have been adopted to deal with poverty. The first is charity. However, charity as a tool to eradicate poverty lacks strong data to support its effectiveness. On the one hand, people accepting charity due to poverty and its associated deficiencies may develop low self-esteem and be looked down upon by others. This perception can lead to them being considered lesser human beings. On the other hand, charity can perpetuate poverty in the sense that it thrives as long as poverty exists. Those who donate for the improvement of underprivileged people may unintentionally maintain this unequal distribution of wealth, income, and control over resources. This situation limits the permanent eradication of poverty. In this way, charity may foster kindness but doesn't provide a permanent solution. It can appear more like a temporary fix than a long-term answer.

  The second tool considered for poverty alleviation is Development. However this tool has lesser teeth to break the ice for more than one reason. First reason is the approach of development itself which tends to measure and to eradicate poverty in terms of economic growth only which is itself a very confused theology. Economic growth is such a divisive concept that it suffers from disputes regarding  methodology as well as  from the quality and quantity of data. Second is that economic development is a long drawn process which may involve more than one generation of a poor person. By the time fruits of such economic development reach to the unprivileged population the economic fortunes of the richer section increases many folds , thus making unprivileged as unprivileged for a long long time. So the economic development alone fails to cover the gaps which maintain inequality required to perpetuate poverty. Thirdly development schemes may also have potential danger to cause big harms to those who are already unprivileged and poor. Development has every danger to perpetuate poverty as it may in all probability increases or maintain the gaps of inequality. It may make rich more richer and poor more poorer. Development may enrich some people at their costs of others. Despite developmental steps development fails to challenge structural poverty and inequality.  Development causes inter class and intra class inequalities which discriminate people according to their economic status. Aggregate data may be impressive but some  people within the same community may suffer badly whereas other affluent people may enjoy fruits of development beyond their consumption needs.

     Approach of social justice takes note of these limitations of charity and developmental models which may be helpful in certain ways and so goes for structural changes which are responsible for perpetuating poverty. As wealth and affluence increases question of Social justice become more and more important to ensure that social structure should be like such that wealth and affluence do not get concentrate in a few hands. Development itself is not of consequential nature for removal of poverty unless issue of redistribution is not fixed. If it happens with the help of the tools of social justice, development's fruits are available to rank and file. Status of the poor and poverty is a handiwork of the power which is responsible for making policies and execution thereof , so devolution of power among masses is the way through which poverty can be eradicated and parity can be ensured.