By no stretch of imagination can economic theories work in practice, as the social world is a horrible world, full of contradictions and social structures that prevent the very poor from enjoying even the basic amenities.  

One of the famous theories in economics, followed in most parts of the world is the trickle down theory.  This theory assumes that once the rich buy a whole range of goods and services, an entirely new set of industries will open up in the tertiary sector or the service sector, absorbing a huge number of people -- that is hundreds of thousands of people -- into jobs or in self-employment.

For example, if there is a major car manufacturing industry, this organization is the parent organization.  The various spare parts of the car like the doors, the fasteners, the brakes, the head lights and so on, are manufactured by a whole range of organizations, who in turn, have suppliers manufacturing some part or the other in some corner of the country.  

When several organizations open up, and since employment runs into several hundreds of thousands of people, the service sector in the town where the organizations are located, or the nearby towns have new schools, colleges, shopping malls, a huge range of textile shops, grocery shops, barber shops and so on.  

There is an economic cycle at work.  

However, what happens to those on the last leg of the economic ladder?  In other words, what happens to those in the shops, who earn just Rs.3000/- per month, or even less?  Who will help them to sustain medical bills of their aged parents, costly higher education of their children when they grow up, or even maintain ordinary middle-class (the lower middle class) life-styles?

Those who earn such salaries and the very poor who still work in farms, or as self-employed electricians, plumbers, masons, drivers who get money only based on orders from the rich people ( that is, they are paid per trip, between say Chennai and Bangalore, but there is no guarantee that they will get regular trips), and the like, are left to dance to the music of "market forces".  A kilogram of potato costs Rs.30/- to these people, but costs the same to the person who gets over one lakh of rupees as salary every month.  House rents are beyond the control of most of these people, who come to the city or the town from very faraway villages, where the house rents are somewhat cheaper.  

Most of these people have the entire family earning some money in one way or the other.  It is not uncommon to find boys as young as just ten years, managing the petty shop for a short while in the evenings and for most of the day, during holidays.  This shop would be managed by the wife, who would live in a one room tenement attached to the petty shop.  

What does the future hold for such people who do not have assured incomes, and whose children cannot just afford to study in the best of English medium schools?  

This is exactly where the situation has already become complex, even by conservative standards.  The ration items keeps most families just surviving and barely saving something for a rainy day.

Some experiments like the very cheap canteens run by the State Government in Chennai and other big cities of Tamil Nadu, offer some solace, but this is only part of the solution.

The best way is to skill a huge number of these people in some trade, which has good export potential. For example, there are quite a few self help groups that are engaged in the task of training some women and getting them to do something good, like basket weaving, making designer jute bags and so on.  

This has become a good profession, and it has indeed helped a good number of such women come out of the poverty line, in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.  There should be concerted movement to multiply these efforts to a much larger degree and help the "fringe" people, as one might call them, to lead far better lives.

At the very same time, we need to pool all our resources to help the very poor, who perpetually sleep on the pavements in huge cities and even small towns.  We need to give them something to lead better lives.  

Skilling such people to the maximum extent possible, is a very good solution.  But voluntary efforts to make their lives a lot more meaningful is something that needs to be done urgently  

Why do we need voluntary efforts?  This is because the bureaucracy that controls the Government schemes will not allow any good work to be done by the Government at all.  In fact, the corruption is so huge, that many schemes remain only on paper, particularly in Tamil Nadu, which is one of the worst States for massive corruption in India.  

Voluntary efforts to reach out to the poor, both in terms of direct help and in terms of training in some skill, will go a long way in making such efforts to really reach the poor in a big way.  There will be a huge momentum shift and the trend of social violence will also come down.

One of the most important lessons of voluntary help is that such help should never be a regular feature, as the poor people tend to become very lazy.  Instead, efforts should be made to at least educate them to the maximum extent possible, so that they become more alert about the opportunities that exist for setting up small businesses that do not require huge capital, like small hotels, selling of flowers and vegetables door to door and so on.  Those who are engaged in such tasks, for the most periods of one year, do earn enough to keep their head above water.

Micro-finance and the role of the NGOs will also become crucial.  For example, in many pockets in the States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the NGOs have arranged for some small loans, that have lifted thousands above the poverty line, and these people have set up tailoring shops and those successful have even opened training schools in tailoring. 

We need to multiply such efforts.  The tickle down theory does work only to some extent, but the people at the bottom of the economic ladder, needed to be cared for, in some way or the other.  This is a task that needs urgent attention.