Pattern of regional disparities in socio-economic development in West Bengal

The level of development of different districts of West Bengal was obtained with the help of composite index based on optimum combination of forty five development indicators. Eighteen districts of the State have been included and the data on various indicators for the year 2001-02 were used in the study. The level of development was examined separately for agricultural sector, infrastructural facilities and socio-economic sector. Wide disparities in the level of development are observed among different districts. Infrastructural facilities and agricultural development are found to be positively associated with socio-economic development. For bringing out uniform regional development, potential targets of important indicators have been estimated