The urbanization of poverty in India: Spatio-temporal disparities in consumption expenditures

This paper identifies the spatial patterns of urban poverty and their change over time using state-level NSS data on consumer expenditures for the 61st (2004-05), 66th (2009-10), and 68th (2011-12) rounds and a class of decomposable poverty measures (Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Index). Further, state-specific new urban poverty lines (Tendulkar Methodology) based on consumption expenditures for both food and nonfood items have been employed to measure the incidence of urban poverty in each of the twenty-nine states. The analysis reveals that while urban poverty has declined considerably over the study periods both at national and state levels, there are distinct spatial concentrations, reflecting the phenomenon of urbanization of poverty and large spatial differences in consumption expenditures. There is clearly a heavy concentration of urban poverty in central and north-eastern states of India, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur. Only the relatively prosperous north and north-western states have low urban-poverty levels in all periods. In the regression results, access to housing and sanitation emerge as the most important variables in explaining urban poverty in India over all study periods.