Tag: Poverty

Battling COVID with stardom

Millions across the world, rich and poor, younger and older, does not matter where, we are always facing the lurking danger of coronavirus infection. It is causing a tumultuous effect on the day to day lives of people, with increasing healthcare costs, decreasing accessibility to the proper healthcare facilities, rising prices of commodities and the ever increasing number of deaths every day. Poverty has hit its record in India and with time, there is a rising inequality in the provision of treatment, thus leading to preferential treatment.  

But what is most astonishing is the fact that this diseases which was, at first, more common among the higher ranks of the society is spurring troubles among the lower ranks. Over the past few weeks, I could see a stark difference in the mode of treatment among the various ranks of the society. Consider the low wage or daily wage and the migrant workers. On the event of such a pandemic, they lost their sole earning potential, had to be transported back to their roots in ways that was unimaginable and even back at their home, poverty has reached the zenith of their lives. They basically had to pay their own fairs, which was multiple of the usual fares and they have to arrange for their own sanitation kit at the time, when they could not even afford the basic kit required for their survival. They are facing great uncertainties in their lives owing to stoppage of income, lost employment opportunities, educational hurdles of their children and many more. There were instances when the migrants tried to return to their homes walking on foot from the working locations and then losing their lives. It is very heart wrenching to see that how the lower sections of the society have to wait for uncountable hours just to get the basic treatment in the hospitals, and most of the times they succumb to their lives. Even for medical reasons other than COVID, they are being kept in isolation and the doctors do not even care to provide the basic treatment necessary to keep that patient alive. Such is the pathetic condition, not just for them but for all the common public.

And I am simply amazed to see how our own Bollywood is treating the entire pandemic. It seems like it’s a kind of spring break for them where they have been asked to do whatever they can. Many such pompous and self-centred Bollywood actors resorted to making videos such as washing the dishes when the bai is unable to come or when they are cooking some dish, which apparently we do it almost every day and then there are others who make their son playing an instrument while she teaches him how to do classical dance. And the worst part of it all is that, they all chant the same thing as to stay inside, wear mask, frequent sanitisation and doing things at home to keep mental stress at bay, but what they are forgetting is that they might have the opportunity to stay away at Disneyland, but others have to go out of their safe haven and do something to survive. Recently, a top notch Bollywood actor was tested positive for COVID and he and some of his ‘beloved’ family members had to be admitted to the hospital. He was tested on a regular basis for COVID and his family was getting the best medical care possible. The most surprising element of this news is that, first, it was broadcasted as a breaking news almost on all the national news channels and second, all the people were desperately praying for him and his family. Such is the disparity.

My only concern is in the fact that where is the praying when it comes to the ordinary people? People who are actually working for us, where are we when we need them? Why such disparity, even when the soul is not labelled?

Alas, our society still thinks actors are ‘heroes’.

Source: Self

Poverty – A Global Concern

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.” – Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa.

Poverty is generally considered to be a measure of deprivation of the basic needs that a person, household or community requires to have a basic standard of living. Deprivation can be measured either in terms of a lack of resources (for example: income, other assets), capabilities (such as skills, knowledge, technology) or both. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to be deprived of having health problems and shorter life expectancy , not attending preschool, dropping out of high school and having lower educational attainment.


People can be said to be in poverty when they are deprived of income and other resources needed to obtain the conditions of life such as diets, material goods, amenities, standards and services that enable them to play the roles, meet the obligations and participate in the relationships and customs of their society. Understanding and addressing poverty requires a dynamic view of how poor people and households fare overtime in terms of income and expenditure thresholds. Hence vulnerability is a risk for a person or a household of falling deep into poverty. The other factors include household demographics (which is the size of the household [number of people], the age structure, the dependency ratio and the geographical location which may be rural or urban) , and individual characteristics (such as a person’s sex, age, employment status, level of educational attainment, property owned and socio-economic profession.)

Poverty has various indications such as lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition, ill health, limited or lack of access to education and other basic services, increased morbidity and mortality from illness, homelessness and inadequate housing, unsafe environments , social discrimination and exclusion and is characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural rights. The root cause of poverty is considered to be the increasing population. Rising population is putting the burden on the resources and budget of countries. Governments are finding difficult to provide food, shelter and employment to the rising population. The other causes include lack of employment opportunities ( people who face situations of unemployment and joblessness are unable to fulfill the basic necessities of their family resulting in poverty), lack of education and skills ( limits people’s ability to access decent jobs to develop themselves and participate fully in society) , war, natural disaster, lack of infrastructure , political instability etc. Natural disasters like flood, earthquake also contribute to poverty.


Poverty encompasses not only material deprivation but also many other forms of deprivations in different aspects of life such as unemployment, ill health, lack of education, vulnerability, powerlessness, social exclusion etc. Hence, poverty should be viewed as the deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as low level of income and strong, effective economic and social policies should be taken to eradicate poverty and improve people’s lives and the economic productivity of the country.