Is Poverty Reduction Pro-poor During 2000s? A Regional Analysis of Uttar Pradesh,India

This article examines whether poverty reduction across the regions of Uttar Pradesh during the 2000s has been pro-poor and explores why there are disparities in poverty reduction between regions. Using unit-level data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) for the 61st (2004–2005) and 68th (2011–2012) rounds, the study estimates poverty and pro-poor indices for both rural and urban areas. Poverty changes between these two periods are decomposed into growth and distribution effects to assess pro-poorness across the NSS regions of Uttar Pradesh. The findings reveal that, during the 2000s, the growth effect in poverty reduction outweighed the inequality effect, leading to overall poverty reduction in the state. The southern and northern Upper Ganga Plains experienced faster, pro-poor poverty reduction, while the central region saw an increase in poverty, indicating that growth was anti-poor in this area. The study shows that regions with more skewed land distribution, such as the eastern and central regions, are having high poverty ratio, and the poverty reduction is faster in the regions having less skewed distribution of land holding as the southern and northern Upper Ganga Plain regions. The study also highlights the need for region-specific and area-targeted schemes to reduce poverty effectively across Uttar Pradesh.