Industry & Economy
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Social Welfare
`Anti-poverty programmes must suit specific requirements of the poor'
Our Bureau
Hyderabad
,
Oct. 6
UNDERSTANDING the vulnerability of the poor to shocks is a very important factor in designing anti-poverty programmes that can precisely cater to the targeted sections.
"Programmes should suit the specific requirements. The chronically poor are always vulnerable and in need of programmes that raise their mean consumption levels," according to Dr K. Subbarao, a consultant to the World Bank.
He was delivering the Fourth Silver Jubilee Lecture on `Protecting the poor against shocks through anti-poverty programmes — International experience' at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) here. There are two kinds of poor— transient and chronic.
Hit by a shock (health, weather or an economic shock), some people fall into poverty temporarily because they were unable to cope with the risk.
These are called the transient poor. And the chronic poor are poor always for structural reasons.
Safety net programmes (or poverty alleviation programmes) should consist of policies that raised the mean consumption of poor households, as well as reduced the variance around the mean.
He discussed safety net programmes in Bangladesh, Mexico, Korea, Indonesia, Nepal, Brazil and China.
Referring to the pros and cons of different models, he felt that ambitious programmes did not work.
He cited the China example, where the Government would first put in place a well-knit implementation network, before launching a programme.
For India, he said a universal approach was not recommended. Needs and expectations differed from State to State.
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