Social Group Disparities and Poverty in India

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide a profile of social group disparities and poverty in India,
\nwhere social groups are classified as scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other social
\ngroups, and examine the factors underlying differences in levels of living between these
\ngroups and for each group separately. The paper argues that social group disparities in
\nlevels of living are the result of historically rooted ‘social disadvantages’ for scheduled
\ncastes and scheduled tribes, by way of social exclusion and physical exclusion
\nrespectively, which continue to operate in contemporary Indian society.