Economic Development and Poverty in India

Contents: Preface. 1. Education for development: India in the Asian perspective/Shovan Ray. 2. Growth and poverty: an assessment/Sudhakar Panda. 3. Rural poverty in Odisha/Sailabala Debi. 4. Development, environment and governance/Haribandhu Panda. 5. Diversification of economic activities under rural non-farm sector/Samir Samantara. 6. Inequality versus polarization: trends and patterns in Indian states/Sridhar Kundu. 7. NREGA and rural poverty/Mrinal Mandal and Gopa Samanta. 8. Education, poverty and economic development in India/Surat Nayak. 9. MGNREGS and eradication of rural poverty in India/Swapan Kumar Roy. 10. Employment, poverty and inequality among agricultural workers in India/Ruchika Rani. 11. NREGA and poverty reduction in India/S.M. Jawed Akhtar and Abdul Azeez. 12. Industrialization in rural India: informality as exclusion/Keshab Das.

After the initiation of economic reforms in 1991, the Indian economy has been growing faster than its historical growth rate. Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) recorded annual growth rate of 7.2 percent and the underway-Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) aims to achieve 9.0 percent growth rate per annum. However, the pattern of economic reforms over the last 20 years has left in its trail a variety of inequalities, which have caused socio-politico tensions. Some states have surged ahead while others are lagging behind. While the economy has performed well in terms of growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP), its performance in terms of human development indicators has been unsatisfactory.

Economic reforms have not paid adequate attention to health and education sectors. The industrial growth of India is becoming elite oriented by registering relatively large increases in the production of commodities consumed by wealthy people. It is noteworthy that 70 percent of India’s population still lives in rural areas.

India’s recent economic growth performance is creditable. However, is has not made any demonstrable difference to the lives of the poorest and the vulnerable sections of society. The present volume contains 12 well research papers contributed by scholars in the field, which provide deep insights into India’s recent growth pattern and its deficiencies.