Has the devolution of responsibilities and finances to local governments in India produced positive impacts on health status and incomes of men and women? Using a national data set with details on health, health seeking behavior and local governance, we estimate a system of simultaneous equations to analyze the incidence of illness via a health production function and show that health care expenditures at the household level, choice of health care provider by members, and the incidence of illness will jointly impact individual incomes. The incidence of illness is significantly reduced by better access to drinking water, clean surroundings and awareness about health campaigns. Discussions of health issues in the Gram Sabha reduce illnesses for both men and women and their private health expenditures. Reserving the position of the village head to women leads to greater participation in Gram Sabha meetings; better problem resolution in water supply, sanitation and health; greater village health expenditures; and greater satisfaction with access to health. The increased expenditures of Panchayats on health care reduce the incidence of illness three times more for women than for men, but reduce their private health care expenditures about equally. It also shifts the choice of health care providers from private to public facilities, more so for women than for men. Family inheritance increase the use of private health care for both genders, while a woman’s individual land inheritance increases her use of both public and private health care. While women do not have lower access to health care or are discriminated within the household in terms of access to different providers, their earnings are adversely affected to a greater degree by illness compared to that of men. Women’s private health expenditures tend to improve their incomes more compared to that of men.
A significant concern in economies like India is the inability of large sections of its population to adequately access services such as water and education. This problem is particularly magnified in the rural areas where problems of low levels of literacy, and inadequate access to drinking water have lead to a large number of pathologies such as out migration in search of low skilled jobs, low productivity of labor, lack of female empowerment etc.
In order to rectify this, many countries, including India have embarked on a program of promoting participatory self governance. The underlying premise behind this is that through participation there is empowerment and capacity building of both households and communities which together will lead to improved provision of services, and growth.
In this paper we explore-using the ARIS/REDS data sets of NCAER and qualitative methods- the impact of enabling local governments such as the Panchayats in enabling service provision. Specifically, we broadly pose the following questions. a) Does women’s political agency matter for improved provision of services? Do we for example know anything about the pathways of impact of political agency of women? b) If there are effective alternate institutions operating within villages, then, will they improve the quality of functioning of the elected Panchayats? c) Does the choice of the service provider matter for households? For example, does it matter if households choose private schooling over public and panchayat schools? d) What will be the household level economic impact of improved access to services?
There are a number of findings. The quality of education in public and panchayat run schools is significantly a function of governance and involvement of the parents of the child (in particular the mother of child) in the management of schools is important. Village level literacy is significantly enhanced if households choose private schools over public and Panchayat run schools. We find that women’s political agency reduces barriers in the labor market for women and they are able to bargain for higher nonfarm wages. If time spent in fetching water due to improved provision of this service is reduced, then women in particular use the time saved in productive activities. Choice of service provider matters.
This study analysed the impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls by examining a cross section of issues such as household income, savings, consumption as well as education, health and levels of stigma and discrimination. The study, conducted in 2004-05 by the NCAER, with the support of UNDP and NACO, was based on a primary survey of 2,068 HIV and 6,224 non-HIV households spread over rural and urban areas of six states with high prevalence of HIV in India. The findings indicate that female members of HIV households face increased burden of workload at home and are also required to take up employment to supplement lost earnings. The burden of caring for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) is proportionately higher in the case of women, whether or not they themselves are HIV-positive. Compared to men, nearly double the number of women are left untreated. Though all PLWHA face discrimination, for women, the degree was higher and often from within the family.
Modernisation and expansion of infrastructure is crucial to economic growth and development. India’s Civil Aviation Sector has also attempted to keep pace with rising demands from economic growth. This study provides an assessment of the economic impact of the Delhi International Airport on the regional and national economies in terms of output, value added (income) and employment.
This paper studies the changes in the pattern of bilateral trade between China and India consequent to China’s accession to the WTO in 2001 and assesses the complementarities and challenges in trade.
