Causes Of Urban Poverty

With an increase in the absolute number of urban poor, studies on poverty have taken an increased focus on urban poverty. Over the past couple of years a number of poverty reduction programmes aimed at addressing the problem of urban poverty have come up. However their effectiveness seems to be questionable. It was in this context that I started thinking more about urban poverty. My reading on urban poverty gave me more questions than answers. What exactly is the character of urban poverty? What are its inherent causes? Can urban poverty be considered to be a uniform concept? If not, do the existing definitions of urban poverty and subsequent policies based on them take these differences into account? These are a few questions that have caught

I believe that no policy aimed at addressing urban poverty is likely to be effective if the underlying causes of poverty aren’t taken into consideration. One of the most cited reasons of urban poverty is migration. While migration as the primal cause of poverty has gained acceptance, recent studies have questioned its explanatory power with regard to urban poverty considering the fact that not all urban poor are migrants. Informality of labour as a cause of urban poverty is an alternative explanation that has been offered. It is this explanation, one that focuses more on the kind of work that the urban poor are involved in, that I would like to know more about. While the explanatory power of informality of labour in explaining urban poverty is also contested, it demands focus given that informality of labour is becoming increasingly evident in the current context of hyperglobalization. Through my research I would like to understand to what extent urban poverty can be explained by this globalization induced informalization of labour. To what extent is informalization of labour integrally connected with urban poverty? If it can indeed explain urban poverty, what implications does it have on policy making? How does organization of labour come into the picture? What impact does organization of labour have in addressing urban poverty? These are a few questions that I would like to take up

The focus that CPIGD gives to issues pertaining to governance, globalization, labour, poverty, etc. makes it the ideal centre to guide me in my research. Some of the works of the faculty members have been of great use to me in the past. I have found their work to be extremely remarkable and an opportunity to work under their guidance would be an honour. In the past the centre has worked on projects concerning informal work and urban poverty. I hope to take from the knowledge gained on the