Nowadays college students are trying to make a difference in many different ways. One of them is fighting poverty. In India, college students want to fight poverty at the grassroots level. According to the United Nations Development Program, the number of people who are in poverty dropped to 16.4% this year from 55% in 2005. Despite this positive news, many people in India are still living in poverty. Here is some information about poverty in India and what graduate students are doing about it.

About Poverty in India

There are many reasons for India’s poverty problem. India’s population is constantly increasing, with at least 17 million people born each year. Combined with employment issues, these factors conspire together to keep people in poverty. 

Poverty is also defined as the lack of basic resources such as health care, sanitation and electricity. The lack of these basic necessities can negatively impact life expectancy. The reduction of poverty in many places around the world, including India, will improve health for the overall population of the world. Many of the diseases that people get come from those living in poverty so it is best to decrease that amount by helping people in poverty.

Graduate Students’ Efforts

In an attempt to take care of poverty related issues, more than 50 graduate students at Kristu Jayanti College went on a mission to make changes at the grassroots level. Wanting to carry out the understanding, initiating and advocating important conversations on demanding economic issues, these students challenged themselves to address the internal migrant problem in India. The International Organization for Migration states that ‘migrant’ is a blanket term that is not defined under international law, reflecting the common understanding of a person who moves away from their place of residence. This term has a multitude of categories of people such as migrant workers. 

“Labor migration is one of the defining features of the contemporary world of work and is integral to the process of India’s social and economic development,” states the Decent Work Country Programme for India 2023-2027. Not only in terms of numbers but economic relevance, internal migration is an important issue in this country. The students were able to combine advocacy, dialogue and research. 

The Results of the Study

“In our study, we examined, for example, the potability of drinking water, and the findings were quite concerning as in our initial tests, most water samples were contaminated,” claimed a microbiology student. In the next phase carried out by the college, students created awareness campaigns based on their own research. Through in-person demonstrations the students explained the use of each element and how they purify the water. Without these elements, many people do not have access to clean water. The journey that these students took shows how effective teamwork and vision can make a difference.

– Hailey Spencer
Photo: Flickr