Maitreyi Bordia Das

Background

Question: what has happened to traditionallyexcluded groups during a period of rapid growth?

Focus on Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes(STs) and women – there are other major groups e.g.:Muslims, people w/disabilities, OBCs

Not a comprehensive review – taking specific topicsto add to the formidable body of literature

National Data – NSS, NFHS, and qualitative work

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Not just outcomes but processes Income poverty and inequality are elements of social

exclusion but don’t capture the essence Even where Gini coefficients do not show high levels of

inequality, there could be serious exclusion of some groups

Not just unequal opportunity but rules of exchange and practices that “keep groups out”

No tight conceptual framework but an attempt to show that the “unobserved” in fact could be quite “significant”

But hard to capture processes – standard decompositions do not do the trick

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Global dimensions

Excluded groups are usually ethnic or religious minorities. Other markers are gender, disability status, sexual orientation, age…..

Stigma and stereotyping Roma in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; people of

African descent in Brazil; Indigenous people in LAC Among the most egregious are norms ratified by

philosophical traditions – caste in India and Nepal But “exclusion” can mean different things to different

people. 4

Outline of Presentation Look at some of the starkest markers of exclusion

that surface in the national discourse Scheduled Tribes

- Poverty and deprivation- Excess mortality of tribal children

Scheduled Castes- Poor labor market outcomes

Women- Poor health and survival outcomes- Physical insecurity- Disadvantage in the labor market

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Poverty has fallen for all: But Scheduled Tribes (STs) in 2004/05 were 20 years behind the average population 2004-05: poverty levels

among STs (44%) resembled poverty levels experienced by the average population 20 years earlier

Relatively slower declines in poverty meant that concentration of STs in the poorest deciles of the population increased

In most states with high tribal populations, poverty rates for STs were higher than the average tribal poverty rate across the nation as a whole (e.g. Orissa -75%)

7Source: Staff estimates based on NSS and official poverty lines

Child Mortality: Stark marker of tribal deprivation

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STs have higher child mortality rates than the rest of thepopulation - nearly 96 tribal children dying for every1000 births, compared to under-five mortality of 74 per1000 for the average Indian child (NFHS, 2005)

ST children make up nearly 12% of all children below theage of 5 in rural areas; but account for 23% of all deathsbetween age 1 and 5 i.e. a disproportionate number ofchildren dying in rural areas, are tribal children

Child mortality rates have stagnated among STs in ruralareas over successive NFHS rounds

Tribal children start to fall behind after the age of one Breaking down under-5

mortality by age, we findthat tribal children areon par with others atbirth, but fall well behindby the time they are fiveyears old

This divergence is morestriking when comparedwith SC children whoalso face disadvantages

The result stays evenafter controlling forwealth

9Source: Staff calculations based on NFHS 2005-06 data

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Impressive expansion in post primary education for SC (men)

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India: Change in post-primary education by caste and gender, 1983-2005Calculations based on NSS thick rounds for working age population

SC WomenSTWomen

1983 2004-051987-88 1993-94 1999-2000

But belief systems still affect outcomes such as performance in schools Ethnographic evidence points to isolation of SC children in the classroom

ST men

More likely to be employed but in complex labor market dynamics

Over time, there has been small labor markettransition for Dalit men - out of casual labor intoself-employment

Higher levels of education are associated withwithdrawal from casual labor for all men

BUT….the multiplied effects of caste and educationsuggest that an increasing supply of educated SCmen may be leading to “rationing” of reserved,salaried jobs

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Wage differentials between SC and other men

59% of the gap cannot beexplained by endowment(education, age etc.)

Wages are probablyinfluenced by occupationmore than anything else

SCs are concentrated in low-end jobs - even in the publicsector

Recent work suggests subtlestereotyping in privatehiring

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Source: Staff calculations based on NSS 2004-05 data

SC entrepreneurship: Taking off, but stuck mostly in low end, informal enterprises

Scheduled Castes have few contacts in the formal sector Almost half of self-

employed SC menengage in manual trade

Poor access to networksand credit

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OBC Dalit Adivasi Muslim Other Religions

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Source: Desai et al, 2004-05

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Huge gains in human development, invoice and visibility

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Replacement-level total fertility rate (2.1)

Source: DHS, Eurostat, StatCan, AUSSTATS, NFHS 2005

Fertility in some Indian states resembles OECD countries….

Yet, the risk of dying in childbirth in India is higher than in Swaziland or Honduras

17Source: Population Reference Bureau (2008)

Is violence a “significant omitted variable” that explains poor reproductive health outcomes?

Only half of all womenreceive three or moreantenatal care visits

Over 1/3 of Indian womenreported havingexperienced spousalviolence at some point,and about one-fourth hadexperienced violence inthe year previous to theNFHS 2005-06

Spousal violence iscorrelated with pooraccess to maternal healthand poor child healthoutcomes

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Source: Staff calculations based on NFHS 2005-06 data

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Women who experience violence have worse reproductive health and child outcomes

Source: Calculations based on NFHS 2004/05

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Women’s labor force participation rates have remained flat over time. Why? Labor force participation of women (15-59 yrs) has been steady at about

one-third of population; stagnation driven by rural areas Huge diversity by states and by caste and tribal status Income effect?

Own education and husband’s wages lower LFP Unsuitable employment opportunities lead households to withdraw

female labor if there is an earning member Or discouraged worker effect?

Inequalities in wages are additional disincentives for women to work Women in the labor force are mostly self-employed and only 13

percent receive any wages at all Those that do, their weekly wages are 71% of men’s in salaried work,

and 56% of men’s in casual work 72% of casual wage gap cannot be explained by education, location

attributes etc. In reality its impossible to disentangle the two effects 19

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There has been huge progress over twentyyears but relatively speaking…..

STs show the slowest pace of improvementsin a range of areas;

Caste seems to be reinventing itself inresponse to economic opportunities, but SCsare still held back by their initial disadvantage

Female disadvantage in India persistsparticularly in health and in the labor market;violence has serious deleterious effects

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