SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis is set to examine the nature of rural poverty dynamics in India and its relation to social protection schemes. In place of static monetary or consumption-based measures, the thesis focuses on multidimensional poverty measures which is able to differentiate stochastic poverty from structural one. The empirical analyses are proceeded with four research questions:1) What are the interlinkages between various dimensions of well-being in relation to poverty dynamics? 2) What explains poverty dynamics in India and are these dynamics different for different measures of poverty? 3) Can we establish a link between social protection policies and poverty dynamics? and 4) What are the transformational effect of these policies? These research questions are assessed quantitatively using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data for the years 2005 and 2011 as well as qualitatively by conducting face to face interviews and focus group discussions in four villages of one of the poorest states in India. A decomposition analysis on multidimensional poverty to ascertain the interdependencies between transitions in deprivation of multiple dimensions of poverty is also undertaken. Chapter 1 provides contextual background of the research and lays down research questions. Chapter 2 presents a theoretical literature review on poverty and its causes and outlines the importance of multidimensional poverty dynamics. Chapter 3 reviews empirical literature on poverty dynamics and its causes with a special focus on India. Chapters 4 provides an analysis of relationship between social protection and poverty dynamics. Chapter 5 explains the data used in this study and the methodology adopted to answer the research questions. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 provide empirical investigations into poverty dynamics and social protection in India. Chapter 9 summarises key findings and discusses policy implications and future research directions.