Previous Year Question

Poverty is not limited to a lack of income and consumption expenditure. Its Social Indicators also reflect deprivation in education, health, nutrition, employment opportunities, and access to essential facilities. NCERT's Poverty as a Challenge explicitly includes illiteracy, lack of job opportunities, and lack of access to safe drinking water among the social indicators of poverty.

Statement 1 — Illiteracy: It is a social indicator of poverty. Lack of education can restrict access to knowledge, skill development, employment prospects, and social opportunities. A high level of illiteracy reflects Educational Deprivation.

Statement 2 — Safe Drinking Water: Access to safe drinking water is a social indicator of poverty. Lack of clean and safe water affects waterborne diseases, healthcare expenditure, and living standards. Therefore, the availability of drinking water is used to assess deprivation in basic facilities.

Statement 3 — Job Opportunities: Lack of job opportunities is also considered a social indicator of poverty. Employment is not merely a means of earning income but is also associated with economic security, social participation, and living standards. NCERT's traditional description of social indicators explicitly includes the lack of job opportunities.

Statement 4 — Size of the House: The size of a house is not included in the standard list of social indicators of poverty used in this question. It primarily represents a physical characteristic of housing. However, housing quality, Overcrowding, sanitation, and the availability of basic facilities can be important in assessing living standards and multidimensional poverty.

In modern poverty assessment, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures various deprivations under health, education, and living standards. Housing conditions may also be an indicator, but the size of a house alone and housing-related deprivation are not identical concepts.