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