ANALYSIS SC districts have done better on poverty reduction than non-SC districts: Census data

SC majority districts have done better on poverty reduction

Districts with a higher proportion of Scheduled Caste population (over 20 percent) have done better than districts which had fewer people from the category between 2015-16 and 2019-21, an analysis of data from the 2011 Census and Niti Aayog's report has found.

While the average poverty reduction across districts was 29.6 percent across the country, districts with more SC population saw multidimensional poverty decline by 39 percent between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

The analysis uses Census 2011 figures to determine the SC population and correlates the numbers with Niti Aayog’s report on multidimensional poverty.

The poverty reduction is calculated by determining the reduction in the headcount rate of poverty between the two periods. For instance, in the case of Cooch Behar, a district with 50 percent of the SC population, poverty was down to 10.31 percent in 2019-21 from 21.9 percent in 2015-16.

How they fared

Of the 627 districts for which data was available, 185 had an SC population of over 20 percent, while 166 had a Scheduled Tribe population of over 20 percent.

Data shows that SC majority districts have done better than ST ones.

The average poverty reduction for SC majority districts was 39.2 percent compared with 25.6 percent for districts with fewer than 20 percent SC population.

ST majority districts witnessed a lower decline in poverty during this period.

The poverty reduction across these 166 districts was just 11.1 percent compared with 36 percent for districts with fewer ST people (less than 20 percent).

The Cabinet on April 30 announced its decision to include the caste census as part of the overall census exercise. The decision comes in the wake of demands by the opposition parties to conduct a caste census.

States like Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana have already conducted such census on a state level.

The last survey on caste was conducted in 2011-12, but the results were not released. However, the socioeconomic caste census does form the basis of the distribution of welfare schemes across the country.

Following the government’s announcement of a caste census, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi pressed for revocation of the 50 percent ceiling for reservations, and batted for reservation in private sector jobs as well.