Growth, Inequality, Poverty and Urbanization

The focus in this paper is on growth, inequality and poverty, particularly in relation to urbanization. The analysis is pursued at three levels of disaggregation: states, districts and the million-plus cities. At the state level, urbanization does not show any significant impact on rural poverty though it tends to reduce poverty in the urban areas. Growth influences urbanization positively, while urbanization and expansion in non - agricul tural activities both contribute to economic growth. An alternative technique again shows a strong association between urbanization and per capita net state domestic product. Although urban inequality is not strongly correlated with urbanization and growth, the relationship is distinct. While poverty tends to decline evidently, inequality rises in the process of growth and urbanization. Further, a positive relationship amongmigration, urbanization and growth index is noticeable. The district-level data confirms a positive association among urbanization, work participation rate, percentage of workforce engaged in non-household manufacturing and services, literacy, growth and inequality,though the degree of association is mild.Urbanization shows a strong beneficial effect on povertyat the district level.