Orissa has highest number of poor in the country: Survey

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) The Economic Survey 2007-08 ranks States according to their poverty levels, with the highest number of poor being in Orissa, followed by Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

The survey tabled in Parliament today said the poverty level was low in Punjab followed by Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

In terms of consumption pattern during 2004-05, compared to 30 per cent at the all-India level, 57 per cent of rural population in Orissa followed by Chattisgarh (55 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (47 per cent), Bihar and Jharkhand (46 per cent) was living below the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) level; of Rs 365 or about about Rs 12 per day.

As against this, 57 per cent of rural population in Kerala and 51 per cent of Punjab and 47 per cent in Haryana had MPCE level of at least Rs 690. At all-India level this corresponds to the top 20 percentile of MPCE distribution.

During 2004-05, as compared to 30 per cent at the all-India level, 55 per cent of Bihar and 50 per cent of Orissa's urban population was below the MPCE level of Rs 580 or RS 19 per day.

As against the top 20 per cent at the all-India level, 28 per cent of Kerala's and 27 per cent of Punjab's urban population were having an MPCE level of at least Rs 1,380.

In urban areas, inequality in consumption, as measured by Lorenz Ratio is the highest in Chattisgarh followed by Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal.

Inequality is low in urban Gujarat followed by Assam and Himachal Pradesh.

Inequality in rural India is lower than urban India in all major States. In rural India, inequality is the highest in Kerela, followed by Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Assam has the lowest inequality followed by Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan in rural India.

Regular employment was the major engagement of working urban households in most of the major States. About (48 per cent) of urban households in Maharashtra followed by Haryana (47 per cent), Chattisgarh (46 per cent), Gujarat (45 per cent) and Punjab and Assam (44 per cent each), depend on regular employment.

Percentage of self-employed households in urban areas was higher in Uttar Pradesh (49 per cent) and Bihar (47 per cent).

The proportion of casual labour households was higher in urban areas for Kerala (25 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (24 per cent) than in other major states.

In rural areas, self-employemnt was more than important in many of the major States. The proportion was high in Uttar Pradesh (68 per cent) followed by Rajasthan and Assam (66 per cent each), Himachal Preadesh (57 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (56 per cent).

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