Mapping the Socially Excluded: Beyond

Poverty Measurements

Saibal KarCentre for Studies in Social

Sciences, CalcuttaInstitute for the Study of Labor

(IZA), Bonn

Social Exclusion

Present paper maps socially excluded population in a district in West Bengal.

An effort to identify if the marginalized sections in the state are chronically deprived of various public facilities and lack of access to basic amenities including schooling for the children.

UNICEF, India collaborates with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) to set up a knowledge hub about social exclusion in general and with emphasis on West Bengal.

Rationale Behind Study

Geographic targeting of communities in terms of access to public good

The degree of exclusion across residents in villages

Broad questions addressed in this study What is the distribution of socially and

economically excluded population in the district of Cooch Behar, West Bengal?

What is the village wise rank of social exclusion for several socio-economic and political categories in the district?

What are the differences in ranks between SC/ST communities and non- SC/ST communities (including OBCs) in the same village for these categories?

Types of ExclusionSources of Exclusion

Direct Policy-Related

a) Economic Unemployment, poverty

Education funding, stigmatizing or andentrapping of Welfare Systems

b) Social Family, neighborhood

Housing, welfare, discrimination,education policies

c) Birth or Background

Disability, other forms of disadvantage (ethnicity, social

background, etc.)

Excluding educational policies

d) Societal/Political Prejudice and Discrimination

Citizenship and residency policies Source:Klasen(1997)

Sources

(Tables)

Housing Status

The best villages in the district of Cooch Behar according to housing status and access to electricity are Satimari (Rank 1) and Padmamari.

Percentage of housing facility provided under government schemes is very low. Only in few villages such as Elejanerkuthi, Gosainganj, Sitalabas, Gaochulka and Natuapur there are some government provided housing.

Non SC/ST: Best- Fulbari(Fulkadabri) Worst- Fulkadabri(Borakhata)

SC/ST: Best-Shatimari (Boragari) Worst- Fulbari (Barabangla)

Drinking Water and Sanitation Major sources of drinking water : Tap, hand pumps

in most villages in Cooch Behar; Very few use protected well.

Percentage of households with in-house toilet facility - still remarkably low - 19.72% on average.

In terms of personal hygiene and use of soaps/detergents after defecation, condition and awareness improved although in rare cases one witnesses 100% respondents claiming such practices.

Index of social exclusion shows that the village of Barabangla and Karibharal rank as best performers for SCs and STs, according to the principal component analysis

SC/ST-Best: Barabangla Worst: Fulbari

NonSC/ST: Best- Patakamari Worst- Barabangla

Children and Diseases

Data reflects that visits to government hospitals have been about 50% for residents in some of the villages. However, treatment by quacks continues to be high in many other villages.

Since all the villages surveyed are rank ordered to provide exact estimates of how important these features are for overall assessment of socio-economic conditions in the district, focused and specific policy interventions should be feasible.

SC/ST-Best: Kokoabari Worst: Bara Nijtaraf

NonSC/ST-Best: Barabangla Worst: Chhat Balakuthi

Mothers’ Health

Average age of girls during marriage and average age of first motherhood are positively correlated.

The data shows that a number of villages have marriage and childbirth both below 18 years.

weight of the newborn is higher with age exceeding the average age of first motherhood at 17

SC/ST-Best: Boragari Worst: Fulkadabri Bajejama

Non SC/ST-Best: Kachuban Worst: Chhota Chhat Dhan Dhania

Breast Feeding status of Mother It appears that except for a few villages the

degree of sensitization needs to be improved among the villagers and this is significantly influenced by the general socio-economic conditions in these villages.

Efforts at popularizing the practice of exclusive breast feeding - but social and other considerations hinder proliferation of this practice – never reaches 100% in any village.

SC/ST-Best: Chhota Chhat Dhan Dhania Worst: Borakhata

NonSC/ST-Best: Nagar Gopalgunj Worst: Karibaral

Information Related to Child Birth Padmamari (100%), Madhya Chhat

Gopalpur (78%), Chhat Khagribari (73%) are among the worst performers where majority of childbirth is still at home

Importantly, however, a considerable section of the mothers belonging to SC/ST category have received partial financial support and other benefits from the JSY (Janani Suraksha Yojana) scheme of the Government of India.

SC/ST-Best: Garubasha Worst: Boragari

NonSC/ST-Best:Borakhata Worst: Karibaral

Administering Vitamin among Infants A clearer picture should emerge on the

extent of participation and intervention when village population is normalized by the number of children in each village.

Nagar Gopalganj, Borakhata, Patakamari, Kokoabari rank among the top 5 villages with regard to availability of vitamin doses for the infants.

SC/ST-Best: Gangadhar Worst: Karibaral

NonSC/ST-Best: Nagar Gopalgunj Worst: Bara Nijtaraf

Land and Other Assets

The village of Shatimari ranks 1 in terms of land and other resources, closely followed by Patakamari and Bara Nijtaraf etc.

Villages with fairly low land assets and access to irrigation facilities include Malatiguri, Chhoto Chhat Dhan Dhania, Kajalikura, Kurshamari etc.

SC/ST-Best: Boragari Worst: Borakhata

NonSC/ST-Best: Shatimari Worst: Fulkadabri

Educational Status among Children Educational attainment is better among

non-SC/ST households, where those who continue with education at the secondary level make it to higher education as well.

Despite much hyped mid-day meal program at the state level, not more than 40% of all school going children (between age 6-14) belonging to SC/ST category in Cooch Behar actually received it.

SC/ST-Best: Fulkadabri Bajejama Worst: Patakamari

NonSC/ST-Best: Patakamari Worst: Gangadhar

Primary source of Household Incomes and Expenditures Any policy intervention to improve the earning

capacities of the villagers must target those villages where occupational stereotypes do not allow social mobility and income growth. Access to vocational training is virtually absent in most places and provisions could break the vicious circle.

SC/ST-Best in terms of income: Madhya Chhat Gopalpur Worst: Fulbari

NonSC/ST-Best in terms of income:Patakamari Worst: Karibaral

Primary source of Household Income and Expenditures The villages of Padmamari, Sonarhat and

Kachuban show extremely high average indebtedness among rural families, so much so that, the debt repayment (or interest payments) is as high as Rs. 14,000 annually.

SC/ST-Best in terms of expenditure: DodumariWorst: Bara Nijtaraf

NonSC/ST-Best in terms of expenditure: Shatimari Worst: Bara Nijtaraf

Vaccination among Children Vaccines of Polio, DPT, Measles, BCG are

regularly administered by governmental agencies.

villages of Kachuban, Padmamari, Kharibaral etc. 100% of households for the category SC/ST in our sample have obtained birth certificates for every child born, whereas for the category ‘others’ Kachuban and Kharibaral 0% of households have obtained birth certificates for child born.

For the non-SC/ST category, on the other hand Kokoabari, Borakhata, etc. report 100% coverage in terms of vaccination.

SC/ST-Best:Garubasha

Worst:Kokoabari

NonSC/ST-Best:Patakamari

Worst:Karibaral

To Sum up

Paper is based on a primary survey of 50 villages in the district of Cooch Behar.

Communities that are either distant geographically or according to social classifications may be excluded from the process of development even at a time when the effects of growth have reached a large number of people in the country.

Potential factors for social and economic exclusion: access to basic amenities such as housing, drinking water, sanitation, health, infrastructure, education on the one hand, and public distribution of food grains, development schemes, credit facilities etc. on the other

Analysis identifies regions within the distribution of villages where the severity of problems contribute significantly to growing social and economic inequality and hence, exclusion.

Social exclusion index for every single component should provide a large number of cases where focused and directed interventionist policies may be adopted relatively easily.

The index - glaring examples of development deficits in these villages.

Paper offers emphasis on the economic and social well-being of children.

Policy interventions should pay more attention to issues like widespread coverage of vaccination, sensitization of breast milk practices just after birth, exclusive breast milk practices for infants, provision of better institutional delivery for mothers, better pre-natal and ante-natal care, regular, and hygienic mid-day meals, school supplies including books, school uniforms etc

Government schemes seem to have failed to generate desired outcome

Further…

The weights of the different categories and in turn their ranking would be worked out

Thank You