Social infrastructural facilities are the nerves of the

process of development of a developing economy like

India

INTRODUCTION
Infrastructure is generally defined as the physical framework of facilities through which goods
and services are provided to the public. Its linkages to the economy are multiple and complex,
as it affects production and consumption directly, creates positive and negative spillover effects
and involves large inflow of expenditure. It is a widely recognised fact that the availability of
basic infrastructure facilities and services flowing from these are vital for economic
development of the country. If well developed, they stimulate economic development but if
inadequate they prove to be hindrances in the growth process.

infrastructure consists of those basic facilities without which primary, secondary and tertiary
activities cannot function. These facilities play an important role in creating investment
opportunities in other industries.

Social infrastructure refers to the core elements of social change (like schools, colleges,
hospitals and nursing homes) which serve as a foundation for the process of social development
of a country. Social development focuses on human resource development, implying the
development of skilled personnel as well as healthy and efficient human beings.
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Many of the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America which experienced slow
economic growth or none at all in the 1980s undertook programmes of ‘structural adjustment’
in cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank. These countries agreed to make major policy
changes correcting macroeconomic imbalances and reforming macro and sectoral policies in
exchange for external assistance.

In 1990, the United Nations called for ‘adjustment with a human face which requires a set of
policies that would permit growth to resume, raise the productivity of the poor, improve the
equity and efficiency of social services, compensate the poor for deficits in nutrition and health
services during adjustment periods of limited duration and improve monitoring of the
conditions of affected low income groups particularly children.

While macroeconomic adjustment programmes undoubtedly can be carried out in ways that
give more attention to the plight of the poor, a more fundamental solution to the problem of
poverty in Third World countries that have not been growing is resumption of economic growth
itself, combined with the provision of basic social services to the poor and policies that seek to
increase their participation in the development process. It is against this backdrop that we
evaluate India’s progress in sustaining reform and reducing poverty, with particular reference
to development of social services and social infrastructure.

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SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDIA

Social Infrastructure is a subset of the infrastructure sector and typically includes assets that
accommodate social services. Social Infrastructure Assets include schools, universities,
hospitals, prisons and community housing. Social Infrastructure does not typically extend to
the provision of social services, such as the provision of teachers at a school or custodial
services at a prison.

India continues to make good progress in increasing incomes and improving living standards
over the past decades. Since the adoption of economic reform programmes in July 1991 in the
context of the structural adjustment programmes, poverty continues to decline and many social
indicators in particular literacy continued to improve.

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IMPROVEMENTS IN SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

HEALTH-

In health, India’s public spending is very low – only 1.2% of its GDP. Public spending on
preventing and promotive primary care services has not kept up with the growth of demand for
services, particularly for people below the poverty line.

India also lags in addressing the determinants of good health that lie outside the health system
such as in water and sanitation, nutrition and education. For example, at 0.5% of GNP, India
spends far less on nutri-tion programmes than what is needed to reduce the high rates of
malnutrition.

THE PRIVATE SECTORS ROLE IN EDUCATION AND

HEALTH-

In education, total private spending (excluding overseas education) is estimated at about one-
third of education expenditure.

Private spending on elementary education is expanding rapidly because of:

(a) The inability of the public system to deliver; and

(b) Parental inability to pay.

Private schools are unlikely to improve the education of the poor directly, because they remain
outside the reach of the vast majority of the poor. Other critical issues are the ab-sence of
adequate information and regulations on private school quality, the possible shift of the more
articulate/education oriented parents to private schools creating less pressure on the public
system and the vast differences in the standards of schooling.

Although India’s public spending on health is low, overall health spending is high because of
private spending. Private spending on health is four times public spending that is about 80 %
of health spending in India. As a result, India’s overall expenditure on health is about 6% of
GDP, one of the highest in developing countries.

There are large inter-State variations in private financing and provisions. For example, the
lowest proportions of private hospital care are in rural Orissa and West Bengal (9% and 18%
of hospitalisations, respectively), compared to over 75% in rural Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

Despite the high levels of spending on health reflecting high private spending, India’s health
indicators are relatively poor. The private health sector, as currently organised, is unlikely to
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improve the health and nutritional status of the poor substantially. Private spending and
delivery neglect ‘public goods’ or inequality-reducing characteristics of key preventive and
promotive health services.

The private sector remains virtually unorganised and has a widely variable quality of care.
Moreover, much of the private sector is dominated by profit motives often resulting in over
education, inappropriate use of technology and overcharging of patients. These problems are
really serious for the poor who lack information on the quality of care and have a hard time
paying for private care,

On the other hand, as in education, the failings of the public sector health services are leading
to rising demand for private services. So the public sector has an important role to play in
enhancing the effectiveness and access to individual health services, and in developing and
implementing comprehensive policies addressing pri-vate financing and delivery.

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SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES AS THE NERVE
OF DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF DEVELOPING
ECONOMIES

Social infrastructure plays an important role in both the economic development of a nation
and the development of society’s quality of life. Social infrastructure enhances social wellbeing
and furthers economic growth by providing basic services and facilities which allow businesses
to develop and flourish.

With the expansion of globalisation and population growth, communities investment in social
infrastructure is akin to an investment in the country’s economy.The successful delivery of
complex social projects is critical not only for immediate stakeholders and industries reliant on
that infrastructure, but also for our broader community.

Social infrastructures are concerned with the supply of such services as to meet the basic needs
of a society. In simple words, social infrastructures refer those basic services such as education
and training. It also includes health and sanitation, drinking water, housing, sewerage, etc.
Social infrastructures are also termed as ‘social overheads’. These social overheads indirectly
support the economic systems. They indirectly increase the productivity and the economy sees
the impact after some time. Social infrastructures lead to growth in the long run.

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MAJOR CHALLENGES

India’s social services are facing major challenges. A growing population, industrialisation and
a globalising economy that places a premium on information and technology are stretching the
capacity of India’s educational system to deliver relevant and effective services.

Yet enormous tasks remain: getting 33 million children from poor families into primary
schools, increasing the retention rates so that more children finish primary grades and
upgrading the average quality of the schooling received. In health, the country is undergoing
an epidemiological transition.

There continue to be high rates of communicable diseases, malnutrition and maternal; and
parental illnesses, representing a large unfinished agenda that predominantly affects the poor.
There are also growing rates of noncommunicable diseases, while rapid urbanisation is creating
new health problems. New diseases, notably AIDS, are placing great strains on society and the
health of the poor in particular! Even though the social sectors are changing dramatically, the
role played by the public sector has changed little.

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CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The poor are often not reaping benefits from public health and education services. In contrast,
education and health costs are enormous burdens for the poor.

Health care also absorbs a major portion of poor families’ incomes but often the spending and
public health services do not yield much benefit. In such a situation, health gaps between the
rich and the poor are likely to increase. Special attention is to be paid to the role of basic
education in social transformation as well as economic expansion.

No doubt health and education services are a public responsibility. But the goal of reducing
poverty in India will remain elusive as long as the poor have low utilisation of preventive and
curative health services, poor hygienic conditions, low school enrolment and attendance and
poor quality schools and health services.

The rapid expansion of the private sector in health and education is partly a result of the public
sector’s problem in providing quality services. But private sector activities in these areas are
not effective in providing public goods and are beyond the reach of many of the poor.

Improvements in education must emerge from the community and at the school level. What is
of paramount importance in reducing poverty is faster economic growth. This can be achieved
by making more investment on human capital.However, stress should be not on a crash
programme of educational expansion beyond the capacity of a limited number of teachers but
on purposive education to meet the changing needs of India’s new economy characterised by
ongoing structural transformation. The focus should be on the quality of education which helps
in raising total factor productivity.

The resources that are applied to improving primary education need to be targeted at those
groups in the population that are most in need of support.

Public investments in health are critical for the sustainability of India’s development and
poverty alleviation.