Inequality in the ownership pattern of resources is one of the major causes of poverty. Discuss in the context of ‘paradox of poverty’.

The 'paradox of poverty' describes deprivation persisting amid plenty — an economy generating adequate resources and growth, yet leaving large sections poor because ownership of assets, not aggregate output, determines who benefits.

How skewed ownership produces poverty

• Land: incomplete land reforms left ownership concentrated — NSS-based estimates suggest the top decile of rural households owns close to half of the land, while most agricultural households are marginal cultivators or landless labourers with weak bargaining power.
• Wealth: Oxfam and World Inequality Lab estimates indicate the richest 1% hold about 40% of national wealth; asset-poor households cannot collateralize credit, invest in education or absorb shocks.
• Minerals and forests: resource-rich central-eastern districts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha rank among the poorest on the National Multidimensional Poverty Index — a domestic 'resource curse' where rents flow out while displacement stays.
• Commons: shrinking common property resources — grazing lands, tanks, forests — strip the landless of their informal safety net.
• The result is the vicious circle: assetlessness → low human capital → informal low-wage work → continued assetlessness across generations.

Breaking the paradox

• Complete tenancy reform, homestead rights and land-record modernization (SVAMITVA, DILRMP); genuine distribution of ceiling-surplus land.
• Community resource rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006; effective District Mineral Foundations to plough mineral rents back into affected communities.
• Progressive taxation funding universal basic services; financial inclusion (Jan Dhan, Mudra), SHG-led asset creation and skilling that convert income support into ownership of productive assets.

Growth alone cannot resolve distributional poverty. Equitable ownership of land, capital and commons — not just higher output — is the structural remedy the paradox of poverty demands.