7. Human Development in India€¦ · Human Development and its Impact on Economic Growth...

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During the past few decades, Indianeconomy has witnessed high rate of itsaggregate GDP growth as compared to the pastand also compared with several other countriesof developing world. India has also, been ableto bring down its poverty level. However, therehave also been some clear-cut failures.Agriculture continues to account for 50 percent of the workforce even though its share ofGDP is now less than 20 per cent. In spite ofthe present agrarian crisis, the country has notbeen able to generate productive employmentoutside this sector. As a result a large numberof people remain unemployed, which is one ofthe main causes of persistence of widespreadpoverty in the country. In the absence of basicfood security for a significant portion ofpopulation, the inability of the system to ensurebasic needs of housing, sanitation, adequatehealthcare, universal education, good qualityof school education, absence of employmentguarantee and gender disparities, etc. have putthe country at a very low rank in the area ofhuman development. In addition to these, thereare problems caused by the other patternsof economic growth. There are regionalimbalances and inequality in control over assets.A large section of the country stands excludedfrom the benefits of development. There isexclusion from education, income generatingopportunities and from the impact of physicaland social infrastructural expansion. The stateof human development in the country cannotbe understood without taking into account theground realities pertaining to the weakersections of the society.

India at present is also going through ademographic revolution, with the proportionof working-age population between 15 and 59years likely to increase from approximately 58per cent in 2001 to more than 64 per cent by2021, adding approximately 63.5 million newentrants to the working age group between2011 and 2016, the bulk of whom will be inthe relatively younger age–group of 20-35 years.The demographic dividend can be reaped onlyif this young population is healthy, educated,

and skilled thus, human resource developmentplays a significant role in the socio-economicdevelopment of the society

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HUMANDEVELOPMENT: TWO-WAY LINK

� Economic Growth and its impact onHuman Development.

In order to evaluate the state of humandevelopment in the country, UNDP asses it inthe three basic parameters of human develop-ment: economic attainment or well-being, edu-cation and health. Economic attainments ofindividuals and their well-being have conven-tionally being captured through indicators likeper-capita or per-capita GDP of an economy.Per-capita income is the average Net StateDomestic Product (NSDP). It is considered animportant means by which individuals canimprove their economic attainments and well-being. Per-capita consumption expenditure isconsidered a more preferable indicator ofindividual's command over resources and as adirect and better measure of economic well-being. This helps in calculating the gap betweenrural and urban consumption expenditure andthus measure the extent of inequality.

Thus Economic growth is an importantfactor in reducing poverty and generating theresources necessary for human developmentand environmental protection. There is a strongcorrelation between Gross Domestic Product(GDP) per–capita and indicators of develop-ment such as life expectancy, infant mortality,adult literacy, political and civil rights, andsome indicators of environmental quality.

For example, while the citizens of the Indianstate of Kerala have life expectancies andliteracy rates comparable to those of manydeveloped countries, the fact that they cannotenjoy many of the benefits of citizens of suchcountries (such as better housing, transportation,or entertainment) demonstrates the importanceof GDP as an instrument for achieving a widerange of capabilities. However, GDP also has a


strong effect on literacy and health outcomes,both through private expenditures and govern-ment programs. Thus, higher incomes and gro-wth facilitate the achievement of other crucialhuman development objectives.

Importance of economic growth:

• Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has describedeconomic growth as a crucial means forexpanding the substantive freedoms thatpeople value. These freedoms are stronglyassociated with improvements in generalliving standards, such as greater opportu-nities for people to become healthier, eatbetter and live longer.

• Growth can generate virtuous circles ofprosperity and opportunity.

• Economic growth generates job opportu-nities and hence stronger demand forlabour. Employment growth in the orga-nized sector, public and private combined,has increased by 1.0 per cent in 2011, asagainst 1.9 per cent in 2010. Employmentgrowth is clearly related to economicgrowth as:

The unemployment rate (per 1000) amongthe major states is the lowest in Gujarat(18)and highest in Kerala (73) and Bihar (73) inurban areas and the lowest in Rajasthan (4)and again highest in Kerala (75) in rural areas.This data clearly shows that due to higheconomic growth in Gujarat and governmentspending in MGNREGA in rural areas ofRajasthan leads to low unemployment rate.Kerala, which has performed well in terms ofsocial indicators as literacy, health but lackseconomic growth, performs less well in termsof unemployment (both rural and urban). Thismay also be due to the higher level of educationin Kerala resulting in people not opting formanual jobs as observed by some studies.

Further, real wages for low-skilled jobs haveincreased with GDP growth worldwide, whichindicates that the poorest workers havebenefited from the increase in global trade andgrowth. Macroeconomic factors, such as lowinflation, export orientation and low labourtaxes, help to determine how much employmentis created by growth. Structural factors, suchas the balance of the economy betweenagriculture, manufacturing and services, arealso important.

The relationship between growth andemployment is not simply about the quantityof jobs created by growth; it is also about thetypes of jobs created. India has relatively largeinformal sectors. The combination of excessivelyregulated labour markets and low levels ofdevelopment is the principal driver of theinformal sector. Careful deregulation of labourmarkets will reduce the cost of employmentfor firms in the formal sector and increase theshare of formal employment.

• Higher levels of income reduce infantmortality. India demonstrates the strengthof this relationship: a 10 per cent increasein GDP is associated with a reduction ininfant mortality of between five and sevenper cent. Infant mortality rate (IMR) whichwas 58 per thousand in the year 2005 hasfallen to 44 in the year 2011. This is be-cause of because economic growth hasprovided the means to invest in healthcare,sanitation, drugs, etc. Life expectancy isalso clearly positively related to the levelof per capita income.

• Primary and secondary school enrollmentrates are positively associated with higherlevels of per-capita income. Strong growthand employment opportunities improveincentives for families to invest in educa-tion by sending their children to school.There is rise in growth in enrolment ofstudents in higher education from 49.25lakh in 1990-91 to 169.75 lakh in 2010-11.Similarly gross enrollment ratio in class I-VIII has risen from 93.54 in 2004-5 to 104.3in 2010-11. Secondly, economic growthhas allowed GOI to move for inclusivegrowth. Thus huge spending on Right toEducation and programmes like the SarvaShiksha Abhiyan have contributed to thegrowth in enrollment. Thus it can be con-cluded that: Growth increases a country'stax base and therefore makes it possiblefor the government to spend more on thekey public services of health and educa-tion; and Growth raises the incomes ofpoor people and thereby increases theirability to pay for activities and goods thatimprove their health and education.

In general, a growing economy tends toprovide greater job opportunities. These leadin turn to increased demand for education as


people expect higher returns for them and theirchildren from the investment of time and moneyin acquiring skills.

The link works equally in the oppositedirection. Increased government spending onhealth and education tends to boost growth inthe future, and households reap the benefitsfrom increased investments in health andeducation through higher future incomes. Thisgenerates a virtuous circle of development.

Present Human development report cardof India:

a) 1/3rd of the world's hungry live inIndia

b) 836 million Indians survive on less thanRs. 20 (less than half-a-dollar) a day

c) 30% of newborn are of low birth weight,56% of married women are anaemicand 79% of children age 6-35 monthsare anaemic.

d) India has 29% of the 872.9 millionundernourished people (FAO).

e) India has 49% of the world's under-weight children (WHO).

f) India has 34% of the world's stuntedchildren (WHO).

g) India has over 46% undernourishedchildren (WHO).

h) 456 million people (about 42%) of thepopulation in India is below the newinternational poverty line (i.e., earningless than $1.25 per day).

i) The literacy rate of India according to2011 Census is 74.04 per cent with 82.14per cent males and 65.46 per centfemales.

j) Child sex ratio has declined from 927to 914.

k) Overall sex ratio at the national levelhas increased from 933 to 940.

From the above data, it is however clearthat economic growth alone does not guaranteehuman development. The impact of economicgrowth on a nation's human development levelalso depends on other conditions of the societysuch as social parameters, range of regionaldisparity.

Regional disparity signifies the differentphases of development occurring in different

parts of the country. After independence dueto shortage of resources government imple-mented trickledown theory for developmentin the country. This theory proposed thatdevelopment at one place will automaticallyleads to development of nearby regions i.e., ifan industry has been established in an area itwill lead to overall development of the regionaround it. But this policy of government failedto provide fruits of development to the nearbyvillages and regions.

This unequal development of region widensthe gap between haves and haves not thusleaded to regional disparity. And in Orissa thearea near the coastal plains are more developedthan the interiors. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh,West U.P. is more advanced economically thanthe Bundelkhand region irrespective of vastmineral resources. Thus regional disparity canbe natural (in terms of resources available) orcan be manmade (unequal economic growth).

Government has proposed many incentivesand schemes for the development of backwardregion but poor implementation mechanism hasfurther broadened the regional disparity.

LPG era has further worsened the situationbecause more developed regions has been ableto attract multinationals and FDI andunderdeveloped regions are left behind,widening the gap and acting as obstacle in thefield of inclusive growth.

Hence Economic growth is the mostpowerful instrument for reducing poverty andimproving the quality of life in developingcountries but depends on well-functioning civilinstitutions, secure individual and propertyrights, and broad-based health and educationalservices.� Human Development and its Impact on

Economic Growth

Investments in education, training, healthand other social services lead to humandevelopment. Higher levels of Human Develop-ment have an influence on economy throughincreasing people's capability and consequentlytheir creativity and productivity. Prior to thenineteenth century, systematic investment inhuman capital was not considered especiallyimportant in any country. Expenditures onschooling, on-the-job training, and other similarforms of investment were quite small. Thisbegan to change radically during this century


with the application of science to the develop-ment of new goods and more efficient methodsof production.

During the twentieth century, education,skills, and the acquisition of knowledge havebecome crucial determinants of a person's anda nation's productivity. One can even call thetwentieth century the "Age of Human Capital"in the sense that the primary determinant of acountry's standard of living is how well itsucceeds in developing and utilizing the skillsand knowledge, and furthering the health andeducating the majority of its population.

Each of the various components of humandevelopment is likely to have a distinct impacton economic growth. Let's discuss eachparameter in brief:

a) Education:

A combination of basic facilities andeducation leads to economic growth which inturn alleviates poverty and helps the disad-vantaged regions to grow locally. Educationenriches people's understanding of themselvesand world. It improves the quality of their livesand leads to broad social benefits to individualsand society. Education raises people's produc-tivity and creativity and promotes entre-preneurship and technological advances. Inaddition it plays a very crucial role in securingeconomic and social progress and improvingincome distribution.

According to Krueger and Lindahl (2001):"Each additional year of schooling appears toraise earnings by about 10% in the US,although the rate of return to education variesover time as well as across countries".

Educating girls and women is probably thesingle most effective investment in a developingcountry. It creates a multitude of positiveremunerations for families including betterfamily health and nutrition, improved birthspacing, lower infant and child mortality, andenhanced educational attainment of children.

Therefore, education, with a special focuson employability, is critical to India sustainingits economic growth, especially inclusiveeconomic growth.

India's education industry is expected togrow from $100 billion in 2012 to $300 billionin 2022 (Riel Miller and Carl Schoonover).This spending will be jointly led by Indian

government (which currently spends only 4%of GDP on education compared to 5% byMexico, South Africa, Thailand, the UK; 6%by the US; and 7.5% by Israel) and the privatesector. If this mammoth $100 billion industrydoes not embed employability inside schools,colleges and universities urgently, India maypotentially have a demographic disaster onhand. If we are successful, by 2050 India willgrow per capita income from $1,000 to$20,000, GDP from $1 trillion to $40 trillionand become world's second-richest economy,ahead of the US and behind China.

Education alone, of course cannot transforman economy. The quantity and quality ofinvestment, domestic and foreign, together withthe overall policy environment, form the otherimportant determinants of economic perfor-mance. Yet the level of human developmenthas a bearing on these factors too. The qualityof policy making and of investment decisionsis bound to be influenced by the education ofboth policy makers and managers; moreover,the volume of both domestic and foreigninvestment is likely to be larger when a system'shuman capital supply is more plentiful.

Thus Education is indispensable toeconomic development. No economic develop-ment is possible without good education. Abalanced education system promotes not onlyeconomic development, but productivity, andgenerates individual income per capita. Itsinfluence is noticeable at the micro level of anindividual family.

b) Health:

It is well know that certain diseases andconditions such as HIV/AIDS, malaria,tuberculosis (TB), childhood infectious diseases,maternal and prenatal conditions, micro-nutrient deficiencies and tobacco-relatedillnesses represent the main causes of (avoidable)deaths in low-income countries. It is reportedthat widespread diseases also stunts theexploitation of arable land, migration andtrade. Bad health stymies job productivity andan individual's ability to learn and to growintellectually, physically and emotionally.Through all these channels, ill health pushesthe poor deeper into poverty. If disease wascontrolled so that individuals could reap longerand healthier lives, the pressure to have manychildren would abate and families could investmore in the health of each child. These improve-


ments in health would in turn translate intohigher incomes, higher economic growth andreduced (and more sustainable) populationgrowth. The health improvements can contri-bute to economic development.

The reasons include:

• Improved productivity: Better health canmake workers more productive, either throughfewer days off or through increased outputwhile working. Improved health of familymembers will have a similar impact throughreducing time lost to caring for dependents.

• Improved learning: Improved nutritionand reduced disease, particularly in earlychildhood, leads to improved cognitivedevelopment, enhancing the ability to learn.Healthy children will also gain more fromschool, having fewer days absent due to ill-health. Enhanced learning through either ofthese mechanisms will add to human capital -an important determinant of economic growth.

• Reduced Family Size: Investments insexual and reproductive health can lead toreduced poverty by reducing the size offamilies. At a societal level, similar investmentsmay lead to demographic changes conduciveto economic development. In particular, theymay lead to a period in which countries havea high ratio of workers to dependents leadingto increased national savings. Economic theorysuggests that increased savings ought toenhance growth by providing funding forinvestment. On the other hand, in the mediumterm, population growth due to reduced infantmortality could reduce GDP per capita ifpopulation growth outpaces growth ofavailable resources and capital.

• Health and Investment: Healthierindividuals will often have the ability andincentive to save more, and, as noted above,this accumulation of capital may help fuelgrowth through investment. Similarly,companies may be more likely to invest whenworkforces are healthier or better educated.Improved disease environments may alsosupport the development of sectors such astourism.

• Increased availability of land forproductive use: Eliminating particular illnessesmay allow cultivation or other use to be madeof previously unused land.

• Reduced Treatment Burden: Initiativesthat prevent certain illnesses or provide for theirearly treatment can help avoid the majordownstream costs associated with illness andsubsequent complications. Because of this, suchinitiatives can reduce healthcare burdens onfamilies and governments, freeing capital forinvestment in productive activities (freeingfunding for governments to invest ininfrastructure, for example, or for families toinvest in education).

Example: When a family is healthy, boththe mother and the father can hold a job, earnmoney which allows them to feed, protect andsend their children to school. Healthy and well-nourished children will perform better in schooland a better performance in school willpositively impact their future income. If parentsensure that their children have a highprobability of reaching adulthood, in generalthey will have fewer children and they will beable to invest more in health and education foreach of them. Additionally, the loss of healthaffects the poor to a greater extent since themain, and at times, only asset they have istheir body. When they become ill they havefewer alternative solutions and suffer greaterconsequences.

Status of education and health in India

Education:• All States/UTs have notified the RTE

Rules.• 2,14,561 Primary and 1,76,361 Upper

Primary schools have been sanctionedunder SSA till date, of which 96% areoperational.

• Mid–day Meal Scheme(MDMS) coverschildren studying in classes I-VIII in Gov-ernment, Local Body, Government aidedand National Child Labour Project schoolsand the centres run under EducationGuarantee Scheme (EGS)/Alternative &Innovative Education (AIE) centres includ-ing Madarsas/Maktabs supported underSarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). During theyear 2011-12, 10.54 crore children study-ing in 12.31 lakh institutions have availedof the Mid–Day Meal.

• Govt. has launched the centrally spon-sored scheme to set up 6,000 modelschools at the rate of one school per blockwas launched in November 2008. Imple-mentation of the PPP component of the


Model School Scheme has been initiatedfrom 2012-13.

• Saakshar Bharat has been sanctioned in372 out of 410 targeted eligible districts in25 states and one Union Territory.

• Launched Jan Shikshan Sansthans to pro-vide vocational training to non-literate,neo-literate as well as school dropouts byidentifying such skills as would have amarket in the region of their establishment.Upto October, 2012, 2,19,864 beneficiaries,out of which 2,02,407 are women, havebeen covered under the various vocationalcourse.

• Establishment of 500 e-Classrooms in 50KVs and In-house development of e-Con-tent by KV teachers.

• Introduction of teaching of German lan-guage approximately in 300 schools fromclasses VI to VIII.

Health:• Infrastructure has been strengthened

under NHRM by taking up 594 DistrictHospitals, 2,721 Community Health Cen-tres, 5,459 Primary Health Centres and31,001 Sub-Centres for new constructionor renovation.

• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has droppedby 3 points from 47 to 44 infant deathsper 1000 live births during 2011. IMR forrural areas has dropped by 3 points from51 to 48 infant deaths per 1000 live birthswhile the urban rate now stands at 29from the previous 31/1000. Among thestates, Goa and Manipur have the lowestIMR of 11 infant deaths followed by Keralawith 12 infant deaths per 1000 live births.

• Maternal mortality ratio is 212/100,000live births.

• Since the past three years, the availabilityof MBBS seats has gone up from 32,892 to44,302, including 300 seats in the newAIIMS, an increase of 11,410 seats. Thenumber of PG seats has increased from13,000 to 22,503, an increase of 9,503seats. 66 new medical colleges have beenestablished raising the number from 289to 355 within this period.

• The Government of India has signed aMemorandum of Understanding (MoU)for 'Country to Country' corporation inthe fields of Traditional Medicine withTrinidad and Tobago. MoUs are also be-

ing signed with the Governments of Serbiaand Nepal, and is in pipeline with theGovernment of Sri Lanka. MoUs for set-ting up of AYUSH Chair at Durban Uni-versity of Technology, South Africa andUniversity of West Indies, Trinidad andTobago were also finalized.

• AYUSH Information Cell has been set up- one each in Mexico and Port of Spain.

• GOI is planning to launch National Ur-ban Health Mission in line of NHRM.

c) Skill Development:

Skill building can be viewed as aninstrument to improve the effectiveness andcontribution of labour to the overallproduction. It is as an important ingredient topush the production possibility frontier outwardand to take growth rate of the economy to ahigher trajectory. Skill building could also beseen as an instrument to empower theindividual and improve his/her socialacceptance or value.

The contemporary focus on skill buildingor skill development in India is derived fromthe changing demographic profiles in India vis-à-vis China, Western Europe, and NorthAmerica. These changing demographic profilesindicate that India has a unique 20 to 25 yearswindow of opportunity called "demographicdividend". The demographic dividend isessentially due to two factors (a) declining birthrates and (b) improvement in life expectancy.The declining birth rate changes the agedistribution and makes for a smaller proportionof population in the dependent ages and forrelatively larger share in the productive labourforce. The result is low dependency ratio whichcan provide comparative cost advantage andcompetitiveness to the economy. The"demographic dividend" accounts for Indiahaving world's youngest workforce with amedian age way below that of China andOECD Countries. Alongside this window ofopportunity for India, the global economy isexpected to witness a skilled manpowershortage to the extent of around 56 million by2020. Thus, the "demographic dividend" inIndia needs to be exploited not only to expandthe production possibility frontier but also tomeet the skilled manpower requirements of inIndia and abroad.

Statistically 49.9% of India's populationwould be below 29 years in 2021, leading to


the possibility of 650 million people (a largenumber of them are English speaking) being inthe employable age of 15-59 years in a decadefrom now meeting the requirements of boththe domestic and world economies. GoldmanSachs predicts that India would become thethird largest economy in the world by 2035,just behind the United States and the People'sRepublic of China. Globally, companies havetheir eyes set on India as a rapidly growingnation that is full of opportunities.

Despite this huge labour pool, however,employability continues to be a major concernin India mainly due to the absence of a properlinkage between the formal education systemand vocational training. High school dropoutrates (upto 56.8%) and low turnout at thevocational training institutes add on to thechallenge. Today, a mere 2% of the Indianworkers are formally skilled. In-service trainingis received by only 15% of workers in themanufacturing sector. A significantly large bulkof the labour force in India - about 93% - worksin the unorganized sector, without any formaltraining.

Countries with higher and better levels ofskills adjust more effectively to the challengesand opportunities of world of work. Progressin scientific and technical knowledge has vastlyincreased the potential productivity anddevelopment of an economy. Rapid advance-ment in computer technology and its appli-cations have made it essential to have a largenumber of persons with high levels ofcomputer literacy. Development of morepowerful applications of information techno-logy has led to its wide application in industryand services. The full utilization of thispotential requires the capacity of the educationsystem to produce high quality trainedpersonnel in adequate numbers.

In August 2008, the Prime Minister outlinedhis vision for skill development in India. ThePrime Minister also outlined the institutionalstructure at the national level for coordinatedaction in the skills space. This consisted of theestablishment of a National Council for SkillDevelopment, chaired by the Prime Ministerhimself, at the apex to lay down the broadframework for this arena, a National SkillDevelopment Coordination Board(NSDCB)coordinated by the Planning Commission tocombine public and private prongs of action

and the setting up of a National SkillDevelopment Corporation(NSDC) as a no-profit-no-loss company through the public-private partnership route to catalyse privatesector involvement in the skills space. In March2009, the government announced a NationalPolicy on Skill Development laying down theframework within which it wanted skills-related training to be conducted. The policyclarified the roles that different stakeholders -government, industry, trade unions and civilsociety - would need to play for the creation ofa skills ecosystem in India.

But the task of skill development has manychallenges in India which include:-

a) Increasing capacity & capability ofexisting system to ensure equitable accessto all.

b) Promoting life long learning, main-taining quality and relevance, accordingto changing requirement particularly ofemerging knowledge economy.

c) Creating effective convergence betweenschool education, various skill develop-ment efforts of government and betweengovernment and Private Sector initia-tive.

d) Capacity building of institutions forplanning, quality assurance and invol-vement of stakeholders.

e) Creating institutional mechanism forresearch development quality assurance,examinations & certification, affiliationsand accreditation.

f) Increasing participation of stakeholders,mobilizing adequate investment forfinancing skill development, attainingsustainability by strengthening physicaland intellectual resources.

Thus investment in human capital througheducation, training, health and medicalfacilities is an investment that yields additionaloutput and brings an economic return that isdifficult to calculate but decisively significant.Economic growth theory sees human capitalas an important source of economic growth.As the term implies, human capital is conceivedas an input to development. Numerous studieshave established the relationship betweeneducation, health and economic development.


Therefore there is a strong need for theirimprovement in India.

Human development indicators

The three basic parameters of humandevelopment are economic attainment or well-being, education and health.

• Economic attainments of individuals andtheir well-being have conventionallybeing captured through indicators likeper-capita or per-capita GDP of aneconomy. But in the context of deve-loping countries these indicators are notvery reliable as they rely mainly onmarket mediated transactions forcapturing economic activity. Therefore,the National Human DevelopmentReport uses per-capita consumptionexpenditure instead of per-capitaincome as the indicator of well-being ofthe common people. It is not only theaverage level of consumption expen-diture that is important for assessingeconomic attainments, but also the howthe pattern is distributed across thepopulation in the state or region. A statemay have high average per-capitaconsumption expenditure only becauseof high expenditure levels in the topincome deciles of the population. On theother hand, the same average consump-tion level can be obtained from a moreequitable distribution of expenditurelevels, for instance, for the bottom fivedeciles of the population.

• Further the Planning Commissionestimates poverty using data from thelarge sample surveys on householdconsumer expenditure carried out by theNational Sample Survey Office(NSSO)every five years. It defines poverty lineon the basis of monthly per capitaconsumption expenditure(MPCE). Themethodology for estimation of povertyfollowed by the Planning Commissionhas been based on the recommendationsmade by experts in the field from timeto time. Recent data shows that thePoverty ratio in the country has declinedto 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2per cent in 2004-05 on account ofincrease in per capita consumption.According to the Commission, in 2011-

12 for rural areas, the national povertyline by using the Tendulkar methodo-logy is estimated at Rs. 816 per capitaper month in villages and Rs. 1,000 percapita per month in cities. This wouldmean that the persons whose consump-tion of goods and services exceedRs. 33.33 in cities and Rs. 27.20 percapita per day in villages are not poor.The Commission said that for a familyof five, the all India poverty line in termsof consumption expenditure wouldamount of Rs. 4,080 per month in ruralareas and Rs. 5,000 per month in urbanareas. The poverty line however willvary from state to state. Thus thepercentage of persons below poverty linein 2011-12 has been estimated at 25.7per cent in rural areas, 13.7 per cent inurban areas and 21.9 per cent for thecountry as a whole. The percentage ofpersons below poverty line in 2004-05was 41.8 per cent in rural areas, 25.7per cent in cities and 37.2 per cent inthe country as a whole. In actual terms,there were 26.93 crore people belowpoverty line in 2011-12 as compared to40.71 crore in 2004-05.

• HDR measures inequality in terms oftwo indicators. The first indicator is theincome Gini coefficient which measuresthe deviation of distribution of income(or consumption) among the individualswithin a country from a perfectly equaldistribution. For India, the income Ginicoefficient was 36.8 in 2010-11. In thisrespect, inequality in India is lower thanmany other developing countriese.g. South Africa (57.8), Brazil (53.9),Thailand (53.6), Turkey (40.8), China(41.5), Sri Lanka (40.3), Malaysia (46.2),Vietnam (37.6), as well as countrieslike USA (40.8), Hong Kong (43.4),Argentina (45.8), Israel (39.2), Bulgaria(45.3), etc., which are otherwise rankedvery high in terms of human deve-lopment index. The second indicator isthe quintile income ratio, which is ameasure of average income of the richest20 per cent of the population to that ofpoorest is 20 per cent. The quintileincome ratio for India was 5.6 in2010-11. Countries like Australia (7.0),the USA (8.5), New Zealand (6.8),


Singapore (9.8), the UK (7.8), Argentina(12.3), Mexico (14.4), Malaysia (11.4),Philippines (9.0), Vietnam (6.2) hadhigher ratios. This implies that theinequality between the top and bottomquintiles in India was lower than a largenumber of countries.

• Employment growth in the organizedsector, public and private combined, hasincreased by 1.0 per cent in 2011, asagainst 1.9 per cent in 2010. The annualgrowth rate of employment in theprivate sector in 2011 was 5.6 per centwhereas that in the public sector wasnegative. The share of women inorganized-sector employment wasaround 20.5 per cent during 2009-11and has remained nearly constant inrecent years.

• Shelter is another basic humanrequirement. It is perhaps as importantin the life of a human being as foodand clothing. Housing is a necessity aswell as important economic activity asit is a part of the construction industry.But the Census of India 2001 enu-merated 1.94 million homeless peoplein India of whom 1.16 million lived invillages and only 0.77 million lived incities and towns. The homeless peoplecounted in Delhi were 24,966,86472 inTamil Nadu and 42498 in Bihar.However, these numbers are likely tobe gross underestimates. The homelesspopulation is certainly living in acondition beyond human dignity.Besides out of this homeless popualtiona large number of people live in slums.The Census of India also provides infor-mation about the quality of housing.The available data provides informationabout the number of rooms available tohouseholds and the quality of cons-truction of the residence, i.e., whetherhousehold resides in pucca or kutchaconstruction.

• The UNDP in its HDR 1990, has pointedout that literacy is a person's first stepin learning and knowledge building andtherefore literacy indicators are essentialfor any measurement of humandevelopment. These can be manyindicators to assess the educational

attainments of a society. These can beliteracy rate for population as a whole,adult literacy rate, literacy rate forfemales and for deprived and backwardsections of society. Other indicators likea gross enrollment ratio, attendance inschools, dropout rates of the schoolgoing children or of a girl child orproportion of population having higherand technical qualification, etc. couldalso be used to measure the level ofeducational attainment in a society.Each of these indicators, howeverfocuses on a particular aspect ofeducation and to that extent covers onlya limited dimension of educationalattainment. India's educational develop-ment is a mixed bag of remarkablesuccesses and glaring gaps. In the postIndependence period, the pace ofeducational development was unprece-dented by any standard. At the sametime, perhaps, the policy focus andpublic intervention in the provisioningof educational services was notadequately focussed or, even misplacedto the extent that even after 50 years ofplanned effort in this sector, nearly one-third of the population or close to 300million persons in age–group of sevenyears and above are illiterate. Recentsurveys conclude that Madhya Pradeshhas the highest gross enrollment ratio(GER) (6-13 years) in 2010-11 whileAssam has the lowest. Pupil-teacherratios in primary and middle/basicschools are the lowest in HimachalPradesh and high in states like UttarPradesh and Bihar.

• Health is the third most importantindicator of human development. Formost individuals the choices to live ahealthy life, free from illness andailments, with a reasonable life span arecrucial attributes in the notion ofpersonal well-being. Similarly for asociety, a transition from high incidenceof morbidity and mortality to a statewhere people generally enjoy long anddisease free lives is considered adesirable and valued social change. Lifeexpectancy of an individual is thenumber of years the person is expectedto live given the prevailing age specific


mortality rate of the population towhich he or she belongs. The need tohave a measure like life expectancyarises because often the age-specificmortality rates are not correlated. Theindicator of life expectancy is closelyrelated to other aspects of health. Keralais the best performer in terms of lifeexpectancy at birth for both males (71.5years) and females (76.9 years) whereasAssam is the worst performer for bothmales (61 years) and females (63.2 years)during 2006-10. Infant mortality rate(IMR) in 2011 is the lowest in Kerala(12) and highest in Madhya Pradesh (59)against the national average of 44. Birthrate is lowest in Kerala (15.2) andhighest in Uttar Pradesh (27.8) againstthe national average of 21.8. Death rateis lowest in West Bengal (6.2) andhighest in Odisha (8.5) against thenational average of 7.1.

Annual Health Survey 2010-11

The Health Ministry has released theAnnual Health Survey (AHS) conducted in 284districts of eight Empowered Action GroupStates of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Orissa and Rajasthan, besides Assam,representing half the country's population.

The objective of the AHS is to yield acomprehensive, representative and reliabledataset on core vital indicators includingcomposite ones like Infant Mortality Rate,Maternal Mortality Ratio and Total Fertility Ratealong with their co-variates (process andoutcome indicators) at the district level andmap the changes therein on an annual basis.These benchmarks would help in better andholistic understanding and timely monitoringof various determinants on well-being andhealth of population particularly Reproductiveand Child Health.

Annual Health Survey(AHS) has beenimplemented by the Office of Registrar General,India for a three year period spread over 2010-11 to 2012-13.

These nine States, which account for about48 per cent of the total population, 59 percentof Births, 70 per cent of Infant Deaths, 75 percent of Under 5 Deaths and 62 per cent ofMaternal Deaths in the country, are the high

focus States in view of their relatively higherfertility and mortality. A representative sampleof about 20.1 million population and 4.1 millionhouseholds were covered in 20,694 statisticallyselected PSUs (Census Enumeration Blocks incase of urban areas and villages or a segmentthereof in rural areas) in these 9 AHS Statesduring baseline and to be followed every year.With the present coverage, the AHS is thelargest demographic survey in the world andis two and half times that of the SampleRegistration System.

Total fertility rate, current usage of familyplanning, unmet need for family planning,mean ate at marriage for female, marriageamong females below legal age (18 years), ante-natal care, delivery care, janani surakshayojana, post-natal & newborn care andimmunization.

The new health survey has also revealedthat more boys than girls are getting marriedbefore the legal age of 21 years. The surveyhas also revealed that every fourth girl marryingin rural Rajasthan and every fifth in Bihar andJharkhand are below the legal age of 18 years.The Mean age at marriage of females variesfrom 19.7 in Rajasthan to 22 years inUttarakhand. For males, the mean marriageage is 22.2 in Rajasthan and a maximum of27.6 in Assam.

The survey also reveals for the first timethat a woman on an average gives birth tomore than three children in Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, with thehighest of 5.9 children reported in Shrawastidistrict of Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh has fared poorly in ante-natalcare and immunisation of children. Across 284districts, less than 1 per cent coverage of fullANC has been reported in Balrampur districtof Uttar Pradesh, while Jagatsinghpur ofOdisha reported the maximum (36 per cent).

Uttar Pradesh has reported the minimumcoverage of 3.9 per cent while Chhattisgarhthe maximum (19.5 per cent) of full ante-natalcare, which comprises of three or more check-ups and at least one TT injection alongwithiron and folic acid consumption in first 100days.

Jharkhand reported the minimum of 47.1per cent and Madhya Pradesh the maximumof 82.2 per cent safe deliveries. About one-


fourth of the districts have reported less than50 per cent of safe deliveries. Of 14 districtsreporting 90 per cent and above safe deliveries,10 belong to Madhya Pradesh.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FORHUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

A. Poverty Alleviation And EmploymentGeneration Programmes

• Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act.

The Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is anIndian job guarantee scheme, enacted bylegislation on 25 August, 2005. The schemeprovides a legal guarantee for at least onehundred days of employment in every financialyear to adult members of any rural householdwilling to do public work-related unskilledmanual work at the statutory minimum wageof 120 (US $2.20) per day in 2009 prices.

Provisions under MGNREGA

a) Adult members of a rural household,willing to do unskilled manual work,are required to make registration inwriting or orally to the local GramPanchayat.

b) The Gram Panchayat after dueverification will issue a Job Card. TheJob Card will bear the photograph ofall adult members of the householdwilling to work under NREGA and isfree of cost.

c) The Job Card should be issued within15 days of application.

d) A Job Card holder may submit a writtenapplication for employment to the GramPanchayat, stating the time andduration for which work is sought. Theminimum days of employment have tobe atleast fourteen.

e) The Gram Panchayat will issue a datedreceipt of the written application foremployment, against which the guaran-tee of providing employment within 15days operates.

f) Employment will be given within 15days of application for work, if it is notthen daily unemployment allowance as

per the Act, has to be paid liability ofpayment of unemployment allowance isof the States.

g) Work should ordinarily be providedwithin 5 km radius of the village. Incase work is provided beyond 5 km,extra wages of 10% are payable to meetadditional transportation and livingexpenses.

h) Wages are to be paid according to theMinimum Wages Act, 1948 for agri-cultural labourers in the State, unlessthe Centre notices a wage rate whichwill not be less than 60 (US $1.10) perday. Equal wages will be provided toboth men and women.

i) Wages are to be paid according to piecerate or daily rate. Disbursement ofwages has to be done on weekly basisand not beyond a fortnight in any case.

j) At least one-third beneficiaries shall bewomen who have registered and re-quested work under the scheme.

k) Work site facilities such as crèche,drinking water, shade have to be pro-vided.

l) The shelf of project for a village will berecommended by the gram sabha andapproved by the Zilla Panchayat.

m) At least 50% of works will be allottedto Gram Panchayats for execution.

n) Permissible works predominantlyinclude water and soil conservation,afforestation and land developmentworks.

o) A 60:40 wage and material ratio has tobe maintained. No contractors andmachinery is allowed.

p) The Central Govt. bears the 100 per centwage cost of unskilled manual labourand 75 per cent of the material costincluding the wages of skilled and semiskilled workers.

q) Social Audit has to be done by theGram Sabha.

r) Grievance redressal mechanisms haveto be put in place for ensuring a res-ponsive implementation process.


• National Rural Livelihood Mission

The National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM) was established in June 2010 by theGovernment of India, to be implemented in allStates of the country, to establish efficient andsustainable institutions of the rural poor thatenable them to increase household incomethrough livelihood enhancements and im-proved access to financial and selected publicservices. NRLM have special focus on thepoorest households, who are currently depen-dant on MGNREGA. These families will besupported to broaden their livelihoods throughassets and skill acquisition. This will enhancethe quality of their livelihoods significantly.

NRLM is based on:

a) It is a demand driven programme andthe states formulate their own povertyreduction action plans based on theirpast experience, resources and skillsbase; and

b) It will provide for a professional supportstructure for programme implementationat all levels from the national upto theblock level in different streams.

The Rural Livelihoods Mission has a three-tier interdependent structure. At the apex ofthe structure is the National Rural LivelihoodsMission, under the Ministry of RuralDevelopment, Govt. of India. At the State level,there is an umbrella organization under theState Department of Rural Development/Department which is responsible for imple-menting self-employment/rural livelihoodspromotion programs. The State level Missionwith dedicated professionals and domainexperts under the State department of RuralDepartment will be guided financially,technically and supported by the NRLM onneed basis. The National and the State Missionwill have a symbiotic relationship. They willhave mutual access to the knowledge andservices in the area of rural livelihoods.

The National Rural Livelihoods Mission(NRLM) seeks to provide greater focus andmomentum to poverty reduction to achieve theMillennium Development Goal by 2015. Thisentails a rapid increase in viable livelihoodsamong poor rural households (as well as urbanones).

• Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana

With a view to provide gainful employmentto the urban unemployed and underemployedthrough encouraging the setting up of self-employment ventures or provision of wageemployment, a new urban poverty alleviationprogramme, namely, Swarna Jayanti ShahariRozgar Yojana (SJSRY) was launched by theGovernment of India on 01.12.1997.

This scheme subsumed the earlier threeurban poverty alleviation programmes, namelyUrban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP),Nehru Rozgar Yojana(NRY) and PrimeMinister's Integrated Urban Poverty Eradi-cation Programme(PMIUPEP).

An independent evaluation of SJSRY wascarried out by the Ministry of Housing & UrbanPoverty Alleviation in 2006 to assess the impactof the scheme in improving the conditions ofthe urban poor. Based on the study findings,lessons learnt in implementation and feedbackreceived from State Governments, Urban LocalBodies and other stakeholders, a revision ofthe Guidelines of the SJSRY scheme has beenmade, with effect from the year 2009-2010.

The main objectives of the new revampedSJSRY are:

a. Addressing urban poverty alleviationthrough gainful employment to theurban unemployed or underemployedpoor by encouraging them to set up self-employment ventures (individual orgroup), with support for their sustain-ability; or undertake wage employment;

b. Supporting skill development andtraining programmes to enable theurban poor have access to employmentopportunities opened up by the marketor undertake self-employment; and

c. Empowering the community to tacklethe issues of urban poverty throughsuitable self managed communitystructures like Neighbourhood Groups(NHGs), Neighbourhood Committees(NHC), Community Development So-ciety(CDS), etc.

B. Education programmes

• Right To Education

Right to education guarantees free andcompulsory education to all children between


the age of 6 and 14 in India under Article 21Aof the Indian Constitution. It states that'compulsory education' means obligation of theappropriate government to provide freeelementary education and ensure compulsoryadmission, attendance and completion ofelementary education to every child in the sixto fourteen age group.

'Free' means that no child shall be liable topay any kind of fee or charges or expenseswhich may prevent him or her from pursuingand completing elementary education.

Indian parliament passed this act on 2009and it came into force on 2010. The passing ofthe Right of Children to Free and CompulsoryEducation(RTE) Act, 2009 marks a historicmoment for the children of India.

This Act serves as a building block to ensurethat every child has his or her right to get aquality elementary education and states havethis responsibility, with the help of families andcommunities to fulfill this obligation.

The salient features of RTE Act are:

a) All children aged 6-14 shall have theright to free and compulsory educationat a neighborhood school.

b) No direct school fees or indirect cost onuniforms, textbooks, mid-day meals,transportation, etc. needs to be borneby the child or parents to obtain elemen-tary education.

c) The Government will provide schoolingfree of cost until the child's elementaryeducation is completed.

d) All schools must comply with certaininfrastructure and teacher norms. Twotrained teachers will be provided forevery 60 students at the primary level.

e) Schools shall constitute School Manage-ment Committees comprising local offi-cials, parents, guardians and teachers.The SMCs will monitor utilization ofGovernment grants and the schoolenvironment. RTE mandates inclusionof 50% women and parents of childrenfrom disadvantaged groups in SMCs.

f) It prohibits (a) physical punishment andmental harassment; (b) screening pro-cedures for admission of children; (c)capitation fee; (d) private tuition by

teachers and (e) running of schoolswithout recognition, etc.

• Model School Scheme

The Model School scheme was launched inNovember 2008 in pursuance to the announ-cement of the Prime Minister in his Indepen-dence Day speech of 2007. The scheme aims toprovide quality education to talented ruralchildren through setting up of 6,000 modelschools as benchmark of excellence at blocklevel at the rate of one school per block. Thescheme has the following objectives:

a) To have at least one good quality seniorsecondary school in every block.

b) To have a pace setting role.

c) To try out innovative curriculum andpedagogy.

d) To be a model in infrastructure, curri-culum, evaluation and school gover-nance.

The scheme has two modes of implemen-tation, viz. (i) 3,500 schools are to be set up inas many educationally backward blocks (EBBs)through State/UT Governments, and (ii) theremaining 2,500 schools are to be set up underPublic-Private Partnership (PPP) mode inblocks which are not educationally backward.At present, only the component for setting upof model schools in EBBs through State/UTGovernments is being implemented. The PPPcomponent of the Model School Scheme islikely to be implemented from 12th Five YearPlan.

• Mid–day meal

The Mid–Day Meal is the world's largestschool feeding programme reaching out toabout 12 crore children in over 12.65 lakhSchools/EGS centres across the country.

With a view to enhancing enrollment,retention and attendance and simultaneouslyimproving nutritional levels among children allover India, the National Programme ofNutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally SponsoredScheme on 15 August, 1995, initially in 2408blocks in the country. By the year 1997–98 theNP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of thecountry. It was further extended in 2002 tocover not only children in class I-V ofgovernment, government aided and local body


schools, but also children studying in EducationGuarantee Scheme and Alternative andInnovative Education centres.

Central Assistance under the schemeconsisted of free supply of food grains @100grams per child per school day, and subsidyfor transportation of food grains up to amaximum of Rs. 50 per quintal.

In September 2004 the scheme was revisedto provide cooked mid day meal with 300calories and 8-12 grams of protein to allchildren studying in classes I-V in Governmentand aided schools and EGS/AIE centres. Inaddition to free supply of food grains, therevised scheme provided Central Assistance for(a) Cooking cost @1 per child per school day,(b) Transport subsidy was raised from theearlier maximum of 50 per quintal to 100 perquintal for special category states, and 75 perquintal for other states, (c) Management,monitoring and evaluation costs @2 per centof the cost of foodgrains, transport subsidy andcooking assistance, and (d) Provision of midday meal during summer vacation in droughtaffected areas.

In July 2006, the nutritional norm hasincreased from existing 300 calories and 8-12gram protein to minimum 450 Calories and 12gram of protein. Assistance for cooking/kitchen devices (gas stove with connection,stainless steel water storage tank, cooking andserving utensils, etc.) in a phased manner @Rs. 5,000 per school.

In September 2007, the name of the Schemewas changed from 'National Programme ofNutritional Support to Primary Education 'to'National Programme of Mid Day Meal inSchools' and the Scheme was extended to coverchildren of upper primary classes (i.e., class VIto VIII) studying in 3,479 EducationallyBackward Blocks. The calorific value of the Mid-Day Meal for upper primary stage was fixedat 700 Calories and 20 grams of protein.

The Scheme was further revised in April2008 to cover all upper primary schools ofcountry and also to include recognizedMadrasas/Maqtabs supported under SSA asGovernment Aided schools as well as thoseMadrasas/Maqtabs which may not beregistered or recognized but supported underSSA as EGS/AIE intervention in coordinationwith State Project Directors of SSA.

During the year 2009 the following changes

have been made to improve the implementationof the scheme: Food norms have been revisedto ensure balanced and nutritious diet tochildren of upper primary group by increasingthe quantity of pulses from 25 to 30 grams,vegetables from 65 to 75 grams and bydecreasing the quantity of oil and fat from 10grams to 7.5 grams.

C. Health Programmes

• Integrated Child DevelopmentServices (ICDS):

It was launched in 1975 with the followingobjectives: to improve the nutritional and healthstatus of children in the age-group 0-6 years;to lay the foundation for proper psychological,physical and social development of the child;to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity,malnutrition and school dropout. It providessupplementary nutrition, immunization, regularhealth check-up, pre-school non-formaleducation and nutrition & health education.

ICDS Scheme has since been universalisedwith effect from 2008-09. The total numbers ofsanctioned Projects are 7076 and Anganwadicentres (including Mini AWCs and Anganwadion demand) are 13.71 lakhs. Against this thereare 7025 operational projects and 13.31 lakhoperational AWCs as on January 2013. Theservices are currently availed by 927.66 lakhbeneficiaries which include 746.81 lakh children(6 months to 6 years) and 180.85 lakh pregnantand lactating mothers.

Government has recently approved streng-thening and restructuring of Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) Scheme with abudget allocation of Rs. 1,23,580 crore during12th Five Year Plan.

• Indira Gandhi Matritva SahyogYojana:

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana(IGMSY), Conditional Maternity Benefit(CMB)is a centrally sponsored scheme for Pregnantand Lactating (P&L) women to improve theirhealth & nutrition status to better enablingenvironment by providing cash incentives topregnant and nursing mothers. It is beingimplemented using the platform of ICDS. Thescheme was introduced in October, 2010 onpilot basis now operational in 53 selecteddistricts including Bihar. The scheme attemptsto partly compensate for wage loss to Pregnant


& Lactating women both prior to and afterdelivery of the child. The scheme envisagesproviding cash directly to the beneficiarythrough their Bank Accounts/Post OfficeAccounts, in response to individual fulfillingspecific conditions. The scheme covers allpregnant and lactating women above 19 yearsof age and above for first two live births areentitled for benefits under the scheme exceptall Government/PSUs (Central & State). Thebeneficiaries in 2011-12 were 3.05 lakhs andduring 2012-13 are 3.76 lakhs so far.

• National Rural Health Mission

Recognizing the importance of Health inthe process of economic and social developmentand improving the quality of life of our citizens,the Government of India has launched theNational Rural Health Mission to carry outnecessary architectural correction in the basichealthcare delivery system.

The Mission adopts a synergistic approachby relating health to determinants of goodhealth viz. segments of nutrition, sanitation,hygiene and safe drinking water. It also aimsat mainstreaming the Indian systems ofmedicine to facilitate healthcare.

National Rural Health Mission waslaunched on 12th April, 2005 with an objectiveto provide effective healthcare to the ruralpopulation, the disadvantaged groups inclu-ding women and children by improving access,enabling community ownership, strengtheningpublic health systems for efficient servicedelivery, enhancing equity and accountabilityand promoting decentralization.

The scheme proposes a number of newmechanisms for healthcare delivery includingtraining local residents as Accredited SocialHealth Activists(ASHA) and the JananiSurakshay Yojana(motherhood protectionprogram). It also aims at improving hygieneand sanitation infrastructure. It is the mostambitious rural health initiative ever.

The mission has a special focus on 18 statesArunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu andKashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya,Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan,Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and UttarPradesh.

Goals of NHRM

a) Reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR).

b) Universal access to public health servicessuch as Women's health, child health,water, sanitation & hygiene, immunization,and Nutrition.

c) Prevention and control of communicableand non-communicable diseases, includinglocally endemic diseases.

d) Access to integrated comprehensiveprimary healthcare.

e) Population stabilization, gender anddemographic balance.

f) Revitalize local health traditions andmainstream, AYUSH.

g) Promotion of healthy life styles.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram is a newinitiative aimed at screening over 27 crorechildren from 0 to 18 years for 4 Ds–Defects atbirth, Diseases, Deficiencies and DevelopmentDelays including Disabilities. Children diagnosedwith illnesses shall receive follow up includingsurgeries at tertiary level, free-of-cost underNRHM.

• SABLA scheme

With the objective to improve the nutritionaland health status of adolescent girls in the agegroup of 11-18 years and empower them byproviding education in life-skills, health andnutrition, the Government of India introducedthe Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment ofAdolescent Girls-SABLA in November, 2010.

SABLA scheme will replace the erstwhileKishori Shakti Yojana (the objective of thisscheme was to improve the nutrition and healthstatus of girls in the age–group of 11 to 18years, to equip them to improve and upgradetheir home-based and vocational skills, and topromote their overall development, includingawareness about their health, personal hygiene,nutrition and family welfare and management)and Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls(under this programme, 6 kg of free food grainper beneficiary per month was given toundernourished Adolescent Girls).

SABLA will be implemented initially in 200districts selected across the country, using theplatform of ICDS. In these districts, SABLA


will replace KSY and NPAG. In rest of thedistricts, KSY would continue as before.

The objectives of the scheme are to:

a) enable self development and empower-ment of AGs;

b)b)improve their nutrition and health status;

c) spread awareness among them abouthealth, hygiene, nutrition, AdolescentReproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH),and family and child care;

d) upgrade their home based skills, life skillsand vocational skills;

e) mainstream out of school AGs intoformal/non-formal education; and

f) Inform and guide them about existingpublic services, such as PHC, CHC, PostOffice, Bank, Police Station, etc.

D. Skill development Programmes

The current education system does not focuson training young people in employable skillsthat can provide them with employmentopportunities. Today, a large section of India'slabor force has outdated skills. With currentand expected economic growth, this challengeis going to only increase further, since morethan 75% of new job opportunities are expectedto be "skill-based."

The Government is therefore stronglyemphasizing on upgrading people's skills byproviding vocational education and training tothem. It has formulated the National Policy onSkill Development and set a target for providingskills to 500 million people by 2022. Variousstakeholders are involved in this process.

In the current framework, the Ministry ofLabor & Employment is running various schemesand has set up industrial training institutionsacross the country. Other ministries such as theMinistry of Human Resource Development, theMinistry of Rural Development and the Ministryof Urban Development & Poverty Alleviationhave also launched their skill upgrading programsand self-employment schemes.

In addition, as part of its National SkillDevelopment Mission, the Government hasestablished the National Skill DevelopmentCorporation in the Public Private Partnershipmode to facilitate setting up of large, highquality, for-profit vocational institutions. It also

aims to set up 1,500 new ITIs and 5,000 skilldevelopment centers across the country as wella National Vocational Qualification Framework(NVQF) for affiliations and accreditation invocational, educational and training systems.

Realizing the significance and need forskilled manpower, private sector entities aretaking several initiatives to contribute effectivelyto the Government's endeavors. Across businesssectors, companies and industry associationsare not only boosting their in-house trainingfacilities, but are also taking steps to makepotential employees job-ready before they joinorganizations. Some initiatives are:

I. Hunar se Rozgar: The Govt. of India,Ministry of Tourism has launched aTraining Programme, christened HunarSe Rozgar Tak, to create employable skillsin the interested youth who are in theage–group of 18-25 years and who areminimum 8th pass. The upper age limithas been raised to 28 with effect from11th November, 2010. The HSRT initiativeis being implemented through expertinstitutions including the Indian Instituteof Tourism and Travel Manage-ment,Institutes of Hotel Management, FoodCraft Institutes and India TourismDevelopment Corporation. The StateGovernments/Union Territory Adminis-trations have also been authorised toimplement the initiative through Institutesselected by them for purpose. It is alsomandatory for certain star-classifiedhotels to train a prescribed minimumnumber of persons.

The courses offered are: A six weekfull time course in Food & BeverageService, also covering housekeeping, andan eight week full time course in FoodProduction. Each course will also havea built in emphasis on improving thetrainees in behavior and attitudes inorder to enhance their market accept-ability. The hotels shall ensure that thequality of training imparted under thesaid scheme will be of the highest qualityso that the pass-outs are proficient enoughto be easily employable in the sector.

II. Skill, Empowerment and EmploymentSpecial Scheme: SEE J&K Scheme is a


placement linked, market driven skilltraining programme for J&K youth tobe implemented by the Ministry of RuralDevelopment. The objective of the SEEJ&K scheme is to provide options andopportunities to all youth in J&K, rangingfrom school dropouts to college educated,to select training programme for salariedor self employment oppor-tunities as pertheir interest. The placements will be inthe private sector both within andoutside J&K. It is estimated that 70%funds will be used to provide salariedemployment linked training, and theremaining 30% for self- employmentlinked training. The training providersfor placement linked skill training willgive a 75% placement guarantee for thetrained youth. Placement for youths willbe provided all over the country. UnderSEE J&K Scheme, different trainingstrategies will be used for diverse groupsof youth - school dropouts, dropouts ofXII class level, and those who have hadcollege education. The Special schemewill cover youth both from BelowPoverty Line(BPL) category and non-BPL category.

III. Special Industry Initiative Scheme forJammu & Kashmir (Udaan): Under thescheme, 40,000 youth will be trained infive years. Companies which showinterest in the scheme and enter intothe agreement with the National SkillDevelopment Corporation(NSDC), willscreen and select students from theState. After assessing the skill gap ofthe trainees, a training module, itsduration and nature of training will bedesigned by the companies. Trainees willbe relocated to the training facility. Aftercompletion of the training, they will beinterviewed for a job with the companyand will be placed as far as possible.

The scheme targets youth who areeducated, but do not have marketableskills. It includes graduates, postgraduates,three year engineering diploma holdersand youth with professional degrees.This talent pool in the absence of jobopportunities becomes highly alienatedand their potential in turning around

the state economy is wasted. The schemewill facilitate gainful employment to theyouth of Jammu & Kashmir. By provi-ding them jobs, the scheme proposes tochannelize their energies into creativepursuits.

IV. Himayat Scheme: Himayat is a training-cum-placement programme for unem-ployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir.Youth will be provided short-termtraining for at least 3 months, in a rangeof skills for which there is good demand.At the end of the training, the youthare assured of a job and there is oneyear post-placement tracking to see howthey are faring. The scheme aims totarget 1,00,000 youth in 5 years. Place-ments will be largely in the service sectorboth in J&K and outside the state.Under Himayat, training centres will bedeveloped in all blocks of J&K in next 5years. These will also act as youthresource centres, career counsellingcentres and refer support services fortrainees and youth. This will enablecapabilities of the youth to be identifiedand he/she will be trained and placedaccordingly.

CONCLUSION

India is currently at an exciting juncture inits implementation of various anti-poverty andsocial protection policies. Several reforms havebeen introduced in recent years and manystates are demonstrating innovations in movingtowards effective delivery of programs.However, the overall returns to spending interms of poverty reduction have not reachedits potential. India devotes over 2% of GrossDomestic Product (GDP) to her social protec-tion programs and the spending allocated toeach rural household on major centrallysponsored schemes is significant at 40% of theannual rural poverty line in 2004-2005, the poorare not able to reap the full benefits of suchlarge investments.

The administrative capacity of poorer statesis typically low coupled with a range ofimplementation problems. While states withhigher poverty are allocated more funds fromthe central budget, they have the lowestcapacity to spend effectively, the report adds.


Today most safety net and social securityprograms in most Indian states are characterisedby a range of implementation challenges thatreduce their potential for poverty reduction.There are programs which have wide coveragebut are plagued by leakage of subsidies that limitthe impact on the poor (e.g., PDS), others whichare well-targeted and well-designed but face arange of implementation challenges (e.g., publicworks–MGNREGA), and still others whichappear to be well-designed and with systemsfor better implementation (e.g., RSBY). How-ever, experience across programs in states likeAndhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,Rajasthan and Karnataka suggests thatproblems in service delivery can be overcome.

For the human development in India, public

policy needs to take a comprehensive, 'life cycleapproach'. This means taking care of specificindividual needs during different stages of aperson's life - childhood, adolescence, adulthoodand old age.

Thus, as recommended by the World Bank,India should aim for a "3 +block" strategy. Thiswould involve three core Centrally SponsoredSchemes(CSS) or "pillars", combined with a blockgrant from which states could finance othersafety net or social security programs. This willgive states more leeway to adapt to the needsof the poor in their states. Programs such asthe PDS, MGNREGA and RSBY could serve asthe "three pillars". Beyond the three "pillars",states could receive an additional transfer andimplement state-specific programmes.

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