Inequality between rich and poor has grown faster in the last few decades; especially after the economic reforms called “structural adjustment policy” which has widened the gap.
Industry and other corporate have immensely benefited from this market led policy but the benefits have not trickled down to the poor as desired.
Poverty could never be considered as a boon. The World Bank estimates that there are about 1.1 billion people, who live under extreme poor conditions (income less than $1 a day), where their basic needs like food, clothing and shelter itself are not met. United Nation estimates that by 2030 one third of humanity would be living in slums whose condition would be even worse than we can imagine.
Poverty does not happen by chance, but due to several factors that combine together. Factors based on human decisions including market driven global trade, insufficient aid, burden of huge debts, agrarian crisis, out of pocket expenditure, ineffective safety nets and social security.
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Studies show that, in poor countries, 66 children out of 1000 never make to their first birthdays, about one thirds of the world`s rural residents do not have the right kind of access to proper drinking water, around 74% of the world`s wealth is owned by the world`s richest 20% of people. Around 78 million people live with HIV/ AIDS, out of which, 73 million are from developing countries.
Under this prevailing scenario, poverty is definitely a curse and not a boon by all means.