Concept of Poverty & Prosperity…A Non-Conventional Approach

Abstract

The word poverty derives its roots from the French word pauvre, meaning poor. It means the state of lacking material possessions, of having little or no means to support oneself. Anyone lacking the basic means necessary to remain alive is in poverty. It has generally been used in a manner so as to depict an element of money in it. However, I am inclined to reject such a regressive narrow minded and short sighted approach. Poverty is a very wide and vast term. Its use cannot be restricted. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen sees poverty as “the deprivation of basic capabilities/opportunities/choices rather than merely as lowness of incomes, which is the standard criterion of identification of poverty. Poverty thus, is not a state of material resources on has but, the state of mind that one lives in. One can have money but, a poor state of mind (marred by depression, anxiety insecurity etc) will not lead to his/her prosperity. Thus, we need to separate the state of being financially sound and prosperity; the 2 of them are not synonymous. One can have a bare minimum of financial resources (enough to support oneself) and yet, at the same time be prosperous if he/she has a good health, if the mind is healthy and, there exists a zeal to do something. It is the health of the Mind which is the yardstick for measuring the prosperity of an individual. One needs to be wealthy by the mind and not by the pocket to be called prosperous.