http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/21857/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34859/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Introduction: “An [education] system that is lifeless, devoid of joy and freshness, not even offering an iota of space to move and grow, is doomed to dead, dry rigidity. Can such a system ever nurture the child’s mind, expand her horizons, and elevate her soul and character? Will this child, once she grows up, ever be able to figure anything out on her own, overcome hurdles using her own resources, stand on her own two feet with head held high banking on her own natural fire? Will she not be given to mindless copying [from others], cramming [without comprehension] and slavish servitude?” Quoted from: Shikshar Herpher (Manipulations and Distortions in Education, 1907, p.539), Rabindranath Tagore. (authors’ translation). The angst expressed in the above quote is shared by many contemporary scholars and experts. Indeed, the Indian school education system seems to be under the grip of a `diploma disease’ (Dore, 1976). More specifically, the sceptre of test scores seems to be haunting the entire school system in contemporary India, deforming the educational values of teachers, parents, education bureaucrats and above all hapless students. To put it differently, the prevailing educational ethos is such that value addition through education is measured mostly in economic terms of marks and test scores, rendering irrelevant other worthy goals of learning such as cognitive development, creative thinking, and citizenship abilities. Curiously, almost all schools – from elite to budget, from vernacular to English-medium, from `communal’ to `secular’, from government to private – seem to be chasing the same `dream’ of turning over more students securing more marks. Children are driven to savour first the joy of earning marks and then of earning money, thereby numbing their urge to explore the joy of learning. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32962/ 2011-09-01T00:00:00Z Although major progress has been made with regard to school education in India in the last two decades, access to quality education is still highly uneven. It can, hence, not be assumed a priori that school education is capability enhancing. It certainly is for some children, but for many others it remains a disempowering and dispiriting experience. Is education in India, hence, mainly a system that reproduces already existing social inequalities? It is this question that has been at the centre of our work during the last few years. In two Indian States, Andhra Pradesh in the south and West Bengal in east India, we have done extensive fieldwork to find out how social inequalities are reproduced in Indian schools, but also how that is contested in different ways. We explored this theme at various levels, ranging from the educational system as a whole and the policy level, to the classroom and the textbooks. This paper cannot do justice to all these processes, mechanisms and counter currents that exist at various levels, but it will summarize some of the arguments. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26442/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26443/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20502/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: Teacher absenteeism in government primary schools in rural India is a huge and well-documented phenomenon. Using Christopher Hood’s cultural-theory framework of doing public management, this paper analyses this problem from four different perspectives, i.e. the hierarchist, egalitarian, individualist and fatalist management approach. The paper proceeds with a discussion of three innovative strategies currently proposed or pursued in India to deal with teacher absenteeism. These are 1) the creation of local-level institutions that could hold teachers accountable, 2) the creation of a voucher system to allow parents to choose the school (government or private) for their children, and 3) the recruitment of volunteers on contract basis to do a teaching job. These three strategies, the paper argues, can be interpreted as responses that fit, respectively, within an egalitarian, an individualist and a fatalist approach. The paper concludes that none of the four perspectives can be expected to provide ‘quick fix’ solutions, especially because they ‘act on’ teachers rather than ‘act with’ them. Teachers, it is argued, should get a larger role themselves in the formulation and implementation of a strategy to address teacher absenteeism. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21560/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Teacher absenteeism in government primary schools in rural India is a huge and well-documented phenomenon. Using Christopher Hood’s cultural-theory framework of doing public management, this paper analyses this problem from four different perspectives, i.e. the hierarchist, egalitarian, individualist and fatalist management approach. The paper proceeds with a discussion of three innovative strategies currently proposed or pursued in India to deal with teacher absenteeism. These are 1) the creation of local-level institutions that could hold teachers accountable, 2) the creation of a voucher system to allow parents to choose the school (government or private) for their children, and 3) the recruitment of volunteers on contract basis to do a teaching job. These three strategies, the paper argues, can be interpreted as responses that fit, respectively, within an egalitarian, an individualist and a fatalist approach. The paper concludes that none of the four perspectives can be expected to provide ‘quick fix’ solutions, especially because they ‘act on’ teachers rather than ‘act with’ them. Teachers, it is argued, should get a larger role themselves in the formulation and implementation of a strategy to address teacher absenteeism. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18373/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18379/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z 1. Introduction As described in the earlier chapters, one of the entry points in our study of urban governance was the supply and demand of services. Education is one important service that we studied in three of the four cities (Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata). Our focus was on primary education. Many changes have taken place in the area of education in the past fifteen to twenty years. First, universal primary education is increasingly viewed as a major important policy objective, both in order to enhance individual capabilities and as a way to stimulate economic growth. This is reflected in the adoption in 2002 of the 86th Constitutional Amendment, making free and compulsory education a fundamental right. The Planning Commission regards education as ‘the most critical element in empowering people with skills and knowledge and giving them access to productive employment in the future’ (GoI, 2006: 45). Second, the demand for education has significantly increased. As the Probe report (1999) observed, many parents, also from sections of the population that were hitherto excluded from education, would like to send their children to school. Literacy rates have gone up significantly, which is why the 1990s is labeled as the literacy decade. Third, there has been a rapid increase in private providers. Especially in urban India, but also in rural India, many children go to private, often English-medium schools. Fourth, civil society actors have become more prominent in the field of education. There are a number of very large and influential and a lot of small NGOs that work with or complement the government, or that monitor progress in a critical manner. Fifth, in order to improve the quality of education and in conjunction with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, there have been efforts to decentralize school management. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18454/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z It is almost a cliché to say that India’s appearance and image (internationally as well as self-image) have changed dramatically in the last fifteen years. Instead of being associated with rural poverty, India is now associated with high rates of economic growth, a booming Information Technology (IT) sector and, particularly, an increasingly expanding middle class that consumes and behaves like elites and middle classes elsewhere in the world. Considering that cities concentrate many of the defining features of the middle classes (wealth, white collar jobs, educational institutions, and shops), the middle-classization of Indian cities seems a foregone conclusion. Indeed the changing urban landscape testifies to the increasing influence of a better-off, consumerist, western oriented section of the population: malls replace small roadside shops (Voyce 2007); restaurants and multiplexes mushroom all over the city; cows, cycles and scooters progressively disappear from the roads, replaced by luxury cars (Baviskar 2007); apartment complexes multiply, communities are increasingly gated (Falzon 2004), even while slums are slowly but surely evicted towards the periphery (Dupont forthcoming). In urban India, the rich are more and more visible, the poor less and less so http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18459/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z 1.Introduction Governance has reached India. The country that for a long time was governed by the idea of planned economic development and the necessity of a powerful and omni-present government has been reinvented, as Corbridge and Harriss (2000) described the process. These authors have used this term to indicate that the previous model, which has never been fully implemented but functioned nevertheless as a powerful idea, has been replaced (partially) by a new model: market-led development, with a much smaller role for the state in development processes, and a much larger role for other actors. In other words, a shift from government to governance. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30630/ 2008-09-01T00:00:00Z Since the early 1990s, significant progress has been made with regard to education in India. This positive development stands, however, in sharp contrast with the way in which government teachers themselves think and talk about education. Instead of feeling pride and satisfaction, many teachers are unhappy, and often self-critical. Based on focus group discussions and interviews with teachers in Andhra Pradesh, south India, this paper analyses the reasons behind motivations and demotivations of government school teachers. The paper concludes that there is a need for a new professional ethos and culture. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19172/ 2005-09-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21563/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z India was a relatively late reformer. It was only in 1991 that a consistent liberalisation and reform programme was introduced. This paper investigates the effects of these macroeconomic and policy changes on the welfare of children in India generally, and in Andhra Pradesh, an actively reforming State in south India, in particular. Since it is impossible to identify clear and uniform causal relationships between policy changes and child welfare, the paper discusses a number of mechanisms through which reforms could have an impact on the rights and capabilities of children in India. These mechanisms are of four different kinds: a) some sectoral policies may have a direct effect on children’s rights and capabilities; b) economic policy changes may affect household livelihoods, and thereby indirectly the welfare of children in these households; c) some policies are likely to have an effect on the wider administrative and economic conditions (systems of governance, availability of government funds, etc.), which may impinge on the quality of government services and on child welfare; and d) the reforms may influence social norms, lifestyles and aspirations of people, with consequences for child welfare. Each of these mechanisms is elaborated, and several hypotheses linking reforms with welfare of children are discussed. The paper ends with some suggestions for further research. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32191/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z In April and May 2004, India went to the polls. Against all expectations, the ruling National Democratic Alliance did not win the election, but was replaced by a Congress party-led coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The defeat was quite dramatic. Of the 543 seats in the Indian Lok Sabha, the NDA succeeded in capturing only 185 seats (from its previous 274), while the UPA (excluding the Left parties who support the government from outside) won 217 seats (from its previous meager 151). As soon as the verdict was announced, it was interpreted as a vote against the NDA’s policies: its divisive communal policies pursued particularly in Gujarat but also elsewhere; its education policy of rewriting textbooks on India’s history; its economic reform policies. This last interpretation was quite prominent. It was argued that the 2004 verdict should be seen as the vote of the rural poor against the urban-biased economic development model pursued by the NDA and several reform-oriented State governments http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32193/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/31270/ 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32188/ 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Introduction: Throughout the history of Independent India, the Indian government has claimed that it works towards social development and the eradication of poverty. On the eve of Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, addressing the Constituent Assembly, declared that Independence meant the redemption of a pledge. But he also stated that this achievement “is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the great triumphs and achievements that await us (...) the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity”. A lot has been achieved in the past half century. The incidence of poverty has declined from over 50 per cent in the 1950s to less than 30 per cent in the late 1990s.3 The literacy rate has increased from less than 20 per cent in 1951 to 65 per cent in 2001. According to recent Human Development Reports published by the UNDP, India moved from the category of ‘low’ human development to that of ‘medium’ human development and its rank in 2003 was 127 (of 175 countries). Nevertheless, the performance of India in the social sector is far from satisfactory, and could have been much better (Dreze and Sen, 1995). http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30773/ 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30775/ 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract Public distribution of foodgrains in India is a national policy, which exists in all States. In some States, however, the public distribution system (PDS) works much better than in other States. The undivided State of Bihar (now the new Bihar and Jharkhand) is one of the States in which the policy works poorly. It is important to understand why this is the case. Generally, policy changes and recommendations do not take the specificities of particular States into account. Yet, for the PDS performance to improve in Bihar and Jharkhand, it is absolutely necessary to understand why it works as it works, what the main bottlenecks are and where there are possibilities for improvement, if any. This paper makes such attempt: it describes the PDS in Bihar and Jharkhand, not only in terms of how it fails and what it does not accomplish, but also in terms of what it is and what it does. The activities and interests of the various actors involved in the PDS are described, and it is shown that many people do benefit from the present set-up, but that there are also people within almost all categories of stakeholders who are dissatisfied with the large-scale misappropriation of foodgrains. The PDS experience is then put in the context of the wider political economy of Bihar. The paper ends with some general observations regarding the process of food policy making and implementation. Furthermore, it discusses constraints and opportunities for reform of the PDS in Bihar and Jharkhand. It is argued that there is scope for change, but change requires strategic political manoeuvring and initially a low-key approach in order not to awaken and antagonise the strong vested interests. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30769/ 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/31834/ 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26712/ 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: Public distribution of foodgrains in India is a national policy, which exists in all States. In some States, however, the public distribution system (PDS) works much better than in other States. The undivided State of Bihar (now the new Bihar and Jharkhand) is one of the States in which the policy works poorly. It is important to understand why this is the case. Generally, policy changes and recommendations do not take the specificities of particular States into account. Yet, for the PDS performance to improve in Bihar and Jharkhand, it is absolutely necessary to understand why it works as it works, what the main bottlenecks are and where there are possibilities for improvement, if any. This paper makes such attempt: it describes the PDS in Bihar and Jharkhand, not only in terms of how it fails and what it does not accomplish, but also in terms of what it is and what it does. The activities and interests of the various actors involved in the PDS are described, and it is shown that many people do benefit from the present set-up, but that there are also people within almost all categories of stakeholders who are dissatisfied with the large-scale misappropriation of foodgrains. The PDS experience is then put in the context of the wider political economy of Bihar. The paper ends with some general observations regarding the process of food policy making and implementation. Furthermore, it discusses constraints and opportunities for reform of the PDS in Bihar and Jharkhand. It is argued that there is scope for change, but change requires strategic political manoeuvring and initially a low-key approach in order not to awaken and antagonise the strong vested interests. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30610/ 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30625/ 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26713/ 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21558/ 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD has set target rates of poverty incidence and levels of a number of human development indicators as goals to be met with the aid of development assistance by the years 2005 and 2015. In this paper we assess the likelihood that these goals will be met. We estimate future levels of poverty and human development indicators, using econometric models that capture the past relationship between per capita economic growth and both poverty and human development indicators. Our models use existing projections of future economic growth for the world's major developing regions. We find that for some developing regions achievement of the DAC poverty targets depends critically on the pattern as well as the rate of growth, as targets are only met when high or medium levels of income equality accompany growth. The prospects for achieving the human development targets, particularly gender equity ones, are good for most regions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26783/ 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract. In the light of the World Bank's critical analysis of state owned enterprises, this paper discusses the functioning of two such organisations: the Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation and the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation. Both are state trading corporations dealing primarily in foodgrains, but operating in different ways. The paper shows that both corporations face difficulties and operational dilemmas but that there are also positive things to tell about them, in the sense that activities are undertaken by politicians, management or operation-level staff to improve performance. In this way, the paper challenges the behaviourial assumptions underlying the World Bank's analysis, namely that people mainly pursue their own self-interests. The point of the paper is not that this 'rational actor' perspective is wrong, but that all behaviour, whether informed by self-interest or by wider social commitments, is not natural but needs to be contextualised. Proposals to reform the public sector should also start from such contextualised understanding. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19018/ 1998-07-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26782/ 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract This paper discusses the history and political economy of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India. This food distribution programme, which dates from 1939, is meant to increase food security both at the national and the household level. Since its emergence, it has passed through several phases, the latest one starting in 1991 when India introduced a Structural Adjustment Programme. From a social constructivist perspective, this paper aims to understand a) the most important features of this system in the various phases of its history, b) the social processes that led to the emergence and subsequent development of distribution policy and c) the various functions PDS has served in the course of its history. It concludes that in the most recent era, there are two contradictory tendencies (one coming from economic rationalisation, the other from populist politics) which push and pull the PDS in different directions. The latter tendency is so strong that a drastic curtailment of the food distribution programme is unlikely, despite the pleas made by those favouring cutting down subsidies and reducing the responsibility of the state. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26562/ 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z This paper is one in a large collection of papers, articles, books and reports on food policy in India. Indeed, food policy is a widely researched topic in India. To name a few genres, there are several historical overviews and evaluations of PDS; there are economic models and calculations about income and price effects of PDS; there are many studies about agricultural production in relation to price policy. The abundant attention is not surprising: food is indeed an extremely important topic. It is one of the basic necessities in human (and also non human) life. A large part of the population is involved in its production, and food trade and distribution occupies many government officials, traders, politicians and, of course, consumers. Food distribution affects the whole population. Food scarcity and rising food prises are problematic to all. So, as long as food supply is not more or less fully guaranteed, and as long as food is still scarce and expensive for some categories of people, food policy will remain an important topic in political debate and academic studies.