Multidimensional Deprivation in the Development of Manipur, a North-Eastern State of India

Abstract

This paper uses the recent approach of multidimensional deprivation measures and their association with urbanization and inequality to have a comprehensive regional-level analysis of the living conditions in Manipur. The study is based on the simultaneous analysis of various rounds of the two data sets namely, the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), and conducted by using the decomposable deprivation measures both at the regional disaggregated level and across socio-economic groups. The results do not show a significant relationship between deprivation and inequality and poverty. In contrast to the traditional expectation of a higher concentration of deprived people in remote/rural areas, the Poisson Regression analysis observed a clear indication of a higher concentration of deprived population in the urban areas. A higher prevalence of female-headed deprived households is also observed in the study. The Imphal-West district replaced Tamenglong in 2015-16 to be the most deprived district in Manipur. STs are found to be the most deprived category in the state in 2011-12 and is replaced by OBC in 2015-16. The factors like district, sector, education of the household head, and MPCE are significant (p = 000) in explaining the level of deprivation. However, the study does not get strong evidence for caste to impact the degree of deprivation in Manipur. Jel No: I30, I32, P36