Poverty Assessment for Reorienting Poverty Alleviation Programmes in the Forest Fringe Area of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

The present study attempts to assess poverty using two commonly used indices namely Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) and Progress out of Deprivation Index (PDI or DI) of 325 households, spread in twenty-nine villages of Hoshangabad and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. The analysis of PPI and PDI scores showed that the poverty of a household/community decreases as their level of the economy, occupation and education improve, irrespective of their social class to which the household/community belongs. With this finding, it is recommended that prioritisation of the beneficiaries of programmes and policies related to poverty eradication in the forest fringe villages should not be based on caste or social class, but on household’s occupation, economy and education.