Poverty in Remote Rural Areas in India: A Review of Evidence and Issues

Ironically the poverty situation, as reflected in the official statistics, depicts a rather contrary scenario with dryland regions having lower incidence of poverty despite their adverse agro-climatic conditions vis-à-vis the forest based regions. Understanding these dynamics is very important for formulating a long-term strategy for the amelioration of poverty, especially the chronic poverty, in these regions.The present paper attempts to look into the dynamics of poverty, especially chronic poverty in the light of the existing analyses as well as evidence from various parts of remote rural areas in India. This is based mainly on a review of the existing literature encompassing wide-ranging themes as well as issues on the theme. The paper also provides a fresh evidence on the correlates of poverty in terms of income as well as human capabilities, and also on the interface between the two. The review of evidence and issues has been subsequently used for drawing policy implications for amelioration of poverty across dryland and forest based regions in India. [GIDR WP 139]