Intensity and Inequality of Multifaceted Deprivation of the States in India

This study explores the intensity and inequality of multifaceted non-income deprivation of
the states in India. We have computed Multifaceted Deprivation Index (MDI) covering
three dimensions – Knowledge, Health and Living condition. The MDI is computed
measuring the weighted normalized inverse Euclidian distance of the actual vector of
indicators of deprivation from the worst situation. This study has measured the inequality
for deprivation indicators and MDI applying two classes of inequality measures viz.
Generalised Entropy measures and Atkinson measures. Using secondary level data
published by different departments of the Government of India this study find that value of
MDI ranges from 0.046 to 0.589 across the states. Jharkhand is the most deprived among
the states followed by Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar. The state of Goa is the least
deprived preceded by Kerala, Himachal Pradesh. The cluster analysis reveals that most
of the states with high level of deprivation belong to same cluster. In respect of the
indicators of multifaceted deprivation the states of Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and
Manipur are similar to the state of Kerala. The states of India, of course, are not highly
diverse in terms of multifaceted deprivation. However, non-income deprivation is highly
correlated with the incidence of income poverty which is highly dispersed across the
states.