Reduction In India Research Articles

The impact of financial development, economic growth, income inequality on poverty: evidence from India

This paper examines the impact of financial development, economic growth and income inequality on poverty in India from 1970 to 2015 by employing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure. The findings reveal a robust long-run relationship between financial development, economic growth, inequality and poverty. Results show that financial development and economic growth help in poverty reduction in India, whereas income inequality and inflation aggravate poverty. Empirical evidence of the Granger-causality test supports the presence of unidirectional causality from financial development and economic growth to poverty. Moreover, bidirectional causality exists between inequality and poverty. The present study provides evidence on which the policymakers may proceed with detailed investigation of how specific financial sector policies and interventions can be deployed as effective instruments for achieving favorable economic growth and income distribution. The study recommends that policies geared toward increasing financial development and economic growth should be adopted to reduce the high level of poverty and inequality currently prevailing in India.

Poverty Reduction in India through Palliative Care: A Pilot Project.

Poverty Reduction in India through Palliative Care: A Pilot Project.

Agriculture and poverty reduction in India: An empirical study

Poverty is an important concern for most of the developing countries. Both the agriculture and non-agriculture sector plays an important role in reducing poverty. But in case of agrarian economy like India, the contribution of agriculture in poverty reduction is dominant since the majority of poor people are relied on this sector for their sustenance. Although economic growth leads to poverty reduction but the sector mix of growth matters substantively. It is always a tough job for policy makers to quantify the contribution made by each sector.

Policy options to leverage agriculture to improve nutrition security

Accelerating undernutrition reduction in India requires realigning agriculture and rural development policy to empower women in agriculture. Resources targeted to women and women’s groups significantly improve agricultural productivity, women’s control of resources or assets, and health and nutrition outcomes. The country should promote women’s cooperatives, producer women’s groups, and other forms of group efforts, where they do not already exist. This would enable women to overcome the constraints of small, marginally profitable land holdings, thereby improving the dissemination of agricultural technology and other inputs, as well as marketing of produce. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) under the Ministry of Rural Development offers a significant potential for convergence with the agriculture sector to empower women to care for themselves and their children. NRLM’s federations of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) could radically alter the balance of power not only in the markets they participate in as both producers and consumers, but also in their communities and households.Women’s groups, including SHGs under NRLM, can become instrumental in meaningful convergence of health, nutrition, education, and other broad-based schemes addressing the deeprooted causes of undernutrition. Examples of such group-centric pro-nutrition approaches include producing and consuming nutrient-rich foods through homestead horticulture and poultry interventions; establishing and maintaining micronutrient food fortification units; producing and marketing low-cost, nutrientdense supplementary foods; developing primary food processing; enabling women and their children to access essential health and nutrition services; and catalyzing critical behavior change for optimal health and nutrition outcomes in the long run through community mobilization, including the involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions, around nutrition-specific issues and actions. Empowering women in agriculture which is essential to India’s nutrition security requires securing women’s rights to land, providing efficient and effective legal support, and enhancing women farmers’ access to inputs. For example, entitling women in land records as cultivators on family farms, where women operate the land registered under the name of the male household members, would make a significant difference in accessing various government program benefits.

Four questions and answers on growth and poverty reduction in India

Four questions and answers on growth and poverty reduction in India

FINANCING SMALL FARMERS FOR INDIA’S FOOD SECURITY

According to the Global Hunger Report, India continues to be among nations where hunger is "alarming". It is most disappointing that despite high economic growth, the hunger index in India between 1996 and 2011 has insignificantly improved from 22.9 to 23.7. National Sample Survey Organization data revealed that the average per capita food expenditure per annum during the period from 1993 to 2010 increased only by 0.2 % annually in rural India and declined by 0.1% in the urban areas. At any given point of time, the cereal intake of the bottom 20% people in rural India which is engaged more in manual work continues to be at least 20% less than the cereal intake of the top decile of the population, despite their better access to fruit, vegetables and meat products. Endemic hunger continues to afflict a large proportion of the population. Agricultural Census [2010–11] revealed that out of 138.35 million operational holdings in India as high as 85% (which account for 44.6% of the total cultivated area) are small and marginal farmers [S&MFs] owning less than two hectares. This, therefore, characterises India’s agriculture a small-scale-farming. Average size of small-holding is only 0.61 hectare whereas overall average size of holdings declined from 1.33 ha in 2000–01 to 1.15 in 2010–11.The role of S&MFs in boosting food output and reduction of poverty is well recognized. Therefore, the future of sustainable agricultural growth, food security and poverty reduction in India depends on creating environment that enables huge number of S&MFs to easy, hassle-free and reliable access to institutional credit. Against this background, this article analyses the performance of Government–sponsored and Banks programs aimed at financing S&MFs and suggest enabling measures to achieve 8% target of credit to S&MFs within existing 18% credit to agriculture by 2017 as recently prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI].

Financial development and poverty reduction in India: an empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial sector development and poverty reduction in India using annual data from 1970 to 2012. The paper attempts to answer the critical question: does financial sector development lead to poverty reduction? Design/methodology/approach – Stationarity properties of the series are checked by using Ng-Perron unit root test. The paper uses the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to co-integration to examine the existence of long-run relationship; error-correction mechanism for the short-run dynamics and Granger non-causality test to test the direction of causality. Findings – The co-integration test confirms a long-run relationship between financial development and poverty reduction for India. The ARDL test results suggest that financial development and economic growth reduces poverty in both long run and short run. The causality test confirms that there is a positive and unidirectional causality running from financial development to poverty reduction. Research limitations/implications – This study implies that poverty in India can be reduced by financial inclusion and financial accessibility to the poor. For a fast growing economy with respect to financial sector development this may have far-reaching implication toward inclusive growth. Originality/value – This paper is the first of its kind to empirically examine the causal relationship between financial sector development and poverty reduction in India using modern econometric techniques.

Perinatal Outcome after Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction: A Retrospective Analysis of 1-year Data in a Referral Fetal Medicine Center

ABSTRACT Aims Multiple pregnancies are associated with higher maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Multifetal pregnancy reduction is an accepted method to reduce the morbidity associated with higher order multiples. The present study describes the perinatal outcome of 336 pregnancies which underwent multifetal reduction in our center. Materials and methods This is a retrospective descriptive study of all patients who underwent multifetal pregnancy reduction during the period from September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011. The demographic details of the patients were extracted from the Sonocare software database. Fetal reductions were performed using standard protocols after a detailed structural evaluation including nuchal translucency. The perinatal outcome was obtained from hospital records or from patients over telephone. Results Of the total 336 pregnancies, 21% were lost to follow-up. The remaining 265 were analyzed for the perinatal outcome. The take home baby rate was 80.2%. Total fetal loss rate was 11.6% and partial pregnancy loss rate was 3.8%. Mean gestational age at delivery was 34.7 weeks. A total of 22.1% of women delivered at term. A total of 34.5% of the patients had late preterm delivery (35—37 weeks). The mean birth weight was 2002 gm. Conclusion The data shows that the outcomes of multifetal pregnancy reduction in India are similar to published data from other countries, with a good perinatal outcome in over 80% cases. However, the data also points to the urgent need for stringent guidelines for ovulation induction and embryo transfer to reduce the requirement for and number of these procedures in the future. How to cite this article Latha PM, Andrew C, Suresh I, Seshadri S. Perinatal Outcome after Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction: A Retrospective Analysis of 1-year Data in a Referral Fetal Medicine Center. J South Asian Feder Obst Gynae 2016;8(4):266-270.

Deleting the 'neglect' from two neglected tropical diseases in India

Deleting the 'neglect' from two neglected tropical diseases in India

Lack of scientific recordkeeping of disaster incidences: A big hurdle in disaster risk reduction in India

Despite enhanced awareness on various disaster management related issues and mounting disaster induced losses disaster risk reduction is far from getting its due share of attention and resources, particularly in India. This is attributed to (i) departmental inertia, (ii) lacking political foresight and will, (iii) fragmented decision-making authority, (iv) lacking techno-legal regime and non-compliance of what exists, (v) lack of capacity building, (vi) unawareness of the mass, (vii) lacking risk assessment and communication, (viii) missing locally relevant data and examples, and (ix) lack of objective and uniform disaster database. Based upon in depth analysis of the present situation recommended road map for DRR inclusive development includes (i) enhanced focus on mass awareness to ensure voluntary compliance and to do away with political apathy, (ii) comprehensive hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment and communication, (iii) enhanced investment on research and development related to disaster resilient technology and improvising traditional DRR practices, (iv) enhanced investment on capacity building, (v) invoking DRR compliant techno-legal regime and putting in place mechanism for its compliance, (vi) NDMA and SDMA to be provided authority to issue binding guidelines, (vii) institutional mechanism for collecting precise and objective data relating to disaster induced losses. Action on the suggested points is envisaged to streamline DRR interventions in India and help in bringing forth resilience amongst communities.

Poverty Dynamics in India between 2004 and 2012: Insights from Longitudinal Analysis Using Synthetic Panel Data

Recent National Sample Surveys point to significant poverty reduction in India since 2004/05, with a marked acceleration between 2009/10 and 2011/12. This paper enquires into important aspects of income mobility between 2004/05 and 2011/12, based on new statistical methods to convert the three pertinent National Sample Survey rounds into synthetic panels. The analysis draws on the synthetic panels to derive a vulnerability line for India that can be used to separate out a population subgroup comprising non-poor households facing a heightened risk of falling into poverty. The paper documents a strong pattern of upward mobility out of poverty and vulnerability into the middle class, with a noticeable acceleration between 2009/10 and 2011/12. The paper further undertakes a careful investigation into the comparability of the survey rounds, prompted by the observation that fairly significant modifications had been made to survey questionnaires. The findings suggest that changes in questionnaire design have not compromised the comparability of the data.

Multidimensional Poverty Reduction in India between 1999 and 2006: Where and How?

Summary India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a confirmed reduction in monetary poverty, particularly in poorer states. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions. This paper thoroughly analyzes the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006. We find a strong reduction in national poverty and each of its dimensions, but this has not been uniform across regions, castes, or religions. Probing further, we analyze changes in the distribution among the poor people nationally as well as within population subgroups. We find strong reductions among the poorer population nationally, but slower progress for most of the poorest groups.

Inclusiveness in Poverty Reduction in India: A Great Leap Forward?

Copyright: © 2015 Thomas S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The growth story of Indian Economy has been significant in the recent years. But in terms of poverty reduction India is lagging behind and it has lot more to do. India’s performance is dismal with regard to the Multidimensional Poverty Index introduced by UNDP in its Human Development Report 2010. This is an attempt to evaluate the findings of the expert groups on the measurement of poverty and to analyse how far we have achieved our target of inclusiveness in poverty reduction.

Climate Change, Disasters and Development: Testing the Waters for Adaptive Governance in India

Amidst complex social-ecological dynamics of localities and future uncertainties posed by global environmental challenges like climate change, there is a need of practicing the principles of learning and flexibility in public policy process. In this study we illustrate the importance of adaptive governance paradigm as an approach for bringing coherence between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in India. We comment on the type and extent of integration between climate policy and disaster management in the evolving policy landscape of India and cite certain paradoxes in actual practice. We look towards Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as a diagnostic tool for informing policy in place of the dominant donor–recipient models of knowledge generation and dissemination. In our diagnosis of urban and rural flooding in India, we found lack of transparency, coordination, local sensitivity and inclusivity in governance leading to a trust deficit among citizens and government institutions, compliance issues, struggle for change in power structures and access to more information while there is willingness for meaningful learning among different stakeholders given the opportunities for social learning. We suggest that pedagogy for ongoing capacity building programmes in India for climate policy and disaster management should incorporate such tools to enable an environment of social learning in consultations and facilitate cognitive abilities to comprehend knowledge from diverse sources. It is only through governance mechanisms for shared understanding which can usher the much desired fit between science, policy and practice.

Aspects and Pitfalls of Sez on Rural Economy of Maharashtra

The objectives of the study in a nutshell are as follows (1) To analyze the basic concept of SEZ in Indian Economy, (2) To analyze the impact of SEZ on Indian Economy, as a whole. (3) To find the impact of SEZ on Rural India. (4) To find the drawbacks, if there, of implementing SEZ in India. This study aims at examining the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on human development and poverty reduction in India. It identifies three channels through which SEZs address these issues: employment generation, skill formation (human capital development), and technology and knowledge upgradation. the relationship between poverty and employment lies in the extent to which income generated from employment permits workers and their dependants to obtain goods and services necessary to meet minimum needs. Poverty reduction thus calls for the creation of remunerative, regular and good-quality jobs in the labour market. SEZs, if promoted vigorously can therefore act as an initiator in the process of human development and poverty alleviation in India. The role of SEZs in human capital formation appears to be relatively limited. Most SEZ units impart on-the-job training to their workers. Keywords: Special Economic Zone (SEZ), local employment, Land ownership, Economic impacts.

Multidimensional Poverty Reduction in India between 1999 and 2006: Where and How?

India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a reduction in the share of income poor, though the measured extent of this reduction varies, has been confirmed by different methods. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions, hence this paper explores the improvement in other social deprivations. An analysis of poverty from a multidimensional perspective shows the prevalence of multiple overlapping deprivations among the poor. This paper analyses the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006 using National Family and Health Surveys. We find a strong reduction in national poverty driven relatively more by some of the standard of living indicators, such as electricity, housing condition, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities, than other social indicators. The reduction, however, has not been uniform across different population subgroups and the pattern of reduction across states has been less pro-poor that of income poverty. In addition, the poorer subgroups have shown slower progress, widening the inter-group disparity in multidimensional poverty. In order to examine trends among the poorest of the poor, we define two additional subgroups of the poor and find that multidimensional poverty reduction has been accompanied by even stronger reductions in the share of the poorest of the poor by both definitions. The in-depth analysis pursued in this paper can also be conducted for other developing countries.

Probabilistic cost‐benefit analysis of disaster risk management in a development context

Limited studies have shown that disaster risk management (DRM) can be cost-efficient in a development context. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is an evaluation tool to analyse economic efficiency. This research introduces quantitative, stochastic CBA frameworks and applies them in case studies of flood and drought risk reduction in India and Pakistan, while also incorporating projected climate change impacts. DRM interventions are shown to be economically efficient, with integrated approaches more cost-effective and robust than singular interventions. The paper highlights that CBA can be a useful tool if certain issues are considered properly, including: complexities in estimating risk; data dependency of results; negative effects of interventions; and distributional aspects. The design and process of CBA must take into account specific objectives, available information, resources, and the perceptions and needs of stakeholders as transparently as possible. Intervention design and uncertainties should be qualified through dialogue, indicating that process is as important as numerical results.

Partnership for poverty reduction in Gujarat, India: A case study of Sadguru foundation's water resource development work

India's 84 million indigenous people inhabit the harsh drylands that receive low rainfall. In the rankings of the Indian caste system, adivasi (meaning ‘original people’ or tribal) are the most downtrodden socially and economically. They have less access to commerce and public services. The challenges of poverty reduction in India's drylands are complex so not just one agency can tackle this issue. This article offers a case study on how a non-profit agency can contribute to poverty reduction in remote villages through water resource management in partnership with the community, government, non-government and corporate sectors in Gujarat state of India.

Establishing Urban-Rural Linkage Elements for Growth and Poverty Reduction in India

Establishing Urban-Rural Linkage Elements for Growth and Poverty Reduction in India

How has financial deepening affected poverty reduction in India? Empirical analysis using state-level panel data

This article examines, empirically, whether financial deepening has contributed to poverty reduction in India. Using unbalanced panel data for 28 Indian states and union territories covering seven time periods (1973, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1999 and 2004), we empirically analyse whether financial deepening has any effect on poverty. Empirical results clearly indicate that financial deepening significantly decreases poverty, controlling for international openness, inflation rate and economic growth. These results are robust to changes in the poverty ratios in rural areas, urban areas and the whole economy.