In this Hindu article, Praveen Chakravarty and Vivek Dehejia, Senior Fellows at IDFC Institute, write about the growing economic divergence among Indian states.

" In 1960, the average person in West Bengal earned Rs.390 per annum; the average person in Tamil Nadu earned Rs. 330. But in 2014, the average Bengali earned Rs. 80,000 while the average Tamilian earned Rs.1,36,000. Tamil Nadu went from being the fourth poorest among these 12 States in 1960 to the second richest in 2014. The southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have climbed up rapidly while West Bengal and Rajasthan have dropped down the order of the richest large States... The more intriguing aspect is the levels and trends of disparity among them. In 1960, the top three states were 1.7 times richer than the bottom three. By 2014, this gap had almost doubled, with the top three states being 3 times richer than the bottom three... At best, this can be attributed to a complex interplay of politics, leadership, policies, human capital, and some luck. Whatever be the reasons, it is quite evident that the priorities of a more prosperous state will be quite different from those that are still very poor."

Read the full article here.