Publication Details

Patterns of poverty in remote rural areas: a case study of a forest-based region in Southern Orissa in India

Working paper series: ‘Spatial Poverty Traps: What Are They and What Can Be Done About Them?'

Amita Shah
2010

Abstract

Given the vast geographical area, ecological-cultural diversity, and deep-rooted social stratification, spatial inequality is one of the important features of poverty in India. Besides inter-regional variations, there also exist a large number of spatial poverty traps characterised by four major categories of regions, viz., remote, low potential or marginal, less favoured, and weakly integrated. In fact, there is often a significant overlap among these categories of spatial poverty traps. The multiple and mutually reinforcing disadvantages or deprivation faced by most of the spatial poverty traps has led to reproduction of poverty as manifested by the fact that incidence of poverty in these regions continue to remain significantly high in terms of absolute levels as well as comparative ranking.

This paper is a joint Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CPRC Working Paper Series on ‘Spatial Poverty Traps: What Are They and What Can Be Done About Them'.