Why People are Disadvantaged?
The situation of being disadvantaged is a complex one and needs to be examined along several dimensions. But before seeing the various dimensions, I would like to give the meaning of being disadvantaged.
According to Wikipedia, disadvantage is a generic term for individuals or groups of people who: face special problems such as physical or mental, lack money or economic support, are without power or other means of influence. The areas of disadvantage include personal, collective, economic, educational, health, cultural and ecological. Personal dimensions of disadvantage include insufficient and inadequate food consumption, poor housing and other facilities, threat to physical life, lack of employment and low income, lack of occupational skills, lack of awareness about social and political reality, want of self confidence and self respect, oppression and others.
The collective dimensions of disadvantage are leadership imposed with force, leaders not being aware of the real needs of the disadvantaged, inability of the community members to deal with disagreement and conflict among themselves, lack of any system to act collectively to influence public decision making in their favor, exploitation by vested interest groups, and disinterest to cooperate with developmental efforts of the community and other parties.
Economic disadvantages include lack of equitable access to land and other natural resources, not getting access to subsidized public input, poor wages for labor, a national economic policy which is against the interest of the disadvantaged, and the impact of international economic conditions (such as indebtedness) on the national and local economy.
Political system dimensions of disadvantage are lack of representation in the political and administrative position s of society, a situation where political power is associated with economic power and heritage and not with professional competence, and a political system which does not favor the interest of the disadvantaged.
Educational system dimensions of disadvantage include lack of equal opportunity for education, inadequate reservations for the weaker sections, and lack of financial support for continuing higher education.
Health dimensions of disadvantage are high incidence of communicable diseases, lack of health facilities and inaccessibility of the people to decision making related to health. Other areas of disadvantage are lack of community facilities such as water, electricity, sanitation, and communication; lack of adequate public and private support system for the aged and the infirm. In nut shell, as a result of this and that, we are in a position of being disadvantaged.
Tags: food consumption, lack money, national economic policy, poor wages, professional competence