Infant Mortality Rate: The number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country

Sex ratio: The number of females per 1,000 males in a population

Child sex ratio: The number of girl child (0-6 years) per 1,000 boys

Literacy rate: The working definition of literacy in the Indian census since 1991 is the total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding

Maternal Mortality rate: The annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes)

Poverty: The poverty line, which is also sometimes called the poverty threshold, is the smallest amount of money a person or a family needs to live on; to buy what is needed.

In India, defining a poverty line has been a controversial issue, especially since mid-1970s when the first such poverty line was created by the erstwhile Planning Commission. It was based on minimum daily requirement of 2,400 and 2,100 calories for an adult in rural and urban areas, respectively.

The Tendulkar committee (2009) stipulated a benchmark daily per capita expenditure of `27 and `33 in rural and urban areas, respectively, and arrived at a cut-off of about 22 per cent of the population below poverty line. It sparked of a furious row, as these numbers were considered unrealistic and too low. Later, the Rangarajan committee (2014) raised these limits to `32 and `47, respectively, and worked out poverty line at close to 30 per cent. In this chapter, the Rangarajan Committee’s benchmarks have been used

Per capita income: The average income earned per person in a given area in a specified year.