This short essay discusses the issue of poverty in Nepal. Despite a number of poverty-reduction programs run by a myriad of actors, poverty in Nepal is still rampant, and the country remains one of the poorest countries in the world. In this essay, I argue that many poverty alleviation programs in Nepal failed because they isolated poverty as an economic and growth problem, whereas, poverty should have been identified and tackled as a political and a human rights issue. I begin the essay by briefly sharing my own experience of poverty while growing up in rural Nepal. I, then, explore the overall poverty scenario in Nepal and analyze a few major causes and consequences of poverty in the country. After offering an overview of poverty reduction approaches in Nepal, I conclude the essay with a few recommendations intended for organizations and policymakers formulating poverty-alleviation strategies in Nepal.
Poverty is a variab1e condition with multiple effects on human life. There is no universal definition of poverty and it is understood differently in different countries. The poverty line is the criterion with which politicians or researchers distinguish whether people or households are poor. There are two main types of poverty lines: the absolute and the relative poverty line. Various methods are used to calculate both types of poverty line. They can be distinguished into the following groups: the budget or consumption basket; the subjective method; the economic distance method; and legal or political methods. ; Lietuvos žmonės dažnai vartoja žodį skurdas. Kasdienėje kalboje šis žodis yra suprantamas ir paprastai nekelia jokių abejonių. Tačiau atsakyti į klausimą, kuriuos gyventojus priskirti prie skurstančių ir kiek Lietuvoje yra skurstančių žmonių, sudėtinga. Šiame straipsnyje pateikiama užsienio šalių patirtis, nagrinėjant skurdo problemas.