Poverty alleviation programme in Maharashtra

Commerce

Second National Level Interdisciplinary Seminar on "Exploring Emerging Trends and Innovation in Research in Commerce, Science & Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences”

In spite of per capita income of the Maharashtra is highest among the other states but it has not managed to provide balanced growth. There is regional inequality available in Maharashtra. the four main urban centers Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur are in better position as compared rest of Maharashtra. The per capita income in Maharashtra at Rs.114,392 in 2013-14 stands next only to Haryana among all the major states, while the national per capita income is distinctly lower at Rs.74,380. On the other hand, the poverty rate in the state at 18% is close to the national average and shows sharp urban-rural disparity. While the urban poverty rate at 9% is lower than the national average by 5 percentage points, the rural poverty rate at 24% is less than the national average by only 1 percentage point. The economy of Maharashtra has gone through a faster structural shift from agriculture to industry and services, compared with the shift seen at the national level. While the agricultural sector grew at less than 5% per annum since 2004-05, industry and services sectors grew at 8% and 10% per annum, respectively. While it is easy to conclude that rapid growth of the urban-centric sectors of industry and services has resulted in a lower level of urban poverty in the state, the picture changes at the micro level. About 22% of the total poor population in the state of Maharashtra is from the four main urban centers Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur. The slow trickle-down effect of economic growth to the rural economy of Maharashtra is one of the reasons of relatively high poverty rate in the state. There are several reasons for poverty such as Low literacy levels as compared to urban area, Low per capita income of rural people, Inadequate of Transportation and warehousing facilities, etc. Planning Commission of India has defined poverty line on the basis of recommended nutritional requirements of 2400 calories per person per day for rural areas and 2100 calories per person per day for urban areas. Based on this, income criterion has been adopted in India to determine poverty line. The new panel, headed by the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, C. Rangarajan, estimates there were 363 million people, or 29.5% of India's 1.2 billion populations, who lived in poverty in 2011-12.

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