The proportion of people below poverty line is not same for all social groups and economic categories in India.
(a) Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.
(c) Although the average for people below the poverty line for all groups in India is 21.9 per cent, 45.3 out of 100 people belonging to scheduled tribes in rural areas are not able to meet their basic needs.
(i) Similarly, 32.9 per cent of casual workers in urban areas are below poverty line.
(ii) About 39.8 per cent of landless agricultural workers and 31.5 per cent of scheduled castes are also poor.
(d) The double disadvantage, of being a landless casual wage labour household in the socially disadvantaged social groups of the scheduled caste or the scheduled tribe population highlights the seriousness of the problem.
(e) Some recent studies have shown that except for the scheduled tribe households, all the other three groups (i.e., scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour households) have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.

The proportion of people below poverty line is not same for all social groups and economic categories in India.
(a) Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.
(c) Although the average for people below the poverty line for all groups in India is 21.9 per cent, 45.3 out of 100 people belonging to scheduled tribes in rural areas are not able to meet their basic needs.
(i) Similarly, 32.9 per cent of casual workers in urban areas are below poverty line.
(ii) About 39.8 per cent of landless agricultural workers and 31.5 per cent of scheduled castes are also poor.
(d) The double disadvantage, of being a landless casual wage labour household in the socially disadvantaged social groups of the scheduled caste or the scheduled tribe population highlights the seriousness of the problem.
(e) Some recent studies have shown that except for the scheduled tribe households, all the other three groups (i.e., scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour households) have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.

(i) There is substantial decline in poverty ratio in India from about 44.3 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.
(ii) The proportion of people below poverty line further came down to about 21.9 per cent in 2011-12.
(iii) If the trend continues, people below poverty line may come down to less than 20 per cent in the next few years.
Although the percentage of people living under poverty declined in the earlier two decades(1973-1993), the number of poor declined from 407.1 million in 2004-05 to 269.3 million in2011-12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points only.

(i) In India survey of poverty line is conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). NSSO comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.
(ii) The survey on poverty line is conducted every five years. Last survey was done by NSSO in the year 2013-2014.
(iii) The world bank also conducts its surveys across the globe to study and make comparisons between developing countries.

(i) Poverty is usually measured on the basis of income or consumption levels. If the income of a person falls below a minimum level then he is considered to be poor. There are two types of poor; Whereas first is rural poor and the second is urban poor.
(ii) A family of five members living in rural area heaving a monthly income of less than Rs. 4080 is considered a rural Whereas a family of five members living in urban area having a monthly income of less than Rs.5000 per month is considered an urban poor.

One of the biggest challenges of independent India has been to bring millions of its people out of abject poverty. Mahatma Gandhi always insisted that India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering.

The following is differentiation between Ram Saran and Lakha Singh

The first example of a poor family whom I have come acrossed is of Joginder Kumar. Joginder hails from Churu Distt. in Rajasthan. He has a small piece of agriculture land there but it was not enough for him to support his family. He is also not very educated so he has shifted to Jaipur. Here he sell toys which he makes himself. But the income from selling the toys is nor enough; so his wife works as a maid in few house to support her husband. They have one son who is ten years old and two daughters aged five and three years respectively. His son goes to the school in the morning and works in the garage in the evenings to support his studies.
The second examples is of Ram Ratan. Though he is employed with a private firm but he is unable to support his big family of eight persons including his parents in his meager income. So he works part time as an accountant to raise his income. His wife also helps him to raise the family income by taking tuition classes.

Poverty is a phenomenon where a section of population of a country does not have access to basic needs of life like food, shelter and clothing.The degree of poverty may be more or less in different countries but its existence is all over the world.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)2005
The following are the key features of this scheme:
(a) NREGA is a employment generation scheme of government of India for rural areas.
(b) The act was passed in September 2005.
(c) The central government will establish funds for NREGA.
(d) State government will also establish state level funds for implementation of the scheme.
(e) It provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household.
(f) One third of the proposed jobs reserved for women.
(g) If an applicant is not provided employment within fifteen days he or she will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
Later the name of this scheme changed to MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).