Urban Poverty

Published on 17 Feb 2025

More than one-third of India’s population lives in urban areas and by 2050, it is expected to reach around 814 million.  As per the World Bank, around 80 million people in India live in urban poverty with limited access to basic amenities and services.

Reasons for poverty in Urban areas

✔     Rural-urban migration: Lack of rural employment and poor rural infrastructure leads to migration of rural poor to urban cities causing overcrowding in the cities. This population explosion leads to resource conflict and poverty.

●      Example: The annual growth rate of migration to urban areas for work has doubled between 2001 and 2011 (4.5% per annum) as compared to 1990 to 2001 (2.4% per annum).

✔     Lack of education and skills: Insufficient access to quality education can hinder individuals from acquiring the skills needed for high-paying jobs.

●      Example: As per the Skill India Report, employability among Indian youth has been only around 50%.

✔     Informal economy: A significant urban population is employed in the informal sector, where they lack job security, social benefits and legal protection.

●      Example: Around 49 lakh street vendors have been identified in India.

✔     Housing challenges: People are unable to find affordable housing; hence they settle wherever they can, thus developing into a community of slum dwellers.

●      Example: India’s slum population stands around 6.5 crore.

✔     Inflation: The plight of lower-income people is made worse by a sharp increase in the cost of food and other necessities. This reduces their savings, pushing them into poverty.

●      Example: In November 2023, food inflation rose to 8.7%, with cereal prices increasing by 10.27% and vegetable prices by 17.7%.

✔     Governance issues: Inefficient implementation of poverty alleviation programmes leads to development deficit in the urban areas, leading to poverty.

Impact of urban poverty on society

✔     Social exclusion: Poverty increases resource conflict, leading to social tension and a sense of exclusion among the most vulnerable groups.

●      Example: 63% of urban SC/ST population live below the poverty line.

✔     Nutritional insecurity: Poverty prevents families from prescribing a nutritious diet, leading to an increase in stunting, wasting and undernutrition.

●      Example: India has a stunting percentage of 31%. India’s wasting population is around half of the global wasting count.

✔     Health disparities: Individuals in poverty may face limited access to healthcare resources due to increased healthcare costs, thus denying them the right to life.

✔     Deteriorated education: Education is costly in urban private schools. The public schools lack sufficient amenities for imparting good education to the poor.

✔     Resource shortage: The urban poor lack sufficient access to even essential resources, thus depriving them of any scope of decent living.

●      Example: 84 slums in India have no access to safe drinking water (Study by Bhubaneswar Bikash Sangathan).

✔     Poor sanitation: Urban areas facing high levels of poverty may lack proper infrastructure for sanitation, including sewage systems, waste disposal facilities, and clean water sources.

●      Example: As per the NSSO survey, only 19% of urban slums have owned and shared toilets available to a majority of their residents.

Government initiatives

✔     Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM): Aims to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households by improving their livelihoods on a sustainable basis through building a strong grassroots level.

✔     Jal Jeevan Mission Urban: Designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households.

✔     AMRUT: To ensure that every household has access to a tap with an assured supply of water and sewerage connection.

Way Forward

✔     Better access to basic amenities: Providing clean water, sanitation and electricity to the slum areas should be a priority.

✔     Proper social security: Better targeting of schemes to ensure that the benefits are reaching the most downtrodden urban poor.

✔     Community connect campaigns: Ensure access to social welfare schemes related to LPG connections, bank accounts, life and accident insurance and healthcare programmes like PMJAY should be started.

✔     Enforcing minimum wages: Enforce uniform minimum wages throughout the country’s unorganized sectors.

Hence, the government needs to focus on reducing urban poverty to ensure that India’s future urbanization does not become a bane for the nation.

Tags:
Social Justice

Keywords:
Urban Poverty Poverty NULM Urbanisation

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Social Justice