Social Sector Scenario of India after the Economic Reforms (T. Maheswari, Asst. Professor in Economics, Lady Doak College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu)

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1 Social Sector Scenario of India after the Economic Reforms (T. Maheswari, Asst. Professor in Economics, Lady Doak College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu) Introduction Social sector comprising of sub-sectors like Education, Health and Medical Care, Housing and Water Supply is very essential for the economic development of any State. Social development paves the way for economic development. Most of the Social Sector subjects fall within the purview of the States, for which funding is provided through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The Government plays a very significant part in the development of the Social Sector. Now we are ready to welcome to 12th five year plan, In this backdrop this paper examines the situation of social sector and expenditure made on social sector in India. Objectives and Methodology: The objectives of this paper are (1) to assess the performance in the social sector viz., Education, Health, Nutrition, Housing, food security and Poverty situation in India. And (2) to analyse the social sector spending in India. The data were collected from various NSS rounds, Socio- Economic Statistics, Indiastat.com etc. This study is confined to the post- reform period only. Situation of poverty in India: Table 1: Percentage of People below poverty line in India % of people BPL Rural Urban Combined Source: Various NSS Rounds Poverty is the syndrome for India since independence. It is revealed from the data of various NSS rounds that poverty rate has reduced from 38.86% of BPL in to 27.5% in Yet in the year it was only 26.1%. Though India has experienced various poverty alleviation schemes it could not be able to eradicate poverty. From various studies relating to evaluation of poverty eradication programmes, it is revealed that there is lack of good monitoring indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

2 system and the neglect of agricultural sector development. It is suggested that the poverty alleviation programmes should be of agricultural oriented and agricultural-friendly. Development of Education in India: Table 2: Pupil-teacher ratio in schools in India Primary Middle (VI- Secondary (I-V) VIII) (IX-XI) Source: Socio-Economic Statistics of India, 2011, RBI It is portrayed that the pupil-teacher ratio in all the levels is more or less stagnant over the postreform period. But the ratio is high; one of the reasons is that most of the primary schools in the villages are single-teacher school. Though it is consistent the strength per teacher should be further reduced in order to attain the qualitative education not only the quantitative educational development. Table 3: Literacy rates as estimated through surveys (percentage) period Literacy rate * indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

3 Source: Various NSS rounds * Population Census-2011 It was shown that there is improvement in the literacy rate of India after the reforms. But at the same time it needs to be accelerated by facilitating the educational sector with adequate physical and human infrastructures. Even though there is a right to education, it was revealed from the table-4, we failed to achieve cent percent of enrollment in the age group of years. There are two reasons for that, in many of the villages schools are only at the primary level and parents were also not allow this age group of people to school and make them as a wage earner of the family. There is a need of policy measure to overcome these two problems. Table 4: Gross Enrolment as percentage to the total population by age and sex Age ( 6-11 years) Age (11-14 years) Male Female Person Male Female Person Enrolment Ratios in 6-11 age group are more than 100. It may be due to the fact that there may be many students outside the age-group 6-11 enrolled in classes I V. Source: Socio-Economic Statistics of India, 2011, RBI Food and Nutritional Security in India: indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

4 Table 5: Per Capita per Day Net Availability of Cereals and Pulses in India Percapital availability of food grains / day (in grams) Cereals Pulses Total Source: Since India attained self-sufficiency in agriculture, the per capita availability of food grains was in very worst situation. It is in alarming state, as it was grams in the year 1991 and it was reduced to 444 grams in the year Though we have various food security programmes, there is need of long-lasting and opt strategy for improving our food security and nutritional security situation. Table 6: Nutritional Status of India Proteins (Grams) Calories (Kilo Calories) d Source: Annual Reports of National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

5 The above table shows that the nutritional status of India. It is clearly stated that the nutritional situation in India is worsening after the reform. Since we had lot of nutritional security programmes, we could not able to find the positive impact of these programmes on Indian people. Situation of Health in India: Table 7: Infant Mortality Rate in India Survey IMR Rural Urban Combined NFHS-I NFHS-II NFHS-III Source: NFHS Surveys Infant Mortality Rate is the best indicator of health. It was inferred that the IMR was very high compared to rural area. It may be due to the lack of health infrastructures in Rural area and the nutritional deficiency of rural women. The combined Infant mortality rate has also to be reduced in order to attain the target fixed under the Millennium Development Goals of UNDP. Table 8: Institutional Deliveries in India Survey Institutional deliveries Rural Urban Combined NFHS-I NFHS-II NFHS-III It was inferred that in this 21 st century also, nearly 59% of deliveries are unsafe in India and it was also very shock to see that only 31% of institutional deliveries in Rural India, there is huge gap between rural and urban. There is a need of full-fledged operation of Primary health care centres in Rural India and there is also need of road-connectivity to all rural areas in order to avail the hospital facilities. Scenario of Housing in India: indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

6 Table 9: Housing Amenities in India Percentage of households that: Total Urban Rural Have electricity Use piped drinking water Have access to a toilet facility Live in a pucca house Source: NFHS-III Though we have gone through 11 five year plans, we were not able to provide toilet facility for 56% of Indian people. In India nearly 42% of people live in a pucca house and many of Indian people were also homeless. It is also evident that nearly 93% of urban people have electricity and in rural it was only 67.9%. It is revealed that in all the amenities rural people are deprived. The Overall Picture from Multi dimensional Poverty Index of India: Table 10: Multi dimensional poverty Index of India ( ) Multi dimensional poverty index 0.29 Population in multidimensional Head count ratio (%) 55.4 poverty Intensity of deprivation(%) 53.5 Population at risk of multi dimensional poverty(%) 16.1 Education(%) 37.5 Population with at least Health(%) 56.5 one severe deprivation in Living standard(%) 58.5 PPP US$1.25 a(%) Population below Day 41.6 income poverty line National poverty line (%) 28.6 Source: Human Development Report, 2010 It is evident from the multi-dimensional poverty index constructed by UNDP, more than half of the Indian population is deprived in health and living standard. It is the very worst situation need to be addressed. The other thing to be noted that as per the poverty line only 28.6% of the people are below poverty line at the same time as per UNDP measurement it is 41.6%. Though we had various revisions in the measurement of poverty line, there is a wide gap between UNDP data and our national data. The above table shows the real picture of the social sector development in India. It was a known and hidden fact that there is neglect of the social sector in the post reform period. indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

7 Social Sector Expenditure in India: Table 11: Social Sector Expenditure in India Expenditure on Aggregate % share of Social Social Sector Expenditure Sector Expenditure ,088 35, , , , , , , , , ,13, ,24, ,29, ,33, ,46, ,64, ,89, ,22, ,65, ,59, ,16, Source: Socio-Economic Statistics of India, 2011, RBI Public expenditure on the social sector is essential to attain the social as well as economic development of the country. It was portrayed that the share of social sector expenditure to the aggregate expenditure of India was 38.57% and it was only 39.44% in the year It reveals that the expenditure on social sector in India is stagnant over the post-reform period. And it was noted that it was only 29.65% in the year and 28.42% in the year It was very low in the entire study period. development. It should be raised in order to attain higher human Suggestions: Need of agricultural oriented and agricultural development poverty alleviation programmes as most of the people below poverty line depend upon agriculture indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices

8 Effective monitoring system for social sector development programmes in order to attain the target fixed in the plans Need of revised food and nutritional security programmes. Adequate human resources are required in health and education sectors and strengthening of infrastructural development is also needed. Social sector spending should assume a greater percentage of GDP. Conclusion: Indians are good planners but not good implementers. Though we had lot of programmes and plans for a social sector development there is no real improvement in the social sector in India. Only an increase in the economic growth is not a development of the whole nation, actually it is the development only for few people. There is a need for sustainable and inclusive strategy for social sector of India in order to achieve real development not mere numbers and targets. References: 1) Pravas Mishra (2010), An Analysis of Orissa (India) Budget during to , 2) Government of India, Selected Socio Economic Statistics, India ) Kamble, P. S (2010), Implications of Social Sector Development by Government in India. Cyber Literature, Vol: 3 Issue: 2. 4) Panchamukhi, P.R.(2000), Social Impact of Economic Reforms in India: A Critical Appraisal Economic and Political Weekly, Vol: 35 No: 10. indiastat.com August-September, socio - economic voices