This book maps the earning, spending and saving profiles of Indians in the post-liberalisation era. It studies how socio-economic, religious, and individual characteristics lead to inequality in the incomes of households. Among other aspects of the problematique, it reveals that while a...

Despite a very large sample size, it has not been possible to extend the MISH-derived income distribution beyond Rs 1,80,000 a year to give robust estimates of consumption at higher income levels. The principal reason is the small cell sizes, which we do not believe should be extrapolated to...

In this paper, the author analyses the trends in poverty and inequality from 2004-05 to 2007-08 using NSSO data. Statewise figures for the rise in the monthly per capita consumption expenditure and the corresponding reduction in poverty in rural and urban areas have been estimated to examine the...

The success and failure of any democratic government is gauged in terms of how effectively it has fulfilled its constitutional obligation of enhancing social and economic well-being, particularly the common man. While developed economies use a set of indices to measure well-being, a systematic...

Over the years there has been a shift in the development discourse. Progress in development is no more defined on the basis of overall income growth of the economy, but rather on the quantum reduction in the share of population deprived of ‘basic needs’. The present report makes an attempt...