Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years. This would be possible mainly due to:
1. higher economic growth,
2. increasing stress on universal free elementary education, 
3. declining population growth
4. increasing empowerment of the women
5. and the economically weaker sections of society.

The poverty can be reduced in future in India through the following measures:
1. Create employment opportunities in rural India.
2. Infrastructure development has potential to provide employment to large work force.
3. Provision of education and health care to the poor section of the society so that they can come out of the poverty situation.
4. Population control measure.

With the spread of irrigation and the Green Revolution, many job opportunities were created in agricultural sector.
(i) But the effects were limited to only some parts of India.

Historical reasons:
(a) Low level of economic development under the British rule
(i) The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts.
(ii) These policies also discouraged development of industries and textiles.
(iii) This resulted in less job opportunities and low growth rate of income.
(b) High growth rate of population
(i) Combined with low development and growth of population make the growth rate of per capita income very low.

The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state of India.
1. Although state level poverty has witnessed a secular decline from the levels of early seventies, the success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state.
2. Recent estimates show while the all India HCR was 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 states like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pardesh, Bihar and Odisha were above all India poverty level.
3. Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratio of 33.7 and 32.6 percent respectively as per datas of 2013-14. Along with rural poverty, urban poverty is also high in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The following are the four categories of people vulnerable to poverty:
1. Rural agricultural labour
2. Urban casual labour
3. Scheduled caste
4. Scheduled tribe

Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, which describes the greater probability of certain communities or individuals of becoming, or remaining, poor in the coming years.
Examples: Communities: Backward caste, SC, ST, Blacks in USA, etc.
Examples: Individuals: Widow, a physically handicapped person.
1. Vulnerability is determined by the options available to different communities for finding an alternative living in terms of assets, education, health and job opportunities.
2. Further, it is analysed on the basis of the greater risks these groups face at the time natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunami), terrorism etc.
3. Additional analysis is made their social and economic ability to handle these risks.
4. In fact, vulnerability describes the greater probability of being more adversely affected than other people when bad time comes for everybody. Bad times may be a flood or an earthquake or simply a fall in the availability of jobs.

1. According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor surrounding with other poor people. This excludes them from enjoying social equality of better-off people in better surroundings.
2. Social exclusion can be both a cause as well as a consequence of poverty in the usual sense.
3. Broadly, it is a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.Due to their exclusion they do not get equal benefits and opportunities to grow economically.
4. A typical example is the working of the caste system in India in which people belonging to certain castes are excluded from equal opportunities.
5. Social exclusion thus may lead to, but can cause more damage than, having a very low income.

The current government strategy is based on two major areas namely (a) promotion of economic growth (b) targeted anti-poverty programmes. As part of this strategy the following steps are taken:
The following measures are suggested to remove poverty from India:
1. Acceleration of Economic Growth. The first and most important element for removal of poverty is the acceleration in the rate of economic growth. National income should increase at rates faster than the increase in population.
2. Control over Population. Poverty can be removed to a greater extent if we intensify family planning campaign. Population control will help in increasing the per capita income. It will be helpful in bridging the gap between the rates of increase in population and economic resources.
3. More Employment Opportunities. By creating employment opportunities in the rural as well as urban areas, we can reduce poverty in India. Thus, public works should be started on an extensive scale, cottage and small-scale industries should be encouraged. Effective utilisation of manpower will undoubtedly generate income in the economy and poverty will be removed to some extent.
4. Land Reforms. For eradication of poverty, land acquired after the imposition of the ceiling should be distributed among the landless or small farmers. Fragmentation of land should be checked and consolidation of land should be made.

1. According to World Bank, global poverty in developing countries had declined from 43% in 1990 to 22% in 2008. Poverty declined substantially in China and south-east Asian countries due to massive investments in human resource development.
2. The decline of poverty in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh has not been fast. The number of poor has declined from 61 per cent in 1981 to 36 per cent in 2008 in South Asia.