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China and India Uplift Millions from Slums as U.S. Inequality Grows (One World, Many Peaces)
China and India Uplift Millions from Slums as U.S. Inequality Grows
China Slums and India Slums Get SmallerThink it's impossible to lift millions of people out of desperate poverty in a matter of years? Think again. India and China have together uplifted at least 125 million people from slums since 2000, and have improved the lives of slum dwellers more than any other countries, according to a new U.N. report. Meanwhile, the U.S. is quickly securing the distinction of being the most unequal country on earth.
India has lifted 59.7 million people out of slum conditions since 2000, where slum prevalence fell from 41.5 per cent in 1990 to 28.1 per cent in 2010, according the State of the Worlds Cities report. China's urban population living in slums fell from 37.3 per cent in 2000 to some 28 per cent in 2010, a relative decrease of 25 per cent. China has made the greatest progress on this front with improvements to the daily living conditions of 65.3 million urban residents. Overall, 227 million people worldwide have moved out of slum conditions since 2000. This didn't happen accidentally, of course, but is the result of superb planning and even more notable execution on the parts of the Indian and Chinese governments.
The report outlines four major steps to uplifting people out of slums. First is to build the skills of the urban poor and encourage them starting micro-businesses of their own choosing, funded by micro-credit. Second is to improve the provision of basic services from nutrition and sanitation within slum settlements. Third is to provide land tenure security to poor families living in unauthorized settlements, improving their access to low-cost housing and subsidized housing finance. These steps correspond exactly to the first level of the Pyramid of Peace in Antony Adolf's Peace: A World History.
The US has emerged as one of the most unequal societies with cities like New York, Chicago and Washington less equal than places like Brazzaville in Congo-Brazzaville, Managua in Nicaragua and Davao City in the Phillippines. Overall, however, the U.N. report warns that the number of people living in slums has risen from 777 million in 2000 to 830 million in 2010, and unless urgent steps similar to those taken by India and China are taken that number could rise to 900 million by 2020.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India now has 100 million more people living below the poverty line than in 2004, according to official estimates released on Sunday.
The poverty rate has risen to 37.2 percent of the population from 27.5 percent in 2004, a change that will require the Congress-ruled government to spend more money on the poor.
The new estimate comes weeks after Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress party, asked the government to revise a Food Security Bill to include more women, children and destitutes.
"The Planning Commission has accepted the report on poverty figures," Abhijit Sen, a member of the Planning Commission told Reuters, referring to the new poverty estimate report submitted by a government panel last December.
India now has 410 million people living below the U.N. estimated poverty line of $1.25 a day, 100 million more than was estimated earlier, officials said.
India calculates how much of its population is living below the poverty line by checking whether families can afford one square meal a day that meets minimum nutrition needs.
It was not immediately clear how much more the federal government would have to spend on the poor, as that would depend on the Food Security Bill when it is presented to the government after the necessary changes, officials say.
India's Planning Commission will meet the food and expenditure secretaries next week to estimate the cost aspects of the bill, government officials said.
A third of the world's poor are believed to be in India, living on less than $2 per day, worse than in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, experts say.
100 million more Indians now living in poverty | Top News | Reuters