Discuss the economic causes of poverty in India.

India is majorly hit with the cause of the poverty. The main reason for the economic backwardness in the country is poverty. When there is economic backwardness, the economy cannot invest in the education, health and other factors which contribute to the social indicators. It leads to an adverse effect in the economic factors such as:

• Lack of economic growth

The first important reason for mass poverty prevailing in India is lack of adequate economic growth in India. In the first three decades of planned development (1951-81) in India, annual average growth in national income had been 3.6 percent.

• Population

Rapid population growth since 1951 is another significant factor responsible for persisting poverty in India. Population in India has augmented from 36 crores in 1951 to 102.7 crores in 2001, that is, 66 crores people have been added to the Indian population in the last about 50 years since independence. Rapid population growth causes extreme sub-division and disintegration of holdings. As a result, per person, available land has greatly declined so that households do not have access to adequate land to produce enough output and income for them.

• Unemployment

The subsistence of unemployment and under �employment in the Indian economy is another cause of poverty in India. Unemployment prevails more among casual labour whose quantity in labour force has been increasing and in their case unemployment, and poverty go mutually.