Lucknow: Number of poor in Uttar Pradesh has declined from 59.3 million to 48.8 million over a period of ten years, a new World Bank (WB) report has revealed.

According to the joint report on the Second Poverty and Social Monitoring Survey (PSMS-II) conducted by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the Planning Department and the WB released recently, poverty rate in rural areas of U.P. fell from 42.3 per cent to 28.5 per cent while in urban areas, the same declined slightly from 35.1 to 32.3 per cent.

Significantly, the pattern of growth in the period from 1993-94 to 2003-2004 shows it was pro-poor, indicating that per capita expenditure of one-tenth of population increased faster (by 109 per cent in normal terms) than the rich whose expenditure increased only by 62 per cent.

Many of the experts felt easy loans and borrowing may be behind the increase in "extravagant" expenditure of the poor.

It says there had also been a decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), while the literacy rate has increased.

Literacy rate has gone up from 56 per cent in 2000 to 60 per cent in 2003.

The percentage of population over 18 who have ever attended school has increased from 46 per cent in 2000 to 51 per cent in 2003. On the other hand, even in 2003, 15 per cent children in the age group of six to 11 years never attended school.

Enrolment rates at the primary level stood at 78 per cent in 2003 as against 67 per cent in 2000. This increase has been witnessed in all regions for both boys and the girls and among all the income groups.

Urban-rural enrolment gap has been eliminated in the primary level (six to 10 year age group) while it narrowed down considerably in the age group of 11 to 15 years.

Enrolment in private schools increased from 31 to 37 per cent for students between six to 10 years of age while it increased from 37 to 45 per cent for those in 11 to 13 years age group.

But in what is being seen as a setback for health services, only 10 per cent of the population was visiting government health facilities. The rest were presumably preferring quacks and other traditional healers.

About 40 per cent (61 per cent in urban and 35 per cent in rural areas) of those who consulted any medical practitioner consulted a formal health provider and 10 per cent (10 per cent in rural areas and 14 per cent in urban areas) visited government health facility.

Rest consulted private informal health providers including quacks and `traditional healers'. -- UNI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail