Millennium development goals as road map to relief of chronic poverty.

Poverty has been defined differently by nations, international organizations and scholars. Most would agree that poverty involves going without certain essentials, or doing without services, possessions and activities that the well-off take for granted. But what is enough and what goods and services really matter, and who should decide these items? Having an agreed definition is a first step in agreeing an action, and international actions require internationally agreed definitions. The current internationally agreed definition is that proposed by the World Bank. A person or household is agreed to be poor if the per capita income is US $1 per day, adjusted for difference in purchasing power. Poverty rates based on this measure count the proportion of people in a country who lack the resources to buy a basic basket of goods. According to this definition there are 1.1 billion people (approximately 1 in 5 of the world population) living in poverty, mostly in developing countries. South Asia and Africa contribute an overwhelming proportion of the world's poor. Large numbers among the poor are caught in a poverty trap on account of disease, under nourishment, social exclusion and environmental degradation. They are unable to escape from extreme material deprivation. For them it is a life time of poverty which is then inherited by their children. According to the World Bank currently 27% of the developing world's population are living below the poverty line of US $1.25. Another World Bank category of per capita income between US $1–2 per day is used as a measure of moderate poverty. For the moderately poor the basic needs are met but just about barely. An earlier rule of thumb definition proposed by social scientists and extension workers with intimate knowledge of household dynamics was based on food intake. According to this definition when a household spends 80% of its income on satisfying hunger with local staple foods there is a very small margin for spending on other necessities of life such as clothing , shelter, schooling of children, fuel, water and sanitation, and so on. Such a household is reckoned as poor. But there are also households who after spending 80% of their income on food can barely achieve 80% of daily energy needs. Such households are the absolute poor. (Fig. 1) Income poverty is just one aspect of poverty. The poor are battered by a variety of deprivations. Poor housing and unhealthy neighbourhoods …