Poverty in India is a cause for concern even after 62 years of Independence. Poverty indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency. India has the world’s largest number of poor people. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which 193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in urban areas. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Poverty level is not uniform across India. The poverty level is below 10 percent in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below 50 percent in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40 percent in Northeastern states of Assam, Tripura, and Mehgalaya and in Southern states of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Some of the reasons of poverty in India are unequal distribution of income, high population growth, illiteracy, large families, caste system, poor employment opportunities in rural areas and migration of rural population to cities, which further worsens the condition.

Since majority of rural area depends on agriculture (which is highly dependant on rain patterns) inadequate rain fall and improper irrigation facilities can cause low or no production of crops which leads to severe poverty among rural population. Rural poverty is majorly due to unemployment and low productivity. Urban poverty is due to migration of people from rural areas to cities in search of jobs, slow job growth and increasing population. Though the Government has taken steps and initiated number of programs to bring down the poverty level, it has not reached to all sectors. It’s imperative that private organizations should also pitch in to help the Government to eradicate poverty levels in India.