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Base Paper on Availability of Data and Data Gaps for Situation Analysis of Well-being of Children and Women Aasha Kapur Mehta and Dolly Arora Indian Institute of Public Administration New Delhi 2015 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 3 List of Tables and Boxes 4 1: The Overall Policy Framework for Addressing Well-being of 5 Children and Women 2: Situations of Vulnerability, Exploitation and Discrimination 27 experienced by Children and Women 3: Addressing Violence and Crimes against Children and Women: 53 Indicators and Gaps 4: Capacities and Capabilities for Enhancing Well-being: 70 Education 5: Capacities and Capabilities for Enhancing Well-being: Health 84 6: Paid and Unpaid Work and Statistical Invisibility of Women’s 99 Work, Basic Amenities and Assets 7: Participation in Decision-Making 117 8: Conclusions 123 2 Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Government of India and UNICEF, for entrusting Indian Institute of Public Administration with the task of preparing the Base Paper on Availability of Data and Data Gaps for Situation Analysis of Well-Being of Children and Women. Although the resources provided were meagre, we value the opportunity and trust reposed in us and are mindful of the significance of this project in the context of enabling more effective policy implementation. We are therefore especially grateful to Professor TCA Anant, Secretary Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Smt. S. Jeyalakshmi, former Director General, CSO, Shri K.D. Maiti, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF for inviting us to write this Base Paper. We received expert advice, support and valuable inputs from Professor TCA Anant, Smt S. Jeyalakshmi, Shri H. Borah, Deputy Director General (SSD), Shri Inderjeet Singh Deputy Director General (SSD), Shri Dhrijesh Kumar Tiwari, Director (SSD) as well as from Shri K.D. Maiti and Shri Bhaskar Mishra, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, UNICEF in finalising the Inception Report that provided the framework for preparation of the Base Paper and at later stages. Shri Ashish Kumar, Director General, CSO, Dr. G.M. Boopathi, Additional Director General (SSD), Shri S.N. Singh, Additional Director General (SSD), Ms Richa Shanker, Director (SSD) and Shri Mool Chand Bhaskar, Deputy Director (SSD), extended immense support at subsequent stages of the project. We wish to place on record our gratitude to all of them. Discussions with Deputy Director General, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Chief Statistical Officer, NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs, Deputy Director General, Directorate General of Employment and Training, Chief Director, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Member Secretary, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Director, Ministry of Minority Affairs and Deputy Director General, Social Justice and Empowerment were very beneficial. We are grateful to them and to the officers of the SSD division of CSO who arranged these meetings and were present in several of them. We are also grateful to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for organizing a presentation of the draft Base Paper at MOSPI and to Ministry officials and representatives of UNICEF for comments on an earlier version of this paper. At IIPA, we wish we would like to place on record our gratitude to Dr T. Chatterjee, Director, IIPA, for enabling us to spend the time required for completing this important task. Shri Sanjay Pratap, Research Officer, IIPA, and Ms Sonia Bajaj, Project Assistant, provided research support especially towards the final stages of the project and we are grateful to them. Aasha Kapur Mehta and Dolly Arora Indian Institute of Public Administration New Delhi January 2015 3 List of Tables Table 6.1: Activity Status and Code Table 6.2: Selected Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Occupations entailing Manual Work Table 6.3: Health effects of biomass fuel use in cooking Table 8.1: Vulnerability, Security and Protection for Children and Women Table 8.2: Poverty, Work, Basic Services and Assets Table 8.3: Education Table 8.4: Survival and Health Table 8.5: Participation and Decision-Making List of Boxes Box 1.1: Millennium Development Goals Box 1.2: Beijing Platform for Action, 1995: Critical Areas for Action Box 1.3: Policy Prescriptions in the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women Box 1.4: National Policy for Children, 2013 Box 1.5: Goals for Women’s Agency and Empowerment Box 1.6: Strategies for Promoting Children’s Rights in the Twelfth Plan Box 2.1: Vulnerable Children Box 3.1: UN Statistical Commission’s Statistical Indicators on Violence Against Women Box 3.2: Crimes against Women under the Indian Penal Code and under the Special & Local Laws Box 3.3: Crimes Committed against Children covered by NCRB Box 3.4: Crimes against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes covered by NCRB Box 4.1: National Policy for Children on Education: Box 4.2: New Indicators added in the Context of RTE and MDM Box 5.1: Issues pertaining to Health in the Twelfth Plan Box 5.2: State responsibility and Health of Children Box 5.3: National Statistical Commission Recommendations that need urgent attention 4 1 Addressing the Well-being of Children and Women: Policy Framework and Data Issues 1.1 The Context Children and women face various forms of vulnerability throughout the life cycle. They may face discrimination before or after birth; violence, harassment or abuse; neglect due to dependence and lack of resources; social prejudice; and exploitation – whether economic, political, social or religious. They are vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination regardless of where they are positioned on the economic and social spectrum. However, their vulnerability increases significantly if they are poor, socially disadvantaged or live in a backward or remote area. A large number of commitments have been made in the Constitution as well as in national and international policy documents with regard to safe guarding and enabling the well-being of children and women. Laws have been enacted to uphold these commitments and policies, plans and programmes have been prepared and implemented. Yet, substantial gaps between the enunciated goals and the situational reality remain. Timely availability of relevant and accurate data is critical for evidence based policy formulation and for making informed policy choices. It is undeniable that massive efforts are made by the national official statistical system to collect and provide data on a vast array of development indicators. However it is important to analyse whether the available data is adequate for understanding the situation of children and women. Also needing attention are questions such as: What are the core indicators on which data are required for understanding the well-being of children and women? Is the data that is available for these indicators sex disaggregated? Does the data provide adequate information for understanding and addressing the varied situations of women and children? What is the spatial unit for which it is available? What are the data gaps that need to be bridged? These are the questions that this Paper seeks to answer. It examines the availability of data and identifies data gaps for situation analysis of the well-being of children and women. It also highlights several critical areas of concern pertaining to the vulnerability, exploitation, neglect, discrimination and inequalities faced by children and women. 5 More specifically, the paper reviews and analyses data needs, availability and gaps pertaining to children and women who are: poor, malnourished, bonded or suffer deprivation; victims of child marriage, trafficking, violence and crimes; in situations where they need protection and care due to dependence, being differently- abled or having special needs; in conflict with law. It also analyses the situation of children and women with regard to education, health care, work, basic amenities, assets and participation. The Process Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) and UNICEF invited IIPA to prepare a Base Paper on “Availability of Data and Data Gaps for Situation Analysis of Well - being of Children and Women.” Discussions were held with the Secretary and other senior officers of MOSPI as well as with representatives of UNICEF. Based on these discussions it was decided that taking into consideration the Twelfth Plan and other frameworks like CRC, CEDAW, MDGs etc., the Paper would examine the data availability and gaps to comprehend and address situations of vulnerability, exploitation and discrimination, which interfere with the well-being of children and women. An Inception Report was prepared and submitted to MOSPI. After incorporating suggestions received from MOSPI and UNICEF the Inception Report was finalised. To understand the data needs, availability, gaps and issues faced by Government a structured questionnaire was sent through MOSPI to several identified Ministries. However, it was found that most of them were reluctant to respond in writing. Meetings were set up by MOSPI with officers from some of the data producing Ministries. Valuable meetings were held with Deputy Director General, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Chief Statistical Officer, NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs, Deputy Director General, Directorate General of Employment and Training, Chief Director, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Tribal

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