"The all-India percentage of chronic poor in 1993-2000 was 26.5 and inAssam it was 40.2 per cent." -Sentinel This is just aweful. According to Dr. Amartya Sen, poverty is acomplex, multifaceted world that requires a clear analysis in all ofits many dimensions. He says "You cannot draw a poverty line and then apply it across theboard to everyone the same way, without taking into account personalcharacteristics and circumstances." On the matter of just drawing the poverty line, Assam seems to bebetter off than what it actually is. Is the GOA just plain callous? Isthere a plan to combat chronic poverty, and specially children whoseem to be the worst sufferers.__________________ Assam and Its Chronic Poor T hose who live below poverty line are considered poor. On thiscriterion, Assam may be better off than many poor States of thecountry. But there are more to it than meets the eye. Economists andsocial thinkers no longer depend on income statistics as the measureof poverty. Income poverty reduction may be easy for economicplanners. Marginal increase in income may bring a sizeable section ofpeople from below poverty line to a point slightly above that line butthey may still continue to be deprived of many essential necessitiesof life for living in human condition. The true picture of povertycomes out when we analyse the level of multiple deprivations sufferedby the poor and the marginally poor. R Radhakrishna and Shovan Ray intheir report, 'Poverty in India, Dimension and Character' (IndiaDevelopment Report 2004-05, IGIDR) have referred to two nation-widesurveys, one carried out by NFHS (1998) and the other by NCAER, whichreveal startling facts of poverty in India. The NFHS re! port revealsthat 47 per cent of children are malnourished and 74 per cent areanaemic; 39 per cent of married women aged 15-49 years have chronicenergy deficiency; 54 per cent of women aged 15-49 years in ruralareas have no education; about 50 per cent of the pregnant womensuffer from iron deficiency; 71 per cent of rural households do nothave any toilet facilities; 19 per cent of villages do not have anyhealth facility, and 51 per cent of the villages do not have anydrainage facility — either underground or open. The NCAER surveyreveals that 50 per cent of the rural population suffer from'capability poverty', only 43 per cent of rural households havedomestic lighting, only 25 per cent have access to tap water. In terms of poverty statistics, Assam is in the lower half of thetable of twenty major States of India, but it is not a cause forcomfort. Radhakrishna-Ray report indicates that between 1993-94 and1999-2000, the percentage of rural poverty in Assam has increased(figure 3.2 of the report). In the same period, the percentage ofpersons below poverty line in the category of 'agricultural labour'and 'self-employed in agriculture' have come down, but in category'artisans' and 'non-agricultural labour' the percentage has gone up.The enormity of rural poverty can be gauged from the fact thatcategories of agricultural labour, non-agricultural labour andself-employed in agriculture together constitute 77 per cent ofpersons below poverty line in Assam. So, it is the rural Assam wherethe bulk of the poor live and suffer from multiple deprivations. Readthis remark of Radhakrishna and Ray, "Assam is in league with Orissain terms of poor performance. The incidence of very poor increased inA! ssam between 1993-4 and 1999-2000 in both rural and urban areasdespite a reduction in the percentage of the poor, implying worseningof the inequality among the poor.... Assam and West Bengal had a highincidence of the very poor in rural areas, as did Maharashtra, UttarPradesh and Pondicherry in urban areas." Chronic poverty in Assam ismuch worse than that of All-India percentage. The all-India percentageof chronic poor in 1993-2000 was 26.5 and in Assam it was 40.2 percent. Many States have made substantial improvement in reducing theincidence of chronic poverty and as a result the All India percentagehas come down from 36.8 in 1993-94 to 26.5 in 1999-2000, a ten percent decrease. Assam in the comparable period has shown a decrease ofonly a little above five per cent, reducing chronic poverty from 45.3per cent to 40.2 per cent. Another area Assam has to worry about ismalnutrition among children, which is a direct fallout of chronicpoverty. Amongst the poor in Assam, 52.4 per! cent children havestunted growth having serious impact on their health and mentaldevelopment. Even amongst the urban poor, the percentage of childrenwith stunted growth is quite high at 49.1. We cannot disputeRadhakrishna and Ray when they comment, "Assam, Orissa, MadhyaPradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have remained laggards in povertyreduction." They have pointed out that Rajasthan, a resource poorState has done well in poverty reduction and it can offer lessons tothe States lagging behind in this matter. Governments dish out impressive statistics of growth and developmentin their advertisements and propaganda brochures. Assam government isdistributing computers to meritorious students (unconcerned whetherthey can use them or not in this power-starved State). But the basicneeds are to be attended to first. Reduce chronic poverty and providethe much needed nutrients to the infants born in poor homes so thattheir growth is not stunted, so that they get a chance to develop intohealthy, young children and claim their rightful place in the futurenation. Each of them has a right to live a healthy life and thegovernment has an obligation to develop them. _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [email protected] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
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