LAW5701 Law, Poverty and Development — Unit 1: Introduction to Poverty

Unit 1: Introduction to Poverty

1.1 Concept, Meaning and Definition of Poverty

The poverty’s definitional journey (the exam’s core arc):

1. The income-line face (the classical): the consumption-or-income below-the-line (the dollar-a-day’s evolution (the extreme-poverty line’s updating: the $1.90 → the $2.15 line (the 2017-PPP world))); the national lines (the Nepal’s own poverty line (the NLSS-based consumption measure)).
2. The basic-needs face: the deprivation’s list (the food-water-shelter-health-education minimums (the line’s fuller content)).
3. The capability face (Sen’s revolution): the poverty as the capability-deprivation (the beings-and-doings (the “Development as Freedom” core (the income-as-means-not-end))); the Human Development’s follow (the HDI’s multidimensional turn).
4. The multidimensional face (the present standard): the MPI (the overlapping deprivations (the health-education-living-standards’s ten indicators)); the poverty’s many rooms (the money alone misses).
5. The legal face (the course’s lens): the poverty as the rights-denial (the constitutional-and-human-rights catalogue unfulfilled (U3’s frame: the poor’s rights as the law’s duties)).

1.2 Forces and Causes of Poverty

1. The economic: the unemployment-and-underemployment (the informal-sector’s dominance (the LAW5606-U1’s informality face)); the asset-lessness (the landless-and-near-landless (the land’s concentration)); the low-productivity agriculture (the subsistence trap).
2. The social-and-structural: the discrimination’s structures (the caste (the Dalit’s exclusion (the untouchability’s continuing reality despite the 2068 Act)); the gender (the women’s unequal access); the ethnicity-and-geography (the remote-and-lagging regions (the Karnali-and-Madhes faces)); the exclusion’s intergenerational transmission.
3. The political-and-institutional: the governance’s failures (the corruption (the CIAA’s institutional companion (LAW5605-U8.2)); the capture (the elite’s rule)); the service-delivery’s weakness (the schools-and-clinics’ absence); the conflict’s legacy (the 1996-2006 displacement-and-destruction).
4. The natural-and-shock: the geography (the mountains’ harshness); the disasters (the 2015 earthquake’s impoverishment); the climate (the LAW5603-U link: the poor’s vulnerability); the remittance-dependence’s paradox (the out-migration’s mixed book).

1.3 Measurement of Poverty

1. The money-metrics: the headcount-ratio (the poor’s percentage); the poverty-gap (the depth’s measure); the severity (the squared-gap (the distribution-sensitivity)); the lines’ construction (the food-basket’s cost (the calorie-anchor’s 2,220-type lore) + the non-food).
2. The survey machinery: the NLSS (the Nepal Living Standards Survey (the rounds’ series (the 2022/23 round’s latest face: about one-fifth below the national line (the honest hedge: the survey figures’ citation by year)))); the CPI’s companion (the price-updating).
3. The multidimensional measures: the global MPI (the Oxford-UNDP’s measure (the Nepal’s striking reduction: the decade’s halving-plus story (the ~30-percent-to-teens trajectory (the 2018-and-2022 figures’ record)))); the national MPI (the NPC’s localization).
4. The complementary indicators: the Gini (the inequality’s rise (the remittance-era’s paradox)); the HDI (the human’s composite); the vulnerability’s measures (the near-poor’s world).

Model Questions

1. Define poverty and trace its definitional evolution. (10)
2. Explain the causes of poverty with Nepal’s structures. (15)
3. How is poverty measured? (10)
4. Short notes: (a) Capability approach; (b) MPI; (c) Poverty gap; (d) Gini. (4×5)

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📚 Get the complete notes: Download the full Law, Poverty and Development PDF (all units) — Law Info Nepal Original Notes Series.