To hold today that rural India is catching up with urban India could well be a well-marketed myth. Over the years, rural-urban inequality has only worsened or, at best, chopped about like a rollercoaster ride, with today at a low point. The urban-rural MPCE ratio increased from about 1.5 (early 1980s) to about 1.7 (late 1990s). And then it shot up to 2 by 2010. These are unarguable statistical indications of social distress. Going by the Gini coefficient, the standard measure of inequality, rural inequality plateaued from 1983-97 (0.302-0.305). (It had even dipped to 0.277 in 1990-91). But in 1999-2010, the Gini coefficient increased from 0.263 to 0.284.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 08:30:00 +0000
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