AChakravarty-D'Ambrosio View of Multidimensional Deprivation: Some Estimates for India

In assessing multidimensional deprivation, often the only information available to the analyst is the range of deprivation, that is, the number of dimensions in which each individual is deprived. The present paper considers a simple procedure for sensitising both the identification and the aggregation problems to the range of deprivation. It provides an exposition of a class of headcount indices which were earlier investigated as a class of indices of social exclusion by Chakravarty and D'Ambrosio. Additionally, the paper presents a graphical device called the 'D'-curve which serves as a representation of 'binary-valued' multidimensional deprivation, and a measure 'M' based on this curve. Finally, the paper offers estimates of multidimensional deprivation in the Indian context, employing data from the 1991-92 and 2005-06 rounds of the National Family Health Surveys.