Urban inequalities on the rise

BANGALORE: At a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, on ‘Reforms, Poverty and the Socially Disadvantaged,’ experts opined that India has neglected labour intensive manufacturing sector, which plays major a role in reducing poverty and offers employment to semi-skilled and highly-skilled people. They added that rising per capita income and growth has reduced poverty among  all economic stratas. MD of Bhoruka Power Corporation Ltd S Chandrasekhar said, “Caste system is one of the major reasons for poverty. The Constitution of India  abolished untouchability and initiated many policies to benefit the deprived class.” “In the next 15 years, India can eradicate poverty. Young workforce population is high in India compared with other countries,” Arvind Panagaria, Professor of Economics and Indian Political Economy, Columbia University,  said. Sharing figures from the study, he said that analysis of the NSS figures showed that poverty had declined in every group across the country from 1983 to 2004-05. “So growth has not bypassed the socially disadvantaged. Ten states with largest SC and ST populations have also witnessed decline in poverty,” he said. Adding to this, Professor of Department of Economics at the University of British Columbia Amartya Lahiri said, “About 60-70 per cent of inequalities were due to within-group inequalities. Rural inequalities are declining but urban inequalities are on the rise.”