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Poverty is an age-old social malaise and global problem. According to Martin Rein, poverty may be regarded as subsistence, inequality or externality. Subsistence is concerned with the minimum of provision needed to maintain health and working capacity. Its terms of reference are the capacity to survive and to maintain physical efficiency. Inequality is concerned with the relative position of income groups to each other. Society is seen as a series of stratified income layer and poverty is concerned with how the bottom layers fare relative to the rest of society. Hence, the concept of poverty must be seen in the context of society as a whole. Poverty consists of social problems correlated with low income.
Absolute poverty is a situation where a population or section of a population is able to meet only its bare subsistence essentials of food, clothing and shelter in order to maintain minimum levels of living. Absolute poverty is claimed to be an objective definition, based upon the notion of subsistence. Subsistence is the minimum needed to sustain life, and so being below subsistence level is to be experiencing absolute poverty because one does not have enough to live on.
Relative poverty is more a matter of subjective definition than of objective conditions. In such a situation, a person may have everything that a normal human being requires-nourishment, clothing, shelter, entertainment-yet he may have the uncomfortable feeling that he is poor because he cannot keep up with the Joanes next door. Hence, relative poverty is essentially a phenomenon of status discontent or relative deprivation.
To the concepts of absolute and relative poverty can be added a third subjective poverty. This refers to whether or not individuals or groups feel they are poor. Subjective poverty is closely related to relative poverty since those who are defined as poor in terms of the standards of the day will probably see and feel themselves to be poor.
Primary poverty is defined as the inability to command enough income (or expenditure) to buy the bare necessities of life. In the words of Rowntree, "My primary poverty line represented the minimum sum on which physical efficiency could be maintained. It was a standard of bare subsistence rather than living. In calculating it, the utmost economy was practiced. A family living upon the scale allowed for in this estimate must....be governed by the regulation, "Nothing must be bought but that which is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of physical health, and what is bought must be of the plainest and most economic description."
Rowntree defined secondary poverty as a situation in which real incomes are adequate to buy the minimum needs basket, but for one reason or another (he identified drink, gambling and inefficient housekeeping) the poor do not spend the money on satisfying these needs.
Artificial poverty is the result of individual and collective decision and natural poverty is the result of causes which lie outside the domain of human decisions such as distress situations (floods, earthquakes, droughts).
Prof. Baxi states that the so-called 'natural' causes of poverty have a lot to do with human decision-making. For example, droughts and floods are now seen as an aspect of consequences of wrong policy decisions, rather than as natural disasters or happening. Forests help in controlling floods and play an important role in environmental ecological sustainability. For heavy rainfalls, forests are helpful. Due to deforestation, now we hardly find a tree in the areas where forests once existed. All this happened due to wrong decision-making of society.
Artificial poverty (social poverty) is considered as impoverishment, a dynamic process of public decision-making. These decisions are made by people who hold public power, and it is a mistake to think that only politicians hold this power, although they manifest it supremely and dramatically. Judges, bureaucrats, economists and other human science specialists, media- all, to some extent or the other, Command power and take decisions which lead to poverty.
Urban poverty is a form of poverty that is prevalent in cities and urban areas. Urban poverty is often characterized by high levels of unemployment, low-paying jobs, and limited access to education and healthcare. Rural poverty is a form of poverty that is prevalent in rural areas and is often characterized by a lack of access to resources, education, and healthcare. Rural poverty is often caused by limited access to markets and services, lack of infrastructure, and low levels of education and skill.
Poverty reduction is a complex and multifaceted challenge that requires the coordinated efforts of governments, NGOs, and other organizations. Some of the most effective approaches to poverty reduction include the provision of cash transfers, access to microfinance, and education and job training programs. Additionally, investment in infrastructure, such as transportation, water and sanitation systems, and energy, can help to create jobs and increase access to resources, which can help to reduce poverty.
In conclusion, poverty is a complex and multifaceted issue that affects people in different ways and requires a comprehensive and integrated approach to address its root causes. To achieve sustainable poverty reduction, it is necessary to address the underlying factors that contribute to poverty, including inequality, discrimination, and limited access to resources and opportunities.