Social Development in India

1. Social Development in India • 1255: The Politics of India • Emily Clough and Roberto Foa

2. Social Development • Elements of a high quality of life that aren’t captured by GDP growth • Equity and distribution (issues of inequality; who is included and who is excluded from benefits of growth) • Provision of public services (education, health, infrastructure)

3. Inequality and Income Distribution

4. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth

5. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth

6. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth

7. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth

8. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth

9. 3 Stories of Inequality and Economic Growth India lies somewhere between Story II and Story III

10. Why has inequality increased?

11. Why has inequality increased? • Growth beneficiaries: • Income increases associated with economic growth may accrue to some sectors more than others (capitalist class vs. working class, industry & service sectors vs. agriculture) Text

12. Why has inequality increased? • Growth beneficiaries: • Income increases associated with economic growth may accrue to some sectors more than others (capitalist class vs. working class, industry & service sectors vs. agriculture) • Pro-business politics: • Favoring interests of elite business class • Failure to prioritize redistribution

13. Education in India

14. Education and Social Development • Economic mobility • Social mobility • Political empowerment • Economic growth?

15. Educational outcomes in India

16. Deficiencies in India’s Education System

17. Deficiencies in India’s Education System • Accessibility (upper-primary) • Quality of facilities and teaching supplies • Teacher presence and quality • Second track schooling • Private school alternatives for wealthy

18. Deficiencies in India’s Education System • Accessibility (upper-primary) • Quality of facilities and teaching supplies • Teacher presence and quality • Second track schooling • Private school alternatives for wealthy

19. Deficiencies in India’s Education System • Accessibility (upper-primary) • Quality of facilities and teaching supplies • Teacher presence and quality • Second track schooling • Private school alternatives for wealthy

20. Deficiencies in India’s Education System • Accessibility (upper-primary) • Quality of facilities and teaching supplies • Teacher presence and quality • Second track schooling • Private school alternatives for wealthy

21. Deficiencies in India’s Education System • Accessibility (upper-primary) • Quality of facilities and teaching supplies • Teacher presence and quality • Second track schooling • Private school alternatives for wealthy

22. A Two-Part Puzzle: Supply and Demand • Educational Supply: The State • Educational Demand: Parents and Children

23. Educational Supply: The State • Rhetorical commitments on the part of politicians • No corresponding facilities or expenditure • Declining public expenditure on education: 4.4% in 1989 3.6% at end of 1990’s • Political capture of the budget • Failure to provide upper primary schools (accessibility) • Top-down accountability failure because of entrenched interests

24. Educational Demand: Parents and Children • Myths: • Lack of interest or demand • Almost all surveyed parents in educationally backward regions said they consider it “important” for a child to be educated -- 98% for boys and 89% for girls) • Child labor is preventing kids from going to school • The majority of children who are not in school are not working all the time. Some are doing nothing; others are working part-time. It seems that child labor is not the main reason children do not attend school. • Reality: “The Discouragement Effect” (Dreze & Sen)

25. The “Discouragement Effect” and Bottom-Up Accountability • The Discouragement Effect: • Sending kids to school is costly • School quality is low so not worth the cost • Child interest inhibited by dull curricula, social and gender discrimination • Bottom-up accountability • Can be very effective • Difficult to organize

26. Policy Recommendations (Dreze & Sen) • Educational improvement as a shared responsibility between state and parents • Foster greater social mobilization among parents to increase bottom-up accountability • Use parents as local agents of the state • Education as a “fundamental right” of a child • “Rights” language affects the sense of who is entitled to what, which affects democratic demands • Compulsory education to prevent irresponsible parents from keeping child from school

27. Gender Inequality and Women’s Agency

28. Female lag in education • School attendance • Literacy

29. Explaining the gender lag in education • Gender division of labor • Economic incentives for long-term investment on the part of girl’s family • Norms of “marrying up” puts ceiling on female education

30. Female-to-Male Population Ratio • Declining: • 0.97 in 1901 • 0.93 in 1991 • One of the lowest FMRs in the world • Female survival disadvantage in childhood exists, and seems to be getting worse • Nutrition and care discrimination against girls • Sex-selective abortion leads to lower female-male ratios at birth

31. Which parts of the population are driving the FMR decline? • Lower-caste communities • Economic class • Wealthier regions • Lack of female agency

32. Women’s Agency • Protect daughters from discrimination • Other social benefits, e.g. lower infant mortality; limiting fertility

33. Policy Recommendations (Dreze & Sen) • We need women’s movements and feminist activism • Greater attention must be paid to women’s issues in policymaking