ABSTRACT
The chapter is an attempt to develop a Multidimensional Poverty Index for the 26 districts of Gujarat. Gujarat is a state on the western coast of India with a coastline of 1,600 km (990 miles) and population of 60 million approximately. It is the fifth-largest Indian state by area and the ninth-largest state by population. The state GDP is 14.99 lakh crore as of 2011. Voluminous work has been done to measure and combat poverty at the international, national, and state level. However, serious dearth is encountered when poverty is analysed and synthesized at the district level, and hence this attempt is done. The index – DMPI is developed on the same line as in the Human Development Report (HDR) 2010 – with some surrogate sub-indicators, as at the district level, all the required indicators are unavailable. Nonetheless, intense care has been taken so that the essence of the study remains intact. The 225 talukas of Gujarat are used as a base of study, and secondary data from the Government of Gujarat sources is used for the analysis. The study intends to analyse the deprivation in education, health, and living standard dimensions across the districts of Gujarat and in each taluka. The magnitude of deprivation in education is measured through illiteracy rate and education facility – number of schools across the districts in each taluka. While deprivation in health is measured through birth rate, death rate, and infant mortality rate or stillborn children, whichever is higher, and for deprivation in living standard, indicators like clean drinking water, sanitation, electricity, fuel, and floor are used. The headcount ratio and intensity of poverty for each district are calculated. The taluka with a deprivation score of 30 or above is termed a deprived and poor taluka.
