Investigating the relationship between geographical scale and disparity indicators in the state of Maharashtra, India
摘要
Regional disparities in development arise from the unevenness and coexistence of diverse regions across geographies. Identifying key disparity indicators is essential to understand and address these issues. These indicators are categorised into multidimensional entities, capturing social, economic, physical and environmental dimensions of development contributing to regional imbalances. Such disparities exist at macro, meso and micro geographical levels. In the Indian context, they are evident at inter-state, intra-state, and intra-district levels. This study conducts an exploratory analysis using a set of 37 indicators across four dimensions to examine the interrelationship between geographical scale and development dimensions in Maharashtra state, India. The results indicate that physical and economic disparities are most significant at smaller geographical scales and reduce as the scale broadens. Environmental indicators show moderately low variations across scales, whereas the social dimension does not display a scale-dependent pattern. Additionally, this study identifies critical indicators contributing to disparities at each geographical scale, providing a foundation for scale-specific interventions.