Problem of Poverty and Poverty Alleviation: Impact of MGNREG Programme in India

Abstract

Poverty is not a recent phenomenon in India. Despite the five and half decades of planned economic
growth, a large section of the total population in India is still poverty-ridden and subject to extreme
destitution. Thus, a substantial segment of the society is deprived of the minimum standards of living and
some of the bare necessities of life. The question of inequality in the distribution of income is also closely
connected with the issue of poverty. Though the government of India has taken several development
programmes to fight against this menace during the plan period, our country still suffers from this
perennial problem. In this paper, the concept of poverty, poverty estimation in India, the trend of poverty
rate in rural and urban India, the poverty alleviation programmes, particularly the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) Programme, undertaken by the government and an
evaluation of such programmes has been discussed.