POVERTY

Poverty is denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. Where the persons lacks the basic capacity needed to participate in a society effectively. This is how a person, who does not have enough to clothe himself or his family, or go to a school or afford  medical assistance, or to grow or buy his own food, exists. Insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion are common factors of poverty. The denial of access to clean water and sanitation is one of the most bleak aspects of the fragile environment of a poverty ridden person.

Some of the many factors that lead to the socio-economic issue of poverty are lack of education and sanitation, cultural and religious discrimination, unemployment, corruption, overpopulation etc. According to a report by UNICEF, 22,000 children die every day due to poverty.

There are mainly two regions in the world which are severely affected by poverty - South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Understanding the intensity of the problem, various governments across the globe are taking actions to eradicate extreme poverty.

Also in order to curb the problem of poverty, the Global Poverty Project was founded by Hugh Evas and Simon Moss with an aim to increase the number of people who would help eradicate poverty.

They have envisioned a poverty-free generation and have made efforts in this direction by following two strategies:

      •         They campaign for government, business and consumer action to create a change in the conditions of the poor.

      •           They have helped build a movement which encourages education and self help techniques amongst the poor.

Their activities since the commencement of the project include

      •           1.4 billion reasons

      •           Live below the line

      •           The End of polio

      •           Global Citizen

      •           Global Citizen Festival

Poverty Reduction is one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations and the targets include:

            •           Halving the proportion of people who have income that is less than $1.25 a day.

            •           Achieving full and productive employment and work for all women and young people.

            •           A Reduction to half in the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

The United Nations has taken effective measures and we are on our journey to eradicate poverty at a global level. However a lot has to be done during this journey to attain the final goal .

 AVANTIKA SARDANA