While the overall poverty figures have dropped sharply over the 1990s, the marginalised section of the society has fallen way behind in the race for economic development.
The difference between the overall and the scheduled tribe poverty figures has widened over the period between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, indicating that the benefits of economic development have been unevenly distributed.
While the general section of the population has seen a 15 percentage point drop in poverty from 32 per cent in 1993-94 to 17 per cent in 1999-00, the drop in poverty figures for the scheduled tribes has been only 6.08 percentage points in rural areas and 6.39 percentage points in urban areas.
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The scheduled castes have fared better, experiencing an 11.86 percentage points drop in rural areas and 11 percentage points in urban areas in the same period.
The overall poverty levels have gone down sharply from 36 per cent to 27 per cent between 1993-94 and 1999-2000.
While in rural areas, the difference between the average poverty figure and that for the ST population was 15 percentage points in 1993-94, it has gone up to 19 percentage points in 1999-2000. In urban areas, the difference was 9 percentage points and has gone up to 11 percentage points.
The SC population has done better in this respect. In rural areas, the difference between the all-India and SC poverty figures in 1993-94 was 10.84 percentage points. This figure was down marginally to 9.25 percentage points in 1999-2000.
In urban areas, the differential, which was 17.12 percentage points in 1993-94, came down to 14.82 percentage points in 1999-2000.
A number of states have in fact reported an increase in the SC and ST population below the poverty line between 1993-94 and 1999-2000.
The increase has been most dramatic in case of the urban ST population. In West Bengal, this segment of the population has seen a sharp increase in poverty levels from 19.41 per cent to 31.88 per cent. In Rajasthan, the comparative figures are 13.21 per cent and 20.71 per cent.
Other states where the poverty figures for the urban ST population have gone up between 1993-94 and 1999-00 are Bihar, where the figure has gone up from 35.76 per cent to 39.47 per cent, and Gujarat (35.47 per cent to 36.66 per cent.)
The poverty figures for Orissa, which was hit by a cyclone in 1999-2000, reflect the impact. Seventy four per cent of Orissa