Estimates of BPL-households in Rural Gujarat: Measurement, Spatial Pattern and Policy Imperatives

The poverty scenario in Gujarat is marked by three features: (1) low incidence of poverty (2) spatial concentration and (3) adoption of targeted policy for poverty reduction. One of the important highlights of the initiatives by the Government of Gujarat is to place the information on BPL-survey in public domain. There is a need to find a balance between individual/household as well as area based approach for alleviation of multi-dimensional poverty across the regions in the state. This paper tries to address three objectives: (i) review the official estimates of poverty and link that with the BPL estimates across regions in Gujarat; (ii) examine the correlates of poverty (using BPL-ratios); and (iii) discuss the policy implications. [GIDR WP no. 176]