Regional inequality in India: A state level analysis

Abstract

This paper tries to understand the nature and extent of inequality across states of India with special reference to Bihar. The study is based on secondary data collected from various sources, including NSSO, NFHS and other government/non-government documents and reports. The study analyzes inequalities under four themes: livelihood, education, health and gender. The analysis finds that, however, some positive changes can be seen in terms of enrolment in case of primary education, but still, productivity of education is the lowest in Bihar. The state government has invested money in attracting students to government schools, but because of a low per capita expenditure on education, access to facilities like computers in schools is the lowest in Bihar. In the case of health expenditure, the people of Bihar have to bear significantly higher per capita out of pocket expenditure. Though, Bihar has achieved higher growth in the last couple of years but the level of female empowerment is still very low in the state. Thus, this study finds that Bihar is still at lowest position in all four themes across states of India and, people of this state are facing grim challenges related to livelihood, quality education and health.