Vol. 4, Issue 5, Part F (2018)

Abstract
Inequalities in the distribution of income or expenditure or wealth are negative indicators of development of a country or of a region. Though per capita income is considered as the main indicator of development, such inequalities are needed to be measured to have a proper assessment of development. In India, except some special surveys by National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), data on the distribution of income or wealth are not available, and the data on the distribution of consumer expenditure collected and compiled by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) are used as the proxy. Gini coefficient/index is most popularly used as a relative/index measure of inequality, though it is not considered as a fully reasonable measure of inequality. As a result, other measures like Lorenz curve, Theil’s entropy measure, Atkinson’s measure, standard deviation of logarithms, etc. have also paralleluse. The main problem in the Gini coefficient/index actually lies in the debate between an absolute and a relative measure of inequality. There are other problems also. However, different measures tend to give different pictures on inequality comparison. If one measure shows that inequality in India in a particular year has fallen in comparison to a previous year, it may be possible to find another measure that shows that inequality has actually increased. Under these circumstances, any researcher in this field tends to choose any one of the available measures, which he feels the best, and to make the desired comparisons. In this respect, the Gini coefficient/index has been most popular because it seems most convenient, though not most convincing, to use. This study tries to use both the relative and absolute Gini measures of inequality simultaneously and to derive a general, centrist or intermediate or overall impression about the nature and trend of inequality in the distribution of consumer expenditure in different states of India in the period from 1983 to 2012.