India (Andhra Pradesh)
Context
In India, Young Lives is working in Andhra Pradesh (AP), the fifth-largest state. The poverty debate has rarely been extended to child poverty in India, which makes Young Lives of particular interest. Over the last five years, India has seen impressive economic growth as well as progress in terms of human development; it currently ranks 134 in the UNDP’s Human Poverty Index (2009). Even as economies across the world experienced a slowdown, both the AP and Indian economies managed to grow at the rate of 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2009-10.
Yet India is a country of huge inequalities, with the second largest number of billionaires in the world but also home to 25 per cent of the world’s poor. Again, in AP growth has not been inclusive even though it has been the model for several new government initiatives to eliminate poverty such as the rice at ‘Two Rupees a Kilo’ Public Distribution System (PDS), Indira Kranti Padhakam programme (IKP) for women’s empowerment and INDIRAMMA (Integrated Novel Development in Rural Areas and Model Municipal Areas), and has achieved considerable progress on child development indicators since the mid-1990s.
Many inequalities are tied to gender and class, even though discrimination on the basis of caste is now illegal, and various measures have been introduced to empower disadvantaged groups and give them better access to opportunities – such as education and work.
Andhra Pradesh, as the third largest producer of food grains in India, is still largely agricultural in terms of population and employment. In 2009 unprecedented floods inundated five districts, causing loss of life, livestock and property. As a result, levels of farmer debt are rising despite efforts to waive farmer loans.
The state capital, Hyderabad, is one of the leading centres of the IT revolution, yet only 27 per cent of the AP population lives in urban areas. Uniquely, poverty levels are higher here among the urban population (28 per cent) when compared to the rural population (11 per cent) compared with 26 and 28 per cent for India nationally.
Children’s situation
Children and young people under 18 make up more than 40 per cent of the Indian population. Millions don’t have enough to eat, cannot get treatment when they are ill, and have to work to support their families or for their own survival.
More children under 5 die from preventable and treatable diseases in India than in any other country. In AP one baby in every 19 live births dies before its first birthday.
Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. Stunting is a measure of chronic malnutrition, and in AP, the rate of stunting among Young Lives children is high at 34 per cent. Its incidence is strongly related to household poverty, location and ethncicity – stunting among rural children increased from 36 per cent in Round 1 (2001) to over 41 per cent in Round 2 (2006).
AP is providing Early School Education and care to 2.6 million of children aged between 3 to 6 years through 73,944 Anganwadi centres (AWCs), and 7,621 Mini AWCs. It is the only state in India to have developed and launched an activity-based pre-school curriculum to promote holistic development of children in this age group.
The national Right to Education Act 2009 has now extended free and compulsory education to all children from age 6 to 14 years. Enrolment in primary and upper primary schools has increased from 101.16 million in 2002-03 to 134.38 million in 2008-09 (DISE-2009). AP is one of the first states to develop Model Rules to make the Right to Education Act a reality, for example, by school mapping which involves planning school location to overcome social barriers and geographical distance.
However, the quality of education in terms of curriculum, infrastructure and teaching is a major concern. Also, retaining children in school is more difficult than enrolling them: most children in AP (96 per cent) enrol in primary school, but one in five drop out before they’ve completed the first five years. Poverty in some regions and rising demand for labour in more developed regions are the most important reasons for high drop-out rates, together with the substantial indirect costs of education such as for uniforms and transport.
According to the National Family Health Survey 3, gender disparity is quite evident in AP, with 66 per cent of girls aged 6 to 17 years attending school compared with 77 per cent of boys the same age. This disparity becomes further pronounced for rural children in the age group 15 to 17 years, with only 23 per cent of girls attending school but 46 per cent of boys.
Young Lives is uniquely placed to inform policy in India. Since it is a longitudinal study, more insights can be gained on ‘catch-up’ and ‘relapse’ in nutrition and the dynamics affecting such changes. Over the next few years Young Lives will seek to inform policy on how social security interventions like NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) interact with household-level poverty dynamics and their contribution in ‘reduction’ of vulnerabilities. One of the most significant areas that we could influence is Early Childhood Development.
Sources:
BBC country profile web page; UNICEF country web page and The State of the World’s Children 2009; Save the Children country web page; 2007/2008/2009 Human Development Report; AndhraOnline.in web page; Young Lives Round 2 Survey: Country Report and Summary; Human Development Report 2007 Andhra Pradesh; ssa.ap.nic.in web page; DISE 2009; Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009; Model Rules under RTE 2009; National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3
Our sample sites
Young Lives research is based in Hyderabad plus 6 districts of Andhra Pradesh: Skrikakulam and West Godavari in the Coastal region; Anantapur and Cuddapah in Rayalaseema; and Mahboobnager and Karimnaga in Telangana. Together, these areas cover different geographical regions, levels of development, urban/rural locations and population characteristics. For a map showing the sample sites, a full description of the sample sites and key findings so far, follow the links.
Our partners
In India Young Lives works with the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in Hyderabad, Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalam (Women’s University) (SPMVV) in Tirupati and Save the Children.
Key team members (see complete list on staff page)
Country Director: Renu Singh
Principal Investigator: Professor S. Galab, CESS
Lead Qualitative Researcher: Professor Uma Vennam, SPMVV
Policy Coordinator: Vijay Kumar, SC-BRB
Communications Coordinator: Piyali Sarkar
Contact the team
To contact the team in India, email Renu Singh, Country Director (renusab_at_gmail.com)