Essay on “Rich and Poor People” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Rich and Poor People

Despite the high growth rate of the economy, in absolute terms India still is a low income economy, with its per capita income just over $1000 per annum. Low per capita income is a pointer towards the existing sharp divide between India’s wealthiest and poorest sections of society. The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report which says that 3700 of people in India live below the poverty line (BPL). The number of the poor living in the country is more than the poor living in any other country of the world.

During the past five years, India has been second only to China in terms of the growth rate achieved India’s Information Technology (IT) industry, services manufacturing and automobile sectors have been booming. The urban areas, particularly the metropolitan cities, and the industrial centres have been the centres of growth.

Unfortunately, the spurt in economic activity in the country and increase in the growth rate over the past few years has not been able to make a discernible dent on the problem of poverty, deprivation and exploitation of the downtrodden. The divide between the rich and the poor has now become a tangible reality. It has been admitted by the government policy makers that the growth rate in the rural areas has been quite sluggish despite high growth rate in the urban centres. The result is that in the hope of getting better employment and growth opportunities a large number of people are migrating to the cities every year. Rural economy is largely comprised of the agriculture and allied activities. The growth rate of the agricultural sector has been between 2 to 4 per cent over the past couple of decades, while the rest of the economy is growing at the rate of around 8 per cent. Resultantly, the rural economy has emerged as a poor cousin of the urban and industrial sectors and the existing yawning gap has actually increased further.

About 40% of the urban population in India lives in 60 metropolitan urban agglomerations. As per one estimate of the government, about 65 million urban people live in slums and squatter settlements in these agglomerations. The current situation in most of the cities and towns is pathetic. Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the main business and growth centres in the country. In addition cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad are the hub centres of the IT revolution in the country. But these very cities have their darker side as well. There is a huge population of urban poor and slum dwellers living there.

Can this Gap be Bridged?

Equitable growth of the economy is the ultimate goal and every government must strive hard to achieve this goal. Indian Constitution, through the Directive Principles of State Policy entrusts this responsibility of equitable distribution of economic resources to the government policies.

Government of India has already launched an ambitious programme aimed at stimulating the economic activity in the rural areas. Known as Bharat Nirman, this new initiative is expected to pump in huge sums of public expenditure in the development of rural infrastructure of the country Two more flagship programmes, called Sarv siksha abhiyan and “National Rural Health Mission”, are being implemented which aim at bringing in qualitative as well as numerical improvement in the education and healthcare sectors, particularly in the rural areas. To take care of the urban-urban divide, another ambitious programme called Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is being implemented in 66 major cities of the country.

In addition to the above initiatives, the government has to ensure distributive justice through its taxation and other economic policies. Due attention is required to be paid to the education sector in the rural areas so that the people living there are able to get the best possible education to compete with their urban counterparts. Healthcare and sanitation facilities need a total upgrade in the entire country. Special attention of the government is required to, be focused on Stepping up the economic activity in the rural areas so that the rural incomes experience the required upsurge and the existing gap is bridged to some extent. Divide in the early stages of development is a global phenomenon but it must not be allowed to perpetuate beyond reasonable limit.