Home » Languages » English (Sr. Secondary) » Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Use of Technology for Poverty Alleviation” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Use of Technology for Poverty Alleviation” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Use of Technology for Poverty Alleviation

Science and technology have made great progress and have brought out solution to a lot of human problems but they are not completely successful in getting rid of this world of poverty. Science and technology are constantly striving to put forward the latest gadgets to tackle this most perplexed problem. They have even changed our social and economic values. However, poverty remains a big problem.

People were too optimistic that technology would shortly give the answer to all human tribulations, mainly those related to poverty. Man was hopeful that travel to space and use of the nuclear energy would resolve all his problems. These hopes went astray when he came to know that advancement in technology has though brought all comforts and luxuries in his life but it has deprived him of clean water, fresh air and healthy atmosphere. Only pollution was so great a concern that other harms to the nature went underneath its harmful influences. Man wasted and over consumed the natural resources in the name of fast economic growth and social development.

The result was poverty, rampant all over the world, irrespective of the developed and developing nations. Though in terms of security and magnitude there may be difference. Even the rich nations are short of commodities of life. in spite of their technical advancement.

The worst prey was the developing nations and they started making efforts to alleviate it. It was thought that the technology that had helped the advanced nations to make progress was part and parcel of the development. It is a fact that technology should be suitable to local needs of the people. ‘Technology without necessary infrastructure and skills is nothing other than wastage of resources. It does not help to overcome poverty instead it increases it.

For example, the technological advancement in the field of agriculture has led to significant increases in productivity and has enhanced incomes in developing countries, but it has also brought about some discrepancies in the effort to reduce poverty in all the developing nations. The uptake of modern technologies associated with commercialisation is an inequitable process that at best worsens the rural inequality and is more likely to increase rural poverty. It is evident in the Asian countries where the shift into cash cropping has forced farmers to sacrifice their own food crops thus leading to more food insecurity. Though per unit yield has increased with the technological advancements the gap between the poor and the rich has also widened.

Certainly technologies have benefited the poor farmers due to increased yield levels. This will enable to meet the family consumption needs and also market the excess produce and earn income. The technologies have also created employment among the rural poor, particularly the landless labourers and helped them earn higher wages. It can also benefit a wide range of the rural poor through growth of off-farm income. Poverty alleviation should focus on helping the poor to get off farm income. Thus the research resources have to be cautiously spend, as poverty cannot be alleviated through agriculture alone. To say, concentration of technology to a particular area is not going to help greatly in poverty alleviation.

Therefore, to realise the full potential, the technology should effectively reach the poor. Both the poor and the rich should have access to the technology. Furthermore, small and medium farmers should receive priority in public-funded research and extension. Besides. research should also target on women as they are more involved in agriculture in the rural areas.

Above all, technologies should attempt to resource poor farmers. However, fund is a great constraint on the way of the technological advancement of the farmers. The governmental and non-governmental agencies should come forward to help the farmers to access the advances of technology to be utilised in the field of farming.

The second most important factor is that the technology should cater to the local needs and circumstances. It should not harm the local culture, society and skills. Such a technology is called appropriate technology. Provision of technology according to the needs of the area and the resources will be definitely helpful in eradicating poverty. High technology is not much useful even in the advanced world with comparison to the appropriate technology because it intensifies unemployment and spoils the surroundings. So we can say that not technology but appropriate technology is the solution to the problem of poverty. Use of technology according to the local circumstances is a new phenomenon and is helping a lot in the war against poverty.

Globalisation has affected all the countries with an aggressive market-based economy. The industrial sector is dominating and agriculture is getting commercialised due to private sector investment. The technologies are generated based on demand. These technologies may not be within the reach of the small farmers bot have contributed to the growth of the country. Hence to compete in the global market the poorer farmers will require knowledge and skills so that the new technology could benefit them. These changing patterns of both production and consumption provide opportunities for poverty reduction. It is expected that globalisation and trade liberalisation have opened up a big market before the farmers. Only those farmers who are well equipped, with adequate infrastructure and technology will benefit more than the others. These include transport, roads. electricity, improved crop varieties, etc. and marketing and distribution systems for high value crops along with refrigeration, food processing and storage and food safety regulation and communication. Without adequate investment in infrastructure, technology and human development are areas likely to deteriorate further.

Non-farm activities in less favourable areas have high potential to alleviate poverty. In all cases marketing institutions need to be developed to support the smallholding farmers. All these are sure to increase income and reduce poverty particularly among the farmers.

Technologies that support local growth, employment and native free enterprise and that reinforces local economic progress and involvement of community in the development projects is in fact real technology that works. Only appropriate or informal technology can defeat poverty. Such a technology with its roots in customary skills and resources is the only way to get self-reliance and get rid of poverty. Thus the use of Internet to gain access to the development projects in all fields of life and keeping touch with the world market is also an important way to decrease poverty.

Further, information and communication technologies are elements of the financial infrastructure that buttress universal production, promote business, investment and capital flow, etc. Incorporation of information and communication technologies into poverty reduction and pro-poor policies are necessary to alleviate poverty.

Thus technology which has reached its zenith in advancement can become helpful if we use the technical expertise according to our local circumstances and needs. Small scale technical projects providing energy and power are the basis of all the programmes related to poverty eradication. To say, acclimatization of technology is the only way to solve the manifold problems of poverty. Expertise intended to be appropriate to the requirements and means of a specific community is the new way to eradicate poverty.

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