Indian poverty- a worry associated with India since the last so many known years- a subject dear to the social activists, politicians, planners, developers alike. One can see a significant leap made by India in almost all areas except poverty; it has been increasing at par with the Indian population. Every significant step towards progression is leading to additional load on the poverty structure. If one tracks down the way Indian poverty has been dealt or has ‘come of age’ – one can find several facades to it.
Poverty line has always been a dear subject of debate for many. It has been seen as one perennial subject on which almost all elections are being contested, and won. A subject where false promises, lack luster visions and fake assurances are given and taken. It has been 63 years the country is independent but the issue of poverty has not been eradicated, in fact it surfaces and re-surfaces constantly. It is like a popping jack which pops up its ugly face time and again.
There are several poor people in India who are dealing with the fight for everyday basic needs in life. One fight to have a meal supersedes the fight to get the next one. On one hand we are flooded with images of hungry stricken poor while on the other hand we come across lot many proclaimed poors.
Poverty have given rise to unhealthy attitudes amongst people. Laziness, content with whatever one gets, lack of motivation .Unprecedented levels to proclaim that we are poor are knowingly taking place in India- where we find people making money of portraying poverty. Several cases of alleged groups involved in forcing kids and children alike to beg on the roads and signals is no new news. Extracting money from these children and handling over a meager amount to the actual performers is a rather big business. The cases of cross dressers is also an example to signify the fact that people can go to unattainable levels to procure money. The lure of falsely changing genders, dressing like woman to get some wealth forces certain sect of the poor to fall into the trap. This leads to loss of identity, both for the individual and for the society at large.
The new business amongst the so called poor is to acquire certain hot spots in the city which eventually become their home. All hills in the city are acquired by these people in hope that the government will provide pucca houses to them in some years at a miniscule rate. These people then shift to these pucca houses and also keep a claim on the space they commanded on the hills. It was very shocking to know that certain hutments on the slums are on rent, where the actual owner creates a lot of property in the city. These hutments in some prime locations in Mumbai comes at a price where one can built a spacious house in second tiered city. One can see proper infrastructural services being laid out for these people. Several slums in Pune have electric poles, televisions, cable tvs, proper water supply and all other amenities which other citizens are deprived of.
The game of politics is evident in this as it is only these people who vote for the favored politicians.
It is very hard to digest that several beggers in Mumbai have actually bought spacious apartments in suburbs of Mumbai. They own a hutment in prime locations of Mumbai , have bought apartments and continue with their occupation of begging. Certain signals, spots are considered as major locations for begging.
The critique here is not on falsity of poverty. There is no hiding of the fact that there are genuine poor in the country. It is a serious issue and it is really disheartening to see these deprived eyes on the streets. But much more demoralizing fact is that some of these poor give a false face to the world. On one hand there are poors who are denied access to basic amenities like toilets, schools, hospitals while many other enjoy facilities to the fullest.
Genuine , hardworking, deprived , passive, active, smart, are some of the various facets of urban poverty.
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