Dimensions Of Poverty
Interventions Rquired

By Nishith Koirala

POVERTY contains two dimensions- low income, which is insufficient to maintain a good living, and low level of human capabilities, which restricts a citizen's option to lead a life of his or her choosing. Poverty can be discussed as a deprivation with strong linkages to other forms such as physical weakness, isolation, vulnerability, and powerlessness. It is an exclusionary relationship where individuals are denied access to an adequate package of resources. It is a state of economic, social and psychological deprivation occurring among the people who lack ownership, control or access to resources in a sufficient manner to maintain minimum acceptable standards of living.

Human Dignity

Poverty is an issue related to human dignity and not only an economical issue. Accordingly, the economic definition of poverty has to be linked with the broader spectrum of socio-economic parameters. This attempts to identify the poor in terms of various socio-economic variables such as caste, location, occupation, sectors of employment, education level, composition of income and family size. It is expected that this will help to trace the correlates of poverty as well as indicate the areas of government intervention for redressing it.

According to a government document, Nepal is a poor country and in becoming poorer everyday. A recent nationwide survey estimates that 42 per cent of Nepal's populations -about nine million people - still live in poverty, particularly in the rural areas. In the mid-western and far western regions, virtually everyone is poor and has been so for generation. This is reflected in various social and economic indicators, as well as Nepal's current rank is 129th worldwide in Human Development Index.
A recent survey also estimates that 44 per cent of the country's rural households, 88 per cent of Nepal's total population and 23 per cent of its urban households appear to fall below the poverty line. Moreover, poverty is far more unrestrained, deeper and more severe in rural areas, worst in the mountains, followed by the hills and then the Terai. The poverty in rural areas is almost the twice as high in the urban areas and varies widely across ecological zones. The latest report estimates the poverty in Nepal with a rank of 77 out of 90 developing countries. This value is higher than for any South Asian country, indicating a worse situation. Poverty thus has increased at an annual rate of more than three per cent and the number of absolute poor has almost doubled in the past 20 years.
Over the last 16 years, Nepal has attained an average annual economical growth rate of 5 per cent. More than 50 per cent of the total population lives in absolute poverty, surviving on less than a dollar a day. About 80 per cent of Nepalese population still works in agriculture, whose growth has been erratic and has fallen below expectations. Growth in Nepal continues to depend largely on the performance of agriculture sector, which itself depends heavily on the vagaries of the monsoon.

Poverty is because of low economic growth, inadequate social and economical infrastructures, relatively high population growth, low acces to land and non-agricultural income, and deep-rooted cultural and historical practices. In addition, weakness at both the governmental and non-governmental level is the main reason for poverty. Poverty perpetuates itself because of inequality in the distribution of resources and opportunities. The poor are willing and capable of doing various tasks to improve their situation, but they often need initial assistance to reveal hidden resources and discover potential of working together.

In Nepal, many people are poor because of social and cultural factors, historic inequalities in the distribution of social and economical power. Caste-related biases have confined the so-called "untouchable castes" to the lowest-paying menial jobs, restricted or blocked their access to common resources, and limited or denied their access to government and public services. Some ethnic and indigenous groups also face similar problem.

Poverty has still been a great problem despite almost five decades of planned development. This is not so much from the problems of policies and strategies, but weak governance institutions, which have resulted in the ineffective implementation of these undertakings. The policies and programmes to reduce poverty have often fallen short of their aims.

To reduce poverty, Nepal has been giving increasing priority in the recent years to social sectors, especially basic social services. Although social indicators have recently shown marked improvements, inefficiency has slowed progress and lowered the quality. Public investments in the social sectors have increased significatly in recent years. In addition, households are investing a graeter proportion of their resources in education and health services. But still, per capital spending remains low even by South Asian standards.

Important

To reduce poverty, there should be a great improvement in irrigation systems, rural roads and agriculture inputs and productivity. It is very much important to take responsibilities in health, education, drinking water and sanitation, the four major service areas. Poverty reduction is a complex task. To make it easy, it requires interventions at a number of levels, by and on behalf of many different actors.

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