Q9 · UPSC Civil Services Mains 2016 · GS I · 12 marks · 3 min read

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"An essential condition to eradicate poverty is to liberate the poor from the process of deprivation." Substantiate this statement with suitable examples.

Topic: Women, Population and Urbanisation. Syllabus: Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies. Same official PYQ from year-wise 2016 and Women, Population and Urbanisation.

Revision summary

Poverty lasts because exclusion from land, papers, health, and voice repeats every year. Rural landless, displaced Adivasis, and undocumented slum tenants show the process in concrete lives. Gendered care work passes deprivation to the next generation. MGNREGA, NFSA, FRA, RTE, and SHGs try to break links of that chain. Income support without rights leaves the process standing.

Model answer

Flow diagram

flowchart TD
  D[Deprivation process] --> A[No land papers wage]
  D --> H[Hunger illness no school]
  A --> P[Persistent poverty]
  H --> P
  L[Rights assets voice] --> F[Liberation from trap]

Conclusion

  • Substantiate with a chain: asset, wage, nutrition, school, papers, voice—and name one rural and one urban example.
  • Stress that charity or a one-time subsidy does not end poverty if the process of exclusion stays intact.

Eradicating poverty means stopping the machine of deprivation, not only topping up income for a season. Land, work rights, food, school, identity papers, and panchayat voice are the locks to open, as Indian programmes show when they are actually delivered.

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