The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages PDF Author: Raji Jayaraman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Cost and standard of living
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
January 1998 Continued agricultural growth and diversification into nonagricultural activities are essential if India is to continue reducing rural poverty. But policymakers hoping to alleviate rural poverty must also be aware of the causes and implications of persisting, if not increasing, inequality within villages. Jayaraman and Lanjouw review longitudinal village studies from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to identify changes in living standards in rural India in recent decades. They scrutinize the main forces of economic change-agricultural intensification, changes in land relations, and occupational diversification-to explain changes in level and distribution of living standards in rural communities. These forces of economic change appear to have offset or at least mitigated the pressure that growing populations can place on existing resources. But the decline in rural poverty has been slow and irregular at best. Nor is poverty reduction only a matter of economic development. For instance, the rural poor often attribute much of the improvement in their living conditions to reduced dependence on patrons. There are few reports in village studies of particularly effective government policies aimed at reducing poverty. The long-term poor still tend to be from the disadvantaged castes and to live in households that rely on income from agricultural labor. There is little evidence that inequalities within village communities have declined. In some cases improved material well-being of rural households has led to greater social stratification rather than less, with women and members of the lower castes suffering the consequences. Such inequalities could limit how policy interventions or continued growth can reduce poverty further. Policymakers must ensure accountability to keep abuses-for example, the privileged classes directing all benefits to themselves-to a minimum. This paper-a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study the dynamics of poverty in the South Asia region.

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages PDF Author: Raji Jayaraman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Cost and standard of living
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
January 1998 Continued agricultural growth and diversification into nonagricultural activities are essential if India is to continue reducing rural poverty. But policymakers hoping to alleviate rural poverty must also be aware of the causes and implications of persisting, if not increasing, inequality within villages. Jayaraman and Lanjouw review longitudinal village studies from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to identify changes in living standards in rural India in recent decades. They scrutinize the main forces of economic change-agricultural intensification, changes in land relations, and occupational diversification-to explain changes in level and distribution of living standards in rural communities. These forces of economic change appear to have offset or at least mitigated the pressure that growing populations can place on existing resources. But the decline in rural poverty has been slow and irregular at best. Nor is poverty reduction only a matter of economic development. For instance, the rural poor often attribute much of the improvement in their living conditions to reduced dependence on patrons. There are few reports in village studies of particularly effective government policies aimed at reducing poverty. The long-term poor still tend to be from the disadvantaged castes and to live in households that rely on income from agricultural labor. There is little evidence that inequalities within village communities have declined. In some cases improved material well-being of rural households has led to greater social stratification rather than less, with women and members of the lower castes suffering the consequences. Such inequalities could limit how policy interventions or continued growth can reduce poverty further. Policymakers must ensure accountability to keep abuses-for example, the privileged classes directing all benefits to themselves-to a minimum. This paper-a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study the dynamics of poverty in the South Asia region.

Inequality, Poverty and Development in India

Inequality, Poverty and Development in India PDF Author: Utpal Kumar De
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811062749
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
This book reviews the fulfillment of two Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), namely poverty and inequality, in the Indian subcontinent. It examines the complex interplay among development, inequality and poverty in relation to corruption, environmental resource management, agricultural adjustment to climate change and institutional arrangements, with a special focus on the Northeastern region of the country. The topics covered offer a blend of theoretical arguments and empirical data with regard to the three main themes of the book, while also providing agricultural and environmental perspectives. The book also provides guidelines for policy initiatives for harnessing the region’s potential in the areas of industry, trade, sustainable use of mineral, forest and other natural resources, nature-based tourism through proper infrastructure development, and resolving land issues to achieve inclusive development.In addition to introducing some new questions on the development-ethnic conflict interface, it uses sophisticated tools such as the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method in consumption expenditure to show the endowment, and return to endowment effects; and techniques like spatial correlation-regression to analyze regional variation, co-integration, vector autoregression, the panel data technique and the adaptation index to climate change, to understand socio-economic complexities and the effect of the concerned variables on entrepreneurship and human development.The book offers a timely contribution to our understanding of major MDGs and highlights their successes and failures. It also includes analytical frameworks that are key to future policy initiatives. Further, it disseminates approaches and methods that improve livelihoods and standards of living through poverty reduction and promoting inclusive development along with sustainable utilization of available natural resources. Putting forward various ideas for creating a more sustainable future, it inspires and encourages readers to pursue further studies to address the gaps that still remain.

Poverty, Inequality and Rural Development

Poverty, Inequality and Rural Development PDF Author: David Greenaway
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 134923446X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Poverty alleviation is a major objective of development. More than a fifth of the world's population lives in absolute poverty, and the majority of the poor live in rural areas. This volume studies what can be done for alleviating rural poverty. Four chapters address the measurement of poverty and inequality, including the use of household expenditure surveys and intra-household income distribution. Evidence is presented for India, Mauritania, Cte d'Ivoire and China. Other chapters present case studies on strategies for rural development: provision of rural credit in Bangladesh and India; technical change in Philippine agriculture; contract farming in Thailand; and banana growers in the Windwards. The contributions introduce the problems of rural development and show that effective rural development is assisted by investment in education and secure access to credit; that equity is important for incentives but not directly related to poverty; and that technical and institutional reform are essential, but require careful design and implementation.

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages PDF Author: Raji Jayaraman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cost and standard of living
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description


Perspectives on Poverty in India

Perspectives on Poverty in India PDF Author: The World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821387286
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The book examines India s experience with poverty reduction in a period of rapid economic growth. Marshalling evidence from multiple sources of survey data and drawing on new methods, the book asks how India s structural transformation - from rural to urban, and from agriculture to nonfarm sectors - is impacting poverty. Our analysis suggests that since the early 1990s, urban growth has emerged as a much more important driver of poverty reduction than in the past. We focus in particular on the role of small and medium size conurbations in India, both as the urban sub-sector in which urban poverty is overwhelmingly concentrated, and as a sub-sector that could potentially stimulate rural-based poverty reduction. Second, in rural areas, we focus on the nature of intersectoral transformation out of agriculture into the nonfarm economy. Stagnation in agriculture has been accompanied by dynamism in the nonfarm sector, but there is much debate about whether the growth seen has been a symptom of agrarian distress or a source of poverty reduction. Finally, alongside the accelerating economic growth and the highly visible transformation that is occurring in India s major cities, inequality is on the rise. This is raising concern that economic growth in India has by-passed significant segments of the population. The third theme on social exclusion asks if, despite the dramatic growth, historically grounded inequalities along lines of caste, tribe and gender have persisted. This book would be of interest for policymakers, researchers, non-governmental organizations, and international agencies from India and abroad--who wish to know more about India s experience of the last two decades in reducing poverty.

The Great Ascent

The Great Ascent PDF Author: Inderjit Singh
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Poverty is the grim reality for some 400 million people - mostly small farmers and agricultural laborers - in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. To remedy the problem, South Asian governments and international agencies have focused on raising the productivity of small farms and increasing opportunities for rural employment. This strategy, however, has long been criticized for doing the poor more harm than good. The author challenges that pessimistic view by critically reviewing a wealth of evidence from recent academic literature and the World Bank's operational experience. He shows that rapid agricultural growth has benefited all classes of the poor and that the "great ascent" from poverty to a more materially rewarding life has begun. A variety of programs intended to help the poor directly are examined in detail. Research, extension, and training activities are evaluated for their effectiveness in promoting the adoption of high-yielding varieties of cereal, spreading new farming technology, encouraging multiple cropping, and increasing the cultivation of high-value crops. The author also considers programs in dairying, poultry farming, commercial fishing, and forestry and argues that policymakers have neglected these potentially profitable activities. Finally, he discusses the dismal failure of land reforms in reducing poverty.

Handbook on Poverty + Inequality

Handbook on Poverty + Inequality PDF Author: Jonathan Haughton
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821376144
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
For anyone wanting to learn, in practical terms, how to measure, describe, monitor, evaluate, and analyze poverty, this Handbook is the place to start. It is designed to be accessible to people with a university-level background in science or the social sciences. It is an invaluable tool for policy analysts, researchers, college students, and government officials working on policy issues related to poverty and inequality.

Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia

Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia PDF Author: Almas Heshmati
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9812874208
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
This book looks at the major policy challenges facing developing Asia and how the region sustains rapid economic growth to reduce multidimensional poverty through socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable measures. Asia is facing many challenges arising from population growth, rapid urbanization, provision of services, climate change and the need to redress declining growth after the global financial crisis. This book examines poverty and related issues and aims to advance the development of new tools and measurement of multidimensional poverty and poverty reduction policy analysis. The book covers a wide range of issues, including determinants and causes of poverty and its changes; consequences and impacts of poverty on human capital formation, growth and consumption; assessment of poverty strategies and policies; the role of government, NGOs and other institutions in poverty reduction; rural-urban migration and poverty; vulnerability to poverty; breakdown of poverty into chronic and transitory components; and a comparative study on poverty issues in Asia and other regions. The book will appeal to all those interested in economic development, resources, policies and economic welfare and growth.

Rural Poverty in Developing Countries

Rural Poverty in Developing Countries PDF Author: Mr.Mahmood Hasan Khan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 9781589060067
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
Reviews causes of poverty in rural areas and presents a policy framework for reducing rural poverty, including through land reform, public works programs, access to credit, physical and social infrastructure, subsidies, and transfer of technology. Identifies key elements for drafting a policy to reduce rural poverty.