Poverty : A big challenge

Poverty is lack of basic human needs like health, education, clean water, food and sanitation. It is a condition in which one’s income is not sufficient to fulfil his basic needs.

The approach to development sees poverty as a situation suffered by people who do not have the money to buy food and satisfy other basic material needs. The alternative view of development sees poverty as a situation suffered by people who are not able to meet their material and non-material needs through their own effort. This alternative places much more emphasis on community and non-material needs, like self-reliance and a sense of community. Due to poverty, almost 21,000 people die every day. That is equivalent to 1 child dying every 4 seconds, 14 children dying every minute.

There are many causes and effects of poverty. The most obvious effect of poverty is hunger, however hunger can also be a cause of poverty. This is because hunger deprives those living in absolute poverty of the skill and strength to carry out productive work. Powerlessness is a cause and effect of poverty because people living in absolute poverty often have no political power and they are subjected to exploitation by the state. They lack protection, and report widespread corruption within state education and health care systems. Poor people in many countries speak of being kept waiting endlessly while the rich of the country go to the head of the queue. Major cause and effect of poverty is vulnerability. Natural disasters, economic crises, and conflict leave the poor extremely vulnerable, with nobody to help and a lack of resources to use to help themselves. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. The people with power usually become rich and the one’s suffering from poverty remain the same.

Mostly people blame politics and politicians as one of the reason for prevailing poverty. Some call it lack of good leadership and some call it bad government policies. Politicians are sometimes not sincere and keen to find a solution to it and those who try to find a solution, they not have proper plans. The different government policies adapted often cause a little fluctuation in level of poverty.

It can be concluded that poverty has engulfed many countries where the escape is difficult but not impossible. There are still many ways to remove poverty to some extent. Leadership has got a central importance. Proper planning of eradication of poverty and good government policies can solve the problem. Competent and qualified economists may help to tackle this issue but their sincerity and hard work to find a solution is important. There are no perfect answers as to how poverty can be removed. Poverty is a complex issue and a big challenge. The key is that we do not ignore those living in poverty but help, in whatever way we believe is best. We should try our hardest to make circumstances better for them.