Millenium_Development_Goals_and_India

* {draw:rect} {draw:g} *DEVELOPMENT PLANNING {draw:frame} INTRODUCTION Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health C_ombat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases_ Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND INDIA: India is home to more than a billion people, accounting for nearly a sixth of the world's population. Any progress made by India in reaching the Millennium Development Goals will take a large part of humanity closer to reaching them. India has made some progress in covering the distance, more in some areas than in others. A lot more, however, remains to be done. The essay tries to answer the concern “_Whether India shall be able to achieve MDGs by 2015 and how_.” The status of India in three such goals has been discussed, with case studies of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. In addition, the project level case study for the MDP of women’ POVERTY EDUCATION Literacy rates have been rising over time in India. For the country as a whole, literacy rates increased from 52% in 1991 to 66% in 2001. Improvements were made in both male and female literacy rates. In the ranking of states by education, Bihar continues to occupy the lowest rank in terms of both male and female and literacy rates while Kerala retains its position at the top. Studies based on earlier data do find that where overall literacy rates are higher, in these regions literacy rates among the poor, females and caste groups also tend to be higher and disparities lower. For example, based on NCAER data, Shariff_ and Sudarshan (1996)_ show that in Rajasthan the overall literacy rates for males and females were 60% and 19% respectively whereas literacy rates were 39% and 7% for males and females for Scheduled Tribes and 52% and 9% for males and females for the Scheduled Castes. The literacy rates among landless wage earners were 44% and 5.6% for males and females respectively. Higher literacy rates are also associated with greater infrastructure availability. Regionally in India, southern states have historically done better in terms of educational outcomes and continue to do so. There is greater public awareness and collective action efforts on the part of the people in the South. Southern states have paid more attention to education compared to the Northern states and there has been effective intervention in terms of public schemes, an example being the provision of mid-day meals in schools in Tamil Nadu. Kerala has been a model state for some time in terms of human development not only for India but for the developing world as a whole. HEALTH Health is an important aspect of human development. One of the most important predictors of health status is income. However, health is a dimension of human capital and healthier people are more productive. The relationship between health and income is bi-directional: the health status of a person influences his or her income status as well. Given the prevalence of mass poverty in India, the question is not only how to raise the incomes of the poor that will be instrumental in improving their health status but also to identify policy interventions that can improve people's health status at existing income levels (and can be instrumental in raising incomes). Health indicators have continued to improve over time in India. Infant mortality rates have shown a steady and secular decline in India and life expectancy too has continued its upward climb. Yet, the state of affairs is far from satisfactory: health indicators in India are inferior not only compared to the rich countries of the West but also compared to the achievements of other developing countries like China and Brazil. Infant mortality is a good indicator at how well nations are doing in protecting their most vulnerable members. Both infant and child mortality have continued their trend decline but remain at high levels in India. Sex ratio indicates both the absolute well being of women as well their relative well-being vis-a-vis men. Given adequate and equal nutrition and medical care, women live longer than men. In India, the overall sex ratio has always been unfavourable to women except in the states of the south. While, sex ratios improve with income in general, in India, the relatively richer states of Punjab and Haryana have historically recorded the worst sex ratios in the country as a whole. STATE LEVEL CASE STUDIES - KERALA AND MP: Among the fourteen major states, Kerala has always stood out as a star in terms of social development, closely followed by Tamil Nadu and in some respects West Bengal. On the other hand, the BIMARU states have always ranked the lowest. However, in the last two decades, Madhya Pradesh has recorded impressive achievements in education as a result of greater and better public intervention. While there are lessons to be learnt from the success of Kerala, there are important lessons to be learnt from the improvements made by Madhya Pradesh. These lessons acquire great significance for the other BIMARU states which share cultural contiguity with Madhya Pradesh. Case Study: Kerala What distinguishes Kerala's achievements is the promotion of education and widespread and equitable provision of health care and other services from an early stage. This has led to a snowball effect in social achievements over time. Helped by mass literacy, political activism in Kerala, especially the political organization of the deprived sections of society and the favourable position of women in society has played a crucial role in the reduction of social inequalities and in enabling the disadvantaged sections in participating in the economic and social development processes. Notwithstanding the unique cultural and historical characteristics that may have been conducive to the early social development achievements in Kerala, political participation and public action has played an important role in Kerala's social development successes and that its experiences can be emulated by the other states of the Indian Union. Case Study: Madhya Pradesh The remarkable gains in literacy made by Madhya Pradesh can be explained by the twin-pronged strategy of the Madhya Pradesh Government: (a) provision of schools and guaranteeing access and (b) a model for spreading literacy that makes use of the synergies between the community, the local and the state governments. PROJECT LEVEL CASE STUDY: RURAL WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT PROJECT The Rural Women's Development and Empowerment Project (RWDEP) had its roots in the International Fund Tor Agriculture Development (IFAD) funded Tamil Nadu Women's Development Project. Support for women in the Tamil Nadu project was applied to the formation of self help groups (SHGs), supported by non-government organizations (NGOs) and animators, to mobilize women and build self-reliance through self-managed savings and credit groups, and improve access to credit for suitable economic activities. The project was financed by a World Bank loan of US$19.5 million. It was co-financed by IFAD for about the same amount. It had been under implementation since 1998, initially in six Indian states (Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), and later in nine (Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal). The overall goal of the project was to strengthen the processes that promote economic development of women and create an environment for social change. The specific objectives were to: establish women's SHGs to build self-reliance and self-confidence and provide them with greater access to and control over resources; sensitize and strengthen the institutional capacity of support agencies (government, NGOs and banks) to proactively address women's needs; increase the incomes of poor women through their involvement in income-generating activities, thereby contributing to poverty alleviation; develop linkages between SHGs and lending institutions to ensure women's access to credit financing; and improve_ access to better health care, education and drudgery reduction facilities._ Experience so far had shown that neither awareness building alone, nor economic activity alone could satisfactorily address the complex issue of women's economic and social empowerment. The project had, therefore, adopted a two-pronged strategy. The core activity of the project was to facilitate women's access to credit and skill development in order to improve their livelihoods. Along with this, the project also attempted, through women-owned SHGs, to promote the process of social empowerment by providing framework tor raising awareness, literacy and dissemination of information on health, nutrition, family welfare and legal rights. The RWDEP could be characterized as follows: It was based on a bottom-up approach to women's empowerment, with a focus on the inclusion of marginalized groups; Rather than providing direct financial support, or credit subsidy, the model emphasized convergence with on-going programs, and acted as a catalyst to access and leverage resources already available in the public and private sectors; It was based on partnerships of individuals, groups and communities with public and private resources, mediated through NGOs. Components of the project: COMPONENT 1: INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING F*OR WOMEN’*S DEVELOPMENT: _a) Establishment ofSHGs:_ SHGs were collectives of 15-20 women, who came together with the common need to build up their savings, with the intention of eventually investing in livelihood. b) Building the capacity of new and existing SHCs A total of 218 NGOs were contracted as implementing partners. The impact of the training was varied: in Karnataka. where women and their households were involved in a participatory process for identifying the income-generating activity they wanted to pursue, the training was very effective, and resulted in high uptake of the activity. c) _Cluster formation of _SHGs : _d) _Strengthening participating agencies to support women's development Banks were sensitized to the credit needs of the women, and a number of groups were linked with commercial banks. Banks started advancing larger loans to the SHGs as compared to the earlier situation where the banks strictly advanced loans on the basis of savings mobilized |by the SHGs. COMPONENT II: SUPPORT MECHANISMS FOR WOMEN-MANAGED INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES _ a) Mobilization of investment funds for income generating activities:_ SHG membership had contributed to both increased savings and incomes for their members. b) Provision of business management and technical support services to SHC members for both on-farm and off-farm activities: RWDEP supported IGAs through opportunity identification, entrepreneur development, production training, setting up advice/support, and market linkages. Such efforts resulted in uptake of profitable micro-enterprises. So that these structures would subsequently continue to provide support to the SHGs. Various models of cluster formation were initiated: some were demand-driven and their roles defined by the member SHGs alone, while others were created by the project implementing authorities. COMPONENT III: MECHANISMS TO ACCESS SOCIAL PROGRAMS AND LEVERAGE FUNDS FOR COMMUNITY ASSET CREATION b) Participatory exercises involving all community members (including men) in deciding on community needs that the SHG could address as part of their social mobilization efforts construction of bathrooms near wells; soak-pits near the wells, homes and other water points; construction of meeting places. By September 2003, a total of 1,612 community assets had been created, which included community halls, toilets, bathing ghats (slopes), school sheds, drains and hand pumps. *COMPONENT IV: PROVIDE EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS *: Accounts were maintained appropriately, audited, and presented to the lending agency in a timely manner. This exercise had provided a wealth of information on project activities and outcomes at the field level, which were widely disseminated and utilized by project management. *Role of Women's Development Corporations*: provide overall direction and guidance to the project, including safeguarding the project concept while responding to women's evolving needs and priorities; coordinate the required project inputs for the mobilization of women, nurturing SHGs and accessing resources; contract NGO partners; monitor and supervise project implementation; prepare_ annual action plans and release the required funds._ However, the capacities of the WDCs in various states were not uniform. Some, such as in Karnataka and Gujarat, were strong, and had activities, roles and funding independent of the project. Others, such as UP, were bankrupt, and often project funds were misutilized for non-project activities, leaving the project under-funded. Critical appreciation of the project : Despite these shortcomings, it can be termed as a success. The project had undertaken a range of activities to enhance the outcomes of this component, including promoting bank linkages by conducting the activities such as bankers sensitization programs, exposure visits of bankers, grading of the SHGs as per the Bank's requirements, maintenance of books of accounts as per the requirement of the banks, preparation of business plans in a more professional manner, to achieve bulk loans through clusters to minimize the transaction cost and ensure high repayment percentages, etc. However, much more remained to be done; and when the SHGs had stabilized, the scope was substantially greater for expanding the activities under this component for better impact. The following table shows where India should be in 2015 for achieving MDGs: For India to go further along the path of human development, it has to focus on providing better health services to its population and on eliminating existing disparities across caste, gender and rural-urban location. There is a great need for developing the health infrastructure and for providing better infrastructure in general. CONCLUSIONS India's performance vis-a-vis human development has been mixed in the last decade. A high and sustainable rate of economic growth in the post reform period has reduced the number of people below the poverty line. Literacy rates have not only continued their trend rise but there has been a decline in the absolute number of illiterates for the first time. Population health, however, remains an area of neglect. Health indicators, while recording improvements over time, point to alarmingly high rates of malnutrition and mortality, especially among women and children, and widespread lack of access to medical care. Human Development in a society has come to mean how well a society is doing in raising per capita incomes, education and health levels. While, it is not necessary that there be a straightforward relationship between these different aspects of well being, in general we would expect them to be correlated. In India, states that do better along one dimension do not necessarily do so along others. For example, Kerala has achieved very high levels of social development but has one of the lowest per capita incomes. Punjab, the state with the highest per capita income, on the other hand has, one of the worst sex ratios in the country. Human development at the state level in India depends not only on its level of resources but also on cultural norms, political willingness and support for human development. References Datt, G and M. Ravallion, (2002), "Is India's Economic Growth Leaving the Poor Behind'" Manuscript. Dreze, J. and A. Sen, (2002), India Development and Participation, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Mehrotra, S. and R. Jolly (eds) (2000), Development With a Human Face: Experiences in Social Achievement and Economic Growth, Oxford University Press, Oxford. P. Dominguez : The World Bank Conference - Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in India:Role of Public Policy and Service Delivery (2004) Ramachandran, V and A. Saihjee, (2002), "The New Segregation: Reflections on Gender and Equity in Primary Education", Economic and Political Weekly, April 27. Sachs, J, N. Bajpai and A. Ramiah (2002), Understanding Regional Economic Growth in India, Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, Volume 1, Number 3. Rededicating to the Continuing Challenge, Rajiv Gandhi Missions, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Occasional Papers, Document 9, June 2001. World Development Report 2000/2001, The World Bank, Washington D.C.