Abstract
(This part of Social Change Indicators series presents data on low-income rural households, consumption expenditures, housing condition and poverty estimates for different social classes.)
The incidence of poverty in India continues to be a key policy concern, in which tribal people, dalits, landless farm workers and urban casual workers have been identified as the most vulnerable class to fall under the poverty trap in certain states of India. It is commonly held that low income levels remain the key reason responsible for persisting poverty problems in India. The government in the last 15 years or so has initiated several poverty reduction and livelihood promotion programmes that directly benefit the poor. The official estimates that are available till the years 2011 and 2012 have recorded substantial reductions in income poverty across different caste or social groups. Recently, the multi-dimensional measures of poverty have indicated large poverty reductions for India during the period from 2005–06 to 2015–16. Since a large number of states across India remain vulnerable to caste-based inequalities, this part of Social Change Indicators series presents data on low-income rural households, consumption expenditures, housing condition and poverty estimates for different social classes based on information provided by the Socio-Economic and Caste Census, National Sample Survey and other government or academic sources (Alkire, Oldiges, & Kanagaratnam, 2018; Government of India, 2015a, 2015b; IDFC Rural Development Network, 2013). Our analysis of data refers to 18 states that cover more than 95 per cent of the Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in the country.
Source: Author’s calculation from SECC data.
Source: Author’s calculation from SECC data
Source: NSS 68th round data.
Source: NSS 68th round data.
Source: Author’s calculation from SECC data.
Source: Author’s calculation from SECC data.
Percentage of Population Below Poverty Line, 2009–2010
Source: IDFC Rural Development Network (2013).
Multi-dimensional Poverty (headcount) Across Caste Groups in India, 2005–2006 and 2015–2016
Source: Alkire et al. (2018).
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.