A study of the level of development of India’s 640 districts and 5,955 sub-districts showed that India’s most developed sub-districts are some of its smallest ones, where services can presumably be delivered more easily, those located in the biggest cities and in terms of States, those in Kerala.
The study was carried out by Sanchita Bakshi, Young Professional with the former Planning Commission, Arunish Chawla, Joint Secretary (Expenditure) with the Ministry of Finance and Mihir Shah, Secretary, Samaj Pragati Sahayog, and a former member of the Planning Commission.
The pockets of backwardness, Ms. Bakshi and her colleagues found, also suggest that research and policy focused on identifying backward districts may end up missing more than it finds.
“We clearly need to go beyond districts if we want to capture backwardness in India,” Mr. Shah said. “The really interesting question on the development model is: is the very process of development in some areas creating these pockets of underdevelopment? Typically many of these tribal areas are mineral rich, with a lot of mining operations generating economic activity and development in a few pockets. Why then are the tribals living in these very districts so poor? Is this co-existence of development and backwardness two sides of the same coin?” he asked.
