21 February 2020, 4:54 am
Insight Sikkim Poverty Reduction
This article has been preserved from The Voice Of Sikkim historical news collection and reflects information available at the time of its original publication.
Insight Sikkim Poverty Reduction
Pakyong , 21 Feb : Among the North-eastern states, Sikkim has been ranked at top in poverty reduction as per the media report.Sikkim has recorded steepest fall in poverty level in the country on account of increase in per capita consumption and the proportion of the poor living below poverty line in the urban area is lowest among all states.
Latest data released by the Planning Commission says that in Sikkim, the proportion of people below the poverty line (BPL) came down from 30.9% to 8.19% a decline of 22% due to inclusive and equitable development of the entire state.
According to Planning Commission, Sikkim has been ranked among the five best performing states in poverty reduction in the country. States with the least proportion of poor living below poverty line are Goa (5.09%), Kerala (7.05%), Himachal Pradesh (8.06%), Sikkim (8.19%), Punjab (8.26%) and Andhra Pradesh (9.20%).
Statistically around 9.85% of rural population and 3.66% of urban population of the Sikkim lives below poverty line in comparison to national average of 25.70% rural population and 13.70% urban population living below poverty line, according to latest planning commission data.
Sikkim has the lowest 3.66% urban population living below poverty line which is minimum among all states and is followed by Goa (4.09%), Haryana (4.33%) and Kerala (4.97%).
In rural poverty, the 9.85% population of Sikkim is living below poverty line and the state is ranked with the five top states Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab in terms of reduction in rural poverty.
If we take a closer look in our state there are poverty stricken areas and families who don?t even have any financial aid for livelihood e recently came across a family which included a 70 year old father Mingma Sherpa who is too old to walk , mother who is also 70, old and a Tuberculosis (TB) patient, they together have five sons out of which two of them live separately one is mentally unstable, another one blind and third is paralyzed. Their condition is too agonizing even to fathom, they are poverty stricken.
So what measures can we take to completely eradicate poverty from our state?
We could Increase employment; Special steps could be taken to solve the issue of unemployment and disguised unemployment, agriculture should be developed. Many cottage and small scale industries could be expanded in rural areas to generate employment. Income could be equally distributed it is necessary that inequality in the distribution of income should be reduced.
The Public Distribution System (PDS) should be strengthened to remove poverty. Poor people could get food grains at low rates and in adequate quantity.
The Government could take suitable steps to meet the needs of the poor people i.e supply of drinking water and provision of primary health centers and primary education and awareness could be spread to send the children to schools to avail the benefits, to remove poverty, productivity could be increased and the poor preferably should be given more employment.
More investment could be made in public and private sectors to generate more employment.
Labor intensive techniques of production should be avoided, agriculture should be developed to remove poverty.
Rapid rate of growth of agriculture production will help to remove urban as well as rural poverty. Agriculture should be mechanized and modernized. Marginal farmers should be given financial assistance.