Regional Disparities in Growth and Human Development in India

This paper argues that per capita income in all states in India increased in the past four decades but in fact no sign of convergence could be visible as it was expected in the context of liberalizing markets. The paper shows that disparities in terms of income were higher within the rural areas across states compared to their urban counterparts. This might be a reflection of a converging trend in terms of opportunities available in the cities and towns across states. The paper identifies a declining gap in terms of various human development indices such as literacy rate, general enrollment ratio and life expectancy at birth across states and shows that gaps also declined between the rural and urban segments within states. The paper however argues that performance in terms of various dimensions of human development increases with income but at a declining rate which is indicative of the fact that per capita income at higher levels becomes less important in generating gains in terms of basic human development indices. Finally, the paper compares the performance of the states in terms of human development over the years including that computed from the latest available data and shows that the relative positions of the states did not undergo much change over the years.