Strategies to Minimize Regional Disparities in Socio-Economic Development Case of Indore, Dhar and Jhabua Districts in MP

Abstract

Regional disparities in India has been one of the most critical development issue which has attracted concerns from almost all quarters, be it policy makers, policy implementers, academicians or the society at large. It has once again ignited the debate on the existing inequalities between the developed and underdeveloped countries in general and between different regions within these countries in particular. The inter and intra-regional inequalities of the country are being observed not only in terms of their differential macroeconomic parameters like GDP, GNP etc. but also in relation to various demographic and social development indicators such as health, education, employment etc. India being a developing country, it becomes all the more important to study these disparities as the new economic policies have further widened the gap between the rich and the poor states. The present study intends to analyse the patterns of the regional disparities in the levels of development in India. Considering this, four indicators have been selected to identify the spatial patterns of regional disparities in India. Given this context, the thesis has sought to address the question of regional disparities in India - and what can be done to improvise upon them. The thesis is based on secondary data sources of three districts in Madhya Pradesh, chosen on the basis of their comparative performances (high, medium and low performance) from the view point of parameters, which are- Population Growth Density, Per capita GDP, Literacy rate, and Human Development Indicators. The selected districts are then processed through a comparative analysis on the basis of various indicators like Per Capita Income, Literacy Rate, Population Density, Urbanization, Sex ratio, Life Expectancy at Birth, Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate etc. This comparison helps identify the alignments of needs and supports in a focused way, which would help authorities and planners to solve the disparities through local action and national vision.