How Poverty Marginalizes The Rural Poor

The effects of these biases are manifest in the degeneration of the productive potentials of the poor, leading to increasingly unsustainable use of natural resources and further deterioration of the production environment. There is a general lack of recognition of the real contributions of the rural poor, particularly in upland areas, to the well-being of Asia as a whole and even of the world at large — for instance through valuable environmental services such as carbon sequestration and protection of biodiversity.

 Rapid population growth is exerting tremendous pressure on productive natural tion has been accentuated. For example, the overvaluation of exchange rates and persistent budget deficits has hurt the poor; the former through heavy taxes on the export crops pro duced by the poor, the latter through inflationary impact. And persistent budgetary deficits sometimes induce ad hoc cuts in public expenditure on the health and social services meant for the poor. Weak access to basic health, sanitation, and immunization, adversely affects their productivity and income, and ultimately etc.

Several interacting factors contribute to the process of marginalization:

• Anti—poor national policies

• High fertility

• Environmental deterioration

• Natural disasters

• Cultural and ethnic factors

• Exploitative intermediation

• International processes.

Available evidence shows that the ind peoples are being increasingly displaced from land ownership; this is evident, fbrinstance, in the state of Tripura, or the Thane district of Maharashtra State, both in India. The displacement of thee indigenous peo pies means that they will eventually belong to the classes of landless and marginal farm ers (Nathan 1998). Areas where the tribals still dominate land ownership, namely the hill forest regions are marked by a substantial lack of infrastructure. Some of these areas have been opened up essentially to extract timber, minerals, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and other natural resources, but these investments have also enabled the advance of non-tribal populations into the area. The result is that the tribals are losing their best lands.

What little development assistance the uplai populations have received has — until recently — been guided by the primary concerns of the lowlands and mainstream soci eties. The conventional industrial and agrarian sectors rarely flourish in the hills and mountains due to strong comparative disadvantages in terms of production costs, for example. The uplands do have attractive assets, but past efforts to exploit their com parative advantages have tended to dispossess the local populations. Environmental services, such as controlled hydrological flows or carbon sequestration and the preser vation of biodiversity, are taken from them without any compensation. The current process of globalization in a context of weak property rights of the indigenous peoples enhances the risks of further marginalization.

Food:

For a developing country like Bangladesh where the main socio politico-economic concern is the mass poverty which results in hunger, starvation and impoverishment, lack of shelter, clothing, education etc., the income method is considered to be more appropriate for estimating the extent of poverty. As described earlier, this teethed involves estimating the income level needed to fulfill a predetermined calorie intake and non- food essentials for proper functioning and living in the society.

Overpopulation, the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space, is closely associated with poverty. It can result from high population density (the ratio of people to land area, usually expressed as numbers of persons per square kilometer or square mile) or from low amounts of resources, or from both. Excessively high population densities put stress on available resources. Only a certain number of people can be supported on a given area of land, and that number depends on how much food and other resources the land can provide. In countries where people live primarily by means of simple farming, gardening, herding, hunting, and gathering, even large areas of land can support only small numbers of people because these labor-intensive subsistence activities produce only small amounts of food.

Nutrition:

Malnutrition is one of the most common effects of poverty. In developing countries, the poorest people cannot obtain adequate calories to develop or maintain their appropriate body weight. Poor children often suffer the most, commonly from a deficiency known as protein-energy malnutrition. In these cases, children lack protein in their diets, especially from an insufficient amount of mother’s milk. Protein-energy malnutrition leads to a variety of problems, including gastrointestinal disorders, stunted growth, poor mental development, and high rates of infection. Prolonged malnutrition can lead to starvation, a condition in which the body’s tissues and organs deteriorate. Long-term starvation almost always results in death.

In addition to caloric malnutrition, most poor children and adults suffer from severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These deficiencies can lead to mental disorders; damage to vital organs; failure of the senses, such as poor vision; problems conceiving or delivering babies; and gastrointestinal distress.

Even in the major cities of developed nations, the poor often have unhealthful diets. Resulting in part from a lack of health care and nutritional education and in part from the lower availability and higher cost of better-quality foods, the urban poor tend to eat too much of the wrong kinds of foods. The urban poor commonly eat foods that are fatty or fried, high in sugar and salt, and made of mostly processed carbohydrates. Their diets are often high in low-grade fatty meats, chips, candies, and desserts and low in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and high-quality lean meats and fish. Such diets commonly cause obesity and hypertension, both of which can contribute to heart disease and other ailments.

Even in the major cities of developed nations, the poor often have unhealthful diets. Resulting in part from a lack of health care and nutritional education and in part from the lower availability and higher cost of better-quality foods, the urban poor tend to eat too much of the wrong kinds of foods. The urban poor commonly eat foods that are fatty or fried, high in sugar and salt, and made of mostly processed carbohydrates. Their diets are often high in low-grade fatty meats, chips, candies, and desserts and low in vegetables, fruits, whole

Deprivation:

In most developed countries like Bangladesh, rates of mental illness are highest among the poor. The most common disorders associated with poverty are depression and anxiety disorders. Without meaningful, well-paying work and the resources and social affirmation that come with it, many poor people develop low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness. People who are stressed by the uncertainty of where they will get their next meal or spend the night often develop high anxiety. Because the poor experience high rates of severe mental illness, they also have high rates of suicide.

Some poor people attempt to relieve feelings of anxiety and depression associated with poverty through the use of mind-altering drugs. A common drug among the poor is alcohol, which is legal and affordable. Many of those who drink develop alcoholism, becoming physically and emotionally dependent on drinking. Others use and often become addicted to more dangerous and often illegal drugs, including heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine. Of these drug users, those who take drugs intravenously (by injection into a vein) and share needles with others also suffer from high rates of diseases transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids, including AIDS.

Mental illness and drug dependence demonstrate the difficulties of distinguishing between poverty’s causes and its effects. Mentally ill and drug-dependent people tend to have trouble holding steady jobs and maintaining relationships, causing them to fall into poverty. They may also have difficulty lifting themselves out of poverty. At the same time, in some cases poverty it appears to promote mental illness and drug dependence

Land:

In Bangladesh the Rural Poor has a very few land of their own. Most of the poor are landless farmers. They cultivate the lands of the rural elite class.

Feminization

The notion of ‘feminization of poverty’ was first used to imply that women were making up an ever increasing share 0 the world’s poor as a result of recession and cuts in public spending (Pearce 1978, Scott 1984, Rein and Erie 1988). The term has been used for any or all of the following situations:

• More women than men are poor.

• Poor women suffer more from capability deprivation than poor men.

• The severity of poverty is higher for women.

• Women face greater hardship in lifting themselves and their children Out of the poverty trap.

• There are poor women even within non-poor families.

Security:

Some experts believe that poverty leads people to commit acts of violence and crime. Anger, desperation, and the need for money for food, shelter, and other necessities may all contribute to criminal behavior among the poor. Other experts caution that the link of cause and effect between poverty and crime is unclear. In some cases, poverty undoubtedly motivates people to commit crimes, although it may not be the only factor involved. Other problems associated with poverty are often linked to crime. For example, to obtain money some poor people commit the crime of selling illegal drugs; others may steal to obtain the money to buy drugs on which they are dependent.