Unofficially poor!

Often we don’t (or rather can’t) see the real picture; we miss out on the real India whose fabric is in tatters, whose very fundamentals are now standing on loose ground and so many factors, both external and internal, are waiting for just the right time to exploit its vulnerabilities.

We have around 1/3rd of the world’s poor while already sustaining 1/6th of the world population. Going by the World Bank benchmark of $ 1.25 per day income, the number of poor in India during 2004-05 was 456 million or 41.6% of the total population. Another estimate as per ADB's benchmark of $1.35 per day, the number of poor in India was 622 million, which is 54.8% of the population. Evidently, these estimates are significantly above the official estimates of 27.5% indicated by the Planning Commission.

But how can one define poverty so impractically? Money has different value for different people and more so at different places and situations. But these are not taken into account while determining the poverty level. The poverty line is just a weak indicator; poor are not only those who are below the poverty line, poor are also those who technically are above the poverty line but can't afford the basic necessities of life. Qualifying the poverty line does not guarantee even a meanly modest living.

We came across Shashi a few days ago who is a driver by profession. He earns Rs. 4500 per month, which is way above the poverty line of Rs. 538. His income exceeds the official Poverty line by 835%. So going by the government’s standards, you’d tend to think that he would be capable of meeting his daily requirements and needs. But, the truth is that the money is not sufficient for buying a decent education for his kids while providing for sustenance of his family at the same time. Unfortunately, his brother met with an accident and is suffering from brain hemorrhage and instead of seeking medical help, Shashi now wants to get his brother out of the hospital after just 6 days of treatment as soon as possible as a single day’s medical bill is more than his total monthly salary. The plight of the poor in government hospitals is quite well-known and as well-known is the huge costs involved in private medication. Despite so much of public expenditure on healthcare and social welfare for poor, the condition is not any better than in the past. Why don't the efforts and huge investments throw any substantial positive results at the ground level?

This is what a common man has to face - a fight for survival in a living hell. And there are millions of Shashi's out there. We don’t see them; we don’t ever hear their voices. We don’t even take notice of their existence unless it bothers us. We turn away from this unpleasant reality and the murky picture, thinking someone else will take care of it. Well, someone will have to.