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Adequate feeding practices in early life have a lasting impact on child nutrition and development. This paper examines the dietary diversity and its associated factors among children aged 6-12 months, in the age that they transition from breastfeeding to complementary feeding, in two districts in India: Udupi (Karnataka) and Sambalpur (Odisha). In 2019, a citizen-led survey, that can be scaled up further very rapidly and cost-effectively, was conducted covering 976 mothers of children below 1 year of age by 90 trained local volunteers. The survey tool uses the Knowledge, Access and Practices Framework and was developed, tested and refined over 4 years through diverse pilots in various locations in India. In the sample, only 12% children aged 6-12 months met the WHO’s minimum dietary diversity requirement. A linear probability regression model was used to assess significant factors for an adequate diversified diet intake in infants. Maternal education, child’s age and meal frequency were found to be significantly associated with dietary diversity. Other factors such as household wealth, gender of child, birth order and homegrown gardens did not present a strong association. Integrated interventions targeted at mothers and children that include nutrition education components into mothers’ education are more likely to be effective in improving infant dietary diversity.

Data from 10 years of ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) surveys in India reveal two clear trends. First, a steady increase in private school enrollment is visible across rural India. Second, children’s ability to read simple text and do basic arithmetic is extremely poor and has not improved over time. ASER data show that the learning gap is widening between government and private schools but that a larger proportion of this gap is attributable to household factors rather than to private schools themselves. This means that the most disadvantaged children, those who study in government schools, are falling further behind. Data from the India Early Childhood Education Impact (IECEI) study also suggests that although the majority of children in the IECEI study spent between 1 and 2 years in an early childhood education program prior to entering primary school, the impact of this participation on their school readiness and subsequent early grade learning is attributable more to their family background than to the institutions that they attended, which varied very little within a given state in terms of quality. However, variations across states suggest that uptake of developmentally appropriate policies and programs at the state level is likely to influence not only government but also private providers of early childhood services.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a national citizen-led rapid assessment of children's ability to read simple text and do basic arithmetic. ASER is designed and facilitated by the Indian nongovernment organisation Pratham, and has been conducted every year since 2005 by partner organisations in every rural district of India, reaching more than 600,000 children annually. The assessment differs from most other international and national large-scale assessments in several key respects, such as the use of household rather than school-based sampling and the focus on simple tools and indicators that are easy to administer and understand. All ASER metrics, measures and processes are intended to engage ordinary citizens in thinking about and acting to improve basic learning outcomes in India. By conducting a massive national survey each year, ASER has demonstrated that it is possible to use simple, reliable and scientific methods of sampling and assessment on a large scale for high impact at a very low cost. Key to this aspect of ASER has been its ability to mobilise over 25,000 volunteers each year. ASER has been responsible to a large extent for putting the issue of learning on the agenda in India. More recently, the model has been adapted for use in several African and Asian countries. Taken together, these initiatives reached more than a million children in 2012.

Indian higher education unquestionably faces huge challenges. While on one hand there is a need to bring as many young people as possible into the higher education fold, on the other it is required to significantly focus on building quality and global competitiveness. Institutions offering such programmes have been established by the private sector. While the government has introduced various bills in the Parliament, each of these seems to be stuck at various levels. Bills, such as National Commission for Higher Education and Research, National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions, and Foreign Educational Institutions, if passed can bring much needed structural changes. There is an urgent need to debate these bills and ensure that they are passed. A change in mindset is required. Perhaps, time has come to remove the stigma associated with profits in education sector so that legitimate private enterprises can have access to capital and set up world-class institutions that the country needs so badly.

Kerosene and LPG are widely used in households in India for lighting and cooking. These fuels have historically been subsidized. As part of the restructuring of the energy sector, the government is committed to limiting these subsidies. This paper examines the impact of reducing energy subsidies on the welfare of the poor. The paper uses data from nationally representative surveys of over 100,000 households. The paper concludes that the case for reducing LPG subsidies is strong. Although the kerosene subsidy is an inefficient means of subsidizing fuel use by the poor, reduction in it will need to be supported by other policies that would limit the adverse impacts.

This paper investigates the incidence of poverty in Indian towns and cities of various sizes of population. It also tests the hypothesis that larger towns and cities, because of their size, are capable of supporting more complex economic activities, improving labor productivity, and hence lowering the incidence of poverty. In particular, similar levels of education, ceteris paribus, have a larger impact in bigger conurbations.

India's growth and poverty performance over the last three decades has been a subject of great curiosity. Unlike the East Asian countries, India's growth spurt is not associated with exceptionally high domestic savings or foreign capital inflows or manufacturing exports. So what triggered the change in the growth trajectory? Did the market liberalization policies of the 1990s help? How have the initial conditions shaped the process? And how has the “Indian model” impinged on India's central problem of mass poverty? This paper surveys the literature and offers its own assessment of the drivers of change. (JEL I32, O13, O14, O15, O21, O47)

This paper attempts to assess the relative contributions of the farm and non-farm sectors to the increase in agricultural wage earnings in India between 1983-1999. Cross-section analysis of NSS data for 1983 and 1993 confirm the importance of farm productivity growth, consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model. A counterfactual exercise that attempts to estimate the relative contribution of the non-farm sector to the increase in the agricultural wage earnings during the period 1983-1999 suggests that this figure is no more than 25 at the all-India level, though it is higher in some states. Thus the bulk of the growth in wage earnings and the attendant decline in poverty during this period appears to be due to the farm sector.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly recognised as an essential tool of development a tool which empowers the poor by enhancing skills, increasing productivity and improving governance. The success of ICTenabled development (or e-Development) is measured not only by the diffusion of technology, but also by advances in development itself. The contribution of ICT can be viewed at two different but interrelated levels : ICT growth and ICT diffusion. The former refers to the contribution in output, employment, export earnings, etc., resulting from production of ICT related goods and services that are limited to just one segment of the economy. The latter refers to IT-induced development through enhanced productivity, competitiveness, growth and human welfare resulting from the use of this technology by differentsectors of the economy and society. International research findings in the context of developing and developed countries reveal that unlike old technologies (radio, television, etc.) which are more demand driven, ICT is more supply driven and leaves greater scope for diffusion agents (Non-Government Organisations or NGOs, Government, private sector and other actors) to influence the diffusion process. Firstly, unlike earlier technologies, investment in the Internet, personal computers, etc. essentially complements investments already made in communications technologies like satellites, telephone and cable TV networks. Secondly, newly developed software technology in India has replaced the requirement of broadband and thus provides full connectivity in rural areas. Thirdly, ICT is multi-user by nature, which, in turn, leaves scope for Internet kiosks, Internet cafes and Community Information Centres (CICs), providing access to many. In India, the IT sector has not only grown in size but also complexity. Indian States resemble little nations. So, it is important to take regular stock of e-Readiness at the Country and State/ Union Territory levels to ascertain the status of underlying infrastructure, human resources, policy regime, environment climate, etc. and arrive at the steps needed to be taken to optimise the potential. Before we introduce our e-Readiness methodology, it would be instructive to look at the various e-Readiness assessment models used elsewhere.

We argue that women may be disinclined to participate in market work in the rural areas of India because of family status concerns in a culture that stigmatizes market work by married women. We set out a theoretical framework that offers predictions regarding the effects of caste-based status concerns on the time allocation of women. We then use the all-India National Sample Survey data for the year 2004-5 and the Time Use Survey for six states of India for the year 1998-99 to empirically test these hypotheses. After controlling for a host of correlates, we find that the ratio of women's market work to men's declines as we move up the caste hierarchy. This ratio falls as family wealth rises, and the decline is steeper for the higher castes. Finally, the effect on women's market work of higher education is weaker for the higher castes. These findings lend support to our theory and to the view that, through its emphasis on family status, caste plays a pivotal role in undermining the autonomy of women. Our article has implications for how culture impinges on the rate at which poverty in developing countries can be reduced.

Many governments in LDCs tend 3o rely heavily on import control for achieving adjustments in the balance of payments. The empirical analysis of imports of these countries has failed to address the issue of quantitative restrictions satisfactorily. In this paper, a set of disaggregated import demand equations are specified which attempt to capture the government's decision regarding quota restrictions. The model postulates that the overall level of imports is determined by expected foreign exchange availability while the composition of imports (once the level has been decided) is based on political and economic priorities and on relative prices.

In its most extreme form, the monetary approach to the balance of payments assumes that central banks in open economies with fixed exchange rates have no ability to affect the nominal money stock. Among others, Aghevli and others (1979, p. 776) and Smaghi (1982) have used this proposition in more moderate form to assert that Pacific Basin developing countries have only limited monetary policy independence. Even if these developing countries were able to pursue independent monetary policies, Connolly and Taylor (1979) find that developing countries generally do not appear to pursue any systematic monetary policy.