Ethical Issues On India And Poverty

“The world’s dwindling supplies of arable land, fresh water, energy and minerals — essential for the production of food and appliances such as mobile phones, cars, televisions and washing machines — cannot meet rising global demand.”Dambisa Moyo We have a global supply and demand balance that is out of equilibrium. As economies develop and more citizens gain higher wages their discretionary incomes rise with it. With that rise brings generational waves of new buyers to the world economy at a rates that have not been seen before. When the India’s or China’s populations of over 1 billion have more urban middle income citizens than rural low income citizens those people need more things to find a happy life.

Most people here in America love to drive nice expensive cars, live in big beautiful homes, and spend their money as they please. In his essay, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” Peter Singer argues that we can save children’s lives by donating to those in need because “so much of our income is spent on things not essential to the preservation of our lives and health” (9). We should refrain from buying anything that is not essential so that we can help hungry children overseas.

This is a greater concern in world as sectors such as Africa, where poverty has roughly doubled in recent years. Consequently, many of the extreme poverty rates where based on a $1.25 purchasing power a day cut off. If this number is adjusted in 2005 to just $2.00 a day the rate of people living in extreme poverty jumps to 51% (David Moss, 2011). These numbers show that billions of people are unable provide themselves with basics like food, clothing, or shelter. This is a serious problem as these are people who have potential are being left in poverty that kills. At the very least income inequality leaves people with basic necessities with a chance to

Nearly half the world’s population: over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. Poverty is a prevailing issue that effects people coming from many walks of life. Poverty itself is the state of being inferior in quality of insufficient in amount; consequently, many economists and sociologists argue that poverty is the root cause to many other terminal issues that society faces. Because those in poverty cannot provide the fundamentals for themselves, they effectually live less healthy, educational, and happy lives. Although I myself come from relative poverty for an American, I recognize that many others not only in America, but around the world are less fortunate. Ultimately, I believe that it is our ultimate ethical obligation

In India, some of the worst off will earn daily wages by scouring through piles of trash looking for recyclables to sell for money. The definition of wealth in the slums is determined by a person’s ability to afford shelter for their plastic. 60 million Indians live in the Urban slums and 300 million under the World Bank poverty line - $1.25 per day (91). In china, the poor face the same issues. Although China has made considerable efforts to help out their poor, but their efforts continue to fall short. As living conditions continue to stay rough, people continue to move towards the cities, farmers are abandoning their land and crops in search for higher incomes. However, for a while, the migrants were rejected city services. Often children and spouses are separated for long periods of time, in most cases young parents are forced to send their children home to their village while they work in city factories in order to send money home. A large issue is that people in China are historically unaware of the labor laws that the should be followed (94). In both countries, even when people are aware of the social services they could receive, most are not allowed to get bank accounts, the only means they would have to receive government compensation. Plus, both countries have historical caste systems that often prevent any economic mobility (98). Most of the time, caste systems will determine where

Consumers have power to support corporations which align with moral and ethical production. Companies that exploit human labor for the monetary value is a prevalent issue in the manufacturing industry. In the Congo, the greed for natural resources comes at any cost. The need for tantalum, tin, gold and tungsten is in demand; companies are willing to pay for these cheaply at the price of human lives. Rapings, murders, child soldiers, poverty, and violence are results of the demand for natural resources. Companies such as Apple, Intel, HP, Philips and Microsoft use conflict materials to create products they market to consumers. These resources make up cell phones, portable music players, and computers; these objects many first world consumers

Poverty is visible anywhere and it happens everywhere, from the richest nations to the poorest. From the youth to the elderly, poverty can dramatically affect anyone. Some grow up in poverty, while others end up in it. Poverty has increased drastically over the years. The blame for the increased poverty has become an extremely controversial subject, as there are many contributing factors to spite each side. It is evident that it is the people in poverty themselves that is the underlying cause of it due to their insignificant will power and their choice to live off the government rather than working themselves.

Developing nations are by far in the worst conditions. Besides poverty and no easy or convenient access to health care they are also struggling with illnesses such as diabetes, cholesterol, and/or malnutrition. Big brand companies are marking their presence and taking advantage of these conditions for their own benefit.

We all know stories of the rich unnecessarily splurging on overpriced luxury items, such as a ten thousand dollar box of chocolates, a forty-five thousand dollar shirt, or even a one million and six hundred thousand dollar pair of sandals. Imagine if that money could be put towards something benevolent, such as feeding millions of people who suffer from starvation. The current issue plaguing the world’s inhabitants is the ever-widening gap between the wealthy and impoverished, resulting in social and economic troubles. As wealth continues to leave the hands of the poor, only to drop in the hands of the rich, the common people become ensnared by the various complications that arise. The excessive wealth inequality between the wealthy and poor

In order to have a more nuanced understanding of global poverty today, one must appreciate the historical methods used to combat poverty, as well as possible changes within the situations of those living in poverty. Within recent decades, China has had the largest reduction of poverty, from 29% in 1990 to 9.1% in 2015 (Angang , Linlin &

Poverty is an extremely complex issue that requires an all-round approach that simply using one strategy to eradicate it will not suffice. An article written by Kaylie Tiessen in the Huffington Post uses these examples to show the many different needs people require when dealing with

Over the past twenty years, China has grown ten percent annual growth and lifted nearly half of the 1.3 billion which is 800 million people out of poverty and growth in the middle class. Today, China boasts having the world’s second-largest economy.

Three examples that Josette recommends to solve the problems contributing to poverty is to transform the technologies that are very available in the food industry to be available for traditional crops, providing warehouses filled with food to villages, and giving a digital food card to each family. The first example she talks about is how she is currently working on a product called, Food for Humanity. This product is made with chickpeas, dried milk, and a host of vitamins to match exactly what the brain needs with different technologists. Josette wants to make this change so that families can have easy access to these packets of food when natural disasters, such as floods or hurricanes occur in their villages. The goal of having this product is so that parents can avoid being out in the front lines at a grocery store or a supermarket, because they know what to do to get their children food, but some are not able to get the food they need. A couple great things about this product are that it does not need to be refrigerated, does not need water, and only costs 17 cents to produce.

The problem of such purchasing is that the natural satisfaction of needs is replaced by the artificial. A good example is the marketing of milk products in the Third World. In the 1970s the multinational food company Nestle advertised powdered milk for babies as an alternative to breast feeding in countries such as Kenya. The attractiveness of the product was enhanced by the positive image of development, modernity and technology that businessman projected to mothers. In this case, however, the results were tragic, because the product required sanitary conditions that were not available in those times. Therefore, many infants who were fed in this way faced illness and even death. Far from offering a diversity of choices for the satisfaction of needs, advertisement offers only one message: “purchase a commodity.”

Poverty has been evident since The Great Depression in the 1930’s. Since then, there has been an attempt to lower poverty level, though only a 2.5% decrease has been seen since 1965. It is argued that we do not need another war on poverty since nothing has seemed to help, but this is an issue that affects everyone. As Mark Bittman stated in his article “Why We’re Fasting” “This is a moral issue; the budget is a moral document.” Poverty can be improved if more emphasis is added to helping individuals or families out of poverty, instead of assisting them through their lives, by improving existing laws or implementing new laws centering around the idea of a fixed income.