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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

State action vital to end social exclusion, says new report

Although public goods are meant for everyone to enable living life with human dignity, certain groups are systematically deprived to access them, says a new report from the Centre for Equity Studies -- a NGO based in Delhi. Put differently, not all sections of the society are able to access or enjoy public goods and services on an equal footing, despite social justice being one of the key provisions of Indian Constitution. 
 
Entitled India Exclusion Report 2015, the report analyses how public goods and services, namely, ‘urban primary health care’, ‘urban water and sanitation’ and ‘just conditions of work for women’ are accessed by various sections of the society in a lopsided way. (Please check the link of the report below).

Some of the most striking facts related to exclusion as mentioned in the report are as follows:

* In a quantitative study of 100 patients of public hospitals conducted in Delhi by Society for Labour and Development, it was found that almost 60 percent of the patients complained that the health care staff was not polite and respectful, which is partly the result of social discrimination based on caste, class and economic status.

* Only 57 percent Scheduled Caste (SC) and 55 percent Scheduled Tribe (ST) households have drinking water within their premises compared to the national (urban) average of 71 percent. In the sphere of sanitation, a quarter of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations defecate in the open, against an overall percentage of 12 percent. Similarly, female-headed households have poor access to a water source within premises, and to exclusive use.

* According to the Census 2011, only one-third of the urban population is connected to networked sewerage systems (mostly in large metropolitan cities, and in rich and middle class colonies), while a much larger proportion of the households depend on on-site systems, primarily septic tanks and pit latrines.

* An analysis of National Sample Survey data from 2009–10 shows that over 31.5 percent of SC women and 35.5 per cent of ST women in urban areas were in casual labour, compared to 5.8 percent of upper caste women. In rural areas as well, the percentage of upper caste women in casual labour was 19.4 percent, compared to 56.3 percent for SC women and 43.8 percent for ST women. Muslim women are concentrated in self-employment, in home-based sub-contracted work with low earnings.

At the outset (in the overview chapter), it has been made clear by Harsh Mander, who is the director of Centre for Equity Studies, that the definition of public goods as found in standard neoclassical economics textbooks i.e. goods having attributes like ‘non-excludable’ and ‘non-rivalrous’, has not been taken into account for preparing the report. The report has focussed on the role of State in preventing, enabling or augmenting social exclusion, says Mander.

Like the previous India Exclusion Report that was released two years back, the present one too has been prepared by Centre for Equity Studies in collaboration with various organizations and experts from diverse fields.

The present report was officially released in March this year i.e. after the announcement of Union Budget 2016-17.  

The first three chapters of the report, which have been authored by various experts, are placed under Part-I – Public Goods.

The chapter on ‘Urban health care’ discusses the barriers faced by urban poor (belonging to social groups such as dalits, adivasis, differently-abled and homeless children) in accessing health facilities. The chapter relies on the methodology prepared by a Planning Commission expert group under the chairpersonship of Dr. SR Hashim to identify urban poor. The chapter draws attention of the readers to the fact that persons who are excluded from some critical public goods like housing or just conditions of work, are more likely to face discrimination in accessing public goods such as health care, clean drinking water and sanitation.

The chapter on ‘Urban water and sanitation’ shows that there exists disparities across social groups in accessing drinking water and sanitation facilities. Those who are denied decent housing are more likely to live in places such as near open drains or banks of effluent tanks and, therefore, suffer due to poor health and hygiene.

The chapter on ‘Just conditions of work for women’ shows that as compared to men, women face adversities such as lower wages, neglect of needs due to maternity, sexual violence and harassment, and lack of control over land and community resources.

The fourth chapter on tax system comes under Part-II – Budgets and Planning. The chapter on ‘Exclusion by budget’ shows that the tax system is not progressive enough. Since the government has failed to mobilise both tax and non-tax revenue as compared to other countries, public expenditure to provide public goods and services is inadequate.

The last five chapters that have been placed under Part-III – Highly Excludable Groups, deal with exclusions faced by five vulnerable groups i.e. single-women, Devadasis, survivors of ethnic conflict, survivors of communal violence, and the Jarawa tribe.

Please click here to access the key facts provided by the India Exclusion Report 2015. 

References:

India Exclusion Report 2015, prepared by Centre for Equity Studies in collaboration with various organizations, please click here to access

India Exclusion Report 2013-14, please click here to access

Report of the Expert Group to recommend the detailed methodology for identification of families living below poverty line in the urban areas, Planning Commission, December 2012, please click here to access

India Exclusion Report 2013-14 (please click here to download the summary), please click here to access

Key findings of India Exclusion Report 2015, please click here to access
 
Key findings of India Exclusion Report 2013-14, please click here to access
 
India Exclusion Report: Fresh perspective on poverty, Newsalert from Inclusive Media for Change, please click here to access

India’s forgotten people -Jayati Ghosh, Frontline, 15 April, 2016, please click here to access
 
 
Image Courtesy: Inclusive Media for Change/ Shambhu Ghatak