India was under the control of European colonial powers, through trade and conquest. The Indian independence movement began with the creation of two movements: The Indian National Congress in 1885 and The Muslim League in 1905. Both groups wished to see India as an independent state which was realized in 1947.
However, even though India benefited from the colonial rule, there was a negative side from this oppression too: India was trapped in poverty after decolonization, and is considered to be one of the largest concentrations of poor people in the world. Today, there are more than 1.1 billion that continue to live below the poverty line of $1.25.
Poverty in India remains incredibly high and amounts around 300 million, being the most dominant in the rural areas, where almost 77% of the Indian poor live. Some say that poverty takes a new definition when talking about India and according to the World Bank, “in India, poverty is officially linked to a nutritional baseline measured in calories (food-energy method).”
One of the major characteristics of underdevelopment and poverty is overpopulation and is estimated to be around 1.27 billion. In 1970, former prime minister of India Indira Gandhi tried to implement a forced sterilization program in the early 1970s, which failed. This program intended to prevent the reproduction and multiplication of members of the population and to lower India’s ever increasing population. It is considered to be a gross violation of human rights because it used propaganda and monetary incentives to convince citizens to get sterilized, and agreed to give people who agreed land, housing, money or loans.
Another major feature of poverty in India is famine, from which some of them were severe enough to ...
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... by extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership of large monopolies, pervasive corruption and slow growth.
During the first years of independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, immediately launched a number of economic reforms where the government controlled the public sector and directed investment into the main public sector industries. Under Nehru’s leadership, the government attempted to develop India by embarking on agricultural restructuring and rapid industrialization, and his government directed the founding of many institutions of higher learning, Today, he is admired for creating a system which provides universal primary education. In addition to the economic reforms, he launched many policies, remarkably the foreign policy of non-alignment during the Cold War where he projected India as a regional power in South Asia.
Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle
The 190 years of Imperialism in India by the British were over all a negative experience for the country. However, a few good things did come out of imperialism like transportation. Britain became selfish and inconsiderate towards the Indian people and only did what helped their country and their economy. Because of the imperialism India’s people became hostile towards each other and later, after being freed from British rule, broke out into a civil war.
Shah, Anup. “Poverty Facts and Stats.” Global Issues, Updated: 28 Mar. 2010. Accessed: 05 Apr. 2010.
Whilst the growth of Indian nationalism put considerable pressure on the Raj, historians offer many interpretations as to the fundamental cause of Independence. Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and subsequent campaigns meant that nationalism began to appeal to the masses and helped establish a broad based movement for Independence. However, the British were always able to supress the nationalist movements, through reform or by using force, up to the Quit India movement of 1942. British involvement in the Great War and particularly the Second World War placed them in a weaker position economically, whilst the social and political expectations of the Indian people were changing, which strengthened nationalism and discontent.
In India, there were many impacts of colonialism, many of which can still be felt today. For example, under colonial rule, India was quite dependent on Great Britain for things such as technological advances and manufactured goods. Once India became independent, it began to fall behind the rest of the world. Another impact of colonialism was that the colonization of India led to the rapid spread of the English language. Also, India adapted a European style that changed much of the Indian culture (Iyer, 2004).
This nation has a problem: more of its citizens rely on the federal government for help than to support themselves with a full time job. Poverty has many negative effects on the people who suffer from it and on the economy. Everyone needs to be made aware of poverty and the many negative effects it has on people. There are things that could be done to help reduce the amount of people that are in poverty. Reducing poverty would decrease health risks, strengthen the middle class, and help the democracy.
At the end of the day, this was a film ultimately used for entertainment, not a documentary used to educate. Where the film highlighted a few concepts, it did leave out some key points of discussion pertaining to poverty. One of those talking points being the cause of poverty in India. For starters, India has a high population growth rate. This leads to “high levels of illiteracy, poor health care facilities, and lack of access to financial resources” (Kaur). What this shows is just how cyclic poverty truly is. From the time an individual is born into poverty they are all ready dispositioned to continue to live in poverty and pass poverty down their family lines, especially in places like India, where the idea of advancing into a non-existent middle class, is wishful thinking. A child grows up in poverty, lacks a general education, lacks the general knowledge of birth control methods, contributes to the nation’s growing population, and continues to feed the beast that is
India has not been a free independent country for a long time. It had been under British rule from 1858-1947. India finally became independent on August 15, 1947 (Trueman). Many people credit India’s independence to Mahatma Gandhi because of the great role he played in helping India in its freedom struggle. Along with Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammed Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru assisted in making India an independent country. Gandhi’s main principle in India’s freedom struggle was based on non violence, which he called satyagraha, which means holding onto the truth, truth force, or soul force (Bondurant). Along with nonviolence Gandhi believe in passive resistance and swaraj or self rule. Gandhi thought that being violent would only get a bad response from the British, however passive resistance pushed the British to do something which would make them look bad To accomplish swaraj or self rule (Bondurant), Gandhi believed India needed 3 vital ingredients. The first thing India needed was to unify Indians with different religions, especially Hindus and Muslims. Second, India needed to remove its...
Despite numerous conflicts with the British and with the Muslims, India fought for its rights by doing what they felt was right. India under the British rule had some benefits as the new school system and outlawing sati but they did manage to trouble the Indians with taxation and other laws. Gandhi who was an outstanding, important figure in India’s way for independence who taught to fight with nonviolence.
Poverty remains a long term continuing condition for around 30 per cent of India’s rural population. rural poverty has declined over the past 30 years because of rural to urban migration.
The unfathomable beauty of the world today is both miraculous and devastating. The richness and abundance of its resources are mind boggling yet the majority of people still live in poverty, which most of the time is only defined along economic lines, forgetting that broader social disadvantages lead to a life of poverty. The economic definition of poverty is typically based on income measures, with the absolute poverty line calculated as dollar amount people earn per day or the dollar amount used to buy food necessary to meet daily dietary requirements. Social disadvantages such as the caste systems in countries, notably India, might condemn many families to live in poverty. For example, if a child is born in a family of the lowest caste, he or she will not be entitled to all the opportunities that might be available if they happen to be of a higher caste.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Poverty is generally defined as a state of deprivation in well-being. The conventional perspective connects well-being basically to control over commodities, so the poor are individuals who do not have sufficient income or consumption to place them above some adequate bare minimum threshold (Lyman et al, 2004). Poverty is also tied to a particular type of consumption, for instance people may be considered health poor, house poor or food poor. The poverty dimensions can often be determined directly. For instance it can be measured by assessing malnutrition or levels of literacy (Alla...
...he second way to attempt to decrease the population is through increased active family planning programs. Especially in poor countries, it is a lot harder for women just to jump into the work force, and even harder for a poor country to become industrialized. For example, in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, birth rates have decreased from seven children per family to only 5.5. This is largely because forty percent of Bangladesh's woman now take part in some form of family planning.
Has anyone ever considered thinking about what the world is really going through? How many people don’t have the necessities in order to survive? If so, what are these people going through? Poverty is the state of one who lacks a standard or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Sometimes events occur that changes a person’s perspective on life. Poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/her. Over half of the world is going through this tragedy and we, being the ones who created it, have the responsibility to end it.