Poverty in the Shadow of Development
Jeff L. Jaleel L. A2 Group 4
Poverty vs. Development
Economics
Since independence, the industrial age has progressively taken the place of the more traditional values and foundations in the economy of India. In fact, industries now provide India with 27% of the GDP. Machinery plants, fertilizer plants, locomotive production automotive production, and steel mills have diversified India's traditional economy. As a result of globalization India has began to shift towards the "new economy". During the 1990s companies began to use technology (computers, machinery, hardware, etc.) to improve production, marketing, and expansion. As a result, this rapidly increased the rate of globalization. Information technology has become necessary for all countries seeking to raise productive interactions in the global economy. Although, sectors dealing with information technology accounts for 17% of India's labor force. The service sector dominates, contributing to 53% of the GDP. Although, India's economic development has improved, a much of the populace is below the poverty level. This is mostly due to class/caste inequality, the high population, a lack of educational needs and a lack of technological advancements in India. It is necessary for India to import about 70% of their energy resources. Because of high population and industry demand for resources India's resources continue to be strained. As a result, villagers who lack skills and education migrate to cities to seek work. The villagers who are from traditional economies often do not move far above the poverty level, because so many uneducated and unskilled workers have flooded the job market. As a result, India has the constant weight of producing low valued goods with cheap labor. So hereby, one can understand that in the current economic situations facing India that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, where the rich consume on average about three percent more every year, where the poor only consume on average almost one percent. As well as to say that there is a very small amount of middle class in India, meaning that there is a very large technology, educational, and also economic gap between the rich and the poor. India is making positive strides toward economic development through globalization but education and population policies must be implimented and enforced if India is to see substantial benefits from the "new economy". However, some of the poor are found to be inequal because of how others have veiwed their background, both caste-wise and through the family background. As there is a very obvious connection between these two backgrounds and level of education and jobs available. This causes a backset in poverty making it almost impossible for these poor regions to develop evenly with the rest of India. The reason for topic choice is to uncover how India's traditional economy is changing and where it is leading to due to globalization. Also, to uncover traditional impediments to the process.
A poor settlement in an urban area.
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/83/123983-004-8C377490.jpg
A high populated and underdeveloped neighborhood in India.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/indian-cities.jpg
DLF India's largest construction company builds a corporate tower across from a poverty stricken area.
http://fernandogros.com/images/photos/in1.jpg
Poverty in Gurgaon India
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09gated.html
In the city of Chennia, a worker uses traditional ways of transportation to transport heavy parts of wrecked modern transportation.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0304_difficult_cities/image/011_chennai.jpg
Village leader of Jitvapur: VL
Sansad member: SM
SM: Hello, now what is it that needs to be discussed so urgently.
VL: There is a need for India’s villages to be more rapidly developed if you expect villagers to continue to give up traditional ways of life and earning money.
SM: Well many villagers migrate to cities in searching for jobs that can earn enough money to send back to villages. I don’t understand why villagers would not continue seeking work in cities.
VL: A large percent of the populace should plan not to migrate. Instead they should stay in their village and contribute to our traditional productions. This should give villages a better chance of dealing with poverty.
SM: India’s economy as a whole is depended on their cheap labor.
VL: This is a problem because the wages of many are low they rarely earn enough money to help villages. So our communities lose labors to cities flooded with cheap labor supply. Therefore, many would have been better off staying home if they are to be poor in industrial cities.
SM: Cheap labor is not necessarily bad for many of India’s companies and I don’t think they would appreciate any government intervention.
VL: The only reason why producers can demand such cheap labor is because many laborers are unskilled and can only produce low valued goods.
SM: I understand, the government should look to improve education to contribute to India’s “new economy”
VL: India can not allow two very different ways of life to continue. Traditional ways are becoming devoured by poverty.
SM: I will definately not look into improving development or converting back into traditional ways of life, cheap labor rules dude.
VL: Oh, okay then, thank you for your time.
Works Cited
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Bhalla, Surjit. "Poverty and Inequality." Encyclopedia of India. Ed. Stanley Wolpert. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 323-328. 4 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL. 10 May. 2009
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Sengupta, Somini. "Inside Gate, India's Good life; Outside, the servants' slums. New York Times Jun. 2008. 8 May. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09gated.html>.
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http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0304_difficult_cities/image/011_chennai.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09gated.html
http://fernandogros.com/images/photos/in1.jpg
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/indian-cities.jpg
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/83/123983-004-8C377490.jpg
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