CPRC India
The CPRC in India is led by Professor Aasha Kapur Mehta at the Indian Institute of Public Administration and includes Professor Amita Shah, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Professor Anand Kumar at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Professor Shashanka Bhide at National Council of Applied Economic Research.
- Introduction to chronic poverty in India
- Key CPRC publications: books, journals, CPRC-IIPA Working Papers, briefing papers
- CPRC India events
- Contact details for CPRC partners in India
Introduction to chronic poverty in India
India is the second largest country in the world by population (after China), and one of the largest in area. Many Indian states are larger than most countries in Asia or Africa. The Indian vision of ‘development’ has been extremely influential. Its struggle for independence that helped precipitate the end of European colonial administration across Asia and Africa; its mixture of planned and market economic strategies steered a course between the Cold War superpowers’ geopolitics; and now its economic boom is felt across the world. Since independence, the country has made great progress in reducing poverty and improving human development indicators, and is now classed as a middle income country with a per capita GDP of $2892 in 2003 (UN figures).
Nevertheless, it is also a country of huge inequalities, and it is estimated that there are from 78 to 130 million people in India living in chronic poverty. The Millennium Development Goals and India’s Plan targets (in particular those relating to poverty ratios, education and gender) cannot be met without addressing chronic poverty. Chronic poverty analysis matters for policy-makers because policies designed to assist the transitorily poor may not be effective for those trapped in chronic poverty. Also, the chronically poor are a heterogeneous group, and policies targeted at them will thus also need to be varied.
Who are the chronically poor in India?
There are many processes driving and maintaining chronic poverty in India. However, some broad characteristics, which most chronically poor peoplewill experience some of, can be identified.
Casual labour: a great many of the chronically poor are not excluded from the economy, but included on adverse terms. Insecure employment, low wages and poor working conditions trap people in poverty. Casual labour is on the increase in India: 41% of all households reported casual labour as their main income source in 1999-2000, and there are around 132 million rural casual labourers. Casual labour is strongly associated with household poverty: many casual labourers never emerge sustainably from poverty.
Persistently poor states: Uttar Pradesh (and Uttarakhand), Bihar (and Jharkand), Madhya Pradesh (and Chattisgarh) and Orissa are states having persistent and severe poverty and the majority of India’s most deprived districts. Adverse land relations inherited from feudalism and the zamindari system, political instability and upper caste domination of political power, poor green revolution performance and weak infrastructure have all combined to reproduce this pattern.
Remote Rural Areas: Nevertheless, chronic poverty exists in every state in India, with “pockets” in even relatively wealthy or low-poverty-rate states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. Rural areas poorly connected to urban centres are associated with particular problems.
Remote forested areas often form such pockets of chronic poverty. Despite rich natural resource bases, a combination of physical isolation and entitlement failures – of access to these resources, to information, to wider markets and public services and to anti-poverty programmes - maintain many tribal people in chronic poverty. Environmental degradation or climate change may emerge as additional factors maintaining those poor households most dependent on natural resources in chronic poverty.
Many dryland areas are sites of livelihood insecurity. Both commercialisation of agriculture and out-migration have helped households cope, and indeed contributed to growth and poverty reduction. But there is a danger that pressure on water tables and recipient-area economies could block these mechanisms and increase chronic poverty.
Social status: Despite progress in some areas, members of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) remain disproportionately poor. Evidence also suggests that ST face particular challenges (linked to remote rural area problems) in escaping poverty. But social status factors affect others too, in particular, women. Evidently not all women are poor, but discrimination expressed in many areas of life, from labour markets to intra-household decision-making, makes many women especially vulnerable to poverty and makes it harder for poor women to escape from poverty. Other social categories that are often linked to poverty and discrimination include “life-cycle” categories – old age or childhood, and certain forms of ill-health, such as physical disability, HIV/AIDS, leprosy or mental illness.
Household composition: Household size by itself does not appear to be statistically associated with greater likelihood of chronic poverty. But chronically poor people do tend to live in households with a greater number of dependents (e.g. children), or lesser access to the labour market (e.g. with more women).
Multi-dimensional deprivation: chronic poverty is related to nutrition and food insecurity, ill-health (including environmental health) and lack of social well-being as well as income. There is a higher incidence of chronic illnesses among the poor, who are particularly vulnerable to health “shocks”. The various dimensions of poverty can become mutually reinforcing over time, e.g. ill-health often undermines income earning capacity, leading to undernutrition, inability to afford access to healthcare, and further health deterioration.
How do chronically poor people exit poverty?
Just as there are many drivers of chronic poverty, so other processes can interrupt chronic poverty. People have found a variety of routes to avail themselves of economic opportunities and exit poverty. Analysis of panel data on rural households highlights a few key themes:
- Owning land: those poor households who have managed to retain some land are more likely to exit poverty (in urban areas, other assets - perhaps housing security or education - may be more important);
- Migration is more often of member(s) of a household rather than the whole household, to urban areas for better employment opportunities, especially where prior information and contacts can reduce costs and increase benefits;
- Greater village level infrastructure and district urbanisation, is associated with a higher rate of household exits from poverty, through greater connection to economic opportunity (especially labour markets).
Policy on chronic poverty
Government approaches
There has been a vast array of Government of India anti-poverty policies since independence. Policymaking has been informed by three main views of the causes of, and best approaches to combating poverty. Structuralist theories have suggested efforts to redistribute productive resources and break down social barriers; another approach views this as problematic, and focuses on extending growth into marginalised areas and population sectors. A third highlights the multi-dimensional deprivations of poverty and calls for social security measures, both to address these deprivations themselves and support poor people’s participation in growth.
The major anti-poverty programmes represent a mix of all these approaches. They can be grouped into six categories:
- Land distribution and land reforms;
- Area-based approaches for community and rural development, focusing on marginal and small farmers, and areas with particular problems e.g. those that are drought-prone;
- Individual-based targeted approaches, providing access to productive capital and skills among the poor, including vulnerable groups like women, SC, ST and the landless;
- Social security or safety-net programmes, comprising the National Social Assistance Programme (which includes the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)), employment and self-employment programmes and relief works, distribution of commodities like food (Public Distribution System (PDS) and others), clothing, housing for the poor and the vulnerable groups;
- Special schemes for education among socially marginalised groups such as Scheduled Castes and Tribes, subsidised primary education, midday meals in school and special nutrition and health care programmes for women and children;
- Reservation policies, in employment, education and political representation, for particular groups.
Policies in action
India’s anti-poverty programmes in total amount to some 6-7 per cent of total Government of India budgetary expenditure, or 1 per cent of GDP (IBRD, 2000). Poverty rates have declined and there have been notable successes – e.g. the building of a social contract around famine prevention. Despite this, there remains a chasm between official policies on the one hand, and the experience of the poor on the other. In terms of technical policy design, while all the policy approaches outlined earlier contain useful insights, a disaggregated and dynamic analysis is generally lacking in all of them: weakening their effectiveness at engaging with the specific processes that drive people into poverty, or enable them to escape, in particular contexts.
Policy on poverty has tended to become part of a political economy that proliferates ‘doles’, which often exist more to allow political power bases to be consolidated than to help the poor. Thus, while there has been poverty reduction, anti-poverty budget increases have not made the contribution that was hoped for; and the targeting of anti-poverty programmes is poorly handled, producing both errors of inclusion and exclusion.
State level implementation of programmes and the performance of Panchayati Raj institutions, has also been variable. In some cases, alliances that include some chronically poor groups have had success, in others lack of financial resources or patronage politics have weakened and distorted implementation. Structural maintainers of chronic poverty, especially unequal distribution of land and social hierarchies, remain powerful. State and sub-state political economy also often leads to poor performance of rural development schemes which are notoriously prone to “leakage” into a bureaucrat-contractor-village leader nexus, restricting their potential to boost agricultural growth.
However, some progress on these problems can be observed. Electoral competition has driven government to focus on poverty more recently. And movements at the grassroots, such as the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan and other “right to information” campaigns, have played a part in extending and deepening democratic politics beyond urban and literate classes. In some areas they have exposed the corruption and inefficiency of poorly-performing schemes, even to the point of seeing corrupt officials pay back embezzled funds. At state and national level, anti-poverty programmes have been subject to redesign and change in recent years. For example, even in Orissa, which remains one of the poorest states in monetary terms, improvements in human development indicators such as child malnutrition, infant mortality and literacy have been achieved. Several schemes have undergone reforms, rationalisation and better targeting with a greater role for local government in implementation and for beneficiary selection and monitoring, a stress on transparency, making information available at the village level, and on social audits. This points to the tremendous positive potential of better central-local cooperation and the mobilisation of poorer people.
However, while these reforms are very welcome, there is still a long way to go. Structural factors constrain government’s ability to bring about any rapid change, despite repeated attempts to implement land reform, anti-discrimination policies, etc. In several districts conflicts have erupted over land issues along caste-class lines. Tenancy reform has helped poverty reduction in West Bengal, and tensions (generally) remain lower than in neighbouring Bihar. Across the country, poor people seeking to claim their rights and improve their situation – a key factor for poverty reduction – face great dangers. Violent reactions to political awakening and activity among sections of the poor continue to cause many tragedies.
Meanwhile, at the level of national policy debate, growth, while important, has perhaps sometimes been over-emphasised at the expense of specific policies for poverty reduction. Yet this is not inevitable. There are a number of promising policies and policy areas that government should consider, to stop the operation of the processes that drive people into poverty and maintain them there by blocking exit routes, and to increase the opportunities to exit. These are explored in several papers in the CPRC-IIPA working paper series and in the final section of CPRC Policy Brief 4, “Chronic poverty in India: policy responses”.
The CPRC’s work in India
CPRC’s Indian partners maintain a focus on measuring and understanding chronic poverty in the Indian context and providing a range of multi-dimensional solutions. Their work therefore covers a wide range of issues, including:
- Producing estimates of the extent of chronic poverty in India over the last several decades – the numbers of people in persistent poverty, and the incidence of entries into and exits from poverty - using panel data.
- Attempting to identify the factors driving impoverishment and maintaining people in poverty, and those facilitating exit
- Policy responses to chronic poverty and evaluating lessons from programmes and schemes.
- Understanding the characteristics and determinants of the uneven geographical distribution of poverty, with particular attention to remote rural areas, forested and tribal areas (notably in Orissa), and dryland areas, and work on potential policy responses
- Work on conceptualising ‘multi-dimensional poverty’ in an Indian context, Chronic poverty and agriculture in India, in particular casual labour, and the impact of technological change;
- Chronic poverty and conflict especially in Bihar and Manipur.
- Chronic Poverty and Socially Disadvantaged Groups especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Casual Labourers in Rural Areas and Changes in Wages
- Ill Health and entry into poverty, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS and its gendered impact.
- Best Practice in Escaping Poverty.
- Urban Poverty
- Economic Growth and Chronic Poverty
- Production of working papers, books and briefings covering all of these issues and more (details below).
Key CPRC publications
Books
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Chronic Poverty and Development Policy in IndiaEdited by Aasha Kapur Mehta and Andrew Shepherd Buy the book from the ODI online bookshop ... For further information please contact Professor Aasha Kapur Mehta. Table of contents: Chronic Poverty in India - An Introduction Correlates of Incidence and Exit from Chronic Poverty in Rural India - Evidence from Panel Data Rural Casual Labourers, Wages and Poverty - 1983 to 1999-2000 Extreme and Chronic Poverty and Malnutrition in India - Incidence and Determinants Chronic Poverty among the Indian Elderly Impact of Involuntary Displacement on a Tribal Community (A Case Study of the Sahariya Adivasi Displaced from Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh) Chronic Poverty and Gendered Patterns of Intra-Household Resource Allocation A Case Study from East Delhi - Political Perspectives on Chronic Poverty Operationalising Multidimensional Concepts of Chronic Poverty - An Exploratory Spatial Analysis Chronic Poverty in Rural Areas - The Role of Government Policy Technological Change in Food Production - Implications for Vulnerable Sections Safety Nets for the Chronic Poor in India - An Overview |
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Chronic poverty in IndiaEdited by Aasha Kapur Mehta, Sourabh Ghosh, Deepa Chatterjee and Nikhila Menon. Table of contents: Chronic Poverty: Meanings and Analytical Frameworks Chronic Poverty in India: An Overview Political Sociology of Poverty in India: Between Politics of Poverty and Poverty of Politics From Income to Urban Contest in Global Settings: Chronic Poverty in Bangalore Chronic Poverty in a Remote Rural District in South West Madhya Pradesh: A Multidimensional Analysis of Its Extent and Causes Issues in Chronic Poverty: Panel Data based Analysis Chronic Poverty and Understanding Intra-Household Differentiation Understanding Childhood Poverty in Rajasthan: Emerging Issues and Strategies Multidimensional Poverty in India: District Level Estimates Annexure (including the workshop schedule, names and addresses of seminar participants and a list of abbreviations used in the book) |
Journal Articles
World Development special issue on Chronic Poverty and Development PolicyVolume 31, Issue 3 Mehta, A. K. and Shah, A. (2003) Chronic Poverty in India: Incidence, Causes and Policies. World Development, Volume 31, Issue 3, March 2003, Pages 491-511. Abstract: Viewing chronic poverty in terms of extended duration, severity and multidimensional deprivation, this paper uses existing literature to draw attention to those people in India for whom poverty is intractable. Two sets of approaches are used: an area-based approach and an historically marginalized groups-based approach. The area-based approach maps the location of the chronically poor by identifying states and regions that have been especially vulnerable to poverty in terms of severity and multidimensionality. It focuses on drylands and forest-based regions. The historically marginalized groups approach draws attention to groups who have suffered multiple deprivations for long periods. Chronic poverty is disproportionately high among casual agricultural laborers, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. In conclusion, the paper briefly reviews the factors that contribute to chronic poverty and the efficacy of policies to reduce such deprivation. The full article is available on the World Development journal site. Note that you will only be able to view full documents if you or your institution is subscribed to the on-line journal. |
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Journal of Human Development - special issue on chronic povertyVolume 5 Number 2, July 2004 Bhide, S. and Mehta, A . K. (2004) Chronic Poverty in Rural India: issues and findings from panel data, pp195-209 Shah, A. and Shah, D. C. (2004) Poverty among Tribals in South West Madhya Pradesh: has anything changed over time? pp249-263 The articles are available on the Journal of Human Development site, where they can be purchased, or viewed if you or your institution is subscribed to the on-line journal.
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Margin special issue - Chronic poverty in India: Evidence and policy imperativesVolume 38/39, Number 4/1, July-Sept, Oct-Dec 2006. Contact NCAER at infor@ncaer.org for details on how to access the special issue. Table of contents: Editor's introduction: Chronic poverty in India: Evidence and policy imperatives Policies against chronic poverty: Policy implications of a dynamic approach to understanding poverty Tracking poverty through panel data: Rural poverty in India, 1970-98 Chronic poverty and socially disadvantaged groups: Causes and remedies Ensuring livelihood entitlements in forest-based economies in Orissa: An alternative perspective Tribal population and chronic poverty in Orissa: A note on the North-South divide Chronic poverty and social conflict in Bihar Situating conflict and poverty in Manipur HIV/AIDS, care needs, and the poor: Policy issues Drawing policy implications from chronic poverty research in India
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MacrotrackBhide, S. (2006) Persistence of rural poverty in India, Macrotrack 3(9), National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi. |
CPRC-IIPA Working Paper Series
The Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Indian Institute of Public Administration publish a joint Working Paper series. The full list is given below - or click on the numbers here to go straight to a particular CPRC-IIPA working paper:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Briefing Papers
Chronic Poverty in India: Policy Responses, CPRC Policy Brief 4
Please click this link for
Events
Past events held by CPRC India include:
| Chronic Poverty: Emerging Policy Options and Issues | 29th - 30th September 2005, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. |
| CPRC-IIPA Seminar on Chronic Poverty and Development Policy | 4th - 5th November 2003, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. |
| CPRC-India Research Design Workshop for Exploring Appropriate Solutions to Chronic Poverty | 15th-16th May 2002, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. |
These events are also reported in issues of the CPRC's Chronic Poverty Updates occasional series.
Members of CPRC India also participated in
The 2004 UN Commission for Social Development
The launch of the Chronic Poverty Report 2004-05
Contact details
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Aasha Kapur Mehta |
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Amita Shah (alternative email) |
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Anand Kumar |
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National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) |