Answer the following questions briefly:

(i) What do you understand by human poverty?


(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor?


(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005?

(i) Human poverty: This concept broadens the general definition of economic poverty by including the aspects like education, healthcare, job security etc. into the methodology of marking poverty line. This is basically a concept to help improve the human life standard instead of just ensuring mere sustenance.


(ii) The poorest of the poor: This category of economic standard means that the people in it are not economically capable of even meeting their basis sustenance requirements. This also can be used to describe the old people, children (especially the girl child) and the women who are conventionally not taken in consideration while making policies for the poor and unemployed.


(iii) Main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005:


1. This provides 100 days assured employment every year to rural household in 200 districts of the country.


2. The scheme was extended to 600 districts later on.


3. Jobs were reserved for women and that also was one third.


4. If an applicant is not rendered employment within 15 days, then s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.


5. For the implementation of this scheme, central government and state governments have established national employment guarantee funds and state employment guarantee funds respectively.


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