Deprivation amidst affluence in 'rising India': Impacts of the national rural employment guarantee scheme

Abstract

This study examines regional variations in spatial inequality measured by consumption expenditure using National Sample Survey Office data and social indicators from the census of India. It classifies rural people from survey-based, unit-level household data into bottom 25%, middle 50%, and top 25% economic quartiles. The observations include 559 common districts over time across rural India. Contemporary studies on regional development are based on the 'state' as the unit of analysis. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether sub-state disparities increased during the highest growth phase in India since 2004/2005, thereby helping determine whether the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act had any lasting impact on the living standards of utterly deprived people beyond the state capitals. In addition to some non-parametric tests, the study conducts alternative multivariate regressions to investigate the factors responsible for rising deprivation and the impact of policy. The statistical evidence is highly alarming and warrant urgent policy initiatives to reach the poor living in alienated regions.