The Underprivileged children of India need our help as living under above mentioned circumstances, the children got exposed to the harsher realities of life. Underprivileged children lose their right to emotional, physical and social development and are more likely to have depression, low self esteem, lack of sleep and nutrition etc. Poverty is undoubtedly one of the major causes of this plight. Lack of education being the second culprit. At present, around 30 percent of our population is residing below poverty line, i.e. these people are unable to meet their basic necessities. Before heading forward, we need to understand the types of poverty. There are two types of poverty viz. the absolute poverty and the relative poverty. The former includes people who are financially poor and unable to meet their basic needs of food and shelter, while the later means the difference in the income of individuals. In India, whenever we talk about poverty, we mean absolute poverty.
Poverty and underprivileged children: A child born to poor parent means total exposure to malnutrition, diseases, inferior living conditions, inadequate sanitation and many other hardships. Although the child himself is not responsible for poverty but hardships are bound to befall him. But who actually is responsible for poverty in our nation? The main reasons for poverty in our country are: Rapidly rising population; Low productivity in agriculture; Underutilized resources; Low rate of economic development; Price rise; Unemployment; Shortage of capital and Able Entrepreneurship; Social Factors and Political factors. Not just the government, but all the people of India need to focus on the eradication of poverty, not only by pooling in monetarily, but a total change of attitude is required. Only then can we triumph over this massive enemy.
There are many non-government organizations that are working towards poverty eradication, but the success rate is very meager. The reason is simple, lack of people’s participation. We can’t eradicate poverty without people’s active participation. There is no denying of the fact that more supportive hands can share the burden easily, so everyone must join hands to address the plight of underprivileged children.
How can we help underprivileged children:
Instead of taking a random approach we must follow a practical and scientific approach to address this issue. Before drafting any strategy, we need to do a rigorous brain storming session and try to identify the root cause(s) of poverty. Drawing a concrete strategy is a tough job, but nothing is impossible in this world. We need to tackle this problem in a very practical manner. First we need to analyze causes, study the behavioral pattern of the target audiences then we need to draw a concrete strategy based on our analysis.
Steps that can improve lives of underprivileged children:
Identification of causes: We need to identify the causes of poverty and try to eliminate them. The causes being – Rapidly rising population; Low productivity in agriculture; Underutilized resources; Low rate of economic development; Price rise; Unemployment; Shortage of capital and Able Entrepreneurship; Social Factors and Political factors.
Spread Awareness: The government has started many social welfare schemes but not everyone is aware of such schemes. Our task is to provide such information to the target audiences so that poor people can raise their children in a better way.
Economic Liberalization: At the government level, Extending property rights protection to the poor is one of the most important poverty reduction strategies a nation can implement. The World Bank concludes that increasing land rights is ‘the key to reducing poverty’ citing that land rights greatly increase poor people’s wealth, in some cases doubling it.
Capital, Infrastructure and Technology: Capital both Human and Physical. Improving Human capital in the form of health is needed for economic growth. Human capital in the form of education is an even more important determinant of economic growth than physical capital. Good infrastructure, such as roads and information networks, helps market reforms to work. It was the technology of the steam engine that originally began the dramatic decreases in poverty levels. Cell phone technology brings the market to poor or rural sections. With necessary information, remote farmers can produce specific crops to sell to the buyers that bring the best price.
Employment and Productivity: Economic growth has the indirect potential to alleviate poverty, as a result of a simultaneous increase in employment opportunities and increase labor.
Helping Farmers: Raising farm incomes is the core of the antipoverty effort as three quarters of the poor today are farmers.
Building opportunities for self-sufficiency: Making employment opportunities available is just as important as increasing income and access to basic needs.
Each one should teach one: In India, there are huge inequalities in income distribution. There are many millionaires, who can afford educating a number of underprivileged children without denting their bank balances. The middle class can also afford the education bills of an underprivileged child. If we follow this policy then we can totally eradicate the problem of poverty.
Free education: The government must provide free education to underprivileged children. Colleges offering employment-oriented education would be highly beneficial in addressing this problem.
Scholarships and quota of poor children in private institute: Financial assistance can give a boost to the enthusiasm of an underprivileged child. Besides this, there must be a reservation for students with poor financial backgrounds in private institutes.
Loan facility to school dropouts: Not everyone is good at education! There are many dropouts. In this scenario, loans at cheaper rates can help immensely in improving the lives of school dropouts.
United we win, divided we fall! Thus in order to eradicate the poverty as well as to improve lives of underprivileged children, we must unite for the cause and follow a practical approach towards this issue. We, the general masses, need to start considering helping underprivileged children as our social responsibilities. Besides individuals, the big corporate houses can also provide funds to organizations or individuals working towards the welfare of poor.
