DEMOGRAPHY Population pattern In absolute terms, the population of India has increased by more than 181 million during

the decade 2001-2011.the absolute addition to the population during the decade 20012011 is slightly lower than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world the population of India is almost equal to the combined Population of U.S.A., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together- the population of these six countries totals 1214.3 million among the ten most populous countries of the world, only Bangladesh has a higher population density compared to India. One of the important features of the present decade is that, 2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921) which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade. This implies that as a result of the combination of population momentum and somewhat impeded fertility, although India continues to grow in size, its pace of net addition is on the decrease. In absolute terms, the population of India has increased by about 181 million during the decade 2001-2011. Although, the net addition in population during each decade has increased consistently, the changes in net addition has shown a steady declining trend over the decades starting from 1961. While 27.9 million more people were added between the decades 1981-1991 than between 1971-1981, this number declined to 19.2 million for the decades between 1981-1991 and 1991-2001. The provisional results of 2011 shows that between 2001 and 2011, the net addition is less than that of the previous decade by 0.86 million. It is significant that the percentage decadal growth during 2001-2011 has registered the sharpest decline since independence. It declined from 23. 87 percent for 1981-1991 to 21.54 percent for the period 1991-2001, a decrease of 2.33 percentage point. For 20012011, this decadal growth has become 17.64 percent, a further decrease of 3.90 percentage points. Uttar Pradesh continues to be the most populous State in the country with almost 200 million people living here, which is more than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world. The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra (the second most populous State), at 312 million, is substantially greater than the population of USA, the third most populous country of the world. While Uttar Pradesh (199.6 million), Maharashtra (112.4 million), Bihar (103.8 million), West Bengal (91.3 million) and Andhra Pradesh (84.7 million) have all held on to the top five slots in terms of their ranking in 2011 as compared to 2001, Madhya Pradesh (72.6 million), which has moved on to take the sixth position from its seventh position, pushing Tamil Nadu (72.1 million) now to the seventh spot. To analyze this a bit more closely, the growth rates of eight States popularly referred to in administrative parlance as the eight Empowered Action Group (EAG) States, namely, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa is compared with the rest of the States and Union Territories. The EAG group, from 1951 till 2011, have hosted between forty three to forty six percent of Indias population. During 2001-2011, the growth rates of almost all States and Union Territories have registered a lower figure compared to the previous decade, namely, 1991- 2001. The
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percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populous States, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have all fallen during 2001-2011 compared to 1991-2001, the fall being the lowest for Andhra Pradesh (3.5 percentage points) and highest for Maharashtra (6.7 percentage

points). As per the provisional population totals of Census 2011, the population density of India has gone up to 382 persons per square kilometer from 325 persons per square kilometer in 2001 At the beginning of the twentieth century i.e. in 1901 the density of India was as low as 77 persons per sq. km. This steadily increased in each decade to reach 382 persons per sq. km. in 2011 this constitutes a 17.5 per cent increase over 2001. The first two States have interchanged their places. Bihar is at the top pushing West Bengal to second rank. Kerala and Uttar Pradesh have retained their rankings of third and fourth respectively. Haryana on the other hand has advanced by two ranks from Rank 7 to Rank 5 replacing Punjab which has fallen by two ranks from 5 to 7. Jharkhand similarly has risen by two places from Rank 10 to 8 replacing Goa which has declined from Rank 8 to 10. Karnataka has moved up by one place while Andhra Pradesh has fallen by one place from 13 to 14. Meghalaya has moved up by 2 ranks; Jammu & Kashmir has moved up by 3 ranks; Himachal Pradesh dropped by 1 rank; Nagaland dropped by 4 ranks. Other states namely, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra, Tripura, Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have retained their rankings. Demographic dividend The global economic and financial crisis which has persisted for the last five years has not only exposed the vulnerability of almost all the countries over the globe to external shocks, but also has lessons for development planning. Countries need to have inbuilt social safety nets for facing such eventualities, which affect the weak and vulnerable the most, and wipe out the fruits of growth for years. India with its focus on inclusive development and timely interventions has, however, been able to weather the crisis better than many other countries. India is on the brink of a demographic revolution with the proportion of working-age population between 15 and 59 years likely to increase from approximately 58 per cent in 2001 to more than 64 per cent by 2021, adding approximately 63.5 million new entrants to the working age group between 2011 and 2016, the bulk of whom will be in the relatively younger age group of 20-35 years. Given that it is one of the youngest large nations in the world, human development assumes great economic significance for it as the demographic dividend can be reaped only if this young population is healthy, educated, and skilled. The emphasis on human development also gains significance in the light of our major social indicators in the recent past being less encouraging than those of our neighbours like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Therefore policy planners in India have, over the years, engaged themselves in making more inclusive growth and development policies, focusing on human development. This approach has been reflected in the substantial enhancement in
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budgetary support for major social-sector programmes during 2012-13 like the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Backward Regions Grant Fund, Right to Education (RTE)-Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), and rural drinking water and sanitation schemes. Growth optimists are confident in India's demographic dividend the fact that India's dependency ratio, as measured by the share of the young and the elderly as a fraction of the population, will come down more sharply in the coming decades. More working age people will mean more workers, especially in the productive age groups, more incomes, more savings, more capital per worker, and more growth. Also, because demographic change is associated with fertility declines, the transition period may be accompanied by greater female participation in the labour force. Every fast-growing Asian economy in recent years has accelerated as it underwent a demographic transition In India itself, that the high growth states (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat) in the period 1991-2001 had a dependency ratio which was 8.7 percentage points lower than that of the low growth states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh) and an average annual growth rate that was 4.3 percentage points higher. Looking ahead, the low growth states will benefit more from the demographic dividend, as higher incomes and lower fertility alter demographics. Indeed, over the period 2001-11, the hitherto laggard states have grown at an average of around 5 per cent annually. The difference between their growth and the growth of the leaders in the period 2001-11 is just 1.5 percentage points. So demographic transition seems to be correlated with growth, with some reasons to believe that causality flows both ways lower dependency ratios increase growth and higher growth reduces fertility and consequently dependency ratios. Growth optimists point to another reason for cheer. Cross-country evidence suggests that productivity is an increasing function of age, with the age group 40-49 being the most productive because of work experience. Nearly half the additions to the Indian labour force over the period 2011-30 will be in the age group 30-49, even while the share of this group in China, Korea, and the United States will be declining. That India will be expanding its most productive cohorts even while most developed countries and some developing countries like China will be contracting theirs in the coming decades can be another source of advantage. Growth in per capita income is driven by growth in labour productivity (what the average worker produces), growth in working age population (fewer the people who are in the dependent age group in the population, greater the output), growth in the fraction of those who can work that actually look for work (labour force participation rate), and growth in those looking for work who actually find it (employment rate). Because accurate employment data are hard to find for developing countries, studies typically ignore the employment rate in decomposing the sources of growth. The increase in the fraction of people working is probably not the main consequence of the demographic dividend. Instead, the effects of the demographic dividend are channeled through the increase in labour productivity, which comes from more physical capital employed per worker (in turn resulting from greater saving and investment), more human capital per
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worker (which comes from more education as smaller families lead to greater spending on education per child), and greater total factor productivity (TFP). TFP measures how productive the job intrinsically is, capturing aspects such as the technology used, efficiency with which the work is carried out, and use of hard-to-measure aspects of work such as tacit knowledge, organizational capabilities, and trust. Eleven sectors of the Indian economy when are arranged by labour productivity, it is concluded that agriculture has very low productivity but employs over half the labour force. In contrast, financial and brokerage services are the most productive sector in the economy, but employ a tiny share of the labour force. That so many continue to be dependent on agriculture is one reason that the government has focused on improving productivity in agriculture, even while attempting to support incomes of both farmers and workers through various programmes. Agricultural productivity remains low probably because too many agricultural workers work with relatively fixed and limited amounts of productive assets land and capital (irrigation, technology, tractors, machinery, and the like). One way to increase labour productivity, therefore, is to increase investment (and thus capital per employee) across all sectors, including agriculture. An equally effective way of increasing labor productivity might be by moving some of those dependent on low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity jobs in industry or services. This would also allow those who remain in agriculture to farm larger, more viable plots, employing more mechanized equipment to improve labour productivity. These sectoral pictures across countries suggest several important messages: Unlike the conventional wisdom, India does not have more people in agriculture than other Asian countries at similar stages of development. The share of workers dependent on agriculture has been shrinking at a similar pace. However, the pace of shrinkage is set to increase if India is to follow the trajectory of these other countries. One problem is that while industry is creating jobs, these have been relatively lowproductivity jobs. As a result, per capita income in India has not benefited as much from inter-sectoral migration of workers out of agriculture. A second problem is that the high-productivity services sector is not able to create employment commensurate with its growth in value added.

URBAN CHALLENGE This is an extremely important data set for planners and administrators in the major ministries and of course for all those in social sector fields. The new group of data files lists all the districts, their total population with rural and urban components, the population of the 0-to-six years age group and the population of literates, in all cases by male and female. The text that follows is taken from the data highlights file which provides a very good overview of the scope of this data release Census 2011 lists 7,935 towns in India. The number of towns has increased by 2,774 since the last Census (2001). Many of these towns are part of urban agglomerations and the rest are independent towns. The total number of urban agglomerations/towns, which constitutes the urban frame, is 6,166 in all states and union territories.
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1. The total urban population in the country as per Census 2011 is more than 377 million constituting 31.16% of the total population. 2. Class I UAs/Towns: The UAs/Towns are grouped on the basis their population in Census. The UAs/Towns which have at least 1,00,000 persons as population are categorized as Class I UA/Town. At the Census 2011, there are 468 such UAs/Towns. The corresponding number in Census 2001 was 394. 3. 264.9 million persons, constituting 70% of the total urban population, live in these Class I UAs/Towns. The proportion has increased considerable over the last Census. In the remaining classes of towns the growth has been nominal. 4. Million Plus UAs/Towns: Out of 468 UAs/Towns belonging to Class I category, 53 UAs/Towns each has a population of one million or above each. Known as Million Plus UAs/Cities, these are the major urban centres in the country. 160.7 million persons (or 42.6% of the urban population) live in these Million Plus UAs/Cities.18 new UAs/Towns have been added to this list since the last Census. 5. Mega Cities: Among the Million Plus UAs/Cities, there are three very large UAs with more than 10 million persons in the country, known as Mega Cities. These are Greater Mumbai UA (18.4 million), Delhi UA (16.3 million) and Kolkata UA (14.1million). The largest UA in the country is Greater Mumbai UA followed by Delhi UA. Kolkata UA which held the second rank in Census 2001 has been replaced by Delhi UA. The growth in population in the Mega Cities has slowed down considerably during the last decade. Greater Mumbai UA, which had witnessed 30.47% growth in population during 19912001 has recorded 12.05% during 2001-2011. Similarly Delhi UA (from 52.24% to 26.69% in 2001-2011) and Kolkata UA (from 19.60% to 6.87% in2001-2011) have also slowed down considerably. Child Population (0-6 years): 6. Population of children in the age group is 158.8 million in Census 2011. In the urban areas there are 41.2 million children in this age group. In comparison to Census 2001, the number of children (0-6) in urban areas has increased (by 10.32%), while in the rural areas it has decreased by 7.04%. 7. Of the 41.2 million children (0-6) in the urban areas in the country, the population in Class I UAs/Cities is 27.9 million, which is about 67.8% of the total urban child population. In Million plus UAs/Cities the Child Population (0-6) is 16.6 million constituting about 40 % of the total urban child (0-6) population of the country. 8. Among the 53 Million Plus UAs/Cities 16.6 million are children (0-6), of which 52.7% are boys and 47.3% are girls, showing a preponderance of male children in these large cities. Malappuram UA has the highest proportion of Children (0-6) (13.57%) in the Million Plus category, followed by Ghaziabad (13.09%). Kolkata UA has the lowest Proportion at 7.54%.

9. Sex ratio, the number of females per thousand males, in urban areas in India is 926 in Census 2011. It has registered an increase of 26 points over the Sex Ratio in 2001Census. 10. Sex ratio in Class I UAs/Cities (population of 100,000 and above) is 921, which is 5points lower than the total urban sex ratio in the country. 11. Among the Million plus UAs/Cities the Sex Ratio stands at 912. The UAs, where Population of females exceeds the total male population in this group are Kannur UA(Kerala) at the top with 1168. Surat UA (Gujarat) is at the bottom of the list with Sex Ratio at 754 where males outnumber females. 12. In the two of the three mega cities there is predominance of male population as they have returned low Sex Ratio (e.g., Greater Mumbai UA - 861, Delhi UA 867). Kolkata UA has returned a better Sex ratio at 928. 13. The Child Sex Ratio in the country has declined from 927 to 914 in Census 2011. This decline is more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas of the country, where the decline is by 4 points from 906 to 902 in Census 2011. 14. The Child Sex Ratio in UAs/Cities with 100,000 persons and above is 899 which is a shade lower than the national average for urban areas. 15. The combined Child Sex Ratio in Million plus UAs/Cities is 898. Thiruvananthapuram UA (Kerala) has returned the highest Child Sex Ratio (971) in this group. The lowest slot is occupied by Agra UA (780). 16. Child Sex Ratio in the three Mega Cities are 946 (Kolkata UA), 900 (Greater Mumbai UA) and the lowest in 868 (Delhi UA). 17. The literacy rates among both males and females have shown improvement in Census 2011 compared to the last Census. The literacy rate in the country as a whole is 74.04%. In the rural and the urban areas the literacy rates are 68.9% and 84.9% respectively. 18. The female literacy rate in rural and urban areas shows wide variation. In the urban areas of the country the female literacy rate is 79.92% in the rural areas it is only 58.75%. 19. In the 468 UAs/Towns the progress in literacy has been quite encouraging. In 89 UAs/Cities the total Literacy Rate has crossed the 90% mark. The corresponding Number of UAs/Cities in Census 2001 was only 23 in Census 2011. In another 288 UAs/Cities, the Literacy rate ranges between 80% to 90%, improving from 197 in Census 2001.

20. The total Literacy Rate in Greater Mumbai UA is 90.78%, the highest among the mega cities. The Literacy Rate in Delhi and Kolkata are 86.43% and 88.33% respectively. The female literacy rate is also the highest in Greater Mumbai UA (87.19) the top three megacities. One of the features of the provisional results of Census 2011 that has already captured a lot of attention is the apparent increase in urbanization. At one level, this may not seem to be all that significant, with the proportion of urban residents going from 27.81 per cent of the total population in 2001 to 31.16 per cent in 2011, or an increase of only 3.35 percentage points over a decade. This is not really a very major shift. A rate of urbanization of less than one-third of the population is significantly less than the rate in many other developing countries, even those at similar levels of per capita income. Nevertheless, it has created some excitement because for the first time since Independence, the decadal increase in the size of the urban population (by 90.99 million people over 2001-11) was greater than that of the rural population (by 90.47 million). It is not only in the smaller States that urbanization appears to be proceeding apace. In some larger States such as Tamil Nadu, the proportion of urban population to total population is already approaching nearly half, while Maharashtra and Gujarat are not too far behind. This finding has quickly generated reactions in the policymaking community. The Planning Commission has already noted that addressing the problems posed by the urban transformation that is likely to occur is among the four key challenges for the next Five Year Plan. (The others are described as those of managing energy and water and of protecting the environment). Other commentators have talked about the need to put much greater emphasis on urban infrastructure creation and management and on the need to ensure that the growing cities are live-able. The implicit assumption in much of the discussion seems to be that the expansion of the urban population is occurring largely in the bigger towns and cities as well as in the apparently unstoppable metros. But is this assumption supported by the evidence? The increase in urban population is the outcome of three separate factors: the natural increase in population within urban areas, the migration of people from rural to urban areas, and the reclassification of settlements from rural to urban. All three factors have been at work over the past decade. While we still do not have access to the detailed Census data that would help us in disaggregation, we do know that the last factor is likely to have played a major role simply because there has been a significant, even remarkable, increase in the number of urban conurbations in the latest Census. The number of urban settlements has increased from 5,161 in 2001 to 7,935 in 2011, an increase of 54 per cent, which dwarfs the 32 per cent growth in the urban population. The 2011 Census classifies an area as urban if it fulfils any one of two conditions. First, any area that comes under a corporation, municipality or town panchayat is automatically classified as urban and is defined as a statutory town. Secondly, a location is considered to be urban if it contains a population of 5,000 or above, has a density of at least 400 persons per square kilometer, and where 75 per cent of the male workforce is employed in non-agricultural occupations. It is then defined as a Census town.
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One of the significant processes that has been at work in India over the past decade is the significant increase in the number of Census towns that is, places that are not recognized as urban areas in a statutory sense but fulfill the criteria laid down by the Census. These account for more than 90 per cent of the increase in the total number of urban settlements. In a few States (such as Karnataka, Haryana and Jharkhand), the number of statutory towns has actually fallen, while the number of Census towns has increased very sharply. Overall, the number of Census towns has increased by more than 180 per cent, while there has been more than a threefold increase in their numbers in Bihar, Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. It is also likely that a very significant part of the urbanization that is being talked about is actually a reflection of this reclassification of settlements rather than of rural-urban migration per se. This will only be clear when further Census 2011 results are provided, but it is obvious that such a large increased in the number of Census towns must have had a counterpart in the number of people defined as living in urban areas. This brings into play a set of entirely new issues around the phenomenon or urbanization, and it is surprising that these have not yet come up in any significant way in the policy discussion. How exactly do we define urban? When villages grow in size and start including a greater proportion of the workforce engaged in non-agricultural activities, they will increasingly be considered urban in this sense, but they will be outside of the administrative and policy framework that is designed to deal with urban areas. And this leads to a huge range of new questions and problems. In the absence of the institutional framework of a municipality, how are the standard problems relating to urban infrastructure provision of utilities such as electricity, water and sanitation and other basic services to be dealt with? To what extent has the planning process (and policymaking generally) incorporated the needs and requirements of these areas? Indeed, are there any plans at all for such settlements, including the standard plans relating to land use, provision of schools, health-care centres, community services and the like? What about spatial provisions such as provisions such as sufficient open spaces, public parks and playgrounds, and avoiding congestion? It could well be that currently these Census towns are simply off the radar of most policymakers and implementers because they do not fall into statutory definition of urban and are still included in rural areas for administrative purposes. Yet, according to Census 2011, there are 3,894 such towns, and they are bound to account for a significant (and possibly growing) part of the urban population as described in the Census. Ignoring the specific needs of these areas and their residents is likely to create many problems in the future. So this clearly amounts to another major challenge posed by urbanization, but one that has still barely been recognized in official circles. It is worth adding to this another feature that has emerged from the other important official dataset that has just been released the employment and unemployment data of the National Sample Survey round of 2009-10. This reveals that rates of employment generation have slowed down dramatically in both rural and urban areas (though it is not clear whether only statutory urban areas were included in the definition). So we have a potentially deadly combination: a growing population in small urban areas with poor or possibly non-existent facilities; no urban planning to speak of to ensure livable conditions; and inadequate employment generation, especially for the increasing
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numbers of young people who are part of the demographic bulge. The potential for social tensions and conflict and instability of various sorts hardly needs to be reiterated, given Indias unfortunate history with such issues. In this context, it is surprising that the Planning Commission did not list creation of adequate good quality employment generation as a major challenge for the coming Plan period. Ignoring this very formidable challenge is perilous because the adverse implications are not long term or even medium term; they are likely to come and bite us only too soon. Narrowing inter-state and inter-regional disparities is also one of the objectives of inclusive development. Inter-state comparisons of socioeconomic development of selected major states based on available indicators from different sources show some interesting results. Poverty The approach to defining poverty has usually been in economic term the levels of income, property and living standards. People are said to be poor when their income is such that it does not enable them to meet the basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. The concept of poverty line used both in India and USA fixed an income. If people fall below this line, they are considered to be poor. The poverty line is arbitrarily fixed; hence there can be questions about it. Nevertheless, it does provide one way of determining who the poor are. Sometimes, the word pauperism is used to denote extreme poverty. It describes a category of people who are unable to maintain themselves. In recent time there are many dimensions that are considered in looking at poverty. It is no longer seen as purely an economic phenomenon. It is now realized that there are sociological, political, psychological and geographical reasons as well as attitudes or values systems that need to be considered to understand poverty. We suggest that a minimum approach by government in any society which has significant inequality must provide for rising minimum levels not only of incomes but also self-respect and opportunities for social mobility and participation in many forms of decision-making. What is being stated here is that in dealing with poverty, one is not only concerned with the income but also with the individuals political role, opportunities for his children and self-respect. Poverty is not only a condition of economic insufficiency; it is also social and political exclusion. Poverty is therefore to be seen not only merely in economic terms but also in its social and political aspects. We have viewed poverty as a level of living that is so low that it inhibits the physical, mental and social development of human personality. It has been pointed out that poverty has been with human culture and civilization since ages. In the beginning of the development of human society, human beings were at a low level of social organization and technological development and that the state of poverty was general in nature, faced by all members of society. In the process of evolution of human society, there have been enormous developments in social organization and technology. However the fruits of this progress have not been equally shared by all sections of society. There have been the rich and there have been the poor. Thus poverty has been related to the prevailing socio-economic structure of the society. Experts on poverty have broadly used two approaches first, the nutritional approach. Here poverty is measured on the basis of minimum food requirements; and second, the
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relative deprivation approach. Here poverty is seen in terms of relative deprivation of a section of population against the pre-developed sections. There are various approaches for the measurement of poverty. The major factor considered in measuring poverty is income. Consequently, it has been suggested that the actual intake of food should be the criteria. If an adult person is unable to have a certain number of calories (2,250) a day, he is considered to be poor. The economic aspect usually involves the judgment of basic need and is mentioned in terms of resources required to maintain health and physical efficiency. Such an approach is now being questioned. Among the basic needs are education, security, leisure and recreation. When the resources commanded by average individuals are so low that they are in effect excluded from living patterns, customs and activities of the society, they are said to be living in poverty. Among the ideas which have an objective and dependable measurement of poverty is a concept of PQLI (Physical quality of live index). The three indicators used in PQLI are life expectancy at age one, infant mortality and literacy. An index number is to be calculated for all countries based on the performance of each country in these areas. The worst performance would be designated by the in index number zero and the best performance by 100. Absolute Poverty Absolute poverty refers to the inability of a person or a household to provide even the basic necessities of life. It refers to conditions of acute physical wants, starvation, malnutrition, and want of clothing, want of shelter and total lack of medical care. At times, absolute poverty is also called subsistence poverty, since it is based on an assessment of minimum subsistence requirement. Nutrition is measured by intake of calories and proteins, shelter by quality of dwelling and degree of overcrowding, and the rate of infant mortality and the quality of medical facility. With the broadcasting of the definition of poverty, it is also suggested that one should go beyond the physical need and also include cultural needs education, security, leisure and recreation. It is difficult to fully accept the argument. The nourishment needs of a farm labourer would be different from those of a clerk in an office. Similarly clothing requirements will also differ. If cultural needs are also included then measurements become more complex. Relative Poverty As there are difficulties in accepting absolute poverty fully, another term relative poverty has been developed. Poverty according to this concept is to be measured according to standards of life at a given time and place. The idea is that standards of society can be changing standards. Definition of poverty should therefore be related to the needs and demands of changing societies. The term relative poverty also refers to the fact that different societies have different standards; hence it is not possible to have a universal measurement of poverty. CAUSES OF POVERTY Poverty has direct linkages with social and economic deprivation. There are many causes of poverty. First is the nexus between inequality and poverty; then the vicious circle theory and finally geographical factors.

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Inequality and Poverty Earlier the effort was to study poverty by itself that is, not relating it to the total conditions of the society. It has been suggested by a British social welfare expert that poverty should not be defined as income insufficiency, but the focus ought to be on the degree in inequality in the distribution of wealth in a society. Inequality is generated by the capitalist economy where wealth is concentrated in the lands of a few, according to Marx. These few, gain control of the means of producing wealth such as slaves, land and capital. They are able to influence the political process, by which social inequality is managed. Essentially poverty boils down to this fact that some people are poor because others are rich. Since the rich have greater political power than the poor, the government policy tends to favour them. The rich therefore tend to remain rich and the poor tend to remain poor. Marx claimed that all history is a history of class conflict; hence the situation can change only when the poor have greater political influence. There are others who believe that there are different roles to be performed by members of society. Some roles required long training, (doctors, engineers, lawyers, physicists etc.) They get higher rewards from the society. Others like vegetable-sellers, sanitation workers, taxi-drivers, typists, etc. receive lower rewards. There is inequality but as it happens to maintain the society, it is considered functions. All these jobs have to be performed to meet the needs of the society. Vicious Circle Theory This theory argues that the poor are trapped in circumstances which make it difficult for them to escape poverty. The poor have inadequate diet which makes for low energy and hence poor performance in school and at work. Poor diet also makes them vulnerable to illness. They have poor housing and often have to go long distances for their work. They cannot afford or are not allowed to stay near the place of work. The circumstances combine to make the poor continue to be in poverty. Discussing the problem of poverty in rural areas of India, a leading authority in rural development asks the question: Does the policy in rural development consider integrated rural poverty? Aspects of which include poverty, physical weakness, vulnerability, isolation, powerlessness. As this theory suggests, the poor cannot get over their poverty. But it is difficult to accept such a deterministic view, a view suggesting that they cannot escape poverty. Sometimes this explanation of poverty is called Situational Theory in the sense that poor find themselves in a particular situation and have great difficulties in getting out of it, if at all.

Geographical Factors Poverty is explained at times by the geographical conditions in which people live. The resources are scarce and people are unable to overcome the problems of lack of resources. The desert areas and the hill areas are good examples. In India, certain areas have been designated as drought-prone areas. Survey in these areas indicates that not only that the conditions are poor but in spite of hard work they are unable to overcome the situation.

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The structural or the vicious circle theory suggests that poor find it almost impossible to get out of the situation. How do people in such sad conditions manage to live? One explanation is that poverty forces them to develop certain patterns of behaviour enabling them to survive the sordid conditions of poverty. This pattern has been termed Culture of Poverty. The concept was developed by an anthropologist, Oscar Lewis, based on his studies in Mexico. He suggests that the poor develop a culture of their own, or rather a subculture which is not part of the behaviour or the value system of the society in which they live. Lewis says that the poor tend to be socially isolated. Apart from the family, no matter what other group they belong, their outlook remains narrow. They do not relate themselves to total society in which they live or to the poor in other parts of the country. The individual who grows up in this culture has strong feelings of fatalism, helplessness, dependence and inferiority. Their orientation is to living in present, they hardly think of the future. In brief, it can be said that the culture of poverty is both an adaptation and a reaction of the poor in the marginal position. It is an effort to cope with the feeling of hopelessness and despair due to a realization that it is almost impossible to achieve success according to values of the high societies. Their isolation also means lack of participation in the activities of the society political, social and economic. There is also a suggestion that children are socialized into such a culture and hence are not willing to make use of opportunities to improve them they would feel insecure in a new situation. There are many criticisms of this concept. One of the questions that are relevant is as to whether the culture of poverty applies to the rural conditions. Lewis develops the concept on the basis of his studies in slum areas. There is some evidence that the poor in rural areas also have developed a subculture, and defence mechanisms. Some feel that the poor do not participate not because of the culture that they have developed but because the larger society in a way prevents their full participation. Participation in social institutions requires certain levels of resources which the poor do not have (for example participating in religious festivities). Another criticism is that the concept of culture of poverty tends to put the blame on the poor for being poor, rather than holding the social system responsible. Earlier there has been a discussion of how inequality is perpetuated in society. It also suggests that the culture of the poor is a consequence or a result of the poverty rather than the cause of poverty. Poverty in India The Planning Commission estimates poverty using data from the large sample surveys on household consumer expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) every five years. It defines poverty line on the basis of monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE). The methodology for estimation of poverty followed by the Planning Commission has been based on the recommendations made by experts in the field from time to time. The Expert Group headed by Professor Suresh D. Tendulkar which submitted its report in December 2009 has computed the poverty lines at all India level as MPCE of Rs. 447 for rural areas and Rs. 579 for urban areas in 2004-5. After 2004-5, this survey has been conducted in 2009-10. The Planning Commission has updated the poverty lines and poverty ratios for the year 2009-10 as per the recommendations of the Tendulkar Committee using NSS 66th round (2009-10) data from the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey. It has estimated the poverty lines at all India level as an MPCE of Rs. 673 for rural areas and Rs .860 for urban
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areas in 2009-10. Based on these cut-offs, the percentage of people living below the poverty line in the country has declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004-5 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10. Even in absolute terms, the number of poor people has fallen by 52.4 million during this period. Of this, 48.1 million are rural poor and 4.3 million are urban poor. Thus poverty has declined on an average by 1.5 percentage points per year between 2004-5 and 2009-10. The annual average rate of decline during the period 2004-5 to 2009-10 is twice the rate of decline during the period 1993-4 to 2004-5. The poverty estimates indicate that the highest poverty headcount ratio (HCR) exists in Bihar at 53.5 per cent as against the national average of 29.8 per cent. In 2009-10 compared to 2004-5, Bihar has displaced Odisha as the poorest state, with Odishas situation improving considerably in 2009-10. Lowest poverty is in Himachal Pradesh (9.5 per cent) followed by Kerala (12per cent). Rural-Urban Disparity: Bihar has the lowest MPCE both in rural and urban areas at Rs. 780 (with 65 per cent food share) and Rs.1238 (with 53 per cent food share) respectively. In comparison, Kerala has the highest in both rural and urban areas at Rs.1835 (with 46 per cent food share) and Rs. 2413 (with 40 per cent food share) respectively. It is obvious that poorer states spend a greater proportion of income on food in total consumption expenditure. To estimate the rural-urban gap, the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) defined first at household level to assign a value that indicates the level of living to each individual or household is used. According to the provisional findings of the 68th round (2011-12) of the NSS, average MPCE (Uniform Reference Period [URP] based) is Rs.1281.45 and Rs.2401.68 respectively for rural and urban India indicating rural-urban income disparities. However, monthly per capita rural consumption rose by 18 per cent in real terms in 2011-12 over 2009-10, while monthly per capita urban consumption rose by only 13.3 per cent. Thus the rate of increase in the MPCE of rural areas is higher than that of urban areas. Out of the MPCE, the share of food as per 66th round NSS data (2009-10) is Rs.600 (57 per cent) and Rs. 881(44 per cent) for rural and urban India respectively, showing a higher share for food in rural compared to urban India. HDR measures inequality in terms of two indicators. The first indicator is the income Gini coefficient which measures the deviation of distribution of income (or consumption) among the individuals within a country from a perfectly equal distribution. For India, the income Gini coefficient was 36.8 in 2010-11. In this respect, inequality in India is lower than many other developing countries e.g. South Africa (57.8), Brazil (53.9), Thailand (53.6), Turkey (40.8), China (41.5), Sri Lanka (40.3), Malaysia (46.2), Vietnam (37.6), as well as countries like USA (40.8), Hong Kong (43.4), Argentina (45.8), Israel (39.2), Bulgaria (45.3) etc., which are otherwise ranked very high in terms of human development index. The second indicator is the quintile income ratio, which is a measure of average income of the richest 20 per cent of the population to that of poorest 20 per cent. The quintile income ratio for India was 5.6 in 2010-11. Countries like Australia (7.0), the USA (8.5), New Zealand (6.8), Singapore (9.8), the UK (7.8), Argentina (12.3), Mexico (14.4), Malaysia (11.4), Philippines (9.0), and Vietnam (6.2) had higher ratios. This implies that the inequality between the top and bottom quintiles in India was lower than a large number of countries.

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Unemployment: As per usual status(adjusted) NSS 66th round 2009-10, the unemployment rate (per 1000) among the major states is the lowest in Gujarat(18) and highest in Kerala(73) and Bihar(73) in urban areas and the lowest in Rajasthan (4) and again highest in Kerala (75) in rural areas. The low unemployment rate in rural areas in Rajasthan may partly be due to high absorption of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) funds in the state. Kerala, which has performed well in terms of most indicators, performs less well in terms of unemployment (both rural and urban). This may be due to the higher level of education in Kerala resulting in people not opting for manual jobs as observed by some studies. Indicating a bridging of the rural-urban gap. The last decade, i.e. 1999-2000 to 2009-10, witnessed an employment growth of 1.6 per cent per annum based on usual principal and subsidiary status (UPSS). Employment growth in second half of the decade was relatively modest. This as per NSSO survey, 2009-10 was largely on account of a lower labour force participation rate (LFPR), across all ages in 2009-10 vis--vis 2004-5. Labour force participation rate, which reflects the persons who express their willingness to work, declined from 430per thousand persons in 2004-5 to 400 per thousand persons in 2009-10. The LFPR declined particularly for rural females. The growth of those in labour force declined possibly on account of greater number of persons opting for education/skill development .Studies using NSS data show that there has been a steady increase in the ratio of students to total population from 20.5 per cent in 1993-4 to 24.3 percent in 2004-5 and further to 26.6 per cent in 2009-10 and this largely explains the modest growth in employment in second half of 2000-10. The students to population ratio increased faster in rural areas and more so for females. It may, however, be mentioned that the unemployment rate, according to UPSS criteria, in fact declined between 2004-5and 2009-10, both in rural and urban areas, implying that relatively larger proportions of persons who were willing to work, were actually employed. An increased intensity of employment is also reflected by an overall increased availability of employment to workers based on current daily status (CDS). The CAGR of employment on CDS basis for the period 2004-5 to 2009-10 is 1.11 per cent per annum which is significantly higher than the growth of employment in UPSS terms. One development of interest is the loss in female employment in rural areas using both UPSS and CDS methods and loss in female employment in urban areas on UPSS basis. One of the reasons for this is a significant number of women (137 million in 2009-10) opted not to work to continue education. But total employment (rural and urban combined of males and females combined) is positive on both methods. The unemployment rate increased at a slow pace on UPSS basis and at a relatively higher pace on CDS basis from 1993-4 to 2004-5. However, in2009-10 there was a fall in the unemployment rate which was relatively more on CDS basis despite negligible employment growth, the unemployment rate (CDS method) fell from 8.2 per cent in 2004-5 to 6.6 per cent in 2009-10. The decline in CDS unemployment rate implies a decline in unemployed person days. The total number of unemployed person days declined by 6.5million persons, from around 34.5 million in 2004-5 to 28 million in 200910. The fall in unemployment despite marginal growth in employment in 2009-10 could be due to the demographic dividend, as an increasing proportion of the young population opts for education rather than participating in the labour market. This is reflected in the rise in growth in enrolment of students in higher education from 49.25
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lakh in 1990-91 to169.75 lakh in 2010-11. Similarly gross enrolment ratio in class I-VIII has risen from 93.54 in 2004-5 to104.3 in 2010-11. Enactment of the Right to Education and programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan could also have contributed to this. Other indicators Population related: Bihar has the highest decadal (2001-11) growth rate of population (25.07 per cent), while Kerala has the lowest rate (4.86 per cent). Some big states like Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh also have high decadal growth of population. In 2011, Kerala has the highest sex ratio with 1084 females per 1000 males, followed by Tamil Nadu (995), while Haryana is at the bottom (877). Interestingly, the sex-ratios in some of the developed states like Gujarat and Maharashtra are also low at 918 and 925 respectively. Growth Related: The best performers in terms of growth during 2011-12 are Bihar (16.71 per cent) followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The growth of these states is much above the all India average. The worst performers are Rajasthan (5.41 per cent) followed by Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. States with the highest growth rate for the period 2005-6 to 2011-12 are Bihar (10.17per cent) followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra. In terms of growth in per capita income, the best performer is Bihar (15.44 per cent) followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra due to high growth in gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2011-12 and despite their high decadal growth in population. Per capita income growth is the lowest in Rajasthan (3.72 per cent), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Odisha which are all below the all India per capita income growth. While there are state-wise indicators for some social-sector programmes, it is not possible to evaluate the performance of states based just on numbers. The average person days per household under the MGNREGA in 2011-12 is the highest in Andhra Pradesh (58 days) followed by Himachal Pradesh (53 days) and lowest in Assam and Punjab (both 26 days) against the national average of 43 days. While the share of womens employment under the MGNREGA is the highest in Kerala (92.76 per cent) followed by Tamil Nadu (73.36 per cent), it is the lowest in Uttar Pradesh (16.98 per cent). While the stipulation of one-third womens participation has been maintained at the all India level, in states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Bihar, it has been below the stipulated level. Health: Kerala is the best performer in terms of life expectancy at birth for both males (71.5 years) and females (76.9 years) whereas Assam is the worst performer for both males (61 years) and females (63.2 years) during 2006-10. Infant mortality rate (IMR) in 2011 is the lowest in Kerala (12) and highest in Madhya Pradesh (59) against the national average of 44. Birth rate is lowest in Kerala (15.2) and highest in

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Uttar Pradesh (27.8) against the national average of 21.8. Death rate is lowest in West Bengal (6.2) and highest in Odisha (8.5) against the national average of 7.1. Education: Madhya Pradesh has the highest gross enrolment ratio (GER) (6-13 years) in 201011while Assam has the lowest. Pupil-teacher ratios in primary and middle/basic schools are the lowest in Himachal Pradesh and high in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Progress in terms of 24x7 primary health centres (PHCs), additional PHCs, CHCs and other sub-districts health facilities under the NRHM is the highest in Tamil Nadu and lowest in Himachal Pradesh. Under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Bihar has the highest share followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh whereas Himachal Pradesh has the lowest EMPOWERMENT: THE CONCEPT Empowerment means different things to different people. As such, it becomes important to clarify the term and provide a proper definition. Empowerment stands for the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives. According to the country report of Government of India presented at Fourth World Conference on Women at Beijing, Empowerment means working from a portion of enforced powerlessness to one of power. It would promote womens inherent strength and positive self-image. According to Keller and Mbewe, empowerment is a process whereby women become able to organize themselves to increase their own selfreliance, to assert their independent right to make choice and to control resources which will assist in challenging and eliminating their own subordination. Promila Kapur views empowerment as a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources-material, human and intellectual like knowledge, information, ideas and financial resources like money and access to money and control over decision in the home community, society and nation, and to gain power. Empowerment means being free to explore the best way of doing things, not just doing what you are told. It means giving power to and creating power within. It is a process that people undergo, which eventually leads to change. It refers to passing on authority and responsibility. It occurs when someone who did not have power earlier is given power and this power makes the person who is empowered to experience a sense of ownership and control. In other words, it refers to giving power to individuals in all spheres of life which are essential for the survival and overall development of the mankind. Nelly Stromquist defines empowerment as a process to change the distribution of power, both in interpersonal relations and in institutions throughout society. Similarly, Lucy Lazo describes it as a process of acquiring, providing, bestowing the resources and the means or enabling the access to a control over such means and resources. Srilatha Balliwala has rightly observed, The term empowerment has come to be associated with womens struggle for social justice and equality. According to Kiran Devendra, empowerment of women means equipping women to be economically
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independent, self-reliant, have a positive self-esteem to enable them to face any difficult situation and they should be able to participate in developmental activities and in the process of decision-making. Empowerment is a process in which women gain control over their own lives by knowing and claiming their rights at all levels of society, viz., international, national, local and household. It is nothing but a religious, cultural and legal struggle against oppression, injustice and discrimination. In short, it is the ability to organize and mobilize for change and enable the individual group to direct their own life and reach a stage where they are more likely to succeed in whatever they attempt to do. It is an ongoing process and not an end by itself. In nutshell, empowerment is also defined as the ability to direct and control ones own life. It is a process of enhancing human capabilities to expand choices and opportunities so that each person can lead a life of respect and value. It lends moral legitimacy and the principal of social justice to the objectives of human development. It means that women gain autonomy, are able to set their own agenda and are fully involved in the economic, political and social decision-making process. Need for Empowerment: The quest for genuine equality had laid greater emphasis on the collective rights of the vast majority of the disadvantaged groups. The disadvantaged groups have been subjected to varied kinds of social, economic and political exploitations, oppressions and harassments. They have been treated less than human. Women, who constitute roughly 50 per cent of the total population, received only a small share of development opportunities. They were often excluded from education, from better jobs, from participation in political systems and from adequate health care. Similarly, a majority of the SCs/STs and OBCs are poor, deprived of basic needs, and socially as well as educationally backward. Many do not have access to sufficient amount of food, health care, housing or clothing. Moreover, caste inequalities have further added to their problems and continue to be among the most important factors affecting their access to education. Even politically, they are lagging behind as the various political parties have been using them as vote banks for their own vested interests. In this background, it was felt that unless they are empowered and assured representation in elected local institutions, their status in the society cannot be improved. Accordingly, in order to improve their status and to ensure their participation, different steps/measures were initiated by the Government which has made the decentralised system more democratic. Empowerment: National Attempts - With the dawn of independence and the adoption of the Republican Constitution, several legal measures were taken by Parliament and the Government of India, which improved the status of women, SCs/STs and OBCs in India. The Constitution guaranteed them equal rights of participation in the political process through the provision of universal adult franchise (Articles, 325 & 326) along with opportunity and rights in education and employment (Articles, 14,15,16(2) and 17). The chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy makes special provisions for improving womens status. These directives are mentioned in Articles 39(a), 39(d),
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39(c) and 42 of the Constitutions. All the provisions clearly indicate that women obtained legal sanction for most of their demands. Seats are reserved for SCs/STs and OBCs in government jobs and legislative bodies (Articles 330, 332 and 335). Free-ships and scholarships provisions are there for SC/ST students. Besides, there is a provision of reservation in admission in State-run/aided educational institutions. Their interests are also to guide the Directive Principles of State Policy (Articles 38 to 46). Some of the other initiatives in this direction were setting up of an exclusive Department of Women and Child Development in 1983; setting up of Women Development Corporations in 1986-87, in order to give the necessary thrust to development of women in the State; launching of Support to Training and Employment Programme in 1987; setting up of National Commission for women in 1990, to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women; setting up of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh in 1993, to meet the credit needs of poor women; launching of Mahila Samridhi Yojana in 1993; launching of Indira Mahila Yojana in 1995; etc. A National Commission for SCs and STs has been constituted to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the SCs and STs. A National Commission for Backward Classes has been constituted. Empowerment: Grassroots Initiatives - The most significant landmark in this direction was the passing of 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts, 1992. These Acts provided one-third reservation of seats for women in the rural and urban local bodies, i.e., the Panchayati Raj Institutions and municipal bodies. These Acts provides that in every Panchayat/Municipality, seats shall be reserved for the SCs and STs in proportion to their population. It further provides that not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every panchayat/municipality shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a panchayat/municipality [(Articles 243 d(3) and 243 t(3)]. The Acts also provide that not less than one-third of such reserved seats shall be reserved for SC and ST women as the case may be. Besides, seats are also reserved for the office of the Chairpersons in the rural as well as urban bodies. So far as reservation for OBC is concerned, it has not yet been mandated by the Act. However, it has been left on the discretion of the States. Empowerment: Operational Framework - Empowerment is one of the major objectives of the third generation of panchayats in India. It is not simply a statutory provision, to be given from above, it is rather a process to be reactivated with initiatives from below. It looks for a transformation in the pre-existing structural arrangements of society that legitimize the structure of subordination of women and the marginalized groups. Over the last decade, both intensive and extensive experimentation in this direction were undertaken by the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The functioning of the PRIs and the ULBs during the last decade shows that the participation of women, SCs/STs and OBCs in these bodies is considered essential not only for ensuring their political participation in the democratic process but also for realizing the developmental goals for them. Their participation in these bodies can be as
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voters, as members of political parties, as candidates and as elected members of PRIs and ULBs. The enactment of the 73rd & 74th Amendment Acts, with a view to involve the disadvantaged groups in decision-making provides psychological empowerment and a sense of political efficacy, to those who had been left powerless, to influence public decision that affect them. This is indeed a welcome, though delayed gesture, for democracy will not be meaningful in a traditional society like India without the full involvement of women and other weaker segments of society. But a constitutional provision is only a necessary and enabling step which should be followed by effective measures for their upliftment. In the sense of its being an enabling and necessary, though not sufficient, condition for empowerment, the Acts are a milestone in the way of women and other weaker sections assuming leadership and decision-making position, as it makes such a role mandatory and universal for the whole of India. The initial reaction to empowerment by way of announcement of reservation for women as well as SCs and STs was one of excitement and happiness on the one hand and of bewilderment and anxiety on the other. Even scholars on womens studies and development workers were of the view that finding 7.95 lakh women to occupy the membership positions for the three-tier PRIs by the time elections have to be held all over India would be a difficult task. First and foremost, in order to ensure effective participation and make empowerment meaningful, it is essential that the weaker sections are made aware of their responsibilities as Panchayat and Municipal members. Many womens organizations and even government agencies had been involved in mobilizing women, SC/ST and OBC and raising their awareness as also encouraging them to come forward to stand as candidates when the elections were announced. Secondly, education is an important variable of empowerment in PRIs and ULBs. Therefore, education on politics, legislation and day-to-day procedures of the broader political and Panchayat/Municipal system is also important. Women, SC/ST and OBC have to be informed of various developmental policies and programmes, as well as those pertaining specifically to them. Basava Rajeshwari, the former Minister of State for Women and Child Development, opined that it would be unfortunate if the empowered women, SC/ST and OBC do not know what to do to solve the problems that they encountered in their areas. Being eager to help is not enough. People in position should also know what kind of help to extend and when. Thus educating them is a necessity. Thirdly, proper training becomes a must in order to make empowerment effective and really fruitful. Initially, at the national level, training for Panchayat representatives were given at the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi and the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration (LBSAA), Mussoorie. The three nodal institutes prepared training modules for training the PRI representatives, assessing training needs and also determining cost effectiveness. Whatever material was prepared was sent to the State Institutes of Rural Development (SIRD) and Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) at the State levels.

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Fourthly, some minimum level of educational qualification should be mandatory for both men and women aspiring to contest elections to PRIs and ULBs. If they are educated, it is very good, as they are responsible for policy formulation. Empowerment of the marginalized, especially women, calls for sensitive, empathetic and egalitarian governmental and non-governmental initiatives. No doubt, the 73rd and the 74th Amendment Acts have made it possible for the marginalized to become part of the planning and education process of development in relation to their local needs. It has not only brought empowerment at the grassroots level but also empowerment of women, SC/ST and OBC as a whole. The empowerment of women and weaker sections would lead to good governance and greater transparency in Indian polity. It would also ensure change in the value system of the society, bringing in greater freedom, reducing oppression and inequality through next generation. All this will happen only when women, SC/ST and OBC incumbents equip themselves well in terms of awareness, competence and manipulative skills and when educated, enlightened, component and representatives with strong political will and urge voluntary come forward. Besides, the women representatives should be made financially strong and independent and have share in family in property. Mahila Cooperatives should be set up so as to help them becoming financially independent. Further, if we really want to see women and weaker sections participating effectively in rural and urban governance, it must be ensured that they are recognized as decision makers and women organization as well as NGOs come forward to activate them by creating the necessary political urge and interest in them. Finally, regular elections to PRIs and ULBs will prove to be a milestone towards enlightenment and social and political consciousness of women and weaker sections, making empowerment meaningful and fruitful. The process of empowerment has been underway after the passage of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, 1993. The experience bring to the force that initially women and weaker sections faced many problems and constraints. But with the initiatives of the government, NGOs, voluntary organizations and women organizations and the situation, regular elections has started changing. As a result, the women, SC/ST and OBC were in a position to address the challenges faced by the PRIs and ULBs to meet the desired standards of governance. The crucial aspects that need to be further addressed are: female literacy, change in the attitude of male members as also representatives of upper castes, financial and functional autonomy and above all regular elections. And only when these are addressed to, the process of empowerment will be effective, meaningful and fruitful. Nodal Ministries in empowerment The Department of Women and Child Development was set up in the year 1985 as a part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children. With effect from 30.01.2006, the Department has been upgraded to a Ministry. The broad mandate of the Ministry is to have holistic development of Women and Children. As a nodal Ministry for the advancement of women and children, the Ministry formulates plans, policies and programmes; enacts/ amends legislation, guides and coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organizations working in the field of Women and
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Child Development. Besides, playing its nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative programmes for women and children. These programmes cover welfare and support services, training for employment and income generation, awareness generation and gender sensitization. These programmes play a supplementary and complementary role to the other general developmental programmes in the sectors of health, education, rural development etc. All these efforts are directed to ensure that women are empowered both economically and socially and thus become equal partners in national development along with men. For the holistic development of the child, the Ministry has been implementing the world's largest and most unique and outreach programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check up and referral services, pre-school non-formal education. Ministry is also implementing Swayamsidha which is an integrated scheme for empowerment of women. There is effective coordination and monitoring of various sectoral programmes. Most of the programmes of the Ministry are run through nongovernmental organizations. Efforts are made to have more effective involvement of NGOs. The major policy initiatives undertaken by the Ministry in the recent past include universalisation of ICDS and Kishori Shakti Yojana, launching a nutrition programme for adolescent girls, establishment of the Commission for protection of Child Rights and enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. The Ministry has 6 autonomous organizations viz. 1. National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, popularly known as NIPCCD, is a premier organization devoted to promotion of voluntary action research, training and documentation in the overall domain of women and child development. Established in New Delhi in the year 1966 under Societies Registration Act of 1860, it functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. In order to cater to the region-specific requirements of the country, the Institute, over a period of time, has established four Regional Centres at Guwahati (1978), Bangalore (1980), Lucknow (1982) and Indore (2001).The Institute functions as an apex institution for training functionaries of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. As a nodal resource agency, it has also been entrusted with the responsibility of training and capacity building of functionaries at the national and regional level, under the new scheme of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). It has also been designated, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the nodal institution for imparting training on two important issues of Child Rights and Prevention of trafficking of women & children for SAARC countries Institutes expertise and performance was recognized by UNICEF in 1985 when it awarded the Maurice Pate Award for its outstanding contribution in the field of Child Development.
2. National Commission for Women (NCW)

The National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 ( Act No. 20 of 1990 of Govt. of India) to : review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures; facilitate redressal of grievances; and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.
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In keeping with its mandate, the Commission initiated various steps to improve the status of women and worked for their economic empowerment during the year under report. The Commission completed its visits to all the States/UTs except Lakshdweep and prepared Gender Profiles to assess the status of women and their empowerment. It received a large number of complaints and acted suo-moto in several cases to provide speedy justice. It took up the issue of child marriage, sponsored legal awareness programmes, Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats and reviewed laws such as Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, PNDT Act 1994, Indian Penal Code 1860 and the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to make them more stringent and effective. It organized workshops/consultations, constituted expert committees on economic empowerment of women, conducted workshops/seminars for gender awareness and took up publicity campaign against female foeticide, violence against women, etc. in order to generate awareness in the society against these social evils. The National Commission for Women's Vision, Strategies and Programmes: Economic Empowerment through building up skills and securing access to gainful employment. Political Empowerments through awareness, training and mobilization for equitable representation in all fora. Prevention of violence and discrimination against women inside and outside the home through legal reform and sensitive enforcement. Amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged women, namely: i. Physically challenged women including those who are visually disabled or mentally affected. ii. Socially challenged women including muslim women, SC/ST women, widows and prostitutes. iii. Prevention of indecent representation of women in the media through legal and social sanctions. 3.National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) 4.Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) 5.Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB)and 6. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) The National Credit Fund for Women or the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) was set up in March 1993 as an independent registered society by the Department of Women & Child Development in Government of Indias Ministry of Human Resource Development with an initial corpus of Rs. 310,000,000 - not to replace the banking sector but to fill the gap between what the banking sector offers and what the poor need. Its main objectives are : To provide or promote the provision of micro-credit to poor women for income generation activities or for asset creation. To adopt a quasi-informal delivery system, which is client friendly, uses simple and minimal procedures, disburses quickly and repeatedly, has flexibility of approach, links thrift and savings with credit and has low transaction costs both for the borrower and for the lender. To demonstrate and replicate participatory approaches in the organization of womens groups for thrift and savings and effective utilization of credit. To use the group concept and the provision of credit as an instrument of womens empowerment, socio-economic change and development.
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To cooperate with and secure the cooperation of the Government of India, State Governments, Union Territory administrations, credit institutions, industrial and commercial organizations, NGOs and others in promoting the objectives of the Kosh. To disseminate information and experience among all these above agencies in the Government and non-government sectors in the area of microfinance for poor women. To receive grants, donations, loans, etc., for the furtherance of the aims and objectives of the Kosh. The National Credit Fund for Women or the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) is working exclusively for poor women. Its loans are available solely and entirely to this target group. The reasons for this are several: Among the poor, the poor women are the most disadvantaged - they are characterized by lack of education and access to resources, both of which are required to help them work their way out of poverty and for upward economic and social mobility. The problem is more acute for women in countries like India, despite the fact that womens labour makes a critical contribution to the economy - this is due to low social status and lack of access to key resources. Evidence shows that groups of women are better customers than men - they are better managers of resources - benefits of loans are spread wider among the household if loans are routed through women - mixed groups are often inappropriate in Indian society - record of all-male groups is worse than that of all-women groups, everywhere working under its aegis. NIPCCD and RMK are societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. CSWB is a charitable company registered under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956. These organizations are fully funded by the Govt. of India and they assist the Department in its functions including implementation of some programmes/schemes. The National Commission for Women was constituted as a national apex statutory body in 1992 for protecting and safeguarding the rights of women. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is a national level apex statutory body constituted in the March 2007 for protecting and safe guarding the rights of children.
Ministry of Welfare

In the year 1985-86, the erstwhile Ministry of Welfare was bifurcated into the Department of Women and Child Development and the Department of Welfare. Simultaneously, the Scheduled Castes Development Division, Tribal Development Division and the Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Division were moved from the Ministry of Home Affairs and also the Wakf Division from the Ministry of Law to form the then Ministry of Welfare. Subsequently, the name of the Ministry was changed to the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in May, 1998. Further, in October, 1999, the Tribal Development Division had moved out to form a separate Ministry of Tribal Affairs. In January, 2007, the Minorities Division along with Wakf Unit have been moved out of the Ministry and formed as a separate Ministry and the Child Development Division has gone to the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
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Though the subject of "Disability" figures in the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, The Government of India has always been proactive in the disability sector. It is not only running seven National Institutes (NIs) dealing with various types on disabilities and seven Composite Regional Centers (CRCs), which provide rehabilitation services to PwDs and run courses for rehabilitation professional but also funds a large number of NGOs for similar services and also a National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation (NHFDC) which provides loans at concessional rates of interest to PwDs for self-employment. Besides, the Union Government is a party to (i) Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and the Pacific Region - adopted at Beijing in December, 1992, and (ii) The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which came into effect in May, 2008. The subject has received attention in various States Governments in varying degrees. At the Central level also disability being one of the several responsibilities of the M/o SJ&E, and being looked after by just one bureau, has resulted in inadequate attention, as most of its time and energy is spent only on implementing Ministry's own schemes, meeting their expenditure and physical targets, and organizing annual time-bound activities like the National Awards for empowerment of PwDs. In the above background, it was stated in the 11th Five Year Plan that "The 'Disability Division' of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment will be strengthened by converting it into a separate Department, so that it can liaise effectively with all the other concerned Ministries/Departments and fulfill its responsibilities towards the disabled". Looking to the specialized nature of the subject on "Disability", the wide ranging work to be done in the light of the UNCRPT, and the inadequacy of existing implementation structure, the time has now come to upgrade the existing Disability Bureau in the M/o SJ&E. The decision to create a separate Department of Disability Affairs within the M/o SJ&E was taken up by the Government, in principle on 3rd January, 2012. This was also announced by the President before both houses of Parliament on 12th March, 2012. Now the two departments have been created under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment vide notification dated 12.5.2012, namely:i. Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (Samajik Nyaya aur Adhikarita Vibhag) ii. Department of Disability Affairs (Nishaktata Karya Vibhag) Tribal affairs The Ministry was set up in 1999 after the bifurcation of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment with the objective of providing more focused approach on the integrated socio-economic development of the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the most underprivileged of the Indian Society, in a coordinated and planned manner from the subjects allocated under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. The tribal situation in the country presents a varied picture. Some areas have high Tribal concentration while in other areas, the tribals form only a small portion of the total population. There are some tribal groups, which are still at the food gathering stage, some others practice shifting cultivation, yet other may be pursuing primitive forms of agriculture.

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The Constitution of India provides for a comprehensive framework for the socioeconomic development of Scheduled Tribes and for preventing their exploitation by other groups of society. A detailed and comprehensive review of the tribal problem was taken on the eve of the Fifth Five Year Plan and the Tribal sub-Plan strategy took note of the fact that an integrated approach to the tribal problems was necessary in terms of their geographic and demographic concentration. If a faster development of this community is to take place. Accordingly, the tribal areas in the country were classified under three broad categories: (i) States and Union Territories having a majority scheduled tribes population. (ii) States and Union Territories having substantial tribal population but majority tribal population in particular administrative units, such as block and tehsils. (iii) States and Union Territories having dispersed tribal population. In the light of the above approach, it was decided that tribal majority States like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and U.Ts. of Lakshadweep and Dadra & Nagar Haveli may not need a Tribal sub-Plan, as the entire plan of these States/Union Territories was primarily meant for the S.T. population constituting the majority. For the second category of States and Union Territories, tribal sub-Plan approach was adopted after delineating areas of tribal concentration. A similar approach was also adopted in case of States and Union Territories having dispersed tribal population by paying special attention to pockets of tribal concentrations, keeping in view their tenor of dispersal. To look after the tribal population coming within the new tribal sub-Plan strategy in a coordinated manner, Integrated Tribal Development Projects ere conceived during Fifth Five Year Plan and these have been continued since them. During the Sixth Plan, Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) was adopted to cover smaller areas of tribal concentration and during the Seventh Plan, the TSP strategy was extended further to cover even more smaller areas of tribal concentration and thus cluster of tribal concentration were identified. At the time of delineation of project areas under the Tribal sub-Plan strategy, it was observed that the ITDPs/ITDAs are not co-terminus. Areas declared under Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. The Scheduled Areas as per the Constitutional orders have been declared in eight States viz. A.P., Bihar, Gujarat, H.P., Maharashtra, M.P., Orissa and Rajasthan, As per the provisions contained in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, various enactment in the forms of Acts and Regulations have been promulgated in the above states for the welfare of scheduled tribes and their protection from exploitation. Since TSP strategy also has twin objectives namely Socio-economic development of Schedule tribes and protection of tribal against exploitation, the Govt. of India in Aug., 1976 had decided to make the boundaries of Scheduled Areas co-terminus with TSP areas (ITDP/ITDA only) so that the protective measure available to Sch. Tribes in Sch. Areas could be uniformly applied to TSP areas for effective implementation of the development programmes in these areas. Accordingly, the TSP areas have been made co-terminus with Sch. Areas in the State of Bihar, Gujarat, H.P., Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. The State of A.P. where the TSP areas are not coterminus with sch. Areas has also furnished a proposal to this effect which is under examination.
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Integrated Tribal Development Projects/Agencies (ITDPs/ITDAs) The ITDPs are generally contiguous areas of the size of a Tehsil or Block or more in which the ST population is 50% or more of the total. On account of demographic reasons, however ITDPs in Assam, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal may be smaller or not contiguous. Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have opted for an Agency model under the Registration of Societies Act and the ITDPs there are known as ITD Agencies(ITDAs). So far 194 ITDPs/ITDAs have been delineated in the country in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Island and daman & Diu. In Jammu and Kashmir though no ITDP has been delineated yet the areas having ST Population in the State are treated as covered under the TSP strategy. In eight states having scheduled areas the ITDPs/ITDAs are generally co terminus with TSP areas. The ITDPs/ITDAs are headed by Project Officer though they may be designated Project Administrators or Project Directors. Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) pockets These are identified pockets of concentration of ST population containing 50% or more ST population within a total population of minimum of 10,000. The total number of MADAs identified so far in the various TSP States is 259. Generally, MADA pockets do not have separate administrative structures to implement development programmes. The line Departments of the State Govt. are expected to implement development programmes in MADA pockets under the overall control of the District authorities. CLUSTERS These are identified pockets of tribal concentration containing 50% or more ST population within a total population of about 5,000 or more. As in the case of MADA pockets, there are no separate administrative structures for Clusters. So far 82 Clusters have been identified in various T.S.P. states. PRIMITIVE TRIBAL GROUPS (PTGs) Primitive tribal groups are tribal communities among the STs who live in near isolation in inaccessible habitats. They are characterized by a low rate of growth of population, preagricultural level of technology and extremely low levels of literacy. So far 75 PTGs have been identified

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