Part A - First Draft - Random Notes & Thoughts
Posted 03-08-2009 at 11:25 PM by x2cme
Part A - First Draft - Random Notes & Thoughts - to Develop a Discussion Presentation of the Urban Poor and the Urban Poverty Alleviation Schemes put into place in India since the early 2000's.
When an urban environment displays noticeable disparities between the proverbial "haves" and "have nots," then the community as a whole has neglected to care for their impoverished neighbors.
Typically, an area experiencing rapid economic growth will consequently reflect a high number of urban poor. While the affluent continue to progress with ready access to all of the necessities and luxuries life has to offer, their less fortunate counterparts continue to digress and life's necessities such as food, water, and shelter become unobtainable. This poverty digression essentially lowers the life expectancy of the urban poor.
A few of the predominate issues that face the urban poor are that they are unlikely to have access to proper medical care, their ability to maintain healthy nutrition is inconsistent or unavailable, the sanitation conditions within their make shift communities is commonly sub-standard, allowing for the rapid spread of disease and infections.
In an urban environment, all of the citizens make up the health of the community, so if one area is weak, then the entire city will eventually suffer.
Less than one third of Indians live in the urban landscape and make up two thirds of the GDP. A quarter of the urban population falls into the poverty category.
Many of India's citizens have recognized the problem of poverty affects their growth in the world market. They are proactively setting into action a multitude of creative and 'Best Practices' schemes to address the growing disparity between the countries rich and poor. Since the early 200's they have initiated plans to alleviate the three forms of poverty within their borders; poverty of money, poverty of access and poverty of power. India continues to empower its local governances to investing in their people and their neighborhoods.
Providing improvements to the basic infrastructure of an impoverished community's road by replacing mud with brick creates a domino effect of positive improvements. Road improvements alleviate poverty of money and access. Areas affected by floods become free to travel regardless of the weather, allowing more days to travel to and from work. Roads that do not wash away also create a solution to sanitation problems caused by the floods. Personal belongings need not be lost or damaged from a flooded shelter. Schools receive an increase in attendance, as children are no longer prohibited from walking to school by muddy road conditions. Additionally, there is a strengthening of pride within the community when there is something to be proud about.
Attempting to empower the poor to provide for themselves in the long term, India allows their citizens to invest in micro-enterprises. With the help of NGO's, there are forest farmers that receive carbon credits within the world market. Women organizations unite under Urban Services to the Poor to improve the health and education of sex trade workers, helping them find a way out of the ill-fated life. Communities co-operatively invest in livestock, sharing in the responsibility and profit of their investment. Visionaries of India receive international rewards for providing affordable utility services to the poor by establishing a consistent connection to the renewable energy of solar power. Relief societies such as the Salvation Army provide micro-loans to help women begin a business in jewelry, embroidery, or textiles. These community and self-involved improvements help to decrease the disparity within poverty of money, access, and power.
Although India is the world's largest democracy, it needs to deepen its social investment, broaden the access to education, and provide more open local governance. One major step towards these democratic improvements is its passing of the "Right to Information Act," or RTI.
The RTI act has allowed the population, regardless of social caste or financial status, to access unedited, government documents that explain and outline the allocation of public monies, why delays occurred in processing passports or pensions, why petitions for community improvements went ignored. The RTI has effectively decreased corruption and bribery within the governance; however, holes exsist in the act and are in need of closing. One such 'hole' is the delay of issuing fines, or not issueing fines at all, to the bureaucrats that fail to meet the RTI deadlines. Another change in the democracy of India has included into the political process, groups that historically were discriminated against or ignored due to their caste in society. The "Scheduled Tribes" as defined by the government, are learning to compete for political power through the ballot. Their awareness and mobilization has forced the government to pay attention to their pleas for deferred acknowledgments through compensatory rights. These politically democratic changes allow its poor to access power that was previously unobtainable.
Wisely, India acknowledges that there is not one road leading to the success of Urban Poverty Alleviation. The fast growing country has included many schemes involving money, access, and power in its attempt to include all of its citizens in the broad goals to participate in the world market of today and tomorrow.
When an urban environment displays noticeable disparities between the proverbial "haves" and "have nots," then the community as a whole has neglected to care for their impoverished neighbors.
Typically, an area experiencing rapid economic growth will consequently reflect a high number of urban poor. While the affluent continue to progress with ready access to all of the necessities and luxuries life has to offer, their less fortunate counterparts continue to digress and life's necessities such as food, water, and shelter become unobtainable. This poverty digression essentially lowers the life expectancy of the urban poor.
A few of the predominate issues that face the urban poor are that they are unlikely to have access to proper medical care, their ability to maintain healthy nutrition is inconsistent or unavailable, the sanitation conditions within their make shift communities is commonly sub-standard, allowing for the rapid spread of disease and infections.
In an urban environment, all of the citizens make up the health of the community, so if one area is weak, then the entire city will eventually suffer.
Less than one third of Indians live in the urban landscape and make up two thirds of the GDP. A quarter of the urban population falls into the poverty category.
Many of India's citizens have recognized the problem of poverty affects their growth in the world market. They are proactively setting into action a multitude of creative and 'Best Practices' schemes to address the growing disparity between the countries rich and poor. Since the early 200's they have initiated plans to alleviate the three forms of poverty within their borders; poverty of money, poverty of access and poverty of power. India continues to empower its local governances to investing in their people and their neighborhoods.
Providing improvements to the basic infrastructure of an impoverished community's road by replacing mud with brick creates a domino effect of positive improvements. Road improvements alleviate poverty of money and access. Areas affected by floods become free to travel regardless of the weather, allowing more days to travel to and from work. Roads that do not wash away also create a solution to sanitation problems caused by the floods. Personal belongings need not be lost or damaged from a flooded shelter. Schools receive an increase in attendance, as children are no longer prohibited from walking to school by muddy road conditions. Additionally, there is a strengthening of pride within the community when there is something to be proud about.
Attempting to empower the poor to provide for themselves in the long term, India allows their citizens to invest in micro-enterprises. With the help of NGO's, there are forest farmers that receive carbon credits within the world market. Women organizations unite under Urban Services to the Poor to improve the health and education of sex trade workers, helping them find a way out of the ill-fated life. Communities co-operatively invest in livestock, sharing in the responsibility and profit of their investment. Visionaries of India receive international rewards for providing affordable utility services to the poor by establishing a consistent connection to the renewable energy of solar power. Relief societies such as the Salvation Army provide micro-loans to help women begin a business in jewelry, embroidery, or textiles. These community and self-involved improvements help to decrease the disparity within poverty of money, access, and power.
Although India is the world's largest democracy, it needs to deepen its social investment, broaden the access to education, and provide more open local governance. One major step towards these democratic improvements is its passing of the "Right to Information Act," or RTI.
The RTI act has allowed the population, regardless of social caste or financial status, to access unedited, government documents that explain and outline the allocation of public monies, why delays occurred in processing passports or pensions, why petitions for community improvements went ignored. The RTI has effectively decreased corruption and bribery within the governance; however, holes exsist in the act and are in need of closing. One such 'hole' is the delay of issuing fines, or not issueing fines at all, to the bureaucrats that fail to meet the RTI deadlines. Another change in the democracy of India has included into the political process, groups that historically were discriminated against or ignored due to their caste in society. The "Scheduled Tribes" as defined by the government, are learning to compete for political power through the ballot. Their awareness and mobilization has forced the government to pay attention to their pleas for deferred acknowledgments through compensatory rights. These politically democratic changes allow its poor to access power that was previously unobtainable.
Wisely, India acknowledges that there is not one road leading to the success of Urban Poverty Alleviation. The fast growing country has included many schemes involving money, access, and power in its attempt to include all of its citizens in the broad goals to participate in the world market of today and tomorrow.
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