Journal of Rural Development

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Development Strategy for the Poorest of the Poor: A Case in West Bengal, India


Affiliations
1 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S.C.Mallick Road, UG-Arts Building, 3rd Floor, Kolkata - 700032., India
2 Professor & Head, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S.C.Mallick Road, UG-Arts Building, 3rd Floor, Kolkata - 700032., India
     

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The paper identifies the incidence of poverty, average poverty gap and severity of multidimensional poverty (MP) among different social classes in West Bengal, India using primary household-level data. The IV probit regression results reveal that the northern zone of rural West Bengal and Scheduled Tribe (ST) are found to be the most spatially backward and ethnic categories, respectively. Both poverty (MP) and inequality are found to be high within the ST group, whereas inequality of MP is higher within the upper social class (General caste) compared to the scheduled caste (SC). Public infrastructure like primary schools, healthcare centres, and motorable roads appear as key determinants of MP. Living standard deprivation contributes the maximum to MP when compared to health and education.

Keywords

Poverty, Inequality, Multidimensional, Foster-greer-thorbecke Indices, Social Class
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  • Development Strategy for the Poorest of the Poor: A Case in West Bengal, India

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Authors

Poulomi Roy
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S.C.Mallick Road, UG-Arts Building, 3rd Floor, Kolkata - 700032., India
Sushil Kumar Haldar
Professor & Head, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S.C.Mallick Road, UG-Arts Building, 3rd Floor, Kolkata - 700032., India

Abstract


The paper identifies the incidence of poverty, average poverty gap and severity of multidimensional poverty (MP) among different social classes in West Bengal, India using primary household-level data. The IV probit regression results reveal that the northern zone of rural West Bengal and Scheduled Tribe (ST) are found to be the most spatially backward and ethnic categories, respectively. Both poverty (MP) and inequality are found to be high within the ST group, whereas inequality of MP is higher within the upper social class (General caste) compared to the scheduled caste (SC). Public infrastructure like primary schools, healthcare centres, and motorable roads appear as key determinants of MP. Living standard deprivation contributes the maximum to MP when compared to health and education.

Keywords


Poverty, Inequality, Multidimensional, Foster-greer-thorbecke Indices, Social Class

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.25175/jrd%2F2021%2Fv40%2Fi5%2F170697