Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Health and Development Perspective

This assignment, a discussion forum portfolio entry for a Masters of Health and International Development course, explores the multifaceted issue of poverty. The student analyzes readings on chronic poverty, poverty indicators, and poverty reduction strategies, including the Tendulkar Committee's findings on poverty in India and the Millennium Development Goals. The student reflects on the conceptualization of poverty, its causative factors, and the challenges in addressing it, highlighting the importance of a multidimensional perspective. The assignment examines the deficiencies in poverty lines, the impact of economic growth, and the need for targeted government approaches, including partnerships and capacity building. The student's reflections demonstrate a deepened understanding of poverty's complexities and the need for comprehensive solutions, including addressing livelihood opportunities and the overall cost of eradicating extreme poverty. The student also responds to a peer posting on the Millennium Development Goals, further demonstrating an understanding of poverty indicators.

Running head: MASTERS OF HEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Masters of health and international development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MASTERS OF HEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
Poverty reduction has been both national and international concern. However, the
commitment of different agencies in this regards has reached levels that was not possible to
imagine a decade ago. Poverty reduction is the millennium development goal in many
developing countries (Koch 2015). The assignment is the part of the discussion forum portfolio
where set of posts were delivered o the topic poverty, poverty indicators, conceptualisation of
poverty, poverty reduction in India, and Ausssie children living in poverty. The discussion forum
is based on the understanding of the chronicity of poverty, the causative factors of poverty
identified in the readings and factors neglected and the approached of poverty. The assignment is
the understanding and evaluation of readings and reflection on personal learning.
Summary of the readings
Posting one
My post in DF2 is-
“According to Hulme and Shepherd's Article, "Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty"
basically main stress is given on chronic poverty, its causes and analysis and the policies to
overcome chronic poverty. In poverty people deprive of many basic needs such as –education,
health, human and civil rights along with income. Their are multiple causes of chronic poverty
but yes they can be analysed on the basis of many things like wages, financial status and
livelihood”

2MASTERS OF HEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
My first post is based on the journal article, titled, “Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty” by
Hulme and Shepherd (2003). The key argument of this reading material is the multifactorial
nature of the poverty, which can be analysed through the livelihood framework. The author
further argued that the there is need to further increase the financial allocation in the developing
countries for social protection. The readings give valuable insights into how poverty trends can
move to the poverty dynamics. Initially I was only aware of the poverty problem still existing in
the modern era. However, the readings for the discussion forum helped to realise the chronicity
of the problem. I have better knowledge now on chronic poor, transient poor, and non-poor. I
choose this posting as my best post as I was enlightened by the various factors that can be
considered for poverty reduction. I was only aware on how the market forces can reduce
poverty. I was not aware of the fact that it will not meet the needs of different people. Further, I
was not aware of the drawbacks of generalisation of the approach. It gave valuable insights on
how the market based factors contribute to the continued deprivation of poor people (Israeli &
Weber 2014). I was brooding over the fact that the poverty is derivation mainly in regards to the
education and unemployment. I learnt that the other range of capabilities is health and human
and civil rights and their contribution in economic growth and enhancement of income. I agree
with the fact that the multidimensional perspective is important in analysing the poverty. Overall
the article has strengthened my knowledge base on quantitative analytical techniques as well as
qualitative approaches for analysing the chronic poverty. The same is also supported by Walker
(2015). The article is an excellent contribution to the public knowledge on the require policy and
social actions to reduce poverty. My understanding and gain of knowledge from the article, is
evident from my post, where I agree that it is need of hour to analyse poverty reduction from
many aspects such as livelihood opportunities.

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Posting two
My posting in DF3- “In its report, the Tendulkar committee noted three deficiencies of
the Lakdawala poverty lines (Government of India 2009). First, the poverty line baskets
remained tied to consumption patterns observed in 1973–1974. But more than 3 decades later,
these baskets had shifted, even for the poor. Second, the consumer price index for agricultural
workers understated the true price increase. This meant that over time the upward adjustment in
the rural poverty lines was less than necessary so that the estimated poverty ratios understated
rural poverty. Finally, the assumption underlying Lakdawala lines that health and education
would be largely provided by the government did not hold any longer. Private expenditures on
these services had risen considerably, even for the poor. This change was not adequately
reflected in the Lakdawala poverty lines.
This is not surprising, as India had been extremely poor at independence. Unlike economies such
as Taipei,China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; and Hong Kong, China, the country then
grew very slowly. Growth in per-capita income during these years had been a mere 1.5% per
year. Such low growth coupled with a very low starting per-capita income meant at best limited
scope for achieving poverty reduction even through redistribution. As argued above, even today,
after more than 2 decades of almost 5% growth in per-capita income, the scope for
redistribution remains limited.10 We are now in a position to provide the poverty rates for the
major social groups based on the quinquennial expenditure surveys beginning 1983. The social
groups identified in the surveys are scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), other backward
castes (OBC), and the rest, which we refer to as forward castes (FC).

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Rural and urban poverty. In 2011/12, the poverty incidence in rural areas (25.7%) was higher
than in urban areas (13.7%). However, between 2004/05 and 2011/12, poverty declined more
rapidly in rural areas (annual average rate of 2.3 percentage points) compared to urban areas
(annual average rate of 1.7 percentage points), suggesting that India’s urban and rural poverty
rates are converging. 5. Inequality. The Gini Index, a popular measure of inequality, was about
32 in both 1983 and 1993/94 based on household consumption expenditure data. Thereafter, it
increased to 36 in 2004/05 and to 37 in 2009/10. The increases in inequality are mainly an
urban phenomenon, driven primarily by increased wages among people with higher levels of
education. 4 In comparison with other fast-growing emerging economies, these levels of
inequality are not particularly high. However, non-income inequality in India (e.g., pertaining to
health and education) has tended to be larger relative to other parts of the developing world. ”
My second best post is based on Poverty in India ad findings from the Tendulkar
Committee that highlighted poverty debate. Before reading I was not aware of the low
agricultural productivity and the limited non-agricultural job opportunities and the constraints of
the inadequate infrastructure in reducing poverty. I had less understanding of the serious skills
deficit in India contributing to poverty as well as vulnerability to economic shock. Higher
engagement of the Indian youth in the informal sector, and lack of social security benefits
demands intense efforts from the government (Langham and Parry 2017). However, the article
gave detailed picture of the government's targeted approach and the potential of the Twelfth Five
Year Plan. I agree and support the reforms in implementation structures. India is in dire need of
the government approaches total quality management, strengthening of the local institutions,
partnerships with civil society, capacity building as well as professionalization of public service
delivery (Rao et al. 2017). Overall the article enlightened me with the poverty line baskets and

5MASTERS OF HEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
relation with the consumption patterns and upward adjustment in the rural poverty lines. I was
least aware of the three deficiencies of the Lakdawala poverty lines and the private expenditures
on this service. I had no clear statistics on exact poverty decline until I read the paper. The rise
in inequality between the urban and the rural areas is well depicted in the article.
Respond to peer posting
Peer post by Stella on- “MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS INDICATORS”
I would like to share my best response to one of my peer posting on poverty indicators.
My friend has written well researched post on the millennium development goals chart launched
in New York. The reading of the articles shared by my friend, gives valuable insights into the
progress in the gender dimensions of the Goals. An in-depth reading into these articles gives
knowledge of presence of more than 60 indicators, which are identified to measure the progress
towards the goals. The official websites on millennium development goals gives hint of the
ongoing activities on MDG monitoring at regional and global level (Awortwi and Musahara
2016). The poverty indicators in Kenya however brought into limelight the heartwrenching fact
that the government response was very poor initially unlike in other countries such as India and
Australia. Reading the poverty reduction goals and efforts by the United Nations, highlighted
that the highest wage bill which is funded by the poor taxpayer was contributing to poverty
initially (Arndt, McKay and Tarp 2016). Kenya is also deprived of the colossal profits. On the
contrary there are many Kenyans living highly affluent lifestyle. It was the scenario similar to
India (Kwon and Kim 2014.). Overall the post was interesting, informative and attention
grabbing.

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Evaluation and Reflection
On evaluating the personal learning from the readings, it can be concluded that the
poverty across the world is main concern but is present in developing and developed countries.
However, the issue is much more widespread in the developing country. The rise in economic
growth is resulting in poverty reduction measures. In the developed country, industrial revolution
had led to economic growth and combat of mass poverty. However, there are various
constraints to economic development that acts as barrier to poverty reduction by 100%. It is
related to property rights, economic liberalisations, corruption and political instability,
government support in health education and increase in the human and physical capital. There is
a need to focus in the livelihood opportunities. However, I have not yet clear idea on the ultimate
cost of ending the extreme poverty. I feel it is the fundamental question to be addressed.

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References
Alagh, Y.K., 2010. The poverty debate in perspective: moving forward with the Tendulkar
committee. Indian Journal of Human Development, 4(1), pp.33-44.
Arndt, C., McKay, A. and Tarp, F., 2016. Growth and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (p. 528).
Oxford University Press.
Awortwi, N. and Musahara, H. eds., 2016. Implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals: Progresses and Challenges in Some African Countries. OSSREA.
Hulme, D. and Shepherd, A., 2003. Conceptualizing chronic poverty. World development, 31(3),
pp.403-423.
Koch, S., 2015. From poverty reduction to mutual interests? The debate on differentiation in EU
development policy. Development Policy Review, 33(4), pp.479-502.
Israeli, O., & Weber, M. (2014). Defining chronic poverty: comparing different
approaches. Applied Economics, 46(31), 3874-3881.
Kwon, H.J. and Kim, E., 2014. Poverty reduction and good governance: Examining the rationale
of the Millennium Development Goals. Development and Change, 45(2), pp.353-375.
Langham, R. and Parry, J., 2017. Reconceiving the Impact of Population Change: A Class and
Gender-based Analysis of Ageing in Poverty in Urban South India. In Persistence of Poverty in
India (pp. 113-140). Routledge.
Millennium Development Goals, Development Indicators Unit, Statistics Division, United
Nations, New York, NY, http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx
United Nations Development Programme, Sustainable Development Goals, No Poverty, Kenya,

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2018 http://www.ke.undp.org/content/kenya/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-1-no-
poverty.html
Rao, M.P., Kumar, Y.A., Kotaih, C.B. and Naik, J.N., 2017. Trends in rural poverty in india
during 1973–74 to 2011–12. Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(1), pp.1-12.
Walker, R., 2015. Multidimensional Poverty. Retrieved from:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a0898140f0b652dd000260/Multidimensional-
Poverty_RP.pdf