{"id":906,"date":"2021-03-19T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uantwerpen.one\/blog-usos\/?p=906"},"modified":"2021-06-15T19:27:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:27:29","slug":"hazards-of-being-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uantwerpen.be\/global-pen-friends\/hazards-of-being-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Hazards of being poor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Correspondence between Ankita Choudhary<\/strong> (student at Xavier Institute of Social Service – Ranchi) and Oumayma Kerboub <\/strong>(\u00e9tudiante \u00e0 l\u2019Universit\u00e9 Mohammed Premier – Oujda)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Oumayma,<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As indicated by Adam Smith, human beings are social animals. The reason why poverty causes pain isn\u2019t because it can leave individuals feeling hungry, cold and sick. As he clarifies, a \u2018Poor man is ashamed of his poverty\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Bank\u2019s most recent annual report on poverty and shared prosperity clearly states that only 9.2% of the total population lived in extreme poverty in 2017. But does this story really reflect the facts? For instance, the World Bank estimates the rate of extreme poverty based on the number of individuals who live on under US $1.90 every day. However, is this an accurate estimation of poverty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship between hunger and poverty is mentioned in the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2. Constant endeavours by the public authorities to help the poor are based on the idea that food matters, and there is a lot of government expenditure on food assistance. Statistics for the past 3 years show no deaths due to starvation in India, but due to malnutrition, anaemia and obesity. UNICEF reported that malnutrition caused 69% of deaths in the under-fives in India, adding that every other child had some form of undernourishment. The poor focus on making their life less tedious. This might be a TV, or a little of something they don\u2019t commonly eat or simply a cup of sugary tea. The fundamental human desire for a pleasant life may clarify why food spending has been declining in India. According to a new book, Poverty, Chronic Poverty and Poverty Dynamics<\/em>, which deals with many aspects of poverty in India, the poorest people are consuming lesser amounts of cereal, which is the cheapest form of food. It says: \u2018As India moved to greater prosperity in the last twenty years, the cereal consumption of the rural rich went down, but there was no increase for the poor. At any given point of time, the cereal intake of the bottom 10 per cent in rural India continues to be about 15\u201340 per cent less than the cereal intake of the top deciles of the population, despite better access of the latter group to fruits, vegetables and meat products\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor or rural households, in general, are actually not prioritizing food in their expenditure. And this is a sign of deep distress, particularly among the poor population. For example, previously, households didn\u2019t have to spend much on education, energy, transport and lighting. Similarly, crop loss due to irregular weather conditions was also less, thus not putting a dent in earnings. Various NSSO surveys have established an increase in all these expenditure items. Now, with all these new expenditures to be made, households might be forced to spend less on food. For those in the \u2018poor\u2019 category or just above the poverty line, this means a survival crisis, as they cannot spend everything on food, even with the subsidised public distribution system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each village in India has at least one little shop, typically more, with shampoo sold in individual sachets, individual cigarettes, simple brushes, pens, toys and confectionary. Orwell also captured this curiosity in The Road to Wigan Pier<\/em> where he depicted how poor families found ways to endure the downturn. Rather than seeking to fight against their fate, the utilization of cheap luxuries has expanded. We often perceive the poor as people who have missed out on opportunities and wonder why they make these purchases rather than invest in something that makes their lives better. Poor people, then again, might be more distrustful of supposed opportunities and the chance of any extreme positive change in their lives. They might feel that sacrificing something now for a change that will take a long time is not a very pleasant idea. This could explain why they spend more on festivities and celebrations when the occasion demands it (Banerjee, A. 2007).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk is a focal, unavoidable truth for poor people, who frequently run independent businesses, or are farmers or casual workers. Moreover, the poor regularly need to raise the entirety of the capital for their business, either out of the aggregated \u2018wealth\u2019 of their families or by acquiring it from some other place. Agriculture is dependent on the weather, and sudden natural calamities like floods or droughts can destroy the entire crop of farmers. The type of work for the poor is casual paid labour. If day workers are lucky, they can secure a job that keeps going for a little while or even a couple of months on a building site or a farm; however, more frequently a job may only last a couple of days or a couple of weeks. A labourer never actually knows when he will lose his job and stop earning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, the poor are often ill-informed and so they do not trust that the plans proposed to them by the government will work. Most of them are uncertain about the advantages of vaccinating their children; they think that primary education is of little importance; they don\u2019t have an understanding of the quantity of fertilizer and the variety of seed to use; they don\u2019t have any idea what the politicians do when in office. Secondly, the poor bear responsibility for an excessive number of aspects of their lives. The richer you are, the more the \u2018right\u2019 choices are made for you. The poor have no running water, and hence don\u2019t benefit from the chlorinated water supply provided by the local government. In the event that they need clean drinking water, they need to purify it themselves. They can\u2019t afford readymade breakfast cereals and, thus, need to ensure that they and their kids get enough micronutrients and vitamins in their diet. They have no programmed approach to saving, for example, a retirement plan or social security contributions, so they need to figure out how to save for the future themselves. These choices are hard for everybody since they require some reasoning now or some added expense today, and the advantages are generally procured in the inaccessible future, so this is when procrastination creeps in. Projects planned to help the poor end up in the hands of some corrupt, irresponsible people; teachers at school who do not empathetically shoulder responsibilities may not be able to due to lack of resources; roads might collapse because officials do not use quality materials. Officials are profiteering from programmes intended to benefit the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must thus join hands with millions of well-intentioned people across the world \u2013 elected officials, bureaucrats, teachers, NGO workers, academics and entrepreneurs \u2013 in the quest for new ideas, however big or small. We must stop imposing our solutions on poor people and take a bottom-up approach which will ensure sustainable development. Providing poor solutions to poor people must end and we all must ensure that nobody is denied their human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind regards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankita <\/p>\n\n\n\n

22-FEB-2021, Ranchi
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaincre la pauvret\u00e9 n\u2019est pas un geste de charit\u00e9. C\u2019est un acte de justice. Il s\u2019agit de prot\u00e9ger les droits humains fondamentaux, le droit de vivre dans la dignit\u00e9, libre et d\u00e9cemment. Tant que la pauvret\u00e9 persistera, il ne saurait y avoir de v\u00e9ritable libert\u00e9.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nelson Mandela <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ch\u00e8re Ankita,<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aujourd\u2019hui, tout le monde s\u2019accorde sur le fait que la pauvret\u00e9 est un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne complexe et li\u00e9 \u00e0 un \u00e9ventail tr\u00e8s large de facteurs comprennant le revenu, la sant\u00e9 (physique et mentale), l\u2019\u00e9ducation, le logement, l\u2019environnement\u2026 Cette multidimensionnalit\u00e9 explique que la pauvret\u00e9 ne doit pas \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9e seulement comme un manque de ressources mon\u00e9taires, il faudrait prendre en compte la condition physique de la personne, ses accomplissements personnels et sa participation culturelle ou politique. L\u2019\u00e9conomiste Amartya SEN est l\u2019un des penseurs qui a le plus fortement influenc\u00e9 cette \u00e9volution du concept de pauvret\u00e9. Selon lui, \u00ab la pauvret\u00e9 est avant tout une privation des capacit\u00e9s \u00e9l\u00e9mentaires, m\u00eame si cette d\u00e9finition ne vise en aucune mani\u00e8re \u00e0 nier l\u2019\u00e9vidence : un revenu faible constitue bien une des causes essentielles de la pauvret\u00e9, pour la raison, au moins, que l\u2019absence des ressources est la principale source de privation d\u2019un individu \u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bien \u00e9videmment, l\u2019ann\u00e9e 2020 a connu une crise que le monde n\u2019a jamais connue auparavant au cours des derni\u00e8res d\u00e9cennies. Certes, du fait du CORONA, la lutte contre la pauvret\u00e9 enregistre sa pire r\u00e9gression en 25 ans, et le taux mondial de la pauvret\u00e9 augmente pour la premi\u00e8re fois en plus de 20 ans, ainsi que plusieurs impacts \u00e9conomiques et sociaux potentiels. Selon l\u2019estimation de la banque mondiale, le taux de la pauvret\u00e9 extr\u00eame se situera entre 9.1% et 9.4%, ce qui nous ram\u00e8nera 4 ans en arri\u00e8re, aux niveaux de 2017. En effet, une grande partie des nouveaux pauvres sera concentr\u00e9e dans les pays qui sont d\u00e9j\u00e0 en prises avec un taux de pauvret\u00e9 \u00e9lev\u00e9, tel que l\u2019Afrique Subsaharienne et l\u2019Asie de Sud\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tout d\u2019abord, nous tenons \u00e0 souligner, que les risques de pauvret\u00e9 se manifestent par plusieurs aspects universels. Notamment au Maroc, la r\u00e9partition de la pauvret\u00e9 varie \u00e9norm\u00e9ment d’une r\u00e9gion \u00e0 l’autre. Les zones c\u00f4ti\u00e8res, par exemple, sont g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement mieux loties et les moins touch\u00e9es par la pauvret\u00e9. En revanche la plupart des Marocains les plus pauvres r\u00e9sident dans les zones de montagne, de steppes arides du sud ainsi que  le long de la c\u00f4te comme les nombreuses communaut\u00e9s de p\u00eacheurs pauvres qui y sont diss\u00e9min\u00e9es. Il est totalement clair que la principale cause de ce ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne est la mauvaise situation \u00e9conomique de l\u2019\u00c9tat. Nous prenons l\u2019exemple du domaine agricole, le d\u00e9veloppement technologique est \u00e0 l\u2019origine, avec d\u2019autres facteurs, dans une large mesure, de la pauvret\u00e9. Autrement dit, la machine a jou\u00e9 un r\u00f4le essentiel dans la r\u00e9duction de la demande de main-d’\u0153uvre, apr\u00e8s que les terres agricoles ont eu besoin de centaines de travailleurs agricoles, les machines ont remplac\u00e9 la majorit\u00e9 d’entre eux. Il en r\u00e9sulte un ch\u00f4mage massif et chronique pour ceux qui ne savent pas se servir des machines et un salaire bas qui n’est pas suffisant pour assurer une vie d\u00e9cente. Dans ce cas, et pour minimiser les pertes, la Caisse Nationale de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 Sociale ( CNSS ) a adapt\u00e9 une proc\u00e9dure nomm\u00e9e  \u00ab  l\u2019indemnisation pour perte d\u2019emploi \u00bb, qui vise \u00e0 accompagner les salari\u00e9s qui ont involontairement perdu leurs emplois et se sont engag\u00e9s dans une recherche s\u00e9rieuse de travail. Ces salari\u00e9s licenci\u00e9s b\u00e9n\u00e9ficient d\u2019une indemnit\u00e9 mensuelle d\u2019un montant \u00e9gal \u00e0 70% du salaire de r\u00e9f\u00e9rence, pour une dur\u00e9e allant jusqu\u2019\u00e0 6 mois. Pendant cette p\u00e9riode, les salari\u00e9s doivent suivre un programme de r\u00e9adaptation, si n\u00e9cessaire, afin d\u2019\u00eatre r\u00e9int\u00e9gr\u00e9 sur le march\u00e9 du travail. N\u00e9anmoins, de grandes crises sociales ont \u00e9clat\u00e9 et leurs effets humanitaires n\u00e9gatifs se sont accrus. Plus la machine “fonctionne” et am\u00e9liore sa capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 effectuer le travail du travailleur, plus l’employeur dispensele travailleur et soulage les revendications, les protestations et les soul\u00e8vements des travailleurs. La r\u00e9volution industrielle et la r\u00e9volution technologique ont apport\u00e9 progr\u00e8s, d\u00e9veloppement et prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9 et ont \u00e9galement port\u00e9 les pires cons\u00e9quences de l’humanit\u00e9 : une augmentation de la faim, de l’ignorance et de la maladie. En outre, le taux de ch\u00f4mage est tr\u00e8s r\u00e9pandu dans les pays arabes, son taux au Maroc repr\u00e9sente 10.5% en 2020, et il est concentr\u00e9 sur les jeunes, les femmes, et ceux qui cherchent un emploi pour la premi\u00e8re fois. Effectivement, le ch\u00f4mage ou le sous-emploi s’explique par un manque de croissance et d’investissement pour absorber le grand nombre de demandeurs d’emploi. Sur cette base, la solution au probl\u00e8me du ch\u00f4mage r\u00e9side principalement dans la stimulation de la croissance et des investissements, ainsi que dans des mesures et r\u00e9formes n\u00e9cessaires pour rendre cette croissance durable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Par Malheur, ce sont les enfants qui souffrent particuli\u00e8rement des situations de pauvret\u00e9 par leur vuln\u00e9rabilit\u00e9 et leur d\u00e9pendance. Force est de constater que, dans leur cas, leur pauvret\u00e9 d\u00e9coule le plus souvent de celle dans laquelle vivent leurs parents. Durant l\u2019enfance, plus les privations s\u2019accumulent, plus l\u2019impact pour leur futur sera grand. En effet, la pauvret\u00e9 a de tr\u00e8s lourdes cons\u00e9quences sur la construction identitaire des jeunes. Les professionnels de l\u2019enfance constatent un manque de confiance mais \u00e9galement une image tr\u00e8s n\u00e9gative de soi chez les enfants pauvres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En un mot, la conception d\u2019une strat\u00e9gie de lutte contre la pauvret\u00e9 doit se baser essentiellement sur le d\u00e9veloppement des opportunit\u00e9s, l\u2019insertion socio\u00e9conomique, ainsi que la planification des cotisations et des prestations sociales au profit des personnes en situation de pr\u00e9carit\u00e9, de pauvret\u00e9, ou d\u2019incapacit\u00e9 de travail. Les personnes en situation de pauvret\u00e9 doivent \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9es non comme un fardeau pour la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, mais comme des personnes ayant la capacit\u00e9 de devenir les premiers agents du changement. En ce qui concerne le Maroc, des nouvelles approches en mati\u00e8re de lutte contre la pauvret\u00e9 ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9velopp\u00e9es \u00e0 travers l’Initiative Nationale de D\u00e9veloppement Humain (INDH) lanc\u00e9e en 2005 par sa Majest\u00e9 le Roi Mohamed VI. Ce projet allie l\u2019ambition, le r\u00e9alisme et l\u2019efficacit\u00e9 et se traduit par quatre programmes pratiques, bien d\u00e9finis et int\u00e9gr\u00e9s, se rapportant notamment \u00e0 la lutte contre la pauvret\u00e9 en milieu rural, l\u2019exclusion sociale en milieu urbain et la lutte contre la pr\u00e9carit\u00e9. Or, d\u2019un point de vue personnel, tous ces efforts sont vains, compte tenu de la corruption politique end\u00e9mique. La Banque mondiale et l’Agence canadienne de d\u00e9veloppement international consid\u00e8rent depuis longtemps que la corruption est l’un des plus grands freins au d\u00e9veloppement. Elle a un impact particuli\u00e8rement d\u00e9l\u00e9t\u00e8re sur les pauvres et les plus vuln\u00e9rables, car elle fait augmenter les co\u00fbts et restreint l’acc\u00e8s aux services, tels que la sant\u00e9, l’\u00e9ducation et la justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cordialement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oumayma Kerboub<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1-Mars-2021 \u2013\nOujda
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Oumayma,<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

India has made tremendous progress in reducing absolute poverty in the past two decades. The pace of poverty reduction has also accelerated over time: it was three times faster between 2005 and 2012 than in the previous decade. Despite this, and despite India\u2019s promising economic growth, 97 percent of the country would still be considered poor or low-income by global standards of poverty. Moreover, as we look beyond a monetary assessment of progress to other dimensions of well-being \u2013 nutrition, education, employment \u2013 we see that while those indicators have improved, they have done so to a lesser extent than in other developing countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India is the second-most unequal economy in the world after Russia, according to a 2017 Oxfam report entitled \u2018An economy for the 99%\u2019. More sobering is the fact that even the people we might consider to be middle-class in India are really quite poor. Unemployment is considered to be the most threatening problem which India is facing today. It is not only viewed as an economic issue; it also has social, moral and political consequences. When the human resources of the country are not utilized due to unemployment, it is a permanent loss for society. The total quantity of goods and services which could have been produced during the period of unemployment is lost forever by society. When human resources are not utilized properly there is a loss of human capital. The resources invested in education, training and skills are wasted if people don\u2019t find work. As the World Bank report indicated, India ranks second only after Malawi in the list of countries where grade two students could not read a short text. The report also concluded that millions of children across the world complete primary education without acquiring the basic competences which are vital for further learning. Pointing out the problem in the curriculum design, the report said that the school curriculum in India was designed for the elite. Teachers and textbooks focus on advanced topics which are far from helpful for struggling students. These students then fall far behind, beyond the scope of recovery from the learning deficit. The report suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds show tendencies towards a learning deficit years before they start school. They begin school ill prepared. The report says, \u2018Chronic malnutrition, illness, the cumulative effects of material deprivation, low parental support, and the unpredictable, chaotic, or violent environments that can be associated with poverty all undermine early childhood development learning\u2019. Socioeconomic gaps also hamper a child\u2019s language and cognitive abilities before they start school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Morocco, in India there are also various welfare programmes for the poor and the exploited sections of society. The Right to Education Act 2009 intended that each child in India would receive quality primary education irrespective of their economic or caste background; this would include children who had been forced to drop out of school. \u2018Growth with Social Justice\u2019 has been the basic objective of development planning in India. But due to serious implementation issues and the absence of a regulatory body to ensure compliance, the results are not very satisfactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus of the effort must instead lie on improving the factors that keep people in poverty and strengthening the enablers that can allow them to take charge of their own lives. Some of these enablers would include access to good healthcare and associated financial protection, basic financial services, good preschool education and nutrition support services, and agricultural productivity services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of only estimating the number of poor, we should understand how many people are stuck in poverty and why. What are the factors that explain the persistence of poverty? How can these be addressed? How many people have moved out of poverty? What enabled them to move out of poverty? Did they manage to stay out of poverty? How many people who were previously not poor have become poor? What shocks did they suffer that led to their impoverishment? How can we prevent these shocks from pushing people into poverty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As things stand, many people living in poverty today will continue to remain poor over time and may pass on their poverty to their children. This, combined with the magnitude of the problem, demands that government makes it a priority to address the poverty challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind regards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankita <\/p>\n\n\n\n

11-MARCH-2021,\nRanchi
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ch\u00e8re Ankita,<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A vrai dire, c\u2019est tr\u00e8s motivant de savoir que, depuis toujours, nos pays avaient pris l\u2019initiative de mettre en \u0153uvre plusieurs projets, afin de lutter contre la pauvret\u00e9 et am\u00e9liorer la vie des nombreuses personnes d\u00e9valoris\u00e9es.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avant 2005, environ 55% du budget du Maroc \u00e9tait consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 des programmes sociaux, mais malheureusement, malgr\u00e9 cette strat\u00e9gie, il restait parmi les derniers pays au classement dans l’indice de d\u00e9veloppement humain du Programme des Nations Unies pour le d\u00e9veloppement. De ce fait, Sa Majest\u00e9 le Roi Mohammed VI a donn\u00e9 l\u2019ordre de lancer un nouveau projet, nomm\u00e9 l\u2019INDH  (l\u2019Initiative Nationale du D\u00e9veloppement Humain), c\u2019est une nouvelle approche destin\u00e9e \u00e0 r\u00e9duire en particulier le taux de pauvret\u00e9 dans toute la collectivit\u00e9 territoriale. Depuis son lancement, l\u2019INDH a financ\u00e9 plus de 20.000 sous-projets qui visent \u00e0 fournir aux personnes pauvres de tous \u00e2ges des soins de sant\u00e9, l\u2019\u00e9ducation, la formation professionnelle, le soutien psychologique, ainsi que l\u2019acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l\u2019eau potable et \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9lectricit\u00e9 dans les r\u00e9gions rurales.  Le plus important est qu\u2019elle agit contre la marginalisation, en cherchant toujours \u00e0 r\u00e9int\u00e9grer et \u00e0 r\u00e9ins\u00e9rer dans la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 les individus marginaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 En revanche le ch\u00f4mage et le sous-emploi constituent un probl\u00e8me dont souffre non seulement l\u2019Inde, mais aussi  le Maroc et la Belgique. C\u2019est un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne plut\u00f4t universel, que le CORONA VIRUS n\u2019a fait qu\u2019aiguis\u00e9. Durant la p\u00e9riode du confinement sanitaire commenc\u00e9 en mars au Maroc, de nombreuses personnes ont perdu leurs emplois et d\u2019autres ne re\u00e7oivent que la moiti\u00e9 de leurs salaires. Pendant la quarantaine, l\u2019\u00c9tat a donc d\u00e9cid\u00e9 d\u2019accorder des subventions et des indemnit\u00e9s mensuelles aux m\u00e9nages touch\u00e9s par l\u2019\u00e9pid\u00e9mie, mais  cette action n\u2019\u00e9tait malheureusement pas suffisante. Beaucoup de personnes ont souffert et elles souffrent encore. En effet, m\u00eame si le ch\u00f4mage est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme un pilier et une cause primordiale de la pauvret\u00e9, l\u2019\u00e9nigme de cette derni\u00e8re pand\u00e9mie reste plus profonde et compliqu\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En d\u00e9finitive, et c\u2019est une vision personnelle, nous ne souffrons pas seulement d\u2019une pauvret\u00e9 de ressources, mais aussi d\u2019une pauvret\u00e9 de valeurs, d\u2019\u00e9thique, de principes. L\u2019Etat ne pourra pas s\u2019avancer, ni se d\u00e9velopper alors que le peuple est dans l\u2019ignorance et l\u2019inconscience, et vice-versa . Toutefois les autorit\u00e9s responsables sont embourb\u00e9es dans la corruption et l\u2019absence de conscience professionnelle. M\u00eame avec des ressources illimit\u00e9es, nous n\u2019allons jamais op\u00e9rer de changement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cordialement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oumayma Kerboub<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19-Mars-2021 \u2013 Oujda
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References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n