The concept of poverty is multi-dimensional (viz., income poverty and non-income poverty) where it covers not only levels of income and consumption, but also health and education, vulnerability and risk; and marginalization and exclusion of the poor from the mainstream of society. In Andhra Pradesh also, there has been lot of debate on the measurement of poverty and identification of the poor. The official poverty ratio for rural areas is 11% in the year 2004-05. This number on income poverty for rural areas looks unbelievable as compared to the relatively low levels of human development in rural A.P. The alternative estimates based on Deaton’s methodology and including the additional expenditure needed for health and expenditure shows that rural poverty in A.P. could be around 25% in 2004-05.
At the macro level there is a need to have broader inclusive growth policies to reduce poverty and inequality. There are strong social, economic and political reasons for achieving broader and inclusive growth. Socially, lack of inclusive growth leads to unrest among many people. There is also economic argument. The measures which raise equity also promote economic growth. In other words, there is no trade-off between equity and growth. Lastly, the political argument is that no government in a democracy can afford to ignore large sections of workers and non-working population. It is increasingly clear that the process of development in A.P. must become more socially and economically inclusive. This is important for reducing exclusion, social tensions, inequality and improve overall economic development. Therefore, focused government interventions, enlightened civil society including NGOs are important for the success of macro pro-policies, sectoral interventions, and targeted poverty alleviation programs and to go beyond Millennium Development Goals. The macro policies like fiscal, trade, financial, industrial, agricultural etc. should be pro-poor.
In other words, we need to have macro pro-poor policies and people centric policies for reducing poverty in A.P. |
