Poverty declines faster in rural areas than in towns
THE pace of poverty reduction in Indias towns has been slower than in rural lands in the reform years between 1993/94-2004/05, finds a new study by the Union housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry and the United Nations Development Programme.
Urban poverty in 2004-05 was 25.7%, but declined just 0.61% per annum in the eleven years, during which India grew well over 5% a year. However, urban poverty is lower than the 28.6% national average and the 30.2% rural poverty ratio, says the India: Urban Poverty Report 2009, released on Tuesday.
According to the report, the gap between rural and urban poverty has shrunk in the last two decades. The report points to the sharp fall in demographic and economic growth in booming towns, after their pull factors globalisation and reforms drew in hundreds of skilled and semi-skilled personnel from rural areas.
The study draws heavily from the Planning Commissions official estimates, but brings together 16 authors and practitioners who have studied the subject and its links to migration, microfinance and access to basic amenities, among others.
The report points to urban workers being increasingly pushed into the informal sector even as the space for such activities in big towns and cities is gradually shrinking.