POVERTY
“Poverty” is defined as state or condition in which an
individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of
living.
There are different levels of poverty like: Absolute poverty,
Relative poverty situational poverty, generational poverty, rural poverty and
urban poverty.
According to the World Bank : poverty is a lack of income to
meet basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter.
Poverty is also defined as a lack of well-being, or a lack of
capabilities to function in society.
Extreme poverty is defined as a condition related to severe
deprivation of food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health,
shelter, education and information.
Religiously, poverty is due to self-denial.
The main responsibility for reducing poverty is of the
governments in power. They must recognize the causes of poverty in their
countries and adopt the best and swiftest methods to abolish poverty.
Poverty is not God-given; it is man-made . Man’s greed and wrong
economic policies are responsible for
several types of poverty.
The Greek philosopher and historian Plutarch (born in the 1st
century CE) said “Poverty is not dishonourable in itself, but only when it
comes from idleness, intemperance, extravagance, and folly.
According to the English clergy Caleb C. Colton (1780 -1832)
: “In proportion as nations get more corrupt, more disgrace will attach to
poverty, and more respect to wealth. There are two questions that would
completely reverse this order of things: “What keeps some persons poor? And what
has made some others rich? ” The true answer to these queries would often make
the poor man more proud of his poverty than the rich man is of his wealth, and
the rich man more justly ashamed of his wealth, than the poor man unjustly is
of his poverty.
Finally, this quote: He is not poor that has little, but he
that desires much. ---English poet Samuel Daniel (1562-1619).
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G.R.Kanwal
25 December 2024
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