Incidence of Urban Poverty in Tamil Nadu: A Micro Level SocioEconomic Analysis

Abstract

India is urbanizing, this transition, which will see India's urban population reach a figure close to 600 million by 2031, is not simply a shift of demographics. It places cities and towns at the centre of India's development trajectory. In the coming decades, the urban sector will play a critical role in the structural transformation of the Indian economy and in sustaining the high rates of economic growth. The Human Development Reports and other United Nations/World Bank reports identify South Asia as one of the most deprived regions in the World. South Asia has the largest number of people in the world living in absolute poverty which includes 46 per cent of the developing world's population. Sixty percent of these are women, with limited access to basic needs. The greatest burden of human deprivation and poverty, illiteracy and health-related problems falls on women. The present study tries to study the incidence of urban poverty at micro level in one of the fast growing towns of Tamil Nadu specifically to study the Socio Demographic background of the sample respondents; the Income and Expenditure Pattern and to explore the availability of basic needs and problems faced by the respondents in the study area; and to suggest possible policy measures to reduce the incidence of urban poverty to improve the standard of living of the respondents of the study area through the primary data collected from the selected sample respondents. The paper suggests that the government should provide better development programme facilities, so that people living below poverty line can improve their livelihood. It also suggests that Poverty alleviation programmes should also take up the issue of poverty from the social and economic perspectives.