Less developed countries: Argentina, India and the former Soviet Union - Geography and Development - page 124

the search for influence with bureaucratic powers, and the search for power itself
within an overgrown bureaucracy.
At the time of independence, India had a fair degree of inequality of income
levels between the provinces, and this has remained at a similar level ever since,
with few changes. Table 7.2 shows that the states with the great cities, like
Maharashtra, with Bombay, and West Bengal, with Calcutta, have been the
richest ones, and that the poorest have been states in the south and those of
Assam. The differences are blurred by the large size of the states, which average
poor rural and relatively rich cities, but they are probably less strong than those
recorded for Argentina. Given its poverty, India's income differences are
moderate and do not show massive increases.
In the Plans there is regular mention of the need to promote regional equality
and the diminution of interregional differences in welfare and wealth. However,

Table 7.2 Per capita domestic product (in rupees) in Indian states.
State

1 962-3 1 982-3

Punjab 421 3418

Haryana 381 2873

Maharashtra 419 2634

Gujarat 413 2400

Himachal Pradesh 345 1967

West Bengal 420 1771

Andhra Pradesh 338 1713

Jammu and Kashmir 267 1705

Kerala 305 1689

Karnataka 327 1679

Tamil Nadu 365 1626

Rajasthan 289 1622

Assam 349 1596

Uttar Pradesh 258 1501

Manipur 172 1498

Madhya Pradesh 280 1423

Orissa 261 1339

Meghalaya * 1308

Bihar 232 1120

Sikkim n.a. 1079

Nagaland n.a. n.a.

Tripura 2 97 n .a.

Source: Brass (1991).
*Included in Assam; n. a.=not available.