文摘
This essay examines the impact of decentralisation and political reservation for disadvantaged groups on Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) across states and disadvantaged minorities in India. The time variation in the implementation of the 73rd constitutional amendment across states has been exploited to analyse the impact of the amendment on multidimensional deprivation. National MPI*, similar to the standard international computed MPIs (using Alkire鈥揊oster Methodology), has been decomposed across states and disadvantaged groups, and the effect of time variation in implementation of the amendment has then been seen on these indices. States implementing the amendment prior to 1997鈥?998 were found to have lower multidimensional deprivation in the year 2005, as compared to their counterparts which either implemented the amendment after 1998 or did not implement it at all. A similar impact of early implementation was seen on MPI* (of year 2005) of the disadvantaged groups that were given additional political representation under the 73rd constitutional amendment. The hypotheses, therefore, that decentralisation has a positive impact on general living standards, and that political reservation for certain classes improves the welfare indicators of members of the groups they represent, are verified by this study. Keywords Multidimensional Poverty Index Reservation and decentralisation in India Decomposition of MPI Scheduled castes Scheduled Tribes 73rd constitutional amendment