Tendulkar Committee Research Articles

Incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment among the elderly: an empirical evidence from India

World health statistics (2022) report that about 1.4 billion people have incurred catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), and half of its population have pushed into extreme poverty due to healthcare payments. The elderly population faces a higher risk of ill health, and seeking treatment reflects in high out-of-pocket health spending (OOPHS) that results in CHE and further impoverishment. This study aims to investigate the incidence and intensity of OOPHS, CHE, and impoverishment among the older adults in India. Data utilizes from the 75th round of the national sample survey (NSS) based on household social consumption: health (schedule 25.0), 2018. The incidence and intensity of CHE and impoverishment among older adults in India estimated by using standard measures. The older adults spend about 17.4% of household consumption expenditure on healthcare services. The poorest older adults are spending the highest share of consumption expenditure (24.8%) on healthcare among economic quantiles. Similarly, the elderly from rural (20.3%), male (18.4%), scheduled castes (21.5%), and Hinduism (17.9%) show a larger share of consumption expenditure on healthcare services. The incidence and intensity of CHE among older adults are 46.5% and 16.1% at 10% threshold level of household consumption expenditure, respectively. However, as the threshold level rises the incidence and intensity of CHE decline. The estimates of normalized poverty gap using the poverty line of Tendulkar committee as well as Rangarajan committee show that the intensity of impoverishment among older adults are 56.4% and 57.9% respectively, which is quite high. Financial protection along with vision might mitigate the risk of CHE and impoverishment among older adults in India.

Compassionate Society

India’s economic growth story of the past two decades has a recurrent theme, of accentuating insecurities for millions. Yet, there is a deep divide over how to distribute the fruits of its economic growth. How best to plough back the gains to achieve equality and social protection for everyone? Despite India’s status as a middle-income country, close to 350 million people live in absolute poverty. According to an affidavit presented to the Supreme Court in 2011, an estimated 30 percent of the people are poor. This calculation was based on the Tendulkar Committee Report; a government body tasked with the definition of an adequate poverty line for India. A great deal of debate followed thereafter, on this definition; screening the more critical questions. How do these 350 million people survive on INR 32 per person per day in urban areas and INR 26 per person per day in rural areas? how do they find resources in times of illness, old age, disability and death? And how can they protect themselves from slipping into deeper poverty?

Economically Backward Reservation: A Paradigm Shift in Public Policy

The Government of India came up with the 103 rd Amendment for reserving 10% of jobs and entry into public educational institutions for economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society. This is a significant departure from earlier reservation for SC/ST and OBCs, which were ‘vertical’ in nature while the 2019 Act for EWS is ‘horizontal’ in character. The Supreme Court has put a cap of 50% in total for different types of reservation, keeping in mind the constitutional stipulation that it should be reasonable and proportionate. In Indra Sawhney judgement, (1992) the court has excluded creamy layer from the ambit of reservation for the OBC. The Madras High Court has asked to Tamil Nadu government to get concurrence of Supreme Court to provide 10% reservation to medical seats to EWS, as it would cross the cap of 50%. This paper is an attempt to run through political and judicial journey in looking at the conflicting challenges of equality of opportunity with affirmative action for bolstering socio-economic vulnerable sections of the society. It does not, prima facie, find any infirmity in the notion of economic backwardness qualifying for reservation as against caste based reservation. The paper also unveils how the income limit of Rs.8 lakhs per annum to qualify as EWS is humongous and at variance with the definition of BPL families whose per capita income was pitched at Rs.33 per day by the Tendulkar Committee in 2011. Many judges of the Supreme Court have observed that caste based or income based reservation has the disadvantage of promoting inefficiency in government jobs, particularly in specialised areas. Liberal democracy and market economy put a premium on competition and efficiency as the sine qua non of higher growth . The paper argues that a better way for promoting equality is to create an enabling environment, build human capability in terms of vocational training, skilling, access to state of art technology and higher social sector investment in merit goods, than is being presently done.

An Analysis of Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India with Special Reference to Sustainable Development Goals

The most heated and debated topic not only in India but in entire world is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. Poverty is a socio-economic incident and it is closely related with disparity. It adverse effects on human health, efficiency and output, which in turn effect an individual income. Due to poverty, it becomes close to impossible to fulfil even the bare requirements of life viz; food, clothing, shelter, education and health in deprive section of society. If households or individuals are unable to attain subsistence level of such needs than humanity faces pains and agonies (sorrows or miseries). From 1993-94 to 2011-12, national poverty estimates is reduced from 50.1% to 25.7% in rural areas on the contrary in urban areas, its rate of reduction is from 31.8% to 13.7%. In India, poverty rate is declined by 17.89% from 1993 to 2004 and further declined by 41.13% in a period of 2004-2011 (as per Tendulkar Committee estimates). As per SDG India Index Baseline report 2018, 21.92% of India’s population was below poverty line in 2011. This paper discusses that for achievement of sustainable development goals, poverty eradication becomes most basic & essential requirement. In order to achieve Global Goals (SDGs) by 2030 efficiently, there is an urgent need to reduce poverty in India. With an above backdrop, the present paper focuses on the poverty alleviation programmes in India with special regard to Sustainable Development Goals.

Poverty and Sustainable Development under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with reference to Present Scenario of India: A Case Study of Karbi Anglong District

Poverty is a world-wide and multi-dimensional phenomenon and it exists both in developed and underdeveloped economy. In Rio-Declaration, the commission has given prominence on bio-diversity, climate change, forest management and conservation along with a priority to the poorest sections of the community. The central government of India, under UPA Government, enacted a National Employment Guarantee Act. This would provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment to begin with an asset-creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages to at least one able bodied person in a family. The act was notified on 7th September, 2005. The significance of the programmes makes the government legally acceptable for providing employment to those who ask for it. It was considered as growth engine for sustainable development of an agricultural economy through the process of providing employment on works that address causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation and soil erosion. The Act seeks to strengthen the natural resource base of rural livelihood and create durable asset in rural areas. The present study has been conducted on the rural population under MGNREGA, who are able to cross their subsistence level of surviving. The incidence of poverty is very high in the different rural areas than estimated by Planning Commission of India (based on Suresh Tendulkar Committee).

POVERTY IN INDIA - A VICIOUS CYCLE.

Poverty in India is one of the biggest issue we are facing today. Almost every third poor in the world is Indian. This paper gives insight about the poverty, its types, regional disparity, measures for its removal, and the initiatives taken by the government in this regard. Data collected for this paper is from secondary source. This paper elaborates the reason for the poverty in detail and its corrective measures can be taken. Poverty is a vicious cycle, a famous quote which describes this perfectly is ?you are poor because you are poor?. Chronic poverty is the issue we are dealing with from a long period of time. This paper also explains the parameters on which poverty is defined, what should be included and what not, poverty line, state of people below poverty line and measures to bring them above the poverty line, difference between poverty in urban areas and rural areas. Chronic poor vicious cycle poverty line income level etc. Data for this paper has been collected from secondary source- Wikipedia, economic times, data published by NSSO, World bank, work of Rangarajan & Tendulkar Committee etc. [Shachi Gupta. (2019); POVERTY IN INDIA - A VICIOUS CYCLE. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 7 (Apr). 1105-1109] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com Shachi Gupta VNSGU

CHANGING POVERTY LINE- INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION OF POOR IN INDIAN STATES

The Tendulkar committee and the Rangarajan committee had provided different poverty estimates for India in the past. It is necessary to appreciate the consequences of changing poverty estimates in identification of poor and non-poor households. This paper seeks to examine the sensitivity of the distributional profile in eight developed and under developed Indian states to a unit change in Tendulkar poverty line by applying kernel density function for the consumer expenditure distribution from the National Sample Survey Organization's 55th, 61st, 66th and 68th quinquennial rounds. The developed states have exhibited higher sensitivity compared to neo-patrimonial states to a unit change in poverty line. It is ascertained that the inclusion error will decline and exclusion error will increase if we move down the poverty line over a period of time as the poor people in the poverty zone are escaping at varied rates across space and time.

Climate change, famine, and low-income communities challenge Sustainable Development Goals

Climate change, famine, and low-income communities challenge Sustainable Development Goals

Trends and patterns of poverty in India: an analysis of its factors contributing

The paper based on secondary data from the Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics Department, Government of India. The Planning Commission has updated the poverty lines and poverty ratios for 2011-12 based on the recommendations of the Tendulkar Committee using Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011-12 data of the National Sample Survey (NSS) 68th round. The poverty ratio in the country has declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12. The incidence of poverty has declined by 30.74 percent in rural area at national level. The incidence of poverty based on Tendulkar poverty ratio is 55.7 and 60.8 percent in rural area, 43.7 & 37.6 percent in urban area, and 54.4 & 57.2 percent in Bihar and Odisha. The incidence of poverty has significantly declined by 22 percent in Bihar and 28.2 percent in Odisha during 2004-05 to 2011-12. The incidence of poverty has significantly declined by 18.1 percent in Maharashtra. The correlation matrix of the factor contributing to influence the poverty in India. Six of the eight variables have significant correlation with depended variable of poverty. These variables are sex ratio, landless household, agriculture labours, marginal workers and size of household. These variables are 0.05 level significant correlations with poverty.

A Review of Rangarajan Committee Report on Poverty Estimation

This article presents a review of the methodology recommended by the Rangarajan Committee for poverty estimation. In line with the existing practice, the Committee has also recommended the use of absolute poverty measures. It, however, deviated from Tendulkar Committee method by anchoring the poverty lines on nutritional norms of calorie, protein and fat and deriving separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas. However, the use of average all India requirement of calorie, protein and fat for identifying food-deprived individual households resulted in false identification and under estimation of nutritionally deprived. The use of consumer expenditure data collected by using modified mixed reference period without verifying its quality, particularly the extent of telescopic errors due to the use of shorter reference period, design effect due to disproportionately larger representation of affluent households within a reduced sample size and non-sampling errors due to poor quality of field work made the entire exercise futile. Further, there does not exist any monthly per capita consumption expenditure fractile which met all the nutritional norms as claimed by the Committee and as such the selection of such a fractile as poverty line basket is doubtful. Above all, the poverty estimates given by the Committee for the years 2009–2010 and 2011–2012 lack credibility as the reductions in head count ratios over a 2-year period were unbelievably high in respect of states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, etc. although the estimated reductions were not very much different from those given by the Tendulkar Committee.

Study on Tribal Under-Five Children: Few Concerns.

Ishore and colleagues reported an impressive study on morbidity among tribal children [1]. Considering scant literature on health of children at tea gardens, the authors put forward a commendable effort. However, certain issues need clarification. 1. Systematic random sampling was used in the study – did authors get the complete list of all under – five children of all three villages? If yes, please mention the source. 2. As title suggests, the study is limited to tribal population only. There is no need to mention Caste as variable in methodology. 3. Calculated sample size should have been covered. As non-responders were there, the norm is to add 10% of the calculated value while finalizing the sample size. 4. Although maternal education was not significantly related to morbidity, it is clear that morbidity is more frequent in children with illiterate mothers. 5. Was the recommendation of Tendulkar Committee tested in community based study earlier? 6. The discussion part could have been elaborated further, with emphasis on determinants of morbidity.

Estimating Poverty Including Social Expenditure: Adequacy and Implications of New Official Methods in the Context of Urban India

This article examines the adequacy of private expenditure on education and health in the All India urban Poverty Line Basket (PLB) proposed by the Tendulkar Committee. Estimating the normative expenditures for education and health care and comparing them with the level of expenditure at poverty lines suggested by the Tendulkar Committee, the article observes that the revised PLB does not satisfy the normative level of expenditure required at the poverty line class. Adjusting the starting point of index multiplication upward by adding the normative cost of education and health care to the existing PLB, it attempts to answer the question whether households can afford adequate expenditure on education and medical care if they are simply provided with the value required. The results show that the normative expenditure is unmet even after an upward revision and that the poverty line monthly expenditure level, where households actually spend the normative amount of social expenditure, is far above the PLB. The other implication is that targeting based on a poverty line that does not satisfy social expenditure will leave out impoverished households. The article concludes that households at the poverty line class cannot take the social expenditure burden, nor can a transfer of adequate value make them capable of spending it. Rather, the social services should be provided by the government to all households so that they do not have to bear the expenses and that targeting is not required.

Poverty Line: A Definitional Progress in India

The origin of poverty in India lies in the historical origin of the country itself. However, defining poverty to entail its measurement and removal is of recent origins – the first attempt being made in late nineteenth century. With the passage of time, better understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty occurred. In this paper, the authors attempt to track the evolution of the definition of poverty in India. These include the official changes that have taken place from time to time as well as some independent suggestions made by eminent researchers of the field which have received critical acclaim within the think-tank of poverty researchers. The definition of poverty or poverty line has been trailed chronologically beginning in the British era in pre-Independent India to the latest on poverty line officially. The exploration by the authors reveals that in India poverty had been traditionally looked at as insufficiency to attain subsistence and all the attempts at poverty line definitions were anchored to the Food Energy Intake method. More recently, the recommendations by the Tendulkar Committee and Rangarajan Expert Group include a shift away from the calorie norms to the cost of basic needs method which looks at basic requirements of food and non-food items. Along with the recommendation of various expert groups that defined poverty line (official) for India, the contentions raised by fraternity are also discussed.

Editorial

It gives me immense pleasure to bring to you another issue of Pragati. The current volume consists of six papers, a commentary and a book review. The paper on ‘The Interest Rate Channel of Monetary Transmission -The Indian experience’ by Suvojit Lahiri Chakravarty, examines the effect of the changes in the policy rate on the different segments of the financial market in India from the onset of LAF i.e., July 2000 onwards to March 2014. A VAR model comprising of interest rate, output, price and exchange rate is estimated for the same period, to study the effect of changes in the policy rate on the various macroeconomic variables. A paper on ‘Regional Pattern and Determinants of Knowledge-based Industry: Evidences from Firm-level Data of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry’ has been contributed by Tareef Husain. The empirical findings based on negative binomial regression model reveal that the group of regional factors such as, size of industry, availability of skilled labour, number of science and technology (S&T) institutions and number of patent applications attract higher number of pharmaceutical firms in respective states. There has been a shift in the regional pattern with the share of Western India declining in favour of North India. ‘Poverty Line: A Definitional Progress in India’ by Deepti Kakar, reveals that in India poverty had been traditionally looked at as insufficiency to attain subsistence and all the attempts at poverty line definitions were anchored to the Food Energy Intake method. More recently, the recommendations by the Tendulkar Committee and Rangarajan Expert Group include a shift away from the calorie norms to the cost of basic needs method which looks at basic requirements of food and non-food items. Two of the papers in this issue look at India’s growth story. The paper on ‘A Study of Trends in India’s Economic Growth since 1951: The Inclusive Growth Approach’ by Arjun. Y. Pangannavar, focuses on the saga of India’s economic growth under the ‘Nehru-Mahalanobis Economic Growth Model’ (NMEGM) and ‘Narsimhrao-Manmohan Singh Economic Growth Model’ (NMSEGM). This paper attempts to assess the growth rate trends of Indian economy by using the measuring tool called ‘Inclusive Growth’ to get a fair and true picture. Another article on ‘Inclusive Growth for Social Justice: An Imperative for India’s Development Efforts’ by Niti Bhasin argues that inclusive growth is the new paradigm that is related essentially to equality and opportunity to all for achieving a productive and meaningful life with freedom, equality and dignity. There is a lot of talk on growth with equity but it has not been dovetailed with the development effort. An immediate plan for achieving equitable development is needed and the challenge before the Government is to evolve a system in which reforms and globalisation can proceed on one track, and the poor can be protected from the ill effects of it, on the other. Local communities and markets should be reinforced to take advantage of finance, trade and investment changes flowing from the national and global levels. Investing to improve productivity in agriculture is essential for sustainable poverty reduction. In essence, therefore, there has to successful localization first to reap the benefits of globalisation.

Determinants of Rural Poverty: An Empirical Study of Socio-Economic Factors in Jharkhand, India

In India, poverty reduction is one of the major objectives of economic development programmes. Though, India was the first country in the world to define poverty as the total per capita expenditure of the lowest expenditure class, which is required to ascertain a minimum intake of 2400 kcal/day in rural and 2100 kcal/day in urban areas. The same is converted into financial terms and the poverty line is defined as a minimum level of income or expenditure, which is periodically updated. The latest updated poverty line is Rs.356.30 in rural areas and Rs.538.60 in urban areas in 2004-05 (Planning Commission, 2007). There exists a substantial interstate and urban rural differential in the cost of goods and services. One in three Indians lives below the poverty line according to the Tendulkar Committee report which used a measurement of goods and services, rather than calorie intake, to calculate poverty. The World Bank estimates that 80% of India's population lives on less than $2 a day which means a higher proportion of its population lives on less than $2 per day as compared with sub-Saharan Africa. Income based approaches to poverty can not tell more about other forms of deprivations poor go through. Poverty is basically a denial of a range of material needs such as nutritious food, safe drinking water, shelter, healthcare, education, etc. Therefore, multidimensional poverty measures provide better understanding of the nature of poverty-at local, regional, national, and world level. The present study attempts to track and explore some of the important causes of rural poverty in the state of Jharkhand. Socio-economic indicators provide a background to understanding the poverty scenario in a country. These indicators provide data on education, gender, poverty, housing, amenities, employment and other economic indicators. These indicators for the country as well as states will help in identifying the linkages between socio-economic indicators and achievement of health goals. It was found that the rate of decline in poverty is more in agricultural labour class households (27%) than that of farming households (1.9%). Analysis of household data of the sample villages also highlights a high incidence of rural poverty ranging from more than 20 percent in Dubaliya to about 76 percent in Durgapur. Incidence of poverty for four groups of households viz. labour, small, medium and large shows mixed pattern of incidence of poverty. Labour class households and large households were comparatively less poor in most of the villages than that of the other classes i.e., small and medium households. Among various determinants of poverty, obtained by estimating a probit model, considering poor as 1 and non-poor 0, it was found that length of education and number of earning members in family had significant poverty reducing effect, implying that for taking a poor household out of poverty promotion of education and creation of more employment opportunities to provide employment to a large number of household members are essential. It also emanates that big family size and increased dependency on agriculture would induce poverty and it is therefore imperative that family planning policies and alternative non-farm employment programme should receive due priority in any poverty alleviation programme in the state.

Socio-Economic Determinants of Rural Poverty: An Empirical Exploration of Jharkhand State, India

Poverty has become a general phenomenon that is perceived to mean different things to different people at different times and places. India was the first country in the world to define poverty as the total per capita expenditure of the lowest expenditure class, which is required to ascertain a minimum intake of 2400 kcal/day in rural and 2100 kcal/day in urban areas. However, there exists a substantial interstate and urban rural differential in the cost of goods and services. One in three Indians lives below the poverty line according to the Tendulkar Committee report which used a measurement of goods and services, rather than calorie intake, to calculate poverty. The World Bank estimates that 80% of India's population lives on less than $2 a day which means a higher proportion of its population lives on less than $2 per day as compared with sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank identified Jharkhand as one of the most poverty-stricken state in the country with a sharp contrast between rural and urban poverty. Jharkhand is a tribal state which has high incidence of poverty. A majority of OBC, SC and ST population fall under BPL category due to a number of agro-climatic and socio-economic factors. BPL households often live misery and face poor quality of life as they lack the basic amenities. Poverty in the region leads to migration and both migration within the state and out-side state is common. Youth prefers to migrate out-side state but with increase in age within state migration picks up. A good proportion of rural households has connection with the commercial banks, cooperative banks and other financial institutions. The commercial banks have better reach among the rural households and they can be instrumental in poverty alleviation programmes. The important causes/determinants of rural poverty in Jharkhand can be summarized as; lack of education, poor land base with small and marginal land holdings. Lack of employment opportunities at local level and poor infrastructure compounds the problem. In addition to these factors, poor quality of natural resources like; acidic, laterite and red soils, water scarcity leading to mono-cropping in the state have also contributed towards rural poverty. With changing climatic scenario, and undulating terrain lacking capacity to retain rain water forces the farmers to take a single crop in the state, thereby reducing the opportunities to a better livelihood. Information and communication technologies can play a pivotal role as it the common means of seeking information for improved farming practices. People are using modern technologies like mobile phone for the linkage between people and institution for use of agriculture-related technology, knowledge, skills and information. Hence, the technological interventions can integrates farmers, agricultural scientists, extension workers, input dealers and the private sectors to harness the knowledge and information from various sources for better farming and improved livelihoods. There is a considerable potential for establishment of forest based processing units in state, can provide employment to local people and will reduce the migration phenomenon thereby enhancing the livelihoods of rural poor.

Is RSBY India′s platform to implementing universal hospital insurance?

Background & objectives:In 2008, India's Labour Ministry launched a hospital insurance scheme called Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) covering ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) households. RSBY is implemented through insurance companies; premiums are subsidized by Union and States governments (75 : 25%). We examined RSBY's enrolment of BPL, costs vs. budgets and policy ramifications.Methods:Numbers of BPL are obtained by following criteria of two committees appointed for this task. District-specific premiums are weighted to obtain national average premiums. Using the BPL estimates and national premiums, we calculated overall expected costs of full roll-out of the RSBY per annum, and compared it to Union government budget allocations.Results:By March 31, 2011, RSBY enrolled about 27.8 per cent of the number of BPL households following the Tendulkar Committee estimates (37.6% following the Lakdawala Committee criteria). The average national weighted premium was 530 per household per year in 2011. The expected cost of premium to the union government of enrolling the entire BPL population in financial year (FY) 2010-11 would be 33.5 billion using Tendulkar count of BPL (or 24.6 billion following Lakdawala count), representing about 0.3 per cent (or 0.2%, respectively) of the total union budget. The RSBY budget allocation for FY 2010-11 was only about 0.037 per cent of the total union budget, sufficient to pay premiums of only 34 per cent of the BPL households enrolled by March 31, 2011.Interpretation & conclusions:RSBY could be the platform for universal health insurance when (i) the budget allocation will match the required funds for maintenance and expansion of the scheme; (ii) the scheme would ensure that beneficiaries’ rights are legally anchored; and (iii) RSBY would attract large numbers of premium-paying (non-BPL) households.

The Official Poor in India Summed Up

This paper aims to identify the poor households in terms of the levels of poverty and inequality by using income data from the nation-wide ‘National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure (NSHIE-2004-05)’ of the NCAER. The definition used by the Tendulkar Committee (41.8 per cent poor in rural and 25.7 per cent poor in urban India) is applied by using the per capita income level for arriving at the official ‘poor’ households. Further, a comparative profile of the poor and non-poor households is presented by using various socio-economic indicators collected in the survey. For instance, the results of the survey reveal that around one-fourth of the 14 million odd official ‘poor’ households in urban India own a two-wheeler each, one-third of them own a colour television each, and almost two-third own a pressure cooker each. Almost one in five urban official ‘poor’ households has at least one well-educated member who is graduate or above. The paper also attempts to test the sensitivity of the poverty measures to the different deprivation ratios estimated by the Planning Commission, the World Bank, Arjun Sengupta (NCEUS report) and Suresh Tendulkar.

The Poverty Debate in Perspective: Moving Forward with the Tendulkar Committee

The Poverty Debate in Perspective: Moving Forward with the Tendulkar Committee