Gap between rich and poor widening in Maha: Survey

The per capita income in Maharashtra rose to Rs1,47,399 in 2015-16 from Rs1,32,341 the previous year, according to figures quoted in the economic survey of Maharashtra released two weeks ago.

This puts Maharashtra in eight position across the country. But a comparison between per capita income among Maharashtra’s districts reveals a widening gap between the poor and the rich in rural and urban Maharashtra with every passing year including Mumbai and Thane, have witnesses a 47% rise in per capital income in four years, the growth in the districts with the lowest income is 32%

According to the survey, the per capita income in Mumbai is Rs2.58 lakh and in Thane it is Rs2.17 lakh against Rs66,110 in Nandurbar and Rs66,462 in Washim in 2015-16.

This means the citizens in the district with the lowest income earn merely 25% of the people in the districts with the highest income.

In some of the low-income districts such as Hingoli and Parbhani the income has actually previous year.

Maharashtra’s tribal districts such as Gadchiroli and Nadurbar, according to studies by the NGOS, have the lowest income in the state Index (HDI), too, in the districts with the poor income is among the lowest — Nandurbar (0.604) and Gadchiroli (0.608) against the state HDI of 0.752.

In Mumbai and Pune the HDI

While the country’s growth rate in per capita income in one year (from 2014-15 to 2015-16) was recorded at 11.37%, it was 6.54% in Gadchiroli and 9.89% in Mumbai