The Poverty Mindset

Recently I got the opportunity to visit a village surrounded by hundreds of factories. This is only 60 kilometers away from Gurgaon. Water is available within 20 feet below the ground. The land is extremely fertile where three crops can be grown in a year. But still the villagers are below the poverty line. I was surprised and out of my curiosity I interacted with few villagers to understand the reason for their poverty. What I gathered gave me some new insight into poverty mindset.

A young man explained that he is a graduate but unemployed, the factories don’t provide job to villagers and there aren’t many opportunities around. A farmer said that it is difficult to get proper rate for their crop. A woman with five children explained how difficult it is to make ends meet. But despite of all the difficulties, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life. When I asked the villagers, do they know of any successful person from the village, they said that there are no successful people in the village. Some villagers explained that they are poor but still they are rich in their hearts, they feel that poverty is necessary to stay happy and together.

I found a school in the village, I met the principal and he shared that villagers are not ready to send their children to school and most of them are reluctant to spend money on child’s education. There are around 20% dropouts from the school every year. He also mentioned that some people have done exceedingly well despite of the demotivating environment – One villager have become a MBBS doctor, another person became an IAS officer.

During the one hour drive back to Gurgaon, I kept thinking about all the conversations I had with the villagers. Lots of questions kept popping in mind:

Why the villagers did not mention the success stories of their village?

Why the factories do not employ villagers?

Why some villagers are proud to be poor?

Why do they talk only about poverty?

Why do they feel that there are no opportunities around?

The questions which came to my mind were also the lead to my answers. I realized that it is not about availability of resources, but the mindset. Somehow, it is hardwired into their mind that the world is a difficult place and nothing can be done about it. Finding pride in penury further strengthens their belief about poverty. As a result, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life.

This is an extreme case, but when I introspected, I realized that most people have shades of the villager’s mentality which can be corrected.