World Poverty

Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

6168-F
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
 Moral Dilemmas
• World Poverty
• Euthanasia
• Abortion
• Case Studies
 Poverty: General Remarks
• Poverty means not having enough money for basic
needs such as food, drinking water, shelter, or even
toilets.
• While on the surface poverty is often defined as a lack
of income or assets, in the day-to-day lives of the very
poor, poverty becomes a network of disadvantages,
each one aggravating the others.
• The result is generation after generation of people who
lack access to education, health care, adequate
housing, proper sanitation and good nutrition. They
are most vulnerable to disasters, armed conflict and
systems of political and economic oppression and they
are powerless to improve their circumstances.
 Definitions: United Nations
• Fundamentally, poverty is the inability of getting
choices and opportunities, a violation of human
dignity.
• It means lack of basic capacity to participate
effectively in society.
• It means not having enough to feed and clothe a
family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not
having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job
to earn one’s living, not having access to credit.
• It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of
individuals, households and communities.
 Absolute and Relative Poverty
• Absolute poverty refers to the deprivation
of basic human needs, which commonly
include food, water, sanitation, clothing,
shelter, health care and education.
• Relative poverty is defined contextually as
economic inequality in the location or
society in which people live.
 World Bank on Absolute Poverty
• According to the most recent estimates, in 2015,
10 percent of the world’s population lived on less
than US$1.90 a day, compared to 11 percent in
2013. That is down from nearly 36 percent in
1990.
• Nearly 1.1 billion fewer people are living in
extreme poverty than in 1990. In 2015, 736
million people lived on less than $1.90 a day,
down from 1.85 billion in 1990.
• While poverty rates have declined in all regions,
progress has been uneven.
 List of Students’ Chosen Words
• Money • Discrimination
• Resources • Backwardness
• Darkness • Helplessness
• Suffering • Misery
• Exists • Unemployment
• Appetite • Crime
• Few Opportunities • Struggle
• Underdeveloped • Unnecessary
• Malnutrition • Health
• Hunger • Inequality
• Begging • Below Poverty Line
• India • Starvation
• Inflation
 Research Paper Reference
• Nigel Dower, “World Poverty,” in A Companion to
Ethics, edited by Peter Singer, Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers, 1993, pp. 273-283

– Salient Points of this Paper are listed on the next slide:

 World Poverty
• The Challenge
• What is Helping?
• Justice not Charity
• What is Development?
• World Population Trends
• Beyond the Domain of our Responsibility
• How much Caring?
 Concluding Remarks
“My argument then has been for a significant obligation to
help alleviate world poverty, not a relentless,
overburdening one. But you may ask: how much is
“significant’? My answer will seem like no answer: there is
no percentage of wealth or amount of time to be pulled out
of a magic moral box. Caring is an unquantifiable dimension
to moral responsibility. But if we have a proper
appreciation of the facts of world poverty, of our global
moral identities, of the moral seriousness of responding to
extreme suffering, of what quality of life really consists in,
and of the duty of caring as much as we can consistent with
our quality of life, then we will care as we ought.”
Nigel Dower, p. 282
 Some After Thoughts
• Anti-global sentiment of some individuals,
groups or even governments
• Misplaced Priorities of Rich Individuals or
Developed Countries
• Uncontrolled Desire for Unlimited Material
Gains
• Failure to Realize the Difference between
Need and Desire
 Global Priorities in Spending in 1998

Global Priority $U.S. Billions

Cosmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
United Nations Human Development Report 1998
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Estimated Additional Costs To Achieve Universal Access
To Basic Social Services In All Developing Countries

Global Priority $U.S. Billions

Basic education for all 6

Water and sanitation for all 9

Reproductive health for all 12

women
Basic health and nutrition 13

United Nations Human Development Report 1998

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
 Case Study

Zia Haq, Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Updated: Updated: Jul 28, 2016 12:46
IST
Octavio Paz, the Nobel winning Mexican poet who travelled to India as his
country’s ambassador in 1962, was surprised to see “incredible opulence”
surrounded by “equally unbelievable” poverty. How has India changed today?
India is now Asia’s third largest economy. In 2015, it had more billionaires than
any other country except the US and China, according to a Wall Street Journal
report. A billionaire census by the firms Wealth X and Swiss bank UBS
conducted the same year revealed India had more billionaires than
Switzerland, Hong Kong and France together. India’s economic path, apart
from improving its poverty rates, has produced a growing club of the super-
rich. Yet, a poor human development record and rising inequality are grim
reminders of how India can’t rely on growth alone.
The consequences of not tackling inequality in India, Angus Deaton, the
recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics, said, were the “same as in the
US that the rich capture more than their share of political power, so that the
state stops serving the majority of people”.
 Case Study

“Sir if you want to invite us, it’ll cost money. Nobody offers us
anything. Athletes put in a lot of hard work and money to win
medals.” One of my senior colleagues was shocked to hear this from
the coach of a woman athlete who has returned home after winning
a medal. We wanted to invite her to an event where really renowned
personalities participate. Did the coach say anything wrong? The
player he coaches is the daughter of an auto rickshaw driver who
manages to earn Rs 200 every day with difficulty. How could he have
managed to bring up a large family? On top of it, his daughter began
to nurture dreams of becoming an Olympian. Every new challenge
brought about a steely resolve in her eyes and strength in her
muscles. Having won a gold medal, today she is on top of her game.
She knows the state government will give her Rs 10 lakhs in cash. She
is likely to get employment offers from a big corporate house or the
state government. But all this is taking place after she became a
celebrity.
 Continued (2 of 2)
But we Indians are not easily shamed. If that were the case, Delhi’s
Harish Kumar wouldn’t be selling tea at Majnu Ka Tilla after winning
a bronze medal in Sepak Takraw. Special Olympics gold medalist
Rajesh Verma wouldn’t be standing in a queue of MGNREGA
workers in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar. This is true of most medal
winners. Their families are firmly in the grip of poverty. Now each of
these champions will become a lakhpati or crorepati, but as I’ve
said earlier, rather than felicitate them after the victory, it is better
to prepare every child to become a winner. Our country doesn’t
have the requisite infrastructure for this, yet. It is worth noting that
as many as 10 states in the country don’t reward their athletes after
winning a medal. Despite this apathy, if India’s young athletes
manage to defeat players from countries rich in resources, it should
be perceived as a victory for the common man. I’ve used the phrase
‘common man’ deliberately. Our country is divided into two classes.
One that takes decisions and passes orders and the other deprived
class that silently carries these out.
 Case Study

Most of the city’s poor are migrants — they constitute about 33%
of the population of Delhi — who come to the city attracted by the
promise of a secure livelihood and better life. But their hopes and
dreams are, more often than not, belied.
“When I first came here 10 years back, I was young and energetic
and thought Delhi is a big city and I would be able to make
something of myself, but look where I have ended up,” says Prem
Chand, a casual labourer at Bara Tooti, one of the city’s oldest
labour chowks, in the heart of the city. “All I own are the clothes I
am wearing; I sleep on the footpath; and I have no one to share my
pain with.” Prem Chand’s story illustrates that poverty does not just
engender a myriad deprivations, but also a stifling solitude. Just talk
to the men of Bara Tooti, which is like an open-air museum of
shattered dreams and defeated aspirations of the poor.
 Continued (2 of 2)
Mohammad Abbas, a rickshaw puller, says the biggest
disadvantages poverty causes is that it ‘deprives people of
opportunities’. “I wanted to study, but could not. I could not
send my children to school beyond class 6. So, people like
me need some superhuman effort or extraordinary luck to
break free from the vicious cycle of poverty,” he says.
“Many young poor people come to the capital thinking they
can work hard and strive for success, but end up just
struggling for survival. And Delhi can be shockingly
indifferent to them.” Poverty, he adds, can also redefine the
meaning of relationships. “My family lives in the village. In
42 years of my marriage, I have not lived with my wife for
42 months, and that is the biggest regret of my life.”
Thank You.