Abstract

This paper examines the persistence and structure of regional inequality in human development within Karnataka, India, through the lens of the human capability approach. Moving beyond income and growth rates, it analyses how freedoms and opportunities are unevenly distributed across districts and taluks, and how these disparities intersect with gender, caste, minority status and infrastructure gaps. The study relies exclusively on secondary data drawn primarily from the Karnataka State Human Development Report 2022, earlier state HDRs (1999, 2005, 2015), Census 2011, multidimensional poverty measures and micro-level district and taluk studies. Adopting a descriptive–analytical strategy rather than formal econometric modelling, it tracks long-term patterns in HDI, Gender Equality Index, SC/ST Multidimensional Poverty Index, minority HDI and key social infrastructure indicators. The findings reveal a striking stability in the state’s development hierarchy. Coastal and southern districts such as Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu continue to record high human development, while Kalyana Karnataka districts—including Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Ballari and Kalaburagi—remain clustered at the bottom. Low HDI is closely associated with weak gender equality, high intensity of SC/ST deprivation, very low minority and ST HDI in specific taluks, and deficits in drinking water, sanitation, housing, electricity and health facilities. Taluk-level evidence shows that severe deprivation can be concealed within seemingly moderate districts, underscoring the limits of district averages for policy design.

     The paper argues that Karnataka’s development pattern is structurally “two-speed”: dynamic in the south and coast, stagnant in the north, with multiple disadvantages reinforcing one another over time. It concludes that incremental, scheme-based interventions are inadequate. Instead, a long-term, regionally differentiated strategy is required, centred on girls’ education, gender equality, targeted support for SC/ST and minority communities, infrastructure strengthening in lagging districts, and a need-based reorientation of public expenditure towards high-deprivation taluks. By integrating regional, social and gendered dimensions of deprivation within a single analytical framework, the study contributes evidence useful for more finely targeted human development planning in Karnataka.