Use of TOPSIS method based on Entropy weights for determining the disparities in the developmental pat-tern: A study of North Bengal region, West Bengal

Abstract
The concept of development is very dynamic, it varies over space and time. The reasons behind this variation or inequality in the development of any region may be natural or anthropogenic or combination of both. It is not reasonable to determine the level of development of any region with only one parameter because it depends on multiple criterion. Thus, making it a necessary consideration to understand the developmental pattern of any region. This paper aims to study the pattern of regional disparities in the districts of North Bengal (West Bengal) in terms of its development. A district level analysis is considered to achieve the aim using 27 selected parameters under three distinct categories namely economic, infrastructural and socio-demographic indicators. Entropy Method is applied to weigh the parameters and finally the districts are ranked according to the performance score obtained by applying the TOPSIS model. A significant inequalities are observed in terms of development between the districts. On the basis of selected parameters Jalpaiguri (CI score 0.703) and Darjeeling district (CI score 0.560) stands at the highest level of development among the six districts of North Bengal and the remaining four falls under the low level of development (below average CI score 0.385).

Keywords: Level of development, regional disparities, Shannon’s entropy, multi-criteria decision making, Spearman’s rank correlation

https://doi.org/10.37948/ensemble-2021-0301-a005