[Mauritius] Measuring and understanding poverty

from L'Express

The lean sixties for Mauritians were followed by unprecedented growth and increased wealth but with numerous pockets of poverty, where people who had been left out of the gravy train suffered in silence! Today, for a complex variety of causes, the opportunity of great wealth has opened for some, while, for many, the spectre of poverty is reappearing again.

(This series of articles successively examines the definition, measurement, alleviation and eradication of poverty).

Measuring poverty: The most common way to measure a country’s wealth or poverty is GDP or GNP. A country’s total GDP or GNP is often divided by the population number to give an indication of the average per capita income. This figure, however, gives no indication of actual distribution of wealth within a nation. A few people may be extremely rich while the majority may be very poor. Gandhi defined the ultimate rule of equity in the world when he stated: “There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed!”

For example, based on global production levels of staple food (e.g. rice, wheat, barley, cassava, millet, maize, milk and fish, etc) one can ascertain that, if that food was equitably distributed, every person on this planet would have more than a 3,000 calorie diet a day (the average adult needs about 2,000 calories a day for a healthy life). No one would starve!

Reality, as we know, is different! A sad fact is that 50% of the world’s grain supplies goes to the feeding of cattle. In other words, the some time “scarcity” of grain (which causes famines) is artificially produced, to meet the demand for beef by the rich nations, at the expense of the poorer people and nations.

From a humanitarian and moral standpoint, people’s poverty and suffering defies measurement and indeed should not be compared. Also, international comparisons between countries require conversions into a common currency (usually the dollar). This may produce inaccurate results, and does not take proper account of how prices vary from country to country. Such comparisons do not account for inflation either, which in countries whose economy has been destroyed or badly managed can run at anything up to 100% per month or more (witness Zimbabwe recently or Argentina twenty years ago).

Simple truths about poverty: The poet, the philosopher and the doer all have come to different truths about the condition of poverty. Their thoughts can lead us to deeper understanding of it than facts and figures. Let’s review a few of them!

Workers from aid agencies, be they NGOs, UN or Governments, all can ascertain that:

You can alleviate immediate poverty by giving people money, tents, blankets and food, but you cannot “make poverty history” in that way. Self-achieved, sustainable development for everyone is the only realistic, long-term goal.

Thoughts on the human condition:

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. (Benjamin Franklin);

Do not ask the name of the person who seeks a bed for the night. He who is reluctant to give his name is the one who most needs shelter. (Victor Hugo)

The surest way to remain poor is to try and live like the rich! (Anon)

Hunger being, alas, one of the worst aspects of poverty, brings us to these truths:

No man can worship God or love his neighbour on an empty stomach (W.Wilson) and

Society comprises two classes: those who have more food than hunger and those who have more hunger than food.

The poor is the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid!

Thoughts on governance, very relevant to today’s Mauritius:

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. (J.F. Kennedy)

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of. (Confucius)

Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed. (Karl Marx)

“Small is beautiful” was originally uttered in relation to environmental action. Mother Teresa’s ceaseless work with the poor and dying taught her different aspects of this truth: “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But, if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things”, and

“We cannot do great things. We can only do little things with great love.”

And on a lighter note this sarcastic comment from Woody Allen:

Another good thing about being poor is that, when you are seventy, your children will not have declared you legally insane to gain control of your estate.

Dr Michael ATCHIA
mklatchia@intnet.mu