Determinants and Correlates of Multidimensional Poverty among Social Groups in the Selected States, India

Abstract

The present study pertains to the results and interpretations with ‘determinants’ and ‘correlates’ of multidimensional poverty among the social groups in the study area. Apart from the conventional income based approach, the present study follows ‘capability approach’ developed by Amartya Sen as an alternative paradigm. Basic capabilities are the ability of the people to satisfy the certain crucial ‘functionings’ such as education, health and standard of living to the minimum set standard level. According to Sen, people and societies differ in their capability to convert ‘income’ and ‘commodities’ into preferred outcome where, utility-based evaluations of individual well- being might not reveal important dimensions of life and could results in misleading inter- personal comparison (Sen, 1981). The most important facets of poverty are its multidimensional character subject to continuous evaluation as its determinants vary across countries as well as within the region of the same territory (UNDP, 2010).