This day marks an opportunity to look at poverty as a serious problem to be tackled. Poverty is seen as a state of people lacking in life’s basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing. This is a conservative understanding. This state of affairs is absolute poverty.
However, poverty needs to be seen beyond these three essentials. Education and health also need to find a place in people’s life structure. In addition, poverty may also include social and political elements alongside economic elements.
The world stands in need of policy makers, planners and strategists who can give substance and meaning to politicians’ realm in tackling poverty. When governments are run by politicians who have vested interest and favouritism, it is the general public who suffer.
In a world where corporate houses and mega industrialist are de facto rulers, poverty eradication is given a back seat and poverty alleviation is the primetime program. Such poverty alleviation programs are agenda-based items to hoodwink the poor. Because, when one sees a few big industrialists have such financial power and influence to garner political favour to expand their kingdom, while the gap between the rich and the poor is an ever-widening gulf, one cannot believe that governments are serious about tackling poverty.
Politicians of all hues want the poor to remain floating so that they can use the poor as vote banks after throwing crumbs of poverty alleviation programs. In actual fact, to tackle poverty seriously, governments have to address issues of economic well being, education, health care, social justice, unequal income distribution, peaceful life and right to work.
Just window-dressing operations through alleviation programs are not lasting solutions. To eradicate poverty, nations need honest and committed leaders, men and women with integrity to steer the nation towards prosperity.
This year’s theme is: Dignity for All in Practice. Human beings have human dignity. Poverty is a humiliating and debilitating situation. Alleviation or charity programs are but temporary window-dressing operations to soothe the conscience of the donor or the giver. It has no lasting effect. We need to restore to the poor their dignity deprived by socio-economic imbalances, unjust social structures and topsy-turvy planning.
There are miles to go before politicians, leaders and rulers arrive at the discerning knowledge that poverty eradication needs to be an honest effort.