“An essential condition to eradicate poverty is to liberate the poor from the process of deprivation.” Substantiate this statement with suitable examples.

Poverty is not merely low income but, as Amartya Sen argues, capability deprivation — a process in which illiteracy, ill-health, landlessness, indebtedness and social discrimination reproduce one another across generations. Eradicating poverty therefore requires breaking this process, not just transferring income.

How deprivation perpetuates poverty

• An illiterate labourer's children drop out to work, inheriting low-wage insecurity — the intergenerational trap.
• Health shocks push families into debt and distress labour; catastrophic health spending remains a major cause of relapse into poverty.
• Social exclusion of Dalits, Adivasis and women restricts access to land, credit and public services, keeping deprivation concentrated.

Liberation from deprivation: what works

• Education: the RTE Act and mid-day meals raised enrolment and retention, converting child workers into first-generation learners.
• Health protection: Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY shields poor households from catastrophic hospital expenses.
• Assets and rights: land reforms in Kerala and West Bengal and the Forest Rights Act 2006 gave the poor productive security.
• Livelihoods and organisation: MGNREGA's wage floor, SHG federations such as Kudumbashree and SEWA, and Jan Dhan-led financial inclusion build income and agency together.
• Food and nutrition: NFSA 2013 and PDS reforms attack nutritional deprivation directly.

The evidence validates the statement: NITI Aayog's Multidimensional Poverty Index shows about 13.5 crore people exited multidimensional poverty between 2015–16 and 2019–21 as health, schooling and living standards improved. Durable poverty eradication lies in empowerment — educated, healthy, organised and asset-owning citizens liberate themselves from deprivation.