Poverty Incidence and Income Inequality in the Tribal and Non-tribal Areas of Central Gujarat

The present investigation undertook to study the poverty incidence and income distribution among poor and non-poor in the tribal and nontribal areas applying headcount index and the Gini index, and Lorenz curve. The headcount index showed the proportion of poor households. It showedthat poverty was higher in the tribal area than in non-tribal regions. Incidence of poverty was higher in marginal farm households, followed by landless agricultural labour and small farm households. Income inequalities were depicted by the Gini coefficient and presented in graphical form by the Lorenz curve. It showed that total income was distributed more equally among poor and non-poor people in the tribal area than in non-tribal regions. It was also observed that in the tribal district, poor and non-poor households had the same proportion of inequality. It was suggested to focus on creating employment opportunities through programmes like MGNREGA to eliminate poverty in particular tribal areas.