Two states, four Union Territories fail to stem poverty growth

Sharpest rise seen in Chandigarh where poverty rate went up from 9.2% in 2009-10 to 21.8% in 2011-12

Despite the latest data on steep poverty decline, there are two states and four Union Territories where the poverty rate rose in 2011-12 compared to 2009-10.

The latest Planning Commission data shows this of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Islands and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The sharpest rise was in Chandigarh, where the proportion of poor people went up from 9.2 per cent in 2009-10 to 21.8 per cent in 2011-12.

Oddly, it plunged in rural areas from 10.3 per cent in 2009-10 to 1.6 per cent in 2011-12 but surged in urban parts from 9.2 per cent to 22.3 per cent.

In Jammu & Kashmir, the rate rose from 9.4 per cent in 2009-10 to 10.35 per cent in 2011-12, mainly due to an increase in the number living below the poverty line (BPL) in rural areas from 8.1 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

"There are factors which affect the poverty rate of a state. It depends on schemes like the Public Distribution System and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and how these are implemented. If implementation is proper, then the decline is significant. It also depends on people's participation in such programmes," said Tauqir Alam Farooqi of the department of economics, Jamia Millia Islamia.



Even rural areas of Delhi witnessed a rise in poverty from 7.7 per cent in 2009-10 to 12.9 per cent in 2011-12; there was a decline in the capital’s urban zone from 14.4 per cent to 9.8 per cent.

"In Delhi, the major concentration is in the urban parts and this rise in poverty in villages could be attributed to negligence or ignorance on the part of the government," said Farooqi.

After Chandigarh, the sharpest rise was seen in the case of Arunachal Pradesh, where the proportion of BPL people rose from 25.9 per cent in 2009-10 to 34.7 per cent in 2011-12. In Puducherry, the poverty rate rose from 1.2 per cent in 2009-10 to 9.7 per cent in 2011-12; it is supposed to have surged in villages from 0.2 per cent to as high as 17.1 per cent.

Despite the well-appreciated food security system in Chhattisgarh, the state had the highest poverty rate, of 39.9 per cent in the country.

The urban poverty rate went up from 23.8 per cent in 2009-10 to 24.7 per cent in 2011-12.

"One more problem is that many programmes which focus on poverty alleviation are rural-oriented and, hence, these might not be a success story in the cities," added Farooqi.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli’s percentage of BPL persons grew marginally from 39.1 per cent in 2009-10 to 39.3 per cent in 2011-12.

In Lakshadweep, whereas there was no poverty rate recorded in the rural areas in 2011-12 from 22.2% in 2009-10, that in urban areas soar from 1.7% to 3.44%.

The poverty rate also rose in rural areas of Mizoram and Nagaland, from 31.1% in 2009-10 to 35.43% in 2011-12 and from 19.3% to 19.9% respectively.