Every one of us would have come across the world poverty and hunger and I can regretfully say that most of us would not even know what poverty is and what it is to be like under the line of poverty and hunger driven to sympathize their cause.

Poverty my friends, is the condition in which a person or community is deprived of or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. Since poverty is understood in many senses, these essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education health care, social status, political power, or even the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. this is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages.

Of late, so much is said about India, its economic growth is so stupendous that the world envies our country in its economic development. But having said that its also very awful to know that our nation is estimated to have a third of the world’s poor and the study also says that 42% of the India’s population is much below the International poverty line .According to the planning commission of India’s survey made during 2004-05 shows that 25% of the India’s population are below poverty line. In them Dali’s constitute about 75%  Among the causes ascribed for the high level poverty in India are its history under British rule, large population, and low literacy. Also important is India's social structure, including the caste system in India, and the role of women in Indian society. Economic growth has in the past been dampened by a dependence upon agriculture, and the economic policies adopted after its independence.

 Since 1950s Indian government and non-governmental organizations have initiated several programs to alleviate poverty, including subsidizing food and other necessities, increased access to loans, improving agricultural techniques and price supports, and promoting education and family planning. These meas\Jres have helped eliminate famines, cut absolute poverty levels by more than half, and reduced illiteracy and malnutrition. India's middle class has also seen large increases and is expected to grow to 40% of the population.

Indian government is failing its rural poor with 230 million people are still being undernourished - the highest for any country in the world. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths in India as every third adult (aged 15-49years)is reported  to    be             thin       (BMI    less       than      18.5).
According to the latest report on the state of food insecurity in rural India, more than 1.5 million children are at risk of becoming malnourished because of rising global prices of food.

Food grain harvest during 2008-09 is estimated to be a record 228 million tonnes, much below the requirement of250 million tonnes.
India ranks 94th in the Global Hunger Index of 119 countries, the report said. The India State Hunger Index measures hunger on three leading indicators and combines them into one index. The three indicators are prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.

Brought out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the report points to some staggering figures. More than 27% ofthe world's undernourished population lives in India while 43% of children (under 5 years) in the country are underweight. The figure is among the highest in the world and is much higher than the global average of 25%.

More than 70% of children (under-5) suffer from anemia and 80% of them don't get vitamin supplements. According to the report, the proportion of anemic children has actually increased by 6% in the past six years with 11 out of 19 states having more   than    80%   of   its children suffering from         anemia.

Percentage of women with chronic energy deficiency is stagnant at 40% over six years. Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) also failed to serve the intended goal of reduction of food subsidies, the TPDS also led to greater food insecurity for large sections of the poor and the near-poor. These targeting errors arise due to imperfect infoffi1ation, inexact measurement of household characteristics, corruption and It added, "Another problem of the TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution Systems) was the issue of quantity of grain that a household would be entitled to. The TPDS initially restricted the allotments to BPL households to 10 kg per month. For a family of five, this amounts to 2 kg per capita. Using the ICMR recommended norm of 330 grams per day, the requirement per person per month would be II kg and that for a family of five would be 55 kg."

The proportion of stunted children (under-5) at 48% is again among the highest in the world. Every second child in the country is stunted, according to the health ministry. Around 30% of babies in India are born underweight.

  Joseph Wresinski son of poor immigrants in France. He felt that his firm purpose was to unite all sections of society around the poorest. With this aim he met leaders of state, churches and international bodies from all over the world. He believed that every man or woman he met represented a chance for the poorest and he was determined that ATD Fourth World would remain open to people of all cultures, faiths and races.

His appointment to France's Economic and Social Council in 1979 was a significant step in his quest for official representation of people in extreme poverty. With the publication ofthe Wresinski Report in 1987, he succeeded in gaining recognition of people in poverty as partners in society.

“Everything that is rewarded grows”
India had been strafed and divided with the caste system since centuries. The society is divided into 4 sections.

• Brahmins are the teachers and the priests.
• shatriyas are the warriors.
• Vaishyas are the merchants.
• And Shudras are the agriculturists and service providers.

 Dalits are a sub-part of Shudras. They are the folks who do all the unwanted jobs like cleaning the streets. They are the people who become the "untouchables." If someone Dalits had the worst jobs. But the act of not touching sank its roots deeper until the Indian society broke down.)
    Soon, Dalits are banned from being educated or entering places of worship! Thousands of Dalits suffer from centuries of poor treatment. This mistreatment persists even after the caste system is abolished in India.

Indian Constitution Seeks to Change Things And so, when India gains its independence in 1947, the leaders decide to make things right.
The folks who frame the Indian constitution believe that Dalits are historically oppressed and denied respect and equal opportunity in the society. The quickest way to help them achieve equal status in the society is by educating them.
But many of these Dalits can't even afford education. So the Indian Government decides to create a schedule caste and schedule tribe quota. 22.5% of all the seats in Government schools and colleges should be reserved for these Dalits. They are to be educated for free!

Situation After 62 years

After 62 years of independence and quota education system, you would think that there wouldn't be any person claiming himself to be a DaHt left in India today - right? But things haven't worked out that way.
Instead of their numbers going down, their numbers have actually steadily increased every year since independence and gone way up! In 1991, there are 150 million Indians who claim themselves to be of the schedule caste quota. In 2001, the number rises up to 230 million Indians
You Cannot Eradicate Poverty by giving money Eradicating poverty from the world is a good goal to have. But cutting cheques and providing special favours to the society doesn’t work in eradicating poverty at all! In fact, all it’ll do is am ake people find ways in making sure they don’t get too rich- so that they can take advantage of the free welfare cheques and free education! Because everything that is rewarded grows ... if you reward poverty, how can you expect it to wither away?

The Smart Charity Philosophy
"Don't help people who need it, help people who deserve it.” -jim rohn
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."-Chineseproverb
Our job is to teach a man how to fish only when he is willing to learn. And when he iswilling " pay the price" to learn.
*but how to build the desire in the hearts of poverty ridden people to raise their hands?TO become willing to learn? To become willing to pay the price when they already poor?
People will change themselves if they believe that they can. If they believe that someone in their position has already achieved great feats.
“rich people have large libraries, poor people have large Tv’s.” -Dan Kennedy

Give the poor people heros they can look up to. And they will model after these heros and change  their lives!
Tell them rags-to-riches stories. And they will surprise you by rising out of poverty in record time!
Gift just one autobiographical rags-to riches book to one poor person to read. And see how his life changes.
Action summary

• The worst thing I can do to eradicate poverty is start giving the poor people free rides.
• The best thing I can do to eradicate poverty is make the poor people believe that there were others in their situation that rose above poverty, worked hard and are rich today.
• I would give the poor people - Heroes. Tell them rags-to-riches stories. These stories will satisfy their hunger a lot more effectively than any free food programs. Because these stories will empower the poor people to earn their own food instead of relying on charity.

There are so many organizations in India where I could associate myself. Some of these Organizations are faith-based organization dedicated to empowering the working poor to free themselves from poverty. Through their partnerships with local religion based microfinance institutions all over the developing world, they provide small loans; business training, mentorship and micro enterprise services to people living in poverty establish their own businesses. By supporting their clients, being a part of such movements I would be able them to provide for their families with dignity and send their children to school. one such example is Bangladesh where Muhammad Yunus has perhaps done more to eradicate poverty than anyone else in the world. He started an organization in Bangladesh that gave out loans to poor people who wanted to start their own businesses. But he banded the people who wanted loans into groups. So that the group can motivate the members to work harder. And the group can create peer pressure on the members to pay back the loan on time.
Because of this idea of giving out mico-Ioans to groups, Yunus's bank had a 98% rate of loan payback (better than most banks out there)!
I believe by doing th~ above I would be contributiug substantially to the society in our common go~' ot• fradicatillg of poverty and hunger.