Give an account of interstate disparities in poverty in India.

The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. Although state level
poverty has witnessed a secular decline from the levels of early seventies, the success rate of
reducing poverty varies from state to state. The interstate disparities are as follows:
(i) In 20 states and union territories, the poverty ratio is less than the national average.
(ii) The poverty is still a serious problem in Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
(iii) Orissa and Bihar continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 47 and 43 per cent, respectively.
(iv) Along with rural poverty” urban poverty is also high in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
(v) There has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal.
The reasons for this decline are as mentioned below:
(a) Punjab and Haryana have succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high
agricultural growth rates.
(b) Kerala has focused on human resource development.
(c) In west Bengal, poverty has been reduced by land reform measures
(d) In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, public distribution of food grains has helped in the improvement of situation.