if the indian government allows millions of its people to shine their bvtts in open air daily what do you expect from these people! shame to them is a compliment!
China
Chinas Economy Whats in a measure of poverty anyway?
29 Wednesday Feb 2012
Posted by shardsofchina in China, Theme: The Economy
While theres no doubt that Chinas economic rise has improved the lives of a billion people, who arent going to jump up and down and shake the world for it (its a myth anyway they wouldnt have the slightest effect on the passage of the earth). There are still an awful lot of people with very little money available to them here in China.
Behind the smiles, poverty is only too real an issue for China's rural poor
In fact according to estimates from the United Nations there are around 300 million people living below the internationally defined line of absolute poverty. Thats $1.25 a day to you and me and works out at just over $450 a year.
The Chinese government disagrees and it uses a different measure to calculate absolute poverty in China. It says that people need a minimum salary of 1,200 RMB a year to live on, and thats only $190 a year. And they say there are only 200 million people surviving on this amount in the country.
Either way you look at it; there are a lot of people in China surviving on very little money. Its roughly equivalent to every single person in the United States living on less than $500 a year. So if you think moneys tight for you, you might give a moment of thanks that you arent living in rural China.
Living conditions can be optimistically described as "basic" if you live on less than $500 a year
But which measure is fairest for calculating real poverty? Theres no simple answer to this question, mainly because it comes down to speculation about the costs of living that people face and what other resources they can access instead of (or as well as) actual money.
Theres no doubt that if you have no occupation then the Chinese government number would be hopelessly optimistic, someone in Niger (which is experiencing famine and drought at the moment) with less than $1.25 a day would be facing very bleak prospects in the short-term and quite possibly would die of starvation if an aid agency wasnt able to intervene.
But the situation in China is different in most parts of the country, from Niger, in that these very poor people are farmers. And farmers can eat the food they grow. The UN figure allows that the $1.25 includes the necessary income to buy food, as the Chinese farmer can eat the food he or she grows they may well not need as much money to meet their essential needs.
Its fair to say that the quality of life of someone who makes 100 RMB a month (roughly $16/17) isnt going to be the greatest. And for these people it ensures a cycle of poverty that is almost impossible to escape theres no free education in China, if you want your child to go to school you have to pay for it. (This is changing and at least one province has now offered free basic schooling to its hukou holding citizens).
Without education the chances of you breaking away from your farming lifestyle are almost zero, particularly as China already has a surplus of bright young things with degrees and no jobs to go to. Its even difficult to secure a basic factory working position because illiteracy will block you from most employers hiring criteria.
Now there are people out there that believe if you just work hard enough (they never actually specify how hard this should be) you can make a better life and even become rich. These people really dont know what theyre talking about. Social mobility comes at a price and if you cant even pay the most basic of entry fees that of education, you simply cannot advance.
progress look for its meaning in dictionary... U r 20 folds below the US, which is a DEMOCRACY. So u r also behind if u have to look like that. The point is U CAN PROGRESS with full democratic rights also. India is also behind US but progressing, we will also have the things u r saying in due time. COZ WE ARE PROGRESSING. and UR ALSO PROGRESSING.
