Page 15 - newsletter 14 aug

On growth path again: On one hand they will have to struggle for basic
amenities like food and shelter on the other they
Fighting Poverty in
will have to find a way to keep themselves safe
Covid Times from this pandemic. With strain on health and basic
infrastructure already, the people below poverty
Yuval Goel, XII D
line will find it hard to survive in these conditions.
Poverty is the condition where the person is devoid Migrant labors will have no other option but to
of even the basic necessities of life and finds it return to their native place, where there is
extremely difficult to sustain himself. It can lead to scarcity of work and employment opportunities.
other problems like illiteracy , unemployment, Firms with large scale employment of labor are
malnutrition, etc. According to the Nobel prize winner already laying off staff due to operational issues.
South African leader, Nelson Mandela – “Poverty is Even the large firms are facing the heat. The
not natural, it is manmade”. The above statement cumulative effect of this is surely going to impact
is absolutely true as the causes of poverty are the overall economic growth of the country. This
generally man-made. There are various causes of will further increase poverty in the country.
poverty but one of the most important reasons is While Government has announced an economic
Population. Rising population puts burden on the package of Rs. 20 lakh crores, the trickle-down
resources and hampers economic growth.India is effect of the same will take some time. There have
one of the fastest-growing economies but 2/3rd of been sporadic efforts from different
people in India still live in poverty. In the recent past organizations, corporate houses and
Government has initiated many programs to defeat individuals to help poor and migrant labors but
Poverty, however, the situation is still not under for a country with sizeable population like India,
control. Secondly, the poverty alleviation these efforts alone are not sufficient.
programs are long-term programs, it takes years Government will have to act proactively here. The
for these programs to impact Poverty. While on one poor must be protected at any cost as they
hand the efforts are being made by the Government form the backbone of our economy. Society
to counter the problem of poverty, The Covid-19 help groups and welfare organizations will have
pandemic has put new challenges in front of the to join their effort and support the government
Government. Let us understand how Covid-19 has at each stage. We cannot expect Government to
impacted the poor in an economy like India. do everything, we will have to come together to
The coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic is a crisis counter the challenge of Covid-19 and help set
like no other. The world has not faced such economy on the right path.
challenging times in the recent past. It has impacted
not only developing but the most developed
economies alike. The impact of Covid-19 is not only
economic but social as well.
To counter Covid-19, most of the nations have
adopted social distancing and lockdown of cities and
businesses. Idea is to break the chain and avoid
virus infection to spread. While this is integral to stop
the infection, it has resulted in standstill for economic
and social activities. Due to the lockdown there is
wide-spread unemployment all over the world and
especially in developing countries like India. From
migrant labors to daily-wage earners and from
factory workers to small business enterprises,
everybody is affected.
As per United Nations International Labor
Organization (ILO) recent report over 400 million
workers from India’s informal sector are likely to
be pushed deeper into poverty due to Covid-19.
Due to large scale unemployment and opportunities
to earn daily wages, the lower class will be most
affected.