ISU Blog#3

Social Issue- Poverty

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet the basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. This article talks about Africa being rich in natural resources and still suffering from poverty. It explains how two third of the people in the oil rich Nigeria are suffering from extreme poverty despite Republic of Congo being rich in gold, copper, diamond and titanium but the reality is that 9 out of 10 people are living in poverty. It further explains that the cause of the poverty is the multinational corporations that are looting Africa and China that has been making deals with the resource kingpins and making a colonial type system in which poor is becoming more poor. I chose this article since it resembles and highlights the social issue of poverty in my book "Karma" and shows how the governments were responsible for the misery of the poor in both cases. It explains that when Amar and Maya arrived in India and pass through the streets they saw thousands of people living on the streets with little or no food and some children of Maya's age were even selling tea and biscuits on the streets to make living for themselves. At that time the conditions in India were miserable as the atmosphere was filled with revenge and tension so the government was never able to provide any relief to the people since the Blue star operation( innocent Sikhs killed by military inside Golden temple) had just turned about to be the biggest mistake in the history of  the Indian government and then Sikhs were trying to assassinate the prime minister Indira Gandhi for her actions in the holy site of Golden temple. Lastly when Amar and Maya were passing through a street they saw a women with a skinny baby who was malnourished and when Maya asked Amar to help them he told her that it was their Karma that they had to face such hardships and their was nothing they could do to help them.

Slam Poem- "Am I Poor?"

This slam poem explains the poverty in the global world and how people do not acknowledge this issue and take everything for granted without thinking of the people who do not even have  electricity and basic needs in their homes. It talks about how we think of not having a smartphone to be poor whereas many people in the world do not have good drinking water in their homes. It shows the misconception we have for a poor person in the society.