Spatial and Social Inequalities in Human Development: India in the ...

7793.697.594.293.610698.3124.1124.9134.8149167.7168171.4167.6Graph 7: Coefficient of Variation in monthly per capita expenditure computed fromhousehold level data20018016014012010080601993-942004-052009-1040200RuralCities with Mplus PopOther UrbanAreasAll UrbanTotalSource: Computed from NSS unit level data.In view of the fact that reliable income figures for rural and urban areas are not available atregular intervals, it has been considered appropriate to assess the trend in R-U inequality usingthe data for consumption expenditure. There has been a much steeper rise in per capitaconsumption expenditure in urban than rural areas in real terms in the nineties and subsequentyears compared to the preceding years (Graph 8). The discussion on consumption expenditureand poverty has been undertaken with a slightly longer time horizon taking 1972-73 as thestarting point since there were major anti-poverty initiatives launched in the seventies as alsobecause temporally comparable data became available since then. This graph and thesubsequent one on poverty shows trend since 1972-73 just to bring home that consumptioninequality did not rise sharply until 1993-94 and that rural and urban poverty had almostconverged in the early nineties.15