Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 4
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN KERALA: SPATIAL AND HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIES
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Map 4.1: Levels of Deprivation and
Distribution of SC/ST Population
5. Horizontal 3 Inequalities
Though Kerala’s development experience showed
significant improvement in literacy, health and poverty
reduction among the general population, it is very
relevant to understand how this benefited different
social groups in society. Unequal access to political/
social/ economic resources by different social groups
can reduce individual welfare in the losing groups over
and above what their individual position would merit
because their self-esteem is linked to the progress of the
group (Stewart, 2002). There is no denying one’s location
within the network of social affiliation substantially
affects one’s access to resources (Chakraborty, 2001).
We discuss some of the developmental indicators by
social groups.
5.1 SC/ST Population by Districts
Table 4.4 gives the district-wise distribution of SC/ST
population, which reveals a significant concentration
of STs in three districts, Wayanad (37 per cent), Idukki
(14 per cent) and Palakkad (11 per cent) accounting for
over 60 per cent of the total tribal population in the
State; the SC population is not similarly concentrated.
It is striking to note that these are also the most
‘deprived’ districts as shown in Table 4.3; more on this
in the section on poverty.
5.2 Sex Ratio
deprivation indices among the districts in Kerala, as
revealed from the estimated coefficient of variation, which
is about 26 per cent.
One of the indicators that go into the deprivation index,
viz., source of drinking water away from the house, varies
significantly among the districts in Kerala with a coefficient
of variation of 43 per cent (Navaneetham, 2005, HDR
Background Paper). But in the case of the other three
indicators, the coefficient of variation is lower. Therefore,
the higher disparity found in the distribution of the
deprivation index among the districts could be due to the
higher disparity with respect to the source of drinking water
being away from the house.
As discussed in Chapter 2, sex ratio is one of the
indicators used for understanding gender discrimination
in the population. The sex ratio among social groups is
favourable like the overall sex ratio in Kerala while for
all India it is relatively more unfavourable to SCs. Also,
it is significant to note that the sex ratio has increased for
both SCs and STs since 1971 in Kerala (Table 4.4). The
large increase in the sex ratio among tribals in 2001 is
rather intriguing and needs to be probed further – could
it be on account of increased out-migration of males
among the ST groups?
In the three districts in Kerala (Palakkad, Idukki, Wayanad)
where STs constitute a significant proportion of population,
the overall sex ratio is also favourable to females, though
it is lower than the State average in Idukki and Palakkad.
Sex ratio among SCs compares very favourably with the
overall ratio in each district (Table 4.5).
3 While we have tried to include SC/STs and OBCs to cover specific social groups besides ‘others’, some tables may relate only to SC/STs.