SECONDARY POVERTY

Everyone who claims to be a Indian citizen knows the term “poverty” and what it is all about and even some might be experiencing it in their daily life too. In a shorter sense it can be defined as lack of basic needs to lead a minimal standard of living.

But very few, who had taken economics, as their main subject, must have known what is “secondary poverty” is all about. So I would like to give my readers a hint on this topic. Secondary poverty is a condition in which earnings are not sufficient to support maintenance of physical, environment and one’s basic want. To illustrate, I furnish a few instances of ‘secondary poverty’:

· If I suffer from poor upkeep of my apartment, it is an indicator of secondary poverty.
· If I am not able to make up enough money to pay my health check up when I need it most, it is also an indicator of secondary poverty.
· If I suffer from the environmental pollution, which I am not able to avoid due to the cost of eradicating it, it is an indicator of secondary poverty.

Almost every 9 among 10 Indians suffer from secondary poverty.

In my apartment the inhabitants suffer from water scarcity and we are compelled to have only 20 minutes of water. One family can hardly get 250 liters of water everyday even after paying nearly 800 bucks every month. So people of my apartment basically suffer from secondary poverty i.e. though the resources were made available they are not enough for essential usage. In the same way every one of is facing secondary poverty either directly or indirectly.

The best example which I could provide you is the power cut which was made customary by the government of tamilnadu for 2 hours everyday.
Finally I would like to leave a saying of Rowntree, that “the secondary poverty had prevented more people from meeting what he called “human need standard” than did primary poverty (that is, inadequate income).

Thus I wish to conclude saying that it is the responsibilities of the individuals to keep themselves alleviated from secondary poverty.


Thank you