Draft- not for citation without prior permission of authors Poverty, Shame and Social Exclusion Working Paper 1 India Cultural conceptions of poverty associated shame: Analysis of Indian Cinema and Short stories Leemamol Mathew Sony Pellissery 2012 Dr. Leemamol Mathew, Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India
[email protected] Dr. Sony Pellissery , Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India
[email protected] 1 Draft- not for citation without prior permission of authors Cultural conceptions of poverty associated shame: Analysis of Indian Cinema and Short stories Introduction India is home to the largest number of poor people in the world. Of 1.13 billion people, 27.8 per cent live below the poverty line (below the accepted income level of consumption requirements according to the conservative standards of the Indian government). The face of this deep and persistent poverty is observable in poor spending on health, undignified ageing, poor educational standards, malnourished bodies, inferior housing, poor infrastructure resulting in deterioration in the quality of life, child labour, poor service delivery, less importance attached to safety measures etc. All of them have severe implications for inter- personal relationships within the household, village, work place, and in the larger community. Concurrently, in recent times, wealth accumulation through businesses in India is reported, indicating increasing economic inequality. On the other hand, India is also marked by another interesting phenomenon. It is the home of origin for the largest number of religions. Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism were all born in India. It is also important to note the peculiar institution of caste, i.e., dividing human beings into social hierarchies according to their occupation, which is peculiar to Indian culture.