IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pas/asarcc/2002-07.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rural Poverty in India: Structure, determinants and suggestions for policy reform

Author

Listed:
  • Raghbendra Jha

Abstract

Poverty, particularly rural poverty, has been one of the enduring policy challenges in India. Surely the most important objective of the reforms process would have been to make a significant dent on rural poverty. It is from this that a program of accelerated growth must draw its rationale. In this paper, I discuss the evolution of poverty in India - particularly during the reform period. Then I analyze the structure and determinants of this poverty. The rate of decline of poverty declined during the 1990s as compared to the 1980s. I advance some reasons for this. Policy prescriptions for a more effective anti poverty strategy are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Raghbendra Jha, 2002. "Rural Poverty in India: Structure, determinants and suggestions for policy reform," ASARC Working Papers 2002-07, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
  • Handle: RePEc:pas:asarcc:2002-07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstreams/a7947782-f5af-4b0d-add8-4f93bcdf33b7/download
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Villasenor, JoseA. & Arnold, Barry C., 1989. "Elliptical Lorenz curves," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 327-338, February.
    2. Jha,R., 2000. "Reducing Poverty and Inequality in India: Has Liberalization Helped?," Research Paper 204, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
    3. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    4. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1996. "Income distribution, political instability, and investment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1203-1228, June.
    5. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1991. "Is Inequality Harmful for Growth? Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 581, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    7. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1997. "Macroeconomic Crises and Poverty Monitoring: A Case Study for India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 135-152, June.
    8. Jha, Raghbendra & Rhodes, Mark J., 1999. "Some Imperatives of the Green Revolution: Technical Efficiency and Ownership of Inputs in Indian Agriculture," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 57-64, April.
    9. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1996. "How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
    10. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1999. "When is growth pro-poor? Evidence from the diverse experiences of India's states," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2263, The World Bank.
    11. Grootaert, Christiaan & Kanbur, Ravi, 1995. "Child labor : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1454, The World Bank.
    12. Gaurav Datt, 1999. "Has Poverty Declined since Economic Reforms? Statistical Data Analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers archive-31, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    13. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Farm productivity and rural poverty in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 62-85.
    14. Jha, Raghbendra, 2001. "Macroeconomics of Fiscal Policy in Developing Countries," Departmental Working Papers 2001-05, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    15. Raghav Gaiha, 2000. "On the Targeting of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in the Indian State of Maharashtra," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 203-219, October.
    16. repec:bla:rdevec:v:1:y:1997:i:2:p:135-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Boyle, G E & McCarthy, T G, 1997. "A Simple Measure of Beta-Convergence," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(2), pages 257-264, May.
    18. Ravallion, Martin, 1998. "Does aggregation hide the harmful effects of inequality on growth?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 73-77, October.
    19. Mundle, S. & Tulasidhar, V.B., 1998. "Adjustment and Distribution: The Indian Experience," Papers 17, Asian Development Bank.
    20. Raghav Gaiha, 1996. "How dependent are the rural poor on the employment guarantee scheme in India?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 669-694.
    21. Evans, Paul & Karras, Georgios, 1996. "Convergence revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 249-265, April.
    22. Bruno, Michael & Ravallion, Martin & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "Equity and growth in developing countries : old and new perspectives on the policy issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1563, The World Bank.
    23. Stephen Howes & Jean Olson Lanjouw, 1998. "Does Sample Design Matter For Poverty Rate Comparisons?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 44(1), pages 99-109, March.
    24. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Why Have Some Indian States Done Better than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 17-38, February.
    25. Gaiha, Raghav, 2000. "On the Targeting of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in the Indian State of Maharashtra," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 203-219.
    26. Raghav Gaiha & Katsushi Imai, 2002. "Rural Public Works and Poverty Alleviation--the case of the employment guarantee scheme in Maharashtra," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 131-151.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meenakshi Rajeev, 2007. "Rural Infrastructure Development Fund: Need for a Track Change," Working Papers 195, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    2. Rajeev, Meenakshi, 2008. "Ensuring Rural Infrastructure in India: Role of Rural Infrastructure Development fund," MPRA Paper 9836, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Aug 2008.
    3. Sen, S K & Guha, S & Chakraborty, N, 2011. "A Study on Regional Disparity of Devolution of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund - Evidence for India," MPRA Paper 39117, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jha,R., 2000. "Reducing Poverty and Inequality in India: Has Liberalization Helped?," Research Paper 204, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
    2. Ravallion, Martin, 2001. "Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Looking Beyond Averages," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1803-1815, November.
    3. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 2002. "Why has economic growth been more pro-poor in some states of India than others?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 381-400, August.
    4. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2007. "China's (uneven) progress against poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 1-42, January.
    5. Ravallion, Martin, 2000. "Prices, wages and poverty in rural India: what lessons do the time series data hold for policy?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 351-364, June.
    6. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 2002. "Is India's Economic Growth Leaving the Poor Behind?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 89-108, Summer.
    7. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Farm productivity and rural poverty in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 62-85.
    8. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion & Rinku Murgai, 2020. "Poverty and Growth in India over Six Decades," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 4-27, January.
    9. Nadia Belhaj Hassine & Magda Kandil, 2009. "Trade liberalisation, agricultural productivity and poverty in the Mediterranean region," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 36(1), pages 1-29, March.
    10. Victor GAMARRA ECHENIQUE, 2018. "Sectoral Composition Of Growth And Poverty Reduction In Peru: A Regional Approach (2001-2016)," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 18(2), pages 23-42.
    11. Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Resosudarmo, Budy P., 2015. "Growth, Growth Accelerations, and the Poor: Lessons from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 154-165.
    12. ALi Abdel Gadir Ali, "undated". "Poverty in the Arab Region: A Selective Review," API-Working Paper Series 0402, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    13. Sen Gupta, Abhijit & Hasan, Rana & Lamba, Sneha, 2014. "Growth, Structural Change, and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from India," MPRA Paper 55247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Timmer, Peter & Weisbrod, Julian & McCulloch, Neil, 2006. "The Pathways out of Poverty in Rural Indonesia: an empirical assessment," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2006 29, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    15. Peter Lanjouw, 2007. "Rural Non-Farm Employment in India: Access, Income, farm, Poverty Impact," Working Papers id:913, eSocialSciences.
    16. Ligon, Ethan & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2018. "Estimating the Relative Benefits of Agricultural Growth on the Distribution of Expenditures," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 417-428.
    17. Ravallion, Martin, 2006. "Looking beyond averages in the trade and poverty debate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1374-1392, August.
    18. Omilola, Babatunde, 2009. "Estimating the impact of agricultural technology on poverty reduction in rural Nigeria:," IFPRI discussion papers 901, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Thirtle, Colin & Lin, Lin & Piesse, Jenifer, 2003. "The Impact of Research-Led Agricultural Productivity Growth on Poverty Reduction in Africa, Asia and Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1959-1975, December.
    20. Chaudhuri, Shubham & Ravallion, Martin, 2006. "Partially awakened giants : uneven growth in China and India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4069, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pas:asarcc:2002-07. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Raghbendra Jha The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Raghbendra Jha to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/asanuau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.