Without splitting hair over categories, one could safely say that poverty is the consort of inequality, or if one wants to be blunt one could also say that poverty is the necessary outcome of lack of equality. Before going forward it’s important to be definition-ally clear about the distinction between equity and equality. Equity, as we all know, is all about giving what a person needs to be successful and equality is about treating everybody the same.

The argument here is that one needs to address the issues of lack of equality and shocks in order that the poverty may be effectively ameliorated. Without getting into too extreme a situation to flesh out our logic let us take the example of flood and agriculture. A natural devastation like flood tends to kill all the standing crop in the affected area. It is a loss for a rich and a poor farmer alike. But the impact of the loss differs between them given their differing prosperity levels. In the first case the loss may be bearable given the accumulated wealth that a rich farmer may have and during the next season he will have ready access to cash to invest in new crop. In the interim period, his needs will also be met from the accumulated reserve that he will have access to.

It doesn’t require an academic rigor to understand that he who has access to accumulated fund to tide over a shock that affects the income flow and return on investment will yet be able to recoup his economic situation.

The case however is exactly opposite when it comes to a poor farmer. With no surplus to depend on every flood, forces him to greater degree of poverty. Given the economic situation that describes a poor farmer, it may be safely assumed that he is heavily indebted, maybe even with his land mortgaged. A flood would mean he not only has to feed his family without any legitimate flow of earned sustenance till the next cropping season, it may also mean he will have lost whatever little land he had to call his own to raise funds for the purpose. The next season will see him as an agricultural labour trying more desperately to meet both ends meet.

In a situation as described above we can clearly see the role that lack of equality and equity plays. In a society that doesn’t discriminate in providing equal access to everybody in basic need satisfaction will almost axiomatically have created a protective infrastructure that allows none to slide into abject penury thereby preventing enhanced poverty resulting from such economic shocks as floods or any other disruptive event.