Kerala   

Confusing findings

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The complex growth process of Kerala seems to be emitting conflicting signals, persuading even experts to come up with widely diverging and confusing remarks on its trajectory.

Here are some samples: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac says that there is growth in poverty in the State measured in terms of calorie intake. Quoting from the reports of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on the Monthly Per capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE), he says that the level of inequality between the rich and the poor in the rural areas of the State had grown from 1.5 in 1999-2000 to 2.13 in 2004-05. He, however, concedes that in the urban areas of the State it had only a marginal variation from the high level of 2.3 to 2.43.

According to K.P. Aravindan of the Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), a survey conducted by the parishad reveals that nearly 50 per cent the people in the State cannot be classified as `non-poor.' They include 35 per cent of the people included in the `Above Poverty Line' (APL) as per the Central norm and the 15 per cent who are categorised as `Below Poverty Line' (BPL).

The Human Development Report (HDR) prepared by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) presents a different picture: Quoting from the Planning Commission of India data, the report says that the head count index of poverty which was 59.19 in the rural areas of Kerala in 1973-74 came down to 9.4 in 1999-2000. The HDR report also says that according to more recent studies, the headcount ratios of poverty in rural and urban Kerala are 10.0 and 9.6 respectively, (much lower in urban areas) compared to 26.3 and 12.0 at the all-India level.

T.R.

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