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In the recent years considerable attempts have been made to understand the regional dimensions of economic growth in India. Understanding the causes and nature of differences in levels and growth of income across the regions is very important because even small differences in the growth rates, if cumulated over a long period of time, may have substantial impact on the standards of living of people (Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995). The recent observations of economy suggest that labor force growth has been much faster than growth rate of employment, thus India´s challenge is to respond in a time, to take advantage of this opportunity for inserting its labor force into the global production chain, catching up with China´s success. The combination of more economic reform and a stronger service sector is likely to boost productivity in India in coming years and allow it to compete effectively with China in manufacturing (Mujkherji, 2006).

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Neelanjana Pandey is currently a doctoral candidate in Population Studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS),Mumbai,India. She received Master of Philosophy in Population Studies from IIPS.Her research interests include demographic transition, its implications and public health system with a focus on equity and access.

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