Social Security for the Poor 5

Industrialization and employment generation have not made a significant impact on poverty alleviation. Inadequate and infirm policies, labor militancy, unethical business practices, delayed decisions, worship of the motto " self before service" and" get rich quick" by all sections of society having access to income , wealth, influence and power, have not made a dent on the problem. Finance was used as a lever to enable the poor to command resources for self employment. In many cases the funds were siphoned off by the intermediaries and amount ultimately available was less than 50%.

Projects often failed and remain dormant for most of the time and come alive only during election seasons;.Politicians come up with populist schemes such as supply of food grains at ridiculously low prices, which have an overall adverse effect on the economy, as a substitute for employment generation. Poor illiterate masses are carried away by the schemes. Unemployment insurance introduced by a government provided for $5 per month to each unemployed individual. This was given up for want of funds though it had limited coverage.

With all these measures the problem of poverty continues to exist. Coherent national policy and coverage are lacking. Failure of programs and loss of resources perpetuate the malady. . The Above Poverty Line (APL) section of the population enjoys better living standards and brighter prospects. . The higher the strata the more the benefits and the leverage. The Below Poverty Level (BPL) section faces threat of starvation and suffers misery. Spillover benefits from investment and employment generation brought down the number of BPL individuals though not significantly.