Global Conference on “Taking Action for the World’s Poor and Hungry”

Beijing, China

Infrastructure and the Poorest

by

Kirit S. Parikh

Member, Planning Commission

Government of India

Wednesday, the 17th October, 2007

WELL BEING ILL BEING Needs Without Which One Suffers Adequate food : Hunger+ Other needs : Consumption / income poverty+ Good health And literacy to know of Opportunity : Poverty of human development + Public services and goods, Good governance : Capability/functional poverty + Ability to survive shocks social and environmental capital : Insecurity+ Ability to invest for betterment : Hopelessness+ Freedom, inclusion and empowerment : Lack of self respect

Dimensions of Poverty/Deprivation/ Exclusion

India’s Progress in Many Dimensions of Poverty

• Persons poor• Health• Education• Environment• Access to modern goods and services• Infrastructure• Empowerment

Percentage of Population Below Poverty Line

Year Rural Urban

1973-74 56.4 49.0

2004-05 28.3 25.7

Health Indicators

Year Life Expectancy At Birth

Infant Mortality/ 1000 Births

1951 32 146

2001 62.5 60

Literacy Rate

Census Year

Males Females Persons

1951 27.2 8.9 18.3

2001 75.9 54.2 65.4

Significant Progress but

Disparities across classes and regions not reflected in the

average numbers

U n d e r n o u r i s h e d C h i ld r e n : ( 1 9 9 8 - 9 9 ) #M .P . U .P .

O r i s saS i k k im G o a

S i k k im

0

10

2 0

3 0

4 0

5 0

6 0

W e i g h t - f o r - a g e H e i g h t - f o r - a g e W e i g h t - f o r - h e i g h t

# P e r c e n t a g e b e lo w 2 s t a n d a r d d e v ia t io n f r o m m e d ia n

A ve r a g e H i g h e s t L o w e s t

Female

 

Literacy (age 7+) Male & Female: (2001)Kerala Kerala Lakshadweep Kerala

KeralaMizoram

Bihar

Bihar BiharBihar

Bihar Bihar

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

All SC ST All SC ST

Average Highest(State) Lowest(State)

 

Male Female

Indoor Air Pollution due Fuels in Rural India

• 96% of households use biomass energy, 11% use kerosene and 5% use LPG for cooking. Most of them use multiple fuels

• Forests contribute 39% of the fuel wood need

• 314 Mt of bio-fuels are gathered annually

• 85 million households spend 30 billion hrs. annually in fuel wood gathering

Burden of Dirty Fuels • Respiratory symptoms are prevalent among 24 million

adults of which 17 million have serious symptoms

• Adults suffering

– 16% from Bronchitis

– 5% from Bronchial asthma

– 8.2% from Pulmonary TB and

– 7% from Chest infection

• Risk of contracting respiratory diseases and eye diseases increases with longer duration of bio-fuels

Causes of Poverty

• Too little assets

• Too little access to public goods and services to get skilled and exploit opportunities

• Too little access to environment

• Too little rights

• INFRASTRUCTURE physical and social critical

Importance of Governance• Local

– Prices, Macro policy– Transfers– Institutions– Entitlements– Freedom

• Global– Flow of goods and services – WTO– Flow of knowledge – TRIPs– Flow of finance– Flow of people– Sharing global commons

Faster and More Inclusive Growth Strategy for Inclusive Development

• Education for All – for Empowerment– Sarva Siksha Abhiyan– Adult Literacy Campaign– SSA-2 for expanding reach of secondary

education– High quality higher education– Modernisation of vocational education

Strategy for Inclusive Development… (contd.)

• Better Health, Expanding Capabilities– Rural Health Mission

– Drinking Water

– Sanitation Programme

• Infrastructure – Essential for Functioning– RGGVY (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana)

– PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana)

– JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

– Telecom Connectivity

Strategy for Inclusive Development… (contd.)

• Expanding Opportunities & Bridging Divides– Growth, particularly agricultural growth, for

employment opportunities– NREGA (National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act) for immediate impact– RSVY to pull the backward

Inclusive Development

• Elementary Education– 100% enrolment under SSA likely by 2006-07– Drop-outs still high – 31% in 2003-04– Teacher attendance and teaching quality poor– Local school management committees– SSA to include early childhood eduation (ECE)– Greater use of ICT especially for disadvantaged

children

Inclusive Development… (contd.)Empowerment Through Education• Secondary Education

– Launch new mission SSA-2 upto Class X– Consider voucher system to enable poor to access private

schools

• Vocational Education– ITIs to be expanded in numbers and skills taught– Financial & administrative autonomy given to ITIs– New initiatives in agricultural & agro-processing skills– Vocational training to be placed on par with secondary

education regarding status and resources

Inclusive Development… (contd.)Empowerment Through Education

• Higher Education– Critical for ICT driven knowledge economy– Expand University system and Open education to increase access from 8%

of age-group to 20% +– With quality faculty and greater autonomy– Increase budgetary support and raise fees

• Science & Technology– National Science & Technology Commission – Establish world class research facilities – Promote scientific research as career – Revamp service conditions of scientists

Inclusive Development…(contd.)Strategy for Better Health

• National Rural Health Mission– Special focus on 18 States

– Integrated district plans for health including drinking water, sanitation and nutrition

– Merger of programmes and pooling of resources

– Appointment of ASHA in each village

– Involvement of non-profit sector

– Integration of Indian Systems of Medicine

– Social and Community-based health insurance

Inclusive Development… (contd.) Strategy for Better Health

• Clean Water for All– Despite 95% coverage, large number of slip backs (2.8 lakhs)

and serious quality problems (2.17 lakhs)– Need to move away from ground water to surface water sources– Emphasis on community owned & managed projects– States need to fully utilise 12th Finance Commission funds

• Sanitation– Total sanitation campaign has increased coverage from 4% in

1988 to 35% at present– Subsidy only for BPL; greater focus on APL needed

Inclusive Development … (contd.) Rural Infrastructure

• Bharat Nirman: a fully centrally funded time-bound (2009) action plan for:– 10 million ha of additional irrigation– All weather road connectivity to 66,802 habitations– 60 lakh houses for rural poor– Drinking water supply to all uncovered habitations– Electricity to all un-electrified villages– Connect all remaining villages (66,802) with public telephones

• States should supplement by expanding coverage in coordinated manner

Ensuring Outcomes: The Challenges

• Main elements of the implementation strategy

– Decentralisation

– Financial Empowerment of PRIs

– Stakeholder Participation

– Accountability through Transparency, RTI & Internet

– Civil Society Organsiations (CSOs) and Public Private Partnership

– Offering Choice to People

– Entitlements to Reduce Leakages

Thank You