India Exclusion Report 2016

India Exclusion Report 2016

A young man from Lat, a village in Raigad district of Chhattisgarh, climbs on to a truck laden with coal as it exits a South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) mine. SECL took over 800 acres of fertile farmland and forests the village depended on for firewood and other minor forest produce without offering alternate livelihoods or enough jobs at the mine. While continuing a months-long agitation against unfair treatment meted out to them at the gates of the company, the men began to clamber on to the coal-trucks to level it before it sets out to transport the coal. The men would be able to extract Rs 200-300 from each truck driver for the labour.

Photo Credit: Nikhil Roshan India Exclusion Report 2016 Supported by Rosa Luxemburg Stiung. he opinions expressed in the report do not reect the views of these organisations.

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CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY South Asia Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms: A Blotted Balance Sheet 1 Harsh Mander

SECTION I

Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India 33 Kinjal Sampat

Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access 66 Osama Manzar, Rajat Kumar, Eshita Mukherjee and Raina Aggarwal

Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture 97 Sandeep Chachra, Amanpreet Kaur and Dr P. Raghu

Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice 127 Gitanjali Prasad and Mrinal Satish

SECTION II

Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture: Implications for Public Provisioning in Social Sectors 161 Subrat Das, Amar Chanchal and Jawed Alam Khan

v SECTION III

Little Men and Little Women of City Streets: Urban Street Children 205 Harsh Mander, Deepti Srivastava, Preeti Mathew and Satya Pillai

Resisting the Margins: Women and Girls with Disabilities in Rural India 233 Rhea John, Anita Ghai, Radhika Alkazi, Radhika Jha and Harsh Mander

Strife in a Metro: Airming Rights to Admission in the City of Delhi 270 Rajanya Bose and NC Saxena he Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging 298 Bezwada Wilson and Bhasha Singh

About the Authors 320 Acknowledgements

We are grateful that we are able to present the third edition of the India Exclusion Report, 2016. his enterprise began as a small collaborative experiment in attempting to add to fact-based knowledge by carefully interrogating the role of the State in securing equitable access to public goods to all peoples, and to combat exclusion, injustice, exploitation, poverty, vulnerability and deprivation. We have gained strength as more and more scholars and activists, and institutions, from India and around the world, have joined hands to both contribute to and collectively own this enterprise. We have also tried to share the indings of the reports to inluence and inform public debate and opinion, through teaching materials in universities, opinion pieces, video reports, and even a graphic format for young people. Work is already under way for the fourth and ith reports. he multi-disciplinary report aims to bring together scholars, human rights activists, development practitioners, community-based movements, and policy makers to examine outcomes of laws, policies, budgets, government schemes and programmes on the lives of the people of India, especially those forced to survive in the outer margins, those oppressed and excluded by caste, gender, class, religious identity and disability. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has encouraged, advised and participated in, and therefore contributed to this report in various ways. We are grateful to the wonderful range of main authors of the chapters in the report—Amandeep Kaur, Amar Chanchal, Anita Ghai, Bezwada Wilson, Bhasha Singh, Deepti Srivastava, Dr P Raghu, Eshita Mukherjee, Gitanjali Prasad, Jawed Alam Khan , Kinjal Sampat, Mrinal Satish, NC Saxena, Osama Manzar, Preeti Mathew, Radhika Alkazi, Radhika Jha, Raina Aggarwal, Rajat Kumar, Rajanya Bose, Sandeep Chachra, Satya Pillai, Subrat Das. We are thankful to Bijo P. Abraham, Devika Singh, Jaideep Gupte, Martin Webb, N.C. Saxena, Nikita Sud, Osama Manzar, Patrick Heller, Pauline Oosterhof, Penny Vera Sanso, Praveen Jha, Ravi Srivastav, Ravi Duggal, Richard Jolly, Ritu Srivastava, Robert Chambers, Sana Das, Shanta Sinha, Shivani Lal, Vijay Raghavan, Vipul Mudgal, Usha Ramanathan, who were very generous with their time in reviewing and advising us on diferent chapters. My special thanks to Anuradha Joshi and Deepta Chopra for organizing a review workshop for the current report at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex. A large number of organizations, movements and universities have been a part of this report. hese include International Institute of Social Studies at he Hague, the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex,

vii Acknowledgments

Brown University, Rosa Luxemberg Stitung, Action Aid India, the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Aarth Astha, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Rainbow Foundation of India, and the Safai Karamchari Andolan. Many researchers from various organizations have helped us complete our ield surveys and primary research work, for which we are grateful to them. he report belongs as much to us, as to Yoda Press ably led by Arpita Das, and assisted by Ishita Gupta and Apoorva Saini. My colleagues, Anirban Bhattacharya and Milanth Gautam have designed the cover and posters for the report. We thank Rahul M, Nikhil Roshan, Jayshankar Menon and Sonia Filinto for permitting us to use their photographs. We are grateful to the highly credible and progressive organizations that have agreed to jointly own on an on-going basis the India Exclusion Report. hese are Brown University, the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, International Institute of Social Studies at he Hague, and the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore. he complex task of coordination of the report was carried out with grace, commitment, patience and dedication by Rajanya Bose, while the research team was managed by Kinjal Sampat. hey were ably assisted by a great team: Anamika Lahiri, Anirban Bhattacharya, Mouli Banerjee, Nandini Dey, Radhika Jha, Rhea John, Ruchika Joshi, Vivek Mishra and Zafar Eqbal. I am proud of all of them.

Harsh Mander Director Centre For Equity Studies

viii Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms A Blotted Balance Sheet

Harsh Mander1

I government, a relection of who it feels primarily responsible to. India’s global rankings made the headlines at What does a low ranking in the Global Hunger least twice in 2016, and both times the news was Index (GHI) indicate? It means irst that too high dampening. he irst report revealed that India’s a proportion of India’s people (around 15 per cent) place in the Global Hunger Index compiled by are under-nourished (he Times of India, 2016). It IFPRI fell from 83 in 2000 to 97 in 2016 (Business means that too many children under the age of ive Standard, 2016), with India scoring even worse (15 per cent) are wasting, relected in low weights for than its much poorer neighbours Bangladesh and their heights. And too many are stunted (a shameful Nepal. he second disclosed that India’s rank in the 39 per cent), meaning that their bodies are adjusting World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report rose to chronic low nutrition by becoming shorter by only one position, from 131 the previous year to for their ages. And inally, it means that too many 130 (he Hindu, 2016), among 190 countries. children (4.8 per cent) die before reaching the age he tardy improvement in India’s Ease of of ive years, because of the fatal cocktail of too little Doing Business global rating led to immediate nutritious food and highly unhealthy environments. oicial statements of concern in the corridors It is important to remember that what for the of power. Commerce and Industry Minister scholar is ‘under-nutrition’ is for people who live Nirmala Sitharaman said she was ‘disappointed’, with this condition the anguish of being unable and Prime Minister Modi directed secretaries of to feed oneself or one’s loved ones, of reduced the union government and chief secretaries of physical and mental capacities, and of succumbing state governments to analyse expeditiously the to infections or circumstances that they would reasons for sluggish progress, and identify areas have been able to ight if they were well-nourished. for improvement both in central government Stunting and wasting means that the bodies and departments and the states. minds of millions of our children are being starved India’s dismal performance in ighting hunger, into feebleness. Under-ive mortality means the however, attracted no similar comment or the agony of millions of mothers and fathers who are articulation of concern at senior levels of the union helpless as they lose their children only because of their dirt-poverty. government. he volubility of the government on one and the silence on the other is in itself an Compared to other countries, India’s government eloquent commentary on the priorities of the is simply doing too little to prevent this enormous

1 India Exclusion Report and entirely preventable sufering of millions are not inevitable. hey are the direct result of its of impoverished citizens. And the silence of the public policy priorities and choices: its market government about these continued failings can fundamentalism and its refusal to invest adequately only mean that it is not stirred or shamed by this in the nutrition, education, social protection and report card, that there is still little urgency to alter health of its people. the destinies of India’s poorest majorities—rural, India’s continued trouncing in its battle against slum-based, informal workers, women, tribal, Dalit, hunger stems irst from its very low investments minority, disabled groups, aged people, single women, in agriculture, as a result of which India’s food and above all children from all these groups. producers constitute its largest ranks of the hungry It is not as though there has been no and malnourished. For a sector that gives work to improvement in India in each of these parameters around 55 per cent of the population, the government in recent years. In 2013, India’s position was rated invests less than 4 per cent of public resources. Even as ‘alarming’; today it is slightly better at ‘serious’. In within this small investment, the overwhelmingly 2016, India’s GHI score was 28.5, an improvement large mass of the rain-fed small peasant are most over 36 in 2008. Since 2000, India has reduced its neglected. India’s failure to ensure decent work to GHI score by a quarter. But 20 countries, including nearly nine of its 10 workers trapped in informal much poorer countries like Rwanda, Cambodia, work also explains India’s losing hunger battle. India’s and Myanmar, have all reduced their GHI scores by high growth is mostly jobless growth, which erodes over 50 per cent since 2000. completely the rationale for privileging business interests over those of impoverished populations. So, the problem is not that India is doing he historical inequities of gender, caste, tribe and nothing to end hunger. But its improvements are religious minorities further aggravate those created much slower than even countries which are oten by inequalities of wealth. much poorer, not self-suicient in food production, without functional democracies, and sometimes Upstream sources of India’s disgraceful hunger strife-torn. India’s GHI score places it ith from record include also its investment of just a little the bottom in Asia: only Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, over 1 per cent of GDP in public health, lower Pakistan, and North Korea trail behind India. his than most countries of the world, and its chronic surely is not illustrious company for an India that miscarriages in securing sanitation and clean prides itself as the world’s fastest growing economy. water to all its populations. Downstream we see he report estimates that if India continues to continuing chronic under-resourcing and corrupt reduce hunger at the same pace, it will still be in the implementation of important food and nutrition ‘moderate’ to ‘serious’ hunger zone in 2030. programmes such as the ICDS and school meals, the public distribution system, pensions for older India’s failures to reduce and end hunger, poor persons, single women and the disabled, and health and early deaths, resulting in immense maternity beneits. sufering of millions of its people, is even more unconscionable because all of this is preventable. To address some of these, India passed the India has the food production, the levels of growth, National Food Security Act 2013, which sought to the economic resources and the state capacities that guarantee half the calorie needs of two-thirds of it requires if it resolves to make hunger history. the population, as well as universalize maternity Countries which have overtaken India oten beneits, young child and mother feeding, and school lack many of these advantages. India’s failures meals. But even when such Acts are passed, they are

2 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms rarely acted upon with diligence and commitment. this enterprise of conceptualizing, researching, he union government and many states remain writing and disseminating the India Exclusion reluctant and neglectful in operationalizing these Reports should also be highly collaborative and entitlements. plural, well outside the control of any one person or institution. All of these point to not just morally reprehensible failures of the state, but to a much deeper social and We are therefore proud that a number of leading cultural malaise. hat the lives, deprivations and international and national centres have joined the sufering of the poor do not matter. In this way, the Centre for Equity Studies formally in this enterprise. Global Hunger Index is an indictment not just of hese include Brown University, the International our governments, but also of middle-class India Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, and the itself, holding up a mirror to how little it cares. Institute of Development Studies in Sussex; as well as leading national organizations including * * * NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, which is his is the third in the annual series of India one of India’s best national law schools with an equity Exclusion Reports, in which the Centre for Equity focus, the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Studies has tried to bring together a wide range Bangalore which specializes in urban studies, a of policy thinkers and actors, scholars, social premier social science research institution, and the advocates for more just and inclusive laws and Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability. policies and people of disadvantage themselves, his partnership is based on a shared approach in together to examine carefully the record of the terms of our understanding of issues of exclusion, Indian State to ensure greater inclusion and access social justice and the role of the state. Our attempt to the large mass of deprived and oppressed peoples. is to ensure that the Exclusion Reports are strongly his is a modest efort, yet we are gratiied to ind evidence-based, empirical and carefully peer- that there are a growing number of readers of these reviewed, to which all our collaborators and now reports who agree with the value of an enterprise joint owners contribute in many ways. But while like this that tries to create an informed report card all of these have independent programmes and about whether governments in India are ensuring views on many issues, all the many contributors and equitable access of vulnerable communities to a collaborators of these reports are bound together by range of public goods, but also to look closely at the shared normative and political convictions related most vulnerable communities as well. Considering to ideas of the just state, the just society, equity and that this year also marked the end of 25 years solidarity. of neo-liberal growth which promised to erase In this overview chapter, we will try to poverty faster than was possible in the past, this summarize some of the highlights of the indings report assumes for us a larger signiicance. of this report. But before we do this, we felt since a he time had come, we are convinced, to think quarter-century has passed since economic reforms of a stable long-term institutional arrangement were heralded in India, it would be itting for the for the series of India Exclusion Reports. his purposes of this report to relect on what 25 years is an experiment drawing many diverse actors of economic reforms has meant for the massive and thinkers from many diferent silos but all underclass of India’s disadvantaged people. concerned with a more just and humane society and State to write and relect together. In that * * * spirit, we believe that the structure that holds

3 India Exclusion Report

It was 25 years before this current report was reform package opened the economy to global being compiled, on 24 July 1991, when the then competition; it stressed on iscal consolidation Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh rose in and discipline for macro-economic stability; it Parliament to present a budget speech which was liberalized trade and capital markets; it dismantled to alter the destinies of India and its people in the justly notorious licence-permit raj that stymied fundamental ways. He spoke in his characteristically local enterprise by rent-seeking; and it facilitated gentle, low-key and self-efacing manner disguising and expanded competitive private provisioning of a steely resolve. His words were memorable even public goods like health, education, public transport if debatable. Quoting Victor Hugo, he said, ‘No and infrastructure. power on earth can stop an idea whose time has here were three main promises of economic come’. He declared that ‘the emergence of India as a reforms. he irst was that these would unfetter major economic power in the world happens to be the economy and spur economic growth and one such idea. Let the whole world hear it loud and development. he second was that growth would clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We crank up manifold the creation of wealth and jobs, shall overcome.’ and through this would erase poverty, hunger he legacy of that moment remains highly and want. And the third was that reforms would contested. A quarter-century later, India is indeed signiicantly reduce corruption and rent-seeking a major economic power, altered in fundamental by ending licencing and bureaucratic regulation of ways from the country that Dr Singh helped private enterprise. steer in new directions. With a GDP of 2 trillion dollars, it has edged itself among the 10 largest Let us take each of the promises, and assess with economies of the world. But in what ways have the hindsight of a quarter-century what indeed economic reforms, launched with this historic was accomplished and what were the intended and budget speech, contributed to changing the lives unintended consequences of these reforms. of India’s dispossessed millions? Has it, as was here is no doubt that reforms did hasten promised, hastened the end of poverty and want, economic growth to rates that were double, and ensured greater access to public goods to hitherto even at times three times the pace of growth excluded populations, spurred jobs and incomes, that the country had settled into until then in and reduced state corruption? As we look back four decades since India’s freedom. Twenty-ive on the past 25 years, it is important to draw up a years later India is the fastest growing economy careful balance sheet especially from the vantage in the world. It has also created unprecedented point of the oppressed people of India, of what the levels of wealth (however unequally distributed), promises were and what was actually accomplished so that today India is home to the third largest ater India changed course so fundamentally 25 population of dollar billionaires in the world years ago. (Hurun Report, 2015). he ranks of middle-class he ‘structural reforms’ that Dr Singh announced, Indians have grown, as they have transitioned and which every successive government elected to from lives of customary austerity to substantial the union government with varying urgency and improvements in their material well-being, from priority has since advanced, made way for global habitual thrit to unrestrained and unapologetic private enterprise to enter and increasingly occupy hyper-consumption. his massive enlargement of the commanding heights of the Indian economy. wealth has also meant that governments in India at Until then these were dominated by the State. he all levels—union, state and local—have far greater

4 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms resources in absolute terms available to them for rural and just below 70 per cent urban inhabitants public investment and spending than they did in the in India continue to be impoverished. past. India’s budgetary spending on social sectors in As Oxfam Director Byanyima observes: 1990–91 was approximately 6 per cent of its GDP which rose to 8 per cent in 2014–15 (Indian Public A child born to a rich family, even in the poorest Finance Statistics 2014–15). (Although because of countries, will go to the best school and will receive the highest quality care if they are sick. oicial reluctance to expand India’s direct tax base At the same time, poor families will see their signiicantly, public spending as a share of gross children taken away from them, struck down by domestic product remains one of the lowest in easily preventable diseases because they do not India among comparable countries). have the money to pay for treatment (Even It Up, his is however where we feel that the ‘good Oxfam, 2014, p. 2). news’ of economic reforms ends. Reforms did he unfairness of this unequal world is stimulate high economic growth and yield greater indeed enhanced because the majority of richest wealth creation. But this wealth was very unequally persons are born into their wealth. Children and distributed, raising sharply levels of economic grandchildren of the rich will largely replace their inequality in a country that was already historically parents and grandparents in the steep economic profoundly unequal. Advocates of free markets, ladder, as much as children and grandchildren of opposed to building a welfare state, have long argued the poor will remain impoverished, regardless of that accelerated market-led economic growth in their potential and hard work. India has lited millions out of want in ways that direct state support could never have done. hey suggest In India, the burdens of unequal birth weigh that poverty is vanishing in India, and those who still heavily on those born into disadvantaged castes, advocate large-scale public action in support of the gender, religion and tribes. In the countryside, poor are caught in a time-warp, failing to recognize poverty rates are 14 per cent higher for Adivasis and that the lives of India’s poor have altered dramatically 9 per cent for Dalits, compared to non-scheduled in the quarter-century of neo-liberal reforms. groups. In urban areas likewise, the poverty of Dalits and Muslims is 14 per cent higher than the In India, from two resident billionaires with others (he Hindu, 2015). an income of 3.2 billion in the mid-1990s, their numbers grew to 46 with the combined wealth A report of the OECD countries in 2011 titled of 176 billion in 2012, and their share in GDP ‘Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising’ rose from 1 to 10 per cent. A recent report by observed that inequality in earnings has doubled in Oxfam titled ‘Even It Up’ observes that income India over the past two decades, making it one of concentration at the top fell in the irst three decades the worst performers among emerging economies. ater Independence, but since then for the top 0.01 he report noted that the top 10 per cent of wage- per cent real wages grew annually at 11 per cent. By earners make 12 times more than the bottom 10 contrast, the rise in real household expenditure for per cent, compared to six times 20 years ago. India’s the rest of the population rose by only 1.5 per cent. experience contrasts with that of Brazil, Indonesia In agriculture, growth in real wages was 5 per cent and, on some indicators, Argentina, which recorded in the 1980s, but fell to 2 per cent in the 1990s, and signiicant progress in reducing inequality during virtually zero in the 2000s. If judged by the median the same period, unlike China, India, the Russian developing country poverty line of 2 dollars a day Federation and South Africa which have all become on purchasing power parity, more than 80 per cent less equal over time.

5 India Exclusion Report

I worry not just about the rapid pace of growing Minister Chidambaram saying in an interview to inequality. Even more worrying is the indiference, the BBC that he is conident that poverty will end by the absence of outrage, among people of privilege 2040, in efect advocating as a positive achievement about the monumental levels of preventable a plan to eradicate poverty that essentially sacriices sufering that surrounds them. As I argue in my an entire generation. recent book Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice Advocates of neo-liberalism still valorize these and Indiference in New India, historical ideas of reforms by suggesting that it matters little that caste and class that justify inequality have been inequalities rise because of the success of these topped up in neo-liberal times with the belief that reforms to eliminate poverty, at a pace and scale greed is good (Mander, 2015). his has resulted that was impossible in the pre-reform period. in a particularly uncaring middleclass, and the Jayati Ghosh however contradicts this claim, exile of the poor from their conscience and their demonstrating that pre-reform periods had slower consciousness. he Oxfam report calculates that growth-rates but still eliminated poverty at a higher if even a tax of 1.5 per cent was imposed on the rate than in the reform period. For rural India, wealth of all the world’s billionaires, it could get poverty was reduced by -1.24 per cent in the period every child into school and deliver health services 1973–74 to 1987–88 and -0.64 in the period 1987– in all the poorest countries of the world, saving an 88 to 2014–15; and for urban areas, -0.79 per cent estimated 23 million lives (2014, 9). It estimates in the period 1973–74 to 1987–88 and -0.74 in the that if India just stops inequality from rising, it period 1987–88 to 2014–15 (Ghosh, 2011, p. 134). could end extreme poverty for 90 million people by Even the World Bank, otherwise a strong advocate 2019. If it reduces inequality by 36 per cent, it could for reforms, admits this. It observes that the eliminate extreme poverty. aggregate headcount poverty ratio in India declined Akhil Gupta is troubled by similar questions, from 59.8 per cent in 1981 to 51.3 per cent in 1990 when he calculates that the number of ‘excess and 41.6 per cent in 2005. So, according to the deaths’—the number of people missing from the World Bank, the rate of poverty reduction slowed population due to malnutrition and morbidity—is from 0.94 per cent points per annum during 1981– over 2 million deaths annually. ‘Nevertheless, the 90 to only 0.65 per cent points per annum during system of checks and balances composed of the free 1990–2005 (he Times of India, 2008). his busts press, and the democratic, multi-party, competitive the myth that liberalization and the incumbent political system that, as Amartya Sen (1999, 180- growth has hastened the rate of reduction of 182) claims, has been so efective in sounding the poverty. Yes, poverty has reduced in these 20 years, alarm of impending famine, drought, or natural but this in itself cannot be a matter of approbation disaster, has failed to mobilize state and private because poverty can be expected to fall between any resources to prevent a disaster of these proportions’. two points in time, but the real question to ask is (Gupta, 2012, p. 5) It is the normalization of what whether neoliberalism has pushed the process of ‘should be considered exceptional, a tragedy and reduction in poverty or has it done to the contrary. disgrace, but is not: the invisible forms of violence Levels of absolute poverty have no doubt that result in the deaths of millions of poor, declined, as have malnourishment and hunger. especially women, girls, lower-caste people, and But the question to ponder is whether these indigenous people’ that results in the persistence have declined fast enough. Even neighbouring of such a magnitude of preventable deaths with no Bangladesh with half India’s per capita income has efective outrage. He speaks of former Finance been able to eliminate want and malnourishment

6 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms far more successfully than India, as underlined Prime Minister Modi in his midsummer 2014 again in the recent 2016 Global Hunger Report. election campaigns oten spoke of the aspiring here are further problems with the extremely youth, restless and impatient to join India’s growth minimalist deinitions of poverty adopted by the story. he SECC results again ofer a dismal Indian government. herefore, when neo-liberal reality check. Only 3 per cent of rural households advocates promise to ‘wipe out poverty’ by 2040, have even a single member with a graduate or all that they are promising even at this slow pace is postgraduate degree. On the other hand, more than an end to starvation-level poverty. Ghosh calculates a third of rural India is still illiterate. A quarter of that if we use an even slightly higher cut-of of $1.25 these households have no literate adult above 25 per day at the revised 2005 PPP$, the number of years. Less than one in ive households have one absolutely poor people in India in 2005 were 456 or more family members with primary education, million, i.e., signiicantly more than the Indian whereas only 13.5 per cent have anyone who made government’s own estimate of 301 million in 2005–6. it to middle school. his means that more than half In 2005 India had the second highest poverty ratio of rural Indians still have no or only minimal skills (54.8 per cent) among all the Asian countries studied, of reading and writing. If they can share in India’s next only to Nepal (55.8 per cent) and higher than growth story, as we will observe, it can only be in Bangladesh (42.9 per cent), Cambodia (36.9 per adding to its already mammoth reserve army of cent), Bhutan (31.8 per cent), the Philippines (29.5 cheap and footloose labour. per cent), Pakistan (24.9 per cent), Indonesia (24.1 he SECC mandated oicials to survey every per cent), Vietnam (16 per cent) and Sri Lanka (9.9 single household in the country, which contributes per cent). If we use the global yardstick of 2 dollars to its importance and credibility. It is a census, a day, the numbers of poor people in India would not an estimate. All large oicial surveys however even today be around 80 per cent of the population tend to neglect invisible populations, such as forest (Himanshu, 2008, 38–43). dwellers, nomadic communities, footloose distress migrants, bonded workers, and people stigmatized he burdens of poverty and want are even higher in the countryside. he picture of rural Indian by their vocations, sexuality or aliments. hese life today that emerges from what is probably the populations are invisible to state oicials because world’s largest study ever of household deprivation, of their extreme vulnerability and powerlessness, the preliminary results of the Socio-Economic and as a survival strategy they oten also hide from Caste Census (SECC), is sobering and sombre. It the State. Moreover, although rules required that describes a massive hinterland still imprisoned the survey results be ratiied in open community in persisting endemic impoverishment, want, meetings, this was rarely done. Far from overstating illiteracy and indeed hopelessness. With hand-held the situation, therefore, it is likely that in fact the laptops, oicial enumerators were commissioned to SECC signiicantly underestimated levels of poverty ask members of all households in the country a few and deprivation. basic questions, including what they owned, how Jayati Ghosh, comparing India’s and China’s they earned a living, how much they earned, and experience in ighting poverty in periods of high how far they had studied. heir indings tell us irst economic growth, argues that China does better than that in three in four rural households no one earns India because of pre-reform egalitarian measures more than INR 5000 a month. More than nine out such as land reforms and universal elementary of 10 rural households have no one earning over education, and because of high public spending INR 10,000 a month. during reforms especially on infrastructure. India

7 India Exclusion Report by contrast has almost starved agriculture with poverty; it would also make increasingly irrelevant negligible public investments although it still state withdrawal from supplying basic public goods employs 50 to 60 per cent of the workforce, and it like health and education, because people would also continues to neglect basic education, and indeed be able to buy these competitively in the market. health care. Unlike China, which followed the However, the reality of what was accomplished in classical trajectory of agriculture to manufacturing, the years of the high noon of economic growth India has shited to the services sector, still leaving in India was certainly the accelerated but unequal millions in low-end, low-productivity employment expansion of wealth, as observed, but not the in the countryside. India’s human poverty is even expansion of decent work for India’s poor. more dismal than income poverty, as relected in On the contrary, we have seen the reverse: the India’s falling position in the Global Hunger Index shrinking of decent work in the sunshine years of to which we referred earlier (Ghosh, 2011, 113). highest growth. As Coen Kompier establishes in he lesson that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the India Exclusion Report 2013–14 undertaken drew from the incontrovertible SECC indings by the Centre for Equity Studies, ‘very few jobs about the dismal situation of rural Indians, still have been added, mostly of low quality, whereas trapped in age-old poverty, was predictably to employment opportunities in public enterprises, call for a further hastening of India’s economic the formal private sector, and agriculture actually growth. his would mean administering more of declined’(my emphasis).In the decade 1999–2000 to the familiar medicine of market fundamentalism: 2009–10, while GDP growth accelerated to 7.52 per reducing public spending further on education, cent per annum, employment growth during this health and agriculture, combined with further period was just 1.5 per cent, below the long-term weakening labour protections and safeguards employment growth of 2 per cent per annum, over against land acquisition. Instead we are convinced the four decades since 1972–73. Only 2.7 million that we must heed the resounding message of the jobs were added in the period from 2004–10, SECC, as also of the unending epidemic of farmers’ compared to over 60 million during the previous suicides and the continuing distress exodus from ive-year period. (Kompier et al., 2014, p. 111) India’s countryside: that India does not shine for Far from the promise of more jobs and more its teeming villages. his challenge requires an entirely diferent set of prescriptions: much greater opportunities, the reality has been of more public spending on rural infrastructure, watershed uncertainty, lesser job creation and far less security. development and small-farm agriculture, farmers’ Even the government has had to reluctantly admit income protections, MNREGA, education and that ‘the economy has indeed experienced high health, and reviving land reforms. Without these, rates of growth in the post reforms period [;] the rural India, still home to a vast majority of Indians optimism on employment creation, however, has is fast becoming a wasteland of distress and despair. not been realized to the fullest extent’ (Report on Employment & Unemployment Survey 2009–10). * * * It is signiicant that employment in the he promise of reforms which have been most organized sector actually fell ater 1997, while that spectacularly belied in India is that reforms and in the unorganized sector rose. he 2009 report of galloping growth would unleash millions of jobs. If the oicial National Commission for Enterprises in they actually did so, it is claimed by reform votaries the Unorganized Sector inds that the vast majority that then this would not just lit people out of of jobs created in recent years have been in the

8 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms informal sector, in the absence of a legal framework rights, no security of income, they are subject for labour protection and social security. Out of to the worst kind of drudgery because it is all every 100 workers, the report revealed, around 90 manual work: they cannot be organised. It’s just per cent work in the informal economy producing a miserable state of existence (Hindustan Times, half of India’s economic output. his implies that out 2015). of a current total workforce of around 475 million, Since the stagnant rural economy ofers around 400 million workers, considerably larger meagre opportunities for employment, a large than the total population of the USA, are employed segment of these households are footloose circular with little job security or any formal entitlements to distress migrants, evocatively described by labour call upon the protection of the labour law regime. anthropologist Jan Breman as ‘hunters and (Live Mint, 2014) gatherers of work’ (Breman, 1994) In order to stay And for the tiny number of jobs that are alive, they will go to any corner of the country, to being created, written job contracts with formal do any work, with any remuneration, on any terms. agreements and associated legal responsibilities (at An estimated 12.24 million people are seeking work least on paper) are already an endangered or near for 2–6 months as per NSSO data. Of these, 77 per extinct mode of employing workers. About 93 per cent are resident in rural areas and more than two- cent of the casual workers do not have any written thirds of them migrate in desperate search of any job contract while the igure for the same among kind of work to urban areas. Some estimates show contract workers is 68.4 per cent. Even among the that about 35–40 million labourers, almost half the supposedly more formal wage/salaried employees, number of casual labourers outside agriculture, about 66 per cent of employees are reported to be could be seasonal migrants. working without a written job contract. As per hese are the migrant workers toiling in the government estimations, labour relations in such prosperous rice, wheat, sugarcane and cotton farms instances are based mostly on casual employment, of Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and Maharashtra, kinship or personal and social relations rather than construction workers building high-rise structures contractual arrangements with formal guarantees.2 in cities across the country, semi-bonded workers Beyond the realms of the formal/legal, it is the in brick kilns which pockmark the country, workers omnipresent extra-legal modes of mobilization building roads in conlict-prone frontier states, and and disciplining (harnessing caste, kinship or so on. Oten boys barely in their teens set out for community relations) that has received further distant lands to earn some money to keep their illip with the larger trend towards informalization families alive. But now increasingly families migrate and casualization of the workforce. along with men, interrupting children’s schooling, he worst-hit once again, unsurprisingly, are forcing women to bear and raise children on dusty rural workers. he SECC survey referred to earlier city streets and shanties, and leaving behind old also reveals that 56 per cent rural households own people in the village to starve, beg or die. no land. Around half the rural households report that they depend primarily on manual labour to hese indings are also incidentally another survive. Economist Prabhat Patnaik observes: reminder of the potential contributions of what has been described as the world’s largest social Our share of cultivators has actually fallen since protection programme, the MNREGA. When he 1951. A whole set of people who might have been dismissed this in Parliament as a living monument to independent peasants…have been pushed into earlier governments’ failures, Prime Minister Modi the ranks of agricultural labour….hey have no

9 India Exclusion Report demonstrated little sensitivity to the struggles of he picture is even more complex, because jobs distress migration that millions of rural households are being extinguished even as others are being still have to endure, which could be prevented by created, and net igures hide this. More and more the State’s efective guarantee of safe and digniied people are being pushed into either lowest-end wage work in the vicinity of their homes, enabling self-employment or the most unprotected and them to escape their annual uprooting to distant casualized wage employment. he countryside is of lands. course the worst afected. But the situation is almost as hopeless for the distress migrant to the city. As Prime Minister Modi’s most powerful election Colin Todhunter observes in a biting indictment, promise in 2014 for millions of young voters was ‘much mainstream thinking implies that shiting to create 10 million jobs. With 65 per cent of the people from agriculture to what are a number of country below 35 years, this promise undoubtedly already overburdened, ilthy, polluted mega-cities drew millions of young people who legitimately to work in factories, clean the loors of a shopping dream of a better life to cast their futures with his mall or work as a security guard improves the leadership. A million new young people join the human condition’ (Todhunter, 2013). workforce every month. his does not account for those who seek work in the cities because of the * * * near-death of the rural economy. he third big promise of economic reforms—that Yet more than half-way through his tenure, the dismantling of the proverbial licence-permit there are almost no jobs available. Job creation has raj would help greatly reduce corruption and rent- fallen to levels even below those that the preceding seeking—has also been belied spectacularly.3 Far UPA governments plunged to. Oicial data reveals from reducing corruption, oicial malfeasance that employment creation in 2015 plummeted to a has risen incrementally. In the 1980s, the Bofors mind-numbing low of 135,000 jobs (Figure 1). scandal alleging a kickback of around INR 80 crore

1000 930 865 900 800 700 600 500 419 421 400 322 300 135 200 100 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Figure 1: Yearly Changes in Estimated Employment Based on Survey Results (In thousands), from January to December Source: Compiled from the Quarterly Report on Changes in Employment in Selected Sectors; Government of India Ministry of Labour & Employment Labour Bureau.

10 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms for the purchase of Swedish weapons had fatally companies owe to the diferent public banks of the shaken the union government of the time led by country: Anil Ambani (Reliance Group)(1,25,000 Rajiv Gandhi. Today we routinely observe crony crore), Anil Aggarwal (he Vedanta Group) capitalism involving losses to the public exchequer (1,03,000 crore), Goutam Adani (Adani Group) sometimes of amounts that have so many zeroes (96,031 crore), Shashi Ruia & Ravi Ruia (Essar that it is confusing to even count! he culture of Group) (1,01,000 crore), Sajjan Jindal (JSW Group) public life has changed dramatically. For the irst (58,171 crore), GVK Reddy (GVK Group) (33,933 half-century ater Independence, accepted norms crore), Manoj Gour (Jaypee Group) (75,163 crore), for probity in public life required that public oicials Venugopal Dhoot (Videocon Group) (45,405 crore). kept a careful public distance from private business. hese are just a few examples of the corporate loan Today they are so closely bound together at the hip that remains unpaid in various nationalized banks, that it is routine for people in high oice to beneit thereby starving these banks of the total cash from and share the opulent lifestyles of the super- deposit.4 he SBI which is the biggest nationalized rich, and they pass this of as contributions to Bank has written of in the year 2016 alone loans nation-building. One particularly tragic outcome worth INR 7,016 crore owed by more than 60 of of this contemporary era of crony capitalism is the its top 100 ‘wilful defaulters.’ Among them is the highly accelerated dispossession, actively facilitated absconding Vijay Mallya, whose outstandings with by state authorities, of India’s most impoverished the bank are in the range of 1,201 crore (he Indian tribal communities, by big industry hungry for the Express, 2016). his same SBI in the very recent coal and mineral reserves over which their forested past has also showered other such ‘wilful defaulter’ habitations lie. business tycoons with huge loans, louting RBI Another outcome of the new age of crony guidelines. Niranjan Hiranandani who was declared capitalism is very high public subsidies for big a defaulter by RBI in 2014, was sanctioned two loans business, relected for instance in the over INR ive amounting to INR 5,550 crore by SBI and AXIS lakh crore of revenues foregone to industry in every Bank in 2015 and 2016 (DNA, 2016). Recently, the budget, and this at the expense of adequate public SBI has given a loan of INR 1 billion to Mr Gautam funding of health care, education, water, sanitation Adani to secure his mining deal in Australia (he and social protection, and the farming sector. Indian Express, 2014). So these corporate tycoons his has led development economist Jean Dreze are running their businesses, literally on public to describe India as a world champion of social money in order to ill the cofers of the corporate via under-spending! (he Hindu, 2014) In particular, the bank. he cosy relationship of several of these out-of-pocket expenditure on health care is at twice ‘captains’ of big industry with India’s top political the level of public spending, a disgraceful record leaders is the best-kept open secret of India’s public unmatched by most countries. Our public schools life. are shamefully under-resourced with trained and According to a recent estimate by the Global motivated teachers and basic infrastructure, and Financial Integrity programme of the Centre for only seven per cent people are still able to complete International Policy, the money that had illicitly their college graduation. Nine in 10 persons are in lown out of India to accounts abroad over its informal employment, and they are deprived of any post-Independence history stretching from 1948 or adequate pensions in their old age. through 2008 was around $213 billion, the present We can only glance over some of the value of which equals 36 per cent of India’s GDP in mindboggling amount of debts that various top 2008. But what is even more telling is that out of

11 India Exclusion Report

$462 billion siphoned out of India during the last 61 Prabhat Patnaik points out that unlike the scams of years, 68 per cent is attributable to the post-reform the yester-decades, corruption today has become period of just 18 years (he Hindu, 2010). far more sophisticated as a process which also requires certain inancial networks and knowledge While corrupt practices have always existed, in of leverage as the 2G, 4G or the Coalgate scams these neo-liberal times the deinition has gotten far show, which are products of elite capture of public more blurred. his is precisely because deregulation policy-making in a neoliberal age. He suggests and the predominance of inancial capitalism that neo-liberalism has created new and alternate ensures that what would earlier be characterized ethical and political regimes. he entire discussion as corrupt practices, has now not only been of the spreading capitalist values, the passion for normalized and ‘legalized’, but also encouraged. money-making, the intrusion of commoditization Unlike earlier, cosying up with big capital no longer into every sphere of life, all of which are integrally raises eyebrows or elicits frowns in public discourse. linked to our current economic trajectory, has Rather the neo-liberal morality has ensured that receded into the background, and in its place all governments vie with each other in being cosier kinds of facile quick-ix solutions are being sought with corporations than the other. his runs in the to be rammed down the throat of the nation by a name of ‘development’ or ‘investment friendly’ range of godmen, economic gurus, and the bulk of or ‘pro-business’. In a world where proit-making the political class that opportunistically acquiesces and the accumulation of wealth is celebrated and to a policy regime and practice that acts to the rewarded, where it is the ‘bottom line’ that inally detriment of democracy and the poor (Prabhat matters, unless circumstances lead to the detection Patnaik, 2011). of fraud or a violation of the law, an increase in the wealth of a private sector player is normally seen Prabhat Patnaik goes on to suggest that as a virtue and relection of ‘entrepreneurship’ and corruption plays a very important and speciic ‘innovation’. role in the institutionalisation of a neo-liberal regime. It is not just something that a neo-liberal Analysts have also observed that one cannot regime increases the scope for, because of its identify corruption today by looking for illegal pervasive transfer of assets at throwaway prices to activity alone. Many of the practices that happen big capitalists; nor is it merely the outcome of the in rich and poor countries are legal or in a grey large-scale avarice that such a regime unleashes in area where it’s diicult to tell the criminal from the general. hese factors of course are conducive to a lawful. It is possible to argue that inance capital is massive increase in the scale of ‘corruption’, such as by deinition corrupt. Investment banks typically do what we observe in India today. But over and above not disclose their fees to investors in advance (they these, there is a structural reason for the increase in call their charges ‘consideration’) by deducting self- ‘corruption’, especially among bourgeois politicians, decided amounts as they go along. Free charging under such a regime; and that is to enlist their professionals like lawyers, and in many countries political support for this regime. ‘Corruption’ is doctors and dentists, make up their own huge fees. politically necessary for neo-liberalism (Prabhat Isn’t this corrupt? But there’s nothing illegal about it Patnaik, 2012). (Phil Hearse, 2016). What this entails is that unlike earlier, it is far * * * more diicult to establish culpability or determine Many believe that the retreat of the Indian accountability today when it comes to corruption. state away from the principle of primary public

12 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms responsibility for health, education and social captured 95 per cent of all income gains since protection of its disadvantaged populations, and 2009, while the bottom 90 per cent got poorer. In from redistributive taxation since the 1990s, was India, the net worth of the billionaire community part of the package of economic reforms driven by increased twelvefold in 15 years, enough to the ‘Washington Consensus’ of the World Bank and eliminate absolute poverty in this country twice the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But even over (Scroll, 2016). these institutions have begun to acknowledge that She argues that distribution of wealth they may have been drastically wrong. In 2014, matters, and contrary to prevailing economic the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, orthodoxy until now, redistribution policies are admitted that the assumption that people in poor not counterproductive for growth, ‘because if you countries should pay for healthcare was wrong; increase the income share of the poorest, it has a ‘here’s now just overwhelming evidence that multiplying efect on growth…but this does not those user fees actually worsened health outcomes. happen if you do so with the richest’ (Ibid.). So did the bank get it wrong before? Yeah. I think the bank was ideological’ (Lawson 2014). In any A fair and sober assessment of the impact of honest assessment of economic reforms in India, 25 years of economic reforms in India therefore it is imperative that we admit that the movement requires on the one hand an acknowledgment away from public provisioned health and education of its contribution to unleash the potential of the has been a mistake that has resulted in enormous economy for growth and the creation of wealth. But avoidable human sufering and loss for millions of at the same time, it is both callous and disingenuous our people. But there is little evidence of such soul- to ignore the evidence that growth by itself is no searching. guarantee of a better life for people of social and economic disadvantage, which surely should be In a similar self-critical tone, Christine Lagarde, both its primary objective and the paramount managing director of the IMF has said, ‘In far too yardstick for evaluation of its success. many countries the beneits of growth are being enjoyed by far too few people. his is not a recipe What is staring us in the face is the crisis of for stability and sustainability.’ She went on: neo-liberal capitalism and its greatest betrayal: its spectacular failure to create decent work. We were Let me be frank: in the past, economists have told that if a policy regime is created in which big underestimated the importance of inequality. business invests more and makes massive proits, hey have focused on economic growth, on the and the State withdraws from provisioning public size of the pie rather than its distribution. Today, we are more keenly aware of the damage done by goods like education, health-care, water, sanitation inequality. Put simply, a severely skewed income and housing, impoverished and deprived people distribution harms the pace and sustainability would still be better of because they would have of growth over the longer term. It leads to more well-paid jobs. hey would then not have to an economy of exclusion, and a wasteland of depend on a corrupt, ineicient and slothful State, discarded potential (Scroll, 2016). and instead would be able to buy the best and most competitive public goods from the market. She compares rising inequality in the US and However, the core of this argument has collapsed India. because huge private proits are being made, the In the US, inequality is back to where it was before public sector in health and education has shrunk the Great Depression, and the richest 1 per cent and caved in, but job-creation is almost at a

13 India Exclusion Report standstill. Without decent work and earnings, all India we need to summon even greater courage that neo-liberalism is doing for the poor is to widen than we did 25 years ago to liberate ourselves from the gaps between them and better-of people, while these new dogmas. Only then will we muster the excluding them even more decisively from public political and moral will to change course once goods that are essential for a human life of dignity. again, to recognize that all people deserve decent work, health care, education and social protection; Twenty-ive years ago, when Dr Manmohan that markets cannot assure them these; and that Singh spoke to the nation of an idea of which he wealth is not development unless it is shared. was convinced the time had come, he called for freeing ourselves from one set of orthodoxies. But But to change course, more than courage we his prescriptions have had mixed results, many need compassion. of its promises are unrealized, and millions still live wretched lives of avoidable sufering with II oppression and want. In the long dark shadows of the glitter of economic reforms lie the unequal Examining Public Goods and Equity: distribution of wealth, crony capitalism, low public Overview of IXR 2016 investments in health, education, social protection and infrastructure, and the continuing neglect of As with earlier Exclusion Reports in this series, small-farm agriculture. hese continue to shackle we take a particular understanding of the idea millions into hunger, want, low-end uncertain of ‘public goods’, which we deine as ‘goods, employment, distress footloose migration, damaged services, attainments, capabilities, functionings health and denial of education that destroy the and freedoms—individual and collective—that full potential of many millions of young people, are essential for a human being to live with human still trapped in doctoral scholar Rohith Vemula’s dignity’ (Mander, 2015).hese reports speciically haunting description of ‘fatal accident’ of their focus on the exclusions from public goods and births. the role of the State. his is not because we do not recognize that groups of people may be denied he radical prescriptions of 1991 have become access to various public goods, because of social the powerful new orthodoxies of today, canons and market exclusions, such as gender and caste in which have conquered not just India but most of the irst case, and simply not having the money to the world. buy public goods from the market in the second. here is an implicit and sometimes explicit But our focus is on the role of the State, because we assertion in some circles that anyone who believe it is the duty of the State in a democracy to questions the push towards urbanisation, ensure equitable and universal access of all persons privatisation and neo-liberalism in general, to all public goods. We are mindful that in practice which Chidambaram’s model of development the state may not just prevent or correct social and rests on, ‘lacks perspective’ or is stuck in an market exclusions, but may perpetuate exclusions, outdated mindset that romantics (sic) ‘tradition’ or may itself exclude, or as Barbara Harriss White and resents ‘progress’ and the private sector points out in the context of destitute people, it may (Todhunter, 2013). even actively expel populations through the design But new voices in many parts of the world, and implementation of its laws and policies (White, such as of Bernie Sanders in the United States, are 2005, 881–91). speaking out against these orthodoxies. Today in Each Exclusion Report is designed to examine

14 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms in depth four public goods from the perspective of he chapter underlines that contrary to common exclusion. We select the irst of these four public ageist stereotypes, older people oten make valuable goods from what may be broadly designated the contributions, economically, socially, culturally and social sector. he public good that is examined to the care economy. hese contributions should be for this report is pensions for older people. he recognized, respected, and where work is for wages, second public good must be from the general justly and lawfully remunerated. But at the same time, area of infrastructure. his report chose to look at it recognizes that in later stages of life, some decline digital access as a public good. his selection was in physical and intellectual capacities may occur, and made before the tsunami of demonetization was given a choice, some older persons may prefer to rest imagined by us, or unleashed literally overnight or reduce their work. Older persons will also have by the central government in November 2016. But increased economic needs because of health-care these events, months before the report went to the expense, reduced mobility and sometimes the needs press, gives this chapter an unexpected urgency and for home-based care. Pensions therefore should be topicality. he third public good in each Exclusion recognized as a core and inalienable right of older Report is selected from the cluster of land, labour persons, to make a genuinely free choice about and natural resources. his report chooses to look whether or not they wish to work, and if they do not, at agricultural land as a public good. And the fourth to ensure they have suicient funds to lead a healthy public good must be from the broad area of legal life with dignity and autonomy. justice. his report looks at legal justice as a public he chapter examines both moral and economic good for those in conlict with the law. arguments for pensions as a public good. It refers to an ot-repeated moral claim that the well-being Why are these public goods? of the older generation is a responsibility of the younger generations. Central to this argument he irst part of each of these chapters argues why are ideas of debt, gratitude and care between the these are public goods. he pensions chapter deines generations. Another argument views pensions as the public good as the unconditional and regular rightful wages that the employees defer during the transfer of cash from the state to older individuals period of their employment. he chapter also views in recognition of the entitlement of living with pensions through the lens of equality, and suggests dignity for those in advanced stages of life. It argues that pensions be framed as a recognition of the that such a pension system should cover all who contribution people make all through their lives face the possibility of spending their advanced which is relected in the aggregate income generated years without any kind of regular income, without by the country. his formulation is mindful of the the condition of any contribution from their side. It nature of work engagement, that of unregulated builds its argument for pensions to be recognised or unpaid labour within and outside the home, as as a public good by relying on Amartya Sen’s (1992) experienced by women, casual workers, migrants universal idea of capabilities which rests on the and older adults in economies dominated by freedom to achieve well-being of oneself. It argues informal work. that considering the constraints of the economic system and the physical impacts of advancing At the time that the chapter was conceptualized age, income security can be a fundamental way to and written, the case for the digital medium to ensure the ‘capabilities’ required for a digniied life be recognized as a public good was less obvious for oneself. than that for many of the other public goods that the series of Exclusion Reports have examined so

15 India Exclusion Report far, such as education, health care, housing and in the informal labour pool, where they continue decent work. But ater the year-end ultra-shock to face a range of harsh exclusions. Unsurprisingly therapy of demonetization and the consequent the informal labour reservoirs in India are mostly coercion to enter the cashless world of economic comprised of those who are most socially and transactions, far fewer people would argue against historically marginalized—the indigenous peoples universal and equitable access to the digital or Adivasis, Dalits, landless people, migrant medium being a public good. However, the workers, refugees and so on. Women also constitute chapter underlines that the digital medium acts as an important segment of this pool. he authors a possible vehicle to other public goods; it is not interrogate this continued process of exclusion the end in itself but acts as the means to desired by the state of agriculture as well as the tenability ends. It argues accordingly that the digital medium and desirability of creating ever-growing armies of facilitates access to many other valued public desperate wage labour reserves. hey argue that the goods, such as information, knowledge and ideas; resolution of the deepening outcomes of exclusion communication, participation, association; and the and deprivation, and the resolution of the agrarian non-tangible freedom of anonymity. As a powerful crisis in India in favour of the populations who example of the last, it describes highly stigmatized have faced multiple denials, requires a return to the persons living with HIV who have been abandoned recognition of the centrality of the land question by their families, but ind self-expression and in rural India, and of equitable access to land as an worth and become gainfully employed, all without essential public good. being judged, with the anonymity of the internet. he fourth chapter makes a powerful case A unique feature of ICTs, the authors point out, for legal justice contextualising the predicament is the power that it gives the common person, of jailed ‘under-trial’ prisoners. It argues for the without any prejudice of caste, gender, creed, following elements to be necessary for any accused age or physical nature. It speaks of students who person in a just penal system: the presumption are unable to maximize the beneits of higher of innocence, rights upon arrest and bail, right education due to lack of access to the internet, daily to counsel, and fair trial guarantees including wagers who lose their day earnings just to get their protection from undue delays. It calls for inding identity card printed, and the ways this facilitates the just balance between the need for public order, both transparency and access for a range of rights and the need for individual liberty (A. Chandra and such as to pension, daily wage, food, basic health M. Satish, 2016). It quotes powerfully a lament of facilities and education. the Supreme Court 36 years ago that he chapter on agricultural land addresses [i]t is high time that…the Government [and] the the systematic starvation of public resources for judiciary begin to realise that in the dark cells of our agriculture in neo-liberal India, nurtured by the idea prisons there are large numbers of men and women that the massive transfer of people out of agriculture who are waiting patiently, impatiently perhaps, is both a marker and a mandatory ingredient of but in vain, for justice—a commodity which is tragically beyond their reach and grasp. Law has ‘development’, results in growing exclusions from become for them an instrument of injustice and agriculture. In a society where access to land has they are helpless and despairing victims of the been historically shaped by caste-based exclusions callousness of the legal and judicial system.5 and disappropriation under the colonial experience, the present neo-liberal model only exacerbates such he chapter underlines the irony that the words exclusions. hose expelled from agriculture end up quoted above could have been written today.

16 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms

It articulates that ‘justice’ was a commodity or persons from those households which are oicially public good that the hapless under trial prisoner deemed to be Below Poverty Line (or BPL). Pensions was being deprived of. he authors underline are an individual and not household entitlement, that inadequate access to this public good implies therefore household BPL measures do not account not just a diiculty in accessing other positive for intra-family poverty, especially of women and externalities and public goods such as education, most of all single women. It quotes many studies health, livelihood and legal aid, but also severely (including oicial studies) that have established impedes human dignity, and gives rise to stigma that BPL lists are non-transparent and unreliable, within communities and beyond. and tend to exclude more poor people than they include, as well as Dalits, Adivasis, women, migrant Who is Excluded from these Public Goods? and casual workers. he headline of this and indeed every Exclusion he exclusions are even more profound for the Report so far has been that the evidence is consistent Atal Pension Yojna which is a contributory scheme that for virtually every public good that we requiring regular payments for a minimum of 20 examine, it is always the same sets of peoples who years to a maximum of 40 years. Subscription to are excluded. hese are the historically oppressed this scheme would entail multiple capabilities — groups of women, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, persons access, control over excess income, and regularity with disabilities and casual informal workers and of income that enable an individual to make timely the poor. his report only conirms further these payments on quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. indings, and illuminates the multiple ways in which At the present average salary rate for a vast majority even the democratic state in the Indian republic has of people, payment for a inancial product can only failed these oppressed peoples and not assured them be managed by reducing necessary (and already equitable access to the public goods essential for highly insuicient) costs on essentials such as food, them to lead lives of dignity. housing and transportation. Combined with low wages and poverty, the challenge of informality he Exclusion Report presents estimates that of labour relations makes mandatory, regular in India at present a little over one-third6 of older payments for privately procured social security persons (above 60 years) receive some form of schemes even more diicult. he conceptualization pensions. It points out that less than 15 per cent of this scheme as a public good is in itself profoundly of the labour force has formal and consistent lawed. More than half the rural households are employee-employer arrangements that entitle them engaged in manual casual labour as their primary to any kind of social security, old age pensions in employment. A hallmark feature of employment in particular (NSS 68th round 2012). In light of this fact, the unorganized sector is that of irregularity of jobs it argues, the Indian State’s reliance on a narrowly- as well as income. And women are excluded the targeted, means-tested scheme on the one hand and most from decently paid wage work, as well as the an individual contribution-based scheme on the agency to decide how to use money in the formal other to ensure digniied living for the old, is unjust, economy as required by contributory schemes. excluding and incompatible with the prevailing Very far from the union government’s ultimately socio-economic reality of widespread poverty and disingenuous claims that the Atal Pension Yojna a mostly unorganized and unprotected workforce. aims at reaching all those who form part of the he report goes on to observe that the State- ‘unpensioned society’, the scheme is in fact largely funded National Old Age Pension is restricted to blind to the pension needs as well as limitations that

17 India Exclusion Report women who constitute nearly half the population workers are largely Dalits and Tribals (Ministry of and most informal workers face. Rural Development, 2013).he report also conirms that the other most commonly exercised exclusion, he report deines ‘digital exclusion’ as denial apart from social group, is on the basis of sex. As a or inequality with regard to personal access to result of the failure of the rural economy to provide ICTs; the skills to use the devices of one’s own opportunities for decent work, male members of without having any assistance; and the ability to households are migrating away from agriculture leverage the beneits of ICTs. It identiies poverty which eventually burdens the women in the family as a major barrier to internet access, meaning with all/most of the agricultural labour; yet neither that the income poor are the irst large group do they have any role in the decision making related who are digitally excluded. One study (Ericsson to agricultural work nor do they have any right to Consumer Lab, 2015) estimates that even with the land. hey are expected to work as labourers the low and competitive prices of devices and data in the ields of their own families (Kodoth, 2004, plans compared with the rest of the world, internet 1911–1920). he report also observes that the access in India remains beyond the reach of close Muslim community in India has lagged behind the to 1.063 billion people as the lower income group most among all other socio-religious communities does not have discretionary money7 to spend on in land rights. It further presents hard-to-ind data cyber cafes or to get internet connectivity on their to demonstrate the enormous exclusion of people own to access digital information. his is a sobering with disabilities in agriculture and land holdings. estimate, because it suggests that a large majority of Indian people are digitally excluded. he second he report collates and marshals strong evidence barrier to people’s access to and use of the internet suggesting the systematic bias of the criminal justice is geographic location, with people residing in more system against SCs, STs, Muslims, people denied prosperous and urbanized regions having higher formal education, and the poor. he National Crime internet penetration rates than poorer regions. Records Bureau 2015, indicates that almost two- he third set of people excluded from the digital thirds, i.e., 65.56 per cent of all undertrials prisoners medium are people lacking or low in educational (UTPs) are from SC, ST or OBC communities and digital literacy. People in many disadvantaged and 30.24 per cent are from (religious) minority groups are oten precluded from making use of ICTs communities.9 Muslims constitute 20.94 per cent because of low levels of computing and technology of UTPs, thereby over-represented by almost seven skills and more importantly, literacy skills. he percentage points.10 28.55 per cent of UTPs are report also highlights the gender digital divide as illiterate,11 suggesting indirectly a high association one of the most signiicant inequalities ampliied with poverty. hese igures indicate that a large by the digital revolution8 as also the exclusion of proportion of UTPs consists of individuals who PWDs and older people in accessing services or the face diferent kinds of socio-economic and political challenges they face in accessing them. disadvantages which may afect their ability to seek legal justice once in conlict with the law. Coming to the third public good of agricultural land, the report quotes oicial as well as scholarly he report shows that it is most commonly the research to demonstrate that the pattern of land poor—daily wage earners and migrants, women, distribution in India closely relects the existing youth, Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, the elderly, socio-economic hierarchy. While large landowners children, transgendered people, and the mentally invariably belong to the upper castes, cultivators ill who are excluded from access to legal justice. belong to the middle castes, and agricultural In a CES study (with the National Human Rights

18 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms

Commission) of UTP jails in Uttar Pradesh, poverty within the unit of the family alone even when the and illiteracy were found to have a strong bearing household is poor, while there is no legal obligation on perceptions of criminality among the police on the State to provide an alternative. Central personnel. Personnel in every district consistently contributions to pensions were ixed in 1995 at INR displayed discriminatory attitudes towards 75 (at that time equivalent to about 1.5$US) for a Muslims, attributing their participation in crime month. In 2005 it was revised to INR 200 (less than to inherent ‘criminal traits’ such as ‘aggression’. three US$) and since then it has not been revised. he UP Police Manual, like police manuals of he outlays on pensions account for close to 0.05 other states, continues to contain instructions for per cent of GDP. Design laws are even more glaring proiling of former Criminal Tribes. he report with the Atal Pension Yojna. Although oicially also details results of the CES study to demonstrate touted as a social protection scheme, and marketed that the likelihood of getting out on bail is reduced, under the National Pension Scheme by the State, sometimes signiicantly, for members of these it is by design just another inancial product demographic categories. It also found that young developed for maximizing private proit rather people from these deprived groups are more likely than the public good. he underlying premise is to secure release through plea bargaining (thereby that by implication it makes individuals responsible being convicted) than by getting access to bail. his for protecting themselves against old age poverty enables their entry into police records as ‘history- and unfair conditions of work, and simultaneously sheeters’, trapping them for the rest of their lives in absolves the State from its responsibility to address the criminal justice system. old age income insurance. For digital inclusion, the report notes that India Processes of Exclusion refused to be a signatory to a non-binding resolution titled ‘he promotion, protection and enjoyment of All the chapters ind, as in earlier reports, that these human rights on the internet’ at the 32nd session exclusions occur because of equity-related laws of the United Nations Human Rights Council. he in the design, or else in the implementation, of government’s reluctance to signing a non-binding relevant law and policy. resolution to incorporate a rights-based approach he report evaluates whether pensions to ensuring this access spoke volumes. are inclusive and just, employing four criteria he dismal results of the Common Service —coverage, adequacy, age of initiation and Centre which was conceptualized as ‘front end transparency and ease of disbursement of pension. service delivery outlets enabling smooth and No constitutional or legal obligation exists for the transparent governance at the village level’ notes government to ensure pensions for older people. both under-funding and biases in implementation he National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), as shown in the report. Only 10 states were able the key programme through which pensions are to establish these on time. he bottlenecks on the disbursed, is a government initiative and not a ground were the poor IT infrastructure; lack of statutory scheme governed by any legislation. his adequate institutional frameworks and governance is diferent from several public goods, like school mechanisms; failures of state government to allot education, food, rural employment and forest land; particularly in the northeastern states as rights, which are now legal rights, even if qualiied well as states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh the and conditional. It is striking that some laws make uneven and rough geographical terrain acted as a the responsibility for care of older people vest barrier; poor connectivity; reliance on village-level

19 India Exclusion Report entrepreneurs with the right skill sets who may not even allowed to take possession. hough the not be available because of factors like low literacy; national guidelines are that 50 per cent of the land and lack of cooperation from government oicials, to be distributed through land reform measures especially at lower levels. hese problems riddle should be to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe other initiatives as well, such as the high-proile beneiciaries, the distribution pattern in many Digital India programme of the union government states reveals a bias in favour of non-scheduled led by Narendra Modi, which aimed to provide groups. And the very idea of women as owners broadband connectivity through optical ibre to of agricultural land or indeed of women as 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in an efort to provide last farmers was outside the imagination, let alone the mile connectivity as critical infrastructure. here implementation, of land reforms. have been delays in the roll-out. More signiicantly, Tenancy laws have also mostly failed tenants 100,200 panchayats were targeted under Phase 1 in general, but more speciically they have failed which was scheduled to be completed in March these historically disadvantaged groups. Tenancy 2014. As of April 2016, only 48,199 panchayats were in India is mostly hidden and informal. Only 9 covered. But only 6727 panchayats have internet per cent of farmers are recorded to be tenants as access, only 13 per cent of the connected panchayats per the NSSO data. In reality, this igure could be or 6 per cent of the total scheduled for Phase 1.his three times or more. he landless and the marginal is an important reality-check that must be heeded by farmers constitute the bulk of those leasing in land. policy-makers who dream of a cashless India despite he Scheduled Castes have a slightly larger share in failures of the government to ensure connectivity to tenancy, but the average land holding of these leased the mass of the rural populace. he key mediators in lands is hardly 0.28 hectares. Around 53 per cent of the traditional exclusionary process described of SC households lease in land on the most adverse earlier created what the writers call ‘double-trouble’ terms on the basis of share in produce, which is a for the groups disadvantaged by gender, caste, result of their feeble bargaining power. religious identity, class and disability, whose digital exclusion leads to inancial exclusion, which in he report points to many aspects of the opaque the new thrust to a cashless economy are further and formalistic structures and institutions within disadvantaged in their livelihoods and access to a the criminal justice system function, that result range of public goods. in a situation in which people of socio-economic- cultural-political disadvantage ind it much harder he continued exclusion of vulnerable to access justice. It describes the unjust practice of populations from land is explained in the report plea bargaining in the name of judicial reform. as largely the consequence of the failure of land reforms in the absence of political commitment. It also elaborates many aspects of institutional he percentage of land redistributed was limited bias. For instance, many policepersons interviewed and the small amounts of land which were in the CES study admitted to charging individuals redistributed remained mostly promises on paper falsely under he Arms Act (1959), the NDPS Act with no real eforts towards implementation. (1985), the Public Gambling Act (1867), the UP Cultivable wastelands are oten actually cultivated Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act (1955) and the UP by large, upper-caste landowners, and the proposed Excise Act (1910), all for the larger ‘good’ to ‘control’ allotments to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe crime across the ive districts of UP. In other words, landless households also oten remain on paper, men they regard to be criminal or inclined to crime as these allottees are forcefully evicted or at times are charged falsely with the possession of unlawful

20 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms materials—unlicensed arms, narcotics, beef, cows, plan to provide for themselves for an additional 18 bulls or bullocks, and quantities of liquor above 1.5 years, taking into account age-induced incapacities litre—because the paperwork takes less time than if any and reduced income. Rapid decline into an actual investigation (CES report, p. 42). Mental abject poverty, consumption contraction, decline in illness is found to be a reason for why families pay the health and quality of life are the most widespread police to incarcerate family members. here are also consequences of exclusion from pensions in widely-held prejudiced beliefs about disadvantaged advanced age. Not having access to good nutrition communities, most of all about Muslims. or health services impacts their ability to participate in ‘gainful employment’. On the other hand, a weak It records the reluctance of the police to grant pension system ofers a majority of workers no real bail for bailable ofences based on past history or option whether they wish to work or not. Studies ‘criminal appearance’, and the judiciary under- also show that homes in which the old did not utilizes provisions for release on personal bond. receive pensions recorded higher incidences of the here are blatant violations of rights relating to second generation being involved in child labour. arrest, including the lack of intimation of grounds here are also macro-impacts; ampliication of of arrest and the right to bail in the case of bailable poverty and inequality in society, contraction of the ofences. And of course, almost as a rule the denial economy are generally the expected impacts when of quality legal aid—grossly inadequate and poor the majority of the people in a country age without quality legal aid services (delays in appointment, old age social security. absence at prison, absence from courts, lack of adherence to guidelines—coupled with extractive People on the wrong side of the digital divide private lawyers. he report also inds that lack access to information that ICTs allow others policepersons, lawyers, jail staf, even judges, are to reach with the push of a button. his limits oten poorly informed about even the classiication opportunities for self-growth, empowerment, self- of ofences as bailable or non-bailable, and court conidence, self-determination and deepening rulings and law amendments that advance the people’s citizenship. ICTs can provide useful aids rights of the accused. Large physical distances of in education, including for distance education, jails from the main town/city, coupled with poor access to expensive and otherwise inaccessible public transport connectivity creates a further educational materials, and computer-based disincentive for lawyers to meet their clients at the tutorials and simulation sotware for the sciences. jail, and makes it diicult for family or friends to he report mentions exclusion from potential visit the inmate. information for education, health, employment and recreation for older people, persons with Consequences of Exclusions disability and others. In addition, the people who can operate computers and have access to the As with earlier reports, another signiicant inding internet stand a better chance than those who are of this report is that the exclusion of peoples from digitally excluded, though literate and otherwise any of the public goods examined in this chapter competent, to get even a secretarial job let alone an result in their exclusion from several other public administrative one. Women with no internet are goods too in a domino efect. not able to access the vast plethora of health-related In India, the average life expectancy at the age of services, especially related to the sensitive issues 60 years is an additional 18 years. his means that at that women are not comfortable in discussing with the oicial age of retirement an individual needs to others. he exclusion from banking transactions

21 India Exclusion Report becomes even more damaging in the recent context SCs, the landless and marginal farmers. he latter of the union government’s sudden galloping drive form three-quarters of distress migrants in the to a cashless economy. he chapter also speaks of country. Pauperization embedded in this process the imperfectly realized beneits of placing MG of semi-proletarianization produces disastrous NREGA details online and digital wage payments. consequences for the families involved: hunger, But on the other hand, placing more and more undernourishment, starvation and its impact on information about government programmes on the the health and longevity of families, school drop- internet certainly has expanded transparency, and outs and child labour. this enables citizens to hold public oicials more Unjust, repeated and prolonged incarceration accountable. lead to losses of social attainments, capabilities, he consequences of exclusion from land and development during the time the undertrials ownership and agriculture in India has condemned spend in prison. Very oten, these cause ruptures, millions into endemic and chronic poverty, and sometimes permanent breaks in employment, seriously limiting possibilities of upward mobility livelihood, education and shelter, for the family for future generations belonging to such poor let outside as much for the individual ater households. When data on exclusions in agriculture he or she is released. here is also a stigma in is superimposed with the data of informal workers community, for spouses, parents, siblings, also in India, it becomes clear that exclusion from for children of undertrials. he authors underline land and agriculture eventually forces peasants that the denial of the right to bail and legal to seek out the life of a wage earner working justice very oten results in perpetuating cycles either on others’ lands or taking up non-agrarian of poverty and widening inequalities (between pursuits, oten in distant lands with no security both individuals and for entire communities). or permanence. Twenty-ive years of economic It also reinforces marginalization based on reforms has created a chronic crisis in agriculture, religion, caste, ethnic identity or class in the way visible in the unending epidemic of farmer suicides. the system treats individuals; oten in terms of As per the National Crime Records Bureau, in the dignity, a reinforcement of the oppression that 20 years between 1995 and 2014, more than 3 lakh exists outside the prison on the basis of caste, farmers committed suicide. Working on the land community, class, and religion. Particularly grave of others in the context of a crisis-ridden agrarian are the consequences if the sole earner is in prison, situation means mortgaging a future to underpaid or in the case of a single parent being in prison, seasonal wage work; contract bondage, unpaid work oten women, creating the need to leave children without any form of social security, or unprotected in the care of acquaintances, sometimes in unsafe tenancy. hese distressed rural migrants form a environs. It also may result in a worsening of large chunk of ‘informal sector’ workers. he rural conditions of mental illness and health more origin pockets in urban areas result in a number of broadly. slum settlements characterized by inadequate water here is also the vicious cycle of adverse legal and sanitation facilities, insuicient housing and outcomes. A person on bail is in a better position increased food insecurity. to prepare or present his or her case compared to he absence of land and irrigation are the one in custody. Accepting guilt in plea bargaining major factors pushing poor households to ind is found to create permanent unequal outcomes jobs through short-term migration. he rate of in the future. It is much harder to gain formal temporary migration is highest among STs and employment outside prison. It colours others’

22 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms perceptions, including institutions and individuals of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and within the criminal justice system. You are seen to Minorities. hey caution further that the squeeze have a criminal record that is likely to haunt you. in social sector spending translates itself oten in If you’re charged in multiple cases, even if the irst reduced investment in human resources for these charge was completely unjust, you are still seen as a sectors—numbers, job security and training—but potential and repeat ofender. Entire communities this neglects the fact these sectors primarily depend may be criminalized in this way. on trained and motivated staing. hey conclude that the ability of the poorer III states to expand their iscal space with own revenue collection is limited. Moreover, demands from Exclusion in Budgets & Planning sectors such as energy and other infrastructure sectors, general administration, and law and order In a timely and relective chapter, Subrat Das, Amar could result in even more intense competition for Chanchal and Jawed Alam Khan try to examine social sector resources. hey believe that the only what implications the greater inancial devolution way to achieve the twin goals of greater autonomy to the states has had, and is likely to have, on social to the states and stepping up expenditure in the sector spending in the states. he considerable social sectors would be through an increase in the increase in the magnitude of untied resources tax-GDP ratio in the country, which remains lower transferred to states from 32 to 42 per cent every and more regressive than for most comparable year is accompanied by signiicant reductions in the countries. union government’s inancial assistance to states and budget outlays for many central schemes. he net increase in state resources has been modest IV in many states—some stats have even shown a Proiles of Vulnerable Communities decline—but there is a higher magnitude of untied funds with the states. he authors ind that for As with other reports, the last part of the report social sector programmes connected with child is based on detailed ethnographies of a range nutrition, school meals, drinking water and public of especially vulnerable and oppressed peoples. health, there is reduced support from the union hese are important to understand the actual lived government to the states. he onus shits therefore experience and the processes of vulnerabalization to the states to compensate for this reduction in of people who sufer multiple forms of denials and terms of a higher state share. exclusions from a range of public goods. Unlike the irst part of the report, the point of vantage is not the In a close examination of the budgets of 10 public good but sets of people who live in especially states, they ind a lower priority in state budget diicult circumstances. he highly marginalized allocation for education in Assam, Bihar, Madhya and exploited people studied for this Exclusion Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha in Report are manual scavengers, urban poor people 2016–17. Allocations for health have fared a little of Delhi, urban street children, and rural women, better, except in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. and girls with disability. Allocations for social welfare sufered in all states except Assam, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh; he authors of the chapter on manual scavengers this includes allocation for women and child airm most importantly that any amount of efort development, persons with disabilities and welfare by the government to make scavenging safer and

23 India Exclusion Report healthier cannot ensure a digniied life for people It has oten been anecdotally observed that it engaged in dehumanizing work such as cleaning is very rare for a safai karmachari to reach the age human ilth. heir social indignity is linked whereby he or she is eligible for old age pensions. inextricably to caste, and in addition in most cases he level of education in the safai karamchari the gender into which they are born. he only way community is very low. Children of the community forward to improve the condition of the lives of are oten addressed and insulted by various caste this community would be to create a life away from names in schools both by teachers and children this work. his barbaric system, they say, whereby a from other castes who are socialized in caste norms community is tasked with cleaning human excreta, to not come into contact with scavenger children. has endured for centuries even in democratic India At the primary level, they may attend schools in the because it proves to be a cheap and convenient mohallas exclusively for children of the community sanitation solution. he system dates back several and identiied as such, for instance a Valmiki school thousands of years, put in place and maintained or a Vatal school. he level of education here is there by a Brahminical-Manuwadi oppressive social extremely poor. When they come out of primary structure that persists even today. his casteist school and attend schools in which children from practice whereby the burden of cleaning human other communities study as well, they are forced excreta rests on Dalits has over the years been to carry their scavenger identity with them (even if legitimized institutionally and is today propped they do not engage in the work themselves) and are up by the political classes and the government as sometimes forced to clean the toilets of the schools society can’t be bothered to ind a way of managing they study in. Shamed and humiliated, they oten their own shit. lose heart and drop out early. he dirtiest form of manual scavenging involves he chapter describes the powerful resistance the cleaning of untreated human excreta in dry of the safai karmachari community against the latrines by hand. his is mostly done by women. Dry practice of manual scavenging, through direct latrines are usually inside the home and the owners action like symbolically burning baskets and prefer women to enter their homes to clean. he demolishing dry toilets and public pledges to give safai karmachari community is equally patriarchal up this profession; documentation of thousands and creates conditions whereby it is women who of cases of manual scavengers to prove that the have to take up jobs that pay the least and are most government’s reports that the practice has ended looked down on. he report quotes Saroj, manual are proved false; and a long and powerful litigation scavenger from Haryana: in the Supreme Court. It also traces the eforts for a Would you be alright sitting in a gutter? Ater stronger legal regime to end manual scavenging. In relieving yourself you clean your hands with soap recent years, the movement has added a strong focus because they are dirty, right?! We have to carry on the problems of sewer workers. hese are also that very same excreta. Our health is bound men from the same safai karmachari community, to be bad because our work is with ilth. We who are forced to enter sewers, directly immersing menstruate more during our periods, sufer from themselves in human excreta and risking their lives. miscarriages more, our children are oten born he chapter on the urban poor people in Delhi with some deformity or disability, asthma, and attempts to depict the extreme heterogeneity of other allergies causing skin lesions and itching are common side efects. We chew tobacco to counter this population, using the framework ofered the smells and this leads to a higher incidence of by the Hashim Committee constituted by the Tuberculosis. his is only to name a few…. Planning Commission. his suggested an analytical 24 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms framework for the understanding of urban poverty many kilometres away from the city, oten on plots against a threefold axis relecting three main with no public services. It inds that most people categories of vulnerabilities that this population resettled here were so far from the city that they faces: residential, occupational and social. lost their livelihood, or school admissions were also In the residentially vulnerable frame, the interrupted and life almost started afresh. Second, chapter looks carefully at the situation of homeless women found it very diicult to get jobs in the area. persons, slum residents and those who live in slum Few women worked as domestic help in nearby resettlement colonies. It speaks of high homeless households, but most women did not have a secure deaths, the extremely uncertain and low-end work, source of income any more. he authors also point and the paradoxically high costs of surviving on to festering open drains, the increasing epidemic at the streets because even the most mundane needs the time of research of chikungunya and dengue in have to be bought or hired in the market, from almost every household, and enhanced concerns food, toilet and bathing, to even hiring a blanket for regarding women’s safety. winter nights on pavements. It also relects on the Among Delhi’s occupationally vulnerable chronic character of homelessness: a man who has populations, the chapter proiles street vendors, been 40 years without a home, says: ‘When I came forced to pay bribes despite progressive changes in I used to sleep on the footpath for years. You can the law that have still not touched their lives. he get some work in Delhi on the roads, and get some government, the vendors said, made it diicult food too. But you will not ind a place to sleep.’ for those who were trying to earn an honest he section on slum residents focuses on living. Bribes pushed them further into debt, and sprawling settlements of habitations that are unit the market was particularly hostile to women. A for human survival built on public land and oicially second group that is described is waste-pickers or treated merely as illegal ‘encroachments’ that have to rag-pickers, whose work includes collecting waste, be ‘cleared’. his oicial approach neglects the fact sorting and segregating it and trading in it. Waste- that slums are a result of the failures of public policy pickers are classiied into four groups: those who to create afordable houses, self-owned or rental, carry sacks and collect anything of resale value from for the massive informal working and migrant open drains, municipal bins, dumping grounds, populations, and this predicament is aggravated etc.; who pick, sort and carry in sacks on bicycles further by frequent demolitions without humanely items like glass, bottles, and plastics; those who ply planned resettlement. It describes in particular, the tricycles and collect almost 50kg of waste each day plight of one such settlement which reports more and travel long distances to sell them; and those who than ive demolitions in 35 years, although there work for waste dealers collecting and sorting waste are people with oicial records that date back 35 for them. Because of the exposure to toxin, waste years. he most recent was one year before the ield and working since a young age without protective study, and the CES researchers found that people gear, waste-pickers sufer from cuts, respiratory were still forced to live under plastic sheets and diseases, tuberculosis and infections. he children torn clothes and old saris crated into makeshit of rag pickers oten are in the same occupation and homes, with a few temporary mobile dry toilets denied education. he third group is construction and a tanker of water that comes twice a day where workers. hey are recruited on casual and oten daily the residents collect and store water for daily use. basis either directly by a builder or construction he section also looks at resettlement colonies, company, but mostly by intermediaries who take in which demolished slum residents are settled, a commission on the payment being made. heir

25 India Exclusion Report employment is characterized by prolonged work reaction would be to detain or lock him or her up in hours with inadequate rest periods, hazardous everybody’s best interest. Both perceptions operate working conditions, unstable employment and either on the assumption that it is not really the state’s earnings and shiting of workplaces and poor responsibility or that there are no real solutions and healthcare access. hey are typically migrant labour the best one can do is a temporary Band-Aid approach with poor rights, no organization and therefore of ‘managing them (read taming them) here and little say about work conditions. he women are now’. he report on the contrary foregrounds the oten not paid minimum wages and their children non-custodial, residential, long-term care approach deprived of elementary facilities like health, water, wherein there is a rich mix of educational, life-skills, sanitary facilities, education and ration cards. recreational and health activities catering to the needs of every individual child in a violence-free he chapter goes on to describe the special environment. he last vulnerable group described in problems of socially vulnerable groups among the this report is rural women and girls with disability, urban poor—persons with disability (PWDs), single based on a primary study by CES in villages in women and Muslims. It describes, for instance, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand. he study Viklang Basti (literally Colony of the Disabled) near was unique because rural women and girls with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, with 450 households disability participated in the study as researchers. and 1000 people, in which most adults are disabled he study conirmed that women and girls living living a life by alms-seeking, and only around 10 per with disabilities in India’s rural areas face distinct cent of households have ration cards. It also touches and extreme forms of exclusion. Not only do they upon Muslims living in under-served ghettos, with face the kinds of exclusion endemic to members of diiculties in hiring homes in mixed settlements, poverty-stricken rural households—access to food, and discrimination in schooling and employment. water and safe housing, social security and health he third vulnerable group proiled in this care, basic services and mechanisms of justice Exclusion Report is street children, India being delivery—but they also have to deal with aggravated home to the world’s largest population of street issues of access to these because of the lack of children. he authors describe how this population enabling infrastructure, and limitations imposed by of some of the country’s most vulnerable children, their speciic disabilities. In the words of a teacher, although physically so visible, are rendered invisible ‘Poverty is the curse for these children.’ At the same to society and the State, and excluded from access time, the gendered social exclusions that these girls to public goods, such as safety and protection, food and women face go far deeper. hese are built into the and nutrition, health, public space and education. very structure of a society where a physical ‘defect’ It highlights their deprivations and denials, the or ‘abnormality’ is assumed to invalidate a woman’s violence and exploitation they face, and their daily potential to be educated, or married, while marriage struggles merely to survive. Because of extreme remains—within hetero-normative and patriarchal poverty, substance abuse or irresponsible parentage, frameworks—the sole route to a stable and the children are let largely to their own devices. permanent source of emotional support. he labour he report highlights that the prevailing of sustaining a household is disproportionately the polarities in the public discourse are ones of women’s responsibility, and a failure to perform it is restoration or detention. While the former presumes an invalidation of one’s viability as a woman. Along that the child can only be helped by placing them with the shame and material consequences of this back in the family, the latter presumes that the best failure, disabled women also face a frequent, almost

26 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms chronic lack of dignity, companionship and sense of work—is always the ‘irst shit’. Care of children and individual fulilment. the sick also take up time, and cannot be shared unless a daughter reaches adolescence. If physically What deines their unique situations then, it for it, cultivation of any land owned by the as seen in the research, are two speciic and family is the next priority, and only ater that comes interlocking problems: limitations to their mobility paid work. Women any way face huge barriers to and ability to perform some kind of physical labour, equitable access to work that is fairly remunerated, and the lack of educational, professional and social safe and digniied, but for women with disabilities, opportunities accessible to these women. Limited these diiculties are oten incrementally higher. mobility—whether enacted directly, in terms of Discrimination about capacity for work and the pain and weakness they feel, or indirectly, gendered wage rates compound the diiculties many through their or their families’ fear for their well- women with orthopaedic and vision disabilities being and safety—renders them frequently unable face in going out to work every day. Even with to access work or education outside the home, more education, opportunities for employment while simultaneously, in some cases, limiting their other than manual labour are practically nil in attempts to be self-suicient in housework and most villages, with the exception of a few cases of self-care. he lack of opportunities prevents them employment as teachers or in NGOs. from inding dignity in alternative occupations and reduces them to their circumstantial incapacities. Enrolment is denied by schools to those with severe disabilities on grounds of untrained staf, he role of the family is paradoxical in their lack of appropriate infrastructure, and in some lives. It is their main, oten only source of support, cases, even a perception of the child as ‘incapable it may neglect or over-protect, it rarely consults of learning’. In many cases, the decision to not send with and oten hides and feels shame, and the these girls to school is taken at home, by parents protective isolation extended by the family only who prioritize their non-disabled or male children. adds a cocoon of silence to the pervasive sexual At the same time, parents who themselves have had exploitation of those with disabilities. Marriage is limited or no education are uncertain about their considered the ubiquitous form of social security children’s itness for school, and about the utility for rural women by most of our respondents across of education for them in a situation of such limited the three states. Whether or not she was able to work opportunities. Children who are able to earn their own livelihood, perform housework or attend school, mostly children with less restricting self-care, and irrespective of her desire to marry, it disabilities or with access to assistive devices, rarely was a life arrangement to which nearly all aspired, complained about the experience. Most children or wished they could aspire, and felt of lesser worth reported, hearteningly, that they were treated if their situation made marriage seem an unrealistic well by teachers and students, some friends even aspiration. Diiculties in cooking, cleaning, stopping by their houses before school to help them childbearing and child care, washing and fetching carry their schoolbags. water, besides agricultural work if the family owns land, and manual labour if it does not, for married respondents led to guilt and lowered self-worth. Afterword

he authors note that for poor rural women in It is oten pertinently asked, who is the intended these locations, domestic work—which includes audience for this series of India Exclusion the two distinct tasks of household work and care Reports? he audience that we seek to reach out

27 India Exclusion Report to for the reports is diverse. It is of course irst for these Exclusion Reports. We wish to inform and policy makers, scholars and civil society activists inluence, and hopefully even educate, not just the for a just public policy. We hope that strong State, but also larger public opinion. herefore, evidence-based analytical reports year ater year the India Exclusion Reports are also intended for on the outcomes of governance for India’s most teaching in universities, and we are trying to prepare oppressed peoples, the vast and comprehensive teaching notes to help teachers and students to use denials, and the unjust, adverse inclusions, that these Exclusion Reports for pedagogic purposes. they face from a wide range of public goods, We try to share our research output in other and the lives of entirely preventable denial and Indian languages, mainly Hindi so far, with the sufering that they continue to endure, will hold communities we base our study upon to learn from up a mirror to the people who engage with public them and in return equip them with our methods policy and law. We hope that it will persuade them and analysis. We are also doing versions for young that these outcomes exist, however much they people in graphic novel form which we hope to tend to be made invisible in everyday life, and that publish online, and in the future even hope for a these outcomes are not inevitable or normal but version of each Exclusion Report for children as are the direct outcomes of public policy and law. well. Because as I argue in Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indiference in New India, a just and But these are not the only, and if we may suggest caring State can only be located ultimately in a just even the paramount, audiences that we seek for and caring society.

Endnotes 5. For full copy, see judgement on Hussainara Khatoon (I) v. Union of India, (1980) 1 SCC 81, 83. 1. My gratitude for strong research support and advice 6. An estimate of over one-third is an approximate from my colleagues Anirban Bhattacharya and derived based on the following igures. About 23 Vivek Mishra. per cent of the old are covered under the IGNOAPS. 2. As per the FOURTH ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT Eight per cent are covered by private sector & UNEMPLOYMENT SURVEY REPORT (2013– employers. he rest are covered by public sector 14) at the all-India level, 49.5 per cent persons are employers. he irst igure is based on the total estimated to be self-employed under the Usual beneiciaries of IGNOAPS presented in Annexure Principal Status Approach followed by 30.9 per 1 (2,41,67,176 people) and considering the total cent as casual labour. Only 16.5 per cent were wage/ population of those above the age of 60 years as salary earners and the rest 3.0 per cent covered 10.39 crores. For the second igure see ‘When India contract workers. See http://labourbureau.nic.in/ Ages; whither all Pensions’ published by CRISIL Report%20%20Vol%201%20inal.pdf Insight in January 2015. Accessed at https://www. 3. In this section in particular, the contributions of polymerupdate.com/general/special-features/ Anirban Bhattacharya and Vivek Mishra have been articles/crisil/crisil-27022015-144416.pdf. For particularly signiicant. estimates, also see India Labour and Employment 4. According to a report by Credit Suisse published in Report 2014: Workers In he Era of Globalisation; October 2015, the total amount of money owed to Institute of Human Development, published by the State-owned banks alone was calculated to be Academic Foundation, New Delhi in 2014. INR 3.04 lakh crore. See http://www.india.com/ 7. Discretionary income is the amount of an news/india/reliance-adani-vedanta-group-top-10- individual’s income that is let for spending, companies-with-the-largest-debt-1220822/ investing or saving ater paying taxes and paying

28 Public Goods, Exclusion and 25 Years of Economic Reforms

for personal necessities, such as food, shelter and Prison Statistics in India: ‘Table 5.2 – Demographic clothing. Discretionary income includes money Proile of Undertrial Prisoners at the end of 2015 spent on luxury items, vacations, and nonessential (Continued)’p. 103. Religion-wise population: goods and services. 69.77 (Hindu); 20.94 (Muslim); 3.87 (Sikh); 3.67 8. he Digital Revolution refers to the advancement of (Christian); 1.76 (Others) Caste-wise population: technology from analog electronic and mechanical 21.67 (Scheduled Caste); 12.41 (Scheduled Tribe); devices to the digital technology available today. 31.48 (Other Backward Classes); 34.43 (General). he era started during the 1980s and is ongoing. 10. Muslims constituted 14.23 per cent of the national he Digital Revolution also marks the beginning of population based on Census of India 2011 igures. the Information Era. http://www.census2011.co.in/religion.php 9. Calculated from Govt. of India (2015) NCRB 11. Ibid.

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29 India Exclusion Report

———. (2015). India Exclusion Report 2015: An Overview. Rai, Dipu. (2016).Banks shower loans ‘wilful defaulter’ Niranjan India Exclusion Report 2015. Hiranandani. DNA. 15 November. Retrieved 26 February ———. (2015). Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and 2017, from http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report- Indiference in New India, New Delhi: Speaking Tiger. dna-exclusive-hiranandani-co-founder-declared-wilful- ———. (2015). Surging tides of inequality. he Hindu. 11 defaulter-banks-still-shower-him-with-loans-2273416 July. Retrieved 26 February 2017, from http://www. Sharma, Aditya. (2016). Reliance, Adani, Vedanta group – thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/harsh- Top 10 companies with the largest debt. India. 28 May. mander-on-the-rising-economic-inequality-in-india/ Retrieved 26 February 2017, from http://www.india. article7407472.ece com/news/india/reliance-adani-vedanta-group-top-10- ———. (2015). Many degrees of hopelessness in India’s companies-with-the-largest-debt-1220822/ villages. Hindustan Times. 30 July. Retrieved 26 February Srivastava, Ravi. (2012). An overview of its features, trends 2017, from http://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/ and policy challenges in National Workshop on Internal many-degrees-of-hopelessness-in-india-s-villages/story- Migration and Human Development in India. Workshop YH5T9PC9fGA5EKamUm1MFL.html Compendium Vol. II: Workshop Papers, UNESCO. ———. (2016). 25 years ater liberalisation: India must realise October. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://www. that wealth isn’t development unless it is shared. Scroll.in. unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/FIELD/ 25 July. Retrieved 26 February 2017, fromhttps://scroll. New_Delhi/pdf/Migration_VOL-2__Low-res_PDF_for_ in/article/812373/25-years-after-liberalisation-india- view__01.pdf must-realise-that-wealth-isnt-development-unless-it-is- TOI. (2008). One-third of world’s poor in India: Survey. he shared Times of India. 27 August. Retrieved 26 February 2017, from Ministry Of Finance Department Of Economic Afairs http://timesoindia.indiatimes.com/india/One-third-of- Economic Division. (2015). Indian Public Finance worlds-poor-in-India-Survey/articleshow/3409374.cms Statistics 2014-2015. New Delhi. GOI. July. Retrieved he Hindu. (2016). India up one position in WB ease of 26 February 2017, from http://inmin.nic.in/reports/ business ranking. he Hindu. 25 October. Retrieved IPFStat201415.pdf 26 February 2017, from http://www.thehindu.com/ Ministry of Rural Development. (2013) Committee on business/Economy/India-up-one-position-in-WB-ease- State Agrarian Relations and Uninished Task of Land of-business-ranking/article16081515.ece Reforms. New Delhi. GOI. Retrieved 26 February 2017, Indian Express. (2016). SBI writes of Rs 7,016 crore loans fromhttp://www.rd.ap.gov.in/ikpland/mrd_committee_ owed by wilful defaulters, including Vijay Mallya’s report_v_01_mar_09.pdf defunct airlines. he Indian Express. 16 November. OECD 50. (2011). Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Retrieved 26 February 2017, from http://indianexpress. Rising. Retrieved 26 February 2017, from https://www. com/article/business/banking-and-finance/sbi-write- oecd.org/els/soc/49170768.pdf off-npas-wilful-defaulters-list-vijay-mallya-kingfisher- Oxfam. (2014). Even It Up: Time To End Extreme Inequality. airlines-4378210/ Retrieved 26 February 2017, from https://www.oxfam. Todhunter, Colin. (2013). Mass poverty and social inequality org/sites/www.oxfam.org/iles/ile_attachments/cr-even- in India: he devastating impacts of the neoliberal it-up-extreme-inequality-291014-en.pdf economic developmental model. Global Research. 30 Patnaik, Prabhat. (2011). Capitalism, Corruption, and the October. Retrieved 26 February 2017, from http://www. Subversion of Democracy and Secularism. MR Online. globalresearch.ca/mass-poverty-and-social-inequality- 7 June. Retrieved 26 February 2017, from https:// in-india-the-devastating-impacts-of-the-neoliberal- mronline.org/2011/06/07/capitalism-corruption-and- economic-development-model/5356153 the-subversion-of-democracy-and-secularism/ Varma, Subodh. (2016). India ranked 97th of 118 in global ———. (2012). Neo-liberalism and ‘corruption’. Progressive hunger index. he Times of India. Retrieved 26 February Interactions, Odisha Today Network. Retrieved 26 2017, from http://timesoindia.indiatimes.com/india/ February 2017, fromhttps://groups.google.com/ India-ranked-97th-of-118-in-global-hunger-index/ forum/#!topic/progressive-interactions/SRun7FywItc articleshow/54822103.cms

30 SECTION I Woman handling her pension related documents and receipts, etc. Photo Credit: Jayshankar Menon, Rough Cut Productions, Delhi. Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

Kinjal Sampat Contributing author: Harsh Mander*

his chapter examines the provisioning of pensions consequences of being excluded from pension for old persons in India, focusing mainly on people provisioning. Listing best practices of public disadvantaged by gender, caste, religion and class. pension provisioning and a list of recommendations Pensions, here, refers to regular cash transfers concerning public pensions in India form the latter made to individuals in recognition of advancement sections of the chapter. he terms social pension of their age. he chapter relies on information and public pension have been interchangeably used obtained from public data sources, secondary throughout the chapter to refer to non-contributory studies as well as primary ield insights from a pensions provided by the state. study1 conducted by the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in 2016 in Rajasthan and Gujarat, dealing 1. Pensions in India with various aspects of provisioning of old age pensions (henceforth referred to as CES study on In India at present it is estimated that a little over one- pensions). he chapter briely traverses the history third2 of older persons (above 60 years) receive some of pensions globally and in India, unpacking the form of pensions which fall under one or the other moral-politico and economic underpinnings across of the three categories mentioned above. Majority of predominant pension systems. these pensions are non-contributory public-funded For the purpose of analysis, this chapter classiies pensions, provided through the Indira Gandhi pensions in India into three broad categories National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) based on the responsibility of contribution as the of the Government of India via auxiliary pension following—fully publicly funded, non-contributory schemes of the State governments. he then titled pensions entitlements, co-contributory pensions National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) was relying partially on beneiciary’s contribution while initiated as late as 1995 as a conditional and means- the remaining contribution is made by employer or tested old age pension scheme, under the National State or both generally, and pensions that wholly Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of the central rely on contributions of the beneiciary. It seeks to government. At the outset, it entitled each beneiciary answer speciic questions regarding exclusion from to a minimum of INR 75 per month (little less than pensions such as—who are the people not protected 1.5 US$). Before the introduction of the NSAP, by pensions and by what processes is exclusion pension coverage was extremely low in India. he meted out in big and small ways and what are the NOAPS was revised in 2007—the age of initiation

* Expert Reviewers: Penny Vera Sanso, Ravi Srivastav, N.C. Saxena Contributing researchers: Nandini Dey, Raavi Aggarwal, Rhea John, Vivek Mishra 33 India Exclusion Report was revised to 60 years from 65 years and destitution At the time of introduction, the scheme was as a conditionality was withdrawn, thereby making restricted to those persons from oicially all those 60 years and above and falling Below Poverty designated Below Poverty Line households Line (BPL) eligible for pensions. Following this, the who were able to establish their destitution. scheme was renamed Indira Gandhi National Old 2. A mandatory shit (2004 onwards) from Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS). deined-beneit type of pensions to deined- At present the IGNOAPS is narrowly targeted contribution pensions ofered in public at all those older individuals falling under the BPL sector organizations to those having formal category and is supposed to serve two functions— employment. his shit from deined-beneit old age income support as well as poverty alleviation. to deined-contribution, however, exempts It ensures a sum of at least INR 200 for those 60 personnel from the armed services (which years and above which is equivalent to 2.2 percent follow the pay-as-you-go system and receive of per capita GDP and INR 500 per month for those substantial contributions made by the State). above the age of 80 years and is restricted to those By extension of the same policy change, identiied as living Below Poverty Line. he iscal there is a shit from a consolidated pension responsibility for provisioning these amounts to all fund to individual pension accounts for each eligible beneiciaries, at present, remains entirely employee. he major diference, worth noting, with the central government. hese amounts are is the shit from deined-beneit to deined- contributions made by the central government, and contribution plan which does not guarantee state governments are encouraged to (at minimum) an annuity amount at retirement. In the match these amounts. Most state governments latter, the risks involved in fund investment varyingly augment these contributions (For details and management are borne by the individual see Annexure 1). he contributions made by the beneiciary. In contrast, a deined-beneit plan central government under NSAP cost less than assures an annuity or lump sum amount based 0.05 per cent of the national GDP. he pension on the tenure of employment and age, rather architecture as it stands today is a result of multiple than return on investments. reforms that it underwent in the decades of the 3. Introduction of the Pension Bill in 1990s and 2000s. he key changes that mark shits 2004 (eventually passed in 2013) and in the history of pensions in India in the period the establishment of the Pension Fund between 1990 to 2016 are— Regulatory and Development Authority 1. Establishment of a central government- (henceforth PFRDA) as a statutory body in run, means-tested social protection loor in the capacity of the key regulatory body for the form of non-contributory pension for the pension sector in India. those in advanced stages of life—National Despite being far more limited in their coverage Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) under as compared to what it is now, according to the then the umbrella programme, National Social Finance Ministry, pensions had accrued to be a high Assistance Programme (NSAP), in 1995. iscal burden as evident from the budget speech of Apart from pensions for older individuals the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha the programme, at that time, consisted of in 2001. To quote him, ‘…the Central Government two other schemes—Maternity Beneit and pension liability has reached unsustainable Family Beneit in case of accidental death proportions: as a percentage of GDP, it has risen of the earning member of the household. from about 0.5 per cent in 1993–94 to 1 per cent in

34 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

2000–2001. As such it is envisaged that those who model of pension provisioning but was categorical enter central government services ater October 1, against the one pillar system which functioned 2001 would receive pension through a new pension primarily on the system of redistribution of taxes. programme based on deined contributions. In Following the pension reforms, pensions order to review the existing pension system and were classiied on the basis of responsibility of to provide a roadmap for the next steps to be contributions, similar to the classiication presented taken by the Government, I propose to constitute in Table 1. a High-Level Expert Group, which would give its recommendations within three months.’3 his In January 2016, the National Pension Scheme proposition culminated into the aforementioned (NPS), the lagship scheme run by the PFRDA Pension Reforms Bill, introduced in the parliament covered 11 million ‘subscribers’, out of which for the irst time in 2004. It was passed a decade later nearly 5 million were estimated to be government in 2013 by the Congress-led United Progressive employees for whom it is mandatory to enrol in Alliance (UPA) government. the scheme. he others subscribers are distributed between those enrolled through their employment India was not an exception in this shit towards and individual subscribers. A later addition to this pension restructuring. his shit was concurrent architecture are the sector-speciic, social security with pension restructuring in other countries of the funds set up by some states under the Unorganised Global South. An inluential report of the World Workers’ Social Security Act 2008 which is managed Bank published in 1994 titled ‘Averting the Old by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Individual State-level schemes, similar to the ones Growth’ spurred pension reforms and restructuring suggested by Unorganised Workers’ Security Act across several countries of the Global South. he of 2008, preceded the Act itself; the Act provided a three main reports—Project OASIS Committee national-level legislation to further expand similar Report, 29 December 1999, ‘Pensions Reforms in schemes in other states and sectors. At present the Unorganized Sector’,a report prepared by the India’s highly inadequate but relatively complex Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, pension architecture is spread across four distinct October 2001, and report of the High-Level Expert ministries, categorized on the basis of responsibility Group on New Pensions System, Government of of contribution as represented in Table 1. India, February 2002 (Bhattacharya Committee Report)—were commissioned to suggest the nature At the time of writing (October 2016), with the of pension restructuring in India. he outcome was exception of personnel of the armed forces who the adoption of the multi-pillar structure, which are entitled to non-contributory pensions based resembled, with some diferences, the pension on a pay-as-you-go system, all other employees structure suggested by the World Bank report on of the government are covered under the deined pensions referred to earlier in the chapter. he three contribution scheme available under the National main pillars4 as proposed by the World Bank were— Pension System. Since 2004, all pension schemes 1. Mandatory, publicly-managed pillar inanced have been regulated by PFRDA under the aegis of via state revenue for social pension. 2. Mandatory, the Finance Ministry. All but pensions for NOAPS privately-managed, fully-funded pillar for old age managed by the Ministry of Rural Development savings. 3. A voluntary pillar for those who seek more at the national level and pensions under the protection in their old age. he report did not limit Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act managed itself to suggesting this integrated public-private by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

35 India Exclusion Report

Table 1: Pension Schemes in India Non-Contributory Co-Contributory (contributions Individual contribution may be from individuals, with employers and/or governments) National Old Age Pension schemes for employees National Pension Scheme for Individuals Pension Scheme of Central Government, such as ‘NPS-lite’ scheme. It came into provided under Central Autonomous Bodies, efect in 2010 and was targeted at poor the National Social State Government and State and lower classes. he minimum amount Assistance Programme Autonomous Bodies under per contribution was 100/- INR and (NSAP) National Pension Scheme (NPS) subscribers were ‘encouraged’ to deposit 1000/- INR per year. he deposit was facilitated through an aggregator such as a micro-inance irm or an NGO. State-level non- Employee Pension Scheme Pension schemes ofered by private contributory Pension (EPS), 1995.5 Shared between the inancial institutions for individuals. Schemes employee, employer and the state. Pensions for personnel National Pension Schemes for NPS Swavlamban 2009/Atal Pension Yojna of the Armed Forces ‘corporate’ sector employees if 2014 for those enrolled ater 2015 with no employee is also a part contributor. contribution from the State whatsoever. (It is not mandatory for employers to contribute.) Unorganised Workers Social Security Funds.

2. Scope of the Chapter minimum of 20 years, to a maximum of 42 years, to reap the full beneits of the scheme. Importantly, For the purpose of this chapter we shall focus on two the co-contribution is limited to those who have particular pension schemes—the Indira Gandhi enrolled in the scheme prior to March 2016. National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) Contribution by State under this scheme is denied and the Atal Pension Yojna (APY). Each represents to income tax payers or recipients of any other distinct pillars within this system. he IGNOAPS pension. herefore, at the time of writing of this unquestionably is represented under the publicly chapter the scheme can be classiied under pillar inanced irst pillar. However, the APY quite three (since the period of availing state contribution ironically falls under pillar three, despite being has long passed) of the pension structure. aimed at workers of the unorganized sector, since it solely relies on beneiciary contribution. While At the launch of social security schemes like on the PFRDA portal the Atal Pension Yojna is Bima and Jansuraksha Yojna in May 2014, in categorized as a co-contributory scheme, the Maharashtra, the current Finance Minister, Mr. contribution by the state is capped at a maximum Arun Jaitley referred to the Atal Pension Yojna as limit of INR 5000 in total and is limited to the a modest but signiicant step in moving from an irst ive years of the scheme, although it requires ‘unpensioned’ to a ‘pensioned’ society. In the budget the individual to be enrolled in the scheme for a speech on 28 February 2015, Finance Minister

36 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

Arun Jaitley referred to the Atal Pension Yojna as 3. Pensions for Older Persons as a an initiative of the government to ensure ‘universal’ Public Good social security for the poor and underprivileged. his portrayal of the APY as a scheme introduced he public good for this chapter is deined in light to address the pension needs of a majority of people of the deinition of public goods adopted by this warrants a closer examination in a chapter that series of Exclusion Reports (this being the third seeks to study pensions for the old in India. report in the series)—‘...goods, services, attainments, capabilities, functionings and freedoms—individual Both schemes that we have chosen for an in- and collective—that are essential for a human depth analysis have a nationwide applicability and being to live with human dignity’(Mander, 2015, are targeted towards unprotected labour and the p. 1).he public good for this chapter is speciically poor more generally. While the NOAPS has been deined as—unconditional and regular transfer providing pensions since 1995 right up to the time of cash from the State to older individuals in of writing of this chapter, it is important to bear recognition of the entitlement of living with dignity in mind that the earliest pensions can be realized for those in advanced stages of life. We use the for subscribers of the Atal Pension Yojna would be word ‘unconditional’ in the deinition because the in about eighteen years from now—which impacts transfer of money is independent of any individual its analysis in this chapter. he chapter will draw contribution. But the deinition does not rule out a on a vast range of information from design laws means-tested system such as the one adopted by the to laws in implementation of the NOAPS. he Government of India for NOAPS, which is narrowly examination of Atal Pension Yojna will be restricted targeted towards those oicially designated as poor. to that of design analysis of the scheme due to the Instead of a narrowly targeted means-tested system, above mentioned limitation. Given the aim of the we believe, pensions should be extended to all except chapter it would be ideal to cover state-level public those who meet the following criteria of pensions pension schemes as well as social security schemes from any other source, or payment of income tax and under the Unorganized Sector Workers’ Social individual incomes above a certain limit. his will Security Act 2008. However, the wide variations eliminate a minority who may not be in need of the that exist at the state level, with regard to coverage, pension. Such a pension system extends the coverage pension amounts, disbursement practices and to all else who face the possibility of spending their responsibility of contribution, make it impossible advanced years without any kind of regular income. to accommodate them in this chapter. While we do allude to policies of state governments when Sen’s (1992) universal idea of capabilities rests on needed, the aim of this chapter is limited to two distinct claims—one that freedom to achieve providing a comprehensive overview of old age well-being of oneself is a fundamental importance pensions across the two selected schemes. Both and second that one’s ability to exercise that freedom these schemes are aimed at the poor and workers needs to be understood in terms of capabilities in the unorganized sector at the national level. or actual opportunities one has access to that he principles of coverage, adequacy, and age of works towards one’s well-being. Nussbaum (2001) initiation, transparency and ease in disbursement formulates a list of ‘central human capabilities’ are used to comprehensively understand and based on Sen’s capabilities approach in the context assess the existing old age pension system and to of women but at the same time makes a case for develop relevant recommendations. their universal appeal. She identiies a list of ‘central human capabilities’ essential to human life, helping

37 India Exclusion Report distinguish it from what would efectively be an have a retirement age. his view therefore over- animal existence, investing it with value and dignity. generalizes the aspect of physical degeneration that Her list includes: (i) life (i.e., not dying prematurely) accompanies advancement of age. (ii) bodily health (iii) bodily integrity, including A diferent set of challenges are faced by older mobility (iv) senses, imagination and thought (v) people in countries like India where structured emotions (vi) practical reason (vii) ailiation, dependencies caused by mandatory retirement apply including ‘the social bases of self-respect and non- only to a tiny minority of population engaged formally humiliation’. Nussbaum’s unpacking of Sen’s idea of in the organized sector. Nearly 40 per cent of those capabilities helps in terms of understanding their aged above 60 years continue to be engaged in work. scope. Within this understanding, lowering of even About 50 per cent of them are engaged in agriculture one of the central capabilities below a threshold and allied activities (Reddy, 2016). What is observed challenges an individual’s well-being. We claim though is an age-based decline in workforce for older that considering the constraints of the economic persons within the 60 to 75 years categories. While system and the physical impacts of advancing of more than 70 per cent of older people between the age, income security can be a fundamental way to age group of 60 years to 64 years continue to work, ensure ‘capabilities’ required to ensure a digniied close to 35 per cent of those in the age group of 70 life for oneself. years to 74 years are also documented to be actively Like many public goods for which the series of engaged in work (Reddy, 2016). Penny Vera Sanso, India Exclusion Reports makes a case, pensions (2006) while arguing against the idea that ageing enable access to participation of individuals in evenly impacts functioning, points out that old age various spheres of life, in a way that also ensures is, to a great extent, a socially structured condition their access to other public goods important for a determined by diferential needs that individuals life with dignity. Old age poses challenges which have with advancement in age. are a combination of exogenous factors such as At the same time, it is diicult to entirely lack of employment opportunities and social challenge the idea that there is a decline in physical respect or opportunities, and those that may have capabilities with advancement in age. We believe it is to do with physiological consequences of the important to recognize, value, protect and support increase in chronological age of an individual. Old choice-based work by older people. At the same age, employment and income share a contested time, there should not be an economic compulsion relationship. On the one hand is a stereotypical view to work when older people experience reduction in of ageing, generally adopted in policy literature, their physical and intellectual capacities. In India, it which categorizes older people as not engaged in is diicult to identify with certainty the proportion gainful employment and hence as ‘dependants’ of choice-based work engagement of older people mainly in an economic sense of dependence. his from forced labour situations in which they work, type of literature takes structured dependencies in not because they wish to but because they have no the form of mandatory retirement age as a given, other means to stay alive. Interestingly, the CES and are unmindful of not just social but also study on old age pension posed the question to economic contributions that individuals continue respondents above the age of 55 years in Rajasthan to make despite advancement in age, which may and Gujarat that if they were to receive adequate have economic gains through work such as, pension amounts that covered living costs, would helping in farm work and care work. he nature they, a) still continue to work like before, b) of informal employment is such that it does not continue to work but do lesser work, or c) not work

38 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India at all. About 25 per cent of individuals in Rajasthan and documented experiences are available from and 30 per cent in Gujarat straightaway averred that across the world about the many rationales they would stop working if they received adequate behind providing pensions, the nature of diferent pensions. 23 per cent in Rajasthan and 16 per cent pension systems and the underlying moral-politico in Gujarat said that they would work but lessen their arguments which frame the respective systems. work. About 28 per cent in Rajasthan and 25 per One ot-repeated rationale for pensions for older cent in Gujarat said that even if they were to receive persons has been that pensions are a response to an adequate pension, they would continue to work age-induced incapacities such as reduced capacity like before. Many old people may continue to work to earn livelihood either due to reduced physical out of their will, others may work due to economic capacity or compulsorily imposed structured constraints older persons oten face (the opposite dependency (such as mandatory retirement or of structured dependence) and in this sense, we unavailability of work despite the willingness of an regard this to be a situation of forced labour. older individual to participate). Another is to allow Unconditional, State-assured and adequate old age for consumption-smoothing for the old or, in other security for older persons would help resolve the words, ensuring disposable income that allows for a dichotomy by ofering real choices to work or not consumption level required to live a healthy life and work for older people. lastly and most importantly, as a state mechanism We believe that older people oten make valuable for redistribution of wealth and curtailing inter- contributions, economically, socially, culturally and generational inequalities. None of these reasons are to the care economy, and this should be recognized, mutually exclusive of each other and most oten, respected. Where work is for wages, they must be policies address more than a single concern. justly and lawfully remunerated. But at the same time, we recognize that in later stages of life, some Across modern pension systems, the State, the decline in physical and intellectual capacities may employer(s) and the individual beneiciaries are occur and given a choice, some older persons may key actors. he non-contributory pensions are prefer to rest or reduce their work. Older persons generally the responsibility of the State whereas the will also have increased economic needs because work-linked pensions (oten resting on mandatory of expense on health-care, reduced mobility and contribution by the individual in part) are managed sometimes the need of home-based care. Pensions by the state but the responsibility of contribution therefore should be recognized as a right of older is generally shared between two or all three of persons, to make a genuinely free choice about the actors—the State, the employer(s) and the whether or not they wish to work, and if they do employee. he moral-politico arguments referred not, to ensure that they have suicient funds to lead to by diferent pension systems oten cohere a healthy life with dignity and autonomy. with the economic arrangement and manner of funding across pension systems. In this section, we list the three main moral arguments and their 4. Publicness of the Good corresponding economic systems we found in the 4.1 Moral Arguments and Economic literature available to us. Systems 1. An oten-repeated moral claim has been It is sobering to note that the history of pensions that the well-being of the older generation is just over a century old. Over this century- is a responsibility of the younger generation. long history of modern pensions, rich literature Central to this argument are ideas of debt,

39 India Exclusion Report

gratitude and care between generations. in letting go of their present increase in A mutually beneicial intergenerational wages. Viewing pensions as rightful wages exchange is depicted where the young inherit that the employees defer during the period a world which ensures opportunities for of their employment lies at the heart of this their well-being, at the cost of the previous argument. Pension systems which consider generation (which sacriiced a portion pensions as deferred wages oten rely either of its own consumption to invest in the on funding, systematically accumulated infrastructure and early life education, health through employer or employee contributions and nutrition of the succeeding generation). over the years and sometimes augmented by Old age pensions are a debt of the younger the State to provide for pensions. However, generation to the older one, and should be the claim of deferred wages here is more reciprocated in the form of costs incurred moral—which means that oten these for the care of the old and for continued systems rely either entirely or at least in part income for them. Societies which have on revenue generated via taxing, or other structured their pensions around this moral State revenues generated in the present, in claim also list intergenerational cohesion as addition to the original contributions made one of the gainful outcomes of this system. by the employer to provide for the pension Countries adhering to the pay-as-you-go needs. system of pension funding frame the claims 3. While the previous two are powerful to continued income in old age in arguments moral arguments and work well in the similar to the one presented above. he context of industrialized countries, their pay-as-you-go system draws on the present strong association to formal employment resources acquired by taxation and other and structured dependencies as a given revenue generation systems of the State to pay for all individuals runs contrary to the pensions for the older generation. Oten the reality in countries like India. A macro revenue generated from social security tax of employment proile of India comprises the population presently employed, is used very low formal sector employment and to fund the overall pension needs. Although widespread employment in the unorganized robust in its moral claim, this system is sector, mainly as agrarian labour, own- susceptible to shits in the demographic account work on small and marginal farms, structure of the country, especially if labour in small businesses and artisan structured dependencies predominate and establishments well into their advanced the proportion of the old exceeds that of the years. he moral claims of the previous two, young. which rest on replacing the income earned 2. In 1913, in the American Economic Review, during one’s life course at retirement, does Albert de Roode equated the demand of not work here since theoretically, there is workers for pensions as, in principle, only a no actual loss of income due to absence of demand for higher wages. He argued against formal structured dependencies. Besides, the predominant perception that pensions in a developing economy largely governed were paid by the company (employer), by subsistence farming, casual work or but instead posited the contribution of the petty production systems accurately employer as actually that of the employees understanding the monetary value of each

40 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

individual’s contribution is a very complex role—like in the case of India where the State is task. his is even harder for unpaid care that of a provisioner of pensions for personnel of work responsibilities that are largely borne the armed services and for those provided pensions by women. It is no wonder then that a under the IGNOAPS, but is a regulator for schemes third way of understanding the role and under the NPS. At present the pension sector in claim of older age pensions emerges mainly India is in very small measure State-supported, but from industrializing countries which have the overall pension sector is to a fair degree regulated managed to have well-functioning public by the State (although the trend is towards de- pension systems. he argument here is regulation of the sector). At the level of the central woven around the political claim of equality. government, the State is responsible for mainly Pension systems such as the one in Bolivia three kinds of pension—matching the employee rests on the principle that all citizens have an contribution for those employed by the central equal right over the economic value produced government, bearing the cost of non-contributory nationally to help themselves ensure a life of pensions extended to army personnel and bearing dignity. hese kinds of systems oten rest on the cost of central government contributions to a dedicated pension fund which is generated pensions provided under the IGNOAPS. Apart either by levying a special expenditure tax or from these, the Employee Pension Scheme, 1995 cess or dedicating earnings from a particular carries a negligible state contribution and so does sector to the pension funds. It is possible for the Atal Pension Yojna for those who enrol in the a country to have more than one method of irst two years. funding its pension requirements. Other than the schemes mentioned above, the State acts mainly in the capacity of a regulator for We take the liberty of suggesting a modiication the pension sector, with Pension Fund Regulatory to this moral argument of equality in the demand and Development Authority (PFRDA) being its for pensions. Although we too view pensions main regulatory body. Recent reports of PFRDA through the lens of equality and acknowledge the have appealed for less intervention by the State. he equal claim people have over value produced by limit for foreign direct investment in the pension a nation, we suggest that pensions be framed as a sector was raised from 26 per cent to 49 per cent recognition of the contribution that people make all in the union budget announced in February 2016. through their lives. his, in turn, is relected in the his is in line with the move to relax investment aggregate income generated by the country. his regulations for pension funds, which suggests that formulation, we claim, is mindful of the nature of the state wishes to move further in the direction work engagement—that of unregulated or unpaid of being just a facilitator rather than a provider labour within and outside the homes experienced or even a regulator. he relaxation of regulation by women, children and older adults for instance in elevates risks on returns to investments and fund economies similar to ours. management for individuals and the sector on the whole. 4.2 Role of the State he consistently low popularity of individual he role of the State in ensuring pensions is diverse contribution-based schemes under the NPS is and sometimes a contested one, ranging from being partially a testimony to the infeasibility of the a provider of pensions to a facilitator or merely that proposition that securing one’s old age can solely of a regulator. he State oten plays more than one be an individual’s responsibility. his is especially

41 India Exclusion Report true for the large majority of Indians who are 5. Who is Excluded from Pensions engaged in informal and care economies. he interests of private entities working within the Before we identify which sections of the population pension sector are oten in conlict with the aim of are systematically excluded from the IGNOAPS and extending equitable and adequate pensions to all the Atal Pension Yojna, we reiterate that in India less without social security who need to be adequately than 15 per cent of the labour force has formal and protected. In such a scenario, non-contributory consistent employee-employer arrangements that public pensions continue to be the most efective entitle them to any kind of social security and, in way of ensuring a basic income in the later years of particular, old age pensions(NSS, 68th round, 2012). a person’s life, thereby ensuring a life of dignity for In light of this fact, the Indian State’s reliance on a all. his, we argue, should not be subject to State narrowly targeted, means-tested scheme on the one discretion, or even less benevolence, but be viewed hand and an individual contribution-based scheme as the moral and legal right of all older persons. on the other, to ensure a digniied living for the old, is incoherent with the prevailing socio-economic While we do believe that the State should reality of widespread poverty and an unorganized play an active role as provider of pensions for the workforce. vast majority of those who do not have access to social security, this cannot be achieved without his dissonance is evident from the comparatively active regulation of the pension sector by the low igures of beneiciaries listed under the State. Pension plans work on the inter-temporal IGNOAPS and total enrolments in the Atal Pension management of capital. To manage capital and to Yojna. While the population of those above 60 years ensure an increase in value over time in a sector, in India is 103 million, the number of beneiciaries which may be exposed to risks based on exogenous reported under IGNOAPS was 22,981,127 in 2014– factors, poses a formidable challenge especially 15. he total number of subscribers for the Atal for public pensions. In the multi-pillar system of Pension Yojna is oicially reported to be only about pensions (referred in the section above), the latter three million subscribers, as on June 2016, according two are privately managed. he irst pillar—that to a press release by PFRDA.6 his is ater nearly which is State-funded with an aim to provide two years of the scheme being in existence, during income security to all who do not have it—is State- which some State contributions were also ofered to managed with an objective of providing a safety the ‘early-bird’ subscribers. he inadequate pension net. While the third pillar absorbs surplus iscal coverage is more starkly evident when compared funds from individuals who desire additional against the population estimates provided by the social security, the irst pillar is, in essence, devoid United Nations Population Division. By 2050 the of this surplus capital. he nature of capital varies population of those above 6o years is projected to greatly across these pillars as does the ability to increase three-fold as compared to what it is now take risks. he surplus capital generally invested and will be about 300 million, constituting 19 per in schemes available under pillar three, which is cent of the total population (United Nations and privately managed, is able to heighten the overall Help Age, 2011). hese statistics in themselves are risk involved as well as dull the returns on low risk a wake-up call indicating how the pension needs of investments, given its own highly volatile nature. the vast majority require an extensive overhaul of It is important that the overall risks that a crucial the current social security systems in place. sector such as pensions is exposed to, be kept to a To identify further excluded groups within minimum. the narrowly targeted pool of beneiciaries is a

42 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India complex task, since social security schemes like the category of Above Poverty Line (APL) are listed as IGNOAPS exclude more people than they include. BPL ones. he IGNOAPS is restricted to families designated Swaminathan (2008) bases her analysis on by the State to be of Below Poverty Line. In doing ownership of BPL cards across social categories. so, the central government makes the following BPL cards are distinct from BPL lists. he BPL list assumptions: is used to determine eligibility for pensions under • hose living Below the Poverty Line (BPL) the IGNOAPS. Hence, we draw on Swaminathan’s are the only ones in need of State-provided analysis here with a caveat that this is not an exact old age social security. but an indicative extent of exclusion faced by the vulnerable groups. Swaminathan inds that nearly • he BPL identiication process adopted by 70 per cent of households, who depend on agrarian individual states is perfectly inclusive of the labour as their main occupation, do not own BPL lowest socio-economic quintile. cards. his is true for all states except four—Tripura, • he household status in the case of APL Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh. At (Above Poverty Line) households is also an all-India level, she inds nearly 60 per cent of Dalit relective of the economic status of each households have been excluded from BPL beneits. individual within the house thereby negating Next, she examines the exclusion of Scheduled Tribes intra-household disparity. from the BPL classiication. Limiting her analysis We will argue that each of these assumptions to states with more than a 10 per cent Scheduled is lawed, leading to the systematic exclusion of a Tribe population, the article claims that 90 per cent range of vulnerable groups and persons. of households in Assam, 79 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh and 69 per cent in Chhattisgarh did not have BPL cards. In fact, a consistent critique of the scoring 5.1 Systematic Exclusion of the Poorest method used for BPL identiication led to the setting and Most Vulnerable up of a committee8 headed by NC Saxena. his Innumerable studies have established that the Committee eventually developed an identiication criteria adopted by individual States to identify method based on automatic inclusion and exclusion respective BPL populations are non-transparent parameters which is now used for conducting the and unveriiable (Sundaram, 2003; Alkire and Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC). Seth, 2008; Dreze and Khera, 2010). he Eleventh BPL identiication and BPL ration cards are Five Year Plan report (2007–2012 4.5.36, p. 135)7 issued on the basis of residence. his by design itself admits huge inclusion and exclusion errors is acrimonious to the interests of communities in BPL identiication. Errors related to exclusion that are residentially vulnerable such as homeless and inclusion are regularly associated with BPL persons, nomadic tribes as well as urban migrants identiication. Even studies conducted by the without residential proof. Anecdotes suggest that Planning Commission have established that when seasonal migrants who spend a few lean months in one is poor, there is a greater chance of exclusion. cities working as casual labourers oten get missed hese errors have been systematic over the years, by BPL renewal and pension renewal exercises. generally excluding the poorest and most vulnerable he situation of seasonal migrants is marked by (Ram, Mohanty, Ram 2009; Saxena, 2015). Ram, compounded adversities posed by ill-designed Mohanty and Ram ind massive inclusion errors policies; since the place of origin and place of where many households which should be in the destination being identiied by state authorities

43 India Exclusion Report for social beneits works against the practice of disparity. Klasen and Lahoti (2016) ind poverty migration. rates of women to be 14 per cent points higher, when considered individually, as compared to men 5.1.1 Poor, Above Poverty Line in a multi-dimensional poverty index. But when only households are considered, i.e., women’s status he poverty line in India is set at the bare is aligned to that of the household to assess poverty, minimum of being able to earn enough to suice the diference in poverty drops to 2 percentage basic daily caloriic consumption. It was intended points between men and women. as a measurement of abject poverty and not as a criterion for identifying beneiciaries for social Similar indings have been made earlier by Vijaya, protection schemes. he criteria for marking of Lahoti and Swaminathan (2014) regarding gender the poverty line as well as poverty identiication blindness of household indices while measuring are minimalist, crude and not accommodative of economic well-being. Balrajan, Selvaraj and the dynamic nature of poverty. BPL identiication Subramanian (2011) identify massive diferences censuses categorize people into dichotomies of based on gender for immunization, hospitalization poor and non-poor. his categorization remains and overall health outcome. Referring back to the relatively static until the next round of surveys is capabilities approach presented in the earlier section, carried out. his process is unmindful of income this means that women’s central capabilities are variability and the chronic uncertainties that curtailed in multiple ways—from health to quality of workers in the unorganized sector face. education—which carry a real potential to impede their ability to ensure a life of dignity and freedom for Economic wellbeing at low income levels is themselves in advanced years. he household status much more vulnerable to exogenous factors, over therefore is oten not relective of status of women which the poor have no control, such as loss due to within the household—neither from the means natural calamities, violence and illnesses (Krishna, perspective with respect to owning assets nor from 2013). In essence, poverty lines are too rigid in the perspective of ends-appropriating well-being comparison to the everyday volatility of people’s measures for themselves. Schemes that are aimed economic situation in a society with low levels of at individuals but use household indicators result labour protection and social security on the whole. in fallacies that exclude those who are vulnerable We identify the poor who are not identiied as living within the unit of the household. Below Poverty Line as a speciic group excluded due to the design of the public pension schemes. 5.2 Exclusion from Atal Pension Yojna 5.1.2 Women he Atal Pension Yojna is a contributory scheme Studies over the years have established that there requiring regular payments for a minimum of 20 exists gender-based intra-household asymmetry years to a maximum of 40 years. his entails multiple in aspects of nutrition intake, health and schooling capabilities—access, control over excess income choices in the domestic space. While the state and regularity of income that enable an individual government identiies households that fall below to make timely payments on a quarterly, half-yearly the poverty line, pensions are an individual or yearly basis. Mapping exclusion from the Atal entitlement. he assumption that household status Pension Yojna is therefore a diicult task because is relective of all members who form the household it is not fashioned as a public good but rather like a is one that is unmindful of intra-household inancial product in the market for income security

44 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India in later stages of life. he exclusion—that of those 5.2.2 Unorganized Labour who cannot aford the scheme—is rather overt. Combined with low wages and poverty, the challenge But it becomes imperative to state these obvious of informality of labour relations makes mandatory exclusions because of the claim of the Government and regular payments for privately-procured social that APY is a scheme for resolving the issue of old security schemes more diicult than it appears. age income insecurity for those engaged in the According to the 2011 SECC, nearly half of all unorganized sector and hitherto not covered by rural households engage in manual casual labour pensions. as their primary employment. A hallmark feature of employment in the unorganized sector is that of 5.2.1 Poor irregularity of jobs as well as income. Additionally, he 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) there exists an asymmetry in representation of social found that individuals in more than 75 per cent of categories in the unorganized sector. he India households in rural India earn less than 5000 INR Labour and Employment Report 2014, based on per month. As per the 2014 report of the Labour the analysis of the 68th round on employment of the Bureau of India, the average Indian wage rate in National Sample Survey (NSS), claims that there is 2014 was INR 272 per day. he government had a high representation of Muslims in the occupation earlier in 2016 announced revised minimum wage category of own account workers; generally of the rates to INR 9100, INR 11,362 and INR 13,598 ‘low paying’ and ‘petty’ class. Dalits and Adivasis per month respectively for 26 days of work, based are highly underrepresented in the formal sector. on their location on the rural-urban continuum. heir engagement is high in manual casual labour. Contrasting this igure is the average ‘living’ wage It is not presumptuous then to think that the APY for India calculated by the Asian loor wage for scheme carries the potential to systematically covering the basic living costs for three consumption exclude some social categories over others based on units considering the following expenses—food, their dominant trends of labour engagement. housing, transportation and contingent costs, which amounts to a household wage loor of nearly 5.2.3. Women and Economically Sependents INR 18,000 per month. he central trade unions Economic independence requires control over have been demanding a similar amount as monthly personal and household inancial resources to wages for locations situated in rural areas and appropriate a part or all of it for investing in higher wages for locations situated in urban areas one’s future well-being. he lack of economic over the past year. independence experienced by women may Investing in a inancial product and securing hamper their ability to secure income support for old age income would necessarily be a priority themselves in the future. According to the data ater allocating suicient resources for expenditure available from the World Bank data portal, ‘Female on activities and consumption needs that are Labour Force Participation’ rates in India are low considered to calculate a living wage. his means in comparison to global averages. While the global that, at present, for a vast majority, payment for a average for 2014 was 50 per cent, participation of inancial product can only be managed by reducing women in working age groups in India for the same necessary costs on essentials such as food, housing period was 27 per cent.9 Based on the analysis of and transportation. the NSS data of the India Labour and Employment Report (2014 highlights, p. 410) we can claim that

45 India Exclusion Report

‘Women in general are disadvantaged in the labour (ST) was 60 years. his number fell to a little market. In addition to their low share in overall less than 57 years among those who belong to employment, a greater proportion of them are Scheduled Tribes who are also disadvantaged by engaged in low-productivity, low-income, insecure class as detailed in Mohanty and Ram (2010). A jobs in farms, and in the unorganized and informal pension system which initiates pensions too late sectors as compared to men.’ his means that even in the lifecycle of an individual as compared to the the women who are reportedly engaged in ‘gainful average life expectancy of the society by design not employment’ mainly work to subsidize farm labour only excludes more people but denies the chance or labour for family enterprises, without necessarily of life to those who, with pension support, could receiving actual economic remuneration. Care work access essentials such as better nutrition and health within the household is disproportionately shared services and could live a longer, better quality life. by women in high measure and is largely unpaid. Transparency and ease of disbursement determine he Atal Pension Yojna aimed at all those who form the actual access people have to pensions. he impact a part of the ‘unpensioned society’ is largely blind of relevant information not being communicated to the pension needs as well as limitations faced by to potential and actual beneiciaries, of the callous the targeted group that comprises nearly half of the attitude of government agencies, of bureaucratic total ‘unpensioned’ population. and tiresome procedures as well as of delays and corruption in disbursement of pensions have been elaborated upon in the corresponding section. 6. Processes of Exclusion Employing the above mentioned yardsticks, in In order to evaluate whether pension provisioning this section, we outline ways in which exclusion is inclusive and just, we employ four criteria— from pensions for older persons is meted out coverage, adequacy, age of initiation, and in macro and quotidian ways. Additionally, transparency and ease of disbursement of pensions. wherever applicable we explain how each of these Coverage refers to the number of people and the particular processes subvert one or more of the four proportion of population of older persons that principles—coverage, adequacy, age of initiation a pension system is able to bring under its ambit. and transparency and ease of disbursement of Considering that pensions are provided in lieu of pension—that we believe are determinants of recognition of age-induced incapacities, which a decent pension system. he irst part lays out in turn adversely impact continuance of assured, processes of exclusion from the National Old Age regular incomes, pensions should ideally be Pension Scheme; and the second one examines able to perform the function of addressing these processes of exclusion underway with the Atal incapacities for all those facing them. For a pension Pension Yojna. he processes listed here are by no system to be able to realize its stated aims of measure an exhaustive list. here may exist many providing the old with a life of dignity and ensuring more processes of exclusion and, hence, this list is continued participation in all spheres of life, the only an indicative one. criterion of adequacy—the amount disbursed, is very crucial. 6.1 Absence of Legal Obligation Life expectancy varies across regions and groups. For example, in 2005 the overall life expectancy he National Social Assistance Programme was about 65 years but the average life expectancy (NSAP) which is the key programme through among those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes which pensions are disbursed is a government

46 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India initiative and not a statutory scheme governed by the male ofspring have the inancial capability to any legislation. his renders it a very diferent status take care of the parents. he responsibility remains from several public goods like school education, within the unit of the family alone even when the food, rural employment and forest rights, which are household is poor, while there is no legal obligation now legal rights, even if qualiied and conditional. on the State to provide an alternative. he Government’s commitment to the NSAP is at he Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and the programme level, which means that the State is Senior Citizens Act was enacted in 2007. his Act free to reduce or end this provisioning at any time. squarely puts the responsibility of maintenance on No constitutional or legal obligation exists for the children but extends the responsibility to legal heirs Government to ensure pensions for older people. other than children for provision of maintenance. It A range of constitutional and statutory provisions connects the inheritance of property within family exist which mostly only indirectly or peripherally and care of older individuals within the family in relate to older persons such as Article 41 and 47 of its irst section. his Act is relevant to only owners the Constitution and the Senior Citizens Act 2007. of property of value, a minority in this country. Article 41, under the Directive Principles of the Clauses of maintenance under personal laws and Constitution states that, ‘he State shall, within the the Senior Citizens Act of 2007 are all applicable limits of its economic capacity and development, in cases where there is a conscious neglect of older make efective provision for securing right to work, persons, despite there being economic resources, by to education and to public assistance, in case of efect eliminating a majority of cases where poverty unemployment, old age, illness and disability and in in old age is a consequence of the entire household other cases of deserved want.’ he IGNOAPS works being poor. precisely towards this principle. A conditionality based on iscal availability when considering support for the old is embedded in the Directive 6.2 Budgets: Low capital outlay of Principle itself, making it a weak constitutional IGNOAPS mechanism to rely on. It leaves the door wide open Corresponding to the caveat embedded in Article for the State at any time to claim that it lacks the 41, ‘within the limit of its (state) economic capacity iscal capability to support a pension scheme, and and development’ is the abysmally low public to thereby withdraw from it or keep it minimalist, pension disbursement amounts and capital outlays without violating any Constitutional Directive. for the National Social Assistance Programme. he Under some personal laws, applicable along pensions for those entitled under the IGNOAPS communitarian lines, there are clauses of fares poorly on the criteria of adequacy. When maintenance which carry legal obligation for introduced in the year 1995 (then NOAPS), the mainly sons of the older persons to either care for disbursement amount ensured by the Central their parents and, if they are unable to do so, pay a Government was about INR 75 per month, (at that monthly maintenance amount towards the care of time equivalent to about 1.5$US) for a month. In the parents. While the family in India is considered 2007, it was revised to INR 200 (less than three to be the primary caretaker of children and the US$) and since then it has not been revised. he old, in most cases when the household is poor, its present amount of INR 200 is not enough by any capacities to fulil a care-giving role can well be measure to perform the functions of income relief very limited. hese personal laws and social norms or capacity enhancing of the old. he latest annual can only be mobilized reasonably in cases where capital outlay for the National Social Assistance

47 India Exclusion Report

Programme is a little over 9500 Crore Rupees, out Planning Commission. Pegging pensions for older of which old age pensions accounts for less than individuals to the poverty estimate is problematic, 8000 Crore Rupees. he capital outlays accounts for as has been observed with other social protection close to 0.05 per cent of GDP. In 2001–02 NSAP schemes of a targeted nature. Narrowly targeting (Central Government contribution) cost about a scheme excludes more needy people than it 0.03 per cent of GDP; in 2006–2007 it formed includes. Oten those who are excluded are missed 0.06 per cent; and 2010–2011 about 0.07 per cent out due to blunt and inappropriate techniques of respectively (Srivastastav, 2013). Estimates suggest identifying beneiciaries in complex societies. Even that the central government spends about INR 124 the Eleventh Five Year Plan Report (2007–2012, per capita on the elderly on an average (Varmal, 4.5.36, p. 135) acknowledges huge inclusion and 2013). exclusion errors. Gupta (2013), while calculating the Consumer Jos, Murgai, Bhattacharya and Mehta (2015) Price Index for industrial workers and Consumer juxtaposed indings across Haryana—a state with Price Index for agricultural labour in real terms, a fairly wide pension coverage vis-a-vis Uttar observed that the value of the monthly pension Pradesh—a state with narrow coverage. We here amount allocated under the IGNOAPS by the draw attention to two speciic observations in Table 2. Central Government, when delated by Consumer First, errors of exclusion far exceed errors of inclusion Price Index (CPI) is the same as it was in 1995. In across both the states. Second, Haryana, a state with 2017 the value of pension has further depreciated wider coverage, has far fewer errors of inclusion. to INR 49 when delated by CPI. he low capital outlays have had an impact on the coverage of Table 2: Errors of Inclusion and Exclusion in pensions as well. Consequently, the public scheme Pension Entitlement in Haryana and U.P. for pension continues to cover only a minority of Inclusion Errors Exclusion Errors the older population. he IGNOAPS covers a little (units) (units) less than 24 per cent of the population of those in Rural Urban Rural Urban advanced age. he low capital outlays systematically Haryana 26.6 32.4 27.6 47.9 weaken the programme, thereby, adversely UP 28.3 42.2 58.8 50.8 impacting coverage as well as adequate functioning Table reproduced from Jos, Murgai, Bhattacharya and Mehta of the scheme. (2015). Empirical studies have consistently indicated 6.3 Design of the schemes: Means-tested that the exclusion errors mainly work against Public Pensions as in NOAPS the poorest such as homeless populations and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG). According to the International Labour Given the social and economic complexity of Organisation (2014), 36 countries in the world our societies and diiculties of identiication and provide universal social pensions and 53 countries categorization of people into dichotomies like poor ofer means-tested pensions. he NSAP including and non-poor, targeted schemes don’t just have IGNOAPS is a means-tested scheme which means a limited coverage but oten manage to miss the the beneiciaries have to meet pre-set criteria of target in the process. economic deprivation, in this case to be identiied by individual state governments to be living Below the Moreover, even amongst those who are Poverty Line (BPL) according to norms set by the legitimately excluded on the basis of applicable

48 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India criteria, there are individuals in need of State he Public Evaluation of Entitlement support in their advanced years to live self-reliant Programmes (PEEP) survey conducted in 2013 lives of dignity. Many like Deaton and Dreze (2014) across 10 states in India observed that the application observe that the poverty line, which basically process across states was highly and unnecessarily assesses an individual’s ability to earn enough so as ‘bureaucratic’. Additionally, the onus of application to provide oneself with basic caloriic consumption for pensions, which generally involves approaching (without due attention provided to the quality more than two government oices, rests entirely or diversity of calories consumed) is hardly a on the beneiciary. In the CES study on pensions measure of suiciency and is rather a measure of it was observed that only about 40 per cent of bare survival. Social protection schemes are drawn people began receiving their pensions within the up with an aim of providing a digniied living and mandated period of three months following their hence should not be limited to poorly targeted application. In the state of Gujarat only 25 per groups such as those who fall below the Poverty cent of people began receiving pensions within the Line, which is a very low and untidy threshold for mandated period of 3 months. 22 per cent claimed estimating poverty. he issue of coverage—how to have begun receiving pensions 6 months ater many people does a safety net like the IGNOAPS, application, 25 per cent began receiving pensions which is instituted to protect poor workers in the 12 months following application and for 6 per cent unorganized sector, cover is a matter that needs to it took more than a year to become beneiciaries of be addressed with systematic study of the situation. the pension scheme. Bureaucratic negligence can also result in 6.4 Exclusions via implementation exclusions. In the summer of 2016 the Rajasthan government precipitously cancelled 0.7 million Everyday instances of exclusion from public pensions and stopped12 pensions of 0.3 million pensions, disbursed under the IGNOAPS, are found beneiciaries citing multiple reasons such as death across reports and anecdotally. he Eighth Report of the beneiciary, migration of beneiciary (when 11 of the Commissioners of Supreme Court identiies not the case) or duplication of beneiciary account. a systematic under-utilization of the funds allocated under NSAP. he Commissioners observe A public campaign led by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and organizations involved Unused balances were as high as 29 percent in with the Right to Information campaign, physically 2004–2005 and 22 percent in 2005–2006. Last veriied the government’s claims that revealed the year (2007), however, showed lowest levels of callous ways in which the renewal process was utilization with almost half the funds allocated let unused. his surprisingly, despite the fact that carried out. A large majority of the cancelled and the old age pension was increased from INR 75 stopped pensions were of older people who had per month to INR 200 per month. been declared dead even though they were alive. hese pension accounts were reopened following Application for pensions, renewal of pensions the resulting public uproar, but in most cases and pension disbursements are marked by practices without arrears. In a similar instance in Andhra that can be categorized as poor implementation of Pradesh, in February 2016, it took a stern interim the scheme leading to exclusion, if not wholly then order from the High Court in response to a writ partially; for instance inordinate delays, commonly petition iled about discontinuation of pensions, reported across these stages, impacts access to other for the government to restore public pensions essential goods/services. for the older people that were wrongly cancelled

49 India Exclusion Report by declaring the beneiciaries dead. hese are returns accrued on them. he retention rate of the not exceptional situations. Delays in the yearly scheme as reported by the PFRDA is between 70 veriication processes are a regular occurrence. he per cent and 75 per cent (Yadav, 2015). PEEP survey13 conducted in 2013 observed delays To increase the popularity of the scheme, a across all 10 states in India. Counterintuitively, while minimal public contribution amounting to a corruption in the disbursement process is reported maximum of INR 5000 was ofered to subscribers across studies, its spread and magnitude are very for those who enrolled in the scheme in the irst limited. In this regard IGNOAPS is considered a two years of its initiation. he target that Atal successful scheme where the beneits do actually Pension Yojna had set out for itself was 20 million reach the intended people (Dutta, Howes & Murgai, subscribers. Based on media reports, the Atal 2010, PEEP Survey, 2013). Pension Scheme has fallen way short of achieving its own target as well as in assuring income security 6.5 Processes of Exclusions from the Atal to a substantial number of those who at present are Pension Yojna engaged in employment which is unprotected and does not ofer any kind of security in old age. It is important to reiterate here that as opposed to being a social protection scheme, Atal Pension Yojna and Its limited popularity among workers in the its predecessor Swavlamban Yojna are by design just unorganized sector is reinforced by the lack another inancial product developed and marketed of sensitivity and awareness by the state when under the NPS by the State. But what diferentiates promoting the Atal Pension Yojna. A public it from the other schemes is that its stated aim is to interest advertisement promoting the scheme address the issue of pensions among poor workers of helps us understand the inherent bias against poor the unorganized sector. It is for its stated intention workers embedded in the scheme. Following a of greater public good that we shall apply a similar brief description, we unpack the power-relations lens to it, as that used to examine IGNOAPS, and will evident in its semantics. he opening scene of the evaluate it across two of the four criteria of adequacy public interest TVC15 portrays an older gentleman and coverage to better understand the processes of labouring at a construction site, liting a heavy load exclusion that are at work. and precariously balancing it on his head while simultaneously being shamed by the contractor 6.5.1 Coverage for being too old to work. he gentleman—whom we shall henceforth address as the contractor— he Atal Pension Scheme at present has only about is upset because he thinks the older worker three million subscribers. his includes subscribers will decrease the pace of the work owing to his who have migrated from the Swavlamban Yojna, age-induced incapacities. Amitabh Bachchan, a a scheme initiated by the previous Congress-led leading Indian actor appears at this moment, as United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. the spokesperson for the Atal Pension Yojna and As per a press release of the PFRDA dated 18 reminds the contractor that he must ensure that November, 201414 more than 3.5 million accounts his own future is diferent from that of the older had been initiated under the Swavlamban scheme. gentleman labouring at the site, and that he can do he scheme was discontinued by the present this by enrolling for the Atal Pension Yojna. government and subscribers were provided with a choice of either migrating to Atal Pension Yojna or Unpacking the semantics and messaging of this withdrawing their contributions with the inancial TVC helps understand concretely, the contradic-

50 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India tions inherent to self-contributory pension schemes. when adjusted against inlation rates. he table below he older gentleman, who is representative of presents, our own estimates of what the annuities the majority of informal workers in unorganized under the Atal Pension Yojna would amount to by sectors such as construction (in this case), is in a the time they are realized by the beneiciary, across condition of forced labour and is merely used as a 10 scenarios, as per the investment plans presently trope to pitch the scheme to those who are capable available under this scheme. Even in the best case of providing for themselves. By suggesting that scenario for which the monthly pension amount is securing oneself against a situation of forced labour INR 1393 which amounts to far less than 50 per cent in old age is the individual’s own responsibility, of the present minimum wage, one would have to by implication, makes individuals responsible for pay a monthly contribution of INR 1454 per month old age, poverty and unfair conditions of work. for about 20 years. It also simultaneously absolves the state from its For those who cannot aford higher annuities the responsibility to address old age income insurance. situation is even bleaker. An annuity of INR 1000 he publicly sponsored advertisement is a grave in 42 years would amount to INR 68 per month— misreading and misrepresentation of the situation amounting to less than one-third of the meagre of labour in India as well as that of poverty and amount assured by IGNOAPS at present. In other old age. he worrisome aspect is that it, at present, words to assure for oneself an income in a span of seems to relect the dominant attitude of the State 42 years, which at present rates is far lower than towards pension provisioning for the old. the monthly pension amount under the IGNOAPS today, requires one to enrol in a government- 6.5.2 Adequacy supported scheme and pay an assured amount every he Atal Pension Yojna fares poorly on the criterion month. he scheme ofers a modest rate of return of of adequacy. he annuities promised under the Atal 7.5 to 7.9 per cent which is close to the interest rates Pension Yojna are too low and don’t seem suicient ofered by banks on recurring deposits.

Table 3: Pension Plans under Atal Pension Yojna16 Years of Monthly Monthly Indica Present Present Contribution Contributions Pension Return of Value of Value of (in INR) (in INR) to the Corpus to Monthly Corpus subscribers the nominee Income Money. and his of the (in INR) (in INR) spouse (in subscribers INR) (in INR.) Scenario Case 1: A: Monthly Age 18 42 42 1000 170,000 68 11,605 Pension Case 2: Rs.1000 Age 40 20 291 1000 170,000 279 47,348 Scenario Case 1: B: Monthly Age 18 42 84 2000 340,000 137 23,210 Pension Case 2: Rs.2000 Age 40 20 582 2000 340,000 557 94,697

51 India Exclusion Report

Years of Monthly Monthly Indica Present Present Contribution Contributions Pension Return of Value of Value of (in INR) (in INR) to the Corpus to Monthly Corpus subscribers the nominee Income Money. and his of the (in INR) (in INR) spouse (in subscribers INR) (in INR.) Scenario Case 1: C: Monthly Age 18 42 126 3000 510,000 205 34,815 Pension Case 2: Rs.3000 Age 40 20 873 3000 510,000 836 142,045 Scenario Case 1: D: Monthly Age 18 42 168 4000 680,000 273 46,420 Pension Case 2: Rs.4000 Age 40 20 1164 4000 680,000 1114 189,393 Scenario Case 1: E: Monthly Age 18 42 210 5000 850,000 341 58,025 Pension Case 2: Rs.5000 Age 40 20 1454 5000 850,000 1393 236,742

Values calculated assuming 6.6 per cent CPI inlation. Average inlation from 2001 to 2016. he present value of Monthly income and Corpus money has been calculated using the formula; PV=FV*(1/(1+R)^N. Where PV=Present Value, FV=Final Value, R=rate of inlation and N=number of years.

7. Consequences of Exclusion from poverty as well as relieving individuals from abject Old Age Pensions poverty. Hence, the consequences are not just limited for the elderly but insuicient pensions he increase in life expectancy over the years has can have an impact on overall poverty levels. An guided a level of inter-temporal planning, which ampliication of inequality in society, a contraction was not required hitherto to the same degree of the economy and an increased expenditure on by individuals. Even in India the average life public health are generally the expected outcomes expectancy of 60 years has gone up by an additional in a society where a majority of people age without 18 years. his means that at the oicial age of old age social security. retirement an individual needs to plan to provide he consequences for potential beneiciaries for himself/herself for an additional 18 years, taking excluded from pensions unsurprisingly mirror the into account age-induced incapacities, if any, and very aims of pension support. A rapid decline into reduced income. Insuicient provisioning for abject poverty, consumption contraction, a decline pensions has both macro and micro impacts. in health and quality of life are the most widespread Social pensions in India, apart from being consequences of exclusion from pensions in programmes for old age support, are also poverty advanced age. Since a majority of older people alleviation programmes and hence perform related continue to work into their old age, not having functions of avoiding rapid decline into abject access to good nutrition or health services impacts

52 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India their ability to participate in ‘gainful employment’. industrialized countries pay for nearly 15 At the same time, a weak pension system ofers years of pension for older adults. In India, the no real option with regard to work engagement. average life expectancy is about 66 years and Exclusion from pensions can induce cyclical wide variations exist in life expectancy based poverty which an individual might ind diicult to on class, caste and location. he NOAPS break out of. considers a person eligible for pensions at the age of 60 years. However, many consider India overall ranks at the far end—71st out of this very late given the life expectancy in 87 countries—of the Global Age Watch Index17 (an our country. We have identiied states that index measuring old age well being). While India consider people eligible for old age pension performs fairly well on the social integration and before they turn 60. safety aspects of the Age Watch Index, access to healthcare among older persons is one of the poorest 3. Adequacy: At present, the NOAPS entitles compared to other countries. Garroway (2013) its beneiciaries to 200 INR per month. inds some spillover impacts of pensions for the old. States based on their will and capacity, Homes in which the old do not receive pensions oten, augment this amount. Consequently, record higher incidence of the second generation there are high variations in the amount of being involved in child labour as compared to pension received, ranging from INR 200 per homes in which older persons do receive pensions. month in states of Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, to INR 2000 per month in Goa. Movements such as Pension Parishad 8. Best Practices have been demanding pension equivalent to that of 50 per cent of minimum wage. he In this section we list some existing practices argument is that since workers in the formal with regard to public pension. Also, we draw on sector receive a pension equivalent to half a relevant international case which represents their last salary drawn, inlation-indexed, best practices based on the criteria of universality, the least that informal workers should be adequacy, age of initiation and transparency that receiving is half the minimum wage for we identiied earlier. Pensions across states in India unskilled work that they would draw for 25 are not uniform. Instead of identifying one state in days of work. his way of calculating would India which performs well on every indicator, we result in a pension amount which is close to present Table 4 below which, next to each criterion, INR 2500 per month in many states and in lists states that perform relatively more inclusively states like Delhi, it would be much higher. At and better as compared to other states and as present, state schemes linking themselves to prescribed by the IGNOAPS guidelines. the IGNOAPS with top-up amounts do not 1. Universality: All states which entitle all those reach this amount in any state. Hence, for above the age of 60 to non-contributory public the purpose of identifying more generous pensions with or without applying top decile schemes from the rest, we list here all the exclusion criteria such as receipt of pensions states having pension amounts higher than from other sources and/or income tax payee. INR 1000. 2. Age of initiation: Pensions for the old 4. Transparency in Disbursement: Anecdotal are generally adjusted as per the life evidence has suggested some leakages in the expectancy for that country or region. Most pension disbursement system. Government

53 India Exclusion Report

responses to these have ranged from apathy Dignidad is a universal, publicly funded pension to high-handed changes such as transfer of scheme for all above the age of 60 years. It claims pension disbursement via post oice to banks. to cover nearly 90 per cent of all senior citizens in We list the example of Orissa, since many Bolivia. he annuity that each beneiciary is entitled consider it an outcome that was mutually to is about US$340 which is equivalent to INR beneicial. In rural areas in Orissa, Andhra 23,800 per annum. Recipients of other pension Pradesh and Telangana, pension disbursement schemes receive 75 per cent of the full amount. is carried out in a public meeting at a local he Bolivian government has created a distinct government oice. he presence of the public and dedicated funding source by nationalizing and imparts it transparency and plugs leakages taxing hydrocarbon mining in the country. he and exclusion that may exist in the last mile favourable conditions for hydrocarbon trading delivery of the public good in question. In in the global markets have helped the Bolivian situations where the beneiciary is unable to government to amass a fund large enough to participate in the public meeting and access generate its own dividends through efective his/her pension, the responsibility of assessing management. he social protection loor for the the situation and inding reasons for the elderly ensured by the Bolivian state has been absence rests with the state authorities. We do guaranteed in the constitution as well. Article 67 not consider this to be an ideal way to plug of the present Bolivian constitution which became leakages but would state this as an example of efective in 2009 states the following: a proactive attempt at resolving issues, related to delivery of welfare goods, in a way that is In addition to the rights recognized in this Constitution, every person of adult age has the mindful of the context. right to a digniied old age that has quality and human warmth. he State shall provide an old Table 4: Best Practices across States in India age pension within the framework of full social Criteria State security, in accordance with the law. Coverage/Universality Rajasthan, Haryana, (only with top decile Tamil Nadu exclusion criteria) 8.1.2 Bolivia and India—A Comparison Age of initiation (Below 60 Rajasthan, Haryana Socio-political and economic realities of Bolivia years) are not very diferent from that of India. he Adequacy (Above INR Delhi, Haryana, Goa, age structure of Bolivia and India is a broad 1000) Telangana, Himachal based pyramid with less than 10 per cent of the Pradesh population forming the top end of those aged above Ease and Transparency in Orissa, Andhra 60 years. In absolute terms, the Indian economy disbursement Pradesh, Telangana is far bigger than the Bolivian economy but both have a comparative GDP per capita. Bolivia is a 8.1 International Best Practice low income country and part of the Global South. 8.1.1 Renta Dignidad, Bolivia Besides, the share of agriculture to industry to service is comparable between both countries and Renta Dignidad or Dignity Pension is a public in Bolivia too, like India, most of the labour force is pension (in Spanish) scheme run by the Bolivian employed in the unorganized sectors. state. It has been cited as one of the most successful examples of old age pension in recent times. Renta he inal and most compelling similarity is that,

54 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India like India and many other developing countries, two percentage points and the elevation of Bolivia Bolivia adopted the World Bank-recommended from a low income country to a middle income multi-pillar system of pensions in the 1990s. his country. his has enabled the country to participate system is categorically against universalization of in international trade more strongly. Evaluation public pensions and restricts state-funded pensions studies cite lesser incidence of child labour in homes to a minority not covered by employment-based receiving dignity pension as compared to the control pensions or pensions procured individually under group which does not receive pensions (Mendizabal schemes ofered by private inance institutions 2014). Dignity pensions in Bolivia are a proof of the under pillar three. Ater over a decade of owning success of a people-centred approach to public policy a weak public pension system, the Bolivian when supplemented by political will. A policy such government in 2007, recognizing the inadequacy of as this is the need of the hour for many countries of the multi-pillar system of pensions, rejected it and the developing world including India. introduced a universal social protection loor for the older citizens. 9. Recommendations

8.1.3 Impact of Dignity Pensions At present, in India, the total population of older persons is 103 million and they constitute 8.6 per Renta Dignidad has had a far-reaching impact on cent of the total population. However, only about poverty reduction in Bolivia. Studies suggest that it 23 million receive pensions of the non-contributory has helped the aim of consumption-smoothing to a variety under the IGNOAPS. According to United great extent. Between 2007 (the year when Dignity Nations projections, the population of the old pension was introduced for the irst time in Bolivia) in India is set to rise three times by 2050. he and 2009, Bolivia witnessed more than a 5 per cent overwhelming majority of people, nearly 87 per reduction in absolute poverty. It has resulted in an cent of the present labour force, are engaged in overall rise in the per capita income and has helped unprotected employment which provides no elevate Bolivia from a low income to a middle income security in old age. he proportion is even income country. higher for women and the rural populace. In such a Vast diferences were observed between the scenario public pensions, meant to provide income consumption expenditure of those receiving security to all who do not have an assured income pensions and those just below the eligibility age— in their advanced age, is both the need of the hour between 55 years and 59 years. he beneiciaries as well as the need of the future. Despite this, the were able to access a decent living from the income issue of pensions for older citizens does not receive support provided by Renta Dignidad. An objective due attention in public debates. assessment of the situation on the ground, a political We strongly believe that policies for older commitment to alleviate poverty, providing persons should aim at providing rights-based, equitable services and a systematic nationalization comprehensive care for older citizens, of which of the economy has enabled Bolivia to implement regular and adequate cash transfers in the form a universal pension scheme that provides each of pensions are a very important element. Apart individual US$340 a year. from regular pensions, the State must provide he two most positive macro outcomes of the universal, costless and age-sensitive public health Dignity pension have been a reduction in Bolivia’s services and mass-scale nutrition augmentation absolute poverty from six percentage points to programmes which are subsidized and sensitive to

55 India Exclusion Report the needs of the older individuals of the society. conditions of automatic exclusion criteria19 in the hrough this shit we argue in favour of a people- Socio-Economic Caste Census. centred policy for those in advanced stages of their he main reasons behind this proposal is to life. We make a case for an adequate, universal ensure a rights based dignity to all old people by or at least near-universal pension system, which minimizing the errors of exclusion and inclusion reaches all those in the advanced stages of their that are common to targeted schemes, and in a lives without assured income, which is delivered true sense achieve the aim of Article 41 under the to the beneiciary regularly (monthly basis) via Directive Principles. Incidentally in the CES study a mode of disbursement most convenient to the when people were asked whether pensions should be beneiciary. for all old people or only for the poorest, 81 per cent In the rest of this inal section of the chapter of people interviewed in Rajasthan and 83 per cent we make a case for adequate, universal pensions in Gujarat felt that old age pensions should be for all by suggesting multiple policy interventions .hese without any conditionality. If pension restructuring suggestions are based on the analysis presented in in India is to live up to its original intent then this chapter. We also draw upon the SECC report as expansion of pension coverage to all those without well as demands that have emerged from peoples’ income security is a necessary precondition. In a movements focussed on this issue, to substantiate multi-pillar system, the irst pillar is the strongest our claim as and when necessary. one, designed to cover all who face the possibility of ageing without income security.

9.1 Universalization of Age-based Pensions 9.2 Adequate Entitlements

One of the most contested debates in policy We claim that the central government contribution literature is whether to universalize social beneits of INR 200 and INR 500 per month per person, or target them. In light of the larger reality of India which is too low, has remained stagnant for over where ageing for most people is not accompanied a decade and needs to be revised. his amount is by income security, as elucidated in earlier sections less than INR 1200 per month which is where the of this chapter, the foremost recommendation poverty line is drawn. In other words the present we propose with regard to pensions for the old pension entitlements do not provide for even what an is for the State to move towards a near universal individual requires for basic caloriic consumption coverage. Pensions must be provided to all whose required to remain alive at present rates. age is greater than the age criteria deined in the he amount entitled under IGNOAPS, at policy but who have no pensions linked to formal present, is not based on any systematic method of sector employment. As evident from the preceding accounting for the cost of living a life of dignity. discussion, India presently follows a means-tested We propose that the State calculate the per month system. We strongly argue against such a narrowly pension entitlements based on either of the two targeted system. Instead ideally, as stated above, it methods that is provided—transfer 50 per cent of should be a universal programme. If universality is per capita GDP to each beneiciary or 50 per cent an ideal that is diicult to achieve, then at the very of the oicial minimum wage. hese are the two least we would echo the recommendation made by most widely used methods to decide public pension the expert group to MoRD18 in November 2016 to amounts globally. A social protection scheme that extend pensions to all those who do not meet the does not account for cost incurred for even basic

56 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India consumption levels and provides much below that of 60 years. Interestingly, in the CES study while level falls short of being the safety net it is conceived over one-fourth of the respondents in Rajasthan to be. In the CES study, the mean pension amount felt that the age at which pensions were initiated in reported by beneiciaries as their ideal pension their state was acceptable, less than one-ith of the amount in Rajasthan was INR 1875 per month respondents in Gujarat echoed the same opinion. and in Gujarat it was INR 2373 per month. here An overwhelming majority of respondents across is nearly a three to four fold diference between both states were in favour of earlier initiation of what people expect as old age support and what is pensions. provided at present in both these states. 9.4 Ease of Application and Ease in 9.3 Early Initiation of Age-based Pensions Disbursement of Pension At present the IGNOAPS considers individuals 9.4.1 Ease of Application above the age of 59 years as eligible to be We propose that beneiciaries of old age public beneiciaries of the scheme. he criteria for age is pensions should be proactively identiied. Preferably most likely borrowed from the formal sector idea when eligible persons enter the age bracket, they of mandatory retirement, which generally is at the should be automatically included. If there is an age of 60 years. he age at which public pensions application procedure, this should not involve are initiated are inextricably linked to the average travel outside the place of residence, because older longevity of life. In India the average life expectancy people face inancial and physical constraints when is 64 years. However, life expectancy varies across it comes to mobility outside where they live. class and caste. It is observed through the data that the poor and the vulnerable usually live shorter Most studies have noted that the application lives as compared to the rich and privileged; for procedure for initiating pensions is tiresome, instance, the average life expectancy of those who unnecessarily bureaucratic and directs all the are poor and belong to the scheduled caste category responsibility for initiating pensions towards the is less than 60 years and life expectancy of those beneiciary herself/himself. he CES study inds who are poor and belong to the scheduled tribes that in Gujarat, on an average, each beneiciary category was less than 57 years, whereas the average has to visit two and sometimes three oices and life expectancy in 2005 was 65 years (Mohanty & less than 40 per cent of people who had applied for Ram, 2010). pensions across both the states had their pensions initiated within the oicial stipulated time of three Hence, while deciding the age of initiation of months from the date of application. Jos, Murgai, pensions, one should give careful consideration Bhattachrya and Mehta (2015), in their comparative to these factors. In the case of India this means an study across three states—Delhi, Haryana and earlier initiation of pensions than the present age, Uttar Pradesh, identify easing entry into pensions since the average life expectancy is too low to begin by methods such as proactive identiication of pensions at the age of 60 years. It is encouraging beneiciaries. to know that some individual states like Rajasthan and Haryana have already entitled beneiciaries in 9.4.2 Plugging Delays in Pension Payments their states to pensions, before they reach the age of 60 years. In Rajasthan, pensions are initiated at Pensions which are supposed to be cash transfers, the age of 55 years for women and 58 years for men. paid duly every month, are reported to be routinely In Gujarat, old age pensions are initiated at the age delayed. In the CES study over one-third of 57 India Exclusion Report respondents were yet to receive pensions for the Studies, in which over 200 cases of women with previous month at the time of the study. he most disabilities in rural India were documented, it was cited reason for delays in Gujarat was that pensions found out that most women used their disability are generally delayed by 2–3 months on an average. pension for accessing medical treatment oten In Rajasthan, while most people cited this as a related to their speciic disability. Hence, speciic reason, other prominent reasons included not disabilities need supplementary costs in order to having an Aadhaar card or a bank account. manage them. We propose that pensions should be disbursed en masse on a stipulated date of the month at the 9.5 Systematic Data Collection place of residence of the older person, a practice adopted by the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh A people-centric policy cannot be arrived at without and Odisha. his streamlines the process of the support of systematically collected data. In a pension disbursal as well as ensures transparency. situation like ours, marked by limited iscal capacity Additionally the beneiciaries can plan their of the State and the need for large investments in expense well in advance and don’t have to limit the social sector, the need for data-backed policy their expense on essentials due to the insecurity intervention cannot be over-emphasized. It is they face each month due to delays. important to collect systematic individual-level consumption data via public surveys to understand he National Social Assistance Programme, intra-household parity and linkages between of which the IGNOAPS is a single component, old age and poverty. At present, it is diicult to provides cash transfers similar to itself also in diferentiate between deprivations due to poverty in the form of pensions for widows and people with general and age-induced poverty. his is especially disability between the ages of 40 and 59 years. important if the public pension systems are means- he scheme is named Indira Gandhi National tested. Besides, there is little comprehensively Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi collected systematic data available about all aspects Disability Pension Scheme respectively. At the age of well being of the elderly. Systematically collected of 60 years, the Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension data, we believe, will help in understanding speciic Scheme replaces either in an individual’s life. needs of the old and inform relevant policy design. Advancing of age by itself is a challenge that needs active government intervention. he challenges of widowhood or disability are not encompassed 9.6 Introduce Legal Obligation of State within advancement in age but are distinct axes of towards Old Age Income Support disadvantage in themselves. While the constitutional provisions under Articles 41, However, by providing one of the three types 42 and 47 address old age, labour and nutrition needs of pensions at a time, the state assumes that respectively and Article 21 speciies the Right to Life, disadvantages do not intersect but rather replace none create a binding obligation upon the State to each other. his weakens individuals who may provide cash transfers in form of pensions. A law that face more than one of these challenges in addition legally binds the state to ensure participation of the to being old; for example a 60-year-old disabled elderly in the economy and secure for themselves a person while facing adverse impacts of ageing and life of dignity, via publicly provided pensions of value disability is compensated for only one of them. In that is systematically derived, would strengthen the a 2015 study20 conducted by the Centre for Equity case for age-based pensions immensely.

58 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

9.7 Pension Fund Planning regulations related to investment of pension funds. Both processes together allow for a larger amount of Most countries that have adequate public pensions funds to be invested in riskier options such as equity are accompanied by a systematic system of funding funds and hedge funds. his recommendation, the pensions. here is a need for a dedicated State unlike others, is not restricted to non-contributory managed pension fund with a long term vision that public pensions but is about relecting on the takes cognizance of demographic changes as well entire sector of pensions as a whole. In 2016, the as social security entitlements of the labour force permissible limit for Foreign Direct Investment in at large. All countries with a well performing public the pension sector was raised from 26 per cent to pension programme, whether they follow the multi- 49 per cent (maximum permissible limit for FDI pillar strategy of the World Bank or a universal in India at present). he report of the Committee pension loor for all, have a dedicated pension fund to Review Investment Guidelines for the National which is used to provide for the present and plan Pension Scheme, 201621 recommends more for future needs. Since providing adequate pensions autonomy to fund managers, returns on pension needs inter-temporal planning, making funds investment pegged to the risk ‘appetite’ of the available and planning their management ahead investor and inally devolvement of investment of time is an efective way to address the issue of rules which, at present, control the magnitude of funding for pensions. investment in high risk equity and hedge funds. Critiques of the inherent risk factors related 9.8 Increasing the Pensions Provided by the Private-sector Employer to heightened inancialization are echoed across the ideological spectrum. Prasad, Rajan and he viability of providing public pensions rests Subramaniam (2007), prior to the 2008 economic heavily on a strong second pillar which in turn rests recession across the globe, warned that an on mandatory pensions provided via employment. analysis of international capital lows and the Policy interventions which incentivize employers associated risks demands greater caution and to provide pensions to employees as well as penalize control. Financialization of pensions introduces the defaulters would help ensure expansion of complexities and elevates risks for non- pensions provided under the second pillar. Recent contribution based public pensions as well. While reports of the PFRDA have repeatedly stressed the it is diicult to overhaul the system and do away need to share responsibility of pension provision with inancialization, most experts like Rajan with the employer. At present, only about 8 per believe that certain crucial arenas can be regulated cent of jobs in the private sector provide old age more than others. Financialization of pensions has income security of any kind. his places the burden been consistently and systematically opposed by of ensuring income security for all senior citizens, CPI(Marxist) and the All India Trinamool Congress on public pensions alone. Party (AITMC). Inadequate regulation of investment of pension 9.9 Refraining from ‘Financialization’ of fund corpuses does not just enhance risk levels of Pensions a particular pension scheme and its subscribers, By inancialization of pensions, we mean precisely but elevates the risk of the entire sector as well two things—linking pensions to global capital, as diminishes returns on pension funds invested i.e., increasing the proportion of foreign direct conservatively in safer options such as government investment allowed in pensions, as well as relaxing bonds. Pensions are too important to be let to the

59 India Exclusion Report volatility of inancial markets. If let to the volatility make it nearly impossible to provide for adequate of markets pension plans would be faced with two public pensions for all senior citizens. Unless these outcomes of low risk, low deined beneit returns structural issues are addressed, the viability of or risking public pensions for investment options pensions will be a challenge diicult to meet. involving higher risk. Both of these scenarios

Endnotes determine the pension system modalities and reform options that should be considered. Country- 1. he study on old age pensions was conducted by the speciic conditions require a tailored and tactically Centre for Equity Studies in Gujarat and Rajsthan sequenced implementation of the model that will from July 2016 to November 2016. he study substantially deine the range of feasible options. interviewed 1500 respondents across select rural he ive pillars subsequently suggested are—0 pillar and urban locations. he study was conducted in Non-contributory pensions, 1—Mandatory irst partnership with ANANDI, DevgarhBaria Mahila pillar based on pay as you go system, 2—Mandatory Mandal, Malia Mahila Mandal in Gujarat and Astha second pillar which is like an individual account in Udaipur, Unnati in Barmer, Mazdoor Kisan based on deined contribution. 3—A voluntary Shakti Sangathan and School for Democracy in third pillar similar to the second one which Bhim, Rajasthan and Pension Parishad in Delhi. ‘compensates for rigidities in the design of other Jayati Ghose, Ravi Srivastav, Praveen Jha, NC systems but includes similar risks as second pillars’, Saxena, Nikhil Dey and Harsh Mander comprised 4—A non-inancial pillar which includes access to the advisory group. hroughout the chapter this informal support (such as family support), other study has been referred to as the CES study on formal social programmes (such as health care pensions for old, 2016. and/or housing). he Annapoorna Scheme under 2. An estimate of over one-third is an approximate the NSAP that ofers nutrition support to elderly derived based on the following igures. About 23 is an example of non-inancial support. However, per cent of the old are covered under the IGNOAPS. it needs to be noted that Annapoorna is ofered to 8 per cent are covered by private-sector employers. all those who are eligible for pensions but do not he rest are covered by public-sector employers. receive it due to implementation issues. he irst igure is based on total beneiciaries of 5. he Employee Pension Scheme, 1995 was IGNOAPS as presented in Annexure 1 (24,167,176 introduced under the Employee Provident Fund people) and considering the total population of Act of 1952. he corpus is composed of 12 per those above the age of 60 years as 10.39 crores. For cent drawn from employee salary, 8.3 per cent the second igure see ‘When India Ages; whither all through employer contribution and 1.16 per cent Pensions’ published by CRISIL Insight in January of the salary is contributed by the state. he state 2015. Accessed at https://www.polymerupdate. contribution of 1.16 per cent is capped at a salary com/general/special-features/articles/crisil/ limit of 6500/-INR. crisil-27022015-144416.pdf. For estimates also 6. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development see India Labour and Employment Report Authority Press Release, Atal Pension Yojana (APY) 2014,Workers In he Era of Globalisation; Institute workshop for State Apex Cooperative Banks and of Human Development, published by Academic District Central Cooperative Banks. Accessed Foundation, New Delhi in 2014. athttp://www.pfrda.org.in/WriteReadData/Links/ 3. he full budget speech can be accessed at http:// Press%20Releaseeca9229c-e573-4d01-992e- indiabudget.nic.in/bspeech/bs200001.pdf 20379da85e0c.pdf in October 2016. 4. A subsequent report titled Old Age Income Support United Nations Population Division (UN), World in the 21st Century: An International Perspective Population Prospects: he 2010 Revision (New on Pension Systems and Reform published in York: United Nations, 2011), accessed at http://esa. 2005 suggested an evolved version of the multi- un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm, on Jan. 12, 2012. pillar design. he report states that the bank’s 7. he full report of the planning commission can policy framework lexibly applies a ive-pillar be accessed at http://planningcommission.nic.in/ model deining the range of design elements to

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plans/planrel/iveyr/11th/11_v1/11th_vol1.pdf 16. Calculations done by Vivek Mishra. Inlation rate 8. he report titled Report of the Expert Group to is average calculated considering igures reported advise the Ministry of Rural Development on for CPI inlation from 2001 to 2016. IRR calculated methodology for conducting Below Poverty Line using the IRR function in MS Excel. Census for 11th Five Year Plan submitted to the 17. Link to Global Age Watch Index conducted by Ministry of Rural Development in August 2009 can Helpage International: http://www.helpage.org/ be accessed at http://rural.nic.in/sites/downloads/ global-agewatch/population-ageing-data/global- circular/ReportofExpertGroupChaired- rankings-table/ Dr.N.C.Saxena.pdf 18. he Department of Rural Development had set up 9. Data accessed at the World Bank data portal http:// an expert group under the chairmanship of Sumit data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS Bose on 1 January 2016 to study the objective in October 2016. criteria for allocation of resources to States and 10. Highlights of the India Labour and Development identiication and prioritization of beneiciaries Report (2014)Accessed at http://www.ihdindia. under various programmes using Socio-Economic org/ILERpdf/Highlights%20of%20the%20Report. and Caste Census (SECC) 2011. he report was pdf in November 2016. Full reference of the report submitted in November 2016. included in the reference list below. 19. Automatic Exclusion is the irst stage in a multi- 11. Eighth Report of the Commissioners of the Supreme stage poverty identiication method. It involves Court. A Special Report on the Most Vulnerable Social identifying the non-poor and excluding individuals Groups and their Access to Food Commissioners or households based on pre-set criteria, in contrast of the Supreme Court In the case: PUCL v. UOI & to the Below Poverty Line identiication methods Ors. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 196 of 2001 September wherein automatic exclusion identiies the non- 2008 accessed at http://www.sccommissioners.org/ poor. his method was suggested by the Saxena Reports/Reports/SCC8_0908.pdf Committee to Ministry of Rural Development 12. Cancelling of pension accounts is generally for conducting BPL census for 11th Five year plan undertaken on a permanent basis; in case of death in August 2009. his method of identiication is of beneiciary or other such irreversible reasons. reported to minimize exclusion-related errors in Stopped pension accounts are those that are targeted exercises. temporarily withheld till such time that veriication 20. he study titled Girls and Women with Disability in is carried out. Rural India was undertaken in 2015 by the Centre for 13. Details regarding the survey can be found at http:// Equity Studies. he study was conducted in Latehar, web.iitd.ac.in/~reetika/projects.html. Jharkhand, Koraput, Orissa and in Karnatak. About 14. [vi] Press release of the PFRDA titled Conference 225 case studies of girls and women with disabilities on Swavalamban-Expanding Horizons dated were collected as a part of this project. A chapter 18. 11. 2014. Accessed at http://pfrda.org.in/ based on its indings is included in the last section WriteReadData/Links/PFRDA%20Press%20 of this report. Release%2018112014%20PIB4869bf5-52e9-432b- 21. Report of he Committee to Review Investment 8194-667351ca4cbd.pdf in November 2016. Guidelines For National Pension System (NPS) 15. he TVC starring Amitabh Bachan promoting Atal Schemes in Private Sector; Pension Fund Regulatory Pension Yojna titled Construction can be accessed at And Development Authority, Vasant Kunj, New https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0v0CN-B7-k Delhi, 2015 accessed at http://pfrda.org.in/myauth/ admin/showimg.cshtml?ID=682.

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62 Public Pension Provisioning for Old Persons in India

Annexure 1 Indicative List of Pensions and Beneiciaries across States and Union Territories

States Pension amount Pension amount Beniciaries Beneiciaries per person for oldest old— (Rural) (Urban) per month for those above 75 old—between 55 years/80 years years/60 years and 75 years/80 years Andaman and 2000 500 545 1 Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh 1000 1000 898259 124596 Arunachal Pradesh 200 500 7793 0 Assam 400 700 710844 57688 Bihar 600 500 3763333 287551 Chhattisgarh 300 500 510941 97824 Dadra and 1000 1000 605 131 Nagarhaveli Daman and Diu 1000 500 1162 259 Delhi* 1200 500 0 429706 Goa 2000 2000 1653 52 Gujarat 400 500 304191 155359 Haryana 1400 1700 159195 35752 Himachal Pradesh 1200 500 85125 2207 Jammu and 400 700 118143 15715 Kashmir Jharkhand 400 700 889355 38075 Karnataka 500 750 748404 143904 Kerala 450 500 519079 12737 Lakshwadweep 1000 1000 191 0 Madhya Pradesh 275 500 1371425 244881 Maharashtra 600 600 945110 151351 Manipur 200 500 53068 15123 Meghalaya 250 550 43544 3154 Mizoram 250 550 16425 7749 Nagaland 200 500 46282 1458 Orissa 300 700 1325939 95089 Pondicherry 2000 2500 20093 18084 Punjab 450 500 89369 15686 Rajasthan 500 750 818430 93294 Tamil Nadu 1000 1000 1356879 364086

63 India Exclusion Report

States Pension amount Pension amount Beniciaries Beneiciaries per person for oldest old— (Rural) (Urban) per month for those above 75 old—between 55 years/80 years years/60 years and 75 years/80 years Telangana 1200 1500 505118 94214 Tripura 500 700 129574 10855 Uttar Pradesh 300 500 3929453 274779 Uttarakhand 800 800 241539 12796 West Bengal 400 500 1431806 291054 TOTAL 21067960 3099216

* Delhi ofers additional amounts for people belonging to the following social groups Schedules Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities.

64 Glimpse of an E-Mitra facility during the Jawabdehi Yatra in 2016. Photo Credit: Jayshankar Menon, Rough Cut Productions, Delhi Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access

Osama Manzar, Rajat Kumar, Eshita Mukherjee and Raina Aggarwal*

1. Introduction 1.2 Tracing the Journey of Digital Exclusion Information and Communication Technologies he term ‘Digital Divide’ was prevalent in studies (ICTs) have many diferent deinitions, he World and policies during the 1990s and early 2000s. As Bank deines it as ‘he set of activities which access to and content in the ICTs have evolved over facilitate by electronic means the processing, the years, so has the deinition of the digital divide. transmission and display of information’ (Rodriguez Now it is regarded: as a) lack of infrastructure; &Wilson, 2000). Economic and Social Commission b) lack of access; c) lack of information, and d) for Asia and the Paciic (ESCAP) deines ICTs as inability to leverage information. ‘….refer[ring] to technologies people use to share, distribute, gather information and to communicate, here are considerable diferences in the through computers and computer networks’ deinition of the digital exclusion by various (ESCAP, 2001). In this chapter we shall follow the researchers. For some, the term refers to the gap one standardized by the United Nations, ‘ICTs are between people who have access to the internet basically information-handling tools—a varied set and those who don’t (Mehra, 2002); the extent of of goods, applications and services that are used physical access to ICTs and the Internet (Loader & to produce, store, process, distribute and exchange Keeble, 2004). information’ (United Nations ICT Taskforce, 2003). Azari and Pick (2005 & 2009) consider it hey include the ‘old’ ICTs—radio, television and the ‘uneven distribution of the beneits of ICTs’ telephone, and the ‘new’ ICTs—computers, satellite which can be studied at both the specialized level and wireless technology and the Internet. hese (broadband or mobile Internet access) and basic ICT tools are invaluable to the modern information ICT access level (availability of basic ICT devices society. heir impact on the quality of life with such as phone, TV and radio). regard to access to information and avenues to In the mid-2000s, research on the digital divide better oneself especially in developing countries is moved beyond physical access and paid closer unprecedented. attention to concepts that are concerned with issues around culture, empowerment, and social mobility; and diferentiated uses of the Internet (Hargittai,

Note: All authors are part of the Research & Advocacy Team at the Digital Empowerment Foundation * Reviewers: Ritu Srivastava, Shivani Lal, Bijo P. Abraham, Vipul Mudgal, Martin Webb

66 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access

2002; de Haan, 2004; Newhagen & Bucy, 2004; van For a worker availing beneits from the Mahatma Dijk, 2006). Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)2 and earning about INR 150 a day, Against a general conception of ‘digital inclusion’ the total cost of getting a photocopy of an Aadhaar as access to computers and internet for all, regardless card3 comes to INR 225 (opportunity cost of losing of physical, cognitive or inancial ability, Crandall his day job INR 150, plus travel cost INR 50, plus and Fisher (2009) broaden the deinition to include Internet cost INR 20, and cost of printout INR 5). technological literacy and the ability to access relevant online content and services. hey also see hus, students are unable to maximize the it as the process of democratizing access to ICTs, in beneits of higher education due to lack of access to order to allow the inclusion of the marginalized in Internet. Daily wagers lose their day’s earnings just the information society. to get their identity card printed. For them, access to digital media is not a luxury but a necessity. It Hache and Cullen (2009) further state that is important for us to highlight that the digital digital inclusion should be seen as a wagon to medium has value not in and by itself but rather acts social inclusion that ensures individuals and as a medium that facilitates access to other basic disadvantaged groups have access to ICTs and public goods and services, especially in developing the skills to use them and are therefore able to countries. participate in and beneit from an increasingly electronically mediated knowledge economy and In India, access to public entitlement is hard information society. to get, especially for people living in rural areas; here the poor and illiterate get misguided easily Due to the comprehensive nature of Hache and access to basic necessities like pension, daily and Cullen’s postulation, we will consider their wage, food, basic health facilities and education is deinition of digital inclusion as the theoretical a challenge. ‘Public good’ here is deined as goods, underpinning of this chapter. services, attainments, capabilities, functioning and freedoms—individual and collective—that 1.3 Digital Medium as a Public Good is essential for a human being to live with dignity (Mander, 2015). Dhani Poonia—a small hamlet in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India, has only one upper he following example will elaborate the above primary school, no hospital or eMitraKendra.1 point. MGNREGA creates a justiiable ‘right While almost every popular Internet network is to work’ by promising up to 100 days of wage available in this village, connectivity and quality of employment per year to all rural households whose the connection is low. his forces villagers to travel adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual to the nearby towns of Rajgarh or Taranagar, at a work. However, a recent study ‘Right to Work’ transportation cost of INR 50, every time they want (Dutta et al., 2014) has pointed out that there is very to access the Internet facility at one of these places. little public awareness about what needs to be done hose ofering digital services in these two towns to obtain work along with an array of other issues charge INR 5 per printout, and INR 20 per hour surrounding the MGNREGA programme. hus, for internet usage. A student who needs help to ill despite the law guaranteeing work and livelihood, a form or apply online for admission has to pay a people are let unemployed due to lack of proper minimum of INR 70 (INR 50 for travel and INR channels of information. he digital medium can 20 for using the internet service) (Manzar, 2016a). serve to enable access to genuine, cost-efective and

67 India Exclusion Report timely information thereby increasing feasibility leave a missed call and when the server calls them and eiciency. back they have an option to either leave a message and/or hear a message (Rustagi, 2013).he social sector—non-governmental organizations, and 1.4 Opportunities Provided by the Digital Medium and Why It Matters? development organizations—use Mobile Vaani to disseminate information about their programmes. According to van Dijk (2006), the ‘digital divide’ Local business owners (small shop owners), is the gap between those who do and do not have coaching centres and self-help groups use it to access to computers and the internet, i.e., have advertise their services and products. no access to the digital medium. However, what CGNetSwara, a Bhopal-based project, is a voice matters is not really the lack of tools like computer portal for citizen journalists to report or listen to and the internet, but the lack of tangible and non- news bytes about Chhattisgarh, using their mobile tangible opportunities that it provides. It also phones in Hindi and Gondi (a language spoken allows communication and exchange of ideas while in the central Gondwana region of India, which retaining anonymity and foregoing the need for comprises the central tribal region stretching from physical travel. the Adivasi areas of Gujarat to West Bengal). As Table 1 explains, tangible opportunities that On 8 January 2011, a citizen journalist posted the digital medium provides could be access to an interview with Pitbasu Bhoi from Ambikapur, information, new ideas and skills. who was not paid his wages even ater working A few examples of digital media enabling access 100 days under MGNREGA. A week later, another to not just goods and services but also in many cases, citizen journalist ran into Bhoi and discovered that access to their basic rights will serve to demonstrate his son had died due to the non-payment of wages. the advantages of digital inclusion and elucidate the Ater two leading national dailies, Times of India point further. and he Hindu, picked up the story from Swara and Mobile Vaani is a mobile-based application followed up, Bhoi was paid his wage on 20 January, initiated in 2012 by Gram Vaani Community 2011 (Shah, 2012). Media in Jharkhand and has now spread to Bihar D B Corp, owner of the largest circulating and Madhya Pradesh (MP) as well. he application newspaper in Chhattisgarh, acquired a coal mine in uses an interactive voice response (IVR) system, Dharamjaigarh in Chhattisgarh. Despite the rigged thus enabling people to create and share content. public hearing, local media ignored the story. he IVR system makes it accessible over basic However, following two reports on CGNetSwara phones with no internet access, as the entire about the public hearing, three national newspapers communication happens over a phone call. People carried elaborate stories, leading to the cancellation

Table 1: Tangible and Non-tangible Opportunities Provided by ICT Devices

Tangible Social: Communication, Educational: Information, Material: Resources, Source of Participation, Association Ideas, Knowledge/Skill Economic Capital Formation Non-Tangible Freedom of Anonymity

Source: Van Dijk, J.A.G.M., 2006

68 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access of the allotment of the coal mine. (Srivastava et al., stated that while India has come close to the US in forthcoming) numbers in terms of Internet penetration it remains far behind at 18 per cent as against 87 per cent in the Swara became a success due to the ease of US. India still needs to connect these ‘oline people’ telecommunication, user friendliness and round to the Internet for pushing growth, creating jobs and the clock availability of the application. Another accessing public services (World Bank, 2016). major factor that aided the success of Swara was its ability to enable communication in the regional his section explores various factors which language. contribute to digital exclusion like poverty, geography, illiteracy, disability, gender and age, Digital interventions like Mobile Vaani and and throws light on the intersection of these CGNetSwara help break the traditional socio- independent variables. hese variables inluence economic barriers of communication as they the existence of various groups on a ‘continuum of provide both non-tangible beneits like information, exclusion’, due to the inherent intersection that is knowledge and ideas while also enabling the endemic to exclusion. However, there are members marginalized communities to generate livelihood of these groups that may experience complete opportunities and enhance the existing ones. exclusion. hus, the digital medium acts as a vehicle. It is For the chapter, we have deined ‘complete digital not the end but acts as the means to an end. exclusion’ as a social and economic inequality with regard to personal access to ICTs; the skills to use 2. Mediators of Digital Exclusion the devices of and on their own without having any assistance; and ability to leverage the beneits of According to Curtis Kularski, ‘…the digital divide is ICTs. In this particular deinition, we have excluded composed of a skill gap and a gap of physical access the concept of the sharing of ICT devices and to Information Technology (IT) and the two gaps Internet with the family and community members. oten contribute to each other in circular causation. he World Bank (2012) also highlighted the Without access to technology, it is diicult to diference between mobile users and subscribers, develop technical skill and it is obsolete to have stating that ‘if a mobile phone exists in a household, access to technology without irst having the skill to then all members could theoretically use it, thereby utilize it’ (2012, p.1). extending access.’ his deinitional extension of ICTs have become an irreplaceable tool in society. access can be used to inlate metrics when assessing Today, the Internet has become an integral part of digital inclusion, therefore, the authors have chosen many lives and it is diicult to imagine having to to disregard it. function without internet access. he number of people ‘going online’ to conduct everyday activities, 2.1 Poverty such as business and banking, education, seeking employment, civic engagement and forming and Poverty poses a major barrier to Internet access. As maintaining social relationships, is increasing every per the 68th round of the National Sample Survey day. he World Development Report noted that Organization (NSSO), conducted in 2011, the almost 1.063 billion Indians were oline even though percentage of persons below the Poverty Line in India ranks among the top ive nations in terms India has been estimated as 25.7 per cent in rural of the total number of Internet users, along with areas, 13.7 per cent in urban areas and 21.9 per cent China, the US, Japan and Brazil. he report further for the country as a whole (Abhay, 2014).

69 India Exclusion Report

he high cost of ICT devices and data plans, low 2.2 Geography incomes and afordability are the major challenges Chen and Wellman (2004) found that geographic for much of the oline population. In India, the location is one of the major factors afecting ability to purchase or rent the ICT tool for access people’s access to and use of the internet, with to digital information is less among the masses. more prosperous regions having higher internet he Ericsson Consumer Lab Report (2015) stated penetration rates than poorer regions. that in India, for the consumers who do not use mobile broadband, afordability was the prime Lack of suicient network coverage and obstacle to the adoption of ICT services as 88 per insuicient infrastructure are the major obstacles cent of Indian consumers on 2G felt that mobile to internet adoption, particularly in rural areas. broadband is too expensive. Many Indians struggle he Internet and Mobile Association of India to meet their basic needs and are unable to aford (IAMAI) Internet in India Report (2015) found internet services. he report also stated that even that India had over 317 million users accessing the with the low and competitive prices of devices and Internet at least once a month. Of this, urban India data plans compared with the rest of the world, accounted for 209 million users out of an overall internet access in India remains beyond the reach urban population of 414 million people, while of close to 1.063 billion people as the lower income rural India accounted for 108 million users out of group does not have discretionary money4 to spend an overall population of 922 million people. his is on cyber cafes or to get Internet connectivity on approximately around 25 per cent of the country’s their own to access digital information. population. One of the foremost reasons for rural areas lagging behind urban areas with regard to he most formidable hurdle in digital inclusion access to ICTs is that spectrum allocations in the is the inability of Indians to aford data plans. he lower-frequency coverage bands, under 1GHz, are State of Connectivity Report, 2015, by internet.org inadequate in providing an economically viable stated that four of ive Indians could aford internet network. Besides, existing operators don’t generate if data costs fell by 66 per cent, but Indian telecom enough revenue in rural areas and therefore, do operators already claim to run data services at an not invest in building infrastructure. he Census of 11 per cent loss, making cost-cutting diicult. he India identiied 6,40,932 rural settlements and 7933 statistics show that a data plan, currently priced urban settlements (2011) within the country. Rural at INR 100 should not cost more than INR 34, if settlements are eighty times more numerous than India has to make internet afordable for 80 per urban settlements. Yet, according to a report by cent of its population. Poverty and socio-economic Deloitte (2015), the distribution of towers is skewed constraints digitally exclude the people belonging to towards urban areas, with 61 per cent of towers as lower rungs of the economic ladder as they cannot opposed to 39 per cent of towers in rural areas. aford new communication technologies and the expenses incurred in upgrading the equipment, here are also other reasons like the lack of sotware, and training support. infrastructure coupled with harsh terrain and oten- vast distances between communities, and the low To facilitate digital inclusion among low-income income of rural communities. In addition to this, groups, the total cost of ownership including access to electricity is another hurdle in rural areas, devices, data plans, taxes, and related expenses with only 55 per cent of rural households having (such as charging solutions) would need to be at a access to electricity (Census of India, 2011). level that these low-income consumers can aford.

70 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access

he above mentioned barriers are exacerbated In the north-east, most of the people are digitally by the lack of awareness about beneits of ICTs, in excluded as these states have been getting internet spite of access to ICTs being available. he IAMAI connectivity through Mumbai and Chennai survey (2015) also found that 76 per cent of Indian International Internet Gateway, but the problems respondents cited lack of awareness about the of weak signals and drop of linkages were faced internet as the reason they weren’t online. Beyond because of long distance. To tackle the connectivity basic awareness, a signiicant number of individuals issues, an agreement had been signed between have been exposed to the internet but choose not Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited to go online because they don’t see the value in its (BSCCL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited potential uses. (BSNL) in June 2015 to provide unimpeded and Internet users in rural and urban areas high speed internet with large bandwidth. Besides, have varying usage and preferences because of India’s third International Internet Gateway (IIG) diferences in devices, network capabilities and ater Mumbai and Chennai is being installed at underlying consumer behaviour and the patterns Agartala through Cox Bazar Cable Landing Station can be expected to evolve over time as they gain of Bangladesh for the north-eastern regions of more experience by browsing more sites. According India—Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, to the IAMAI(2015), urban users use the Internet Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh (Indo- for online communication the most (71 per cent), Asian News Service, 2016). followed by social networking (67 per cent), Google has also taken the initiative to bring entertainment (59 per cent) and online shopping afordable internet access to rural India with project and online ticketing (at 23 per cent and 24per ‘Loon’, the infrastructure for which would be big cent respectively). Rural users’ primary use of the balloons loating at a height of 20 kilometres above Internet is for entertainment (44 per cent), social the Earth’s surface for the transmission of internet networking (33 per cent), and communication (37 services. hey have also partnered with telecom per cent). Online ticketing and online shopping companies to share the cellular spectrum enabling account for 14 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. people to access internet from their phones and LTE With the aim of providing stable and afordable (Long-Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G connectivity in rural areas; both the government LTE) enabled devices. hough this project is under and some major corporations are attempting to development, it is expected that its implementation resolve this issue with network sharing, National will result in greater access to internet services and Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project and other reduce digital exclusion (Press Trust of India, 2015). initiatives. With the NOFN project initiated in 2011, hus, there are diferent initiatives and projects the government has aimed to provide broadband to provide the network backbone for connecting connectivity of a minimum of 100 Mbps to over villages, yet grassroots connectivity remains a 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats5 (local self-government challenge because of poor implementation and lack organizations in India of the Panchayati Raj6 of monitoring. system at the village or small-town level) with non-discriminatory access to the network for all Insuicient infrastructure and network coverage, categories of service providers. his government combined with digital illiteracy and absence of initiative estimated that the rural internet users discretionary money contribute to complete digital would increase from 60 million in June 2014 to 280 exclusion of most of the villages. Consider the case million in the year 2018 (Rao, 2015). of the Agariya community, which is a De-notiied

71 India Exclusion Report

Box 1: Including the Agariyas In this era of real-time communication where mobile phones in many ways deine the human experience, there’s still a place in our country where people communicate with each other by way of relecting mirrors. In the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, mirrors are one way to reach out to each other. he 4,953 sq. km Little Rann, home to about 3,500 families belonging to the Agariya (salt worker) community, is known as India’s ‘Survey Number Zero’ because no land survey has been conducted here since the British let. Several attempts have been made by activists working in the region to get government oicials to come and see the living conditions here. Yet, majority of the Agrariyas continue to live a life of virtual non-identity and is [sic] mostly paid poorly by middlemen for their labour. he Agariya community is a denotiied tribe scheduled [sic] that has been farming salt for centuries. his peculiar lifestyle means that their children hardly ever get a chance to go to school. When I visited the Little Rann, I got a chance to see about 17 schools made of rugs and sacks around the area of about 10-20 km from Patadi block headquarters of Surendra Nagar district (Manzar, 2016 b).

Scheduled Tribe7 that has been farming salt for devices and technologies) possessed by people. centuries. Generally, online content and information are he Agariyas are being socially and digitally designed for an audience that reads at an average or excluded as thesy don’t have access to better advanced literacy level and has discretionary money opportunities in terms of education and to spend. Non-users oten lack the digital skills to employment; and don’t have access to ICTs (Box 1). be able to access mobile internet and discover what is available. his can be compounded by a lack of 2.3 Illiteracy motivation due to the perception of limited relevant content. People in many disadvantaged groups are Literacy is a prerequisite for being able to participate oten precluded from making use of ICTs because fully in society—including the act of getting of low levels of computing and technology skills. online. A low literacy rate is a major impediment his is a signiicant factor in completely excluding to increasing internet penetration, while digital certain people from using the internet technologies literacy and skills are important in allowing access (Salinas, 2003). Lack of digital literacy is combined to digital information. Literacy, according to the with a lack of motivation where people don’t Census of India, 2011, is the ability to read and write associate the beneits of the internet and other with understanding in any language. A person who digital devices with their personal needs, believing can merely read but cannot write is not classiied as that ‘computers are not for them’. As a result, they literate. As per the Census (2011), literacy rate in behave very passively towards the ICTs and become India is 74.04 per cent with a 14 per cent increase completely digitally excluded. from 2001. However, there isn’t enough statistical data with regard to the level of digital literacy (the To close the digital divide, a National Digital ability to efectively and critically navigate, evaluate, Literacy Mission (NDLM) has been initiated by and create information using a range of digital the government with the vision to empower at

72 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access least one person per household with digital literacy internet content in local languages will increase the skills by 2020, and help users to harness the power number of internet users in India. of technology and develop necessary skills to start using ICTs with conidence. 2.4 Disability Another reason for digital exclusion is the In the evolving information-based society, language in which content is available on the providing digital access and digital services to internet. India is a culturally, religiously and persons living with disabilities has become an linguistically diverse society. At least 80 per cent of issue of major importance. he word disability all content on the internet is in one of 10 languages: indicates human limitation of one kind or another, English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, in performing various tasks performed by other German, Arabic, French, Russian, or Korean (World human beings in general. Disability may be of one Bank, 2014). Language fragmentation within or more kind—motor, mental or sensory, including India compounds the challenge as it has 22 oicial visual and hearing. Over 26.8 million people in languages in 11 scripts and hundreds of unoicial India are sufering from one or the other form of languages. Despite the large number of individuals disability, which is equivalent to 2.1 per cent of who speak the country’s major languages, none of the total population. Among the total number of these languages appear among the top 10 languages disabled people in the country, 14.9 million were on the internet. Lack of relevant (localized) internet males and 11.8 million were females, although the content is a hurdle for the people whose primary number of disabled was more in rural than in urban language is not English and prevents people from areas (Census, 2011). Ghai (2002) noted that extant familiarizing themselves with beneits of internet- socio-cultural exclusionary processes compounded based information. disability-related exclusion for women leading he number of Wikipedia articles in Indian them to be doubly excluded. languages fall woefully short of the top 10 languages he lack of access to information is a major on the same platform. To put the sheer scale into problem for people with disabilities. hough no perspective, the number of Wikipedia articles in data is available on the ownership of ICT devices English stand at 5.308 million versus 1,14,399 and internet usage by people with disabilities, still it articles in Hindi; 1,10,856 in Urdu; 89,578 articles can be said that due to diferent kinds of limitations, in Tamil; and 46,815 in Malayalam (Wikipedia persons with disabilities are not able to use ICTs Foundation, 2016). with ease. Disabled users face many diiculties in An IAMAI report (2016) on ‘he Proliferation accessing and using ICTs—motor disabilities may of Indian Languages on the Internet’ stated that the restrict the use of input devices, a visually impaired increase in online local language content would user may have diiculty in seeing display devices, lead to an increase of 39 per cent in the number a hearing impaired user may have diiculty in of internet users. Further, the report highlighted hearing audio information, and a person with that rural India will be the primary driver of this learning/cognitive disability may have problem in growth (75 per cent), while in urban India the understanding system operations. growth will be 16 per cent. he report also found In order to facilitate equal and unhindered access that the local language user base is growing at 47 to electronics and ICTs by PWDs, the Ministry of per cent annually, and reached 127 million in June Electronics and Information Technology (2013) 2015. hus, it may be postulated that availability of formulated the ‘National Policy on Universal

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Electronic Accessibility’ that recognizes the need to digital services (See Shilpi Kapoor’s quote below). eliminate discrimination on the basis of disabilities Even when they are free, assistive technologies and to facilitate equal access to electronics and or embedded accessibility features in commodity ICTs. he policy also recognizes the diversity of products may still remain unused if there is a lack diferently-abled persons and provides for their of experts and rehabilitation professionals trained in speciic needs, covers accessibility requirements in the use of these technologies and features. the area of electronics and ICTs, and also recognizes Shilpi Kapoor, Founder of Barrier Break the need for ensuring that accessibility standards addressed the nature of the problem saying, and guidelines, and universal design concepts are adopted and adhered to. India is also plagued with a Many economic factors play a vital role in access host of issues including, but not limited to, the lack to ICT and assistive technology, the foremost being afordability and availability. With an of institutional funding for educational initiatives income below average, most persons with for children with disabilities (UNESCO, 2013). disabilities are unable to get access to ICT and ICTs along with assistive technologies have assistive technology. Access to Internet in rural or helped persons with disabilities to access digital remote areas is also a problem. Many in the rural information and overcome various obstacles faced areas are not aware of funding options if any and in all types of environments. Some of the assistive do not know where to approach for subsidized technologies such as touch screen interface can be rates. Proper training is also an important factor. beneicial when used in combination with sotware Just having a technology without knowing how to use it is a waste (2016). like on-screen keyboards, or other assistive technology, by making computing facility accessible To overcome the barriers of inaccessible web to people who have diiculty in using computers. design, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI, n.d.) Also, a range of sotware is available for the guidelines are adopted for promoting the use of visually impaired that makes using a computer ICTs for people with disabilities. hese guidelines an easier, more enjoyable and more productive are published and broadly used for the World experience. A screen reader transmits whatever text Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility is displayed on the computer screen into a form that Initiative. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines a visually impaired user can process (usually tactile, (WCAG) 2.0 give a range of recommendations auditory or a combination of both). But many for making web content more accessible to a people cannot aford this as the hardware for screen- wider range of people with disabilities, including reading is usually very expensive, and websites blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, without any accessibility features aren’t compatible learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited with screen readers or their new features, making movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, it a major challenge for visually impaired users to among others. Web applications developed using comprehend the information. his policy shall be these guidelines oten make web content more covered in a following section in the chapter. accessible to users in general. hese standards have been around for a decade but still much of the web Overall, the cost of assistive technologies remains inaccessible to the disabled population. comprising the cost of the technology as well as the cost of assistive technology assessment, training and According to a survey conducted by the Centre support services, is still a signiicant barrier that for Internet and Society (CIS) in 2012, almost 25 prevents persons with disabilities from fully accessing per cent of 7800 government websites failed to

74 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access open and the remaining had accessibility barriers. 2.5 Gender he web accessibility survey report of Indian he barriers women and girls face in getting online government websites, revealed that out of the 200 both relect and reinforce gender norms. he government websites tested, only two were found gender digital divide is one of the most signiicant to be disabled-friendly (Minhas, 2014). here are inequalities ampliied by the digital revolution.8 he around 7800 websites of Government of India and IAMAI report (2015) reveals an unsettling gender even the few that claim accessibility, don’t meet the gap when it comes to accessing the internet—males international standards. account for 71 per cent of internet users, while Despite the growing awareness of web women account for just 29 per cent. he gap is accessibility issues, people with disabilities are slightly lower in urban India, with men accounting still facing barriers to digital access and digital for 62 per cent and women 38 per cent. he gap is services; they need to switch and coordinate with quite stark in rural India, where the men to women diferent information-seeking strategies such internet user ratio stands at 88:12. In the Gender as browsing, scanning, etc. Individuals using Gap Index (World Economic Forum, 2016), India screen readers face navigational problems due ranked at 87 out of 144 countries on gender-based to a lack of understanding of the diferent ways disparities based on economic, political, education, in which users interact with and navigate web- and health-based criteria. In India, marked based resources. hus, assistive technologies disparities in education, income, employment, provide limited information on web page layout by age, location (urban or rural) and cultural norms imposing navigational constraints. Other barriers restrict women’s ownership of phones and access to contributing to digital exclusion of the disabled are the internet, thus contributing to digital exclusion. interface design and the interpretation of speech he prevalence of traditional restrictions has also synthesis to convey the content on the page. Screen served to hamper women’s access to technology. he readers are voice synthesizers that can read the text most important concern is the bizarre restrictions on a screen. However the internet is inaccessible on women using mobile phones in rural India. to the blind and visually impaired users because Some groups in India inhibit women’s access to the screen reader is unable to read the graphically technology and impose bans on women using based web page (Cullen, 2001). and owning mobile phones by saying that mobile Besides, cost of technology and limited phones were ‘debasing the social atmosphere’ by awareness create an obstacle in accessing ICTs. leading young women to elope (Aljazeera, 2016). Estimates from the 58th round of NSSO, conducted In Bihar’s Sunderbadi village in Kochadham block in 2002 showed that only 26.3 per cent of disabled of Kishanganj district, the Panchayat imposed persons were engaged in economic activities. hus, a penalty of INR 10,000 if an unmarried girl was economic instability makes it diicult for PWDs found using a mobile phone (Shetty, 2012). (Persons with Disability) to aford computer and Social barriers prevent women from actively other digital devices (Somavia, 2009). engaging with the digital world as most of the It is quite obvious from the above that the time they are monitored by male members of the degree of ICT usage is limited among persons family, in addition to the lack of support from other with disabilities and the situation becomes more family members. he Women and the Web Report challenging with PWDs residing in rural areas and (Intel, 2013) revealed that one in ive women in those belonging to low-income groups. India believe that the internet is not ‘appropriate’

75 India Exclusion Report for them. Many women are socially conditioned to becomes worse when they belong to the lower believe that using the internet would not be useful rungs of the economic ladder and reside in rural for them, and if they did, their families would areas. India being a patriarchal society, it is diicult disapprove. for women to reach for better opportunities and Other important factors determining women’s empower themselves not only within the household online access are the afordability and awareness but also in their community spaces. Women are about the internet. he cost of internet access taught to be specialized in domestic work such as intersects with gender norms that discourage female looking ater siblings, cooking food, cleaning the internet use. he Women and the Web Report (2013) house, etc., right from their childhood. he reality revealed that 40 per cent of women cited a lack of in census data clearly shows that the literacy rate familiarity or comfort with technology as a reason among women is lower than men. In addition, for not using the internet and, particularly, women women have always been accorded lower status than who were uncomfortable with technology lacked the men and are dominated by male members within exposure to internet technologies that would make the family and society at large. In addition, women them more aware and allow them to develop their have low participation in the labour force in India. computer and digital literacy skills. According to a According to a report by the International Labour report by the World Wide Web Foundation (2015), Organization (ILO), 2016, only 26.91 percent of the the two primary barriers keeping women oline adult females in India participate in the workforce. were the perceived lack of know-how and high Even technologies are gendered with men’s cost of internet. he report also stated that women control of technology, information and knowledge are 1.6 times more likely than men to report lack limiting women’s opportunity to learn, use and of skills as a barrier to internet use. According to a beneit from it. Both historical and current survey conducted by Google, only one-third of the data show that women’s access to technology total Indian population with access to the internet lags considerably behind that of men. Melhem, were women and 49 per cent of women did not see Morrell &Tandon (2009) also claim that,‘Women any reason to access the internet (Indo-Asian News and girls are poorly placed to beneit from the Service, 2015). So, lack of skills eventually afects knowledge society because they have less access their motivation and online behaviour. to scientiic and technical education speciically Apart from all these factors, access to education and to education in general.’ he skewed nature of hinders their participation in the digital space. women’s access to ICTs in India relects across all Census of India (2011) clearly indicated that the age groups. However, highly educated women are a female literacy rate (65.46 per cent) in India was notable exception, as they reportedly use the ICTs lower that the male literacy rate (80 per cent); as much as men, suggesting that given educational parents didn’t send their daughters to schools opportunities and the means to do so, the results and thus, restricted their involvement in many could have a levelling tendency with respect to the academic spheres. In India, 51 per cent of women gender divide in digital inclusion. can read and write compared to 75 per cent of men, Undeniably, cultural and societal norms, lack and without this fundamental skill the internet and of education, control over inances, lack of access the beneits of the online world remain out of reach. to ICTs, and a lack of comfort with technology he most vulnerable group in terms of complete make women digitally illiterate and hinder their digital exclusion is women and the condition participation in the digital space.

76 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access

2.6 Age Mukherjee (2011) stated that only the educated and aluent class is proicient in ICT usage in India, Mark Prensky(2001) put across the concept of Digital and dependence of the elderly limits their access Natives and Digital Immigrants where he said that and capacity to reap the beneits of ICT usage. today’s generation is called N-gen (N for Net) or IAMAI and IMRB (2013) also reported that 15 D-gen (D for digital) where all students are the ‘native per cent of the senior citizens accessed the internet speakers’ of the digital language of computer, video from cyber cafes, and 81 per cent of them are using games and the internet, whereas Digital Immigrants the internet for more than ive hours a week. In refers to those who were not born into the Digital terms of the services accessed on the internet, 62 Age but have at some point of time become fascinated per cent of them used it for watching news online with the new technology. Today, these Digital and 2 per cent read news on their mobile. About 26 Immigrants are turning to the internet for getting per cent of them look for stock quotes and engage information or building social networks, and are in in trading, 38 per cent of senior citizens are using the process of learning the digital language. Digital the internet for online banking services and 21 Natives, that includes the youth, are acquainted with per cent for online shopping. Singh’s (2004) study digital literacy and education; therefore, these people also highlighted that persons aged 15 to 24 (45 per reap the maximum fruits of ICTs. cent) used the internet daily. Older respondents, he Pew Research Centre (2015) found that especially in the 45 to 54 year old category (27 per there are big demographic diferences with regard cent), used the internet once a month. to internet access in the United States. It can he other factors that inluence the elderly’s be postulated that similar to the indings in the internet use are socio-economic status, US, younger, more-educated and higher-income psychological capital (e.g., depressive symptoms, Indians are more likely to use the web than older, general anxiety symptoms, and general self- less-educated and lower-income Indians (relative eicacy) and social capital (e.g., indicators of social to the median household income within India). integration/ties and social support). Other than A comScore report (2013) highlighted that men these, usability problems (e.g., small fonts, diiculty under 35 and women between 35 and 44 are heavier of navigation) and associated frustration with the Internet users. According to the Ericsson Consumer systems, partly due to the cognitive, perceptual, Lab report (2015), mobile internet users grow and motor skills, are some of the other reasons that substantially, with four times the number of users contribute to digital exclusion of the elderly. over the age of 50, and three times the number of According to the Central Statistics Oice, middle-aged users increasing in the past two years. Government of India (2016), India has 103.9 According to ‘Online and upcoming: he million people above 60 years of age. he issues Internet’s impact on India’, young people (those of digital inclusivity become more complex with under 35 years) are nearly twice as likely as older the physical and cognitive limitations associated people to use internet-related technologies such with ageing. he vulnerability among the older as smartphones and Voice over Internet Protocol people is not only due to an increased incidence of (VoIP), and they show a greater propensity to illness and disability, but also due to their economic transact online and use electronic social networking dependency upon their spouses, children and other modes that ride on India’s expanding 3G/4G younger family members. It is clear that a digital telecom networks in urban centres (McKinsey & divide exists between age groups because the youth Company, 2012). are more exposed to technology and are willing to

77 India Exclusion Report use it, whereas older people are resistant to change in shaping policies of governments, and overseeing it. and avoid the use of technology. he National IT Task Force was constituted in 2003 to provide guidelines for development with 3. Process of Digital Exclusion the aim to make India an IT superpower. It focused on a number of programmes and policies designed he exclusionary processes surrounding digital to build the capacities of Indian institutions in IT tools and services have long been thought of and IT enabled Services (ITeS). he IT Task Force in isolation. However, in recent years, a more focused exclusively on increasing institutional comprehensive approach to exclusion and inclusion access to technology, without any focus on last- studies has been on the rise. mile connectivity, which would provide ICT access here are complex processes and reasons for to the individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. India’s lack of progress in providing equitable India’s focus until the mid-2000s was exclusively digital access to its citizens—they may be attributed to improve this institutional access to allow for a to institutional weakness, policy detachment and top-down model of development that ultimately the lack of context-speciic solutions, among others. fell short of its intended goals, and individual Exploring the myriad reasons is beyond the scope access to digital tools remained abysmally low. his of this chapter. his section seeks to explore some is relected in the limited penetration of computers speciic aspects and processes of digital exclusion. which stood at 1.4 per cent in 2005 (Times News Network, 2005). 3.1 Ineffective Agencies Access to ICTs was mediated by their relatively high price and unavailability at grassroots levels he modest liberalization of the economy in India and to a large extent, still continues to be. that began in the 1980s aimed to transform the digital economy and digital access. IT initiatives at the national level were started in the year 1981 3.2 Exclusion by the State with the establishment of National Informatics Miliband (2006) spoke about the multi- Centres (NIC) at all the district headquarters in dimensionality of exclusion and highlighted certain our country. Under the aegis of NIC, many projects key ideal government approaches to exclusion, like computerization of land records, Public saying: Grievance Redress Monitoring System, Distance learning programme, computerization up to the • It is relative and relational—exclusion taluka9 level, creation of State Wide Area Network has multiple factors of causation and is (SWAN), video-conferencing, training programme determinant on a continuum of exclusion for for creating awareness, etc., have been undertaken. diferent individuals in the spectrum. In 1999, the Ministry of Information and • It is multi-dimensional—based on a denial Communication Technology (MCIT) was formed. of resources, rights, goods and services he Ministry adopted ICT for promoting literacy, and the inability to participate in normal improving quality of education, which resulted relationships and activities. in qualiied professionals and IT-enabled jobs for • It is embedded in power relations that Indians. It is also employing IT for good governance, constrain and deine the capabilities and for empowerment of people and their participation choices of individuals.

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Government policies/projects may be designed Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) with the intention of promoting greater inclusion. and the International Covenant on Civil and However, there is a considerable gap between the Political Rights (ICCPR). A set of amendments was intention of such policies/projects and the actual led by China and Russia, which aimed at reducing implementation on ground. his is caused due to the protections of the tenets of the UDHR and inefective and detached policy/project design. he ICCPR within the resolution. India, surprisingly approach cited by Miliband is frequently overlooked. voted in favour of the amendments (Article 19, 2016).We note this in particular because the Digital Additionally, the multidimensional nature India Plan, which is explored in detail further in this of ICT inclusion projects means that, while chapter, aims at providing universal internet access. the Ministry of Electronics and Information At the same time, the government seems reluctant Technology (MeitY), formerly a department under to sign a non-binding resolution to incorporate a the Ministry of Communications and Information rights-based approach to ensuring this access. his Technology (Sharma, 2016), is the nodal ministry is perhaps, the most telling form of state-led digital for ICT, interventions in education, health, exclusion. rural governance, etc., are anchored by diferent ministries. 3.2.1 National Policy on Universal Electronic he core policies that deal with IT across the Accessibility, 2013 country is the Information Technology (IT) Act, he National Policy on Universal Electronic 2000 (Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Accessibility, referenced in the earlier section, is Afairs (Legislative Department), 2000) and the the only policy document available on the MeitY IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 (Ministry of Law and website that deals with increasing digital inclusion. Justice (Legislative Department), 2009). hese laws However, a review of this policy reveals gaps in the only deal with the techno-legal aspects of IT in the cognizance of the inter-sectionality inherent in country and deine violations and penalties. hey the goal of providing universal access to persons have no direct impact on digital exclusion. with disabilities. As noted in the earlier section, When examined through the lens of human PWDs are more likely to have reduced income and rights, it can be said that the imposition of criminal employment opportunities. his, in turn would also penalties on legitimate expression online is creating decrease their opportunities to access digital tools a chilling efect that may impact new internet and services. he policy, while recognizing ‘the users unfairly. here is evidence to show that this diversity of diferently abled persons’, only speciies avenue of exploration is, unfortunately, beyond the diferently-abled women and children as a speciic purview of this chapter but it nonetheless highlights target group. It does not account for PWDs from the nuanced challenges towards achieving holistic the poorer and marginalized sections. digital inclusion in India. At the 32nd session of the United Nations Human 3.2.2 National Broadband Policy, 2004 and Rights Council, a non-binding resolution titled ‘he National Telecom Policy, 2012 promotion, protection and enjoyment of human he National Broadband Policy, 2004 (Ministry rights on the Internet’ (United Nations General of Communications and Information Technology, Assembly, 2016) was adopted which seeks to 2004), was created with the intention of increasing promote greater access to the internet and a rights- the proliferation of broadband connectivity in the based approach to maintaining the tenets of the country, which at the time of drating stood at

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0.02 per cent. his policy only took cognizance of Scheme (MDMS) and public health delivery provisioning broadband access in rural areas, with systems. Studies have found that these programmes no mention on how to increase access for women, are fraught with issues surrounding physical access, PWDs or the elderly. participation and community-level access for individuals from Scheduled Castes and Tribes. he National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2012 (Ministry of Communications and Information hus, it may be postulated that since state Technology, 2012), was adopted with the intention actors/functionaries are the real on-ground of addressing issues in telecom proliferation and implementers of government programmes and regulation, that have arisen with the increasing policies, the motivations of these actors may leads penetration of telecommunication and internet to the reinforcement of diferential access on social, in the country. he NTP recognizes the need for economic and cultural grounds. While they may increasing telecom penetration in the rural and genuinely believe in the programme, they are still remote geographical regions of the country. It does susceptible to personal biases. not focus on the intersections of exclusion either. Reassuringly, the NTP, 2012 did mention 3.3 Poor Implementation of Programmes creating a ‘Right to Broadband’ that would focus on 3.3.1 Common Service Centres under the rural and remote areas, but no work has been done National e-Governance Plan in that regard yet. In 2005, the government launched the National he state, in its policy formulation does e-governance Plan (NeGP, 2016) that placed a not explore the myriad of extant exclusionary major focus on the development of technology- processes that plague the intended beneiciaries of enabled governance services to ‘improve the these policies. his leads to widening traditional delivery of public services and simplify the exclusions in addition to digital exclusion. process of accessing them.’ he NeGP introduced We posit that exclusionary processes exist on the the Common Service Centre (CSC), which was ground during the implementation of government conceptualized as ‘front end service delivery outlets projects, with little or no empirical evidence enabling smooth and transparent governance at the available about the discrimination and exclusion village level.’ hey were envisioned as change agents involved. However, there exists anecdotal evidence that would ‘promote rural entrepreneurship, build (See Box 2) which echoes the discrimination found rural capacities and livelihoods, enable community in the implementation of the public distribution participation and afect collective action for social system in India, particularly the Mid-Day Meal change—through a bottom-up model that focuses

Box 2: Discrimination in Access to Digital Services In a village outside Coimbatore, the Common Service Centre is run by a dominant caste man. While he may allow men from lower castes to access the CSC, he is strictly against women from lower castes accessing the CSC. His argument is that women, especially lower caste women, do not have any need of accessing digital tools and services. CSC operators are an integral part of the implementation of the digital inclusion agenda of the Government of India. Anonymous quote received by Research Team, 2016

80 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access on the rural citizen.’ CSCs are essentially telecentres telecentres. Dagron (2001) observed that, globally, or telecottages that provide public internet access only one out of a hundred telecentres is actually points in rural areas. While noble in aim, challenges useful for the community. in implementation lead to scepticism about such Table 2 gives the status of the CSC rollouts

Table 2: CSC Rollout as on September 2012 States Total CSCs Roll Out as Roll Out as on CSCs CSCs Connected to be set up on 30th Sept 30th Sept 2012 Connected (per cent of rolled 2012 (per cent of target) out centres) Andaman & Nicobar 45 10 22.2% 10 100.0% Islands Andhra Pradesh 4687 3105 66.2% 3110 100.2% Arunachal Pradesh 200 200 100.0% 141 70.5% Assam 4375 3881 88.7% 3136 80.8% Bihar 8463 6608 78.1% 5063 76.6% Chandigarh 13 25 192.3% 30 120.0% Chhattisgarh 3385 2460 72.7% 1248 50.7% Delhi 520 0 0.0% 0 0.0% Goa 160 29 18.1% 29 100.0% Gujarat 13,685 13,685 100.0% 13,685 100.0% Haryana 1159 0 0.0% 0 0.0% Himachal Pradesh 3366 2803 83.3% 2048 73.1% Jammu & Kashmir 1109 717 64.7% 544 75.9% Jharkhand 4562 3292 72.2% 2538 77.1% Karnataka 5713 800 14.0% 800 100.0% Kerala 2200 2235 101.6% 1899 85.0% Lakshadweep 18 12 66.7% 12 100.0% Madhya Pradesh 9232 9270 100.4% 8549 92.2% Maharashtra 10,846 10,428 96.1% 8116 77.8% Manipur 399 399 100.0% 127 31.8% Meghalaya 225 225 100.0% 115 51.1% Mizoram 136 136 100.0% 107 78.7% Nagaland 220 0 0.0% 0 0.0% Orissa 8558 5302 62.0% 3632 68.5% Puducherry 66 65 98.5% 65 100.0% Punjab 2112 1588 75.2% 1588 100.0% Rajasthan 6626 4224 63.7% 4178 98.9% Sikkim 45 45 100.0% 43 95.6% Tamil Nadu 5440 2683 49.3% 2683 100.0% Tripura 145 145 100.0% 197 135.9% Uttar Pradesh 18,745 12,828 68.4% 10,025 78.1% Uttarakhand 2804 2329 83.1% 1406 60.4% West Bengal 6797 6120 90.0% 5609 91.7% TOTAL 1,26,056 95,649 75.9% 80,733 84.4% Source: Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India

81 India Exclusion Report across various states in 2012 from data.gov.in. he Dass and Bhattacherjee also identiied issues in table shows that most of the states had not been the proper implementation of the CSC project, citing able to meet the rollout deadline. At the start of lack of Government to Citizen (G2C)10 services, this project it was stipulated that the project should poor connectivity, lack of Village Level Entrepreneur achieve the 100 per cent rollout status within 18–24 (VLE) recruitment with the right skill sets (due to months ater signing the Service Agreement with low literacy rates in the concerned areas) and lack the respective state governments. of cooperation from government oicials, especially at lower levels. In addition to these issues, lack of However, when we see the information presented proper infrastructure and lack of connectivity is a in Table 2, as of 2012, only 10 states have been able key factor in the failure of the CSC project. to achieve full rollout of CSCs across the state. he Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Due to the involvement of the central Karnataka and Nagaland have zero per cent rollout government, state governments and private players of the CSC. It is particularly distressing to see the through a unique PPP model, a comprehensive lack of CSC connectivity in Haryana and Nagaland, budgetary analysis is not possible. which sufer from issues of literacy and geographical connectivity. On an all-India scale, only 75.9 per 3.3.2 Digital India Plan cent of the total allocated CSCs have been created. In 2014, a newly elected government, led by Prime However, over 80 per cent of constructed CSCs are Minister NarendraModi, launched the Digital India connected. (DI) Plan (Ministry of Electronics and Information One important reason for the poor rollout of Technology, Government of India, 2015) that aimed these centres was the poor IT infrastructure, lack of at building on the NeGP and working towards adequate institutional frameworks and governance improving individual access to technology across mechanisms for ensuring the successful rollout of the country. he DI Mission centred on three key the CSC programme. aims: Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every he state governments were expected to provide Citizen, Governance and Services on Demand, and premises for the setting up of these centres in Digital Empowerment of Citizens. Its approach to their Panchayat buildings or block oices. But achieve these aims was through nine unique pillars: there seemed to be a scarcity of space for the same 1. Broadband Highways across states (Dass and Bhattacherjee, 2011). In 2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity states like Jharkhand some of the Panchayat blocks did not have space. Tripura on the other hand 3. Public Internet Access Programme had assigned premises in which the ceiling of the 4. e-Governance—Reforming Government room was missing. Another problem, particularly through Technology in the north-eastern states as well as states like 5. eKranti—Electronic delivery of services Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, was the uneven and rough geographical terrain. Some of the villages are 6. Information for All located in remote and inaccessible locations making 7. Electronics Manufacturing it impossible to set up a centre in those areas. his was indeed unfortunate considering it is the people 8. IT for Jobs living in such areas who have a greater need of easy 9. Early Harvest Programmes access to government services.

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he DI Plan is, at the time of writing, exactly two of managing a high quality network with a link to years old and while new initiatives like DigiLocker, services to provide on-demand access to citizens. eSign and the MyGov App have been launched, the he initial timeline of the NOFN was to cover eicacy of these projects is still debatable. A review 1,00,000 gram panchayats by 31 March 2014 in of 18 apps launched under the DI Plan, conducted the irst phase; to cover another 1,00,000 by March in August 2016, showed that almost all of them are 2015 in the second phase and an additional 50,000 inaccessible or partially inaccessible to individuals by September 2015 in the inal phase. his timeline using screen readers (Narasimhan, 2016). was extended once in 2014 to March 2015, March 2016 and December 2016 for the three phases. National Optical Fibre Network/BharatNet he second extension to the timeline came with One of the initiatives under Pillar 1 of the DI the change of the irst 1,00,000 panchayats to be Plan was the revamping of the National Optical covered by March 2017. While no deadlines for the Fibre Network (NOFN) into the newly envisioned other phases have been speciied, the intention is BharatNet (Rathee, 2016) he NOFN has its to complete the coverage of 2,50,000 panchayats by roots in the NeGP, which aimed to provide ICT December 2018. he implementing partners of the enabled delivery of Government services. Public NOFN—Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), IT platforms such as State Wide Area Networks RailTel Corporation of India Limited (RailTel) and (SWANs), State Data Centres (SDCs) and Common Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) Service Centres (CSCs) facilitate this delivery. have also been called up by the Government for dragging their feet on the implementation of the It aims to provide broadband connectivity project (Singh, 2016). According to the Department through optical ibre to 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in of Telecommunications (DoT), only 37 per cent of an efort to provide last mile connectivity as critical the total optical ibre planned has been laid (Table 3). infrastructure. he aim was to provide all necessary government services to citizens in an efort to allow As of April 2016, only 48,199 panchayats of the them access to information, which would lead to 1,00,200 were targeted under Phase 1, indicating their empowerment and development. It was a a 48 per cent success rate. Of the panchayats result of the coming together of policy and a vision connected to the NOFN, only 6727 panchayats

Table 3: Implementation Status of NOFN by Partner Implementing Districts Blocks Gram Optical Fibre to be Optical ibre laid Partner Panchayats laid (Km) (Km) BSNL 410 2146 84,366 1,85,742 70,298 (37.85%) RailTel 44 225 8676 19,331 4967 (25.69%) PGCIL 28 356 7156 17,198 7236 (42.07%) Total 482 2727 1,00,200 2,22,271 82,501 (37.12%)

Source: Department of Telecommunications Outcome Budget 2016–17

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Table 4: State-wise Plan of Gram Panchayats (GPs) to be covered under NOFN/Bharat Net Project Phase-I as on May 2016 S. States/ UTs No. of Gram Panchayats No. of GPs where No. of GPs lit No. (GPs)- Phase I optical ibre cable (with broadband (OFC) laid connectivity) 1 Jammu & Kashmir 624 91 0 2 Himachal Pradesh 283 28 0 3 Punjab 6128 3051 0 4 Haryana 6090 3147 160 5 Rajasthan 6967 3757 308 6 Chandigarh 12 12 12 7 Uttarakhand 1767 711 183 8 UP (West) 8040 2721 131 9 UP (East) 14,474 5910 70 10 Bihar 5202 2423 215 11 West Bengal 2713 723 0 12 Sikkim 0 0 0 13 Assam 1013 682 128 14 Jharkhand 1388 985 135 15 Odisha 3388 1633 104 16 Andaman & Nicobar 69 0 0 17 Arunachal Pradesh 256 22 0 18 Nagaland 743 154 0 19 Manipur 24 24 0 20 Meghalaya 638 52 0 21 Tripura 1021 492 75 22 Mizoram 163 0 0 23 Madhya Pradesh 10,516 5170 150 24 Chhattisgarh 2110 1550 514 25 Gujarat 5735 2203 116 26 Maharashtra 12,055 4865 201 27 Daman & Diu 0 0 0 28 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 29 Karnataka 5599 5008 2889 30 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 0 31 Telangana 2097 1558 106 32 Tamil Nadu 0 0 0 33 Kerala 977 1129 1129 34 Puducherry 98 98 101 35 Lakshadweep 10 0 0

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S. States/ UTs No. of Gram Panchayats No. of GPs where No. of GPs lit No. (GPs)- Phase I optical ibre cable (with broadband (OFC) laid connectivity) 36 Goa* (All have been NA NA NA connected) Grand Total 1,00,200 48,199 6727 GPs where OFC is available 48.10% as a percentage of Phase 1 target Connected GPs as a 13.9% percentage of GPs where OFC available Connected GPs as a 6.71% percentage of Phase 1 target

Source: RajyaSabha, Analysis by DEF Research Team. have internet access, which is only 13 per cent of Stephen Forbes and Prabhat Patnaik, apart from the the connected panchayats or 6 per cent of the total opposition parties in the country (Roychoudhury, scheduled for Phase 1 (See Table 4). 2016; PTI, 2016; Forbes, 2016; Patnaik, 2016; PTI, 2016; ANI, 2016; PTI, 2016). he NOFN was funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), with an initial corpus of he currency demonetization drive and the INR 20,000 crores. However, according to a report frequent changes of rules regarding transactions (Committee on the National Optical Fibre Network, (Economic Times, 2016; Indian Express, 2016) 2015), the actual total budget needed to achieve further led to signiicant human costs. he the vision of the NOFN is INR 72,778 crores. his agricultural sector, due to undergo the rabi11 crop represents a budget increase of 363.9 per cent. planting season was hit especially hard with the withdrawal restrictions, despite measures taken by 3.3.3. Demonetization and the Push towards the government to ease stress on the farmers. his Digital Financial Payments was compounded given the fact that a majority of On 8 November 2016, the Government of India farmers are not part of the formal banking system, withdrew the status of all INR 500 and 1000 due, in part to the lack of adequate infrastructure (high-value) notes as legal tender with immediate and bank branch penetration, with one report efect, citing the intention to curb tax evasion and citing that ‘Four banks cater to 200 villages of about counterfeit money (Reserve Bank of India, 2016). 2,000 people each’ (Firstpost, 2016). he CRISIL Overnight, about 86 per cent of the liquidity Inclusix, 2015, found that of the 35 administrative within the Indian economy was rendered invalid. regions studied, 10 ranked low or below average Most of the Indian economy is based entirely on on overall inancial inclusion. he key crop belt of cash, with an estimated 85 to 90 per cent of all Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand all fall below transactions taking place in cash (Reuters, 2016). average (CRISIL, 2015); which would lead to he impacts of this action have been criticized by signiicant impacts on the ability of farmers in these various quarters—Kaushik Basu, Amartya Sen, belts to access cash and credit, leading to further

85 India Exclusion Report hardship and farmer suicides(La Via Campesina, he central government has also taken 2017). Further, many of the farmers had just sold steps to incentivize the use of cashless digital the produce from the earlier crop season and were payment systems, going so far as to state that let with the demonetized high-value notes that ‘An incentive of INR 10 will be given to the were not accepted anywhere else. district administration for every individual who has shited to digital payment mode Despite all the intentions of the state in pushing and has made at least two digital transactions digital inancial payments, it is our contention that for day-to-day activities’ (Business Standard, this too, represents how detached from reality state 2016). his incentive is, in the opinion of the policies and programmes are. here are multiple authors, positively delusional as it still doesn’t considerations that policy makers did not take address the underlying gap; only incentivizing into account when making a decision to abruptly an activity that cannot be achieved. invalidate 86 per cent of the liquidity in the Indian economy and pushing digital payments. • Extant socio-economic and cultural exclusions—he key mediators of traditional • Mobile connections in India—According to exclusionary process, already stated earlier igures released by the Telecom Regulatory in the chapter, would create ‘double-trouble’ Authority of India (Telecom Regulatory for the efective implementation of the Authority of India, 2017) in October 2016, programme as inancial exclusion is also the total tele-density12 stood at 86.25 per mediated by these extant processes, similar cent. his igure is oten misleading as it to the case of the access to ICTs for women accounts for the total of wireline and wireless with disabilities. subscribers. Exploring wireless tele-density paints a diferent picture; with a stark urban- º A comprehensive assessment of the rural disparity with urban tele-density challenges faced by women in accessing standing at 155.35 and rural at 51.98. he digital inancial services conducted by penetration of mobiles, the key enabler of Klapper and Dutt (2015) showed that digital inance, is woefully lacking in the inequalities exist at diferent stages. regions which account for 67.25 per cent of º Demand-side inequalities like lack of India’s population (World Bank, 2015). identiication, lower inancial literacy; lack • Smartphone penetration—Smartphone of inancial independence and autonomy penetration in India has been estimated at of agency, and socio-economic sanctions 29.8 per cent of the total mobile users in the create a barrier-illed environment for country (Statista, 2015). Smartphones, as women to demand access to digital inance. opposed to feature phones have the capability º Supply-side issues like patriarchal digital to access the internet and use third-party inance application design and marketing applications to enhance their functionality and the poor mechanisms for recourse and lexibility of use. Given that most of can limit inancial literacy. the digital payments options, including the government’s own BHIM application, º Infrastructural and policy issues relating run only on smartphones, it automatically to legal and regulatory environments, excludes a signiicant per cent of the mobile Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules, phone users, in addition to those that do not lack of adequate network access and have a mobile altogether. 86 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access

taxation limit the quality and depth of scored higher. However, the use of computer- interventions. based laboratories alone did not result in higher scores. º Finally, women’s access to technology is a key barrier to accessing digital inance. • Primary school students who used tutorial sotware in reading scored signiicantly 4. Consequences of Digital Exclusion higher on reading scores. Very young students who used computers to write their Digital divide between high, medium, low and non- own stories scored signiicantly higher on users means disadvantaged users always have to measures of reading skills play catch-up in obtaining access to ICTs because • Students who used word processor or of weak digital infrastructure and lower levels of otherwise used the computer for writing digital skills. Little research has been done on the scored higher on measures of writing skill. impact of digital exclusion on the above-mentioned disadvantaged or socially excluded groups. Despite 4.2 Livelihood the lack of information, the following section provides an understanding of the consequences of India comprises 67.25 per cent of rural population digital exclusion on education, livelihood, social (World Bank, 2015). NREGA, initiated in 2005, participation and citizenship. aimed at securing livelihood by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage 4.1 Education employment to rural households in India. Under this programme, ICT-based interventions were Internet access serves as a gateway to empowerment added to enable the rural population to access by building self-conidence, self-determination information on their work history, demand jobs and the capacity to alter the structure that governs against a dated receipt, and also receive wages people’s citizenship. ICTs are changing ways of on a biometric registration. his would require doing things and increasing the overall eiciency proper establishment and operationalization of a of human activity. he Internet is enabling one computer-based Management Information System to have access to almost any kind of information (MIS) interconnecting all the gram panchayats, on one’s ingertips. he use of ICTs in education blocks, districts, states and the Ministry of Rural not only enhances the knowledge and skills but Development (MoRD). also improves the educational content of both the he Unique Identiication Authority of India learner and the educator. (UIDAI) and MoRD signed a Memorandum of Kulik (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of studies Understanding to integrate MGNREGA processes to identify the impact of e-learning on student with Aadhaar. It was expected that Aadhaar would outcomes. He identiied the following trends: soon facilitate a range of MGNREGA, banking, • Students who used computer tutorials in insurance and other services for rural citizens. mathematics, natural science, and social However, in spite of much hype by the government science score signiicantly higher in tests in it was reported (Mathur&Bolia, 2016) that these subjects compared to students who compensation paid on time drastically declined from did not use computers. Similarly, students 50.1 per cent in 2013–14 to 26.90 per cent in 2014– who used simulation sotware in science also 15. In 2008, the central government directed that all

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Box 3: Wages of Delay In Surguja district (Chhattisgarh), the administration relies on post oices as there are hardly any rural banks. In one block, the post oice had only one employee who was responsible for opening and operating thousands of NREGA accounts. All the work is done manually as there are no computers. In addition, the postmaster complained that the formalities of opening accounts remained incomplete because he did not have enough passbooks. (he supply of passbooks in the district was delayed for months.) Similar problems have been reported wherever NREGA payments are made through post oices, in states like Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Source: Kheera (2010).

MGNREGA wages be paid through banks and post he push to digital payments along with the efects oices. However, the banks and post oices were of demonetization have also had a strong negative unable to cope with the volume of payments (Kheera, impact on the informal sector in the country, with 2010). Similar arguments against linking Aadhaar workers in the construction, industrial and service to the Public Distribution System (PDS) have been industry being disproportionately impacted. Many made in a recent article in he Hindu (February vegetable vendors have reported losses of over 50 2017), wherein activist Kavita Srivastava observes per cent on a daily basis (Mitul, 2016; DNA, 2016). that linking Aadhaar to social security systems, in this he lack of a choice of payment channels has also case for food entitlements, is not just unconstitutional, led to a massive reverse-migration of people from but works systematically against the poorest who are urban areas back to villages. his reverse trend has most oten at the receiving end of subpar technology also broken the migrant-dependent nature of certain infrastructure required for a biometric identiication areas of the country (Naik, Kundri, & Parulkar, system such as Aadhaar to function. 2017; Mahaprashasta, 2016). In the wake of falling market prices of food 4.3 Social Participation products, weather challenges, outdated methods of farming, high cost of production and oten low Digital exclusion leads to social exclusion by yields and poor income, the central government restricting people’s accessibility to the internet, started Kisan Call Centres. Live assistance is thereby narrowing down the social network where provided to farmers in their regional language. It is people can express their viewpoints, share their a combination of ICT and Agriculture technology. experiences and communicate. It enables farmers to have direct discussions Internet usage has positive beneits for the with subject matter experts who provide instant older people as these people perhaps face high solutions. Despite advertisements on TV and print, rates of loneliness and depression. his occurs a survey reported in Firstpost (2014) showed that for a variety of reasons, including dearth of social 70 per cent of the farmers surveyed never contacted ties, relocation to diferent types of living and a Kisan Call Centre, and 62 per cent had no idea care communities, and limitations of physical and that they are eligible for a minimum price. Lack of mental health (Jylha, 2004). Social network sites awareness about ICTs was a major hurdle in making such as Facebook not only provide a platform to both Kisan Call Centres and MGNREGA a success. reconnect with the people from one’s past but also

88 Exclusion from Digital Infrastructure and Access bridge the generational gap.With ICTs increasingly magically transcend information poverty over- integrated into every aspect of the modern world, night.’ access to ICTs is vital for a person’s participation in his section aims to propose a set of the society. recommendations that, if properly implemented he relationship of disabilities and digital can make signiicant strides towards bridging the inclusion and empowerment has been explored digital exclusion gap. in depth by UNESCO, which states that digital 1. here is a need for the government to exclusion of PWDs leads to increased inequalities realize that due to low per capita disposable in the ability of these persons to allow their social, income in India not everybody can have political and economic integration. It also leads easy access to digital media and the internet. to a reduced scope of information, knowledge Since access to digital media ensures access and activities available to them. he New Delhi to other basic entitlements like education, Declaration of 2015 was the irst document in health, provident fund, food, etc., public 20 years issued by UNESCO on the issue of provisioning of digital media becomes disability that was endorsed by its governing bodies extremely important. It is recommended that (UNESCO, 2015). he Declaration recognized that it be provided at a subsidized rate in order for persons with disabilities, the issue of universal to avoid the free rider problem.13 his will access to information and knowledge using ICTs reduce misuse of resources and allow access is an inalienable human right and precondition to to those who are actually in need and cannot live independently and participate fully and equally pay the rate generated by the market. in society. It also reasserted the commitment to the World Summit on the Information Society 2. hough there are diferent programmes (WSIS, 2005), Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access initiated by the government to bridge the to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind gender divide, still proper implementation or Visually Impaired (WIPO, 2013) and other is required to address the issues of literacy internationally ratiied development goals. and poverty. To digitally empower women, digital ICT programmes must address socio- cultural barriers to women’s access to internet 5. Recommendations and ICT devices. he previous sections have demonstrated how 3. he government should ensure that ICTs are access to ICTs is a public good, explored some of fully integrated in education and training at the exclusionary processes and laid out impacts of all levels to bridge the digital divide. Also, digital exclusion on certain groups. he success of existing programmes should be integrated our recommendations depends on an understanding with digital and information literacy targeting that digital exclusion has a predominantly socio- individuals with lower literacy levels. economic basis and is reinforced by entrenched 4. he government should provide relevant hierarchical structures in the society. support in assistive technologies and should As Pippa Norris (2001) noted, absolute social organize ICT training for people with inequalities will continue to exist in internet access disabilities. In addition, all government just as they exist in other dimensions of life,‘… websites should be made compatible with it would be naive to expect that the internet will the W3C Guidelines and a process should

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be put in place to ensure these standards are pension, daily wage, food, safe drinking water, basic maintained to further guarantee successful health facilities and education, which dilutes the implementation, and to make portals level of agency that a citizen can efectively exercise. accessible to persons with disabilities and the On the one hand, the government aims at making elderly. India a superpower, and on the other, deeply rooted exclusionary processes lead to digital exclusion that 5. Awareness should be created among persons further leads to the deprivation of oten basic rights with disabilities about the availability of and needs, afecting the overall growth and dignity existing and emerging assistive technologies of an individual. and independent living aids, as well as schemes for the same. Such information Cultural norms play an important role in limiting should be made available in the public women’s access to internet. Weak infrastructure, domain including in local languages. inefective implementation, bureaucratic hurdles and weak monitoring have failed to bridge the 6. here needs to be more comprehensive digital divide between rural and urban areas. research about internet usage patterns, challenges faced in accessing internet and To improve social welfare, it is important that the inluence of digital exclusion on PWDs the government provide public goods such as and older people. Due to the fractured nature digital access, as it helps to avoid the problem of of digital inclusion activities and budgets, under-provisioning and under-consumption of further research needs to be conducted to information. It is important because it helps people comprehensively analyse digital exclusion. living below poverty line to avail equal opportunities thereby reducing inequality. 7. he government should incentivize private and non-governmental actors in bringing In this chapter, we highlighted certain factors technology to rural as well as other that reinforce digital exclusion—income, gender, geographically inaccessible and remote areas. age and disability. Individuals, who embody any one of these, lie on a continuum of exclusion. When one of the other factors also comes into Conclusion play, the risk of exclusion increases manifold. It is We previously established the digital medium as a especially important that the government should public good and highlighted how digital exclusion try to advocate equal rights, organize vernacular deprives citizens’ access to other public goods ICT trainings and provide relevant support to such and widens extant social, economic and cultural individuals so that they are not excluded from stratiication in society. Digital inequality leads to accessing the internet and its related beneits. deprivation from access to basic necessities like—

Endnotes security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’. It aims to enhance livelihood security in 1. E-MitraKendras are telecentres that enable villagers rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage to get various entitlement-related services. employment in a inancial year to every household 2. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (or whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled MGNREGA) is an Indian labour law and social manual work.

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3. Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identiication number VimuktaJati, are the tribes that were originally listed issued by the Indian government to every individual under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, as ‘Criminal resident of India. he Unique Identiication Tribes’ and ‘addicted to the systematic commission Authority of India (UDAI), which functions under of non-bailable ofences.’ the Planning Commission of India, is responsible 8. he Digital Revolution refers to the advancement for managing Aadhaar numbers and Aadhaar of technology from analogue electronic and identiication cards. mechanical devices to the digital technology 4. Discretionary income is the amount of an available today. he era started during the 1980s individual’s income that is let for spending, and is ongoing. he Digital Revolution also marks investing or saving ater paying taxes and paying the beginning of the Information Era. for personal necessities, such as food, shelter and 9. A taluka or tehsil is an administrative division in clothing. Discretionary income includes money India that includes a town or city that serves as the spent on luxury items, vacations, and non-essential administrative centre with a few villages or other goods and services. towns under its jurisdiction. 5. A gram panchayat is the cornerstone of the 10. Government to Citizen Services are a set of certain Panchayati Raj system (local self-government services that the government provides to the organization) in India. It operates at the village citizen. In India, G2C services in India include or small town level and has a Sarpanch (head of Aadhaar Card, Voter ID Application, MNREGA job village) as its elected head. application, PAN Card application, etc. 6. he Panchayati Raj system is a decentralized system 11. he Rabi season is from October to February. of governance prevalent in rural areas in India. 12. Teledensity is the number of telephone connections While the Panchayati Raj system is based on the for every hundred individuals living within an area. traditional panchayat system, it was formalized 13. Free rider problem occurs when those who beneit through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, 1992. from resources, goods, or services do not pay for 7. Denotiied Tribes (DNTs), also known as them, which results in an under-provision of those goods or services.

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August 2016, from https://negp.gov.in/templates/pdfs/ London: ODPM. Compendium_FINAL_Version_220211.pdf Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. National e-governance Plan. (2016). Retrieved 29 July 2016, (2012). National Telecom Policy, 2012. New Delhi, India: from https://negp.gov.in/index.php?option=com_ Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. content&view=article&id=77&Itemid=464 13 June. Retrieved 11 October 2016, from Telecom National Informatics Centre, Government Of India. (2009).

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Guidelines for Indian Government Websites. January. 2016, from http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/ Retrieved 11 October 2016, from Guildeines for Indian paldin/pdf/course01/unit_13.pdf Government Websites: http://web.guidelines.gov.in/ Salinas, R. (2003). Addressing the digital divide through collection documents/pdf/webguidelines.pdf development. Collection Building, 22(3), 131–36. Newhagen, J. N. & Bucy, E. P. (2004). Media Access: Social Sharma, A. (2016). DeITY becomes a new ministry, leg-up and Psychological Dimensions of New Technology Use. for Ravi Shankar Prasad [Electronic version]. Economic Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Times. 19 July. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http:// Norris, P. (2001). Digital Divide? Civic Engagement, Information economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/ Poverty and the Internet Worldwide. Retrieved 26 August deity-becomes-a-new-ministry-leg-up-for-ravi-shankar- 2016, from https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/ prasad/articleshow/53285683.cms Acrobat/Introduction.pdf Singh, A.M. (2004). Digital Divide or Digital Exclusion? Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India. (n.d.). he Role of Libraries in Bridging he Digital Divide. District Wise Community Service Centres (CSC) Roll out Retrieved 21 October 2016, from http://www.liasa. and Connectivity. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from https:// org.za/ conferences/ conference2004/papers/LIASA_ data.gov.in/catalog/district-wise-community-service- Conference_2004_Mphidi.pdf centrescsc-roll-out-and-connectivity Singh, S. (2016). National Optical Fibre Network project: Pandey, V. (2012). A Short History of India’s Political Slogans. Fast internet, slow implementation [Electronic version]. BBC News. 9 , October. Retrieved 30 July 2016, from Indian Express. Retrieved 6 May 2016, from http:// http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-19802394 indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news- Planning Commission, Government of India. (2008). Eleventh technology/national-optical-ibre-network-project-fast- Five Year Plan 2007-2012. Retrieved 29 July 2016, internet-slow-implementation/. from http://planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/ Social Exclusion Unit. (2001). Social Exclusion Unit: Purpose, iveyr/11th/11_v1/11th_vol1.pdf Work Priorities and Working Methods. London: SEU. Planning Commission, Government of India. (2011). Faster, Somavia, J. (2009). Facts on Disability and Descent Work. Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth: An approach to the Retrieved 12 May 2016, from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/ Tweth Five Year Plan. Retrieved 29 July 2016, from http:// groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/ planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/12appdrft/ publication/wcms_117143.pdf appraoch_12plan.pdf Srinivasan, M. (n.d.). Playing second innings online: an Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants ethnographic study on the Internet Usage among the [Electronic version]. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved urban Indian middle class senior citizens of Hyderabad, 10 July 10, 2016,from http://www.marcprensky.com/ India. Global Media Journal. Retrieved 3 August 2016, writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20 from http://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/ Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf playing-second-innings-online-an-ethnographic- Press Trust of India (2015). Google to Bring Internet-Beaming study-on-the-internet-usage-among-the-urban-indian- Project Loon to India Soon. Retrieved 23 July 2016, from middle-class-senior-citizens-of-hyderabad-india. http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/google-to-bring- php?aid=64449 internet-beaming-project-loon-to-india-soon-779134 Stanziola, E., Espol, M., Landoni, L. & Montoya, S. (2006). Rajya Sabha. (2015). Answers Data of Rajya Sabha Questions Hidden negative social efects of poor e-government for Session 239. 15 May. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from services design. [Electronic version] Springer, 150–161. Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India: https:// Firstpost staf. (2014). Farewell Kisan: New survey sounds data.gov.in/catalog/answers-data-rajya-sabha-questions- alarm for future farming. Firstpost. 11 March. Retrieved session-239 22 October 2016, from http://www.irstpost.com/india/ Rao, M. (2015). Internet Growth, Impacts and Success: What Will farewell-kisan-new-survey-sounds-alarm-for-the- India Be Like with 550 Million Usersin 2018? Retrieved 7 future-of-farming-1429501.html July 2016, from http://yourstory.com/2015/02/internet- Kalyan Parbat. (2005). PC Penetration still bad in India. india-2018/ The Times News Network. Retrieved 24 July 2016, from Rathee, K. (2016). Telecom Ministry Proposes Revised Structure http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2005- for Bharatnet Project. Retrieved 19 July 2016, from http:// 01-11/news/27503960_1_one-pc-pc-technology- www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/ india telecom-ministry-proposes-revised-structure-for- he World Intellectual Property Organization. (2013). bharatnet-project-116062700616_1.html Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Reddi, U.V. (n.d.). Role of ICTs in Education and Development: Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Potential, Pitfalls and Challenges. Retrieved 22 October Otherwise Print Disabled. Retrieved 7 August 2016, from

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http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/text.jsp?file_ Techniques. Retrieved 8 July 2016, from http://www. id=301016 w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html horat, S. & Lee, J. (2006). Dalits and the Right to Food: World Bank. (2014). Internet Access, Yes, but in My Mother Discrimination and Exclusion in Food-Related Government Language. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www. Programmes. Retrieved 1 August 2016, from http://www. worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/07/03/internet- dalitstudies.org.in/download/wp/0603.pdf access-yes-but-in-my-mother-language UNESCO. (2013). UNESCO Global Report: Opening New World Bank. (2015), Rural Population as a % of Total Avenues for Empowerment - ICTs to Access Information Population, India. Retrieved 22 October 2016, from and Knowledge for Persons with Disabilities. Retrieved http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS? 29 April 2016, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ end=2015&locations= IN&start=2015&view= bar&year_ images/0021/002197/219767e.pdf high_desc=false UNESCO. (2015). Digital Empowerment: Access to Information World Economic Forum. (2015). Country Highlights. Retrieved and Knowledge using ICTs for Persons with Disabilities. 5 August 2016, from http://reports.weforum.org/ Retrieved 24 July 2016, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ global-information-technology-report-2015/country- images/0024/002445/244543E.pdf highlights/ UNESCO. (2015). he New Delhi Declaration on Inclusive World Wide Web Foundation. (2015). Women’s Rights Online. ICTs for Persons with Disabilities: Making Empowerment Retrieved 23 June 2016, from http://webfoundation. a Reality. Retrieved 21 July 2016, from http://unesdoc. org/2015/10/new-report-womens-rights-online/ unesco.org/images/0023/002320/232026e.pdf WSIS Outcome Documents (2005). World Summit on the Web Accessibility Initiative. (n.d.). WAI Guidelines and Information Society. Retrieved 10 June 2016, from https:// www.itu.int/net/wsis/outcome/booklet.pdf

95 “Morning to evening I weed out the fields”, says Vannurappa, a Dudekula-Muslim in his 70s on his way back home after work, Rural Anantapur. Photo Credit: Rahul M. Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture

Sandeep Chachra, Amanpreet Kaur and Dr P. Raghu*

1. Introduction country like India, this essay focuses on who sufers the costs of such a transition; and consequently Agriculture and production of food has been who is excluded ‘from’ and ‘in’ agriculture. the fundamental premise of growth of all known It is oten said that both Indian agriculture and the civilizations. In fact, agriculture presents itself as a labour market exclude. he exclusion is of the most home for the majority of human labour, even to this vulnerable sections dependent on agriculture.1 Since day. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization those who are most excluded in agriculture end up (FAO), in 2010, about 2.6 billion people around in the informal labour pool, where they continue to the world were dependent on agriculture for their face exclusions, unsurprisingly the informal labour livelihoods either as actively engaged workers reservoirs in India are comprised of those who are or as dependants, while about half of the world’s most marginalized—the indigenous, Dalits, landless, population lived in rural areas and of these, about migrant workers, refugees and so on.2 Women also three-quarters were estimated to be living in constitute an important segment of this pool. However, agricultural households (FAOSTAT, 2013 as cited as per the International Labour Organization (ILO), in Alston & Pardey, 2014, p.1). between 2004 and 2011, when the Indian economy he classical economic transition school, in a grew at a healthy average of about 7 per cent, there visual reminiscent of colonial Europe of the 18th was a decline in female participation in the country’s and 19thcenturies that saw an agrarian transition, labour force from over 35 per cent to 25 per cent. envisions our diverse world following a universal At one level, it could be said that the long history pattern of ‘evolution’ or transition from agrarian of discrimination based on caste, religion and societies to industrial or post-industrial complexes identity, resulting in multiple denials of education, with overwhelming majorities of human labour resources, employment opportunities, etc., has outside of agriculture. It insists that such a transition kept a large section of people away from securing a is both a universal path to build on and a solution decent and digniied livelihood and employment in to address under-development and poverty in the the non-agricultural sector. his indeed is the case global south. with many in the non-agricultural sector, and such While it could be argued that, in its full causalities are rather well documented (Sharma, manifestation, such a transition is both historically 2007; horat, 2009; Rawal, 2014; Anand, 2016). impossible and ecologically undesirable in a At a more fundamental level, however, the real

* Reviewers: Praveen Jha, Nikita Sud

97 India Exclusion Report issue in need of analysis is the continued process land reforms and redistribution, oten premised on of exclusion in agriculture as well as the tenability the reasoning that there is not enough land for all. and desirability of creating wage labour reserves, and the resolution of the deepening outcomes of 2.2 The Trajectory of a Gradual yet exclusion and deprivation. his way we ought to Continual Commodiication- steer the primary agrarian question in India in Corporatization of Agriculture and the favour of the populations who have faced multiple Starvation of Peasant Agriculture denials. his tendency can be broadly summarized as a dual process that operates to push people out of 2. Trajectories of Exclusion from agriculture, through such justiications that people Agriculture wish to leave agriculture and move to a better city life, on the one hand, and encourage corporate/ Over the decades ater independence, exclusion contract farming and land leasing for capitalist from agriculture has operated in three distinct, yet agriculture, on the other. While several state inter-related trajectories. governments such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu are actively 2.1 A History of Feudal Dispossession promoting contract farming, changing laws to and Caste-based Exclusion from Land enable and support it, and providing interested companies with a variety of incentives, including he question of who owns agricultural land and land liting of land ceilings, subsidies and tax rebates, in general and who does not, from the past, is an others like the West Bengal government are under important one. With rural landlessness mounting active pressure to shit their policy towards contract up, this question constitutes the unfulilled promise farming (Ghosh, 2003). of land redistribution in India. In fact, it was the promise of land and dignity that spurred our While the role of private companies and national liberation struggle. he land question in corporates has been increasing in agriculture, the India is one of historic exclusion; an overhang of public investment is dwindling. he decline in feudal history and caste relations coupled with a agricultural investments started in the 1980s and clear lack of political action over the past decades. is continuing till date. he share of agricultural It still constitutes an uninished agenda of land investment to total public investment, for instance, reforms (MRD Report, 2013), but it is not just an declined from 15.3 per cent in 1980–81 to less uninished agenda in its longer historical sense. In than 8 per cent in 2009–10 (Jha & Acharya, the last six decades too, there has been a drastic fall 2011). he share of the budget for agriculture in in the category of ‘cultivators’ and a corresponding the overall budget and Gross Domestic Product increase in the category of agricultural labourers. In (GDP) is stagnant at 2.25 per cent and 0.30 per cent 1951, for instance, the percentage of cultivators was respectively for the past ive years (CBGA, 2016). 71.9 per cent and that of agriculture workers was 28.1 Starvation of Peasant Agriculture has operated per cent. he igure in 2011, however, stood at 45.1 through the following conjoined processes: per cent cultivators and 54.9 per cent agricultural labourers (Agriculture Statistics at a Glance, 2014, a) Stagnation in public inancing for agriculture GOI, Ministry of Agriculture). his fall represents through reduction of subsidies to small a continued process of de-peasantization without holder farming, and farming in general, with

98 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture

its diferential impact on those who have less dispossession is concerned, its main thrust is land. to establish large scale farming and extractive enclaves for the export of food, biofuels, minerals b) Slow down and reduction in agriculture and energy resources by means of value chains extension services, research, coverage and integrated into a global market and monopolies increased privatization of such services. thereof, and bolstered where needed (such as in c) Stagnation in irrigation coverage and lack of North and other parts of Africa, for instance) by investments in revival of traditional water militarization (CARES report on he Agrarian harvesting mechanisms, particularly for Question: Past, Present and Future, 2012, p. 5) rain-fed areas. his scramble, together with the starvation d) Increase in the area under cash crops and of peasant agriculture and an unwillingness to commercial agriculture. redistribute land, is responsible for the expulsion e) Limited increase in minimum support prices of a mass of people to labour reserve pools; a large for small farmers. army of wage workers, in a race to the bottom, constitute the core of the agrarian question in the f) Increase in dependence on world food trade South. demands and associated volatility Beyond the escalation in the proportion of 2.3 An Active Process of Dispossession of dispossession—over the past two decades, the Land of those who Managed to ‘Hang critical question is who has evacuated? With the On’, Despite Decades of Negative data currently available from national statistics, Pressure on Peasant Agriculture empirically it may not be possible to segregate such evacuations and assign them to the speciic Such a process operates through what, in the trajectories listed above. But what is clear is that 7.7 Indian context, is called ‘Land Acquisition’ and million peasants have let farming in one decade what, in the continent of Africa, is referred to (an average of 2035 per day) as per our National squarely as land grabs. Some even pose and Census Data. Many others are in the processes of generalize this process as ‘development induced searching for other possibilities, while still engaged displacement’ (Terminski, 2013); an irony whose in farming for the months when rainwater is spuriousness never escapes those ousted from available. Even in areas where land dispossession is agriculture. According to Dr Walter Fernandes, not extensive, virtually all peasant farmers practise the igure of persons displaced/afected by such more than subsistence agriculture. hey contribute development projects is estimated at around to the swelling number of circular, seasonal or 60 million for the period from 1947 to 2004, temporary migrants; many of them being distressed involving 25 million hectares of land which migrants. Millions of farmers and labourers who includes 6 million hectares of other common are afected migrated to cities in search of work. property resources (CPRs) (Fernandes, 2007). An ActionAid India study on drought across his process of displacement has in fact impacted seven states, conducted in 2016, reported extensive tribal populations disproportionately. he tribals migration to cities. constituting 8 per cent of the population have shouldered 55 per cent of the displacement till A constellation of these factors gives a multi- 1995 in the name of development. In so far as occupational colour, which several refer to as semi- this scramble for land or accumulation by active proletarianization3 (Moyo, Jha & Yeros, 2013), and

99 India Exclusion Report

Box 1: Drought Refugees Lack of work and income in drought-afected areas has forced people to migrate in huge numbers to nearby towns and cities in search of work and livelihood. ‘Migration from the afected districts has increased two to three times as people sufering due to drought are leaving their habitations for survival’ (Mander, 2016). Sphere India’s situation report indicated that, due to lack of livelihood opportunities, 60% of the young population in Bundelkhand areas of Madhya Pradesh migrated to other cities and states(Sphere India Report on SITREP: Drought in Bundelkhand Region of UP & MP and Maharashtra, 2016, p.3). In Telangana, according to farmers’ organizations, nearly 1.4 million people have migrated from the worst-afected districts of Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nizamabad and Adilabad. A.S. Malla Reddy, the Vice President of All India Kisan Sabha, in an interview to IANS, pointed out that such rampant migration is indicative of the terrible living conditions in Telangana. It is found that migration, which has been a common phenomenon in the regions of Marathwada, Bundelkhand and Telangana, has increased signiicantly. here is more than 20% population migration from afected villages in these regions to nearby cities. A signiicant number of children and women accompany their families to cities. One of the important observations is that the number of people who go to nearby towns for wage work and come back by late evening ater work has increased signiicantly in the past 3 to 5 years (ActionAid India, 2016).

we see it especially expanding in the last 30 years belonging to socially excluded and disadvantaged on account of the factors mentioned above or a groups have several challenges in accessing these combination of those. resources because of the discrimination and exclusion they face on the basis of caste, religion and gender (horat, 2009). 3. Who is excluded in Agriculture? Table 1 presents the outcomes of this status hiatus Indian economy continues to be largely agriculture- in terms of the eventual outcomes of income and based. Table 1 shows that almost 50 per cent of wellbeing. Scheduled Caste households, Muslim the rural households in India are dependent on households and female-headed households have the income from the agriculture sector for their a larger dependency on underpaid and casualized sustenance. Out of these, 35.3 per cent households agriculture and non-agriculture wage employment. are earning their livelihood from working in the Households that are reported as self-employed agricultural ields as self-employed workers and in agriculture are very few among Dalits (SCs) only 15.47 per cent are employed as casual labourers (19.13%), Muslims (21.7%) and Women (24.1%). in agriculture. he percentage of households On the contrary, Others, Hindus and male-headed dependent on agriculture varies on account of the households are reported with better earnings from degrees of access to resources related to agriculture, self-employment. i.e., land ownership, landholding size, source of It is oten said that, with resources like equitable irrigation, credit, extension services, infrastructure, access to productive means, self-employment is technology, risk coverage, etc. Households way better than casual employment in certain

100 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture

Table 1: Major Sources of Income Reported by Different Households in Rural India Household Self-employed Casual labour Salary/ Others characteristics Agriculture Non- Agriculture Non- regular wage agriculture agriculture Social group ST 40.45 4.18 15.85 25.98 9.36 4.18 SC 19.13 6.20 26.94 33.21 8.14 6.38 OBC 38.77 10.73 13.03 22.57 8.22 6.68 Others 43.34 9.74 8.01 15.48 13.18 10.25 Religion Hindu 37.44 7.85 15.73 22.99 9.17 6.83 Muslim 21.71 16.27 14.99 30.20 8.71 8.10 Christian 29.20 8.72 11.01 18.21 21.62 11.24 Others 26.57 8.12 13.32 28.62 13.13 10.29 Sex of head of household Male 37.29 9.37 15.29 24.23 9.03 4.80 Female 24.10 4.96 16.50 21.52 12.30 20.62 All 35.31 8.71 15.47 23.83 9.52 7.17 Source: Compiled from India Human Development Survey, 2011–12. situations and as has been explained previously, landlessness or near-landlessness among the poor, employment in agriculture depends on access to especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled diferent resources related to agriculture. Land is Tribes, is considerable and the demand for land is an important agricultural resource and ownership still being unmet. ‘(Department of Land Resources, over agricultural land is an important indicator of 2013, p.4). So, the moot question here is how this economic wellbeing and social condition in rural discrimination and exclusion towards socially areas (Rawal, 2008). Hence, access to it is crucial for deprived groups’ works. Here follows an analysis socially disadvantaged households (Rawal, 2008). of how exclusion and discrimination in agriculture operate on the lines of caste, gender and religion. Land ownership patterns in India are very However, while the available literature provides lopsided and biased against socially deprived a picture of the caste-based segregated data, the groups (Rawal, 2014) and even ater 60 years of data and literature with respect to the gender land reforms, this continues to be the reality of and religious dimensions are insuicient. We the hierarchical socio-economic conditions in sourced and analysed the National Sample Survey our country. ‘…he pattern of land distribution Organization (NSSO) data to understand the in India, therefore, relects the existing socio- exclusion on the basis of caste, religion and gender. economic hierarchy. While large landowners invariably belong to the upper castes, the cultivators Exclusion on the basis of social group is most belong to the middle castes, and the agricultural commonly practised in India, speciically in rural workers are largely Dalits and Tribals.’ (Ministry India, as caste or social group is a social reality of Rural Development, 2013). ‘It is also seen from here (Hazari & Kumar, 2003). he average size of the ield that even ater all these interventions the land holding, livestock and even occupation of a 101 India Exclusion Report particular family vary according to the caste of Muslim community in India has lagged behind the family (Hazari & Kumar, 2003). On this basis, other religious communities. here are not many the most excluded social group is the Scheduled studies on the land rights of the Muslim community Caste (SC). Scheduled Caste people are on the in India. In the following paragraphs we have tried lowest ladder of caste hierarchy (horat, 2009) to analyse the nature and extent of exclusion faced and they face exclusion most in land and asset by Muslim communities in agriculture with the holdings (horat, 2009: Rawal, 2014). [See table help of available data sources. concerning percentage distribution of households here is one more group of people who face and land ownership by caste groups and by states exclusion in agriculture and land holdings and that in Appendix 1]. group is people with disabilities. he subject of the he second most commonly exercised rights of persons with disability over land resources exclusion is on the basis of gender. Indian society has not been studied. However, we have tried to is a deeply patriarchal society where it is assumed understand their exclusion with the help of the that men are the breadwinners and women are the data accessed from the Socio Economic and Caste dependents (Agrawal, 1994). On the basis of this Census (SECC) of India, 2011. assumption, women do not have any right over In the following sections the exclusion of these their family land or any hereditary land owned by social groups in the area of land ownership, land family. he family lands are typically transferred holding sizes, quality of land, land leasing/tenancy in the name of the male member of the family like, and access to loans, etc., has been presented and son or grandson (Agrawal, 2003). he exclusion discussed. Further a brief analysis is also provided of women can be seen to be perpetuated through on how land reforms failed these marginalized the institution of marriage and the laws that communities in the absence of political govern ownership of property (Patel, 2006). As a commitment. result of occupational mobility, male members of households are migrating away from agriculture which eventually burdens the women in the 3.1 Status of Land Holdings family with all/most of the agricultural labour; yet In order to analyse the current pattern of land neither do they have a socially sanctioned role in holdings in India, we have used the Land and the decision making related to agricultural work Livestock Survey (70th round) conducted by the nor have any right on the land. hey are expected National Sample Survey Organization. NSSO to be just working on and only as labourers in classiies the ownership of land by one household their own family ields (Kodoth, 2004). [See table into four categories: owned and possessed, concerning percentage distribution of households otherwise possessed, leased in, and leased out. To and land ownership by sex of head of household show the disparity in the land ownerships, land and states in Appendix 2]. categories such as owned and possessed, otherwise Just as how social identities are crucial in possessed and leased out land have all been used so determining the land holdings of the household as to show the total land owned by one household. (Hazari & Kumar, 2003), the religious identity of a In this analysis any homestead land owned by the household also plays an important role in deining household has not been taken into account because access to diferent agriculture-related resources NSSO does not provide information on the uses like land. As a result of exclusions on the basis of of land, and homestead land has been typically discrimination against certain religious beliefs, the considered as land not used for any productive

102 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture work (Anand, 2016). It is clear from Table 2 that almost 40 per cent of the total number of people land distribution in India is highly unequal and displaced in India due to development activities 41.86 per cent of rural households do not own (Ministry of Tribal Afairs, 2014). any productive land (productive land including all One can discern from the table a noteworthy fact types of land, except homestead land) and about that even the extent of land under the ownership 7.94 per cent of households do not even have their of Dalits, Muslims and women is much less than own homestead land (NSSO report, 2014). that of the others. Out of the total households in Table 2 also presents a picture of the existing the rural area, for instance, 20.2 per cent of Dalit land ownership of diferent social groups in India. households own only 8.95 per cent of the total Over half of the Dalits, Muslims and women (who productive land, while on the other side 23.2 per head households) in India have no agricultural cent of Others’ households own 32.24 per cent of land whatsoever. Data shows that landlessness is the total productive land. Same is the case with high among Dalits (57.3%), Muslims (52.6%) and Muslims and women (Table 2). Almost 52 per cent women-headed (56.8%) households, castigating of Muslim households are landless, and 11 per cent them to work as agricultural labourers to face the Muslim households own only 5.37 per cent land. spectre of depressed and unequal wages. Among Households belonging to other religious minority tribal communities, land ownership remains better groups own almost an equal or larger share of land protected because of laws and policies in place. than their share in total households. Hence, the issues they face are mostly on account Women, too, face a high degree of discrimination of dispossession, as a result of land acquisitions for in rural areas. India’s agrarian transition has been various development projects. Tribals constitute slow, uneven and highly gendered. here are

Table 2: Percentage Distribution of Households, all across India, on the Basis of Different Household Characteristics. Percentage share in Percentage share in Percentage of landless Household Characteristics total households land households Social group Tribes 11.90 13.06 33.80 Dalits 20.20 8.95 57.30 OBC 44.70 45.74 41.04 Others 23.20 32.24 34.16 Religion Hindu 84.58 88.92 40.46 Muslims 11.06 5.37 52.60 Christians 2.21 2.18 35.65 Others 2.16 3.53 47.89 Sex of head of household Male 86.40 92.99 39.51 Female 13.60 7.01 56.80 Total 100.00 100.00 41.86 Source: Compiled from Land and livestock survey, NSSO, 2013.

103 India Exclusion Report also gender inequalities in the intra-household Almost 94 per cent of the rural households are either allocation of resources, and a notable potential for landless or marginal or small farmers (table 3) and production ineiciencies because of the unequal even among them Dalits, Muslims and women are land distribution between men and women marginalized in terms of the size of landholdings (Agrawal, 2003). According to the Census 2011, too. land ownership is skewed between men and women, Today the average rural Indian household, as who comprise 48 per cent of the rural population. per the new oicial data, is a marginal landowner, Only 13.6 percent households have women as head growing mainly cereals on a small patch of land and of households, and they report an ownership of reliant on groundwater for irrigation. Also 84.87 7.17 per cent of the total productive land. Even per cent of the total holdings belong to marginal where they report ownership of productive land farmers who own less than one hectare (10,000 there is the question of who actually controls the square metres), and just 7 per cent own more than use of such productive land. While statistical data two hectares as per the data on household land is not available, what has been observed through ownership from NSSO, 2014. several micro-studies, is the tendency of male family members (brother, son, father and others) to It is clear from Table 3 that while more than actually control the land that oicially belongs to 84 per cent of Dalits and Muslims have marginal the women in the family, particularly in the case of landholdings, among women this percentage single women. is 80. Only 2.08 per cent Dalit households own more than 2 hectares of land, while 10.26 per cent he composition of land distribution is very households of Others have more than 2 hectares unequal and diverse if we analyse the distribution of land. As one moves towards land holdings of land according to the size of the land holding.

Table 3: Percentage Distribution of Different Households, across India, according to the Size of the Land Holding and the Class of Ownership Household Characteristics Landless Marginal Small Small-medium Medium Large Social group Tribes 33.8 46.06 13.72 5.18 1.21 0.03 Dalits 57.32 35.98 4.62 1.58 0.47 0.03 OBCs 41.05 42.18 9.74 4.95 1.86 0.22 Others 34.16 44.4 11.18 6.57 3.16 0.53 Religion Hindu 40.47 42.29 10.08 4.95 1.96 0.24 Muslim 52.6 40.66 4.4 1.85 0.45 0.03 Christian 35.65 46.02 12.47 5.29 0.51 0.06 Others 47.89 28.92 10.62 7.7 3.66 1.21 Sex of Head of Household Male 39.52 42.99 10.13 5.13 1.98 0.26 Female 56.8 35.01 5.65 1.79 0.67 0.09 Total 41.87 41.91 9.52 4.68 1.8 0.23 Source: Compiled from Land and livestock survey, NSSO, 2013.

104 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture of a higher size, the percentage share of Dalit, Madhya Pradesh (18.3% own 7% land), Andhra Muslim and Female-headed households can be Pradesh (21.8% own 7.6% land), Karnataka (23.9% seen decreasing drastically in comparison to their own 11.8% land), Kerala (13.5% own 2.2% land), other counterparts. Among the large land holders and Tamil Nadu (27.3% own 14% land) (Appendix who have more than 10 hectares of land, 95 per 1).here is not a single state where Dalit households cent households belong to OBC or Other category own an equal share in total land holding and in households and only 3 per cent belongs to the total households. However, just the opposite is the Scheduled Castes (Anand, 2016). Tribal people are situation with the category of households belonging over-represented among the landless, Scheduled to Others, as their share in total land is higher than Castes among marginal land-owners, and ‘upper’ their share in total households in almost every state. castes among medium and large landholders. Also, the average size of land for SC households is From the above analysis, it is clear that with less than the non-SC/ST households in every state reference to land ownership too these households (Anand, 2014), and this diference in the size of (Dalit, Muslim and Female-headed household) are land holdings is not accidental but a fundamental the most deprived households in the rural economy, construct of the caste system prevalent in Indian who do not have equal access to land. heir share in society (Hazari & Kumar, 2003). land ownership is meagre and the size of the land he situation of women-headed households is holdings, in their possession, is also very small. he also not much diferent. In Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, ‘growth’ years, that saw drastic cuts in the budgetary Goa, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Lakshadweep and allocation for agriculture, were also accompanied Daman & Diu, there is a huge diference between by a steady decline in the size of the average land the percentage of female-headed households in the holding. In 1992, the average rural household was total households and their share in the total land a small landholder with over one hectare of land in (Appendix 2). However, on the contrary, in some comparison to a marginal land-holder as of 2013 North-Eastern states, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh with 0.59 hectares of land. Across the country, in and Puducherry, female-headed households are every state, land holdings have decreased in size, in a better situation, thus masking the overall bringing the size down to almost half in the last 20 trend to make it seem more respectable (Appendix years. 2). hough Dalit households eventually got he extent of marginalization of Dalit families some control over land in the form of a share in is the most striking in a majority of states. here government land, surplus land or common land, are many states in India where the situation of as a result of land reforms (Omvedt, 1996), it was Dalit households is deplorable. Even when they always only the adult male or son of the family who constitute a considerable share of total households, was considered a unit for separate landholdings. their share in land is negligible. For instance, in Neither adult females nor married and unmarried Punjab (39.8% Dalit households own 2.6% of land), daughters were ever considered a unit for land Haryana (17.5% own less than 1% land), Delhi distribution, even during the period of land (41.6% own 7.4% land), Himachal Pradesh (28.6% reforms, except in Kerala (Agarwal, 2003). So, own 15.6% land), Uttaranchal (21.1% own 11.5% ultimately, there has been no fundamental change land), Rajasthan (25% own 12.8% land), Uttar in the situation of women not being owners of the Pradesh (24.6% own 10.4% land), Bihar (16.4% own land, even ater the initiation of land reforms. 3% land), West Bengal (31.4% own 18.2% land),

105 India Exclusion Report

3.2 Quality of the Land of Excluded Groups owners of agricultural land or indeed of women as farmers is at best a nascent one, with little in terms Coupled with the question of ownership is the of policies to support this advance and therefore it question of the quality of land which relects in its constitutes an important agenda and demand of irrigation status. While data on quality of land of women’s rights struggles across India. excluded communities as compared to those higher up in the caste hierarchy is not available, studies indicate that Dalits mostly possess degraded land Table 4: Percentage of Beneiciaries from both due to them being historically forced to settle Redistribution of Ceiling Surplus Land in India, in wastelands or low quality lands, or having been Belonging to Different Social Groups, as of 2013 handed over degraded land as a result of the limited Social group Share in total Share in total redistribution eforts carried out over the past beneiciaries redistributed land seven decades (Mohanty, 2001). he quality of land ST 38.73 37.38 under the cultivation of Dalits is also very poor SC 15.08 15.38 with limited irrigational possibilities. 58 per cent of Others 46.19 47.24 the land they possess has no irrigation facility. With Source: Author’s calculation based on data available on www. regard to irrigation, the situation in tribal India and indiastat.com indeed the overall situation of all excluded groups seems better. However, this needs a deeper analysis Many studies reviewing the impact of land to examine who has the best lands in India. For reforms on Scheduled castes and tribes found instance, when we analyse the situation of Dalit that the percentage of land redistributed in land ownership in the most fertile agrarian belt of India is limited and the land which was to be India, the Gangetic belt,which has been at the centre redistributed remained mostly a promise on paper of public investments in agriculture (irrigation, with no real eforts towards its implementation. modernization, extension, research, inputs and ‘…inherent loopholes and ambiguities in the infrastructure), we see that the condition of Dalits legislative measures, slow proceedings at all levels and indeed of Muslims and women is extremely of bureaucracy, lack of updated land records, the tenuous {e.g., Punjab (39.8% Dalit households own ignorance and illiteracy of scheduled population, 2.6% of land), Haryana (17.5% own less than 1% and the escaping attitude of the larger landowners land), Bihar (16.4% own 3% land)}. are the major reasons that hindered fair distribution of land by allowing the bulk of land owners to avoid expropriation’ (Mohanty, 2001, p. 3862). As a result 3.3 Uninished Land Reforms and Exclusion of both the lack of commitment on the part of the bureaucracy to implement land reforms and the Land Reform eforts over the last decades have also nefarious designs of the big landlords to prevent not been in favour of Dalit communities or of women the poor from accessing and cultivating lands, and Muslims. While data with reference to the latter the land reforms failed. he cultivable wastelands two is not available, the fact that even limited land are oten actually cultivated by large, upper- reform eforts are bypassing Dalit communities, caste landowners, and the proposed allotments like the redistribution of ‘ceiling surplus land’ as of to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) 2013, bears testimony to the discrimination against landless households oten remain on paper, as these Dalits in land reform measures. With reference to allottees are forcefully evicted or at times not even women, it can be said that the very idea of women as allowed to take possession (Mander, 2013).

106 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture

Many states had failed to redistribute land to of female and male-headed households, the pattern the scheduled groups. ‘…hough the national is diferent; here the percentage of female-headed guideline suggests that 50 per cent of the land to be lessee households is less than the male-headed distributed through land reform measures should households but the area of leased in land is the same be made available to scheduled caste and scheduled for both types of households (Table 5). tribe beneiciaries, the distribution pattern in states like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra Table 5: Percentage of Different Households and Kerala reveals a bias in favour of non-scheduled Reporting Leased in of any Land (excluding groups. A study of 13 states revealed that even ater homestead land) and Median Area of Leased 50 years of planned initiatives and policy measures, in land there has not been substantial improvement in Household Percentage of Median area the landholding status of scheduled groups, and Characteristics households of leased in some states, it has declined further’ (Mohanty, reporting leased in land (in in of any land hectare) 2001, p. 3857). (excluding homestead land) 3.4 Land leasing and Tenancy Social group ST 6.84 .47 What presents exclusion through another facet, is the question of tenancy and tenants. Tenancy SC 10.08 .28 in India is hidden and informal. Only a small OBC 8.92 .39 percentage of land/households are reported under Others 9.26 .50 the leased in category. his is around 9 per cent Religion as per the NSSO data. In reality this igure would Hindu 9.00 .40 be three times or more. ‘…there are other micro Muslim 9.00 .20 studies that point out that the NSS data does not Christian 7.16 .61 fully capture the incidence of tenancy which varies Others 10.19 1.21 between 15 to 35 per cent. About 90 per cent of Sex of head of household the leased in area is informal and unrecorded. he landless and the marginal farmers constitute the Male 9.77 .40 bulk (91 per cent) of those leasing in land’ (MRD Female 3.99 .40 Report, 2013, p. 30). All 8.99 .40 Table 5 shows that this percentage is slightly Source: Compiled from Land and livestock survey, NSSO, 2013. more among Dalits (10%), when compared with But when we look at the terms of tenancy, we see the others. However the median land holding of the that they are not very favourable towards tenants in leased in land is hardly 0.28 hectares, thus shedding general with share of produce being a predominant light on the social composition of the tenant mode of lease. his disadvantage is clear in the case farmers. he situation of Muslim households is also of Tribals and Dalits (Table 6). the same. he percentage of households reported as lessee households is the same for both Hindu and Among all social groups, around 53 per cent of Muslim communities but the average area of leased Scheduled caste households leased in land on the in land by Muslim households is just half the area basis of share in produce, which can be assumed to of leased in land by Hindu households. In the case be a result of their adverse bargaining power. Around

107 India Exclusion Report

Table 6: Forms of Tenancy Rreported by Lessee Households based on Social Group, Religion and Sex of the Head of the Household Household Terms of tenancy Characteristics For For For For For share Under From Under ixed ixed share of service of product unufructuary relatives other money produce produce contract together with mortgage under no terms other terms speciied terms Social group ST 16.59 23.39 39.10 0.72 1.07 0.74 14.46 3.93 SC 22.48 13.33 52.90 0.67 1.69 0.02 3.89 5.03 OBC 24.86 24.68 32.85 0.37 3.80 0.63 9.49 3.33 Others 43.78 20.07 24.20 0.16 1.07 0.02 8.52 2.17 Religion Hindu 27.06 20.39 37.23 0.49 2.86 0.23 7.81 3.93 Muslim 26.30 31.56 32.74 0.05 0.00 0.06 8.24 1.05 Christian 19.08 1.52 40.11 0.00 0.02 8.73 28.61 1.94 Others 77.29 4.19 1.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 16.44 0.41 Sex of head of household Male 28.64 21.86 36.10 0.40 2.48 0.21 6.98 3.32 Female 19.33 5.83 32.83 0.74 1.61 2.61 30.92 6.14 All 28.08 20.89 35.90 0.42 2.42 0.36 8.43 3.49 Source: Compiled from Land and livestock survey, NSSO, 2013.

64 per cent of the others households leased in land agriculture. Unfortunately many farmers, especially on either ixed money or ixed product contracts, small and marginal ones, are unable to access the which can be the result of their better socio- credit from government institutions. In the 1990s, economic status. While female-headed households there was a sharp fall in the credit low to agriculture are mostly leasing in land, either on share system and above all, the supply of agricultural credit or from relatives under no speciic terms, the male- sidelined the small and marginal farmers. Ater headed households are leasing in land for ixed rent. 1990, in terms of formal credit supply, small and However, as mentioned above, it is the tenants who marginal farmers were increasingly sidelined. he are at the receiving end, as a majority of the tenancy decline is persistent both in terms of the lending is hidden and without any legal protection. Tenants amount as well as number of accounts. In the 2000s, are deprived of beneits and schemes like loans, even when direct lending to agriculture increased, crop insurance and subsidies, which are generally it was oriented more towards large agricultural accessed by the land owners. business enterprises rather than marginal and small farmers. Small and marginal farmers are hardly represented in the lending class of more than 3.5 Status of Indebtedness and Loans 2 lakhs. he share of loan accounts held by small Credit access is one of the key factors that facilitate and marginal farmers declined in the 1990s and in

108 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture the 2000s (Ramakumar, 2007). Previous analysis In rural India the major source of loans is informs us that most of the marginalized sections banks, followed by money lenders and relatives. are small and marginal farmers. But in the case of Dalits, the major source of loans is moneylenders (27.23%), while Muslims (25%) Around 50 per cent of the rural households are and women (24.3%) are dependent mostly on under some kind of debt (Appendix 3). he median relatives for loans. It is evident that Dalits, Muslims value of this debt is around INR 30,000. Among all and women are relatively deprived of institutional social group households, the minimum percentage sources of loans from the government, thus of indebted households is that of Tribal households taking away from them the possibility of availing (28.32 per cent) and they also have a minimum institutional credit more generally (Table 7). Socio- median value of outstanding debt. his is followed economic and caste census tells us that only 3.61 by the outstanding loans of Others households and per cent rural households have a Kisan credit card Dalit Households at 46 per cent and 54 per cent above the value of INR 50,000 (Appendix 4) and respectively. less than 2 per cent Dalit and Tribal households In the religion wise composition of households, have a card worth INR 50,000. his percentage is a less than 30 per cent of other minority community little higher for women-headed households. While households have outstanding loans but the median the access to Kisan credit card is very low for all value of outstanding loans is very high for these households, it is still narrower for those households households. On the other side, 51 per cent of Hindu that come under the deprived group. households and 44 per cent of Muslim households Small and marginal farmers were afected with have outstanding loans which have a median value declining investment in agriculture. he post 1990 of anywhere between INR 20,000–30,000. period is also marked as the period of withdrawal of As mentioned above in Table 2, 86.40 per cent of other kinds of institutional support to agriculture. the total households are male-headed households In 1995, India joined the World Trade Organization and only 13.60 per cent households have a female (WTO), which resulted in the fall of output price head. Among these 86.40 per cent male-headed and also reduction in subsidy, subsequently households, almost 51 per cent households are resulting in higher cost of inputs. he higher cost indebted and among 13.60 per cent female-headed of input was not equally compensated by increase households, almost 41 per cent households are in support price by the Indian government. he indebted (Appendix 3). here is also a diference in Minimum Support Price (MSP) administered by the average amount of outstanding loans in male- the Union Government, in fact, was not available and female-headed households. Indebtedness is an to all farmers’, specially small and marginal farmers indicator for access to credit and the data indicates (Ramakumar, 2013). that the female-headed households have less access to credit as compared to male-headed households. 4. Consequences of Exclusions Further, when it comes to the source of this credit, female-headed households also have less access to he trends of exclusion from land ownership institutional sources like banks. Although there and agriculture are clearly evidenced in national has been an improvement in the Indian banking and state statistics and this also reveals the social services, women have not gained much from groups excluded in and from agriculture. What these services as they have lower access to these are the outcomes of such exclusion? In India, the institutional sources (Chavan, 2008). lack of access to land has condemned millions

109 India Exclusion Report Others 0.37 1.35 builders Suppliers/ middlemen/ PF/ LIC 2.21 9.46 0.25 1.20 card Kisan Kisan credit credit help help Self- group 0.68 5.52 2.21 10.18 0.22 1.08 Govt. Program Credit Credit Group Community Community Source of loan of Source 1.59 1.96 0.39 6.40 2.55 4.12 0.45 1.35 0.79 1.81 0.65 5.19 3.60 0.72 1.20 0.98 NGO Bank Friend Relative 16.53 7.21 19.60 36.57 11.84 2.80 10.90 49.52 2.56 5.49 0.33 11.89 0.15 46.00 0.00 0.76 20.84 17.41 25.03 22.52 1.29 2.34 0.47 5.35 0.66 0.00 0.26 1.79 22.59 12.34 21.42 28.33 0.85 2.66 22.18 12.56 21.56 28.26 0.91 2.65 0.66 5.58 2.08 10.16 0.24 1.14 23.18 11.31 22.74 29.23 0.52 2.35 0.40 4.34 2.59 14.88 0.14 1.04 24.29 11.99 29.88 19.02 0.61 2.63 0.26 6.66 1.14 18.45 0.18 0.70 27.23 14.42 21.19 17.96 1.33 2.94 0.81 8.72 0.79 0.00 21.88 12.64 20.35 29.60 0.96 2.65 0.72 5.43 19.36 15.21 25.02 23.27 lender Money Money Table 7: Source of the Biggest Loans Reported by Different Households in Rural India Households in Rural Different by Loans Reported of the Biggest Source 7: Table 5.15 3.43 1.98 1.07 15.12 12.13 18.50 39.84 1.02 3.16 1.12 4.24 2.39 0.19 0.23 1.02 2.07 2.01 2.00 2.39 Employer Compiled from India Human Development Survey, 2011–12 Survey, Development Human India from Compiled Others Christian Muslim 2.03 Religion Hindu Others All OBC Female 2.50 SC 2.90 Sex of the head of the household Sex the head of of Male Social group ST Household Household characteristics Source:

110 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture into endemic and chronic poverty, seriously in Andhra Pradesh, and then at construction sites limiting possibilities of upward mobility for future in diverse towns in Maharashtra. heir hunger and generations belonging to such poor households their contractors drive them to any place that ofers (Ministry of Rural Development, 2013). When data employment, however brief, insecure, poorly paid on exclusions in agriculture is superimposed with or undigniied it is. here are rural migrations to the data of informal workers in India, it becomes both metros and non-metro urban areas and to clear that exclusion from land and agriculture towns and smaller cities and there are also rural to eventually forces peasants to seek out the life of a rural migrations. Further, there are urban to urban wage earner working either on lands of others in the migrations, and even, in smaller measure, urban to rural scenario or to take up non-agrarian pursuits. rural migrations (Sainath, 2011). As mentioned above, crisis in agriculture pushed Twenty ive years of economic reforms impacted millions of farmers out of agriculture. Census data the agriculture sector adversely and has, over the reveals that in the 10-year period between Census years, resulted in many farmers committing suicide. 2001 and Census 2011, there were nearly 9 million One ater the other, all the central governments fewer cultivators in India. his corresponds to the aggressively pursued neo-liberal economic policies fact that between 2002–3 and 2012–13, household in the liberalization period which has rendered ownership of land fell by 15 million ha or by 14 per cultivation unviable for most small and marginal cent (NSSO 2014). Rural-to-urban migration has farmers, who are also the socially marginalized shown a gradual increase, with its share in total (Anand, 2016). As per the National Crime Records migration rising from 16.5 per cent to 21.1 per cent Bureau, in the past 20 years, more than 3 lakh from 1971 to 2001. hese rural migrants form a large farmers committed suicide (1995–2014). chunk of the population referred to as ‘informal sector’. he emergence of these rural origin pockets Working on the land of others in the context of a in urban areas has resulted in a number of slum crisis-ridden agrarian situation means mortgaging settlements characterized by inadequate water a future to under-paid seasonal wage work; a space and sanitation facilities, insuicient housing and which is home to various forms of oppression. increased food insecurity (Das, 2016). However, the Unregulated with no rights protection, it is a space Census data do not convey the harshness and pain for perpetuation of the overhang of feudal, caste of the millions trapped in footloose migrations. and patriarchal relations in the form of bondage Migration, one may assume, may be relatively of various kinds such as contract bondage, wage rare among agricultural households, but in fact underpayment, unequal wages or unpaid work it is highest among households with marginal without any form of social security. landholdings that are unable to provide much Since employment is also not readily available income to the family. Over 75 per cent of all migrants in other sectors, and there is a virtual race to the come from marginal landowning households. bottom among the army of wage earners, ousted hat is to say, while more amongst the landless peasantry faces signiicant and severe competition are prone to migrate, the contribution of marginal and several disadvantages in the ‘labour markets’. landholders to the total migrants is higher. In short, On the face of it these could be ascribed to the the desperate search for work is driving the poor lack of preparation for another future (education, in many directions without a clear inal destination; skills, etc), or even reasoned as a continued like the migrants from Odisha who work some trajectory of social discrimination (in employment weeks in Raipur, a couple of months at brick kilns opportunities, wage labour markets, housing, etc).

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However, there are several community level and his is the most drastic consequence of occupation level studies documenting human exclusion from land and agriculture; a consequence tragedies in the world of wage earners, as de- which cannot only be resolved by bringing to peasantized people who continue to scuttle back this populace education and skills with a hope of and forth seasonally between agriculture wage work eventual absorption in employment. With the and wage work in non-agriculture sectors, such as size of the labour reserve we have in India and construction. Oten this back and forth physical the rate at which people may see a push-out from movement, borne out of a necessity to survive, and agriculture, on account of reasons outlined earlier, not fundamentally a desire to thrive, typiies the and within the limits of the size of economy likely imagery of India and indeed of the global south- an to take shape in the next decade, it looks a diicult imagery romanticized as one of moving people and proposition to absorb this ‘informal’ labour reserve growing country. into employment of a kind which is protected, secure, and decent, given the kind of employment he absence of land and irrigation are the being generated today and in the forseeable future. major factors pushing poor households to ind We of course know how this transition was efected jobs through short term migration. he rate of in Europe in the 18th and 19thcenturies under the temporary migration is found to be ‘highest in the historical circumstances then of colonialism and of case of scheduled tribes and other social groups and industrial expansion of a labour intensive variety. also those with very small land holdings among However, this would be a historic impossibility rural areas’ (Shah & Kumar, 2011, p. 12). Further, it and an ecological dead end for a country like was also evident that ‘…those among the poor, who India to pursue. In India, employment generation migrate for short duration, barely make a subsistence is abysmally low even during the periods of high living in spite of migration’. And this ‘low of short growth rate. he NSSO data on employment in term migration is likely to increase in the short and 2011 shows how from 2004–5 and 2009–10, only medium term, given the declining (land) resource 1 million jobs were added per year; in a period base among the ever growing rural population’ when the economy averaged a record 8.43 per cent (Shah & Kumar, 2011, p. 24). As mentioned above, growth annually. In this period, 55 million people migrants in cities are living under very unhygienic joined the labour force (Live Mint, 2016). and insecure conditions. Recent reports on the drought refugees highlighted the plight of migrants Pauperization embedded in the process of in cities. ‘he drought migrants have no homes in proletarianization produces further disastrous the city and some have made makeshit shelters on consequences for the families involved. Hunger, construction sites, footpaths and park benches. he undernourishment, starvation and its impact on villagers have no work and no cash, and many are the health and longevity of families, thus excluded, forced to beg’ (Doshi, 2016). is evident in the continuity of the perpetuation of these perils in their future lives. he Global Semi-proletarianization of this nature is the Hunger Index Report highlighted the plight of most common form of downward social mobility, farmers facing extreme climatic uncertainties staring at the face of over 400 million people in and crop losses resulting in huge debts. It further India who constitute the informal sector. housands highlighted the fact that Dalits and Adivasis who of new entrants are being added to this pool every are dependent on wage labour and agriculture are single day, in a process of what Breman calls ‘wage disproportionately afected by poverty; this pushed hunting and gathering’ (1994). India’s Global Hunger Index to the 97th rank. Data

112 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture on child labour and malnutrition also substantiate are the issues that require public debate and agenda the fact that the exclusion of the most marginalized setting. When a majority of the rural population families from resources and agriculture would still survives on agriculture, in the context of impact the education and nutritional status of the limited opportunities in other sectors, a forced children belonging to such households. Children of transition will have a devastating impact on rural these families, who are also subjected to recurrent communities. he process of economic transition seasonal migrations, are not only absent from from agriculture to other sectors/locations took schools, but in order to augment family incomes place in a few developed countries under very ind themselves pushed into child labour, repeating exceptional circumstances. hey had advantages a continuity of the system that rests its reproduction over other countries of the world in terms of land on their labour power. As per the 2011 Census, the grabs in other parts of the world, access to the rest number of children employed in child labour in the of the world through colonization, control over age group of 5–17 years in rural areas is 19.22 million, resources and markets, etc. Such a transition is not of which 8.66 million are agriculture labourers. possible in India through expulsion or exclusion of people from agriculture. A vast majority in India is Extreme forms of societal alienation are visible still dependent for their livelihood on agriculture today as an outcome of continued pauperization and this situation is likely to continue till they are and expulsion. he model of development and its ofered enough choice to shit towards other forms rejection by the majorities impacted and pauperized of occupation for a decent livelihood. On the other by it, whether we measure it in terms of the rising hand, a revival of agriculture should be prioritized inequalities or in its more vocal articulation by through the restructuring of the rural economy struggles as the question of the 99 per cent, inds its with focus on progressive land reforms in favour outcome in popular discontentment—in rejection of the poor and the marginalized with necessary of the politics and political leaderships of the last input support, support prices, extension services, thirty years and its temporary acceptance of ideas infrastructure and markets, promoting sustainable promoted by the politics of populism, protectionism agriculture practices, diversifying the rural and chauvinism as a means of securing space, livelihood basket, necessary budget provisions, dignity and economic opportunities. his has been etc. Assured incomes to the farmers could make the narrative of the last decades, more pronounced farming viable and attractive for future generations. since the inancial crisis of 2008. What is clear, however, is that such a path only leads to a further deepening of the historically entrenched axis of Land Redistribution: Land, which is the basis exclusion, thus, creating newer forms of exclusion. of survival and livelihood of millions of rural communities, needs to be redistributed. he 5. Recommendations skewed distribution of land and the subsequent question of its ownership still need attention for a he Agrarian Question constitutes the basis of our radical restructuring of the rural socio-economic ‘National Question’ (Sandeep Chachra, 2010) and fabric. As pointed out by the Committee on therefore invokes a commitment to act. How can the Agrarian Reforms, ‘revival of land redistribution agrarian crisis of India see a resolution? On whose agenda, protecting and restoration of alienated terms and conditions and on what ecological costs land and fair distribution of land strikes directly can this resolution be achieved? What then is the at the roots of an unequal social order and skewed relation and balance of town and countryside? hese power relations, and frees the marginalized from

113 India Exclusion Report the clutches of perpetual bondage, for want of a market oriented liberalization agenda like sustainable livelihood’ (MRD Report, 2013, p.151). amendments to the legal provisions for speedy he recommendations of the committee in terms of acquisitions of lands ignoring the social and enabling the Dalits, Tribals and women in accessing environmental concerns, exemptions to and enjoying land are quite comprehensive and investments on industrial parks/investment warrants the attention of the State, which is not zones, coastal corridors, expanding urban impossible if there is enough political will. Land horizons, legalizing and liberalizing tenancy, reform measures are mostly scuttled with excuses of conversion of agricultural lands for non- not having enough land to distribute. However, this agriculture purposes—ultimately making defence has been challenged by various ield studies land a commodity with speculative value. and also by the Committee on Agrarian Reforms by In this context, the redistributive land indicating the estimates of the Lal Bahadur Shastri reforms agenda needs to be expanded with National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) redistribution of lands, thus, preventing land on the availability of about 21 million ha of land for alienation, challenging land acquisitions and redistribution (MRD Report, 2013, p. 24). regulating purchasing/contracting/leasing of agricultural land by non-agriculturists. his Despite a broad trend of failure in the process of making equitable redistribution of implementation of land reforms across the country, natural resources (land, forest, commons) by there are certain states with a proven record ensuring social and ecological justice should of successful implementation of land reforms become the policy priority of the state. indicating that a state with political will could succeed in ensuring redistributive justice. From the b. Further, despite land distribution, many three relatively successful examples of redistribution beneiciaries could not access it due to lack in West Bengal, Kerala and Jammu &Kashmir, of support for accessing land and making the only lesson which can be drawn years later is it productive. Extending all provisions of the possibility of implementing land reforms in a credit, insurance and MSP, input support, democratic set up. Land reform was a major policy infrastructure, markets and extension services is initiative in the country in the 1950s and early a prerequisite for the success of land allocations 1960s. However, ater the abolition of Zamindari to the small holder farmers, of whom majority and Proprietary Rights, other measures like ceiling belong to the marginalized sections of Tribals, on land holdings, even while becoming a part of Dalits and Muslim minorities. the legal framework, did not get implemented c. Even ater ensuring land rights and input in its true spirit except in some states like, West support, it would not guarantee any assured Bengal, Kerala, Jammu& Kashmir and Andhra income unless issues of cost of cultivation, Pradesh. A brief summary of the successful land pricing and cropping patterns and climate risks reforms implemented by these state governments is are addressed. Hence reducing cultivation provided in Appendix 5. costs and diversiication of cropping patterns While land redistribution still remains a primary with local and non chemical inputs on the recommendation, here below are some of the other principles of ecological farming is important, ields that require simultaneous attention: which would not only serve the purpose of making farming viable but also address the a. Redistributive land reforms agenda should rising concerns over issues of soil, water also encompass the newer challenges of the and bio-diversity. Further the complexity

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of the pricing mechanism has made the of land could be one of the priorities, with demand for farmers’ income assurance gain gender disaggregation in all land related prominence. In this context, it is imperative records, appropriate arrangements for that a Farmers Income Commission be efective implementation of the amendment set up to deine income levels that would to Hindu Succession Act, recognizing women ensure a decent living standard for farmers. as farmers and extending all entitlements It is also equally essential to establish current (loans, input support, extension services), household incomes of farmers and outline while also encouraging collectives of women ways to enhance the income through both for cultivation and creating infrastructure farming and non-farm related work. and marketing avenues. d. As the trend moves towards liberating land f. Most importantly, policy and programme from market, there are attempts by the state frameworks should focus on having the to revise the existing protections to tenants. most marginalized sections as their primary his would impact the disadvantaged social beneiciaries. Special policy framework with groups, as they are at the bottom of the income necessary budgetary allocations, schemes, and protection frameworks. Hence there is a packages and administrative machinery need need to protect the interests of the tenants to be evolved for enabling SCs, STs, Muslims, and sharecroppers, enabling them to access Women and other deprived groups to access all farm related credit, subsidies, insurance, and enjoy land and other natural resources. crop compensation etc. For instance, in states However, it also needs to be noted that semi- like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there proletarianization has never gone without a are positive examples of ensuring loans and ight, and a wave of occupy movements or re- other beneits to tenants by identifying and peasantization movements ,sui generis, serve as registering them by issuing Loan Eligibility a modern sovereign project of the 21st Century Cards. Farmers’ organizations are hence (CARES report on he Agrarian Question: Past, demanding that this model be emulated Present and Future, 2012, p.8). he commitment instead of revising the tenancy laws in favour of the state cannot materialize in a vacuum without of land owners and markets. signiicant political struggles and movements with e. Promoting women’s inheritance and control suicient mass base.

Endnotes distress and poverty pushed employment growth) and in this particular increase the percentage of 1 According to Papola (1968), all labour markets marginalized people is higher (Abraham, 2009). are imperfect markets because of the diferent 3 A semi-proletariat is a wage labour-force that is characteristics of labour and its degree is higher in not wholly dependent on the wage for economic underdeveloped or developing countries because subsistence. his occurs where wage-workers of socio-economic reasons. hese imperfect labour retain access to land, working it themselves or via markets exclude labourers on the basis of caste, members of their family. Many a time they are religion, sex etc and also exclude people who do not seasonal workers, who spend part of the year on own land or any other means of production. peasant plots, while in the other part they migrate 2 Percentage of informal labour is increasing in India in search of work. (except from 1999–2000 to 2004–05 because of the

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Journal of Political Sciences and Public Afairs. Retrieved 3 December 2016, from http://www.esciencecentral. References org/journals/food-insecurity-among-dalit- communities-in-india-searching-the-rootcauses-and- Abraham, V. (2009). Employment growth in rural India: dimensions-2332-0761-1000190.php?aid=69393 distress driven? Economic and Political Weekly, 44(16), Department of Land Resources. (2013). Drat national Land 97–104. Reforms Policy. New Delhi. MRD, GOI. Retrieved 10 October ActionAid. (2016). Drought 2015-16: Lessons from Desolation: 2016, from http://rural.nic.in/sites/downloads/latest/Drat_ A Citizen’s Report on Impact of Drought and Learning for National_Land_Reforms_Policy_July_2013.pdf Future [Electronic version]. New Delhi. p. 43. Dhawan, B. D. & Yadav, S. S. (1997). Public investment in Agarwal, B. (1994). Gender and command over property: Indian agriculture: trends and determinants. 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Special Correspondent. (2007). Landlessness true index of Terminski, B. (2013). Development-induced displacement poverty. he Hindu. 9 December. Retrieved 29 October and resettlement: theoretical frameworks and current 2016, from http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/ challenges. Development, 10, 101. tp-national/landlessness-true-index-of-poverty/ Author name missing (2012). he Agrarian question: past, article1964053.ece present and future. Agrarian South: Journal of Political Sphere India. (2016). SITREP: Drought in Bundelkhand Region Economy, 1(1), 1–10. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from of UP & MP and Maharashtra. Retrieved 1 November http://ags.sagepub.com/content/1/1/1.full.pdf+html 2016, from http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/ horat, S. (2002). Oppression and denial: Dalit discrimination files/resources/sitrep-bundelkhand-maharashtra-30- in the 1990s. Economic and Political Weekly, 37(6), 572– march-2016.pdf 578. Srija, A. & Shirke, S. V. (2014). An Analysis of Informal horat. S. (Ed.). (2009). Dalit in India: Search for a Common Market in India. Confederation of Indian Industry, Special Destiny. New Delhi: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd. Feature. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from http://www.ies. gov.in/pdfs/CII%20EM-october-2014.pdf

118 Exclusion and Expulsion in Agriculture Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Others Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) Percentage Percentage in total share households Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) OBC Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) Percentage Percentage in total share households Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Appendices Dalits Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) 17.54 1.19 0.96 35.29 16.81 16.42 47.05 81.18 81.79 Percentage Percentage in total share households Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Tribes Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) 1.05 0.023.73 0.45 41.61 0.26 8.26 16.36 7.41 3.44 31.94 2.96 26.33 63.88 26.33 64.63 25.40 64.64 65.39 16.03 66.26 31.48 32.15 5.430.12 3.55 0.82 3.51 0.83 21.08 11.95 11.56 11.77 25.36 25.87 61.71 59.14 59.06 15.11 10.2737.33 10.1098.93 49.08 25.06 49.98 99.40 12.82 99.46 2.7815.50 12.86 0.45 0.34 48.3941.13 21.1226.82 0.28 0.34 52.6838.31 22.59 62.11 29.35 0.29 54.20 52.58 62.95 8.45 48.45 29.87 50.19 11.45 0.37 48.71 8.82 6.30 19.23 49.31 24.23 0.29 8.92 5.26 6.44 11.44 24.45 5.69 0.21 9.21 4.86 29.09 11.18 0.39 0.25 26.47 9.30 40.51 37.52 0.37 25.40 0.03 21.77 49.62 40.36 46.96 21.10 41.04 0.04 40.37 46.11 40.66 9.54 16.42 45.57 3.15 18.85 10.86 18.58 11.09 1.29 1.33 Percentage Percentage in total share households Appendix 1: Percentage Distribution of Households and Land Ownership by Caste Groups and by States. and by Groups Caste of Households and Land Ownership by Distribution Percentage Appendix 1: State Uttar PradeshUttar Bihar PradeshArunachal 0.68Nagaland 78.12Manipur 0.52MizoramTripura 93.64 0.51MeghalayaAssam 46.66 93.21 BengalWest 24.65 92.97Jharkhand 0.08 35.60 65.12 93.51 10.73Orissa 93.80Chhattisgarh 67.64 7.57 53.64 10.44 PradeshMadhya 97.33 94.03 4.05 57.48 56.76 97.30 7.93 31.35 18.60 3.34 54.75 7.82 20.86 15.14 54.71 3.12 31.44 20.75 15.64 17.90 38.59 19.45 18.34 15.96 34.01 22.84 18.23 7.23 7.03 11.97 34.34 20.71 12.80 7.16 0.03 12.10 6.20 10.70 14.42 21.80 37.45 0.05 29.84 5.97 8.71 14.49 6.36 47.40 19.25 0.05 8.53 48.20 6.79 47.47 14.78 6.46 58.20 12.86 2.62 59.46 24.51 2.65 24.61 Rajasthan Sikkim Delhi Jammu & KashmirJammu PradeshHimachal 12.41PunjabChandigarh 4.98Uttaranchal 12.96 3.25 13.14 2.31 0.09 3.21 10.49 0.03 28.65 7.41 0.02 15.66 7.13 39.85 15.19 12.27 3.03 3.55 15.97 11.05 0.16 2.58 15.11 11.24 14.74 18.25 64.83 50.40 15.14 68.58 33.06 65.98 15.14 68.49 53.38 66.86 41.81 53.89 81.29 61.60 82.26 46.46 46.11 Haryana

119 India Exclusion Report Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Others Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) Percentage Percentage in total share households Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) OBC Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) Percentage Percentage in total share households Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Dalits Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) Percentage Percentage in total share households 5.59 23.90 12.18 11.78 48.79 49.91 50.08 21.55 32.37 32.55 Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (excluded homestead land) Tribes Percentage Percentage in land share ownership (included homestead land) 9.74 2.29 0.319.39 3.42 13.72 2.09 13.83 27.04 4.67 21.06 20.99 0.34 56.49 52.96 82.18 52.90 95.28 7.08 99.69 12.26 12.28 5.76 5.54 27.47 32.69 41.01 1.59 2.14 21.67 21.99 13.88 49.28 43.18 45.12 24.6673.99 13.7717.37 13.57 99.42 9.03 7.75 99.43 9.01 2.66 9.19 2.61 5.20 48.94 5.16 47.80 42.92 47.89 43.56 18.64 43.58 35.77 30.52 35.93 42.21 26.01 42.25 0.58 0.57 Percentage Percentage in total share households State Goa LakshadweepKerala NaduTamil Puducherry 99.91 & Nicobar Andaman Islands Telangana 100.00 0.71 1.17All India 0.25 100.00 1.49 0.79 0.09 1.46 11.91 0.81 27.35 13.48 13.13 14.35 13.06 4.35 20.89 13.93 20.17 2.17 5.63 69.51 9.16 61.07 2.14 79.72 8.95 45.91 59.34 80.06 43.90 44.71 86.62 2.43 24.29 45.52 90.26 4.44 48.95 45.74 19.53 4.55 53.12 23.22 7.75 32.18 7.60 32.24 Gujarat & DiuDaman Dadra & Nagar Haveli Maharashtra 4.59 PradeshAndhra Karnataka 11.83 6.18 11.79 9.22 0.54 9.30 0.09 21.86 7.98 94.59 7.57 84.93 39.82 85.20 44.92 0.28 45.25 32.13 3.15 37.87 3.00 37.87 Source: Compiled from Land and livestock Survey, NSSO, 2013. NSSO, Survey, livestock Land and from Compiled Source:

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Appendix 2: Percentage Distribution of Households and Land Ownership by Sex of Head of Household and States

Male Female Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage share share share share Percentage Percentage in land in land in land in land State share share ownership ownership ownership ownership in total in total (included (excluded (included (excluded households households homestead homestead homestead homestead land) land) land) land) Jammu & 91.12 93.85 93.82 8.88 6.15 6.18 Kashmir Himachal 76.8 77.33 77.49 23.2 22.67 22.51 Pradesh Punjab 86.18 93.89 94 13.82 6.11 6 Chandigarh 87.54 75.71 75.96 12.46 24.29 24.04 Uttaranchal 83.62 90.59 90.79 16.38 9.41 9.21 Haryana 89.89 96.92 97.04 10.11 3.08 2.96 Delhi 87.12 95.64 95.69 12.88 4.36 4.31 Rajasthan 87.11 91.44 91.52 12.89 8.56 8.48 Uttar Pradesh 88.61 94.24 94.34 11.39 5.76 5.66 Bihar 81.18 91.13 91.63 18.82 8.87 8.37 Sikkim 85.18 88.6 88.51 14.82 11.4 11.49 Arunachal 93.69 93.08 93.46 6.31 6.92 6.54 Pradesh Nagaland 97.4 97.32 97.14 2.6 2.68 2.86 Manipur 88.19 85.9 85.45 11.81 14.1 14.55 Mizoram 89.5 92.33 92.32 10.5 7.67 7.68 Tripura 90.84 92.55 92.35 9.16 7.45 7.65 Meghalaya 89.98 87.32 86.84 10.02 12.68 13.16 Assam 89.42 92.98 93.1 10.58 7.02 6.9 West Bengal 88.86 93.55 94.1 11.14 6.45 5.9 Jharkhand 85.16 90.11 90.04 14.84 9.89 9.96 Orissa 89.45 94.58 94.85 10.55 5.42 5.15 Chhattisgarh 93 92.7 92.63 7 7.3 7.37 Madhya Pradesh 93.94 96.7 96.71 6.06 3.3 3.29 Gujarat 91.39 95.43 95.46 8.61 4.57 4.54 Daman & Diu 88.01 95.57 99.82 11.99 4.43 0.18 Dadra & Nagar 93.67 99.13 99.16 6.33 0.87 0.84 Haveli

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Male Female Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage share share share share Percentage Percentage in land in land in land in land State share share ownership ownership ownership ownership in total in total (included (excluded (included (excluded households households homestead homestead homestead homestead land) land) land) land) Maharashtra 90.07 94.98 95.02 9.93 5.02 4.98 Andhra Pradesh 81.36 92.96 93.05 18.64 7.04 6.95 Karnataka 82.37 85.67 85.63 17.63 14.33 14.37 Goa 55.17 71.3 76.21 44.83 28.7 23.79 Lakshadweep 80.05 86.81 92.48 19.95 13.19 7.52 Kerala 76.39 80.31 82.49 23.61 19.69 17.51 Tamil Nadu 80.24 91.62 91.99 19.76 8.38 8.01 Puducherry 98.3 89.24 85.78 1.7 10.76 14.22 Andaman & 79.86 73.74 79.9 20.14 26.26 20.1 Nicobar Islands Telangana 78.59 91.08 91.23 21.41 8.92 8.77 All India 86.42 92.83 92.99 13.58 7.17 7.01 Source: Compiled from Land and Livestock Survey, NSSO, 2013.

Appendix 3: Households Reporting Any Outstanding Loan in Rural India, 2011–12

Percentage of indebted Median value of outstanding debt Household Characteristics household (in Rs.) Social Group ST 28.32 16000.00 SC 54.18 20000.00 OBC 54.25 30000.00 Others 46.02 Religion Hindu 51.48 30000.00 Muslim 44.67 20000.00 Christian 35.18 70000.00 Others 24.72 Sex of head of household Male 50.90 30000.00 Female 41.31 25000.00 All 49.46 30000.00 Source: Compiled from India Human Development Survey, 2011–12

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Appendix 4: Percentage of Households having Kisan Credit Card with the Credit Limit of Rs. 50,000 or above in Rural India, 2011

Percentage of Households having Kisan Household Identity Credit Card ST 1.64 SC 1.75 Female headed 2.21 household which have one disabled person 4.08 Others 4.40 All 3.61 Source: Socio-economic and Caste Census, 2011.

Appendix 5: Some examples of Successful Implementation of Land Reforms Andhra Pradesh is the irst State in the country to distribute the largest extent of land to the landless poor in the recent years. he State Government began land distribution to the landless poor from 1955 onwards and achieved a igure of 39.25 lakh acres till 2004. From 2004–2013, Andhra Pradesh registered disbursement of a total of 7,75,451 acres to 5,49,934 beneiciaries. Other than Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala have implemented the land reforms successfully and these states are the best example for other states in this policy.

Box 2: Land reforms in West Bengal Whilst land reform has made little progress in most of India, West Bengal has achieved notable progress in land reform. Two major land reform Acts were passed in the state in the 1950s: the Estate Acquisition Act of 1953 (EAA) and the Land Reforms Act (LRA) of 1955. EAA aimed to eliminate the interests of intermediaries (zamindars and jotedars) on all land except that which they ‘self-cultivated’ (using hired agricultural labourers). Abolition of intermediaries under the EAA was generally successful but was inlicted with numerous loopholes and poor implementation. he LRA was intended to cure the inadequacies of the EAA by limiting landholder’s ability to transfer land and by providing greater protections for bargadars. However, even with this Act, very little was accomplished. One major land reform which was a breakthrough in the history of West Bengal is Operation Barga promulgated by the Let Front government, led by the Communist Party of India– Marxist (CPIM). Under this programme, government recorded the names of bargadars in order to provide them with greater tenure security. All registered tenants were provided, by enactment of an efective amendment to the land reform legislation, a permanent and heritable right to cultivate the leased-in land. Operation Barga involved registration of 1.4 million bargadars, of which over 30 per cent were Dalits and over 12 per cent were Adivasis. hrough Operation Barga, about 1.1 million acres of land was permanently brought under the control of bargadars and their right to cultivate this land was secured. As per the annual indings of the World Development Report (2003),West Bengal has been able to step up the crop-production by altering the provisions pertaining to the ownership

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of land and ensuring the legal security of the bargadars over the land they till. Previously, the rate of production of crops in the state was 0.4 per cent. But this rate increased to 1.9 per cent and latter to 3.1 per cent within a decade. About 1.39 million acres of land have been acquired by the government (18 per cent of total land acquired in India), of which 1.04 million acres were distributed (20 per cent of total land distributed in India). It should be noted that West Bengal accounts for only around 3.5 per cent of the total arable land in India, so this performance is well above that in any other state.

Box 3: Land reforms in Jammu & Kashmir Jammu & Kashmir has the unique distinction of introducing the most radical land reforms in India. It was a watershed in the history of Jammu & Kashmir and a measure, the irst of its kind in the sub- continent, lauded by diferent sections of society and people belonging to diferent walks of life in the country. he very irst movement of peasants and landless artisans in Jammu & Kashmir, began in the 1931 under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah and it culminates in the charter of 1944 named ‘he New Kashmir’ of which land reforms was an essential part. his movement got support from the exploited peasantry. Immediately ater independence in 1948, Sheikh Abdullah came into power and he implemented the land reforms on the basis of resolution of ‘he New Kashmir’. he basic principle of this charter was ‘abolition of landlordism, land to the tiller and co-operative association of tiller to regulate production and sale of crops and agricultural goods.’ here were two major phases for implementation of land reforms. First was between April 1948 to October 1948 in which all Jagirs and Muais were abolished and tenants’ rights were protected. he second phase was the Big Landed Estate Abolition Act (October 1950) in which the land was transferred to the tillers. his act puts a ceiling limit on the size of land holding (maximum land holding limit was 22.5 acres). In the irst year, 40,000 acres of land was transferred to the landless. Sheikh Abdullah also outlawed absentee ownership, increased the tenant’s share from 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the crop. he land reform greatly helped the marginalized sections, especially the Schedule Castes to become land owners. According to research done by Dr. Ashish Saxena in Jammu, during 1950s–70s out of the total surplus land of 672 kanals mainly taken away from Rajputs, and Mahajans, 70.24 per cent was allotted to SC tenants. A radical intergenerational shit in the occupation pattern of the SCs in terms of landless agricultural labourers to land owning peasants (47.1 per cent) has taken place in the region. Land reforms in the early years of independence laid a decentralized governance in the state. In 1963, a land commission was formed to ind out the discrepancies in the land tenure system. And on the basis of the recommendations of this commission, a new J&K Agrarian Reform Act, 1972 was made which later was amended into J&K Agrarian Reform Act, 1976. In this act, ceiling limit of land holding was reduced from 22.5 acres to 8–12.5 acres depending on quality and type of land. On 9 February 2007, the Jammu & Kashmir assembly passed the Roshni Bill which aimed to provide ownership of 16.6 lakh kanals to farmers. he ownership of Government land which was under farmers’ cultivation was given to them at 10 per cent of the rate prevailing in their respective areas.

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Box 4: Land reforms in Kerala Land reform is a must for equity in land distribution in rural India. Kerala is a state, which has a reputation as a model state for other Indian states for eicient implementation of land reforms. In March 1957, the irst ministry of undivided communist party started the implementation of land reforms by an ordinance, later known as he Kerala Stay of Eviction Proceedings Act of 1957. his act was the basis for Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill (KARB) which was passed in June 1959. he communist party did not implement KARB successfully and the ministry was dismissed due to this unsuccessful implementation of KARB. he next ministry came into existence in February, 1960 and was a Congress dominated Congress- PSP coalition. his ministry came with a new act known as Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964. his ministry also could not implement the act and was dismissed due to some internal squabbles among the partners. Ater the early dismissal of these two ministries and unsuccessful implementations of land reform acts under their regime, the third ministry of a CPI(M) led seven party coalition brought an ordinance known as Kerala Stay of eviction Proceedings Act of 1967. his was followed by a drastic amendment in Kerala Land Reform Act of 1964, which was passed in October 1969 and became an Act in December 1969. his amended Act was named Kerala Land Reform (Amendment) Act of 1969 and it was brought into force on 1 January, 1970. his act has three major schemes. he irst scheme was about abolition of landlordism, tenancy and intermediary rights of land. his scheme was to grant the ownership of the land to the cultivating tenants. he second scheme was related to providing the land to Kudikidappukar tenants (Kudikidappukar was the tenant who was landless with no homestead land and was living on the land of their land owners). he third scheme was about taking possession of the surplus land and redistributing this land among landless or land poor peasants and labourers. he ceiling limit under this scheme was standard 5–15 acres according to the size of the family. According to the Kerala Land Board, on February 28, 1981 the irst two schemes were implemented successfully but the third scheme was not implemented efectively. Ater the implementation of the irst scheme average area received by every tenant household was 1.60 acres and estimated average area allotted to per Kudikidappukar household was 0.08 acres. On the basis of many case studies it can be concluded that the irst scheme successfully emancipated the tenants from their socio-economic subservience to the landlord class and snapped the centuries old feudal strings or the nexus between the two major agrarian classes. he land reforms in Kerala have been criticized on the basis of very unequal and very little land area allotment to beneiciaries.

125 Undertrials being taken to Ghaziabad Prison. Photo Credit: Rough Cut Production Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice

Gitanjali Prasad and Mrinal Satish1

the following elements to be necessary entitlements for the accused—the presumption of innocence, rights upon arrest and bail, right to counsel, and fair trial guarantees including protection from undue ‘…he economically and socially disadvantaged delays—all of which are essential to living a life sections, therefore, do not in that sense “access” of dignity, and being able to access other essential 3 the legal system to seek redress. hey engage with public goods. it nevertheless, negatively. hey are drawn into Article 21 of the Constitution of India it unwittingly in situations of conlict with the guarantees to every person that he/she shall not law, as complainants, suspects, “encroachers” or be denied his/her right to life and personal liberty, defendants. hese situations accentuate the denial except according to procedure established by law. of access to justice, to basic legal services, resulting he Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr. P.C.) provides in grave violations of their liberty.’ the framework for denial of personal liberty if —Justice S. Muralidhar, Delhi High Court (2005) a person is suspected of committing a crime. Provisions in relation to arrest, search, remand, and sentencing stipulate the powers that the State has 1. Introduction: Legal Justice as a under criminal law. Within these provisions lies an Public Good for those in Conlict important dilemma—where and how to draw the with the Law line between the need for public order, and the need for individual liberty (Chandra & Satish, 2016). Contemporary understandings of what legal justice One of the powers that the State has is to detain, in India constitutes derive from constitutional during the pendency of the trial, a person suspected provisions, legal jurisprudence as well as of having committed the crime that he/she is being international covenants. Broadly, legal justice as a tried for. It was 36 years ago that the Supreme Court public good would imply both equal access to fair lamented grievance redress mechanisms as well as access to fair process for those in conlict with the law.2 his ‘…[i]t is high time that…the Government [and] essay, however, is in the context of the latter, which the judiciary begin to realise that in the dark includes fair access to bail, and related substantive cells of our prisons there are large numbers of men and women who are waiting patiently, and procedural laws for persons charged under impatiently perhaps, but in vain, for justice — bailable ofences in particular, but also for those a commodity which is tragically beyond their charged under some speciic Special and Local laws reach and grasp. Law has become for them an and all crimes more broadly. We are considering instrument of injustice and they are helpless and

* Reviewers: Jaideep Gupte, Sana Das, Vijay Raghavan

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despairing victims of the callousness of the legal access to legal systems, which consists of the and judicial system. he time has come when the complex interweave of law enforcement agencies, legal and judicial system has to be revamped and prosecutors, the courts, defence lawyers, and restructured so that such injustices do not occur correctional institutions. Each of these stakeholders and disigure the fair and otherwise luminous is indispensable in ensuring that justice delivery face of our nascent democracy.’4 takes place in a fair and equitable manner. While lawyers, aside from those responsible for providing he court articulated that ‘justice’ was a free legal aid services, function most oten as private commodity or public good that the hapless players within the legal system, the onus is inally undertrial prisoner was being deprived from. his on the State as represented by the courts, to ensure reform called for by the Supreme Court in 1980 has that justice is delivered. still not been achieved. he role of the State is therefore as a direct he failure to achieve any change led, in part, provider of the public good—and it is imperative to the enactment of Section 436A of the Cr.P.C. in that necessary checks be in place at all levels of 2005 to ensure that undertrial prisoners, who had the judicial hierarchy to ensure that violations of served out half of the maximum sentence that they the right to liberty and presumption of innocence would get if they were to be convicted, are released do not take place, and that the legitimacy of State on bail. Failure to implement that provision led to institutions responsible for justice delivery is the Supreme Court issuing guidelines in Bhim Singh strengthened. In terms of the traditional, neo- v. Union of India5 in 2014. hese measures indicate the major issue that continues to challenge the classical economic deinition of a public good, legal Indian criminal justice system—that of extended justice is a pure public good due to its perfectly and unwarranted pre-trial detention. he undertrial non-excludable and non-rivalrous nature, the prisoner, sometimes unnecessarily arrested,6 source of which is derived from various provisions languishes in jail for months and sometimes years outlined in the Constitution, jurisprudence based at end. ‘Justice’, that abstract public good is beyond on judgements of the Supreme Court of India, as their grasp. he presumption of innocence, a basic well as international covenants. human right, and a core principle of criminal law, also sufers. At the same time, incarceration 1.1 Constitutive Elements of Legal Justice leads to the accused losing access to various other 1.1.1 Presumption of Innocence externalities and public goods such as education, health, livelihood, and legal aid. Article 11(1) of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states: ‘Everyone charged with Inadequate access to this good implies not just a penal ofence has the right to be presumed a diiculty in accessing other positive externalities innocent until proven guilty according to law in a but also severely impedes human dignity, and gives public trial at which he has had all the guarantees rise to stigma within communities and beyond. It necessary for his defence.’ Further, Article 14(2) of is indisputable that equal access to legal justice is the International Covenant on Civil and Political necessary in order to minimize diferential impact Rights (ICCPR), which India ratiied in 1979 on individuals and communities with respect to states: ‘Everyone charged with a criminal ofence their bonds of livelihood, shelter, education and shall have the right to be presumed innocent until health (both physical and mental). proved guilty according to law.’7 he presumption Access to legal justice is inextricably tied to of innocence is thus an important human right,

128 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice recognized by the UDHR and the ICCPR. his is guaranteed without requiring his/her detention critical in the context of pre-trial detention, since pending trial, it would not be necessary to detain extended and arbitrary detention of a person the person pending, and during the trial. he pending trial can possibly violate the presumption provisions relating to arrest and bail are tailored of innocence, by punishing the person before he/ to ensure that the person being tried is present at she has been found to be guilty by a court of law. the trial, without unjustiiably curtailing his/her liberty, recognizing that he/she is presumed to be he Supreme Court of India has also recognized innocent until convicted by a court of law (Pillai, the presumption of innocence to be a human 2014). he Supreme Court has recognized that right, although not a fundamental right.8 While denial of bail amounts to curtailment of personal most of the cases where the Court emphasized liberty, and hence the power that the Code provides that presumption of innocence is a human right for granting/rejecting bail should be exercised dealt primarily with issues of burden of proof,9 the judiciously.17 principle applies as strongly to pre-trial detention and bail law. his was noted by the Supreme Court he Cr.P.C. demarcates all ofences into bailable in the case of Vaman Narain Ghiya,10 where the and non-bailable ofences. Section 436 of the Code Court recognized that the concept of bail emerges deals with ‘bailable ofences’. Section 436(1) states from the conlict between the power of the State that if a person accused of committing a bailable to detain a person alleged to have committed an ofence is in the custody of a police oicer, or is ofence, and the presumption of innocence in brought before a court, and he/she is prepared to favour of that person.11 It also noted that the aim of furnish bail, such a person should be released on pre-trial detention is not punitive.12 A balance needs bail. he Court or the police oicer may release to be maintained between the power of the police the person on his/her executing a bond without to investigate a crime, and the personal liberty of sureties (‘personal bond’) for appearance before the individual detained on suspicion of having the oicer or court, when required. In case the committed that crime.13 Similarly, in Siddharam person is indigent, it is mandatory that sureties are Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of Maharashtra,14 the not sought, and that the person is released on the Supreme Court noted that the law of bail dovetails basis of a personal bond.18 A person is considered two conlicting interests—the preventive function indigent if he/she is unable to furnish bail within a of criminal law that would advocate detaining week of being arrested.19 a person to prevent him/her from reofending he deprivation and exclusion that results from when on bail, and the ‘absolute adherence’ to the long periods of pre-trial detention was noted by presumption of innocence, which is a fundamental the Supreme Court in Moti Ram v. State of Madhya principle of criminal law.15 his understanding of Pradesh.20 It observed that ‘…the consequences of bail law is also relected in the bail jurisprudence of pre-trial detention are grave.’21 he conditions in the Supreme Court. prison are onerous, the detainees oten lose their jobs, they are unable to contribute to their legal 1.1.2 Access to Bail strategy, and their families are also impacted, since he primary object of pre-trial detention of a they bear the brunt of the person’s detention.22 person is to ensure his/her presence at the trial, and he Court also held that imposing large surety further to ensure that he/she surrenders to serve amounts, and insisting on local sureties, has a out his/her sentence if convicted by the court.16 If disproportionate impact on the poor, especially the person’s presence at the trial can be reasonably migrants.23 Hence, it ruled that as far as possible, the

129 India Exclusion Report poor should be released on their own recognizance, however, warned that although the prior criminal ater imposing reasonable conditions.24 record of the accused is relevant in determining whether bail should be granted or not, the court Subsequently, in Hussainara Khatoon (I) v. should not be ‘complacent’ in denying bail only on Home Secretary, State of Bihar,25 the Court opined those grounds.35 that the ‘highly unsatisfactory bail system’26 is the cause of extended pre-trial detention. It reiterated Access to bail based on current procedural its earlier assertion that the bail system follows a requirements necessitates access to counsel for the property oriented approached, relying on monetary accused, and in the case of those who are unable to sums to ensure presence of accused at trial. It noted source a private lawyer, access to free legal aid. that such a system ‘…operates very harshly against the poor.’27 he Court further observed that the 1.1.3 Right to Counsel and Legal Aid existing bail system he right to legal representation and counsel is …is a source of great hardship to the poor and guaranteed by Article 22 of the Constitution. if we really want to eliminate the evil efects of Article 22(1) states: ‘No person who is arrested shall poverty and assure a fair and just treatment be detained in custody without being informed, to the poor in the administration of justice, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest it is imperative that the bail system should be thoroughly reformed so that it should be possible nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to for the poor, as easily as the rich, to obtain pre- be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice.’ trial release without jeopardizing the interest of Further, Section 303 of the Cr.P.C. states that ‘Any justice.28 person accused of an ofence before a criminal court, or against whom proceedings are instituted, More recently, in Sanjay Chandra v. CBI,29 the may of right be defended by a pleader of his choice.’ Court again reiterated that pre-trial detention In Hussainara Khatoon (IV) v. State of Bihar,36 causes great hardship.30 It further held that the Court read the right to legal aid into Article indeinite pre-trial detention violates Article 21 of 21 of the Constitution. It held that a procedure the Constitution, since ‘…[e]very person, detained that does not provide legal services to an accused or arrested, is entitled to speedy trial.’31 person because of his/her poverty and thus leads he Court has noted that the ‘…basic rule may to the person proceeding through the trial without perhaps be tersely put as bail, not jail, except where legal assistance, is not ‘…just, fair and reasonable.’ there are circumstances suggestive of leeing from It ruled that the right to legal services is a part of justice or thwarting the course of justice or creating Article 21 rights.37 Subsequently, in Khatri v. State other troubles in the shape of repeating ofences or of Bihar,38 the Supreme Court held that the right intimidating witnesses and the like.’32 In Gudikanti to legal aid commences from the time the person Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor,33 the Supreme is irst produced before a Magistrate.39 In Suk Das Court held that the nature of the charge against the v. State of Arunachal Pradesh,40 the Court ruled accused, the nature of evidence, the punishment that it is not essential for the accused to make an which the person would be liable to if convicted, application for legal aid—it is the responsibility of the likelihood of reofending when out on bail, and the Magistrate to provide legal aid. If an accused is the possibility of interfering with the investigation/ convicted in a trial in which he/she was not provided trial, are factors that the court should consider legal aid, the conviction would be set aside as being while deciding the application for bail.34 he Court, in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.

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Additionally, the right to legal representation has Report of 1991, which suggested the use of plea extended to presence during interrogation.41 hus, bargaining in India. legal representation from the time of arrest is a core According to the Cr.P.C., an application for fundamental right of the accused. Not being able plea bargaining may be made by an accused to consult, and seek advice from one’s lawyer is a against whom a charge-sheet has been iled or violation of the fair trial guarantee. Extended pre- against whom a private complaint has been iled, trial detention contributes to violating this right. As of which a Magistrate has taken cognizance. Plea the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on the right to bargaining is restricted to ofences where the counsel indicates, the impact is especially grave in punishment is imprisonment for less than seven the context of the poor, to whom legal aid is illusory years. It is unavailable for ofences which afect the in nature. socio-economic condition of the country, ofences Another issue that arises in this context is against women, and ofences against children whether the right to legal assistance extends under the age of fourteen.49 Plea bargaining is an to efective legal assistance. his issue arose option available only to individuals who have not in Navjot Sandhu,42 where the Supreme Court been convicted for the same ofence earlier.50 When ruled that the right to counsel ‘…cannot be taken an application is iled, notices are issued by the thus far.’43 Subsequently, in Noor Aga v. State of court to the public prosecutor or the complainant, Punjab, the Court held that inefective assistance to arrive at a mutually satisfactory disposition is a ‘…systematic violation of [the] accused’s core with the accused.51 In addition to the prosecutor, constitutional right.’44 More recently, in Ashok the investigating oicer, and the victim are also Debbarma v. State of Tripura,45 the Court ruled (in permitted to participate in the meeting/s to arrive the context of capital sentencing) that inefective at a mutually satisfactory disposition.52 If a mutually assistance of counsel can be considered a mitigating satisfactory disposition is reached, and the court is factor if it is shown that prejudice was caused to the satisied that the accused arrived at such disposition accused because of the counsel’s inefectiveness.46 ater exercising free and informed consent, he/ she may proceed to dispose the case.53 he court then sentences the accused in accordance with the 1.2 The Dilemma of Plea Bargaining framework provided by the law.54 If an accused pleads guilty and is sentenced using the procedure Plea bargaining is one of the methods of case disposal in the Cr.P.C., he/she relinquishes his/her right to known by the umbrella term Alternative Dispute appeal. Appeal is only possible by special leave to Resolution or ADR.It was introduced in the Cr.P.C. the Supreme Court.55 by an amendment in 2006,47 with the assumption that it would allow those languishing in jail to seek early here is reason to believe, however, that this release upon conviction by voluntarily admitting form of sentence bargaining is not necessarily a just to their guilt. Other advantages considered during process. A major concern with the plea bargaining the parliamentary debates included faster disposal system, and with ADR more broadly, is the question of cases and dispensation of criminal justice, and a of whether it truly results in just outcomes, and decrease in arrears.48 It was also meant as a means the possible disparate impact that it has on poorer to provide compensation to the victims, an aspect sections of society (Fiss, 1984). With the possibility which did not eventually make it into the text of of release on bail being meagre due to lack of access the amendment. he debates included a reference to counsel, the accused opt to plea bargain, oten to recommendations of the 142nd Law Commission sacriicing their basic rights. he system does not

131 India Exclusion Report take into consideration the power diferential Using empirical evidence, this chapter seeks to between the State/complainant/prosecutor and the probe whether a person is more likely to experience accused.56 inequitable legal outcomes if they come from a particular demographic background. We also In 1999, Chief Justice A.S. Anand wrote a letter attempt to understand the processes through which to Chief Justices of all High Courts, proposing Jail violations of the law take place in order to uphold Lok Adalats (JLAs) as a means to secure release for the notion of the ‘rule-of-law’, including but not prisoners through plea bargaining within the jail limited to the taking away of due process rights premises, in order to address the issue of the high through procedures such as plea bargaining, and undertrial population and overcrowding. While the simultaneous denial of legal aid and access to speciic procedures for JLAs have not been codiied, bail. the procedures for plea bargaining under Chapter XXIA of the Cr.P.C. apply. his letter spurred the In order to understand who is excluded from use of JLAs across jails in the country, a process access to legal justice in the case of both bailable which will be examined in further detail under and select non-bailable petty ofences, we will Sections 2 and 3 of this chapter. closely examine indings of a study undertaken by the Centre for Equity Studies in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission titled 1.3 Dilution of the Public Good ‘Access to Justice in Uttar Pradesh: A Pilot Study We argue in this paper that the public good is in Five Districts’. he study aimed to ill a gap in in its very nature being diluted. Pratiksha Baxi existing research—to explore whether a correlation has emphasized the critical diference between exists between demographic backgrounds of ‘access’ to justice and access to ‘justice’, wherein undertrial prisoners (UTPs) and unequal legal she states that ‘…judicial reform must be in critical outcomes resulting from structural factors within engagement with how substantive and procedural the legal system. he study examined the nature law translates into everyday practices of state law, of the ofence, along with other variables. It also rather than expand the legitimacy of the notion of sought to understand the processes through which the rule-of-[good]-law.’ (Baxi, 2007) exclusion from access to legal justice may occur at In current times, we seek to understand the the stages of arrest and in particular, during pre- everyday usage of criminal justice provisions, with trial detention. an emphasis on whether individual liberty is given More speciically, the study had a four-fold its due with respect to Constitutional provisions. objective in linking demographic data (wherever Aparna Chandra and Mrinal Satish have evidenced available) with legal justice outcomes: irst, to how in the pursuit of security and law and order, the understand the socio-economic background of Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted the right all undertrials in Uttar Pradesh and second, to to counsel, presumption of innocence and rights at examine access to justice (pertaining to processes the time of arrest and bail, by disallowing vitiation of arrest, access to bail, and disposal of cases) for of trial based on inefective assistance of counsel, persons charged with bailable ofences alone, where efectively imposing presumption of guilt against accessing bail from the police station or court is a the accused through its doctrine of reverse onus matter of right. he study also sought to establish clauses, and allowing for special provisions based whether a correlation exists between demographic on types of ofences which erode rights relating to variables in a district and spending longer than arrest and bail, respectively (2016). seven days in jail for bailable ofences. hird, to

132 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice examine ‘access to justice’ (pertaining to processes discussed due to the nature of ofences selected for of arrest, access to bail, and disposal of cases) the CES study. received by those accused under certain sections of Special and Local Laws in Uttar Pradesh, including 2. Understanding Who is Excluded: but not limited to the UP Excise Act of 1910, Individuals and Communities the Arms Act of 1959, the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, and Data from the Prison Statistics in India 2015, the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act indicates that almost two-thirds, i.e., 65.56 per of 1955.57 Lastly, to study the use of plea bargaining cent of all undertrials are from SC, ST or OBC as a means of early release and case disposal by communities and 30.24 per cent are from (religious) the judiciary for ofences carrying a maximum minority communities.60 Muslims constitute 20.94 punishment of up to seven years, and understand per cent of the undertrial population.61 In the most the role of the District Legal Aid Services Authority populous state of Uttar Pradesh, 2014 data reveals (DLSA) in the provisioning of legal aid. he data that 28.57 per cent of all undertrials were Muslim, seeks to examine who (as a demographic group) is compared to a state-wide population igure of 19.26 statistically more likely to undertake the option of per cent (Census of 2011), indicating an over- plea bargaining as a means of securing early release representation of the community in the undertrial from prison, as opposed to accessing the option of population by nine percentage points.62 28.55 per getting out on bail.58 cent of undertrial prisoners (UTPs) in India are 63 he sites of study included ive districts (and illiterate. he NCRB, which publishes the Report, ive corresponding district jails, as well as one does not provide data on the economic backgrounds corresponding sub-jail).59 he jails were selected of inmates—either through estimates of individual based upon their distribution across western, or family income or categories of occupation, due central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, with variations to the inconsistencies in data collection by states. in the district’s contiguity with state or country While the unequal representation of some borders, variations in the occupancy rates and demographic groups compared to their national populations of UTPs in the jail, and the distances averages is evident, such as Muslims being from the capital of the district. he data on bailable overrepresented at the national level by almost and select non-bailable ofences was collected from seven percentage points,64 these proportions each police station in the ive districts, totalling 92, alone do not allow us to conclude that individuals as well as at the respective jails and district court belonging to these groups have been unjustly complexes. In-depth interviews with one oicer in incarcerated, either due to institutional biases, and/ every police station in each of the ive districts were or inadequate access to legal representation and also conducted(with diversity maintained within other legal justice entitlements. To establish this, each district for interviewing oicers across the further evidence and lines of inquiry are required, hierarchy), as well as with 60 undertrial prisoners some of which have been described below. he and numerous oicers and staf at the jails, DLSAs igures do, however, indicate that a large proportion and District Courts. his chapter has a conspicuous of the undertrial population consists of individuals absence of data on women and children, who from communities that face diferent kinds of certainly face exclusion at the time of arrest as well socio-economic and political disadvantage, a factor as at other stages of the criminal justice process, but which may impact their ability to seek legal justice were beyond the scope of the primary work being once in conlict with the law.

133 India Exclusion Report

2.1 Who is Excluded from Safeguards at may present other disadvantaged individuals or the Time of Arrest? groups.

Arrest entails curtailment of personal liberty, the Signiicantly, bias against speciic communities possibility of adverse efects on the individual’s or demographic groups—namely the poor, religious material conditions, and an unquantiiable impact minorities and disadvantaged castes—was clear in on dignity. Giving this due consideration, several many of the 92 interviews conducted across the ive landmark judgements delivered by the Supreme districts in the CES study; in particular in response Court, such as Joginder Kumar v. State of UP65 and to when police oicers were asked who commits D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal66 have cautioned the most crime in an area. While responses to this against avoidable arrest and emphasized the question were most relied upon for deducing their importance of following due process if a person is perceptions towards crime and criminality, due to arrested (Centre for Equity Studies, 2016, p. 31). the open-ended nature of the questionnaire, other responses which were relevant to this topic were A study conducted by the Tata Institute of Social also considered. he researchers have clariied that Sciences in 2011 on Muslim over-representation in while they attempted to interview police personnel Maharashtra jails, concluded that there is an anti- from a range of demographic backgrounds, the Muslim bias in policing in the State (Raghavan & majority of interviewees happened to be Hindu and Nair, 2013, pp. 12–17; Raghavan & Nair, 2011). Other belonged to relatively dominant castes. As socio- work pointing to proiling by the police indicates that economic data on arrestees was not recorded across oicial instructions for discriminatory policing are police stations, the demographic proiles of arrestees still part of police manuals in various states, which could not be examined, which was a limitation of require the surveillance of particular individuals the study. he report considers that due to some of and communities. his has further implications the discretionary aspects of policing, perceptions of for arrest, bail, and sentencing (Satish, 2011, pp. the police towards certain communities maximizes 133–160). he CES study indings reinforce these the possibility of persons belonging to these groups proiling practices. In 1999, Dilip D’Souza and being arrested. It, in turn, will have a bearing on Susan Abraham documented acts of proiling and the treatment meted out to them as well (Centre for police brutality towards De-Notiied Tribes such Equity Studies, 2016, p. 43). as the Kheria Sabar in West Bengal and the Pardhi Among various factors, poverty and illiteracy community in Maharashtra, as a continuation of had a strong bearing on police perceptions of the institutionalized practices followed by the British criminality of individuals. Interviews with police (D’souza, 1999, pp. 1751–53; Abraham, 1999). oicers and UTPs indicated that arrests made under Rich qualitative evidence points to the fact that the Arms Act and Excise Act are closely linked it is most commonly the poor—daily wage earners to class-based proiling. Across the sites of study, and migrants, women, youth, Adivasis, Dalits, personnel across the institutional hierarchy termed Muslims, the elderly, children, transgenders, and the those poor or illiterate as committing crime due to mentally ill, who are excluded from access to legal ‘greed and family disputes’, ‘lack of willingness to justice (Subramanian, 2016, pp. 8–17; Ramanathan, work’, or due to their ‘unreasonable’ nature. hus, 1996, pp. 199–233; Report of Law Commission of they adopted an entirely normative lens to assess India, 2015, pp. 149; Muralidhar, 2004; Centre for the criminal behaviour of these communities, Equity Studies, 2016, p. 12). However, peculiarities while discounting other possible factors for the of local context and demographic compositions commission of crime (ibid.). Migrant labourers in

134 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice

Mau were singled out as being responsible for the production and consumption of country-made liquor, while another police oicer pointed out that it is usually the owners of brick-kilns, where the labourers work, who provide the means and encourage the production of alcohol but remain largely untouched (ibid., p.44). As incidence of poverty is higher among disadvantaged caste and religious groups, it is not surprising that speciic Dalit sub-castes, OBCs and Muslims were usually perceived as ‘criminal’ by interviewees. However, due to bias against each of these groups having a distinct history, the CES paper examined them as separate categories (ibid

135 India Exclusion Report

Saharanpur, and Mau, oicers stated openly that correlation between demographic variables and the speciic castes—in particular Dalits, and also likelihood of getting out on bail before or ater seven ‘backward classes’ in Mau—were responsible for days. None was found. However, in interpreting data crimes in their area (ibid., p. 47). Another SHO in it should be kept in mind that this does not mean the district stated that he believed all persons from that such a correlation does not exist at all; it was the Nat community were ‘thieves’. (here were only just not found for this data set. he representation four Nat families residing in the area at the time, of Muslims increased by about 10 percentage points employed as agricultural labourers.) (ibid., p. 46) in the group spending more than seven days in jails, while representation for social groups/castes In order to conduct further analysis on proiling did not change by a large margin. he proportion through FIRs and other police records to look into of those from a state other than UP increased by the basis of arrest and its possible correlation with 8 percentage points in the category spending more caste, it is imperative that the police record the caste/ than seven days in jail, compared to the aggregate community of persons being arrested, as they are population entering jail for bailable ofences.70 With required to in the Crime Register, which can then be respect to education, there was an increase of seven used to determine access to bail and other outcomes. percentage points each for those with no education he fact that these details were unrecorded was as well as those formally schooled up to Class 10 or determined by inspecting the Crime Registers in 11.71 each police station. he unilled details included ‘age’, ‘occupation’, ‘education’, ‘monthly income’ and In Saharanpur, a total of 63 inmates spent longer ‘caste’ in the ive districts, other than a few police than 7 days in jail for bailable ofences between 1 stations where select details were illed such as the January 2014 and 31 March 2015, the highest number age or religion of the accused (ibid., p. 13). he being 119 under section 294 IPC72 (for which the interviews, however, no doubt indicate widespread maximum period of punishment is three months, prejudice towards disadvantaged communities which is signiicantly shorter than the period amongst police personnel.67 spent by the UTP in jail).73 In 10 cases, UTPs spent more than 30 days in prison for bailable ofences.74 For this data set as well, a regression was run to 2.2 Who is Excluded from Access to Bail? deduce whether there was a statistically signiicant 2.2.1 Bailable Offences correlation between demographic variables and he CES study reported that for police stations the likelihood of getting out on bail before or ater where bail data for the period of study starting on seven days.75 None was found. However, again, in 1 January 2014 was available, the percentage of interpreting data it should be kept in mind that this those securing bail at the police station for bailable does not mean that such a correlation does not exist ofences ranged from 97.14 per cent in Banda to at all, it was just not found for this data set. here 61.11 per cent in Mau.68 In Ghaziabad District Jail, was a higher representation by nine percentage between the 15-month period of 1 January 2014 points of Muslims who spent more than seven and 31 march 2015, 31 inmates charged under only days in jail, compared to the aggregate population bailable ofences spent longer than seven days in of UTPs entering jail for bailable ofences.76 here jail (the longest period being 86 days), indicating was also an increase of about 12 percentage points the lack of use of release on personal bond under for those from out of the state in the category of Section 436(1) of the Cr.P.C.69 A regression was run those spending more than seven days in jail, higher to deduce whether there was a statistically signiicant than that in Ghaziabad. his may indicate potential

136 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice diiculties for those from out of the state in accessing combinations in diferent districts from 1 January bail through production of required sureties.77 No 2014 to 31 May 2015. major variations in percentages were found for Dalits and OBCs represented a large portion education or occupational groups. Within the study of the UTPs entering jail for these ofences, and period of 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2015, a total relative to district populations, Muslim UTPs were of 3, 7 and 6 UTPs from Deoband Sub-Jail, Kheri also present in disproportionately larger numbers District Jail and Mau District Jail spent longer than for all categories barring one in Mau district. he seven days in jail for (only) bailable ofences. mean age was particularly low for those charged under s. 4 r/w s. 25of the Arms Act (which entails 2.2.2 Non-Bailable Offences illegal/unlicensed possession of a knife, beyond the he CES study collated data on select non-bailable size permitted by government notiication). here ofences pertaining to ‘preventive’ ofences under was a high incidence of low education across almost Special and Local Laws used widely in each of all categories and particularly high proportions the districts, to understand access to bail and case of highly informal work for available data across disposal in greater detail. he table below provides the Section/Act combinations (Centre for Equity information on the demographic characteristics Studies, 2016, p.88). of undertrials charged under speciic Act/Section Enormous variations were found for the

Table 2.2.2: Select Demographic Variables for those in Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Kheri and Mau District Jails under Different Section/Act Combination78 District Jail Section/Act Mean SC+OBC Muslims Domicile Nil or Highly Age in per in per (Out of

Source: Reproduced from CES study, p. 90.

137 India Exclusion Report number of days required by each UTP to secure family members in jail. In the absence of means, bail under these ofences. Days for release on bail UTPs from socio-economically disadvantaged u/s. 4 r/w s. 25 Arms Act ranged from 2 to 113 in backgrounds are forced to rely on legal aid. Ghaziabad (average of 17 days), and 2 to 393 days Not one of the 11 UTPs interviewed who were in Saharanpur (average of 20 days); for release on charged under s. 4 r/w s. 25 Arms Act in Ghaziabad bail u/s 3 r/w s. 25 Arms Act, days ranged from 2 to had access to a lawyer at the time of the interview to 378 days in Kheri (average of 18 days), and 2 to 116 apply for bail, and each of them had spent more than days in Mau (average of 15 days); and for release on two months in jail at the time of the interview. hey bail u/s. 3 r/w s. 5 r/w s. 8 Cow Slaughter Act days had all resolved to plea bargain through the Jail Lok ranged from 5 to 206 days in Ghaziabad (average Adalat (JLA), which would occur on a weekly basis of 73 days), 4 to 408 days in Kheri (average of 52 in Ghaziabad District Jail (ibid.). heir decisions to days), and 4 to 40 days in Mau (average of 12 days). plea bargain were based on a combination of reasons However, no statistically signiicant relationship including not having the means to access a lawyer was found between demographic characteristics to apply for bail, not knowing they had the right including social group, religion, occupation, to access a legal aid lawyer, being given advice by education, age or domicile, and the length of time a other inmates that plea bargaining was a more fool- UTP spent in jail for each District and Section/Act proof way of getting out rather than hoping that the pairing (ibid., p. 91). A UTP’s ability to access bail, legal aid lawyer would assist them in accessing bail, is however, no doubt dependent on their access to facing signiicant social pressure from jail writers79 legal representation—for which inancial means and staf to plea bargain, and/or believing that the are imperative to be able to pay the lawyer’s fees, stipulated bail requirements would be beyond their present stipulated sureties, and handle the costs means.80 family members need for going to court and to visit

Figure 2.1: Ghaziabad District: Likelihood of Conviction through Plea-bargaining based on Demographic Factors for S. 4 r/w S. 25 between 01.01.14 and 31.05.1581

0.24 Baseline

0.42 Baseline + Low Education

0.34 Baseline + Daily Wages

Baseline + Low Education + Daily Wages 0.54

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 Probability Source: Reproduced from CES study, p. 102

138 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice

2.2.3 Inequitable Legal Outcomes General category, ie., Hindu, has some education, he major quantitative inding of the CES study and is employed in a professional line of work. he pertains to convictions through plea bargaining probability of someone in that category receiving a versus release on bail for the ofence of Sec. 4 r/w conviction through plea bargaining in Ghaziabad Sec. 25 of the Arms Act. Under a section titled ‘Who District Jail within the stipulated time period is 24 is More Likely to Plea Bargain’, the report delineates per cent. he analysis showed that low education, outcomes of a regression analysis conducted using daily wage work, and the combination of low data from two district jails for UTPs , charged with education and daily wage work had a statistically cases under s. 4 r/w s. 25 of the Arms Act between signiicant impact on the likelihood of someone 1 January 2014 and 31 May 2015, to understand plea bargaining (rather than securing release whether certain demographic characteristics of through bail). For those doing daily wage work, UTPs would make it more likely that a person the likelihood of plea bargaining went up to 34 would secure release through plea bargaining per cent, and for those with low education, their (thereby being convicted, and no longer having the likelihood of plea bargaining went up to 42 per chance to prove their innocence) or through access cent. hose performing daily wage work and having to apply for bail. low education were 2.25 times more likely to plea bargain compared to the baseline. To have a point of comparison, the baseline for the statistical analysis was arrived at based on an In Saharanpur, the efects of demographic factors assumption of socioeconomic factors which would were found to be even greater in magnitude. he put someone in a favourable position to access baseline here was set at 11 per cent. Low education, legal justice. It is described as the probability of daily wage work, highly informal occupations and someone who is from within the District, from the domicile all had highly signiicant efects on the

Figure 2.2: Saharanpur District: Likelihood of Conviction through Plea-bargaining based on Demographic Factors for S. 4 r/w S. 25 between 01.01.14 and 31.05.1582

0.11 Baseline

0.39 Baseline + Low Education

0.3 Baseline + Daily Wages

0.46

Baseline + Low Education 0.68 + Daily Wages Baseline + Low Education 0.81 + Highly Informal 0.26 Baseline + Out of State

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.60.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 Probability

Source: Reproduced from CES study, p. 104.

139 India Exclusion Report probability of a UTP plea bargaining vs. getting to plea bargain. he baseline combined with low out on bail. All other factors remaining constant, education and daily wage implied a likelihood of plea someone from out of the state is 2.36 times more bargaining of 68 per cent. It went up even further, likely to plea bargain than someone who is from 70 percentage points above the baseline to 81 per within the state. Similarly, the baseline combined cent, when the baseline was combined with both low with daily wage work implied a likelihood of plea education as well as highly informal occupations. bargaining of 30 per cent, and the likelihood went his implies that within the study period, someone up to 39 per cent when the baseline was combined with low education working in a highly informal with low education, implying that someone with low occupation was 7.36 times more likely to plea education is 3.55 times more likely to plea bargain bargain, all other factors remaining unchanged.83 than someone who has education greater than low While the act of plea bargaining is meant to education, all other factors being equal. In the case of be a voluntary one, the oicial proforma for the highly informal occupations, the likelihood went up application for plea bargaining through the Jail to 46 per cent, making them 4.18 times more likely

Image 1: Pro Forma for Jail Adalat (Ghaziabad District)

Source: Annexure XII, CES study.

140 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice

Lok Adalat in Ghaziabad District Jail (designed districts as being intrinsic to policing in order to by the jail authorities, and used not simply as ensure remand of those they perceived as criminals, a forwarding letter but sent as the undertrial’s thereby controlling further crime. his includes the application to court) contained the following two excessive use of Sec. 151 Cr.P.C., which empowers sentences (translated from Hindi to English): ‘he the police to arrest a person without a warrant, who applicant is a poor, vulnerable person and there is (according to them) is likely to commit a cognizable no one to assist with his/her case. he applicant ofence (Centre for Equity Studies, 2016, pp. 37–47 would like to accept his guilt voluntarily’ (Centre & 50–60). Special Acts are also used to charge for Equity Studies, 2016, p.196). his language, with people with the possession of unlawful materials— minor variations, was used in applications sent by unlicensed arms; narcotics; and quantities of each of the jails visited, indicating that the judicial liquor above one and a half litres. A matter of authorities were abdicating their rights-protective concern was the admission, by police oicers, of role under the Constitution and the Cr.P.C. Instead the use of these Acts to apprehend persons in the of taking steps to provide the undertrial with absence of other evidence against them when they legal aid as required by the law, they were instead are suspected of some other crime, or in order to unconcerned with the lack of legal assistance and ‘punish’ those perceived as habitual ofenders, or as are sustaining this highly inequitable practice. acknowledged by the Superintendent of a District, It reinforces what the statistical analysis has because the paperwork takes less time than an shown—that those with certain disadvantageous actual investigation.85 Analysis of 98 FIRs from demographic characteristics related closely with a three districts also indicated a great similarity in lack of inancial resources and less formal schooling narrative, thus bringing into question the credibility may be let with no choice but to plea bargain, in of the basis of arrest, and also raising questions the absence of quality legal aid. It is also on average about the use of search procedures in public a very young male population that is resorting to places. In over 50 per cent of the FIRs, the report plea bargaining for the most common ofences contained a near-identical description of personnel in two jails under s. 4 r/w s. 25 of the Arms Act. encountering ofenders by chance during their his population may thereater continue to be patrol. he remaining ofenders were apprehended criminalized ater becoming ‘history sheeters’ on through tip-ofs from conidential informants. In the rolls of the police. one police station in rural Saharanpur, two FIRs iled 20 days apart for the same ofence were found identical in language, and as per almost all the 3. Processes of Exclusion FIRs of the Arms Act and Excise Act which were 3.1 Institutional Bias in the reviewed across districts, the documented reason Implementation of Law and Policy for suspecting the accused was that they quickened their pace on seeing the oicers or tried to avoid 3.1.1 Misuse of Powers of Arrest crossing their paths, largely described using one he extent of powers of arrest conferred on the of two long phrases (ibid., pp. 51–54). In some of police under Chapter V of the Cr.P.C. and areas the interviews with undertrials, and subsequently of their misuse has been discussed extensively by veriied upon meeting their family members, it Law Commissions, National Police Commissions, emerged that they were charged with ofences they other governmental bodies and civil society had not actually committed but were apprehended organizations.84 In the CES study, some such at the behest of their family members or others who practices were voiced by police oicers across requested or paid the police to do so—including 141 India Exclusion Report due to property or other disputes (as in the case However, all jail and court staf interviewed also of an 85-year-old man, charged with possession suggested that personal bond is rarely utilized. of marijuana under the NDPS Act, as admitted by his nephew; he wanted to seek revenge for not 3.1.4 Prejudice towards Disadvantaged being given land by his impoverished uncle), or due Communities and Lack of Diversity in to inability of the family to deal with the person’s Positions of Authority poor mental health (ibid., pp. 61, 65 and 81). It is Both the TISS and CES studies have delineated apparent from the CES study that unnecessary perceptions of prejudice against certain demographic arrests are a major reason for violation of rights, as communities from the perspectives of undertrials well as exclusion. themselves and police personnel, respectively. his is impacted in part by the composition of the police 3.1.2 Blatant Violations of Laws Relating to Arrest force, which is oten represented by dominant caste All ive UTPs charged with bailable ofences in the individuals in positions of authority. A study on sample of 60 interviewees across the ive districts caste and public institutions in Allahabad conducted were informed neither about the charges against in 2012 revealed that a large share of police them, nor about their right to bail (ibid., p. 62). oicers, High Court judges, lawyers, and executive Instances of torture were also reported during and committee members of the Bar Association were ater arrest (ibid., pp. 61–65). from dominant castes (Agarwal, Dreze & Gupta, 2015, pp. 45–51). It would be worth it to probe 3.1.3 Biased Application of Bail Law by Police their argument on how this would reinforce caste and Judiciary and class divisions, by gathering relevant data with respect to the criminal justice system. he police admitted to intentionally withholding the right to bail for bailable ofences at police 3.1.5 Misplaced Accountability and Flawed stations. hey justiied this abuse of power with Monitoring Mechanisms: the following reasons: past criminal record of the In 2005, the Supreme Court in Bhim Singh v. arrestee, wanting to ‘prevent future disturbances’ or Union of India86 ruled that Undertrial Review based on their assessment of the arrestee’s ‘criminal Committees should be set up in each district to character’ (ibid., pp. 66–67). monitor unnecessary incarceration during pre- Further, within the judiciary, there was a great trial detention. However, in UP, these committees disconnect between the design of the law under were constituted in 2015, only ater the Supreme Section 436(1) Cr.P.C. (a provision which allows for Court in Re Inhuman Conditions in 1382 release on personal bond if the accused is declared Prisons87 sought status of compliance of its ruling indigent upon non-payment of surety within seven in the Bhim Singh case. he CES study showed days), and what was practised by judicial oicers that district courts have been asking prisons for across the ive district courts. Aside from minor monthly data on UTPs eligible for release under diferences in their perceptions of law, each of the Sections 436A and 436(1) Cr.P.C., as also under district judges said they do not use the provision Bachchey Lal v State of UP and Others88 (which except in the rarest of cases to avoid the risk of provided that in those cases where UTPs have the person absconding (ibid., p. 83). No data was been granted bail but are unable to produce available at the courts on the numbers of people the bail amount ater two months, they may be released on personal bond through Section 436(1). released on personal bond). Precise data in fact

142 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice is available only with courts and not with the mediation sessions at the court for marital dispute prisons. Further, not providing detailed criteria cases and somewhat ironically, in facilitating the Jail for how this data should be compiled contributes Lok Adalats (rather than representing UTPs in their to further possibilities for numerous inaccuracies applications for bail in court). he DLSA oices (Centre for Equity Studies, 2016, p. 85). were largely opaque in their dealings or inaccessible, appointments of legal aid lawyers had been delayed, 3.1.6 Denial of Quality Legal Aid legal aid panels were inactive, and in some cases allegedly not carrying out their duties due to non- he CES study reported grossly inadequate and payment of fees by the DLSA (ibid., pp. 94–100). poor quality legal aid provisioning across the Oices were managed solely by the single clerk ive districts.89 he UPSLSA responded to an assigned to the DLSA oice, with the exception of RTI application saying they had ‘no information Ghaziabad where the Secretary of the DLSA did not available’ for the following questions: the number have dual charge, i.e., he/she did not preside over a of persons who had availed legal advice in UP from court, unlike in other districts.90 Deoband Sub Jail legal aid schemes across police stations, courts was not assigned a DLSA at all, implying that other and prisons; the number of legal awareness camps than JLA hearings being held there once a month, organized for UTPs during that period; whether UTPs had no access to legal aid services (presumably DLSAs constitute a separate panel of senior other than through the courts).91 lawyers, law irms, retired judicial oicers, etc., as mandated under Regulation 9 of the NALSA (Free As documented by numerous civil society and Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010; reviews, this performance is not an anomaly for whether surveys have been conducted to determine legal aid services across the country (GoI, UNDP how many people were eligible for release under and Multiple Action Research Group, 2012; s. 436(1) Cr.P.C between 1 January 2014 and 31 TISS report PRAYAS, 2014; Bihar Legal Services May 2015, the frequency of the meetings of the Authority, 2015). As reported by the CES study, Undertrial Review Committees in each district barriers to providing free legal aid as observed in during the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 May the ive districts included: inadequacy of human 2015 and the outcome of these meetings—that is, and material resources, low remuneration by the the number of cases reviewed and outcomes of State for legal services, coupled with a near-absence the same (ibid., pp. 94–95). When the questions of DLSA oice resources, lack of monitoring and were asked, the absence of data was evident across accountability, and most of all, the apparent lack of districts. will on part of the state government and judiciary to make the system function optimally (Centre for A majority of the work being undertaken across Equity Studies, 2016, p. 100). the ive DLSAs surveyed was organizing family

Table 3.1.7: Number of Cases Delayed for Select SLLs across District Courts94 Case pending for > 3 years Banda Ghaziabad Kheri Mau Saharanpur Excise Act 277 483 3963 548 312 Arms Act 2657 9109 6537 792 1343 NDPS Act 91 897 59 244 11 Source: Data (collected in 2015) calculated from Annexure XIV, CES study.

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3.1.7 Delays in Trial92 Interview responses of police oicers indicated he number of trials delayed for cases under the that this was found to be incorrectly applied by 97 Excise Act, Arms Act and NDPS Act was high across some oicers to withhold bail. No special eforts Banda, Ghaziabad, Kheri, Mau and Saharanpur are being made for dissemination of knowledge districts.93 across the police force when new laws are enacted. Trainings are conined to senior oicers alone. his With respect to the Excise Act, cases in impacts the quality of policing.98 Kheri were pending from as long ago as 1986. In Ghaziabad and Kheri, cases under the Arms Act 3.1.9 Illegal Practices in Prison were pending from 1985.95 he oldest NDPS case was pending since 1987 in Kheri. Interviews with UTPs and staf across all the jails studied (six total) in UP revealed a corrupt and In Saharanpur, magistrates spoke speciically extractive system—‘ginti’. Undertrials are made to about why Arms Act cases in particular go on for pay amounts ranging from INR 1200 to INR 3300 long periods—they tend to be given low priority by (an amount usually standardized within a jail) magistrates themselves. here are procedural delays on entering the prison so that a ixed barrack is too in the presentation of evidence as witnesses assigned to them. If they were unable to pay, they (oten police oicers) are transferred to other were assigned to work in the central area leading to districts and do not appear in court on time; there the barracks or in the kitchen, oten in very harsh are also delays in presentation of physical evidence conditions. Noteworthy though is that jail manuals which may get misplaced in stores (ibid., p. 113). of most states prohibit undertrials from being made hese reasons could just as well apply to delays for to work against their will.99 In one jail, a destitute, cases under the Excise Act and NDPS Act. Delays in disabled man was given his barrack for ‘free.’ In trial become relevant as the fact of a large number of return, he swept the barrack he was assigned to cases pending in court is oten cited as an argument every day, out of gratitude. He was not paid for for the usage of plea bargaining. his work. Other UTPs complained of having to pay extra for a place to sleep lat at night. he need 3.1.8 Lack of Awareness of Police and Others for payment of bribes was alleged to be a common on Aspects of Procedural Law feature across the institutions of the criminal justice system, for almost every interaction with he CES study reported knowledge on classiication a functionary. Each of these practices would have of ofences as bailable or non-bailable, to be a disproportionate class impact on those who are inconsistent among SHOs, SIs, and HCPs alike, economically weaker, impacting their ability to which in some instances meant that bail was withheld access quality legal assistance. for bailable ofences (ibid., p. 68). A possible reason for not granting bail in these cases (in addition to those mentioned in Section 3.1.3) was the incorrect 3.1.10 Staff Vacancies conlation of conditions mentioned in Sec. 41(1) Nationally, 35.5 per cent of sanctioned positions of (b) Cr.P.C. his provision states ive conditions oicers, 32.71 of jail cadre staf, 37.65 of medical under which arrest may be made for ofences staf and 38.89 of correctional staf remained carrying seven or less years of punishment, such vacant.100 In 27 of 35 states and UTs there was as the possibility that the arrestee would abscond not a single sanctioned position for psychologists or commit a further ofence, or the belief that he/ or psychiatrists, in 18 there was no post for a she may not cooperate with the investigation.96 probation/welfare oicer, and in 22 there was

144 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice no position of a social worker. In Uttar Pradesh, where UTPs were convicted in the JLA for the same 34 per cent or one-third of positions of jail cadre ofence more than once in clear contravention of the staf101 were vacant at the end of 2015.102 Further, law. here appeared to be lack of information and in the entire state of Uttar Pradesh, there was not confusion among those accepting a plea bargain— a single post sanctioned for either social workers both on what the consequences would be, as well as or psychiatrists/psychologists. here was one what it meant to confess to one’s guilt voluntarily. sanctioned position of probation/welfare oicer In complex cases involving mental illness and post for the entire state. Of importance here is the potential juvenility, there was no clear process fact that the correctional staf provides the much being followed (Centre for Equity Studies Report, needed space for redress of legal justice grievance 2016, pp. 114–115; Commonwealth Human Rights of prisoners, including for the most disadvantaged. Initiative Report, 2009, p. 44). his is further hey also carry out the much-needed functions corroborated in a study by the Commonwealth pertaining to reform and rehabilitation. he nation- Human Rights Initiative in 2009, which assessed wide absence of positions for these posts indicates procedural compliance through interviews with the lack of priority to reform within the custodial jail staf and through RTIs. he study across 10 system. states while inding disparities in the frequency of JLAs, also found discrepancies in determining 3.2 Faulty Design of Law and Policy eligibility for plea bargaining, ambiguity around 3.2.1 Unjust Practice in the Name of Judicial the term ‘petty ofences’, non-conformity with the Reform provisions under Chapter XXIA for the proceedings of the JLA, and inconsistencies in sentencing A binary of acquittal versus conviction presupposes practice(Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative that fair process has been followed during Report, 2009, pp. 33–39). Plea bargaining in its investigation/trial. However, JLAs are not open to current form is a distortion of justice, in that in the public. here is therefore less accountability on the absence of fair procedure being followed it whether procedural safeguards have been followed produces inequitable outcomes for those belonging during the process. he CES study found that all to disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. plea bargains recorded u/s. 4 r/w s. 25 Arms Act took place at the weekly JLA held in Ghaziabad 3.2.2 Codiied Exclusionary Police Practice District Jail and monthly JLA in Saharanpur District Jail. he UPSLSA stated that in the 17-month period he UP police manual calls for listing and between 1 January 2014 and 31 May 2015, 5938 surveillance of de-notiied tribes and their cases were resolved through the JLAs, implying locations in the jurisdiction based on the ‘Criminal 5938 convictions for that period in UP alone.103 Tribes Manual’. As documented in Section 2.1, It was established through observations of three this continued institutionalization of bias against JLA proceedings in Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and de-notiied tribes is likely to contribute to unjust Mau District Jails and through interviews with the policing. presiding magistrate, that there were procedural limitations and inaccuracies during the process. 3.2.3 Variations in the Value of Bail Bond and For instance, in Saharanpur UTPs were not even Surety Requirements presented before the Magistrate. he Magistrate Interviews of police oicers across districts, in looked only at the case iles. Cases were observed the CES study, revealed that the value of the bail

145 India Exclusion Report bond is determined based on factors like gravity the means to secure a lawyer. Such a person would of the ofence, the penalty it carries, the amount of therefore be at a disadvantage with respect to the illegal material recovered in the case of SLLs and law, if the state were not to provide a lawyer at the the economic condition of the accused. In some time of irst production itself (ibid., p. 85). instances, oicers stated that amounts were ixed so as to ‘bind’ people down and make it diicult for 3.2.5 Poor Infrastructure arrestees to secure bail (Centre for Equity Studies, Large physical distances of some jails from the 2016, pp. 68–69). Local surety (from within the main town/city, coupled with poor public transport district) was required in a majority of police connectivity creates a further disincentive for stations across Saharanpur, Kheri, Ghaziabad and lawyers to meet their clients at the jail, and it also Mau, making it challenging from those outside the makes is diicult for family or friends to visit the district to get bail from the police station (ibid., inmate (ibid., p. 30). p. 69).

3.2.4 Loopholes in the Design of Sec. 436(1) 4. Consequences of Exclusion Cr.P.C. he provision states that the accused may be For the individual, incarceration results in a loss of released on personal bond seven days ater (s) social attainments and capabilities, and may also he is granted bail, if (s)he is unable to furnish the afect their future outcomes. he costs for human surety amount. In practice, the date of next hearing dignity are unimaginable, for the individual as well is usually scheduled by magistrates at the outer as their families. As in the case of a number of UTPs limit of 15 days, which is what is permissible under interviewed in the CES study (ibid., pp. 81, 108, Section 167 Cr.P.C. his period for remand could 111 and 116), incarceration results in a break in the be much shorter but depends on the discretion of bonds of livelihood (which are oten precarious to the magistrate. his implies that it is possible that begin with, for those engaged in informal work), if the undertrial to whom Sec. 436(1) Cr.P.C. could worsening of mental and other health conditions, as apply, does not have a lawyer to ile an application well as potentially afecting access to education and for release on personal bond, the provision will shelter for the families of those who are incarcerated. be overlooked until the date of the next hearing, A denial of the right to bail and legal justice more at which point the UTP would have then spent an broadly may, therefore, result in perpetuating cycles additional seven days in prison. of poverty and widening inequalities (between both individuals and for entire communities). 3.2.5 Application-intensive Processes of the Consequences for families are particularly grave Court when the sole earner is in prison, or if the inmate is a single parent. his necessitates having to leave he CES study found that in Dasna jail, although children in the care of others, sometimes in unsafe applications for release on personal bond for those environments. Social oppression based on identity who are eligible ater the seven-day point are sent that exists in society on the basis of caste, community, by the jail authorities to the respective courts, religion, class, disability and/or gender is also oten the applications are rarely considered, unless the reinforced within the prison (ibid., pp. 89 and 110). undertrial has a lawyer who can argue the case (ibid., p. 82). It is unlikely that an individual without In addition to economic and ecological means to produce the stipulated surety would have implications, legal outcomes may also be adversely

146 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice impacted due to incarceration. As discussed earlier, ield action project of the Tata Institute of Social the Supreme Court has noted that a person on bail Sciences. Prayas works on access to legal rights and is in a better position to prepare or present his/ rehabilitation for undertrial prisoners in Mumbai her case and potentially prove their innocence and its suburbs and in Bharuch, Gujarat. he when compared to one in custody. If someone project’s emphasis is on building support systems accepts a plea bargain, it is unlikely that they can for families through an active court, Juvenile Justice gain formal or government employment in the Board and client-social worker-lawyer relationships future due to a conviction in their record.104 Arrest that emphasize long-term rehabilitation focused and incarceration also impacts the perceptions of around livelihood. here is no bar on the type others, including institutions and individuals within of ofence the inmate is alleged to have/has the criminal justice system. Even if the irst arrest committed. Since its inception in 1990, Prayas was unjust, if caught a second time on account of has made incremental yet signiicant progress in being on the police’s rolls, the accused is viewed as working with the prison and court administration a repeat ofender.105 At this scale, unjust practices and producing both a change in outcomes for by institutions of the criminal justice system may individuals in conlict with the law as well as result in the criminalization of entire communities. knowledge production on the criminal justice here is a deep moral cost for the society as well with system which has enabled reform (TISS Report, regard to a system that allows diferential access to PRAYAS, 2015). Various organizations across it; while it could help prove one’s innocence, it can the country such as the Commonwealth Human also facilitate inequitable outcomes based on the Rights Initiative in Rajasthan and West Bengal, the demographic background of the accused. Vanangana Trust in Uttar Pradesh which works speciically with women prisoners, and the Bandi Adhikar Andolan, most active in Bihar have been 5. Resistance and Good Practice working with the prison system through a rights- Amartya Sen and Jean Drèze propose a concept of based approach. Instances of prisoners themselves public action which entails action from above (by the being able to organize are rare. However, Soni Sori’s State) and below (by class and mass organizations, hunger strike along with women inmates of Raipur political parties, individuals and non-governmental Central Jail in Chhattisgarh to protest against their groups) (Sen & Dreze, 1989). While it is the State’s stripping and to demand decent food and health imperative to put in place correctives and make services stands out as one such example (BBC the criminal justice system fair and just, redeining Hindi Report on Soni Sori, 2016; Hard News Media the scope of the public good—i.e., legal justice—is Report on Soni Sori’s Hunger Strike, 2012). also contingent on robust public action. Grassroots action for improving access to legal justice is a 6. Moving Forward: Ideas for challenging idea—those accused of crime are 107 bound strictly by the rules of the system, and there Reform is little room to negotiate actions of the State which Based on the grave exclusions that exist as a result may be unjust.106 of lack of access to bail and related legal justice A model of action from below—in reinforcing outcomes (in particular for petty ofences), we have the wide scope of legal justice based on rights proposed possible recommendations. Some of these and entitlements for the accused by emphasizing ideas are meant to serve not as the last word on how opportunities for rehabilitation—is Prayas, a reform should be carried out, but to respond to the

147 India Exclusion Report constitutional, legal, policy and moral concerns that absence of institutionalized safeguards for those emerge from the evidence of exclusion. he attempt who plea bargain (Commonwealth Human Rights is to start a conversation on changes in institutional Initiative Report, 2009; Galanter & Krishnan, 2004). practices which may beneit those disadvantaged in he following measures should be undertaken, their attempts to access legal systems. In doing so, contiguous with strengthening legal aid provisioning: we are guided by the ideas of Prof. Marc Galanter Plea bargaining through Jail Lok Adalats should and Justice Muralidhar. he former wrote in 1974, be immediately stopped and the role of ADR about what is required for redistributive justice in criminal cases more generally, should be re- within criminal justice systems. He illustrated that evaluated. he procedure prescribed in Chapter equalizing access and breaking the advantage of the XXIA of the Cr.P.C. should be strictly followed.108 ‘haves’ in the system would not necessarily come he UTP must also be informed of his/her right to about through a changing of the rules as the rules free legal aid on irst production before a magistrate. are not easily accessed, but by a signiicant increase It must be a prerequisite that UTPs be ofered in institution-building and the provisioning of legal representation (both for accessing bail and services which can beneit everyone (Galanter, for the duration of their trial) before they submit 1974). In the Indian context this could perhaps apply applications for plea bargaining. to the overall functioning of the criminal justice system and the impact that greater provisioning A video should be prepared by NALSA in could have on ensuring more reasonable, just, and conjunction with the NHRC (and translated into all local languages).his should be shown every day fair processes of trial. in prison to all inmates who have entered prison on Justice Muralidhar argues that improving the that very day. he video should describe in detail system to make it one that more adequately serves the UTP’s right to access a lawyer as well as other the interests of justice and equity is not merely legal and other rights prescribed in the jail manual possible with an increase in resources as much as and through Supreme Court decisions. If plea it is on the will (of the institutions of the criminal bargaining is continued, it must be stated clearly justice system) to adapt and change (Muralidhar, in the video that a plea bargain would result in 2005). Aparna Chandra has similarly argued that conviction which cannot later be appealed. while the judiciary certainly sufers from a resource If plea bargaining is conducted, it should be problem which afects access to courts, the emphasis in the court premises, again with full knowledge of access to justice must be (as a perspective) one given to the undertrials about the implications. that informs ‘…decision making on substantive Any proforma by way of application signed by the rights, to construction of procedural norms, to accused must be revised to state that the applicant fashioning remedies, to the very administration of has understood that the plea bargain results in the judicial set-up’ (Chandra, 2016). a conviction which cannot be appealed. Also, a standardization of procedure must be developed, 6.1 Modifying the use of Plea Bargaining with an in-person interaction between the judge by Ensuring Safeguards and undertrial being imperative. Our primary concern is with promoting and In light of evidence available on the shortfalls encouraging Alternative Dispute Resolution of plea bargaining in India, the Law Commission methods in the name of speedy justice for the could be requested to inquire into its fair use and poor. his must not continue, especially in the eicacy going forward.

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6.2 Ensuring Access to Legal Aid denied for petty ofences and in fact must be encouraged. All jails not currently covered by State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) must a DLSA must be assigned to one. As discussed, ensure implementation of the National Legal under the irst set of recommendations on plea Services Authority (Free and Competent Legal bargaining, a video on legal and custodial rights Services) Regulations, 2010 and National Legal should be jointly prepared by NALSA and the Services Authority (Legal Aid Clinics) Regulations, NHRC to be shown to undertrials ater their entry 2011. he central government should consider into prison. State Police must implement legal aid making necessary amendments to the NALSA availability at the stage of arrest under the Paralegal (Free and Competent Legal Services) Regulation, Volunteer (PLV) (Suryanarayan, n.d.), beyond 2010 for provisioning of salary payments for the weekly hana Samadhaan Diwas, to address retainer lawyers with the District Legal Services the needs of those who are accused of crime and Authority, commensurate with salary payments held in police custody. Further, the empanelment for prosecution oicers, while also reassessing of PLVs by paying a monthly retainer rather than the prerequisites for empanelment as legal aid an honorarium should be piloted. In the event that lawyers. SLSAs should make requests to the State PLVs are used within jails for legal aid programmes, Government for higher budgetary allocations in NALSA should also prepare a similar training video order to have greater parity in pay for those serving of the responsibilities of the NALSA and respective as State Prosecutors and those serving as Legal Aid DLSAs. PLVs should be told not to encourage retainers through salaried payments, along with a plea bargaining practices before counselling the commensurate rise in the experience required to be undertrial on their right to access legal aid. Finally, empanelled. Undertrial Review Committees must also function he role of SLSAs needs to be re-conceptualized based on the revised mandate in directions issued from the current scenario, with provisioning of legal by the Supreme Court in February and May 2016 in aid lawyers and higher quality work as a priority. Re Inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons.110 Separate judges should be assigned to take on the sole responsibility of Secretary-ship of the DLSAs 6.3 Carrying Out Legal Reforms rather than it being a dual charge. Jail visits by legal aid lawyers to meet the accused should take place Surety practices should be streamlined by High at least twice a week as per the ‘Standard Operating Courts through an illustrative list of factors which Procedures for Representation of Persons in make surety reasonable, while also ensuring that Custody’109 as circulated by NALSA in May 2016 those who cannot provide surety do not languish (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Report, in prison and are released on personal bond. Land 2016). Further, this and other required practices registration papers and bank account details should including the institution of Legal Aid Clinics in not be made mandatory surety requirements at each district and protocols for jail-visiting lawyers any court due to the disparate access that certain must be closely monitored by the respective DLSAs. demographic groups may have to these means. Non-local surety should be allowed by all lower Designated jail visitors should go directly to courts for surety amounts less than INR 100,000 barracks to provide assistance, and emphasize while simultaneously requesting the police forces release on bail rather than encouraging inmates for an increase in resources for veriication. to undertake plea bargaining for petty ofences. DLSAs should airm that legal aid cannot be S. 436(1) Cr.P.C. should be factored into the

149 India Exclusion Report computerization of court records, to ensure that 1958 in order to create more opportunities for release ater seven days in jail, the court is notiied that on probation for those ofenders who are eligible for there are persons who are it for release on personal it. his would in part involve assigning probation bond. Ideally, an acknowledgement by the courts is oicers which have largely been moved to other needed that those who may abscond may be a small government departments. For instance, the Delhi fraction of those who would beneit from retaining High Court in Mithilesh Kumar Kushwaha v. State113 their personal liberty by remaining connected to instructed the Delhi Government to put in place their access to shelter, livelihood and other positive amended Rules under the Prisons Act, to take into externalities while also remaining present in the account the necessary qualiications, training and court for their trials. Courts should as a matter of appointment of probation oicers. While this was practice, allow release on personal bond for those from the perspective of the pre-sentencing stage in eligible for release u/s. 436(1) Cr.P.C. and those who the case of a capital ofence, the judgment recognizes have been granted bail but are unable to furnish that the contribution of a pre-sentencing report bail requirements within two months of such an by a professionally trained probation oicer is an occurrence. ‘extremely valuable tool for assessing the possibility he repeal of outdated colonial laws such as s. of reform and rehabilitation of a person’. In the 4 r/w s. 25 Arms Act and other provisions under case of Uttar Pradesh, the UP Prisoners’ Release on Special and Local Laws—which may be misused, Probation Act, 1938 must also be implemented. operationalized in a disparate manner, and result in he lower judiciary should maintain all over-criminalization—should be debated. databases as required by the Supreme Court/ he Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State High Court, e.g., Sec 436A Cr.P.C., etc., instead of of Bihar,111 has already mandated that Magistrates relying on jails to collate this data. here should while remanding a person to custody, using powers be a clearer articulation of the roles of courts, under Section 167 Cr.P.C., should ensure that the jails, and police in pre-trial detention and release requirements of Section 41 are followed. Although measures, with individual courts taking on greater the directions of the Supreme Court apply to arrests responsibility and accountability. In the event that made for ofences punishable with imprisonment data is to be collected from prisons, instructions for less than seven years,112 it is recommended that from court to prison staf on what is required Magistrates should ensure that they independently must contain clear guidelines rather than it being verify the need for arresting the person, before assumed that prison staf are aware of the updates granting remand. in the law, e.g., instructions pertaining to which ofences are bailable versus non-bailable ofences, District Courts should pay special attention how to determine eligibility under Sec 436A, etc. to the disposal of petty cases through trial. Trials Overall, there is a need for individual courts to take should commence as soon as possible so that there responsibility for granting bail and disposing of are no undue delays in cases on account of police cases without the need for oversight. personnel being transferred to other districts, evidence getting lost, etc. he High Court should Budgetary and staing issues including encourage compounding of eligible petty ofences longstanding vacancies, and the need for better under the Excise Act and Gambling Act. coordination within the criminal justice system must be addressed too. State governments should ensure the implementation of the Probation of Ofenders Act, For a court to consider, and be made aware

150 Exclusion from Access to Legal Justice about a person being entitled to bail, it is essential a complete list of applicable bailable ofences within to ile an application. he CES study found that the the IPC and all Special Acts. SHOs must ensure that access to legal aid remains poor in prisons. Until arrests under Special and Local Laws are not being the issue of accessing efective legal aid is rectiied, made under incorrect pretexts. Magistrates should PLVs should be trained to drat bail applications. provide proper oversight of the process as required hese applications may then be forwarded by the by the law. prison to the court, which may assign a lawyer to here is also the need to consider standardizing assist in the case. the validity of non-local surety across districts rather than leaving it to the discretion of the 6.4 Police Reforms oicer-in-charge at individual police stations and encourage release on personal bond alone for State police must establish respect for the rights of bailable ofences. It is equally important to provide the accused by strictly enforcing the requirement a list of illustrative factors, for each state to be that a completed arrest memo should be read out considered, while setting bail conditions at the to the arrestee and that a copy of the FIR should police station. Along with the list it is imperative to be given to him/her free of charge. he police emphasize that for petty ofences, the number and manual should be updated to include a clause mandating the arresting oicer to read the suspect’s amount of sureties should be commensurate with rights contained in the Supreme Court’s D.K. Basu economic status of the arrestee, as also the gravity judgement, in Joginder Kumar vs. State of UP 1994 of the alleged ofence such that they may be able to AIR 1349, 1994 SCC (4) 260 and the Cr.P.C. he furnish surety as per their means. recitation should include a clear description of Police Complaints Authorities (PCAs) need the nature of the charge and the suspect’s rights to to be established wherever they are not currently consult a lawyer, inform others of detention, seek active at the state and district level as mandated medical examination, as well as their right to bail by the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh and Ors. v. from the police station when arrested for a bailable Union of India and Ors, to ensure that a certain level ofence. he manual should also include a deinition of external accountability exists. Rectify codiied of acceptable interrogation techniques, prohibiting practices of proiling (including within the content the use of torture and threats to elicit information of training at police academies) and unnecessary or confessions. his information should also be surveillance within the police manuals of all states, presented visibly on the notice board of each police and conduct trainings to discourage these practices. station. Remove clauses in the police manual that refer to Due to the grave consequences of arrest and the Criminal Tribes Act and Habitual Ofenders incarceration, it is imperative that senior police Act, wherever they exist, and amend/delete the oicers closely monitor arrests under Special and language in clauses pertaining to the creation of Local Laws to ensure that individuals are not being history sheets in order to account for the potential arrested under false charges. for reform for all ofences. A circular/notiication should be issued by Particulars of age, religion, social category/caste, all state police clarifying the diference between education, occupation and monthly income should bailable and non-bailable ofences as classiied in the be recorded in the Crime Register, as should all bail Cr.P.C. and the right to bail for bailable ofences at details in the Bail Register if bail is accessed at the the police station. he circular should also provide police station.

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In the course of the CES study, researchers month that includes shits and duty rotation, observed that police personnel were working with time for rest and recreation, and planned poor infrastructure and in diicult conditions, which leave. Mandate a weekly day of for all police is likely to afect both their morale and performance personnel at and below the rank of sub- (Centre for Equity Studies, 2016, p. 72). In light of inspector. this, we propose the following improvements to g. Finally, respective state governments must working conditions for police personnel: consider increasing budgetary allocations a. Consider the following changes in and capacity building for staf across all recruitment, training and deployment of police departments. personnel—Recruit oicers at only two levels, i.e., Constables and I.P.S., as recommended 6.5 Prison Department Reforms by the 5th National Police Commission, State governments, prison departments and jail to allow Constables opportunities for authorities must work together to ensure the promotion and necessitate in-service following measures to make the custodial system training on investigative techniques and more open and less exploitative: the law. Promotions can be based on the completion of relevant trainings, tests and a. State governments should ill non-custodial work experience. staf vacancies in prisons immediately, create posts for welfare and other correctional b. Hire civilian staf for clerical and oicers at each prison, and constitute the administrative work at police stations and Board of Visitors under the Prison Act 1894 increase the number of investigative positions, with immediate efect wherever they are as recommended by the Padmanabhaiah not so far in place. Board of Visitor rules Committee on Police Reforms in 2000. should be drated for all states and the list c. Instate a committee/working group in of inquiries that visitors are responsible to each state to develop a feasibility and establish answers for, must include special implementation plan for the separation of problems of youth, persons with disability, investigative and law and order personnel women, and other disadvantaged groups. and develop a plan to reduce the proportion b. Prison authorities must also ensure that the of vacancies, particularly for sub-inspectors illegal practice of ginti, that is prevalent in and below. the jails of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, ends d. Establish a workplace grievance redress body with immediate efect. for police personnel, comprising non-police c. Prison authorities should encourage entry personnel. of jail visitors and legal aid lawyers to the e. Develop a plan to reduce law and order duties barracks and not restrict them to the jailor’s related to VIP security/escorting along with oice or central chakkar area to ensure that devising a set of guidelines to determine how there is greater access to legal aid visitors for much police protection is required when UTPs.114 requested (for both VIPs and civilians, i.e., d. Jail authorities should also conduct regular also in the case of witness protection). reviews of UTPs imprisoned for petty f. SHOs should post a work schedule each ofences and forward relevant cases to the

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respective DLSA and District Judge for been released on bail from the police station. Once appropriate action, including granting of prison entry records are computerized, NCRB timely legal aid and facilitating release on should expand the scope of their data collection to personal bond wherever possible, instead of include aspects such as the duration of stay of the encouraging plea bargaining. inmates under incarceration based on the type of ofence they have been charged under. e. In the absence of a functioning DLSA performing the designated role, the jail Related to data gaps is the issue of public authorities must provide information to authorities being given the allowance to ix the fee UTPs about the consequences (including a to be paid, with a request for information under formal legal conviction) of pleading guilty the Right to Information Act. he Allahabad High prior to acceptance of their application for Court, for instance, has an application fee of INR the Jail Lok Adalat. his can be done by 500 per question, with an additional charge of INR facilitating screenings of the proposed video 15 for per page of information provided, which at regular intervals. is prohibitive for most citizens in need of basic information.115 his must be reconsidered across f. Finally, the state government and prison High Courts where diferential fees exist above department should develop greater avenues the INR 10 requirement otherwise asked for, with for rehabilitation of inmates following their a simultaneous need to increase human resource release and provide access to civil society infrastructure to address supply side concerns and organizations working for this purpose. also create systems for recording information which It must not be forgotten that no period of should be publicly available. incarceration is too short to have an efect on someone who is socio-economically Jails must also be given information on how to disadvantaged. State governments must also collect data required by the NCRB—categories such ensure that they have in-house de-addiction as ‘No. of prisoners to whom legal aid was provided’ facilities at prisons while incarcerating drug must be explained to the jail authorities before data addicts. hey should also ensure timely is collected, and those explanations must also be payments for those working in prison. provided when the data is published.116 Accuracy of NCRB data was called into question in the CES As noted in the CES study, some jails are on the study, where the NCRB annual Crime in India outskirts of cities, and thus sometimes diicult to report (2014) provided an annual total igure of access. his could hamper both visits by families as 725 as the number of cases under all Special and well as those by lawyers, which could in turn impact Local Laws disposed of through plea bargaining UTPs’ access to legal assistance. State governments nationally117 with numbers of cases disposed must do all they can to ensure that jails are well through plea bargaining under the Arms Act, connected via public transport. NDPS Act, and Excise Act (1944) being reported as 8, 9 and 48, respectively.118 hese numbers 6.6 Addressing Data Gaps and Inaccuracies are far too low to be considered accurate, ater determining what the numbers of cases resolved Massive data gaps currently exist across police, through plea bargaining were for the period from custodial and court settings. Police must record 1 January 2014 to 31 May 2015 across four districts demographic information for arrestees as well in Uttar Pradesh alone.119 he cases reported, under as complete bail information for those who have the Excise Act, as convictions through plea bargain

153 India Exclusion Report from the subordinate courts (which provided data) such as PLV programmes and other legal aid were 6492, with an additional 638 reported under initiatives, participating in the Board of Visitors for the Arms Act, and 68 under the NDPS Act.120 jails and in judicial and police training initiatives, and developing rehabilitation programmes. Due to the high likelihood of jail populations 6.7 Civil Society Imperatives being invisibilized, there remains a need to build Interested individuals, academic institutions and solidarities across labour, feminist, Dalit and other social sector organizations can play an important progressive movements around issues of those role in making criminal justice institutions less disadvantaged in their access to legal justice. opaque, by being involved through initiatives

Endnotes 16. Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, (1978) 1 SCC 240, 244. 1. he authors would like to thank Sana Das and 17. See: Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor, Vijay Raghavan for their careful review of this (1978) 1 SCC 240, 242. chapter, Harsh Mander for his contributions to the 18. Proviso to Section 436(1). recommendations section, IXR collaborators for 19. Explanation to Section 436(1). their inputs at various stages of the writing process, 20. (1978) 4 SCC 47. and Rajanya Bose for all her help in coordinating 21. Ibid., 52. the drats of the chapter. 22. Ibid. 2. For a study on systemic factors that afect the 23. Ibid., 49–50. extent to which litigants in India are able to enforce 24. Ibid., 57. their rights in court, please see: Krishnan, J. et al. 25. (1980) 1 SCC 81. (2014). 26. Ibid., 85. 3. In this essay, our emphasis is on evaluating the 27. Ibid. inclusive nature of formal legal systems. Informal 28. Ibid., 86. institutions and networks are not under its purview. 29. (2012) 1 SCC 40. 4. Hussainara Khatoon (I) v. Union of India, (1980) 1 30. (2012) 1 SCC 40, 52. SCC 81, 83. 31. (2012) 1 SCC 40, 63. 5. (2015) 13 SCC 605. 32. State of Rajashtan v. Balchand, (1978) 4 SCC 308, 6. Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273. 308. See also: Sibiddharam Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of 33. (1978) 1 SCC 240, 242. Maharashtra, (2011) 1 SCC 694. 34. Ibid., 244. 7. India ratiied the convention while making certain 35. Ibid., 246. declarations which deferred to the Constitution of 36. (1980) 1 SCC 98. India regarding certain articles. 37. (1980 1 SCC 98, 103. 8. Noor Aga v. State of Punjab, (2008) 16 SCC 417. 38. (1981) 1 SCC 627. 9. See Ibid. 39. Ibid., 631. 10. Vaman Narain Ghiya v. State of Rajasthan, (2009) 2 40. (1986) 2 SCC 401. SCC 281. 41. See: Nandini Satpathy v. P.L. Dani, (1978) 2 SCC 11. Ibid., 287. 44, D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal, (1997) 1 SCC 12. Ibid. See also: Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public 416, State (NCT of Delhi) v. Navjot Sandhu, (2005) Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, (1978) 11 SCC 600, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence v. 1 SCC 240, 245. Jugal Kisore Samra, (2011) 12 SCC 362. 13. Ibid. 42. State (NCT of Delhi) v. Navjot Sandhu, (2005) 11 14. (2011) 1 SCC 694. SCC 600. 15. Ibid., 709. 43. Para. 167.

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44. Noor Aga, para. 71. 62. Calculated from igures in Item 3.4 from UP Prison 45. (2014) 4 SCC 747. Statistics provided in Annexure II of Centre for 46. Debbarma, para 39. Equity Studies (2016). 47. Chapter XXIA, Cr.P.C. 63. Calculated from Govt. of India. (2015). NCRB 48. Lok Sabha Debates: Motion for consideration of Prison Statistics in India: ‘Table 5.2 – Demographic the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2005 on 22 Proile of Undertrial Prisoners at the end of 2015’ December, 2005. p. 102. An undertrial prisoner is one against whom 49. Section 265A(1), Cr.P.C. there is a charge of violation of law, but against 50. Section 265B(2), Cr.P.C. whom this charge has yet not been proven, and who 51. Section 265B(4), Cr.P.C. is being kept in judicial custody and has not been 52. Section 265C, Cr.P.C. released on bail. he individual remains in prison 53. Sections 265C, Cr.P.C. till he or she is released on bail, or is discharged or 54. Section 265E, Cr.P.C. acquitted in the case, or is convicted and released 55. Section 265G, Cr.P.C. on completion of sentence, payment of ine, 56. Section 265A(1), Cr.P.C. See also Commonwealth admonition, or probation. Human Rights Initiative, 2009. 64. Muslims constituted 14.23 per cent of the national 57. When police personnel were asked across districts population based on Census of India 2011 igures. about their perceptions regarding the purpose of 65. AIR 1994 SC 1349. arrest, their responses indicated two broad aims: 66. AIR 1997 SC 610. irst, arrest for the prevention or control of crime 67. Centre for Equity Studies (2016). (including through preventive detention provisions 68. Ibid., p. 66. A range of reasons for the variation in the Cr.P.C. such as u/s. 151 Cr.P.C. but also in percentages of those securing bail at the police through targeted arrests for ofences under Special station were provided by police personnel across Acts such as the Excise Act, Arms Act, NDPS Act districts, some of which were reported across and UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act which districts, and others unique to speciic practices and they consider as being ‘preventive’ as they are ‘the local contexts. root of crime’ or ‘lead to larger crimes’). Second, 69. Ibid., p. 74. Ofences included s. 60 Excise Act arrest to ensure remand. Practices encouraging (possession of more than 1.5 litres of liquor), s. 13 arrests under these Acts as targets for police stations Gambling Act, s. 279, 304A and 338 IPC, s. 279 and were also reported by a few interviewees, including 338 IPC, s. 309 IPC, s. 323, 325 and 504 IPC, and s. sub-inspectors. Recording information under these 60 r/w s. 72 Excise Act. ofences was therefore brought under the ambit of 70. Ibid., p. 75. this study. For more details, please see: CES study 71. Ibid., p. 76. pp. 37–43 and 50–60. 72. Section 294, IPC punishes doing an obscene act, or 58. For methodology and data sources, please see pp. uttering/singing/reciting an obscene song/ballad/ 16–35 of the CES study cited above. words, in public. 59. he districts covered were Saharanpur and 73. Ibid., p. 77 Ofences included s. 3 r/w s. 4 of the Ghaziabad in the west, Banda and Kheri in central Gambling Act, s. 60 Excise Act, s. 294 IPC, s. 143 UP and Mau in east UP. Six jails were covered—the Railways Act, and s. 145 and 156 Railways Act. District Jails in each of the district, as well as the Sub 74. Ibid., p. 78. Jail in Deoband, Saharanpur. 75. Ibid., p. 77. 60. Calculated from Govt. of India. (2015). NCRB 76. Ibid., p. 79. Prison Statistics in India: ‘Table 5.2 – Demographic 77. Ibid. Proile of Undertrial Prisoners at the end of 2015 78. Reproduced from CES study, p. 88. (Continued)’p. 103. Religion-wise population: 79. Writers are undertrials and convicts who work in 69.77 (Hindu); 20.94 (Muslim); 3.87 (Sikh); 3.67 undertrial and convict oices in the respective jails (Christian); 1.76 (Others) Caste-wise population: where they are incarcerated. It is a position that is 21.67 (Scheduled Caste); 12.41 (Scheduled Tribe); vied for, as it enables the inmate to assist in oice 31.48 (Other Backward Classes); 34.43 (General). work while also getting access to certain informal Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://ncrb. privileges. A strong culture was observed across nic.in/StatPublications/PSI/Prison2015/TABLE- jails of persons in relative positions of power within 5.2.pdf the prison encouraging inmates to plea bargain. See 61. Ibid. CES study, pp. 109–110.

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80. Ibid., pp. 91–92. 95. Case of Mohan, p. 110. 81. For the given period, out of the 486 UTPs u/s. 4 96. Section 41(1)(b)(ii), Cr.P.C. r/w s. 25 Arms Act, 347 secured release through 97. See also Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 bail, 132 obtained convictions and secured release SCC 273. through plea bargaining, and the remaining 7 UTPs 98. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), pp. 38 and 71. were still in jail at the time of data collection. he 99. Ibid., p. 89. percentage of those plea bargaining was 27.58. 100. Figures calculated from Govt. of India. (2015). 82. For the given period, out of the 251 UTPs charged NCRB Prison Statistics in India: Table 11.1 – u/s. 4 r/w s. 25 Arms Act, 167 UTPs secured release Sanctioned and Actual Strength of Jail Oicers/Staf through bail, and 84 UTPs secured release by as on 31 December 2015. New Delhi. Pp. 146–149. obtaining convictions through plea bargaining. he 101. Including ‘Head Warder’, ‘Warder’, and ‘Others’. percentage of those plea bargaining was 33.47. 102. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. 30. 83. Centre for Equity Studies (2016). 103. Ibid., p. 95. 84. For more details, see: Bureau of Police Research 104. See Pawan Kumar v. State of Haryana and Anr1996 and Development. (1980). Report of the hird SCC (4) 17. National Police Commission; Law Commission 105. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. 112. of India. (1994). One Hundred and Fity Second 106. he authors suggest that action may be ‘collaborative’, Report on Custodial Crimes. New Delhi: GoI; through civic cooperation, or ‘adversarial’, through Law Commission of India. (1996). One Hundred political opposition and social criticism. and Fity Fourth Report on he Code of Criminal 107. Many of these recommendations are a subset of Procedure. New Delhi: GoI as cited in Centre for those included in the CES study, pp. 126–132. Equity Studies. (2016). Access to Justice in Uttar 108. Emphasized also in Pawan Kumar v. State of Pradesh: A Pilot Study in Five Districts. p. 31. Haryana and Anr1996 SCC (4) 17. 85. Ibid., pp. 42 and 56. 109. Standard Operating Procedures available on the 86. (2015) 13 SCC 605. NALSA website at http://nalsa.gov.in/sites/default/ 87. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 406/2013. files/document/SOP-%20Persons%20in%20 88. Allahabad High Court Crl. PIL no. 2357 of 1997. Custody.pdf 89. his was based on data gathering from the UP 110. Detailed analysis of the Supreme Court orders are State Legal Aid Services Authority (UPSLSA), and available on the Commonwealth Human Rights DLSA oices, as well as interviews with jail staf and Initiative website at http://www.humanrightsinitiative. inmates. org/download/1475562698Guiding%20Note%20 90. he position of Secretary DLSA is usually assigned on%20the%20expanded%20mandate%20of%20 to a judge of the rank of Civil Judge (Senior the%20UTRC.pdf Division). 111. (2014) 8 SCC 273. 91. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. 99. 112. Section 41(1)(b), Cr.P.C. 92. he 245th Law Commission Report titled ‘Arrears 113. Crl. A. No. 249/2011. and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial (wo) 114. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. 96: he jail manpower’ deines ‘Delay’ as ‘A case that has been visitor in Banda reported that he was not allowed to in the Court/judicial system for longer than the go into the barracks and usually met inmates in the normal time that it should take for a case of that Superintendent or Jailor’s oice. type to be disposed of.’ Applied to cases pertaining 115. Allahabad High Court (Right to Information) to petty ofences under the Excise Act, Arms Act and Rules, 2006: http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/rti/. NDPS Act which are tried in subordinate courts, we As referenced in Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. have assumed a reasonable trial completion period 117. of three years. he cut-of period for calculating 116. Govt. of India (2015) NCRB Prison Statistics in delays based on year-wise pendency igures would India 2015: Table M.6 ‘Rehabilitation of Prisoners therefore be cases pending since 2011 and earlier, as during the Year 2015’. he igure provided for total data collection took place in the year 2015. number of people being provided with legal aid was 93. Data calculated from Annexure XIV of Centre for 94,673, without an explanation of what ‘legal aid’ Equity Studies (2016). Data from select courts in entails or how the data was tabulated at the prisons. each district was unavailable. 117. NCRB Crime Stats 2014, Table 4.7: ‘Disposal of SLL 94. Data from select courts in each district was Criminal Cases by Courts During 2014’. as cited in unavailable. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), p. 125.

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118. Ibid. of the CES study data cannot possibly account for 119. Ghaziabad, Kheri, Mau and Saharanpur. the number of cases exceeded over the estimate 120. Centre for Equity Studies (2016), pp. 117–125. provided by the NCRB. We concur that the additional ive-month period

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Sen, A. & Drèze, J. (1989). Hunger and Public Action. Oxford: Suryanarayan, J. (n.d.). Early Access to Legal Aid: Stages of Clarendon Press. Pre-Arrest and Arrest. Brieing Paper. New Delhi, India: Subramanian, S. et al. (2016). Social support system of Hijras Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. and other trans women populations in 17 states of India. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research,6(4), 8–17.

158 SECTION II Wall painting as a mode of public disclosure of expenditure of a particular government program, i.e., MGNREGA Photo Credit: Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture Implications for Public Provisioning in Social Sectors

Subrat Das, Amar Chanchal and Jawed Alam Khan*

1. Context, Scope and public expenditure in the country, the priority for Methodology of the Analysis social sectors (i.e., sectors like education, health, drinking water and sanitation, and social security 1.1 Context measures, among others, which are primarily the India’s federal iscal architecture has witnessed a areas where the poor and underprivileged sections number of substantive changes over the last couple are dependent on public provisioning of services of years. Replacing the Planning Commission to a much greater extent) has not been very high with NITI Aayog has changed the institutional because of a number of reasons. As a result, the set-up of policymaking at the national level; the country has grappled with the problem of under- recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance funding of public services in social sectors for Commission (FFC) have led to signiicant changes decades now. In such a scenario, any assessment of in the domain of resource-sharing between the India’s iscal policy from the perspective of social union (or centre) and the states; and the decision inclusion needs to probe the developments that by the union government to drop the distinction are likely to afect the adequacy of public resources between Plan and Non-plan1 expenditures in its for social sectors, which is what this chapter is budgets (starting from the inancial year 2017– primarily concerned with. 18) is going to change the way public spending is he recommendations of the Fourteenth designed, reported and carried out in the country. Finance Commission or FFC (meant for the years One of the important questions that arises in the 2015–16 to 2019–20), which were accepted by the context of such changes pertains to the impact of union government in February 2015 and adopted the same on the responsiveness of India’s iscal for implementation from inancial year 2015–16 policy to social inclusion. onwards, have implications for public inancing of India’s iscal policy has been marked for long government services and interventions in a range by a relatively low level of tax-GDP ratio and the of sectors. Based on the recommendations of the consequent limited iscal policy space available FFC, the union government is now sharing a higher to the country for public expenditure. Within magnitude of untied funds with the states, which the comparatively lower magnitude of overall is on account of the share of states in the divisible

* The authors of this chapter are working with Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi. This chapter is based on the ongoing research at CBGA on prioriies in State Budgets in the new iscal architecture in India. The authors are grateful to Dr N. C. Saxena and Mr Ravi Duggal for their comments and suggesions on the drat version of this chap ter.

161 India Exclusion Report pool of central taxes being raised from 32 per cent untied funds to compensate for the reduced budget (that had prevailed during 2010–11 to 2014–15) to outlays by the union government. Nonetheless, 42 per cent every year. his was a quantum jump the net efect in terms of the overall quantum of in the share of states in the divisible pool of central funds transferred from union to state is positive taxes, which had earlier hovered around the 30 per for the states and, more importantly, every state cent mark during the recommendation periods of government now has a much greater proportion of the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Finance Commissions untied funds in its budget. (i.e., during 1995–96 to 2014–15). Following this kind of restructuring, there has But, the considerable increase in the magnitude been an intense debate on the adequacy of overall of untied resources transferred to states since 2015– budgetary resources (i.e., taking into account both 16 has been accompanied by signiicant reductions the union budget and state budget outlays) for the in union government’s inancial assistance to states social sectors. for their Plan spending (i.e., the Central Assistance It has been argued that the ability of the poorer for State Plan) and its budget outlays for a number states to expand their iscal space with own revenue of central schemes in diferent sectors. In several of collection is limited. Moreover, the competition the development programmes, especially the social for budgetary resources across sectors could be sector schemes, the states are now expected to more intense in these states. However, if the social provide additional budgetary resources from their sectors are not given adequate levels of priority

Box 1: Debate following the FFC Report and Restructuring of the Union Budget since 2015–16 Following the report of the FFC and restructuring of the union budget, there has been intense debate around two objectives or priorities, viz., the objective of increasing the autonomy of the State Governments in setting the spending priorities in their budgets, and that of ensuring adequate budgetary resources for the social sectors and development programmes for the vulnerable sections of the population (taking into account both the union budget and state budget outlays for these sectors). While a major push has been given to the irst objective, i.e., greater autonomy of State Governments in setting their spending priorities, in the recommendations of the FFC and the consequent restructuring of the union budget in 2015–16, apprehensions have been raised that the second objective may get compromised in the coming years at least in some of the states with relatively poor iscal health and lower levels of economic development. his is largely because of the limited ability of the poorer states to expand their iscal space with own revenue collection and the fact that they also face more acute shortages of funds for other sectors such as general administration, law and order, and infrastructure. Hence, the competition for budgetary resources could be more intense in these states and the social sectors may not be given the priority for resources that are needed; this could aggravate the problem of regional disparity in the longer run. Although, we may note here that both of the above-mentioned objectives could be pursued together if the tax-GDP ratio of the country is stepped up visibly.

162 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture for resources in these states, it could aggravate the Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are economically problem of regional disparity in the country in the more developed and hence have a stronger ability to long run. Hence, it is pertinent to delve deeper into expand their iscal space with own tax and non-tax this debate of restructuring of union budget and revenue, the other eight states are relatively more state budgets from the lens of public spending on dependent on the transfer of union resources for social sectors in the country. inancing their public expenditure. Until 2013–14, the union budget outlays for 1.2 Objective a host of central schemes (like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Health Mission and MGNREGA, In such a backdrop, the present chapter examines among others) were getting transferred directly the issue of prioritization of budgetary resources to autonomous bank accounts of the agencies set for social sectors in the changed milieu, focusing up for implementing those schemes, and hence on select states. he state budget expenditures/ the state budget documents did not capture the allocations for the last three inancial years, viz. complete allocations/outlays (i.e., central and state 2014–15 (Actuals), 2015–16 (Revised Estimates) share combined) for several of the central schemes. and 2016–17 (Budget Estimates)2, are analysed to However, since 2014–15, the central shares of address questions like, outlays for all schemes are lowing through the • What has been the impact of the FFC state budgets and the budget documents of states recommendations and restructuring of union do report the entire outlays for all central schemes. budget on the overall spending capacity of herefore, in order to ensure comparability of the state governments? budget igures, we examine in this chapter the • Given their increased autonomy in state budget expenditures/allocations in 2014–15 setting spending priorities, have the state (Actual Expenditure), 2015–16 (Revised Estimates) governments reprioritized their budgets and 2016–17 (Budget Estimates). signiicantly in 2015–16 and 2016–17? he data for 2014–15 are actual expenditure • If they have done so, what has happened (AE) for that year; this is the latest inancial year to the priority for social sectors in the state for which expenditure igures audited and certiied budgets in the new scenario? by the country’s supreme audit institution were available in the public domain. he data for 2015– What can we infer about the impact of the • 16 are revised estimates (RE), but this was the irst FFC recommendations and restructuring of year of implementation of FFC recommendations union budget on the responsiveness of India’s and hence many states made adjustments during iscal policy to social inclusion on the basis the course of the inancial year through additional of the trends and patterns emerging over the outlays for various departments and schemes in last two years? two to three Supplementary Budgets for the year. he data for the latest inancial year, 2016–17, are 1.3 Scope of the Analysis budget estimates (BE) for the year. he analysis presented here covers 10 states, viz., It could be argued that since the igures for 2016– Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya 17 and 2015–16 are approved outlays/allocations, Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil we should compare those with the approved Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. Among these, while outlays for 2014–15 instead of actual expenditures

163 India Exclusion Report for that year. However, in the process of budgeting which Demands have been clubbed together for for various sectors and government interventions, arriving at sector-speciic total allocation igures in state inance departments usually refer to the the case of diferent states. A note of caution here actual expenditures in the previous years while is that the data on diferent sector-wise allocations determining allocations for the most recent or the might not be strictly comparable across states, since ensuing inancial years. Hence, taking the actual the composition of Departments/Demands is not expenditures for 2014–15 in the analysis enables us completely uniform across states. However, for any to clearly identify the priorities of the state inance selected state, the igures for the three years are fully departments for various sectors and interventions comparable. in their respective state budgets for 2015–16 and In the analysis of the sector-wise priorities in 2016–17—the irst two years of implementation the state budgets, the chapter covers 13 diferent of the FFC recommendations, which have given sectors, which are as listed out below: the states a lot more lexibility in deciding budget priorities for diferent areas. i. Education ii. Health iii. Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.4 Methodology iv. Social Welfare All igures for the state budget expenditures/ v. Agriculture and Allied Sectors (viz. allocations for 2014–15 (AE), 2015–16 (RE) and Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries) 2016–17 (BE) have been taken from the latest vi. Irrigation and Water Resources budget documents of the respective states (i.e., state vii. Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies budgets for 2016–17). he igures for the Gross State viii. Rural Development Domestic Product (GSDP) of the selected states are ix. Panchayati Raj also from the budget documents (or, in case of a few x. Urban Development and Housing states, from publications of the RBI). xi. Power and Energy In the analysis of the sector-wise priorities xii. Public works, and within the state budgets, the total expenditure/ xiii. Forest & Environment allocation igures for diferent sectors are based Of these, sectors (i) to (ix) have been clubbed on the allocations for one or more Departments together in some parts of the analysis and referred reported in the Detailed Demands for Grants to as ‘Social Sectors’, which is a much broader (which are the most detailed budget documents) deinition of social sectors than what is usually in the state budgets. Annexure Table 5 explains found in budget documents.

(A). Social Services– (B). Social Sectors– (C). Social Sectors– as per the union budget and as per RBI’s publication State in the present analysis state budget documents Finances: A Study of Budgets Education, Health & Family Social Services as in (A), and, Social Sectors as in (B), and, Welfare, Drinking Water & Rural Development, and Food Panchayati Raj, Agriculture & Sanitation, Nutrition, Social Storage & Warehousing. Allied Sectors (Animal Husbandry, Security & Welfare, Welfare of Dairy, Fisheries), Irrigation & Water Backward Sections, Sports, Art Resources, and Cooperation and & Culture, etc. Food & Civil Supplies.

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A number of sectors other than the social sectors for social sectors, examining the tax policy [i.e., sectors (x) to (xiii) in the list stated above] have and tax administration related issues in the been covered in the analysis in order to gauge the country is beyond the scope of this chapter. reprioritization (if any) in state budgets among iii. Likewise, a number of problems are there in diferent sectors. the domain of utilization of budget outlays in the social sectors; budget ‘outlays’ also need 1.5 Limitations to translate efectively into better ‘outputs and services’ on the ground, which in turn A few caveats need to be kept in mind while should lead to better development ‘outcomes’. interpreting the indings of the analysis in this hese issues too are not within the scope of chapter, which are as stated in the following: the analysis presented here. i. In the year 2014–15, the levels of budgetary spending on most social sector schemes administered by the union ministries had 2. Landscape of Centre-State Fiscal been less(in constant prices or real terms) Relations in India until 2014–15 than those in the previous couple of years, 2.1 Evolution of Centre-State Fiscal which was considered to be a kind of an Relations outlier. One of the reasons due to which the actual expenditures (AE) in 2014–15 he issues pertaining to iscal relations between fell far short of the Budget Estimates (BE) union and state governments in India have been for that year was the decision by the union discussed largely around the inter-governmental government to contain the Fiscal Deicit (i.e., allocation and transfer of funds. he evolution of the amount of borrowing done by the union iscal relations between the union government and government in a inancial year). What this states had started with the system of Diarchy as per implies for our analysis is that the baseline the Government of India Act, 1919.3 During the with which we are comparing the igures for 1920s, inancial contributions used to be made by budgetary outlays in 2015–16 and 2016–17 the provinces to the central government. is itself on the lower side. And, hence, any Ater independence, a quasi-federal increase in the levels of budget allocation Constitution was adopted with centralizing in 2015–16 and 2016–17, as compared to tendencies; the Constitution of India provides for a 2014–15, need not indicate that the amount division of responsibilities between the union (or of public resources being allocated for a centre) and states with regard to various areas of sector in the recent years is ‘adequate’. In fact, governance. here is a Union List, a State List and a this chapter focuses mainly on the trends Concurrent List enumerating the division of power between 2014–15 to 2016–17 and does not to legislate on diferent subjects as well as the power try to assess the ‘adequacy’ of total public of revenue collection and areas of expenditure. In resources allocated to any of the sectors terms of division of powers and responsibilities, covered. the Union List mainly covers matters of national ii. While the country’s low tax-GDP ratio importance such as state governments’ defence, (around 17 per cent) seems to be at the root transportation, infrastructure, international of the problem we are discussing, i.e., the trade and macroeconomic management. As per inadequacy of overall budgetary resources the provisions made in the State List, states are

165 India Exclusion Report given regional matters and issues considered to translated into a division of expenditure respon- be more important at the state level such as law sibilities and taxation powers between the two. he and order, public health, sanitation, housing, state governments have been vested with the powers irrigation, agriculture, and local governments. he to levy certain types of taxes and duties, and they Concurrent List includes sectors such as education, mobilize their own revenues from all such sources. contracts, matters of bankruptcy and insolvency, However, there is a vertical imbalance between economic and social planning, employment and the powers of the states and the union to raise labour welfare, electricity, stamp duties and any revenue through taxes and duties in comparison other sector which requires consensus between the to their expenditure requirements. he powers union and states. of revenue mobilization vested with the states are A few decades later, through the 73rd and 74th insuicient to help them mobilize resources that Constitution Amendment Acts, 1992, a major would meet their total expenditure requirements. process of iscal decentralization was initiated in his kind of a vertical imbalance was built into the the country to empower local governments in iscal architecture of India keeping in mind the need terms of their revenue and spending capacity. Ater for union government’s interventions to address these amendments, state governments evolved the horizontal imbalance, i.e., the limited ability of their own rules for devolving iscal power to local some of the states to mobilize adequate resources governments and the extent of devolution was let from within their state economies. In the iscal to the states to decide according to local needs; as a architecture that has evolved in India, a signiicant result, it has varied widely across the states. amount of inancial resources are transferred from the union government every year to every state he division of the roles and responsibilities government so as to enable the state governments between the union government and state to meet their expenditure requirements. governments, given in the Constitution, has

Box 2: Division of Taxation Powers between the Three Tiers of Governments in India In India, the power to levy taxes and duties has been divided among the governments at the three tiers, i.e., union government, state governments, and local bodies. his division follows speciic provisions in the Indian Constitution. Union Government has been vested with the power to levy: Income Tax (except tax on agricultural income, which the state governments can levy); Customs duties; Central Excise; Sales Tax; and Service Tax. State Governments have been vested with the power to levy: Sales Tax (a tax on intra-state sale of goods)—the system of Sales Tax levied by state governments was replaced with Value Added Tax(VAT) a decade ago; Stamp Duty (a duty on transfer of property); State Excise (a duty on manufacture of alcohol); Land Revenue (a levy on land used for agricultural/non-agricultural purposes); Duty on Entertainment; and Tax on Professions. Local Bodies have been empowered to levy: tax on properties (buildings, etc.); Octroi (a tax on entry of goods for use/consumption within areas of the Local Bodies); Tax on Markets; and Tax/User Charges for utilities like water supply, drainage, etc.

166 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

In fact, for any State, a large part of the state Commission had the responsibility of making government’s total revenues is provided by the an assessment of all resources of the country, union government in the form of: a share in tax augmenting deicient resources, formulating plans revenue collected by the centre, grants, and loans. for efective and balanced utilization of resources A part of the grants are ‘untied’ (i.e., not tied to and determining priorities. he most important any speciic spending programme designed by the suggestions made by the Planning Commission union government), which are also known as ‘block were those relating to: the magnitude of funds to grants’ or ‘general purpose grants’. But, a sizable be given from union budget to diferent states and chunk of the union government’s grants for a state union territories as ‘Central Assistance for State used to be ‘tied’ or ‘speciic purpose’ grants. We may and UT Plans’, and the magnitude of funds to be note here that starting from the iscal year 2005–6, given to Central Ministries/Departments for Plan the union government had sharply reduced ‘loans’ expenditure on the Central Schemes. Moreover, for the states, following the recommendation of the the need for focusing on the concerns of the 12th Finance Commission. disadvantaged sections of population was also a core area of development planning in the country; Among these diferent types of funds which low since the 1970s, the Planning Commission had from the union budget into the budgets of states, initiated several measures to provide policy-driven the share of a state in the tax revenue collected by beneits to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, the centre and ‘untied’ grants for the state have women and religious minorities. always been based on some pre-designed formula (accepted by both centre and the states). hese Both the institutions, Finance Commission and formula-based fund transfers from union budget to Planning Commission, played vital roles in terms the state budget were based on recommendations of devolving funds and working towards reducing of the central Finance Commission and the central regional imbalances in the country. he Finance Planning Commission. Commission has generally been viewed as a neutral institution with no bias either in favour of the states A Finance Commission is set up once every ive or the centre. However, some observers have pointed years to recommend on sharing of inancial resources out that starting with the 10th Finance Commission, between the union and the states, a major part of a clear tilt towards promoting the conservative which pertains to the sharing of revenue collected iscal policy of the centre and dominance of the in the Central Tax System.4 he most important centre in the overall iscal architecture had been recommendations made by the Finance Commission witnessed in the recommendations of the Finance have been those relating to: the distribution of the Commissions. he Planning Commission, however, tax revenue mobilized under the central tax system had been criticized by many observers (and several between the centre and the states; the allocation of state governments) for accentuating the dominance the respective shares of such tax revenue among of the centre in the country’s iscal architecture the diferent states; and the principles which should especially over the last one and a half decades. In govern the grants-in-aid for the states to be provided 2015, the Planning Commission was scrapped out of the Consolidated Fund of India. and a new institution called National Institution he Planning Commission is not mentioned in for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) was created. the Constitution of India; it was set up as an advisory Also, as mentioned earlier, the Five Year Planning and specialized institution by a resolution of the process in the country will end with the completion union government in March 1950. he Planning of the 12th Plan by March 2017.

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2.2 Issues in Centre-State Sharing of that with multiple agencies being involved in fund Resources transfers, it was diicult to ensure that the transfer As regards centre-state iscal relations and fund system met the desired objectives. transfers to the states, a number of issues had been It can be argued that the iscal policies adopted in pointed out over the last few decades. For instance, India since the early 1990s strengthened the Centre’s Rao (2000) had argued that there were several position vis-à-vis the states in terms of control over anomalies in the iscal assignments both between iscal resources. he trends in gross devolution the Centre and states and between states and local and transfers (GDT) from the Centre to states as bodies; hence, there was a need to rationalize percentages of the country’s Gross Domestic Product the iscal assignment system to enable the (GDP), as well as the trends in GDT as percentages decentralized governments to raise revenues and of aggregate disbursements by state governments, incur expenditures according to the preferences showed a decline over the last two and a half decades, and priorities in their areas. It was also argued as demonstrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Sharing of Resources between Centre and States in India: Gross Devolution and Transfers from Centre to States Year Gross Devolution and Transfers GDT as Percentage GDT as Percentage (GDT) from Centre to States* of Gross Domestic of Aggregate (in Rs. Crore) Product Disbursements of States 1988–89 30,333 7.1 45.2 1989–90 32,862 6.7 42.8 1990–91 40,859 7.2 44.9 1998–99 102,268 5.8 39.1 1999–00 95,652 4.9 31.1 2000–01 106,730 5.1 31.4 2001–02 119,213 5.2 32.3 2002–03 128,656 5.2 31.4 2003–04 143,783 5.2 28.0 2004–05 160,750 5.0 29.0 2005–06 178,871 4.8 31.8 2006–07 220,462 5.1 33.5 2007–08 267,276 5.4 35.5 2008–09 297,980 5.3 33.8 2009–10 324,090 5.0 31.9 2010–11 392,460 5.0 33.9 2011–12 438,430 4.9 30.6 2012–13 497,900 5.0 30.5 2013–14 595,630 5.2 - Source: CBGA (2013) Note: *Gross Devolution and Transfers (GDT) include States’ Shares of Central Taxes, Grants from the Centre, and Gross Loans from the Centre.

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hus, the overall volume of iscal resources Table 2: Tax GDP-ratio in India transferred from the Centre to states did not keep (Combined Centre and States) pace with the growth in expenditure commitments Years Direct tax Indirect tax Total Tax- by the states. Moreover, the composition of the revenue revenue GDP ratio overall volume of iscal resources transferred from 1990–91 2.09 12.87 14.96 the Centre to the states had changed in terms of the 2000–1 3.31 10.77 14.08 share of untied resources in total annual transfers 2006–7 5.39 11.77 17.15 falling in the last decade and a half. Many experts 2007–8 6.39 11.06 17.45 were of the opinion that India’s policies in the 2008–9 5.83 10.43 16.26 domain of Centre-state sharing of resources over 2009–10 5.82 9.63 15.45 the past decade and a half had neglected the need for greater magnitudes of untied resources to be 2010–11 5.78 10.53 16.31 transferred to state governments; the transfers of 2011–12 5.57 10.73 16.29 resources tied to the conditions and guidelines of 2012–13 5.62 11.35 16.97 central ministries had increased during this period. 2013–14 5.70 11.39 17.09 (RE) Over the past decade, the country’s tax-GDP 2014–15 5.81 11.57 17.38 ratio—the combined igure for taxes raised by the (BE) Centre and states—has been around 17 per cent or less, which is much lower than the tax-GDP Source: Indian Public Finance Statistics, 2014–15, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Afairs, Economic Division. ratios of many of the other Group of Twenty (G20) countries and some of the other BRICS countries. For instance, the tax-GDP ratio for the year 2010 2.3 Limited Fiscal Policy Space and was just 16.3 per cent for India, while it was a much Implications for Public Provisioning in higher 33.2 per cent for Brazil and 33.8 per cent Social Sectors for the OECD countries on an average (Khan and As shown in Table 3 below, India’s total public Das 2014). Table 2 shows the magnitude of total tax expenditure as a proportion of the country’s GDP GDP ratio, this includes both the direct tax revenue has been stagnant at around 27 per cent since 1991. and indirect tax revenue from 1990–91 to 2014–15. It also shows that in total public spending, state It can be seen that the total tax-GDP ratio ranged budgets have contributed around half of the total from 15 per cent to 17 per cent over this period. he expenditure. indirect tax revenue contributes a large share in the It is also the case that a much larger part of total tax-GDP ratio. It can be said that India has followed public expenditure on social sectors in India has a somewhat regressive tax policy over the years with come from state budgets. However, over the last excessive dependence on indirect tax revenue. decade, in their attempts to eliminate the Revenue hus, the overall magnitude of public resources Deicits in their budgets (and show a Revenue available to the government in India has been Surplus, in some cases), many states limited their inadequate in comparison to several other countries, long-term expenditure commitments, particularly mainly owing to the low magnitude of tax revenue in social sectors, by freezing recruitment of staf on collected in the country. his problem of limited regular cadres. An analysis of the iscal policies of iscal policy space has aggravated the challenges in states, especially those showing a Revenue Surplus the domain of Centre-state sharing of resources in in their budgets such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh, the country. and Bihar, among others, reveals similar trends of

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Table 3: Total Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP including Centre and States Combined Union Govt. GDP at current Combined States’ Share Expenditure Expenditure prices Share in GDP in Rs Crore in Percent 1990–91 155141 100884 586212 26.46 17.21 2000–1 552124 313011 2168652 25.46 14.43 2006–7 1086592 564934 4294706 25.30 13.15 2007–8 1243598 701985 4987090 24.94 14.08 2008–9 1519081 874831 5630063 26.98 15.54 2009–10 1814610 1013193 6477827 28.01 15.64 2010–11 2105695 1187898 7795314 27.01 15.24 2011–12 2381434 1286997 9009722 26.43 14.28 2012–13 2649263 1393577 10113281 26.20 13.78 2013–14 (RE) 3152934 1575061 11355073 27.77 13.87 2014-15 (BE) 3537504 1779442 12876653 27.47 13.82 Source: Indian Public Finance Statistics, 2014-2015, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Afairs, Economic Division. freezing recruitment in regular cadre posts for a Expenditure gets treated (in some of the literature long time. on public inance) as expenditure meant for ‘current In the budgetary classiication in India, consumption’, which is debatable. One interesting government expenditure that does not lead to example of following a better practice in this regard any increase in the physical/inancial assets is from Bhutan; expenditure on training/capacity or a reduction in the inancial liabilities of the strengthening of government staf there gets government is reported in the Revenue Account; it is reported as Capital Expenditure based on the logic referred to as Revenue Expenditure. Consequently, that the beneits from the same would continue to large proportions of expenditure in human resource low even beyond the particular inancial year in intensive sectors like education and health get which the expenditure is incurred. But, in India, such reported as Revenue Expenditure. Over the last one expenditure on enhancing the skills and capacities of and a half decades, the advice by iscal policymakers staf gets reported as Revenue Expenditure since it to state governments for eliminating the deicit in does not increase the physical/inancial assets of the their Revenue Account (i.e., not borrowing at all government. It could be argued, in this context, that for inancing Revenue Expenditure and borrowing there is a need for revisiting the Revenue–Capital only for Capital Expenditure) has resulted in the classiication in government expenditure in India. states trying to check the growth of expenditure However, the maximum impact of this approach in social sectors over time. his has also been due of eliminating the Revenue Deicit by checking to the fact that some of the other areas of Revenue the growth of Revenue Expenditure has been on Expenditure such as interest payments, pensions, expenditure on staf both in regular cadres as well etc., are non-negotiable. as contractual staf across sectors. We need to Although the long-term beneits of public acknowledge that India is facing a dual challenge: provisioning of services in the social sectors are of problems in rational deployment of government well-recognized, the entire quantum of Revenue staf (i.e., higher concentration of staf in urban

170 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture centres as compared to rural areas and remote public expenditure in these sectors’ (Das, 2017). As habitations) and increasing levels of salaries for regards the availability of total staf in the expanded government staf in regular cadres (attributed largely government sector in India (i.e., including the to the recommendations of the 5th Pay Commission Central government, state governments, local bodies, of the late 1990s and the 6th Pay Commission of the and quasi-government institutions such as the public last decade) on the one hand, and, shortages in the sector enterprises) as a proportion of the country’s overall numbers of staf available for government population, the evidence available shows that, as services and interventions on the other. of 2010, India had approximately 1.6 government sector personnel for every 100 residents (even when A number of studies have pointed out that staf we include the contractual staf in the government shortage has emerged as one of the major challenges sector); this is relatively low when compared to in public service delivery in India; also, the gap the much higher igure of 5.9 government sector is more acute for skilled/technical staf positions personnel for every 100 residents in Brazil or the compared to unskilled/support staf positions. In igure of 3.9 government sector personnel for every this context, it has been argued that ‘acute shortage 100 residents in Mexico (Das, 2017). of staf, especially skilled employees, across a range of administrative units at the subnational level, his problem of shortage in the overall numbers which are vested with the responsibilities of planning of staf available for government services and and implementing government interventions for interventions appears to be more acute in the crucial social sectors, has resulted in poor quality of social sectors. For instance, Box 3 below indicates

Box 3: Shortages in Human Resources and Infrastructure in Public Sector Healthcare in India A: Status of Human Resources in the Health Sector in India—Select Indicators

Obstetricians & Doctors SCs without SCs without Nursing Total Specialists at Gynecologists at at PHCs both HW both HW (F)/ Staf at PHCs CHCs (Surgeons, CHCs shortfall shortfall (%) (M&F) (%) ANM (%) and CHCs OB&GY, Physicians, (%) shortfall (%) and Pediatricians) shortfall (%) 76 12 3.3 5 7 81 B: Status of Health Infrastructure in India—Select Indicators

Sub Centres Primary Health Centres With Without Without Without With With Without Without Without ANM Regular Regular All Labour Operation Regular Regular All living Water Electricity Weather Room heatre Electricity Water Weather in SC Supply Motorable Supply Motorable Quarter Approach Approach Road Road 65.3 28.4 25.6 11.2 70.4 39 4.4 7 6.9 Source: Compiled by CBGA from Rural Health Statistics, 2015

171 India Exclusion Report the extent of human resource shortage in public 3. Changes in the Fiscal sector healthcare in India. However, there are also Architecture since 2015–16 and shortages in infrastructure for public provisioning their Implications of some of the essential services; Box 4 presents some indicators again from the health sector. As stated earlier, the landscape of iscal policy and budgetary processes in India has witnessed What this makes evident is the need for urgent a number of changes over the last two years; the attention to be paid to the adequacy of the overall recommendations of the FFC and the consequent public resource envelope available for crucial restructuring of the union budget has led to the social sectors in the country. We should also take most noticeable changes in this sphere. into account the fact that it is equally important to improve public expenditure management in India In 2015, the NITI Aayog constituted a Sub- so as to get better results from government spending group of Chief Ministers of states to develop, across sectors. However, it needs reminding in this through a consultative process, a roadmap for the context that staf shortages, which have weakened ‘Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes’; the delivery apparatus in most sectors across states, this Sub-group (led by the Chief Minister of are themselves a result of under-funding of social Madhya Pradesh) submitted its report to the union sectors over the years. government in October 2015. he said report provided further clarity on the guiding principles for rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Box 4: Key Recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission

• he FFC has enhanced the share of states in the divisible pool of central taxes from 32 per cent to 42 per cent every year for the ive year period 2015–16 to 2019–20. • Its formula for the horizontal devolution of resources from the divisible pool has incorporated two new criteria, viz., demographic changes by 2011 (i.e., the population in 2011) and forest cover in a state; it has dropped the criterion of iscal discipline. • It has not recommended any sector-speciic grants for states. • he FFC recommended evolving a new institutional arrangement, with the overarching objective of strengthening cooperative federalism, for: (i) identifying the sectors in the states that should be eligible for grants from the union government, (ii) indicating criteria for inter- state distribution of these grants, (iii) helping design schemes with the appropriate lexibility being given to the states regarding implementation, and (iv) identifying and providing area- speciic grants. • It has recommended distribution of grants to states for local bodies (urban and rural) based on the 2011 population with a weight of 90 per cent and area with a weight of 10 per cent. Total size of this grant for all states is to be Rs 2,87,436 crore for period 2015–20.

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Box 5: NITI Aayog Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes NITI Aayog constituted a Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on the rationalization of CSS with the objective of examining the existing CSS and recommending measures for ensuring that their implementation is streamlined and adequately lexible. he major recommendations, in its report released in October 2015, were as follows: CSS will be divided into Core and Optional schemes. From now onwards, the sharing pattern would be: For Core Schemes For the eight NE and three Himalayan states: Centre 90%: state 10% For all other (general category) states: Centre 60 %: state 40% For Union Territories: Centre: 100% For Optional Schemes For the eight NE and three Himalayan states: Centre 80%: state 20% For all other (general category) States: Centre 50%: state 50% For Union Territories: Centre: 100% Funds for Optional Schemes would be allocated to states by the union Ministry of Finance as a lump sum and states would be free to choose which Optional Schemes they wished to implement. Among the Core Schemes, those for social protection (including MGNREGA) and environment protection (e.g., wildlife conservation and greening) to form ‘Core of the Core’, which would have the irst charge on funds available for the national development agenda.

(CSS) and the revised fund sharing pattern (between central schemes (with the help of the greater union and states) in the CSS. magnitude of untied funds they would receive). In this context, apprehensions were raised with regard 3.1 Union Budget Outlays for Social to the overall budget outlays (i.e., central and state Sectors share combined) for some of the major central schemes in social sectors. Union budget outlays for As mentioned earlier, the union government had many of the social sector schemes, except for the reduced its budget allocations for a number of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Gram central schemes in the social sectors since 2015– Sadak Yojana, have declined in 2015–16 (RE) and 16 (BE), as compared to the allocations made in 2016–17 (BE) as compared to 2014–15 (BE). 2014–15. he union budget 2015–16 documents did mention explicitly the premise on which he Report of the NITI Aayog Sub-group of such restructuring of the union government’s Chief Ministers on Rationalization of the CSS expenditure was being pursued, which was that has grouped and categorized the CSS into ‘core the states would compensate for such reductions of the core’, ‘core’, and ‘optional’ (please see Box through higher allocations of state shares in the 4 above). According to some observers, this

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Table 4: Union Budget Outlays for Major Social Sector Schemes (in Rs Crore) Schemes 2013–14 2014–15 2014–15 2014–15 2015– 2015– 2016- Actual BE RE Actual 16 BE 16 RE 17 BE Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) 24802 28258 24380 24097 22000 22015 22500 Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha 2013 5000 3480 3398 3565 3565 3700 Abhiyan (RMSA) Mid-Day-Meal (MDM) 10918 13215 6973 10523 9236 9236 9700 Integrated Child Development 16401 18691 16967 16684 15902 15584 14863 Services Scheme (ICDS)* Scheme for Empowerment of 603 700 630 622 438 476 460 Adolescent Girls (SABLA) Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog 232 400 360 343 10 234 400 Yojana (IGMSY) National Health Mission (NHM)* 18634 22731 18609 19751 18875 19122 19037 National Rural Drinking Water 9691 11000 9250 9190 2503 4373 5000 Prog. (NRDWP) Swachh Bharat Mission 2244 4260 4541 3701 3625 7525 11300 (Rural+Urban) Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)/ Pradhan 12982 16000 11000 11096 10025 10004 15000# Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak 9805 14391 14200 9960 14291 15188 19000 Yojana (PMGSY) Total 108325 134646 110390 109365 100470 107322 86960 Source: Connecting the Dots: An Analysis of union budget 2016–17, CBGA. Note: *Includes ICDS, World Bank Assisted ICDS ISSNIP and National Nutrition Mission. Original Allocation for ICDS in 2015–16 BE was Rs 8754 crore. he balance amount was allocated in subsequent supplementary grants. #he allocation for Indira Awas Yojana has been discontinued from 2016–17 BE. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), a new scheme, has been initiated for housing in rural areas. new set-up implies that it’s mainly the expenses 3.2 Spending Capacity of State on infrastructure (and in only speciic cases, Governments maintenance) in the programmes at the state level, which would be borne by the union government. he FFC recommended a transfer of 42 per cent Given the fact that Capital Expenditure by the of the divisible pool of central taxes to the states, states in most of the social sector programmes are which amounted to an increase of 10 percentage small and they have a larger Revenue Expenditure points from the level prevailing in the hirteenth (mainly salaries) component, which then would Finance Commission period. he increased have to be borne by states, it does raise a concern. devolution also works in tandem with the spirit hus, if the resources of the states do not increase of strengthening iscal federalism with more commensurately, there is an increased possibility untied resources being transferred to the states. that important social sector programmes will sufer However, a deeper examination of the amount of due to a lack of adequate resources. increased devolution provides a clearer picture of

174 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

30000 28258

25000 22731 22500 19037 19000 20000 18691 16000 14863 15000 14391

15000 13215 11300 11000 10000 9700 5000 5000 4260

5000 3700 700 400 400 460 0 SSA RMSA MDM ICDS SABLA IGMSY NHM NRDWP SBA IAY PMGSY

2014–15 BE 2016–17 BE

Figure 1: Union Budget Allocation for Major Social Sector Schemes: A Comparison of2014–15 and 2016–17 (in Rs Crore) Source: Connecting the Dots: An Analysis of Union Budget 2016–17, CBGA. Note: ICDS also includes World Bank Assisted ICDS ISSNIP and National Nutrition Mission. he allocation for Indira Awas Yojana has been discontinued from 2016–17 BE. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), a new scheme, has been initiated for housing in rural areas. the status of overall resources being transferred in absolute numbers but also as proportions of to the states. Table 5 below shows that in the total the country’s GDP. However, another component union resources transferred to states, both ‘states’ of the union resources transferred to states, viz., share in central taxes’ and ‘non-plan grants to states’ central assistance to states for plan spending show an increase in 2015–16 (RE) and further in (which includes the block grants given to states for 2016–17 (BE) from 2014–15 (Actuals), not only plan spending as well as the union government’s

Table 5: Composition and Structure of Transfer of Resources to States (Rs crore) 2014–15 Actual 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE States share of taxes and duties 337808 506193 570337 Non Plan grants and loans to states 77198 108312 118437 Central Assistance to States for Plan spending 270829 216108 241900 Total Union Resources transferred to States* 675177 821520 921201 GDP at current market prices (2011–12 series) 1248205 13567192 15065010 States share of taxes and duties as % of GDP 2.7 3.7 3.8 Non Plan grants and loans to states as % of GDP 0.6 0.8 0.8 CA to States as % of GDP 2.2 1.6 1.6 Total Union Resources transferred to States as % of GDP 5.4 6.1 6.1 Source: Compiled by CBGA from union budget documents, 2015–16 and 2016–17. Note: *Total union resources comprise states’ share in central taxes, non-plan grants, Central Assistance to States for Plan spending (including the assistance for Central schemes).

175 India Exclusion Report assistance to states for central schemes), shows a states like Tamil Nadu, Assam, Rajasthan and Bihar decline in 2016–17 (BE) as compared to 2014–15 got a comparatively lower increase in the resource (Actuals). On the whole, the total union resources transfer. transferred to states shows an increase from 5.4 per hus, the changes in 2015–16 and 2016–17 cent of GDP in 2014–15 (actuals) to 6.1 per cent of GDP in 2016–17 (BE). hus, the higher magnitude of states’ share in central taxes has come partly at the cost of discontinuation of central assistance for state plans and reduced funding shares of the union government in Centrally Sponsored Schemes in a host of sectors. he total resources transferred from the union government to states in 2015–16 (RE) were higher than that in 2014–15 (Actuals) by Rs 1.46 lakh crore. his increased further to Rs 2.46 lakh crores in 2016–17 (BE). In other words, the net increase in the spending capacity of the state governments, resulting from the changes introduced in Centre-state sharing of resources in 2016–17, would be to the tune of around Rs 2.46 lakh crore for all states taken together. On an average, therefore, the net increase in union resources transferred to a states in 2015–16 would be roughly Rs 8200 crore. Given that the total magnitudes of state budgets for most of the larger states are now in the range of Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore, an increase of Rs 8200 crore could hardly be viewed as a substantial increase in the spending capacity of the states. Annexure Table 1 presents an assessment of the net impact (of the changes in Centre-state sharing of resources in 2015–16 and 2016–17) on the overall spending capacity of state governments. Taking into account the net efect of both the larger quantum of union resources lowing to a state as its share in central taxes and the smaller magnitude of resources lowing as grants-in- aid to the state (which combines both non-plan and plan grants to states), we ind a mixed result wherein some states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh saw a major increase in total union resources transferred to the state in 2015–16 (BE) as compared to 2014–15. On the other hand,

176 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture which comprise its own tax revenue, own non- for all the select states except Tamil Nadu, Madhya tax revenue, and non-debt capital receipts (e.g., Pradesh and Assam. his could be because of their disinvestment in state PSUs or recovery of loans eforts to reduce the deicits in their budgets further, given by the state government), (ii) Union resources instead of increasing overall expenditure. transferred to the state, and (iii) borrowing. hus, smaller the share of a state’s own resources in its total Table 7: Total Expenditure by the States’ as budgetary expenditure, higher is its dependence on Proportion of GSDP (in %) transfer of union resources. 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE Table 6: Share of States’ Own Resources in Maharashtra 11.1 12.1 11.7 their Total Budgetary Expenditure (in %) Tamil Nadu 14.4 14.1 14.5 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 Rajasthan 19.0 20.4 19.7 AE RE BE Madhya Pradesh 21.1 21.8 22.2 Bihar 25.1 20.8 22.2 Jharkhand 20.3 27.5 24.4 Assam 29.4 … 27.5 Odisha 21.5 25.5 24.5 Odisha 42 36.5 35.3 Bihar 23.5 27.3 25.9 Uttar Pradesh 40.1 33.3 36.3 Chhattisgarh 20.7 26.2 26.1 Madhya Pradesh 43.9 38.4 36.5 Uttar Pradesh 24.1 29.9 28.1 Jharkhand 36.8 34.1 40.2 Assam 23.6 32.9 34.8 Chhattisgarh 45 46.2 42.7 Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from respective Rajasthan 45.4 42.9 44.7 state budget documents. Tamil Nadu 55.5 53.6 50.7 Maharashtra 64.9 61.6 64.3 However, it would be necessary to look at the per capita expenditure as there is a large diference Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from respective state budget documents. in the economic status among the states because of which the state budget as a proportion of GSDP While we observed earlier that the changes in would be smaller for richer states like Maharashtra Centre-state sharing of resources ater 2014–15 and higher for economically poor states like Assam would lead to a modest increase in the overall or Bihar. Per capita expenditure also makes the data union resources transferred to states, it would be more comparable across states as it addresses the pertinent to study what is happening to the overall diference in population. Table 8 below shows that scope of the state budget as compared to the size of Bihar, followed by Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand a state’s economy. In other words, we can examine are on the lower side of per capita expenditure by the total quantum of a state budget as a proportion states, whereas Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Assam of the state’s GSDP. and Odisha showed highest per capita spending among the selected states in 2016–17. As can be seen from Table 7, except for Chhattisgarh, the total magnitude of the state budget Narrowing down, the share of social sectors as a proportion of the state’s GSDP is showing a (sum total of nine sectors as explained earlier), in small increase in 2015–16 (RE) as compared to the total expenditure by states shows that except for 2014–15 (AE) for all of the selected states except Jharkhand and Odisha, it has decreased for all 10 for Tamil Nadu which shows a marginal decline. selected states in 2016–17 (BE) when compared to However, in 2016–17 (BE), there is noticeable fall 2015–16 (RE).

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Table 8: Per Capita Total Expenditure by the In terms of per capita allocation for the combined States (in Rs) social sectors, Chhattisgarh and Odisha stand out 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 with the allocation of Rs 14,223 and Rs 12,921 AE RE BE respectively in 2016–17. On the other side, Bihar Bihar 8756 12139 13072 (Rs 6287) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 6436) have the Uttar Pradesh 11208 15466 15984 lowest per capita allocation for the social sectors. Jharkhand 11659 17887 18003 Madhya Pradesh 14079 17183 20261 Table10: Per Capita Allocation for Combined Rajasthan 16258 18898 20500 Social Sectors by the States (in Rs) Maharashtra 16957 20053 21457 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 Odisha 15488 19513 21495 AE RE BE Assam 14468 20204 23623 Bihar 4168 6354 6287 Chhattisgarh 17390 24487 25708 Uttar Pradesh 4471 5788 6436 Tamil Nadu 21437 24101 26656 Jharkhand 7680 8085 9755 Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from various state Madhya Pradesh 6512 8591 9977 budget documents. Rajasthan 8145 9186 10263 Note: he population projection for 2014–15 and 2015–16 Maharashtra 8934 10091 10476 is based on the report of the technical group on population projections constituted by the National Commission on Assam 6644 11370 11184 Population, 2006. Tamil Nadu 9958 11302 12330 Odisha 8935 11524 12921 Chhattisgarh 9436 14057 14223 Table 9: Share of Combined Social Sectors’ Outlays of the States as Proportion of the Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from various state Total State Budget (in %) budget documents. 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 Note: Social Sector deined as per Figure 2. AE RE BE Uttar Pradesh 39.2 37.4 40.3 3.3 Sector-wise Priorities in the State Assam 45.4 49.8 47.3 Budgets for 2016–17 Bihar 47.0 52.3 48.1 It would be worthwhile to examine if and how did Tamil Nadu 45.3 48.9 48.5 the state governments reprioritize their Budgets Maharashtra 52.0 50.3 48.8 in 2015–16 and 2016–17, given their increased Madhya Pradesh 45.6 50.0 49.2 autonomy in setting spending priorities. Since Rajasthan 49.4 48.6 50.1 in absolute terms, the total states’ budgets as well Jharkhand 65.0 45.2 54.2 as allocation for diferent sectors have increased Chhattisgarh 53.6 57.4 55.3 due to the practice of incremental budgeting, Odisha 57.2 59.1 60.1 looking merely at budgetary allocations will not Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from various state give a clear picture. Table 4 in Annexure shows, budget documents. for the 10 selected states in 2014–15, 2015–16 and Note: Social Sector includes Education, Health, Drinking 2016–17, the allocations for 13 diferent sectors as Water and Sanitation, Social Welfare, Agriculture and shares of the total state budget expenditure and allied sectors (Animal Husbandry, Dairy, and Fisheries), Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies, Water Resources and as proportions of the state’s Gross State Domestic Irrigation, Rural Development, and Panchayati Raj. Product (GSDP).

178 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

To simplify it further, Figures 2.1 to 2.10 below his kind of comparison of the extent of increase show the pace of increase in the total expenditure of in the budget for a sector with that for the entire state the states’ and the increase in allocation for various budget over the last two years (i.e., from 2014–15 to sectors in 2016–17 from 2014–15. his analysis 2016–17) has been done for 13 diferent sectors for compares: (i) Percentage increase in the total each of the 10 selected states. he analysis makes state budget (i.e., total expenditure on all sectors) the assumption that if the extent of increase in the in 2016–17 (BE) over 2014–15 (Actuals); and (ii) budget for a sector is signiicantly higher than the Percentage increase in the budget (combined extent of increase in the overall budget of the state Central and state funds) for a speciic sector in during the two-year period, it relects an increase in 2016–17 (BE) over 2014–15 (Actuals). priority for the sector in the state concerned. i Assam Housing and Urban Developmenti 498 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies 494 i Panchayai Raj 172 Environment and Forest 165 Irrigaion and Water Resources 153 Health 116 Public Worksi 90 Rural Development 79 Drinking Water and Sanitaion 75 Social iWelfare i 68 Total Expendiiture 67 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 64 Educaion 43 Power and Energy 26

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Figure 2.1: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Assam Bihar Panchayai Raj 203 Health 128 i Raj Coopera on and Food & Civil Supplies i Health 111 Housing and Urban Development 95 i Supplies Power and Energyent 75 Rural Developmentergy 7175 Total Expenditureent 53 Drinking Water and Sanitaiitureon 46 Agriculture and Allied Aciviiieson 39 Educaiioniies 34 Public Worksion 3034 Social Welfareorks 19 30 Irrigaion and Water Resourceselfare 17 Envi ironment and Forestrces -26 orest -50 0 50 100 150 200 250

Figure 2.2: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Bihar

179 India Exclusion Report

Chhaisgarh Public Works 130 Educaion 108 Housing and Urban Development 96 Power and Energy 84 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies 79 Health 73 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 70 Rural Development and Panchayai Raj 61 Total Expenditure i 52 Irrigaion and Water Resources 50 Drinking Water and Sanitaiion 39 Environment and Forest 34 Social Welfare -18 i -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

i i i Figure 2.3: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocationand for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Chhattisgarh i elfare enti i iies iture orks 56 ion i Supplies 50 ion orest Jharkhand Social Welfareent 91 Housing and Urban Developmentalth 89 rces Agriiculture and Allied Aciviies -5 87 ergy Total Expenditure 59 i Raj Public Works 56 Drinking Water and Sanitaion 54 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies 50 Educaion 33 Environment and Forest 28 Rural Development 27 Health 25 Irrigaion and Water Resources -5 Power and Energy -33 Panchayai Raj -33

-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100

Figure 2.4: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Jharkhand

180 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Madhya Pradesh Housing and Urban Development 102 Rural Development (including PRIs) 89 Social Welfare 73 Irrigaion and Water Resources 71 Drinking Water and Sanitaion 59 Public Works 59 Health 49 Total Expenditure 48 Educaion 48 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 30 Environment and Forest 10 Power and Energy 10 Cooperaioni and Food & Civil Supplies -19 i -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Figure 2.5: Percent Change ini Budgetary Allocation htrafor Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 i ient for Madhya Pradesh ion i iies i RIs) 34 iture elfare i rces ion Maharashtra Housing and Urban Developmentalth 17 171 Drinking Water and Sanitaiorkson 147 Agriculture and Allied Acivioresties 39 Rurali Development (includSuppingli PRIs)es 34 ergyTotal Expenditure 30 Social Welfare 25 Irrigaion and Water Resources 19 Educaion 19 Health 17 Public Works 10 Environment and Forest -3 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies -13 Power and Energy -47

-100 -50 0 50 100 150 200

Figure 2.6: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Maharashtra

181 India Exclusion Report

Odisha Power and Energy 264 Environment and Forest 168 Housing and Urban Development 76 Panchayai Raj 76 Irrigaion and Water Resources 69 Rural Development 69 Health 49 Total Expenditure 41 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 38 Social Welfare 37 Educaiion 37 Cooperaion iand Food & Civil Supplies 28 Public Works 20 Drinking Water and Sanitaion -8

-50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 i i Figure 2.7: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 i for Odisha i ergy enti i iies Health

i Raj i rces 38 ion Rajasthan Power and Energyorks 140 Housing and Urban Developmentiture 30 93 Agriculture and Allied Acivienties 64 Healthorest 48 Panchayaii Rajon 21 43 Irrigaion and Water Resourceselfare 38 i ESuppducailieson 31 Public Works 30 Total Expenditure 30 Rural Development 26 Environment and Forest 26 Drinking Water and Sanitaion 21 Social Welfare 15 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies -23

-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Figure 2.8: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Rajasthan

182 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development 102 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies 47 Rural Development and Panchayai Raj 43 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 28 Public Works 27 Environment and Forest 26 Educaion 19 Health 18 i Total Expenditure 18 Social Welfarei 16 Irrigaion and Water Resourcesi i 12 Drinking Water and Sanitaion 4 Power and Energy -6 i -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Figure 2.9: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 i fort Tamil Naduesh i orest ent i Raj ion elfare Health ion Utar Pradesh Environment and Forestiture 47 395 Housing and Urban Developmenti ii es 107 i Panchayai Rajrces 33 107 Drinking Water and Sanitaionent 68 Social Welfareergy 27 61 i SuppHealthlies 60 Educaionorks 57 Total Expenditure 47 Agriculture and Allied Aciviies 47 Irrigaion and Water Resources 33 Rural Development 32 Power and Energy 27 Cooperaion and Food & Civil Supplies 15 Public Works 5

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Figure 2.10: Percent Change in Budgetary Allocation for Major Sectors in 2016–17 over 2014–15 for Uttar Pradesh Source: Based on data compiled from respective state budget documents

183 India Exclusion Report

We ind a lower priority in state budget allocation quantum of borrowing for inancing the whole of for education in Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, their Capital Account Expenditure. However, these Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha in 2016–17 economically weaker states also require stepping up (BE) as compared to 2014–15. On the contrary, the their public spending on social sectors, very large allocation for health has been prioritized by all states proportions of which are reported in the Revenue except Jharkhand and Maharashtra. he pace of Account of the budget. Hence, the strong tendency allocation for social welfare is favourable (more than of these states to reduce their Fiscal Deicit (or the total expenditure) only in Assam, Jharkhand fresh borrowing in a year) by running a surplus on and Madhya Pradesh; the rest of the states have not the Revenue Account could be a hurdle towards prioritized social welfare. his includes important increasing budgetary expenditures in social sectors. components like allocation for women and child development, persons with disabilities and welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities, Table 11: Revenue Deicit / Revenue Surplus (-) and vulnerable groups of the society. he share of of States as proportion of GSDP (in %) Rural Development, which saw a decline in 2015– 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 16 has been re-prioritized in 2016–17 in all states AE RE BE except Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Assam* 2.80 -2.74 -2.95 Similarly, both Power & Energy and Public works Bihar -1.45 0.30 -2.62 were high on priority in 2015–16; but in 2016–17, Chhattisgarh 0.70 -1.57 -1.87 there is a mixed trend as roughly half of the select Jharkhand 0.12 -2.37 -2.69 states have prioritized these sectors. Madhya Pradesh -1.23 -0.07 -0.49 he igures for three years indicate only a limited Maharashtra 0.68 0.47 0.17 reprioritization of the state budgets in favour of Odisha -1.89 -2.05 -0.96 the infrastructure sectors like energy and public Rajasthan 0.53 0.78 -0.03 works. However, some of the commentators have Tamil Nadu 0.59 0.75 1.16 opined that such trends of increasing the budgetary Uttar Pradesh -2.29 -1.66 -2.28 priorities for infrastructure sectors could accentuate Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from respective in the coming years as the state governments could state budget documents. be more receptive towards higher spending in Note: *for Assam 2014–15 RE and 2015–16 BE. sectors on big projects with greater and immediate visibility. Moreover, economically weaker states like Bihar As is depicted in Table 11 above, the only two and Uttar Pradesh over the years have cut down states among the 10 selected states, which have their revenue expenditure to adhere to the FRBM projected a Revenue Deicit (i.e., expenditure norms. his has wider implications as the reduction in the Revenue Account exceeding the receipts in revenue expenditure, a major chunk of which in the Revenue Account) in 2016–17 (BE) are goes for salaries of regular staf, afects the quality Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu; all eight of the of service delivery. Since these states were reporting relatively economically weaker states have projected revenue surplus, they also lost in terms of securing a surplus in their Revenue Account. What it implies ‘Revenue Deicit Grants’ which were recommended is that these poorer states are trying to inance a under the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions. Also, part of their capital expenditure from their Revenue with the inclusion of ‘forest cover’ as one of the Account Surplus instead of increasing their criteria by the 14th Finance Commission, the share

184 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture of states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the total government in Centrally Sponsored Schemes resource pool has declined 2015–16 onwards. in a host of sectors, the changes in 2015–16 and 2016–17 have led only to some increase in the total quantum of resources being transferred from the Table 12: Fiscal Deicit of States as proportion union to the states. However, it has certainly led of GSDP (in %) to a change in the composition of the state budget Fiscal Deicit as % 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 in favour of greater autonomy or lexibility for the of GSDP AE RE BE state governments. Assam* 8.8 2.4 3.0 Except for Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Bihar 2.8 5.9 2.9 Nadu, the total magnitude of the state budget as a Chhattisgarh 3.6 2.7 3.0 proportion of the state’s GSDP has shown a small Jharkhand 3.3 2.3 2.2 decline in 2016–17 (BE) as compared to 2015–16 Madhya Pradesh 2.3 3.5 3.5 (RE) for all the selected states; this appears to be Maharashtra 1.8 1.9 1.6 because of their eforts to reduce the deicits in their Odisha 1.8 3.0 3.8 budgets further, instead of increasing their overall Rajasthan 3.1 3.6 3.0 budgetary expenditure. Tamil Nadu 2.5 2.7 3.0 As regards the sector-wise priorities in the states, Uttar Pradesh 3.3 5.8 4.0 the igures for three years indicate only a limited Source: Based on data compiled by CBGA from respective reprioritization of the state budgets in favour of state budget documents. infrastructure sectors like energy and public works. Note: *for Assam 2014–15 RE and 2015–16 BE However, some of the commentators are of the view that increasing the budgetary priorities for 4. Concluding Remarks infrastructure sectors could gain momentum in the future as the state governments could re-prioritize he analysis presented in this chapter gives a the available resources in sectors which have an synoptic view of the changes in expenditure immediate impact with greater visibility on the prioritization of states in some of the important ground. social sectors. Post FFC recommendations, it was In terms of the social sector programmes, felt that the resources available with the states will major initiatives like Integrated Child Development increase and this would give them the iscal space Services, SABLA, Mid-Day Meal, and National Rural to spend more on some priority areas like health, Drinking Water Programme and National Health education, drinking water and sanitation, nutrition Mission seem to have been adversely afected in and so on. However, the net increase in states’ terms of support from the union government as the resources has not been signiicant as the union funding pattern between the Centre and the state has government has reduced the central assistance for changed ater 2015–16. hese programmes show a state plans and its outlays for central schemes in decline in their allocations when compared to 2014– social sectors. 15. he onus is now on the states to compensate for Since the higher magnitude of states’ share this reduction via a higher state share, which can in central taxes has come partly at the cost of become diicult for some of the poorer states as the discontinuation of central assistance for state volume of increase in resource transfer from the plans and reduced funding shares of the union union government might not be suicient to protect

185 India Exclusion Report budgetary allocation for diferent social sector administration, and law and order; hence, the schemes. However, the allocation for programmes competition for budgetary resources could be more with stronger political backing, like Swachh Bharat intense in these states. As a consequence, the social Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana sectors may not be given adequate levels of priority (PMGSY) and, to some extent SSA, seems to have for resources. If this apprehension comes true in been increased or at least protected. the coming years, it could aggravate the problem of regional disparity in the long run. he only way to It can be argued that the ability of the poorer achieve the twin goals of greater autonomy to states states to expand their iscal space with their own and stepping up expenditure in the social sectors revenue collection is limited. Moreover, they also would be through an increase in the tax-GDP ratio face greater shortages of funds for sectors such as in the country. energy and other infrastructure sectors, general

Endnotes Union and State Budgets. Last year, the government had ‘projected’ expenditures for 2015–16 and hence 1 Conventionally, in the budgeting system followed in released BEs for 2015–16. India, all kinds of budget allocations/expenditures RE: Ater the initial projection of expenditure for (whether on recurring heads like staf salaries or on an ensuing inancial year, the government revises capital heads like construction of infrastructure) are those projections ater six months of the concerned reported as Plan allocations/expenditures if they inancial year are over. hese ‘revised projections’ are incurred on any of the programmes/schemes are known as Revised Estimates (RE). he RE for that are part of the ongoing Five Year Plan (national 2016–17 would be prepared by the Union and State or state-speciic Five Year Plan). All other kinds Governments ater September 2016, which would of budget allocations/expenditures (whether on be modiications of the projections made in BE recurring or on capital heads), which are outside the igures for 2016–17. hese RE for 2016–17 would purview of the ongoing FYP, are reported as Non- be released in the Budget documents for 2017–18 in th plan. However, ater the 12 Five Year Plan, which the month of February 2017. ends with the ongoing inancial year 2016–17, there 3 he Act had provided a dual form of government would be no more Five Year Plans at the national for the major Provinces in the country then. In each level as per the decision of the Union Government. such Province, control of some areas of government 2 AE: Actual Expenditures (AE) refer to the amounts (e.g., Agriculture, supervision of local government, actually spent by the government in a previous Health, Education, etc.) were given to a government inancial year, e.g., in 2014–15, which has been of ministers answerable to the Provincial Council. audited and certiied by the oice of C&AG of India. However, all other areas of government (e.g., It usually takes the oice of C&AG around eight Defence, Foreign Afairs, and Communications, months to audit and certify the accounts/actual etc.) remained under the control of the Viceroy. expenditures reported by the government ater 4 he total amount of revenue collected from all the inancial year ends. For instance, the audit of Central taxes—excluding the amount collected 2015–16 accounts and the subsequent certiication from cesses, surcharges and taxes of Union of those would be completed around the end of Territories, and an amount equivalent to the cost November 2016. he AE for 2015–16 would be of collection of Central Taxes—is considered as the released in the Budget documents for 2017–18 in shareable/divisible pool of Central tax revenue. In the month of February 2017. AE igures cannot the recommendation period of the 13th Finance change, while the BE and RE igures might change Commission (2010–11 to 2014–15), 32 per cent of at the AE level. the shareable/divisible pool of Central tax revenue BE: Budget Estimates (BE) refer to the amounts used to be transferred to states every year and the of expenditure ‘projected’ by the government for the Centre retained the remaining amount for the ongoing/approaching inancial year. For instance, Union Budget. as of now, we have only BE igures for 2016–17 for

186 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

References Jha, P. and S. Das (2010), ‘India’s Fiscal Policy Space for Investing Children’, IHD-UNICEF Working Paper Series, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (2014), New Delhi, available at http://www.cbgaindia.org/wp- ‘Budget Track’, Vol. 10, Track 1–2, New Delhi, available content/uploads/2016/04/Children-of-india-Rights-and- at http://www.cbgaindia.org/publications/budget-track/ Opportunities.pdf ——— (2015), ‘Of Bold Strokes and Fine Prints: An Analysis Kapur, A. and V. Srinivas (2016),‘Budget Briefs 2016: he of Union Budget 2015–16’, New Delhi, available at http:// State of Social Sector Spending”, Centre for Policy www.cbgaindia.org/publications_responses_to_union_ Research—Accountability Initiative, available at http:// budgets.php cprindia.org/research/reports/state-social-sector- ——— (2016), ‘Connecting the Dots: An Analysis of Union expenditure-2015-16 Budget 2016–17’, New Delhi, available at http://www. Khan, J. A., and S. Das (2014), ‘Exclusionin Planning and cbgaindia.org/publications_responses_to_union_ Budgetary Processes’, India Exclusion Report 2013–2014, budgets.php New Delhi, Books for Change, Available at http://www. Chakraborty, P. (2015), ‘Finance Commission’s indianet.nl/pdf/IndiaExclusionReport2013-2014.pdf Recommendations and Restructured Fiscal Space’, Kotasthane, P. and V. K. Ramachandra (2015), ‘Impact of Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 50, No. 12. Fourteenth Finance Commission, Karnataka Budget, ———. (2016), ‘Restructuring of Central Grants Balancing 2015–16’, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 50, Nos Fiscal Autonomy and Fiscal Space’, Economic & Political 46–47. Weekly, Vol. 51, No. 6. Kumar, P. and T. Ngangom (2016), ‘he Centre-State Fiscal Das, S. (2014), ‘Cracks in Budgetary Policies towards the Social Relationship: A Critique & Recommendations’, ORF Issue Sectors’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 59, No. 31. Brief -73, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. ———. (2017), ‘Ensuring Good Governance and Efective Odisha Budget and Accountability Centre (2015), ‘Implication Institutions: Can We Aford to Ignore Capacity Issues?’ of 14th Finance Commission on Social Sector Budgeting in Southern Perspectives on the Post-2015 International in India’, Centre for Youth and Social Development, Development Agenda, edited by Debapriya Bhattacharya Bhubaneswar, available athttp://www.obac.in. and Andrea Ordóñez Llanos, Routledge. Rao, M.G. (2000), ‘Fiscal Decentralization in Indian Federalism’, Government of India (2015), ‘Report of the Sub-Group of Chief Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. Ministers on Rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Reddy, G. R. (2015), ‘Finance Commission Proposes, the Schemes’, NITI Aayog, available at http://niti.gov.in/ Union Disposes’, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 50, writereaddata/files/Final%20Report%20of%20the%20 Nos 26–27 Sub-Group%20submitter%20to%20PM.pdf Reddy, Y. V. (2015), ‘Fourteenth Finance Commission: ——— (2016), ‘Indian Public Finance Statistics, 2014–2015’, Continuity, Change and Way Forward’, Madras School of Department of Economic Afairs, Ministry of Finance, Economics, Special Lectures. Government of India. Reserve Bank of India (2016), ‘State Finances: A Study of Jha, P. (ed) (2011), Progressive Fiscal Policy in India, SAGE Budgets of 2015–16’, Mumbai. Publications, New Delhi.

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ANNEXURES

Table 1: Transfer of Resources from the Centre to the States (in Rs crore) Assam 2014–15 RE 2015–16 BE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 13889 16667 18938 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 19696 23179 25761 Net Devolution (1+2) 33586 39846 42712 Bihar 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 36963 50748 58360 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 19146 21785 34142 Net Devolution (1+2) 56109 72532 92502 Chhattisgarh 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 8363 16213 18650 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 8988 12416 13392 Net Devolution (1+2) 17351 28630 32042 Jharkhand 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 9487 16499 18479 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 7393 11000 11802 Net Devolution (1+2) 16880 27499 30281 Madhya Pradesh 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 24107 39706 43676 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 17591 20808 24437 Net Devolution (1+2) 41698 60513 68114 Maharashtra 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 17604 28106 31627 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 20141 24982 24964 Net Devolution (1+2) 37744 53087 56591 Odisha 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 16181 23574 26568 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 12918 17295 18536 Net Devolution (1+2) 29099 40869 45104 Rajasthan 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 19817 27916 31478 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 19607 21333 24389 Net Devolution (1+2) 39424 49249 55866 Tamil Nadu 2014–15 RE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 16824 21150 23018 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 18589 16377 24741 Net Devolution (1+2) 35413 37527 47759 Uttar Pradesh 2014–15 AE 2015–16 RE 2016–17 BE State Share in Central Taxes (1) 66622 94313 105637 Grants-in-Aid from Centre (2) 32692 44220 50421 Net Devolution (1+2) 99314 138533 156058 Source: Based on data compiled from respective state budget

188 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Table 2: Classiication of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) Classiication of CSS Distribution of Remarks original 66 CSS (A) Schemes to be implemented un-altered 17 (B) Schemes to be implemented with a changed sharing pattern 33 Some of these schemes are (C) Schemes delinked from Union support: States may decide 8 reformulated with to continue from their own resources addition of new (D) Other schemes which are part of devolution to the States or 8 components, or taken have been re-structured in (A), (B) and (C) above. up in Central Sector Total 66 Source: Reproduced from the Report of the Subcommittee of Chief Ministers on Restructuring the CSS. For detail of schemes under various categories please refer to the report.

Table 3: Total Expenditure by the States as Proportion of Gross Stated Domestic Product (GSDP) Total Expenditure (INR Crore) Total Expenditure as % of GSDP 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 State AE RE BE AE RE BE Assam 46811 66142 78253 23.6 32.9 34.8 Bihar 94698 132849 144696 23.5 27.3 25.9 Chhattisgarh 46207 65898 70059 20.7 26.2 26.1 Jharkhand 40042 62253 63503 20.3 27.5 24.4 Madhya Pradesh 107086 132647 158713 21.1 21.8 22.2 Maharashtra 198217 237327 256992 11.1 12.1 11.7 Odisha 66680 84695 94053 21.5 25.5 24.5 Rajasthan without UDAY 116605 137456 151128 19.0 20.4 19.7 Tamil Nadu 157438 177971 197883 14.4 14.1 14.5 Uttar Pradesh 235609 330430 346935 24.1 29.9 28.1 Source: Based on data compiled from respective state budget documents

Table 4: Outlays for Different Sectors as Proportion of Total State Budget and GSDP (in per cent) Table 4.1: Assam Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Assam (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 2.7 3.5 2.6 0.7 1.3 0.9 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 0.3 0.6 1.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 Rural Development 5.9 6.6 6.4 1.6 2.5 2.2 Panchayati Raj 1.6 1.7 2.6 0.4 0.6 0.9 Power and Energy 1.9 1.6 1.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 Public Works 4.2 4.9 4.8 1.1 1.8 1.7

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Irrigation and Water Resources 3.1 4.7 4.7 0.8 1.8 1.6 Environment and Forest 2.3 3.7 3.6 0.6 1.4 1.3 Housing and Urban Development 0.5 1.2 1.8 0.1 0.5 0.6 Social Welfare 4.7 6.1 4.7 1.2 2.3 1.6 Health 3.7 5.6 4.8 1.0 2.1 1.7 Education 21.0 17.5 17.9 5.5 6.5 6.3 Drinking Water and Sanitation 2.4 3.5 2.5 0.6 1.3 0.9

Table 4.2: Bihar Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Bihar (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 2.5 2.6 2.3 0.7 0.7 0.6 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 1.4 2.5 1.9 0.4 0.7 0.5 Rural Development 7.8 10.9 8.7 2.2 3.0 2.3 Panchayati Raj 2.5 3.4 5.0 0.7 0.9 1.3 Power and Energy 8.7 7.5 9.9 2.4 2.0 2.6 Public Works 5.4 4.3 4.6 1.5 1.2 1.2 Irrigation and Water Resources 2.6 2.6 2.0 0.7 0.7 0.5 Environment and Forest 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 Housing and Urban Development 1.8 2.0 2.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 Social Welfare 7.9 6.8 6.2 2.2 1.9 1.6 Health 3.8 3.8 5.7 1.1 1.0 1.5 Education 17.2 18.5 15.1 4.8 5.1 3.9 Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.3 1.3 1.2 0.4 0.3 0.3

Table 4.3: Chhattisgarh Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Chhattisgarh (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 3.5 3.4 3.9 0.8 0.9 1.0 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 6.1 11.3 7.2 1.4 3.0 1.9 Rural Development and Panchayati Raj 7.4 8.7 7.9 1.7 2.3 2.0 Power and Energy 3.0 5.7 3.6 0.7 1.5 0.9 Public Works 6.4 6.8 9.7 1.4 1.8 2.5 Irrigation and Water Resources 4.2 3.4 4.2 0.9 0.9 1.1 Environment and Forest 1.7 1.4 1.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 Housing and Urban Development 4.2 4.9 5.5 0.9 1.3 1.4 Social Welfare 12.5 10.8 6.7 2.8 2.8 1.7

190 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Health 5.0 5.2 5.7 1.1 1.4 1.5 Education 13.4 13.4 18.5 3.0 3.5 4.8 Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.4 1.4 1.3 0.3 0.4 0.3

Table 4.4: Jharkhand Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Jharkhand (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 3.5 2.3 4.1 0.8 0.6 1.0 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 2.7 1.7 2.5 0.6 0.5 0.6 Rural Development 14.5 10.3 11.6 3.4 2.8 2.8 Panchayati Raj 5.3 2.0 2.2 1.2 0.5 0.5 Power and Energy 8.4 16.1 3.6 2.0 4.4 0.9 Public Works 7.8 6.4 7.7 1.8 1.8 1.9 Irrigation and Water Resources 6.1 2.7 3.7 1.4 0.7 0.9 Environment and Forest 1.2 0.8 0.9 0.3 0.2 0.2 Housing and Urban Development 3.2 2.6 3.8 0.7 0.7 0.9 Social Welfare 6.8 6.4 8.2 1.6 1.8 2.0 Health 6.1 4.7 4.8 1.4 1.3 1.2 Education 17.7 13.4 14.8 4.1 3.7 3.6 Drinking Water and Sanitation 2.3 1.8 2.3 0.5 0.5 0.6

Table 4.5: Madhya Pradesh Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Madhya Pradesh (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 3.4 3.9 2.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 2.7 2.8 1.5 0.6 0.6 0.3 Rural Development (including PRIs) 12.1 13.9 15.4 2.9 3.0 3.4 Power and Energy 17.0 9.1 12.7 4.0 2.0 2.8 Public Works 4.2 4.5 4.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 Irrigation and Water Resources 3.7 4.4 4.3 0.9 1.0 0.9 Environment and Forest 2.1 1.8 1.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 Housing and Urban Development 5.4 7.9 7.4 1.3 1.7 1.6 Social Welfare 8.0 10.4 9.4 1.9 2.3 2.1 Health 4.3 3.9 4.3 1.0 0.9 1.0 Education 10.1 9.5 10.1 2.4 2.1 2.2 Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.3 1.2 1.4 0.3 0.3 0.3

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Table 4.6: Maharashtra Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Maharashtra (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 2.8 3.0 3.0 0.3 0.4 0.3 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 4.3 3.3 2.9 0.5 0.4 0.3 Rural Development 5.6 5.9 5.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 Power and Energy 6.1 4.4 2.5 0.7 0.5 0.3 Public Works 4.7 4.7 4.0 0.6 0.6 0.5 Irrigation and Water Resources 5.0 4.9 4.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 Environment and Forest 4.8 4.1 3.6 0.6 0.5 0.4 Housing and Urban Development 3.4 5.2 7.1 0.4 0.6 0.8 Social Welfare 8.7 7.2 8.4 1.0 0.9 1.0 Health 4.0 4.4 3.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 Education 20.9 20.2 19.2 2.5 2.4 2.2 Drinking Water and Sanitation 0.7 1.5 1.4 0.1 0.2 0.2

Table 4.7: Odisha Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Odisha (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 4.7 4.5 4.6 1.1 1.2 1.1 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 3.3 2.7 3.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 Rural Development 5.8 7.9 6.9 1.4 2.0 1.7 Panchayati Raj 7.2 9.9 9.0 1.7 2.5 2.2 Power and Energy 1.2 1.9 3.0 0.3 0.5 0.7 Public Works 5.7 6.2 4.8 1.4 1.6 1.2 Irrigation and Water Resources 6.4 7.1 7.7 1.5 1.8 1.9 Environment and Forest 2.7 5.7 5.2 0.7 1.4 1.3 Housing and Urban Development 2.2 1.9 2.7 0.5 0.5 0.7 Social Welfare 8.3 6.9 8.0 2.0 1.8 2.0 Health 4.8 4.6 5.1 1.2 1.2 1.3 Education 15.4 14.3 15.0 3.7 3.7 3.7 Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.3 1.0 0.9 0.3 0.3 0.2

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Table 4.8: Rajasthan Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Rajasthan (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 2.5 2.4 3.2 0.5 0.5 0.6 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 1.3 0.7 0.8 0.3 0.1 0.2 Rural Development 4.1 4.2 4.0 0.9 0.9 0.8 Panchayati Raj 5.6 6.5 6.2 1.2 1.3 1.2 Power and Energy 11.7 33.4 19.1 2.5 8.9 4.3 Public Works 3.8 3.4 3.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 Irrigation and Water Resources 2.6 2.4 2.7 0.5 0.5 0.5 Environment and Forest 1.5 2.7 1.4 0.3 0.6 0.3 Housing and Urban Development 2.9 3.6 4.4 0.6 0.7 0.9 Social Welfare 5.8 5.4 5.1 1.2 1.1 1.0 Health 5.5 5.9 6.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 Education 16.4 16.0 16.5 3.5 3.3 3.3 Drinking Water and Sanitation 5.6 5.1 5.3 1.2 1.0 1.0

Table 4.9: Tamil Nadu Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Tamil Nadu (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014V15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 4.4 4.9 4.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 3.7 3.8 4.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 Rural Development and Panchayati Raj 9.2 10.3 11.2 1.5 1.4 1.5 Power and Energy 6.2 4.9 4.9 1.0 0.7 0.7 Public Works 4.7 4.6 5.0 0.8 0.6 0.7 Irrigation and Water Resources 1.9 1.6 1.8 0.3 0.2 0.2 Environment and Forest 1.1 2.2 1.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 Housing and Urban Development 1.4 1.8 2.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 Social Welfare 5.7 6.8 5.7 0.9 0.9 0.8 Health 4.8 5.0 4.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 Education 14.6 15.3 14.7 2.4 2.1 2.0 Drinking Water and Sanitation 1.0 1.2 0.9 0.2 0.2 0.1

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Table 4.10: Uttar Pradesh Share of Budget Exp. (%) Share of GSDP (%) Uttar Pradesh (% of Total Exp.) 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 AE RE BE AE RE BE Agriculture and Allied Activities 2.5 2.9 2.5 0.7 0.9 0.7 Cooperation and Food & Civil Supplies 3.1 3.1 2.4 0.9 0.9 0.7 Rural Development 4.3 3.8 3.9 1.2 1.1 1.1 Panchayati Raj 1.8 2.1 2.5 0.5 0.6 0.7 Power and Energy 11.0 15.6 9.5 3.1 4.7 2.7 Public Works 7.8 4.9 5.5 2.2 1.5 1.5 Irrigation and Water Resources 4.1 3.3 3.7 1.1 1.0 1.0 Environment and Forest 0.5 2.3 1.8 0.2 0.7 0.5 Housing and Urban Development 1.8 2.1 2.6 0.5 0.6 0.7 Social Welfare 4.5 4.8 4.9 1.3 1.4 1.4 Health 4.7 4.4 5.1 1.3 1.3 1.4 Education 13.7 12.5 14.5 3.8 3.7 4.1 Drinking Water and Sanitation 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.2 0.2 0.2 Source: Based on data compiled from respective state budget documents

Table 5: Composition of Various Sectors as per Detailed Demand for Grants from Respective State Budget Books Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh 1. Education Education Education School Higher School Education (higher education Education education) Education Higher Secondary Higher (Elementary, Education Education Education secondary) Technical Primary Technical Education and and Public Education manpower Education and skill planning development Technical Education and Training-EAPs School Education - EAPs

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Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh 2. Health and Medical and Health Public Health Health, Medical Public Health Family Welfare Public Health and Family Education and and Family Welfare Family Welfare Welfare Department Medical AAYUSH Education Department Medical Education 3. Drinking Water Supply Public Health Public Health Drinking Water Public Health Water & and Sanitation Engineering Engineering and Sanitation Engineering Sanitation 4. Social Welfare Welfare of SC/ Backward Tribal, Minorities Tribal Welfare ST and OBC Community Scheduled Welfare and MBC Caste & Welfare Backward Classes Department Social Services Minorities Social welfare Social Welfare, Social Justice Welfare Department Women and Child Development Social Security, SC & ST SC welfare Women and Welfare and Welfare Child Welfare Nutrition Relief and Social Welfare OBC and Scheduled Caste Rehabilitation/ Minority Welfare Social Security Welfare & Welfare Women and Minority Welfare Child Welfare Backward Classes Welfare Vimukt, Ghumakkad & Ardha Ghumakkad Welfare 5. Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Farmer Welfare and Allied Department and Sugarcane & Agriculture Sectors Development Development

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Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Soil and water Animal and Animal Animal Animal conservation Fisheries Husbandry Husbandry Husbandry Resource Animal Fisheries Fishery Fisheries Husbandry Dairy Agriculture Dairy Horticulture and Development Research and Food Processing Education Fisheries Agricultural Research and Education Sericulture and weaving Horticulture 6. Irrigation & water resources Water Water Water Water Resources Water Resources Resources Resources Resources Department Irrigation Minor Water Water Minor Water Resources- Resources Resources- Irrigation Aayakat Aayakat Micro Micro Irrigation Irrigation works works Water Water Resources- Resources- EAP EAPs Water Resources- NABARD assisted projects 7. Cooperation Food Storage, Food and Food Civil Food, Public Food and Civil and Food & Warehousing Consumer Supplies Distribution Supplies Civil Supplies and civil Protection Department and Consumer Afairs Co-operation Co-operative Co-operation Co-operative Cooperation Department 8. Rural Other Rural Works Financial Aid Rural SCSP-Financial Development special area to PRIs under Development aid to PRIs programmes SCSP

196 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Rural Rural Panchayat Rural Works Rural Development Development and Rural Development Development Department cottage Village TSP-Financial industries Industry aid to PRIs PRIs and Rural Village Industries development- EAPs District Rural Projects Development- EAPs Financial Aid District Projects to PRIs Exp. Financial Aid Bundelkhand to PRIs under Package TSP Panchayat Financial Aid to PRIs 9. Panchayati Raj Rural Panchayati Raj Included Panchayati Raj Included in Rural Development in Rural and N.R.E.P. Development (panchayat) Development (Special Division) Compensation and assignment to local bodies and PRIs 10. Urban Urban Urban Housing and Urban Urban Development & Development Development Environment Development Administration Housing (T&CP) and Housing Department and Development Housing Urban Housing TSP-Financial Schemes Admin and aid to ULBs development- Urban Bodies Urban SCP-aid to Financial Aid to Development ULBs ULBs (MAD)

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Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Urban Urban Development Admin and (GDD) development- urban welfare Financial Aid to ULBs Financial Aid to ULBs under TSP 11. Power and Power Energy Energy Energy Energy Energy (electricity) Department 12. Public Works Roads and Road Public works- Road Public Works- Bridges Construction roads and Construction Roads and bridges Bridges SCP-Public TSP-Public works (roads works-roads and and bridges) bridges Public works- Public Works- buildings buildings TSP-Public works (buildings) Public works- EAPs 13. Forest & Forestry and Environment Forest Forest and Forest Environment Wildlife and Forest Environment

Maharashtra Odisha Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh 1. Education School School school Higher Education- Education and and Mass education Education Technical Sports Education Education Higher and Higher Higher School Education- Technical Education Education Education Commercial Education Employment Technical Education- and Technical Education Primary Education & Training Sanskrit Education- Education Secondary

198 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Maharashtra Odisha Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Education- Higher Education (Institution and Training) 2. Health and Public Health Health and Medical and Health and Medical Health, Family Welfare Family Welfare Health family welfare Education and Training Medical Edu. Health Health and Drugs Education (Allopathy) Health (Ayurveda & Unani) Health ( Homeopathy ) Health( Family Welfare) Health (Public Health) 3. Drinking Water Supply Relevant Public Health Relevant heads Relevant heads Water & and Sanitation heads from Engineering from Housing from Housing Sanitation Housing and and Urban Dev. and Urban Dev. Urban Dev. Department Department Department 4. Social Welfare Social Justice SC,ST, OBC Social Adi-dravidar Minority and Social and Minority justice and and tribal Welfare Assistance Welfare empowerment welfare Minority Women and Minorities Welfare of Social Welfare Welfare Child Dev. Afair diferently abled (Disability) persons Women and Women and Special Social Welfare Child Dev. Child Dev. programme (SC Welfare) implementation Social Social Welfare welfare and (Tribal Welfare ) nutritious meal programme Women and Child Dev.

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Maharashtra Odisha Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh 5. Agriculture Agriculture, Agriculture Department of Agriculture Agriculture and Allied Animal Agriculture and related Sectors Husbandry, -Horticulture Dairy and sericulture Development & Fisheries Fisheries Department Animal Agriculture and Animal of Animal husbandry and related- Resources Dev. Husbandry Agriculture Horticulture Fisheries Agriculture and related -Animal Husbandry Dairy Agriculture and development related-Milk Development Agriculture and related-Fisheries Sugarcane development (sugarcane) Sugarcane development (sugar industry) 6. Irrigation & Water Water Irrigation Demand 40 Agriculture and Water Resources Resources- Resources irrigation related-land Irrigation (public works development department) and water sources Water Irrigation Resources (construction works) IG Canal Irrigation (Adhisthaan) 7. Cooperation Food Civil Food Supplies Food supply Food and Food and Civil and Food & Civil Supplies and and Consumer and public consumer Supplies Supplies Consumer Welfare distribution protection Protection Cooperation Co-operation Co operative Co-operation Agriculture and related -Cooperation

200 Recent Changes in India’s Fiscal Architecture

Maharashtra Odisha Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh 8. Rural Rural Dev. Rural Dev. Rural Khadi, village Industries Development and Water Development industries and -Khadi Conservation handicrats and village industries cottage and Rural dev. and Agriculture and khadi industry panchayat raj related- Rural department Development 9. Panchayati Raj Included in Panchayati Raj Panchayati Raj Included in Agriculture Rural Dev. Rural Dev. and related- Panchayati Raj 10. Urban Urban Housing and Urban Dev. Housing and Housing Development & Development Urban Dev. urban Dev. Housing Housing Municipal Urban administration Development and water supply 11. Power and Energy Energy Energy Energy Energy Energy 12. Public Works Public Works Works Public Works Highways and Public Works minor ports (Adhisthan) Buildings Public Works (public works (buildings) department) Public Works (communication and bridges) Public Works (communication and roads) Public Works (directorate) 13. Forest & Forest and Forest and Environment Environment Environment Environment Environment Environment Forests Forests

201

SECTION III Life on the streets: A young cobbler and his cousin, Central Delhi. Photo Credit: Rahul M. Little Men and Little Women of City Streets Urban Street Children

Harsh Mander, Deepti Srivastava, Preeti Mathew and Satya Pillai*

‘here can be no better measure of governance that street children constitute 0.5 to 1.4 per cent of than the way we treat our children, and no greater the population, we can only broadly assume that failing on our part to allow them to be subjected to there are likely to be anywhere between 1.5 to 5.3 violence, abuse or exploitation’. million children on the streets in India today. –Jessica Lange (UNICEF, 2004) Table 1: Estimate of Street Children if they were 1 per cent of the Population Street children challenge the social representation City Population as per 1% of city that childhood is always sheltered and protected. Census 2011 population In fact, children in street situations are extremely Delhi 11034555 110346 vulnerable and endure severely deprived living Mumbai 6993262 69933 conditions, a profound lack of protection and the Kolkata 4496694 44964 basic support for nutrition, health and education. Chennai 4646732 46467 While India, the second most populous and one of the fastest growing economies, is home to the world’s Children end up on city streets due to a largest population of street children, we still do not range of reasons, including extreme poverty and have any deinitive and accurate oicial igures of deprivation, abuse, violence and neglect by families, the number of children for whom city streets are abandonment, traicking and forced child labour, home. hey escape the attention and counting in all lure of glamour and opportunities, developmental oicial censuses and surveys, including the decadal displacement, migration, natural disasters and censuses, oicial national sample surveys, as well sometimes horrendous massacres (ibid., p. 18). as surveys of out-of-school children; as these are Whatever be the reason, once on city streets, designed and conducted around counting people the rights of these children are withheld in many who live in ‘census houses’ and their imagination very ways, their basic needs unmet, their prospects and imperfectly includes people who are homeless, even futures profoundly damaged by conditions that less children who are alone on the streets. In fact they threaten their physical, social and emotional health survive by keeping out of sight of all state authorities and undermine their development (UNICEF, as they do not even have any proof of identiication. 2010). Koi Annan, the UN Secretary General, Going by the indings of a recent survey (Save the acknowledged that while cities are oten described Children report on Life on the Street, 2016, p. 34) as cradles of civilization, and sources of cultural

* Reviewer: Robert Chambers, Devika Singh, Shanta Sinha 205 India Exclusion Report and economic renaissance, for roughly one-third A report titled ‘Life stories of children in street of the developing world’s urban population that situations: An interactive exploration into lives of lives in extreme poverty, they are anything but that street children who are now in institutional homes (UNICEF Report on Poverty and Exclusion among or are independent adults’ was undertaken by the Urban Children, 2002, p. 1). As the World Health authors of this report, at the Rainbow Foundation Organization has recognized, urban settlements can India, in collaboration with Save the Children become among the world’s most life-threatening supported by the Department for International environments, with the street child being the most Development (DFID)/UK Aid. It has helped to vulnerable of all. hey say ‘…being poor is in itself further deepen our understanding of the streets a health hazard; worse, however, is being urban and and the children. It captured the indiference, poor. Much worse, is being poor, urban, and a child. and sometimes active hostility, endured by street But worst of all is being a street child in an urban children from people in power (by virtue of age, environment.’ (De la Barra, 1998, p. 1) resources, position or privilege), leading to intense, dense and persistent sufering, the magnitude his chapter attempts to open up the unseen and and dimensions of which are rarely understood. unheard lives of the urban street child. It illustrates Similarly, the same collaboration undertook a how they are inadvertently or otherwise marginalized, detailed census survey of street children (Save rendered invisible and eventually excluded from the Children report on Life on the Street, 2016, p. access to public goods, such as safety and protection, 34), which included a head-count and also looked food and nutrition, health, public space and education. closely at the circumstances of street children in It highlights the deprivations, denials, violence and ive locations namely, Lucknow and Mughal Sarai exploitation they face, and their daily struggles to in Uttar Pradesh, Patna (Bihar), Kolkata-Howrah merely survive. It questions the national commitment, twin cities in West Bengal, and Hyderabad, the joint the state responsibility and the public conscience capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. A budget as these relate to street children. Finally, we have analysis which tracked the translation of political attempted to propose a set of recommendations that commitments into plans, budgets and expenditures can reverse the situation from that of chronic exclusion was also a contributor to this study (Policy & into inclusion and is truly in the ‘best interest’ of the Budget Analysis, 2016). Another study, a mapping children in street situations. of policies and programmes for street children that Many of the insights in the chapter are based looked into the factors that shape the existence on the experiences of all the writers with the of homelessness, urban children, the existing 1 Rainbow Home Model through which we have perspectives, policies, schemes, interventions, their been supporting the street children to reclaim their strengths and gaps that have a direct bearing on the childhood. During our work with the children in work with children, has also deepened our thoughts the last 10 years, we studied, reviewed and analysed on the subject (Save the Children report on Policy our own experiences as well as perspectives existing Mapping and Analysis, 2015). worldwide to build an in-depth understanding of the nuances of vulnerabilities, laws, policies, responses, lacunas therein, etc., and documented them. One 1. Understanding the Child on the document that has been an important source of Streets information has been our series of handbooks on various aspects of quality care for children formerly he standard understanding on street children is: on the streets. A street child is ‘any girl or boy…for whom the

206 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets street (in the widest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, parks, parking lots, spaces Children who Children who Children who have lost or been have chosen have chosen to under bridges, shop corridors, wastelands, etc.) has abandoned by to leave their be connected to become his or her habitual abode and/or source families families their homeless families of livelihood; and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults’ Figure 1: Categorizing the street children (Inter-NGO Programme cited in UNCHS, 2000, p. 273). Within this population, UNICEF identiies two groups of street children, children ‘ON’ the Children living & working on the streets streets and children ‘OF’ the streets. Children ‘of’ • Without adult protection the streets are more vulnerable than children ‘on’ • With homeless parents the streets, because they have no adult protection. • With parents in slums Either they have no parents, or have escaped onto • With parents in the villages the streets from abusive, violent, alcoholic or Working Children irresponsible parents and live on the street with no • Self -Employed—rag picking, hawking, home to go back to. hese children are most ‘at risk’. cleaners, assistants As distinct from children of the street, children on the street retain contact with their families in Traficked Children the city, who may live on the streets or in slums. • Prostitution However, because of extreme poverty, substance • Domestic Work abuse or irresponsible parentage, the children are • Unorganised labor let largely to their own devices. Children of Migrants he survey report (Save the Children report on • Seasonally migrating with parents Life on the Street, 2016, p. 17) shows that there is • Migrants without parents not always as sharp a distinction as may be expected • De Notiied Tribes between these two categories, as some children of the streets may still have loose and occasional links Stigmatized Children with their families and some children on the streets • Children of Sex workers oten sleep on the streets away from their families. • Children of Sanitation workers From our years of engagement with the street • HIV, Leprosy children, we identify street children as children • Children of Prisoners who have abandoned their families, children whose Institutionalized Children families have abandoned them and children who • Orphanages have ties with their families. Families here are not • JJ Homes always normative families where ‘…children are • Adoption Centres domiciled at home, are dependent on their parents • Children of prisoners for necessities and who are nurtured at school • Children’s homes and at home to succeed as adults’, (Aptekar & Stoeklin, 2014, p. 21). Many a times their families Figure 2: Broad proile of children who live and are a network of jointly created social relations or work on the streets relations they ind themselves in.

207 India Exclusion Report

2. Life on the Streets: Indifference, she grew up, and one day gave her thirty rupees Deprivation, Violence and and sent her away with other village folk in the Exploitation2 train, to Delhi. Listless with jaundice, she does not remember how long the journey was. She It is a freezing winter night on the streets of Delhi. reached Delhi and located her way back to where hrough the swirling smog, on pavements, side she stayed earlier with her family. Only this time, streets, road dividers, under-bridges, in subways, there was no house. shop-fronts and lots of staircases, in railway (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life platforms and bus stations, one can dimly make stories of street children in India, 2015). out the huddled forms of sleeping children. If one cares to count, the numbers on any night would Shubham’s mother abandoned him when he was cross ity thousand, children who live, work, play, young. He remembers running ater her, calling, eat, fall sick, ight and love, despair and dream, shouting and screaming so she would turn back all under the open sky. One of them is Raju, a and take him along but she walked away with her boy of twelve, who sleeps with other homeless husband’s younger brother. What had he done? children around the water tank at New Delhi Why did she leave him alone? He saw her get on station. For most of the ive years since he let his a train. He climbed in too but never found her. home in Shantipur, a small town in the Kamrup Instead he reached Mumbai. He didn’t know district of Assam, this has been his only home. where he was. Like many children who lee their families to escape intolerable abuse, Raju is unwilling to talk (Ibid.) about precisely what drove him from his home. But one night at the age of seven, he walked away hese snippets mark just the beginning of decisively from his truck driving father, mother the unremitting struggle of a street child for the and two younger brothers, never to return. most basic rights—a guaranteed and safe place to stay, afection and care of adults and longing for (Mander, 2016) protection and respect for self. he survey (Save the Children report on Life on the Street, 2016, It was an act of incredible courage for a child so p. 50) shows that 14.4 per cent of children on the young, echoed and repeated in the lives of tens of streets are in the most vulnerable age group of 0–3 thousands of street children who decide at very years who require immediate attention of the child young ages to bravely escape violence and abuse in protection system, 6 per cent are those who are their homes—alcoholic fathers, physical and sexual diferently abled, for whom the situation must be violence—by fending for themselves, whatever it doubly diicult and 46 per cent children are in an costs. impressionable age group of 8–14 years. Streets have fewer girls than boys, but those he survey also showed that over 29 per cent girls who are forced to work on the mean streets of the total number of children covered under the negotiate daily the metropolis at its predatory study did not have a permanent place to sleep. worst. Rosy was barely ten years old when she lost her parents and saw her sister commit suicide In Hyderabad, this igure was a numbing 91 per just days ater their death. Her brother did not cent. At night, boys in particular, sleep mostly in keep her, so her aunt took her to Assam saying the open; usually under or on the sides of lyovers, that she might have a better living. But as things on pavements, public parks, and even graveyards. turned out, she was a ‘burden’ even there. She was Intermittently, they ind their way into some kind a girl. Her aunt would not pay for her upkeep as of temporary shelters in katchi abadi (make-

208 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets shit) homes or squatter settlements, informal, where possible, resort to pay and use toilets and small ghettos or pockets of concentration that bathe when they get a chance at railway stations or are invariably overcrowded, with poor sanitation community taps. Girls usually bathe in the open and no basic amenities, prone to disasters, but when it gets dark or in the shacks that are close to where they can live without the fear of eviction. their homes. During the survey, one of the older girls his is especially important for children who have in Mughalsarai commented, ‘he government has abandoned their families and fear discovery or made toilets for us just like they make roads but still forced repatriation to their biological family. they charge money for using these toilets.’ To protect themselves from the weather, he survey also pointed out that girls on the children use makeshit arrangements like blankets street are involved in sex work from an early age that someone may have donated or limsy plastic and many were sent out/given to do sex work by and cardboard materials or curl up inside large their families, with their mothers or guardians pipes stocked up at construction sites. acting as ‘pimps’. Rosy had to look for a place to sleep. She learnt Shubham returned to Patna as Delhi was more to trade her labour of rag-picking for a space to diicult to survive. At Patna, the police thrashed sleep and a plate of food. She was accompanied the other boys but him. One day however, a by another girl her age. hey were woken up at policeman caught hold of him, pulled him into 4:00 am to sort through and pick garbage. She the bogey and shut all doors. He demanded remembers how diicult it was, to evade the sexual favours. He remembers breaking open predatory men on the streets. hose abuses were an emergency window and lunging out to save like poison forced down her throat. She dared not himself. He felt humiliated. he next time he saw rebuke them for she was a street girl. She would the policeman, he got onto the moving train with ind clothes in the garbage bin. She collected a stone in his hand, his face ahead, cracked the them for she needed a change of clothes when policeman’s head with it. he policeman could she bled. Ater a day’s work, when she returned not identify him as he did not look back and the at night, she was able to buy a plate of food which train moved on. she ate ravenously and slept, curled up inside the hardboard boxes, around the place. It gave her (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life a feeling of safety, just a feeling for there were stories of street children in India, 2015). nights when she was raped. Boys face peer bullying and sexual abuse too. (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life Older boys and adults who have had a longer Stories of Street Children in India, 2015) presence at the stations do not let new children work until they have ‘permission’ and sometimes Leave alone a safe place to sleep, even necessary as this ‘permission’ to work at the station comes at amenities for defecating or bathing and washing are the cost of sexual favours, it results in the sexual missing for children on the streets. While 58 per exploitation of children on a regular basis. cent of them defecate in the open, near rail lines or secluded lanes, older children, especially girls, ind According to a newspaper report of 2010, the this even more diicult during their menstrual cycles National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) came out and the lack of sanitary napkins further complicates with shocking igures of crimes against children: the problems (Save the Children report on Life on 5484 children were raped and 1408 others killed the Street, 2016, p. 75). In such cases, they wake up in India. In the capital alone, 29 children were very early in the morning when it is still dark and murdered and 304 raped. Not surprising is the fact

209 India Exclusion Report that these igures do not include even a fraction he survey (Save the Children, 2011) showed that of the crimes committed against children on the 38.2 per cent male children and 23.7 per cent females streets. ‘Not even 10% cases of rape, sodomy or on streets reported abuse. Interestingly, abuse by murder of street children are recorded. Who is male police oicers was higher on male children going to ile an FIR for these children who have (42.6 per cent) and female police abuse (30 per cent) been abandoned by society and trapped by gangs?’ was reported higher on female children. (Times of India, 2011) In July 2013, the Delhi Police brought out a Many children, who are on the streets to avoid ill campaign on street children that said, ‘Help him treatment and abuse by adults around them, ind an learn to chop an onion, before someone teaches him aggressor in the law enforcing agency, the police who how to chop a head.’ (In Image 1) his portrayal of once again subject them, to hostility and violence. children also shows the deep rooted bias against

Box 1: Street Children and the Law: A View from Human Rights Watch Children living on the streets are charged with vague ‘ofences’ such as vagrancy or loitering, or status ofences such as being ‘in need of protection or discipline,’ which efectively make child poverty and homelessness, or status as children, a crime. Some street children are arrested and jailed because of their involvement in small businesses, deemed to be illegal, such as unlicensed hawking, or are accused of petty thet, drug related crimes, or prostitution. Some are arrested as scapegoats, or in order to catch others. Many police oicers believe that street children have information about crimes committed on their beat, or attribute crimes in the area to street children directly, thereby imputing criminal associations and criminal activities to street children in general. Whatever be the alleged crime, children who live on the streets face frequent roundups. hey are oten held in jails for days and even weeks, under horrendous conditions, and usually mixed with adults. here they may be further beaten by the police, or forced to pay bribes in order to be released. Girls may be coerced into providing sexual services to police in exchange for release, or are raped. From jails, street children may be transferred eventually to long-term penal institutions, sometimes euphemistically called ‘homes’ or ‘schools’, where they may languish, out of sight, for years. Few advocates, let alone lawyers or prosecutors, speak up for these children, and street children rarely have family members or other concerned adults able to intervene on their behalf. Widespread impunity and the slowness of law enforcement bodies to investigate and prosecute cases of abuses against street children have allowed violence against these children to continue unchecked. Establishing police accountability is further hampered by the fact that street children oten have no alternative but to complain directly to the police about police abuses. he threat of police reprisals acts as a serious deterrent to any child willing to come forward to testify or make a complaint against an oicer. Ater witnessing and experiencing acts of brutality inlicted by law enforcement, it is no surprise that street children place little faith in the system to bring their tormentors to justice. Source: Poverty and Exclusion Among Urban Children, Innoceni Digest no. 10 – November, 2002, htp://www.unicef- irc.org/publicaions/pdf/digest10e.pdf ; Children’s Rights. Street Children at Human Rights Watch, 2010 www.hrw. org/children/street.htm

210 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets street children and the perception that street daily foraging to wholesale waste traders near the children are a menace to the society. Shiela Cinema Bridge, who in turn sell these to recycling units. Some of Raju’s friends also take up other seasonal occupations like working with caterers in the wedding season, reserving places in the trains during vacations, selling cinema tickets at higher rates, cleaning cars or taxis, buses or lorries, even trains, as vendors for tea and food stalls, apprentices in roadside automobile repair garages, carrying loads and shoe polishing.

(Mander, 2009)

Among the occupations, rag/scrap picking is the most preferred occupation of children, as it gives them the freedom to live and work independently Image 1: Delhi Police Campaign on without adult supervision. On an average, they Street Children work for 9–10 hours a day. Rag-picking also gives them the freedom to choose their hours of work With time, street children learn to live by their and leisure (Save the Children report on Life on wits on the streets, ind work or beg to get money the Street, 2016, p. 42). Although boys are equally and ight for whatever they need. Contrary to susceptible and also get traicked, girls who get popular belief, more children prefer to work than to trapped into being ‘domestic help’ have their own beg. hey do rag-picking, hawking/street-vending serious vulnerabilities and traumas. Around 14 or ind odd jobs at roadside stalls. As per the survey per cent of the girls surveyed in Patna and 16 per done amongst Mumbai children by Action Aid, cent in Hyderabad were found working as domestic while 68.6 per cent street children were involved help in neighbourhood homes. here are many in some or the other occupations, only 7.9 per unregistered agencies in the urban centres that cent were involved in begging. While 87 per cent provide domestic help across the city. Children children in Delhi worked, only 4 per cent children traicked into work are treated like slaves and begged in Patna and Hyderabad respectively. Asif endure extremely long working hours, absence asks, ‘Why should I beg when I can work? I sell of leave and rest, deprivation of food, delayed or pens, lowers, lags, etc., at the signal, but the police non-payment of wages, physical and sexual abuse do not allow us to do even that, oten shooing us (Rao, 2015). As the staf members in a home in away, or coniscating our things. Now you tell me; Kolkata shared with the surveyors, ‘Mostly girls are is it wrong to sell pens or lower? If I beg, it’s not brought by their uncles, aunts and other relatives ok, if I work, I am caught. How am I supposed to in the name of providing work. Even if they join 3 survive?’ as domestic helps in houses they are tortured and Before long, Raju learnt to earn his living by rag- beaten by the owners; such girl children run away picking, starting out in the early hours of the and come here to the railway station’ (Shelter staf, morning, with a huge sack oten bigger than his Kolkata). own small frame, with separate pockets for bits Ganga decided to come to Delhi to work, against of paper, cloth, plastic pieces, scraps of iron and her mother’s wish, for she could not bear to see other trash. At the end of the day, he sells his

2 11 India Exclusion Report

her father, sufering from mental illness, scream 25 per cent of children have to go hungry at least and whine. She used to stay back at home and once a week because of lack of money (20 per fend for her father while her mother would go out cent) or have to skip it because of long working to earn. Once while she was brooding over her hours (12 per cent). 52.5 per cent children beg or father’s condition, a certain uncle suggested she eat letovers on railway platforms while at other leave this life and go to a better place, like Delhi. times their meals get snatched away. Even if the Since her mother disagreed with her, she decided quantities of food may (not always) be suicient, to slip out with the help of a man who traded her the quality tends to be monotonous, elementary, of with an unregistered agency in Delhi as domestic help. During the journey, she lost her mother’s poor nutritional value and unhygienic. Similarly, phone number written on a piece of paper and they are unable to access clean drinking water, and the little money she carried. In Delhi ‘that very rely on water supplied at roadside eateries, tea stalls, evening, that agent took me to their house. hey shops, public hand pumps and wells, parks and bus were doctors, both of them. I waited outside till stands. they discussed and called me in. I was told that I Making a living of the streets is hazardous had to work well and could call any time I wanted work and a predictor of poor health. he survey but they gave me no number.’ hat woman led her found that at least 30 per cent of the children on inside a room and examined her luggage. Ganga the streets report sick and ailments like cold, cough, couldn’t help crying as that woman pulled out a lotion and ordered her to undress and apply it fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, headache, etc., are so in front of her. She sobbed as she complied. hat commonplace that they are not even considered night passed somehow but what was to come was illnesses and are therefore ignored. 47 per cent even more horrifying. Each day started with her children prefer not to seek treatment till they can no having a bath, kneading the lour and cooking longer bear the problem but on inding it diicult food. Her entire day was slotted to do chores. It to buy medicines, when the government-run health started at 4 am to end at 2 pm. She got beaten facilities or NGOs do not ofer it for free, settle mostly the very irst day itself when her rotis (lat bread for easier to approach quacks and faith healers. his made of wholemeal lour) were not round. When also leads to discontinuation of treatment. A grave she resisted work, both of them dug their nails problem that they face is the lack of emergency into her lesh and pulled out her hair. hey fed medical care facilities like ambulance and transport her stale old dried rotis. hey asked her to sit like facilities. Most of them are helped only when they a cock and hit her face with their boots. hey are reached out to by an NGO working in the area. went for a holiday for ive days and she was let he persistent and harsh struggles of coping with alone without food. he ration was reachable yet inaccessible, as the box was marked for quantity traumatic experiences of neglect, abuse, hostility, she could eat. hey even counted the pieces of discrimination and exclusion also leave behind a chicken so that she could not steal. range of mental health issues like depression and anxiety on the street child’s psyche. (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life he widespread intake of drugs further Stories of Street Children in India, 2015). complicates the situation for them. Drugs are used he survey (Save the Children report on Life on to suppress hunger, dodge the cold and to keep them the Street, 2016, p. 69) also informs us that timely awake for work. Intoxication also allows for a short- meals are a rarity and skipping a meal once a day lived thrill and helps suppress the sense of loneliness is a common occurrence among street children. and abandonment (Mander, 2009). he survey

212 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

(Save the Children report on Life on the Street, based, non-discriminatory, and free from fear, 2016, p. 19) found that the prevalence of drug use anxiety and stress, but to children on the streets, among the boys before coming to the observation education still remains a dream. home was between 60–70 per cent. hey usually Deining basic literacy as ‘…the ability to read or consume substances which are readily available write in any language’ the survey (Save the Children and cheap like tobacco, alcohol, food additives, report on Life on the Street, 2016, p. 12) found that adhesives, correction luid, petrol/diesel solution, about 63 per cent of the children were illiterate. shoe polish and industrial chemicals, certain over- Illiteracy was highest among street working the-counter medicines, over-the-counter drugs and children, which shows that getting involved in also grass (ganja) which is common. Children on earning money adversely impacts a child’s learning the streets, in short, end up spending a large part of opportunities. Analysis of education data of the their earnings on substances. Survey across ive cities, around various age groups, Raju like most street children was introduced reveals that the school drop-out rate of street to the easy but deadly escape from pain and children is very high, especially ater 14 years of loneliness ofered by sot drugs early in his days on age. here are many reasons for leaving school and the streets of Delhi. hinners are readily available poverty, which necessitates more helping hands to at any stationery shop for 25 rupees a bottle. earn and support the family, is the most prominent Shopkeepers know that the children who buy these are not using them for painting, but they do not of all. Children, who were forced to leave school hesitate to sell to the street urchins who lock their due to poverty, however, admitted that they knew stores. Two bottles are enough for a day for one they were missing out on the opportunity to study. child. hey soak a rag and inhale the fumes of the School-going street children emphasized solution, and it transports them to another world. during FGDs (Focus Group Discussions) that the But it also destroys their lungs, rendering them school environment and facilities require major vulnerable to TB. Many children graduate to hard drugs like smack, but Raju has steered himself improvement if they are to meet the needs and away. He knows that for those who succumb to aspirations of children. A young girl reported, ‘I smack, it is virtually the end of the road…. like to go to school and study but I would also like to play in school but there is no place to play... even (Mander, 2016) to eat our lunch we are asked to stay in class’ (FGD Another fundamental right that is violated Street Children Living with Families, Younger Girls, among street children is Education. he Right to 2015, Lucknow). Some also mentioned about the Education Act, 2009, that came into efect in 2009, discrimination they faced in school like how they entitles free and compulsory education to children were made to clean the classroom and toilet since of 6–14 years in an environment that is equity- they were from the backward castes.

Box 2: he Survey showed that 68.8% children work and do not pursue any kind of education. Only 23% have received education of some kind. 39% work on all seven days of the week and 35 to 73% children work for 5 to 8 hours on an average, in a day. 47.3% receive only two years of schooling. Source: Save the Children report on Life on the Street, 2016, p. 48

213 India Exclusion Report

During the day, Shubham went to a newly opened to look as he never wanted to go home. Why day care centre at the station. It provided them would he want to sufer rejection? When he saw food and non-formal education. He started going their persistence, he took them along. His uncles there on a regular basis as the care-givers ofered were shocked to see him. hey did not want him him a place to rest, watch TV, play games and eat. to stay with them therefore he returned to the When he became regular, they ofered him help streets of the city. He remembers what he last saw, to locate his family. He misled them about where his ox had been taken by the village headman, his

Figure 3: Violation of Rights Suffered by Children on Streets

Source: Photograph by Dil se Delhi team in 2005.

214 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

ields were sold of and his belongings removed policy, street children are missing in most policies from the room. All his belongings were gone. He for child rights, protection, education, water, came back. He felt there was no point pursuing sanitation, and urban welfare in general. Locating temporary ‘time pass’ education and so started the street child in the policies in India, Mander says, rag picking bottles again. One day a woman lost her purse at the station and all the boys at the ‘he law, policies and programmes at the station were forced into a lock-up for a month. various levels of government covers categories of Sometime later they were caught again. his time, vulnerable children with whom the street child it was a big thet. hey were locked up in a newly partially overlaps. hese are the legal categories inaugurated remand home. hat place was a jail. of the “child in need of care and protection”, child He was thrashed and beaten hard. He says he labour; and also the urban deprived, out-of-school became resistant. He stayed there for ive years child. Every street child is all of these—a child before he was released to be back at the railway in intense need of care and protection, a child station, picking bottles once again…. worker, and an urban deprived, out-of-school child—but by no means is every child in need of (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life care and protection, every child worker and every stories of street children in India, 2015). urban out-of-school child a street child. Within the policies, laws and programmes aimed at these As the survey report points out, for a part broad groups, street children are to be identiied of population living in such highly challenging as a major sub-group to be targeted with speciic circumstances, assistance of any kind can be more intervention that casts a special lens singularly than helpful—it can even be life changing. Data pointed on their unique vulnerabilities.’ shows that only a miniscule percentage of children on the streets are aware of any authority or agency (2016) that can be approached for any assistance at times Even at the State level there are no examples of of need. Of those 224 children who were aware of policies, laws and programmes targeted at street assistance services or options, only 112 (51.6 per children and interventions are largely restricted cent) said that they had ever received it. to implementing the existing Central government Deprived of families, adequate and appropriate laws and programmes. Local government bodies, adult protection, education and healthcare, and the i.e., municipal corporations in urban areas and unsafe environment of city streets, street children panchayats (oldest form of local government in bring to the fore all the agencies and resilience the Indian Subcontinent) in rural areas, which required to survive each day precariously and play a crucial role in ensuring that government bravely. Despite being highly visible on the urban interventions efectively achieve their intended city landscape, we have chosen to keep them objectives on the ground, also have an extremely ‘invisible’ and ‘hidden from our conscience’, thus limited role in relation to interventions for street pushing them to the bottom of the social hierarchy children which are largely restricted to implementing and keeping them away from what is their due. the directions of the state government. Some of the speciic laws and policies for 3. Current Provisions children (from the Save the Children report on Policy Mapping and Analysis, 2015) that need to be With no legitimate identity, recognition or social highlighted in this context are— status that can make them count, and no speciic

215 India Exclusion Report

3.1 The National Policy for Children a structured mechanism to reach out to street children through proactive and sustained eforts (Revised in 2013), it is an overarching policy meant for their identiication, rescue and rehabilitation. to guide and inform all government interventions Instead, interventions under the scheme remain afecting children in India. A progressive document almost exclusively reactive in nature, with a focus in principle, it adopts a rights-based approach to on institutionalization of children. Moreover address the situation of children and emphasizes crucial aspects of the scheme that are of high that the best interests and the own view of a child relevance for street children, such as foster care, must be the primary concern in all decisions and sponsorship programmes and atercare for older actions afecting them. Although it recognizes that children remain highly underdeveloped even six children are not a homogenous group and that years ater its launch. special eforts are required to respond to the needs of children living in diicult circumstances who face multi-dimensional vulnerabilities, it does not 3.4 Right to Free and Compulsory speciically mention street children. Education (RTE)

he passage of the 86th Constitutional Amendment 3.2 Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act in 2002 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, that mandates his is the primary legislation dealing with children mainstream education to every child between 6 and in need of care and protection and children in 14 years of age is potentially the most signiicant conlict with the law. It was enacted in 1986 and large government programme, under the SSA irst passed in the year 2000. It aims to ensure that programme, designed to cater substantially to the laws dealing with such children are in the best speciic needs of street children. However, there are interests of the child and it is consistent with India’s many concerns regarding its implementation due to obligations under the UNCRC and other relevant which it is not beneiting them as much as it should international laws that the country is a party to. or can. Here too, despite several revisions in the act, with the latest one in 2015, the interventions are for the broad set of CNCP, with the street children (barring 3.5 National Health Policy mention at two instances) being it into the scheme his talks about the government interventions as one of them, thus hampering its ability to address related to the survival, health and nutrition of their acute and very speciic vulnerabilities. children; it also does not explicitly identify street children as a target group with speciic vulnerabilities 3.3 Integrated Child Protection Scheme and needs. hough there is a provision under the (ICPS) ICPS to designate at least one shelter home in each state for the care, detoxiication and counselling of Launched in 2009, it is a broad lagship government children afected by substance abuse, very few such programme that brought under its ambit the specialized homes have been established so far. various institutions and provisions established under the JJ Act. As a programme, the ICPS has he Drat National Health Policy, 2015 however deinitely aided in the improvement of the existing does makes a special mention of street children as infrastructure for child protection. Operationally, a high-risk category, and suggests speciic measures despite its commendable aims, the ICPS lacks such as health centres at railway stations and bus

216 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets stands. Similarly, the National Mental Health children insensitively and roughly produce them to Policy, 2014 proposes to pay special attention the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which only to vulnerable populations, including children in reinforces the mistrust and suspicion that street custodial settings, who bear a disproportionate and children already have for adults around them. higher burden of mental health problems. here is, Although there is a provision for every police station however, no evidence of these on the ground. to have an oicer marked as Special Juvenile Oicer who is trained especially for meeting children, 3.6 National Child Labour Project (NCLP) this is rarely seen in practice. Even the anganwadi (courtyard shelter) workers reach out to children NCLP mandates children in the 9–14 year age only in age groups of 0–6 years and reaching out groups, who are engaged in hazardous occupations, to homeless children is not a key highlight of to be withdrawn from employment and enrolled in their work proiles. Although Child-line has been Special Training Centres, where they receive bridge efective in reaching out to children in distress, education, vocational training, nutrition, healthcare its role is restricted to attending to children who and a monthly stipend, and are mainstreamed into they are ‘informed’ about. Even under RTE, their an age-appropriate class in formal schools. Here task to count ‘Out of school children’ focuses only too, the facilities are typically non-residential in on children who live with families and in homes, nature, which makes them less relevant for street thereby leaving out a signiicant portion of the children and other groups of children who, besides street children. working, are also deprived of a family environment. In the absence of a speciic policy for street 4.2 Inadequate Options for Care children, their issues are addressed under the broad category of CNCP. Although these contain many he interventions for care of street children have elements which are critical for street children, they seen little modiication and innovations either in its do not address adequately how the services should principles or methods to suit the distinct needs of be organized and operationalized bearing in mind a child coming of the streets. For example, India the unique situation and vulnerabilities of street prides itself on a well-studied and developed system children. he next section explores the numerous for adoptions for the youngest children, especially practical gaps and bottlenecks that make their orphaned/abandoned/separated children. However access and engagement diicult for these children. the adoption agencies are not mandated to seek out the children (under 6 years who may be abandoned) 4. Ground Realities who may potentially beneit by getting adopted by a family. Parents who are in dire circumstances 4.1 Lack of Mechanisms to Identify and wish to relinquish their child/children do not know where and whom to approach, and oten To begin with, there are no formal systematic abandon the child, whose survival is then entirely operationalized mechanisms and processes for let to chance. It is only in the recent revision that locating and engaging street children for their JJ recognizes the relevance of this child-care model rescue and rehabilitation. he major stakeholders and encourages it as an intervention for children in who come in contact with the street children are the need of care and protection. Police and the NGOs. Police, (as understood earlier in this report) in the absence of any alternative Similarly Foster care, which countries instructions, usually resort to rounding up the worldwide believe is the next-best-thing to family

217 India Exclusion Report care and can form the backbone of an alternative government-run although the government has the care system for children, has evolved too slowly in core mandate to reach out to the largest possible India and evidence of its existence can only be seen, number of children in need of care and protection. and that too rarely, in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chandni is one among the 3500 such children who Karnataka so far. here are also very few sponsorship had been surviving on streets before they joined programmes and street-based programmes in one such hostel. Her blind mother has begged all India that work with the family and address the her life but heroically taken her ive daughters myriad issues that surround homelessness in order through elementary school. Proud that she has to improve the lives of the children. At the most, studied up to class 7, Chandni insists on speaking eforts are made to provide medical and legal aid, in broken English. But most street girls are not so temporary shelter, basic education, and livelihood fortunate. Every single girl we have met on the options, which do not address the far more complex streets longs to study, but this is possible only if issues needed to tackle the travails of homelessness the government opens hundreds of residential and deprivation. schools for them. he Delhi government has at last agreed to open four such residential schools An intervention of direct relevance for the for street children, and many more mothers have protection of street children are the homeless agreed, than we have space for, to sacriice the night and open shelters, to be established under a earnings of their girls so that they live safe and Supreme Court order in the Right to Food case and happy childhoods illuminated by learning. mandated by the Court to be operated in all major cities. Such shelters in urban and semi-urban areas (Save the Children and ARUN’s study on Life stories of street children in India, 2015). are an important component of the ICPS too. For children who are most at risk, long-term residential Similarly, the Delhi Street Children Survey care facility is essential for any kind of impact to (2011) done by Save the Children indicates that ensue. Barring a few instances under the JJ and there were about 51,000 children (which might RTE, the schemes and its operations on the ground have increased with every passing year) but the typically ofer facilities that are non-residential in government-run homes catered to only 2471 nature, which make them less relevant for street children in Delhi during 2014–15, and that too children and other groups of children who are mainly through custodial jail-like institutions. living and working on the streets. Quality of care in the existing homes is most criticized for being synonymous with 4.3 Inadequate Number and Quality of custodialization, wherein the children, in the Services name of care and protection are locked up. Many Compared to the volume of deprived children on the government-run homes are overcrowded as the streets requiring safety and protection, the numbers number of children exceeds the sanctioned strength, of the above-mentioned services are still woefully leading to insuicient space and amenities. he inadequate. As of December 2014, only 1389 homes most important element missing in such a set- of various kinds, and 283 special adoption agencies up is the lack of care from the staf. Instances of were receiving funding from ICPS (Save the abuse and violence are frequent (but unreported). Children report on Policy Mapping and Analysis, Rehabilitation plans are not given due attention and 2015). Of these only 639 homes (46 per cent) are no post-rehabilitation reviews are done.

218 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

4.4 Lack of Support from Ancillary Services of the DCPU and the CWC. Whereas the CWC he JJ Act is a crucial legislation for the care and has the authority to write orders for the rescue and protection of children. It was amended twice (in rehabilitation of the children in need of care and 2006 and 2011), repealed and re-enacted in 2015 protection, the DCPU provides funds and secretarial considering the incidents of increased abuse of support to the CWCs. he DCPU is mandated as children, quality of care and protection, pendency per the Act to review the implementation of the act of cases and so on. As per the act, the Child Welfare at the district level. It has powers to administer and Committee (CWC) is a district-level body having monitor child-care institutions as well as the CWC critical responsibility towards the ‘best interest’ of but in case of missing or abandoned children, the children in need of care and protection. As per the DCPU has to submit a report to the CWC about year-end review of the Department of Women and the child’s family background. hus there remains Child Development (WCD) in December 2014, some confusion regarding its role and reporting only 619 CWCs have been set up in the country. lines. he CWC enjoys enormous powers to make orders National bodies like the National Commission afecting children and families in substantial ways for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and but they lack procedural or functional discipline its state counterpart, State Commissions for owing to want of training in court functioning, skill Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs), set up under of conducting proceedings, writing judicial orders the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights and maintaining judicial discipline. Act (CPCR Act), 2005 have wide-ranging powers Our own experience and the indings of the to inquire into violations of child rights, including Policy mapping (Save the Children report on Policy the lack of implementation or compliance with Mapping and Analysis, 2015) conirm that there relevant laws, policy decisions, guidelines and are many instances when children were hurriedly instructions. It is also the designated grievance restored to high risk or exploitative families and on the other hand, correspondingly, there are a higher number of instances of repeated re-entries of 700 children into government homes or NGO homes. his shows lack of suicient options for the state 525 to ensure that street children are given the most appropriate response. his is a clear limitation of the state’s intervention. 350 BE As per the JJ Act revised in 2015, the District RE Child Protection Unit (DCPU) has been entrusted AE with the administration and monitoring of child- 175 care institutions and the CWCs. his automatically shits the focus to children already in institutional 0 care rather than proactively reaching for the child on 2008–09 2010–11 the street—as highlighted earlier in this section—an Figure 5: Trend in Budget and Expenditure for element crucial for ensuring participation and the Child Protection best interest of the child. In our experience, on the ground, there is a lot of confusion about the roles Source: Budget for Children in India, 2008–9 to 2013–14, HAQ Centre for Child rights

219 India Exclusion Report redressal and monitoring institution under the indicates the lack of suicient planning and RTE, the Protection of Children from Sexual allocation of resources. It also shows that investing Ofences Act (POCSO), and most recently, the in children can be delayed as the government does JJ Act, and provides for the creation of Children’s not come under any pressure as much as they do Courts, Special Court and the appointment of a while working on programmes for adult citizens. Special Public Prosecutor, in order to ensure speedy More so because the latter are part of a vote bank trials for ofences against children or of violation of and children are not. Budgetary allocation for child rights. Despite the important role that they 2015–16 for children has been let unchanged from play, their functioning remains heavily dependent the previous year, at INR 402.23 crore as against the on governmental support, in terms of accepting projected demand of INR 700 crore. and taking action based on their indings. he Another scheme that can beneit the street performance of the SCPCRs varies considerably child directly is the URH under the SSA. Children from state to state, based on the expertise and are provided residential facility to stay within the initiative of its members. government premises which are run by NGOs. he allocation of the building is done by the Municipal 4.5 Low-budget Allocations Corporation. his scheme enables street children to live in the safety of a home within public he share for children in the union budget has fallen institutions. he funding pattern of this scheme in the recent years (HAQ: Centre for Child Rights however is based on that of the Kasturba Gandhi report on Budget for Children 2016–17, 2016). Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) which is inappropriate Currently it stands at 3.32 per cent as against 4.76 because the KGBVs (residential schools) start from per cent in the year 2012–13. Within the budget for Class 5, whereas street children under URH include children, the share of child protection is reduced those as young as 6 years of age. Moreover, due to and remains the most under-resourced area among the per child expenditure by the government being all the other sectors. very low, in most cases, NGOs have to make up for Under the ICPS—the scheme most relevant to this shortfall with their own funds. street children—however, the inancial norms for he above facts reveal that despite laws, policies various components were revised upwards in 2014, and schemes for children, and state and non-state including a rise in the child maintenance grant actors, the street child is clearly falling through the from INR 750 to INR 2000 per month per child, cracks and only an alarmingly miniscule proportion construction and maintenance of a home for 50 are really being impacted. Beginning from a lack of children from INR 77.61 lakh to INR 129.85 lakh, understanding of who the child on the streets really for children with special needs from INR 4.22 is and what they need, to lack of coordination and lakh to INR 10.48 lakh, and greater lexibility in convergence, lack of will and budget issues, we have staing patterns and enhanced cost of construction. been utterly unsuccessful in addressing the needs of Despite these increased proposals, actual funds scores of children sufering on the streets. sanctioned and released to state governments have been signiicantly below the proposed allocations, relecting poor fund utilization by states, including 5. Recommendations in states like Tamil Nadu and Delhi which have been relatively proactive in implementing the scheme. According to Articles 20.1 and 20.2 of CRC he decreasing trend of actual expenditures (Convention on the Rights of the Child), a child

220 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her solutions’) and 4. denial of ownership and therefore family environment, or in whose own interests responsibility towards contributing to the process cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, (‘it’s not really my responsibility’). shall be entitled to special protection and assistance As a UN study (UNICEF report on Excluded provided by the State. As a signatory to the CRC & Invisible, 2006, p. 59) states, a ‘business as usual’ committed to ensuring all children’s basic rights, approach will never reach excluded and invisible the State has to act more proactively and responsibly children. It has to be a concerted, collaborative towards the growing number of children let out efort and the recognition and belief of each of these and violated on the streets. steps in the continuum has a role that cannot be When it comes to the issue of street children, compromised. It is long overdue and we must force honest relection might reveal that the nation, state, ourselves to take a clearer look at the slate and make as well as the community are part of the continuum corrections urgently. of discounting it because of 1. lack of recognition of the issue (‘it’s not a problem’) 2. no cognizance 5.1 Revisiting Existing Policies and of the gravity of the situation (‘it’s not a serious Schemes one’) 3. shaky trust in the rights perspective and the expectations of positive impact (‘there are no real Schemes, policies and initiatives targeted at the general children’s population, aiming to include as many children as possible (ibid., p. 67), cannot reach the street child and therefore will continue to Box 3 keep them invisible and excluded. Instead of being We are guilty of many errors and faults, but seen as sub-sets of other groups, such as children our worst crime is abandoning the children, in care of need and protection, child labour or out- neglecting the foundations of life. Many of of-school children, children living and working the things we need can wait, but the child on the streets are in need of unique schemes and cannot; right now is the time his bones are interventions, including health and drug policies, being formed, his blood is being made and with clearly demarcated roles for central, state and his senses are being developed. To him, we local governments within these (Save the Children cannot answer ‘tomorrow’, his name is today. report on Policy Mapping and Analysis, 2015). —Gabriel Mistral, ‘His Name is Today’, Nobel Prize Winning Poet from Chile.

There are It is aIt’s serious a There are It’sIt’s notnot a a serious soluons,solutions, butbut It’sIt’s not a a problem, but seriousserious problem, but it’sit’s notnot my my problemproblem there are no problemproblem / there are no real responsibilityresponsibility real soluons solutions directly.drectly

Figure 6: The continuum of discounting

221 India Exclusion Report

he existing policies that need revision to 5.2 Assessing the Magnitude, Bridging the address speciic vulnerabilities include the Juvenile Data Gaps Justice (Care and Protection of Children) ICPS, In the absence of any formal, overall data, as a RTE, etc., and they must contain a section about preliminary step to making the street child ‘visible’, the protection of street children, underlining the government must inform itself, through a the duty of the State to secure for every street national as well as state-level survey, about the child comprehensive, non-coercive, rights-based number of children living and working on the care and protection. Similarly, the Integrated streets in situations and conditions that make their Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) should have lives a gross human rights violation. his mapping greater lexibility for innovation and designing exercise will not only provide the numbers of interventions based on the speciic needs of street homeless children and adults residing permanently children. he Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (SSA) that or temporarily on streets, but will even help to has provisions for Non-residential Special Training include and lay the foundation for mobilizing Centres, Residential Special Training Centres and and synergizing the local stakeholders to rise and Urban Residential Hostels, contains the potential to respond. Since streets are dynamic and street reach out to the largest numbers of street children children a highly mobile population, it is important with voluntary, non-coercive, rights-based care that every state should review and update their data (such as the Rainbow Homes) and therefore their over a time period of not more than two years and numbers should increase. Likewise, the National use that data to ine-tune the interventions and Urban Health Mission (NUHM) should be made implementation plans to the changing needs. more efective in reaching out to street children as a highly ‘at-risk’ category by creating more health he survey is on the lines of the ones recently centres at railway stations and bus stands for street concluded by SC-RFI (Save the Children report on children. Life on the Street, 2016; Save the Children report

Box 4 Good Practice: In what can be called a model collaboration, Pune city in 2016 undertook a detailed study beginning with a headcount of the children on its streets. Initiated by the Municipal Corporation of Pune, in partnership with Rainbow Foundation India and other local NGOs, they undertook an intensive mapping of the children across the 76 wards and two cantonments of the city, and their situation. he intensive exercise was collectively undertaken by a team consisting of 31 social mobilizers of the social service department who were already active in their respective wards and were familiar with the dynamics and situations that exist therein, and 40 ield workers from RFI and other local NGOs with a strong experience of the street situation and its realities, especially vis-a-vis children. With the commissioner as the driving force and the teams complementing each other perfectly, they were able to complete this mammoth exercise smoothly in a record 24 days. Based on the indings and recommendations, the corporation is committed to drawing up a substantial, realistic plan towards the convergence of the good oices of various related departments such as the water department, Aganwadi, PWD, Housing, Health, Education, etc., and roll it out at the earliest. Source: Pune Survey Report, December 2016, By Pune Muncipal Corporation and RFI.

222 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

Box 5: The MV Approach Based on the non-negotiable principles that ‘no child works and every child attends full time formal school as a matter of right’, MV (Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya) foundation has been working on abolishing child labour in all its forms and mainstreaming children into mainstream formal schools. hey follow an area approach rather than a target approach seeking to address the children in the entire area. he Child Rights Protection Forum constituted for this includes the gram panchayat members, school committee members, school teachers, youth, local employers, women’s groups and political leaders. Source: Excerpts from interaction with Venkat Reddy, MV Foundation, August 2015.

on Survey of Delhi, 2012; ARUN’s Survey Report 35 stations every year. Before the horrors of life of Street Children in Pune City, 2015) that includes on the platforms become a reality for them,4 an information like where to locate them, when to meet efective intervention can be ensured by reaching them, how to get them to elicit information about them promptly on their irst arrival. his makes for themselves and their lived experience, expectations, a strong preventive intervention only if the police, etc., which can then be used as a reference resource railways and community-based organizations play for such an exercise. he local indings should be a proactive role towards the same. clubbed with recommendations for stakeholders, lessons learned from experiences of other regions 6. ‘Best Interest’; Moving beyond and even other countries to produce the most the Polarities of Detention and efective response. Restoration

5.3 Stronger Mechanisms for Identiication he two typical extreme perceptions and responses and Mobilization of the Children when a child is met on the street are: 1. he child is Such a mapping survey would reveal the prevalence a nuisance and the best reaction would be to detain and the points of concentration in the city, usually or lock him/her up in the best interest of everybody, spread across temples, stations, bus terminals, etc. or, 2. he child is young and innocent and can only However, merely identifying the hotspots does be helped by placing them back in the family. Both not mean that street children will automatically perceptions operate either on the assumption that begin to access any facility that one will provide it is not really the state’s responsibility or that there for them, even if in and around the same locality. are no real solutions and the best one can do is a For that a trained person over a period of time has temporary Band-Aid approach of ‘managing them to consistently meet and mobilize them through a here and now’. manner that rebuilds the faith in them that there One of the reasons that has built the image are genuine alternate possibilities. Going by the of street children as being dangerous and risky shocking inding by a survey on railway children, has been the criminalization of activities that every ive minutes, a child arrives alone on a platform street children have to indulge in for their sheer in India, 1,12,000 children arrive on platforms at survival, which includes running away from home,

223 India Exclusion Report scavenging, loitering or begging, selling sex toys, Operationally, it should be a focus of state and petty stealing or vagrancy. In 2015 alone, 56,501 local governments to establish a large network of children were apprehended out of which eventually drop-in shelters at all public spaces such as major 2578 were released ater a small ine, 7354 were sent urban railway stations and bus stations, as well as home, 8842 were restored to their families, 1918 other points of assembly of street children not less were sent to institutions, and 4582 children were than 3 km apart. hese open shelters should have acquitted or the case disposed of (NCRB, 2015). provisions for children such as lockers, showers his clearly shows the overuse of detention on the and toilets that allow them to maintain hygiene and part of the state. We need to reduce the number of change their clothes, apart from feeding and basic children entering justice systems by decriminalizing healthcare services including drug de-addiction ‘status ofences’ (ofences that are only a crime and education. hese shelters should be linked when committed by children, such as truancy, with basic essential services like immunization running away from home, survival behaviours programmes, entitlement documents like proof of such as rag-picking, scavenging, or loitering) (UN identity (legal recognition of the child as a member Report on Violence against Children, 2006, p. 29). of society) like the Aadhar card, etc., helping them Even those detained should be ofered the best and to move one step closer to accessing public goods most intensive community-based rehabilitation and services and negotiating the system seamlessly. and reintegration programmes (ibid.) hese shelters, however, should not be the inal he other customary response that is exercised in destination and should also be closely linked to the name of ‘best interest’ is restoration/repatriation, other child-care interventions. A child who is say, i.e., placing the child back with its biological family. discharged from a drug addiction unit, should thus Many times the child has escaped from an abusive be able to graduate smoothly to other appropriate situation of their own will and to save themselves long-term interventions such as restoration, from abuse and/or violence; simply sending them sponsorship, foster care and urban residential back ater ‘counselling’ does not prove to be a special training centres and hostels. lasting solution. It, in fact, can be a traumatic and harmful one. Hence, one should not be in a hurry 6.2 Residential Services: A Real Need to repatriate and this decision should be taken in close consultation with the child, respecting their he multi-faceted nature of deprivation faced by agency and without inluencing them by putting street children means that their rights cannot be undue moral stress on reuniication with the family. guaranteed merely by temporary spaces like drop-in he best interest of the child would be to have a plan shelters. For those children who are without families based on factors such as the age, quality of the child’s or have abusive or irresponsible families and do not attachment to his/her family, the family’s capacity wish to connect with them any longer, or children who and readiness to safeguard the child’s well-being are alone on the streets, it is important to ensure that and holistic development and most signiicantly, the they have access to appropriate residential facilities. child’s desire to be part of the family. While there is a strong wave of moving away from institutional care in many parts of the world, in our country, due to the absence of established alternative 6.1 Creating Safe Spaces care options and with the number of children on the Creating safe spaces for rest during the day and streets growing, it would be inappropriate to simply especially at night are important for street children. move away from institutional care.

224 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

As observed earlier in the chapter, although the free life of the street, most children coming residential ‘Children Care Institutions’ (CCIs) into the homes remain in an unsettled, ambivalent run by the government now do exist across the state for long and invariably go through multiple country, they are not adequate in numbers and exits and re-entries. During this initial stage of usually follow the custodial approach. he quality indecisiveness and perplexity and later throughout of care should be professionalized (through SOPs the stay in it, caution is exercised to ensure that for quality care) and the regressive (repressive) the administrative systems and protocols are custodial approach towards children’s needs to not limiting for the children and do not leave be phased out, and replaced by voluntary homes them with a feeling of being just a number in an where children are not locked up; instead these institution. he programme is also participatory should be places where children stay willingly and provides a broad outline of the basic needs of rather than being forced to run away. Children the growing children and the fundamental non- from the street do not take kindly to being locked negotiable principles, with the choice of activities inside a gate, being supervised closely, and being relying signiicantly on the feedback of a council corrected constantly. hey learn and grow when consisting of the children and staf. his results in not approached by condemnation or rejection and a rich mix of educational, life-skills, recreational when in non-threatening, accepting, loving, caring, and health activities catering to the needs of every stimulating secular environments and not merely individual child in a violence-free environment. temporary shelters (Mander, 2011). he families are key members of the care team and stay connected with the children during the entire duration of their stay in the home. With long-term 6.3 Good Practice, the Non-custodial, Residential, Long-term Care Approach care as one of its strong characteristics, when the children reach young adulthood they are, through 5 he idea of opening Rainbow Homes (run under a carefully conceptualized ‘Futures’ programme, SSA) ofering long-term care grew out of the launched into independent living. limitations of custodial care, and cannot be equated Although the residential services extended so far with the idea of institutionalization. he homes under the RTE add up just to a drop in the ocean, are open and non-custodial or in other words, the Urban Residential Hostels (URH) of the SSA entirely voluntary and the decision to enter and have been an efective option for the neediest of the stay on is the child’s. In fact, even ater coming of

Box 6

Bridging programmes are based on the unstated idea that every child has a family. Ater completion of the bridge course, the child is expected to be mainstreamed into the regular school, but there is inadequate provision for residential schooling for children without families or homes. Whatever provisions are made under the component of URH, they are restricted to children at the elementary stage only. As these children move to the secondary stage, they are expected to move to other hostels or schools to complete their schooling. he education department of the Indian government needs to conceive education from elementary to secondary and indeed senior secondary as a continuum, which enables children to seamlessly transit from bridge courses to elementary, and to the secondary/post-secondary stage of education. Source: Comprehensive Residential Care for Street Children, A Study by Anita Kaul, supported by UNICEF, 2015.

225 India Exclusion Report needy among the ‘out of school’ children. However lexible assessment systems to diagnose need and this has not been implemented universally; for e.g., monitor learning and development of individual there is a variation in the age of admission into students should also be introduced. Further, a URHs and the onus to identify and prepare the system for teacher development and support over child for the age-appropriate class practically falls time, in order to provide child-centred, need-based on the NGOs. Further, the duration of the support teaching and support, will help them appreciate the also varies: e.g. in Tamil Nadu, a child admitted to unique background and spirit of children who live a Residential Special Training Centre (RSTC) is and work on the street. eligible for funding for up to two years, while in Delhi, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, RSTC 6.4 Alternative Care Options is available for a maximum period of one year. Both schemes lack a continuum of care, not catering to Although residential care services are required for children outside the age group of 6–14 years. One of a section of street children, there are others for the limitations of the current provisions is that many whom family-based alternatives like adoption, and children who initially enter into the special training state-supported foster care, will be more suitable scheme are expected to start living at home by the and beneicial. Central and state governments, end of the year. Acknowledging the predicament of in consultation with WCD and NCPCR and the street children who mostly do not have a home, or SCPCR’s, should operationalize foster care under a family, or both to return to, the scheme must have the existing provisions (Juvenile Justice Act, provision for their automatic graduation to hostels 2015) or should prepare appropriate schemes (URH), which should be made available to them in for these, and actively and widely promote these a maximum period of three years. Also recognizing family-based alternatives. Foster care must be that such children have either never been to school provided for juveniles in conlict with the law as or dropped out very early, it is also important for SSA well as for children in need of care and protection. to have a strong and uniform bridging mechanism For children restored to destitute and homeless that will prepare the children to join their age- families, the sponsorship programme should be appropriate class in one to two years. activated to provide families and homes with supplementary support to meet their needs and Educationists should be brought in to design for the establishment of ater-care organizations to high-quality bridge courses, especially for the much support them once they have let a home. harder to bridge group of children, i.e., those who have never been to school, or dropped out early, and are now over 10 years of age. Language diiculties 6.5 Continuum of Care till they are Settled must be given adequate importance in this learning We go to ind some work; we are asked a series process. Once the courses are developed, the teachers of questions like: ‘From where have you come? need to be trained to transact this efectively with What do you do? Do you thieve? Since when the children. For the children entering the formal have you let your home? For all these days, where schools late, concession for age of completion of were you and what were you doing? Since when education should be relaxed by two years. are you here? During that period, what were you doing? Is there anyone who knows you? Who can Life skills education, including healing, self- stand guarantee for you?’ Now you tell me, how care, social skills, responsibility in relationships can you get work like this? and sexuality, drugs and substance abuse, health and hygiene, yoga, etc., could be included. Strong, (Mander, 2009)

226 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

For those who come into care late, say at 14 years It is important that the laws and policies be or even later, transition milestones obviously do not extended uniformly across the schemes for the occur in a linear fashion that one expects, especially street child. he current ‘Atercare’ option mandated so in the case of a child from the streets. Despite this under the JJ Act is applicable only up to 21 years fact, between the ages of 14 and 18 years, while their and in order to ensure the smooth transition education is still incomplete and they are vocationally and reintegration of a young adult stepping into unemployable, the services available to the children adulthood, there should be a policy of special and adolescents under state schemes (both under stipends and scholarships for higher and technical JJ as well as SSA) come to an end abruptly and education as well as assistance for supported sometimes in phases. In efect, they get pushed from group living until they complete their higher and temporary inclusion to exclusion overnight in the technical education. his support should be on par last phase of care, leaving them to their own devices. with admission quotas, stipends and scholarships available for SC and ST children. he minimum supports that the transitioning child should be provided with are—completion of basic education, safe and secure accommodation, 6.6 Stronger Ancillary Protection Service movement towards digniied source of income and Units and Mechanisms adequate daily living skills. he existing ancillary protection services need he home gave me a life, everything I needed, it strengthening to ensure that the response is well- was a heavenly opportunity. When they asked me rounded. First, there should be an adequate number to leave the day I turned 18, I forgot the years of of CWCs, thoroughly capacitated to appreciate the support and only the anger and sadness of this unique circumstances of a child from the street, their betrayal and abandonment stayed with me…. range and the interplay and dynamics that impact his was the inishing line, if I was not to be a child’s behaviour patterns and the choices they supported at this important time in my life, what (have to) make. As a service mandated for ensuring was the point of getting me here from the streets. the welfare of the child, the dealings must be made (RFI-ARUN, 2016) more participatory with strong weightage given to

Box 7: Good Practice One particularly innovative action has been the Child Friendly Police initiative, NABADISHA whereby the Kolkata Police adopted a Child Protection Card, which can be issued to any child, but is of particular use to children with inadequate family support who live on the streets, in stations or in markets. Since 1998, CLPOA [City Level Programme of Action] has coordinated with Kolkata Police in conducting training courses for police oicers with the aim of sensitizing them to the rights of deprived children and juvenile ofenders, and of establishing stronger links with social welfare and protection services. Yearly city-level and zone-level work-plans are developed jointly to identify activities for implementation and provide a framework for area-based monitoring. he police also provide self-defence training to children at risk and host health service delivery in their stations every Sunday morning. As many as 42 police stations in the city are involved in such activities to protect children at risk. Source: Community Policing Wing, Kolkata Police. See: http://www.kolkatapolice.gov.in/images/docs/cpw.pdf

227 India Exclusion Report the opinion of the child and the parents wherever 6.8 Prevention, to the Extent Possible appropriate, and to the extent possible their Considering that street children phenomenon is consent must be taken before decisions are reached. largely an urban one, along with taking steps for Similarly the state should design a comprehensive managing the immediate situation at hand, the programme to sensitize the police force to enhance State also needs to act on ‘Pull and Push’ factors that its capacities to understand the circumstances and contribute to bringing the children to the streets. challenges of the children on the streets and to be equipped and trained to respond to them without For instance, people are rendered homeless violence, but in appropriately child-friendly ways. because of the demolition of their slums. Like the his synergy with the law keepers is extremely experience of 14-year-old Lakshmi: signiicant in the context of street children. She remembers happier times, when she was still living in the JJ colony at Yamuna Pushta. hey had a home then, her father was a rickshaw puller, 6.7 Resolving Budgets Woes she and her sister went to school in the slum, they Modifying schemes and policies to make them more had friends who they played with and her mother inclusive will mean little, if the inancial resources to stayed at home with her younger siblings. Her implement and enforce them are not forthcoming whole world was shattered when one day they or inadequate to fulil the commitments to these received a notice setting a date for the demolition children. As a case in example, the budgetary of the slum she was living in. Hers was one of the slums demolished a few years back as part of the allocation for Telangana in FY 14–15 was 26.92 crore, slum demolition campaign of the Government of which includes several components like running Delhi. Once the slum was demolished her family of CCIs, open shelter, Child Line, maintenance for was ‘rehabilitated’ in Bawana, where they were Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), CWC, etc., whereas given a small piece of land. However, the area going by a per child maintenance grant of INR 2000 was so inhabitable that Lakshmi’s father decided per month alone, the requirement adds up to 70 crore. to sell it and with no option remaining moved to Such lacunae must be corrected and allocations living on the street. Lakshmi, her mother and her should be made realistic to match ground realities. siblings now survive by begging and rag-picking. According to research indings (Policy & Budget (Mander, 2009) Analysis, 2016),6 the Union Government transfers funds in two instalments to state governments— Some are also simply born to the streets and have once in April and then again in September. But, the lived for several generations on the same piece of second installment is released only ater the state pavement and the new generations too grew up in government also adds its contribution. So if there is the same stretch of pavement. Mohan, a street boy in a delay in releasing the state’s matching share, the Chennai shared, ‘Homelessness is not a new thing for second instalment gets delayed which also means a me. I was born into streets, and it was here that I was rush to spend money as the year ends which may brought up. I have a lot of friends who still live on the result in poor quality spending. Unspent funds in streets. Our parents got a house very recently and I turn point to low or no achievement of objectives of am not sure how long they can manage to be there.’ these schemes. Instead of simply reducing the next He is convinced that they will be forced to return year’s allocation the Centre, as well as states, should to the streets. Likewise, Mythili, (Mander, 2009) introspect at all levels and examine the processes as describes herself of ‘homeless lineage’, recollects well as outcomes so that shortfalls can be corrected. that her father was irresponsible, ‘…a drunkard, he

228 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets never cared for us…’ and that her mother fed them viewed as a menace but actually their lives on the by selling food cooked by her on the pavements to streets are a result of the indiference of society. other homeless people. (Mander, 2009) Despite having signed the CRC nearly 25 years ago, that emphasizes the rights-based perspective, as a A critical aspect of prevention should mean country we need to honestly answer the question reaching the families and the children with essential whether we have really begun to see children on the services before they get sucked into the vortex streets as citizens with legitimate rights. of an abyss of street life and, for others, breaking the cycle of chronic homelessness. Apart from the If the physical, emotional and sexual health and specialized set of services for children, adequate educational needs of these children go unaddressed, safe spaces, livelihood training and services to they will become inter-generational, and further, especially support single women, those disabled, or failing to organize support and resources for them those migrating initially into the city in search of and keeping them excluded will have serious better prospects, etc., these families can signiicantly implications not just for the children but also for limit the number of people becoming unproductive the society, more than we have ever chosen to and pushed into marginalization and exclusion. acknowledge. We simply cannot let the lives of Although it’s a complex maze, a strong, multi- millions of children be destroyed only because they pronged approach aimed at poverty alleviation, don’t have a voice or are not a vote bank. better education and health in the rural parts, better While the barriers faced by excluded children opportunities, etc., will certainly be helpful. are high, they are very much reversible and some of the recent moves of the government indicate Conclusion this. We hope that these eforts can be consolidated, collaborations strengthened and aligned to the real Street children have been hugely misunderstood needs and synergized to ensure that no child is let and shunned by mainstream society. hey are out on the streets of India.

Endnotes List of Abbreviations 1 Rainbow Homes for Girls and Sneh Ghars for boys CCI: Child Care Institution means children home, open are run in eight cities by Rainbow Foundation shelter, special home, place of stay, specialized adoption India using the Residential, Non-custodial, agency and a it facility recognized under the JJ Act for Comprehensive, long-term care approach. providing care and protection to the children, who are 2 In all the examples of children’s experiences in need of such services. (source: JJ Act 2015, section 2 appearing across this chapter, their real names have (21)). been changed for the purpose of conidentiality. CLPOA: City Level Programme of Action is a networking 3 From Patri Par Bachpan, a documentry ilm body of more than 200 NGOs throughout the state of made by street children with the assistance of West Bengal. It reaches out to more than 1 lakh children ActionAid India aimed at empowering the less in areas of education, health, sensitization and capacity privileged sections. See: http://www.thehindu.com/ building. lf/2004/03/23/stories/2004032301470200.htm Child Line: It is India’s 24 hour, free emergency phone service 4 Railway Children is an international children’s for children’s aid and assistance. his service is provided charity working with street children in India, East by the Department of Telecommunication, accessed Africa and the UK. through the toll free number 1098. 5 All the authors are part of the team that runs CNCP: Child in Need of Care and Protection covers children Rainbow homes across the country. who need care and protection from a broad range of

229 India Exclusion Report

neglect, abuse, exploitation, injury, illness, abandonment, KGBV: Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is a Government torture including armed conlicts, civil unrest and natural of India scheme integrated with the SSA to provide calamity. For a speciic deinition please refer to JJ (Care educational facilities to girls belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, section 2 (14). minority communities and families below the poverty CPCR Act: he Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, line in educationally backward blocks where female 2005, is an Act to provide for the constitution of a national literacy is below the national average and gender gap in commission and state commissions for protection of child literacy is above the national average. rights and children’s courts for providing speedy trial for NCPCR: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights ofences against children or of violation of child rights or is a statutory body under the CPCR Act, 2005, under for matters connected therewith. (source: http://www. the administrative control of the Ministry of Women egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2006/E_5_2011_080.pdf) and Child Development, Government of India. he CWC: Child Welfare Committees have the sole authority to Commission’s Mandate is to ensure that all Laws, deal with matters concerning children in need of care Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms and protection. hey comprise one chairperson and four are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as members of whom at least one member of the board enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN should be a woman. he CWC has the same powers as Convention on the Rights of the Child (source: http:// a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of the www.ncpcr.gov.in/). irst class. POCSO: he Protection of Children from Sexual Ofences DCPU: District Child Protection Unit is a fundamental unit Act, 2012, was formulated in order to efectively address in the districts under the ICPS scheme. he DCPU sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children. coordinates and implements all child rights and protection RTE: he Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education activities at the district level. Its speciic functions include Act commonly known as the RTE Act mandates that efective implementation of child protection legislation, the State provide free and compulsory education to all and achievement of child protection goals laid out in the children of the ages of 6–14 years. National Plan of Action for Children. SCPCR: State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights FGD: Focus Group Discussion is a qualitative research method were established in each state as per the provisions of the that involves interaction within the group based on topics CPCR Act, 2005. hey were set up to protect, promote supplied by the researcher (Morgan, 1997, quoted in and defend child rights in each state. he commission http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU19.html). consists of a chairperson and six persons (one of whom ICPS: Integrated Child Protection Scheme is a centrally should be a woman) who are well-versed in child sponsored scheme aimed at building a protective welfare. he functions of the SCPCR are same as those of environment for children in diicult circumstances as NCPCR (source: http://www.childlineindia.org.in/state- well as other vulnerable children through government- commission-on-the-protection-of-child-rights.htm). civil society partnership. Some of the service structures SOP: Standard Operating Procedure for care, support and protection of children under SSA: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is an intervention ICPS are Child Line, open shelters, improvement of programme launched in 2000–2001 with the aim of sponsorship, foster care, adoption and ater-care services. achieving universalization of elementary education. JJ Act: he Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) his campaign is committed to achieving its objectives Act was enacted in 2000 to provide for protection of in a time-bound manner as mandated by the 86th children. It was amended in 2006 and 2011. It was amendment to the Constitution of India that makes free repealed in 2015. and compulsory education to children of the ages of 6–14 JJB: Juvenile Justice Boards are constituted in every district by years a fundamental right. the state government to exercise powers and discharge UDRH: Urban Deprived Residential Hostels are a full-time functions relating to children in conlict with law under residential facility for the urban deprived children run in the JJ Act, 2015. hey comprises a Metropolitan Magistrate government buildings where children in the age group of or a Judicial Magistrate of irst class with at least three years 6–14 years undergo bridge courses and are subsequently of experience and two social workers (of whom at least one admitted to formal schools for education. he residential should be a woman). he purpose of setting up the JJB is to facility adopts the voluntary, long-term, non-custodial, make possible socio-legal rehabilitation in a child-friendly comprehensive care approach. space not intimidating or overwhelming for the child. UNCRC: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the JJ Colony: Jhugi Jhopari clusters are squatter settlements Child is a legally binding international agreement setting located on public land that come under the category of out the civil, economic, political, social and cultural rights unplanned settlements in urban cities. of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.

230 Little Men and Little Women of City Streets

It was adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and ratiied advancement of women and children. It formulates by India on 11 December 1992. (source: http://www. plans, policies and programmes. It coordinates eforts savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/child- of governmental and non-governmental organizations rights/un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child) working in the ield of Women and Child Development. WCD: Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, is a nodal ministry for the

References savethechildren.in/news/scindia-releases-reports-on- street-children Aptekar, L. & Stoeklin, D. (2014). Street Children and Homeless ——— (2016). Life on the Street : Street Children Survey in 5 Youth: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Springer Cities: Lucknow, Mughalsarai, Hyderabad, Patna And De la Barra, X. (1998). Poverty: the main cause of ill health in Kolkata-Howrah. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from urban children. Health Education and Behaviour, 25(1), https://www.savethechildren.in/sci-in/iles/08/08c7e6ee- 46–59. f8c0-4ef6-b956-3c26f6601409.pdf Government of India. (2015). Crime in India 2015 Compendium. Save the Children & ARUN. (2015). Struggling Indiference, National Crime Records Bureau, MHA. Retrieved 25 Building Hope: Life Stories of Street Children in January 2017, from http://ncrb.nic.in/StatPublications/ India. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from https://www. CII/CII2015/FILES/Compendium-15.11.16.pdf savethechildren.in/news/scindia-releases-reports-on- HAQ: Centre for Child Rights. (2016). Budget for Children street-children 2016-17, Not even halfway through its demographic Saxena, S. (2011). India’s Invisible Children: Swallowed by dividend. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from http://www. the Streets [Electronic version]. he Times of India. 6 slideshare.net/HAQCRCIndia/budget-for-children- November. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from http:// 201617-not-even-halfway-through-its-demographic- timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/ dividend#notes-panel Indias-invisible-children-Swallowed-by-the-streets/ Mander, H. (2009). Living Rough, Surviving the City Streets: A articleshow/10626388.cms Study of Homeless Populations in Delhi, Chennai, Patna Quinn, D. (2000). Beyond Civilization; Humanity’s Next Great and Madurai. New Delhi: Planning Commission of India. Adventure. New York: Broadway Books. Mander, H. (2016). Barefoot: Homeless on a Winter Night UNICEF. (2002). Poverty and Exclusion among Urban Children. [Electronic version]. he Hindu. 2 December. Retrieved Retrieved January 25, 2017, from https://www.unicef-irc. 25 January 2017, from http://www.thehindu.com/ org/publications/pdf/digest10e.pdf opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/Barefoot-Homeless- United Nations Secretary General’s Report. (2006). Report of on-a-winternight/article16123452.ece the Independent Expert for the United Nations Study on Policy & Budget Analysis (2016). he Perspective of Children Violence against Chlidren. Retrieved 25 January 2017, in Diicult Circumstances in 8 States of India, 2013–2016. from https://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/reports/SG_ Rao, Jyoti, (2015), Assessing Child Domestic Labour in violencestudy_en.pdf India, Retrieved 25 January 2017, from http://unicef.in/ UNICEF. (2006). Excluded and Invisible: he State of the World’s Story/1139/Assessing-Child-Domestic-Labour-in-India Children 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from https:// RFI - ARUN (2016) Udaan:Taking Flight: ensuring security, www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_fullreport.pdf stability and continuity to adolescents of rainbow ——— (2010). Excluded Children: he Situation of Orphans homes and sneh ghars as they launch into their futures. and Abandoned Children Worldwide. Retrieved January Hyderabad: RFI 25, 2017, from http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/ Save the Children. (2015). Policy Mapping Study on Street news/archive/2010/06/excluded-children-the-situation- Children. Retrieved 25 January 2017, from https://www. of-orphans-and-abandoned-children-worldwide

231 Old people waiting outside a bank in Tadimarri, a village in Anantapur, during demonetisation. Many of them used to return home without money during the cash-crunch. Disability adds to the challenges in ways that still remain invisibilized in public policy. Photo Credit: Rahul M. Resisting the Margins Women and Girls with Disabilities in Rural India*

Rhea John, Anita Ghai, Radhika Alkazi, Radhika Jha and Harsh Mander1

I cringe when people tell me they don’t see me as 1. Introduction disabled, because before I even get out of bed in the morning, I have to consider at least 20 things that Persons with disabilities include those who probably never go through the mind of the average have long term physical, mental, intellectual able-bodied person. I cringe because accessible or sensory impairments which in interaction transportation and accessible housing are still nearly with various barriers may hinder their full and impossible to ind. I cringe because my disability efective participation in society on an equal makes me more likely to be unemployed, homeless, basis with others…. Disability is neither simply and the victim of violence. I cringe because when a biological nor a social phenomenon but arises people tell me they don’t see my disability, they from the relationship between health condition are telling me that they don’t see the injustice and and context. inequality that still exists in the world. —Article 1, UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2007 How you see me matters. See me as me. See me as a daughter, sister, friend, writer, and student. See me as smart, strong, outgoing, and capable. See Amartya Sen observes that ‘people with physical me as all these things, but see me as disabled, too. or mental disability are not only among the most See my chair, and acknowledge that it changes the way I experience the world. See my disability, and deprived human beings in the world, they are understand that is an integral part of who I am. also, frequently enough, the most neglected’. his See me, and realize that I don’t have to erase my chapter explores both deprivation and neglect for disability in order for any other part of me to shine disabled women in rural areas, investigating how through. I can be a complex and valuable person intersectionality operates to deny them equitable while still being disabled. access to a range of public goods, ranging from education, healthcare, decent work and social See me for me. Disability and all. security to protection and dignity. Women and girls are the largest single group of persons who —Karin Hitselberger face discrimination, violence and denials. And residents of the countryside tend on an average to face much harder and more deprived lives than

* Authors’ Note: he expressions ‘disabled persons’ and ‘persons with disabilities’ (PwDs) have been used interchangeably in this chapter. Reviewers: Pauline Oosterhof

233 India Exclusion Report their urban counterparts. he study on which the disability standpoint, in particular, disturbs both chapter is based consists of in-depth interviews conventional public opinion as well as established with 225 women in Jharkhand, Odisha and intellectual models, questioning critiques based on Karnataka, led by disabled women researchers from economic disparity, rurality, caste, ethnicity, and the local community. he indings suggest that the even gender on their ableist assumptions. social model understanding of being disabled by In the context of a deeply patriarchal society circumstances rather than impairments is only such as India, where sex-selective abortions strengthened when considering the interlocking continue to be prevalent, women can rarely exercise exclusions based on gender, rural location and the freedom of reproductive choice. Moreover, poverty. prevailing social and medical inluences create an Even more than most other systems of environment in which the perceived worth of a baby social denial and oppression, disability is both girl with disabilities is minimal. Should they survive systematically overlooked as well as continuously this eugenic impulse, the gendered expectations invisibilized. In the Indian context, the response to and life chances of these girls, especially when disability at a cultural level has been paradoxical, taxed with economic deprivation, makes it doubly viewing it both as ‘God’s will’ as well as a form diicult for them to achieve personal fulilment of retribution for past sins, reinforced through either through social-emotional roles—as partners mythology, religion and cultural practices. In this and mothers—or through professional roles and respect, the ‘biomedical’ perspective on disability inancial independence. appears as an advance in understanding—in the he vast majority of India’s disabled population sense that it locates the appropriate response irmly lives in rural areas. At the same time, the rural in the material realm. At the same time, the medical experience of disability difers signiicantly from model of disability limits the understanding of the urban experience, most starkly in terms of disability to a mere pathology, and reduces the geographical terrain and infrastructure, as well as disabled individual to their disabilities. his notion in opportunities for education and employment. is reinforced through the advancement of eugenics However, there has been little academic engagement and the attempt to create ‘designer babies’ through so far with the experience of disability in rural India. genetic engineering. his chapter seeks to address those gaps in both he theoretical framework for understanding popular and academic understanding. In doing so, disability has in recent decades advanced from this it tries to refrain from constructing this intersection medicalized understanding. While health support (described in Section 2) as yet another category for the disabled is recognized as necessary, there is that eclipses the individual voices and experiences now a growing recognition of disability as a socially of rural girls and women with disability. We hope constructed experience, and therefore a political to cast light on the speciic processes, whether issue. he experience of discrimination, inaccessible through institutions, norms or relationships, by environments and constrained opportunities which the marginalization of these girls and women faced by disabled people are socially formed and is continuously efected. he methodology used perpetuated, and must be politically confronted. to achieve these ends, along with the limitations In this, disability rights movements ind common ground with feminist movements, opposing norms faced is briely outlined in Section 3. In Section 4, in which the average human being is assumed to the chapter attempts to identify processes in which be non-disabled and male. he critique from the intervention is possible, to disrupt the continuing

234 Resisting the Margins conditions of deprivation, violence and silence that in disability data based on the deinitions used by these women presently confront. It further tries to diferent organizations—for instance, the NSSO outline a theoretical frame and structural context data uses a wider deinition for hearing, speech and in which these processes can be better understood locomotor impairments than the Census. A second in Section 5. Finally, it makes recommendations issue is that the standard for deining disability in for relevant policy changes based on the indings these national estimates has been rejected almost (Section 6). universally by disability rights activists. hey argue that disability, being a social construct, cannot be measured in medical terms solely. hird, these 2. Introduction to the group estimates rely on a fairly restrictive deinition 2.1 Data and Demography of disability (for example, these exclude autism, thalassemia, haemophilia, and many learning he prevalence of disability in India is pegged at disabilities). In India, there are further claims that approximately 2.1 per cent of the population, as per assessments are not credible and standardized: each the Census 2011 estimates, of which 44.1 per cent state has diferent medical criteria for issuing a are females. his indicates that approximately 2.01 disability certiicate, and certiicates obtained from per cent of all females in India are disabled girls and diferent hospitals within the same state too can women. he disabled population is predominantly be widely discrepant (Ghai, 2003; Jefrey & Singal, rural (64.49 per cent) while the proportion of 2008). women in the rural disabled population is consistent with the national average (44.13 per cent). his is part of a larger global trend of undercounting the disabled population, noted he igures for disability prevalence based on by international organizations such as the World the Census in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Health Organization and the World Bank, both Karnataka (in which the study took place) are given of which estimate a 15 per cent real prevalence in Box 1. of disability in the world population. Using more However, these numbers cannot be taken to be inclusive deinitions and methodologies, the World an accurate representation of the size of the disabled Bank estimated in 2007 that disabled persons population. For one, there are major discrepancies were anywhere between 4 to 8 per cent of India’s

Box 1: Disability Prevalence in Jharkhand, Odisha and Karnataka State Total number Proportion Total Proportion to of persons with to total state number of total disabled disabilities population (in females with population (in percentage) disability percentage) Jharkhand Overall 769980 2.3 343104 44.5 Hazaribagh District 35132 0.1 15036 42.8 Odisha Overall 1244402 2.9 569627 45.7 Koraput District 36291 0.08 17521 48.2 Karnataka Overall 1324205 2.1 597684 45.1 Gadag District 25114 0.04 11078 44.1 Source: Census of India, 2011

235 India Exclusion Report population, or about 40–90 million persons. the principles of social protection and dignity on In India, this data has political as well as social which such support is based. In the Union Budget implications, as the state is responsible for providing of India 2015–16, the total budget allocation was a social support and beneits to those included in the paltry INR 632.89 crore (or INR 236 for each of the deinition. 2,68,14,994 disabled people counted by the Census) for the Department of Disability Afairs. Of this, there was non-utilization of 30 per cent (INR 2.2 The State’s View of Disability 192 crore), and also of 54 per cent of the amount he idea of the ‘citizen’ is associated with a hegemonic allotted for the implementation of the Persons with norm (as discussed above), and pervades the State’s Disabilities Act, 1995 (Dogra, 2016). interaction with its citizens, as well as mutual Access to all welfare schemes and provisions relations between citizens. he most conspicuous for disabled people requires a disability certiicate, instance of this is that the incarceration and which is a further obstacle. Many activists as well as institutionalization of people with intellectual or our respondents describe the procedure to obtain learning disabilities are widely tolerated, although a certiicate as tedious, uncertain and arbitrary. they violate basic rights of citizenship. his denial A Right to Information application in 2014 of rights is also evident in the personal laws, which ascertained that only 38 per cent of disabled persons allow for separation and divorce on grounds of in the country have managed to get the certiicate. mental illness, as well as in laws relating to property While Tamil Nadu has recently made it possible to and inheritance, besides many others. apply for the certiicate online, to be delivered to Policies for airmative action and social support the residence of the person with disability within for the disabled are also poorly implemented. seven days, in other states the process may last he Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, from anywhere between six months to a year, with provides for 5 per cent reservation for disabled multiple visits to state authorities and medical people in government posts, a 2 per cent increase oicers required. Moreover, the certiicate of one from the former Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. state is inapplicable in another state. In a 2016 judgement, the Supreme Court noted the dismal number of disabled people in government 2.3 Socio-economic Conditions employment despite the provision existing for more than two decades, and quashed the Central It is widely acknowledged that women with Government Oice Memorandum restricting disabilities are a signiicantly more vulnerable group, reservation for the disabled to ‘identiied’ (Group and most commonly-used indicators of well-being C&D) posts, extending the reservation to all Central conirm this. Available research shows that disabled and State Government posts (Rajiv Kumar Gupta & people and their households are more likely to live Others vs Union of India 2008). While this ruling is in poverty than the rest of the population. Elwan signiicant, its impact on women with disabilities, (1999) estimated that disabled people make up 15 without requisite opportunities for education and to 20 per cent of the poor in developing countries, basic assistive devices, remains minimal. Moreover, signiicantly higher than their share in the general the impact of this judgement has been reversed population. Research by the World Bank shows in the provisions for reservation in the 2016 Act. that in 2011, disability prevalence among the poor Likewise, a meagre Central disability pension of Rs in developing countries was signiicantly higher 200 (unevenly supplemented by states) undermines in 11 out of the 14 countries that were included in

236 Resisting the Margins the analysis. Another study on household welfare According to a study by the South India in rural UP and Tamil Nadu by the World Bank Disability Evidence (SIDE), disabled women show in 2008, using asset ownership and per capita signiicantly poorer reproductive health outcomes consumption as indicators, found that among the than non-disabled women. Although they have poorest, households with disabled members were more living children per mother than non-disabled on average much poorer than households without women (possibly relecting contraceptive use), disabled members. he survey also inds that on a they have a lower rate of successful pregnancies. number of non-income indicators, such as regular hey also have a signiicantly higher incidence access to three meals a day, the ability to save, and of diabetes and depression, as well as other access to good quality housing, households of pregnancy complications and co-morbidities. he disabled people were signiicantly worse of. authors suggest this might be related to nutritional deiciencies, and perhaps under-conidence of According to Census 2011, only 44 per cent health workers in dealing with their concerns of India’s disabled women are literate, and the (Murthy, John, Sagar, 2016). diference between rural and urban literacy is stark: only 37.4 per cent of rural disabled women are Disabled women in rural areas are also much less literate, compared to 60.9 per cent of urban disabled likely to be employed (see Figure 2). he International women (see Figure 1). Research indicates that the Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2011 report states that proportion of disabled children not enrolled in 73.6 per cent of the disabled in India are still outside school is much higher than even children from the labour force. Given the educational, social and socially disadvantaged segments of society; for physical barriers faced by disabled people, it is example, as per the 2014 SRI survey, the out-of- perhaps not surprising that disabled persons are at a school rate for disabled children in the 6–13 year signiicant disadvantage with regard to employment. category was 28 per cent, while for SC, ST, OBC and NSS data for 2002 shows that employment rates for Muslim children it was less than 5 per cent. Low disabled people were about 40 per cent, compared literacy rates among disabled people have a key role to 60 per cent for the general population. Among to play in hindering their economic well-being later employed disabled people, the majority were self- in life. employed (58 per cent) or casual workers (30 per cent), with only a small share in regular jobs. All

100% categories of disabled people had lower employment 90% rates than the general population, though there is 80% signiicant variation between them. For example, 70% hearing-impaired persons had employment rates 60% almost at par with the general working age population, 50% while the mentally- and visually-impaired had 40% 30% extremely low employment rates. hese diferences 20% cannot be explained solely by the lower educational 10% levels of disabled people. Disabled persons with 0% Overall Male Female comparatively higher educational qualiications have Total literacy Urban literacy Rural literacy somewhat lower employment rates relative to the Figure 1: Literacy of Persons with Disabilities general population, but the diference between less in India, by Gender and Location educated disabled people and their non-disabled

Source: Census 2011 peers is extremely high.

237 India Exclusion Report

Of these, those with mental disability, disabled In terms of marriage as well, disabled women are women and those in rural areas are most excluded far more likely to be unmarried or widowed than from employment. An NCW report further suggests their non-disabled counterparts, and this disparity that due to mobility constraints, those disabled is even higher for women with mental disabilities women who do work are far more likely to be or illnesses (see Figure 3). In rural India, where the doing unfairly-remunerated and labour-intensive norm for women to be married and married early is piecework at home, possibly organized by agents very strong, this discrepancy suggests strong social or NGOs, and without legal or social protections. prejudice against disabled women. his inding in hose women who go out to perform manual fact holds even in comparison to disabled men, of labour may also receive remuneration unequal to whom 62 per cent are currently married, relative both men with disabilities as well as other women. to just 54 per cent of disabled women. Strikingly, compared to just 6 per cent of disabled men and 7 per cent of all adult women, 22 per cent of disabled Main worker women over 14 are recorded by the Census of 2011

Marginal worker as being widowed—possibly relecting practices of [upto 3 months] their being married to much older men. Marginal worker [3-6 months]

Non-worker 3. Methodology

his chapter is based primarily on the indings Figure 2: Rural women with Disabilities as of a study carried out by the Centre for Equity Workers Studies about the lives and perspectives of 225 Source: Census 2011 women and girls with disabilities living in rural areas of three districts, Koraput in Odisha; Gadag

600000

500000 Rural mentality disabled or III women above sixteen

Currently married rural disabled 400000 women above sixteen

300000

200000

Figure 3: Proportion of Rural Mentally Ill or Disabled Women above the Age of 16 who are Currently Married Source: Census 2011

238 Resisting the Margins in Karnataka; and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. some experiences that are shared by many of the he methodology for the study was based on women we met, and highlight possible patterns of the Centre’s emphasis on including people from correlation between their circumstances, cultural vulnerable groups as equal partners in research contexts and marginalization. into their own experiences, and prioritizing their Finally, a note on the selection of sites: the three insights, gained over a lifetime, over those of the sites for the study were decided with purpose, each ‘objective’ outsider. he study therefore relied on based on a speciic rationale as well as on availability local women with disabilities as primary researchers of ield partners. he districts of Koraput in Odisha in order to incorporate this empathy at the stage (Jeypore and Pottangi blocks) and Hazaribagh in of data collection itself. hese women, sometimes Jharkhand (Chauparan and Churchu blocks) were non-literate, were to use their unique perspective selected based on their largely tribal population, in the interviews and ethnographic observation, the remote and diicult terrain, and their status supported in the process by persons formally as ‘backward districts’. Gadag in Karnataka was trained in documentation. selected in some ways as a comparison case, being he present study was therefore a qualitative a state in which both disability activism and the one, based on in-depth interviews with these state’s disability support framework are strong, yet women and girls and their families and where the incidence of both disability and poverty communities. he study prioritized using as broad remain high—in Mundargi taluka speciically, as possible a deinition of disability to identify due to the high prevalence of luorosis. Within respondents, so as not to replicate the oicial the villages selected for the study, the respondents oversight mentioned above. At the same time, were identiied by the snowballing method, given rather than a medical deinition, we prioritized that women with disabilities are oten invisibilized self-reporting through the snowballing method in villages due to the stigma attached to their employed by our researchers. condition, and are thus not easily accessible to outsiders. Most, if not all, the chapters in this report, rely on forging a direct link between state action and the condition of particular vulnerable communities, 4. Nature of Exclusion and thus holding the State accountable for redress. However, in the experiences of our respondents When the researchers returned to Jharkhand for there is no clear diferentiation between the roles of a second round of more in-depth interviews, the State and society, community and family, individual very irst piece of news they received was that one identity and collective beliefs, in the construction of the women they meant to meet had passed away of what it means to be disabled. All these are deeply barely a month before. Suman was 19 years old intermingled in their lived experiences and the with multiple disabilities, and only able to move understanding of their situations. he representative from her bed with diiculty. She had never been to coherence in the story of how disabilities are created school and rarely went out of the house. But when is ultimately only to be found in the persons of these asked if she thought of getting married, ater a short women and girls. We do not claim to represent all of silence, she had said, ‘Of course I’ll get married. these women here, or even to generalize across such What else?’ Her mother, when spoken with later, an impossible category as ‘women with disabilities had not agreed. At the time of the revisit, we asked a in rural India’—each attribute of which contains person who was present for the funeral ceremonies an incredible diversity. We merely put forward what had happened. He said he had asked, but the

239 India Exclusion Report family was vague—and perhaps relieved. Yet they or interest. he diversity of experiences between had loved her, had taken care of her exceptionally people with diferent disabilities and between the well, and had fought for her right to be admitted in gender roles and performances in various contexts school. has been suiciently highlighted. Moreover, although these women may know and support each Women and girls living with disabilities in other, they do not see their problems as shared, India’s rural areas face distinct forms of exclusion. perhaps because solidarity based on a shared Not only do they face the kinds of exclusion experience of ableist patriarchy would require endemic to members of poverty-stricken rural its participants to transgress other entrenched households—access to food, water and safe housing, solidarities such as caste, class, religion and family. social security and health care, basic services and mechanisms of justice delivery—but also have What deines their unique situations then, as seen to deal with aggravated issues of access to these in the research, are two speciic and interlocking because of the lack of enabling infrastructure, and problems: limitations to their mobility and ability to limitations imposed by their speciic conditions. perform some kind of physical labour, and the lack In the words of a teacher in Churchu, ‘Poverty of educational, professional and social opportunities is the curse for these children’. At the same time, accessible to these women. Limited mobility— the gendered social exclusions that these girls and whether enacted directly, in terms of the pain and women face go far deeper. hese are built into weakness they feel, or indirectly, through their or the very structure of a society where a physical their families’ fear for their well-being and safety— ‘defect’ or ‘abnormality’ is assumed to invalidate a renders them frequently unable to access work or woman’s potential to be educated, or married, while education outside the home, while simultaneously, marriage remains—within hetero-normative and in some cases, limiting their attempts to be self- patriarchal frameworks—the sole route to a stable suicient in housework and self-care. he lack of and permanent source of emotional support. opportunities prevents them from inding dignity in alternative occupations and reduces them to In a rural context, where infrastructure for, their circumstantial incapacities. hese processes of and an imagination of, ‘assisted living’ is more exclusion will be explored in detail in this section, or less non-existent, membership of a family with speciic focus on the consequences they have becomes increasingly crucial as it is decreasingly for these girls’ and women’s lives. ‘deserved’—in the implicit utilitarian perspective, it is earned through individual contributions to the labour necessary to sustain the family. he labour 4.1 Relations with Family of sustaining a household is disproportionately the Suman’s story, described above, echoes a women’s responsibility, and a failure to perform it is fundamental contradiction faced by many, which an invalidation of one’s viability as a woman. Along is reinforced by a biomedical (rather than social) with the shame and material consequences of this conception of disability. Namely, although Suman’s failure, disabled women also face a frequent, almost family loves her and cares for her, they have in a chronic lack of dignity, companionship and sense of sense placed a lower value on the worth of her life individual fulilment. than on the lives of other people, whether due to At the same time, women and girls with triage considerations or beliefs about the inherent disabilities do not constitute a group in the sense of incapacity of disabled people. his is what prompts people joined together with a common experience the admission from strained mothers across our

240 Resisting the Margins ield sites, that it would have been better had developmental disability. hey say they see no their daughters never been born. It is only the urgency because she has always been like this—it extraordinary care required from parents that is isn’t a disease. When they save enough money, they sustaining her—therefore, in their view, it is better can go see a ‘good doctor’. hey hadn’t taken Soni’s for her if she should pass away before they do, elder brother to the health centre either, when as because even her siblings cannot be relied on to a child he seriously injured his leg, resulting in an take care of her aterwards. And indeed, an adult orthopaedic disability three months later. Without woman like Meena Kumari from Chauparan, forced a diagnosis, Soni cannot get paperwork that helps to depend on her brother for food and shelter, her access the disability pension—which could help does face neglect, cruelty and being made to feel a the family with medical expenses. burden daily, and would attest to the centrality of Within the family, patriarchal power relations parental care. and possession of cultural capital tend to shape In the absence of inclusive education, health how these women are treated. Somi and Bina, both services, accessibility infrastructure and work educated and working as teachers, are among the opportunities for those with diferent kinds of very few of our respondents who said that they were disabilities (detailed below), the onus for enabling fully consulted in household decisions. he ability access to these resources falls on the family. of these women to both articulate their opinions Whether by taking a girl to a nearby town hospital and contribute inancial and cultural capital to for sustained treatment or ighting with school the household improved their position in it. Many authorities for her right to enrolment, the disabled others have much less of a say—like Aarti, who is girl’s access to rights is determined by her family’s silenced by her husband’s physical violence against ability to negotiate for them. When the family her infant son and herself, but also by verbal abuse neglects her, she is let alone in her sufering—like and neglect from her mother and sister-in-law. In Padmini, from Koraput, who roams outside the Aarti’s situation, being the younger daughter-in- village with her few sheep and goats since she is law means that she has, by norm, the major share asked to get out of the house and out of the way, of household responsibilities, along with the least or Nilima, who is sometimes let alone at home for decision-making authority; it is notable that both days when her family goes out, going hungry and Bina and Somi live in nuclear families, which might thirsty because she cannot eat without help. make it easier to have one’s voice heard. hey also Families are also oten the major source of have the resources to do so, unlike Aarti whose information and access to opportunities for those husband and mother-in-law jointly sell vegetables women whose mobility and social interactions are from a cart in the village. restricted. Older male relatives may help obtain Women with mental disabilities face the most certiicates and pensions, or assist in travel; sisters severe forms of exclusion in household decision- may provide social news or act as playmates, carers making and in having their agency recognized by and bufers against ostracism, and mothers are the family. Family members intercede in most, almost always the primary carers and advocates for if not all of their interactions with the outside their daughters’ rights. At the same time, families world, with mothers emphasizing that casual themselves are limited by their circumstances. public cruelty and stigma, such as stone-pelting, Soni’s family, struggling to make ends meet in name-calling and isolation at social events, makes Larha village in Jharkhand, have not taken her this necessary. Families pre-empt these situations to a doctor once in her 12 years living with a by keeping the girls in the house under watch,

241 India Exclusion Report or by the entire family not going out at all. hese desire to marry, it was a life arrangement to which decisions have signiicant social costs, as with nearly all aspired, or wished they could aspire, and Lakshmi’s family, who have broken ties with the felt of lesser worth if their situation made marriage rest of the village; according to them other children seem an unrealistic aspiration. For a girl who ‘can’t pelted Lakshmi with stones and called her names, take care of herself’, even dreaming of marriage, as while according to the other families, the severing one woman put it, ‘is a sin’. of ties has happened because they are the only he marriageable woman is the ideal from which non-tribal family there and trying to maintain the disabled woman is ‘othered’ and excluded. She is social distance. More importantly, this strategy has capable of reproducing, supporting and sustaining negative efects on the girls and women themselves, the family; she can not only ‘take care of herself’, making them feel lonely, vulnerable and outsiders she can be relied upon to take care of her husband, in their communities. It reproduces the existing her children and their house, preferably without ‘invisibilization’ of these women in village society any help whatsoever. hus, in rural areas, she must and creates a barrier of mutual fear and distrust be capable of cooking, cleaning, childbearing and between these girls and women and everyone else. child care, washing and fetching water, besides For instance, some of our researchers (including agricultural work if the family owns land, and women with orthopaedic and communication manual labour if it does not. Married respondents disabilities) were initially unwilling to interview who were able to perform most, but not all, of these women with mental disabilities at all, having tasks expressed guilt at the burden their incapacity heard rumours that they behave unpredictably and placed on others, or else gratitude for the good violently. luck of having relatives or neighbours who helped While interviews suggest that the protective them with these tasks. Even Bina and Somi, both isolation extended by the family has only added happily married and working as teachers, professed a cocoon of silence to the pervasive sexual deep gratitude to their husbands for ‘allowing’ or exploitation of those with disabilities, none of our ‘supporting’ them to undertake paid work—even respondents were willing to speak about sexual when they carry the standard ‘double burden’ of violence. Yet some fears named by women—of domestic work and paid work that most so-called strangers, or being out alone, or of being caught ‘working women’ carry. from behind in the dark—suggest that it is a lurking When conditions of marriageability were concern, possibly reinforced by their experiences discussed in our interviews, these labour capacities or stories they have heard. Protective isolation does were emphasized, and standards of attractiveness not prevent fear. were hardly spoken of. At the same time, the signiicance of even a slight limp in the most happily 4.2 Forming Intimate Relationships married women—in terms of dowry amounts, marriage prospects and being identiied as ‘having ‘She can’t even take care of herself—who will marry her?’ a defect’—suggests that some standards of physical ‘normality’ are also involved in the choice of a Marriage is considered the ubiquitous form of potential partner. Yet women, both married and social security for rural women by most of our unmarried, identiied that men with disabilities respondents across the three states. Whether or not had only conditions of economic independence to she was able to earn her own livelihood, perform fulil, and sometimes not even that—and they were housework or self-care, and irrespective of her frequently married to non-disabled women.

242 Resisting the Margins

Despite recognizing it as highly unequal and the violence is less now because they have resigned oppressive, why do disabled women continue to themselves to the fact that more dowry is not value marriage so highly? For some, marriage is forthcoming on pretext of her disability. However, the gateway to one’s future family, which is a crucial even Chhaya does not suggest being single as a support structure in everyday life. Rasmati, blinded valid alternative. Without education, suicient in one eye by her irst husband’s violence and cast vision to work or even to venture outside the house into poverty by her second husband’s desertion, with conidence, Chhaya feels she must accept her still resented the second far more. Paid less and marriage and try to negotiate terms within it, no able to ind work less frequently, she inds it near matter how unequal. impossible to support her three children on her Kuni, who is 55 and has a severe orthopaedic own income—they oten go hungry and she could disability, did not have a choice. Although she was not even seek treatment when she had malaria. abandoned by her husband in favour of her younger Others see marriage as an inevitable rite of passage. sister ater she lost the ability to walk, the village A girl who fails to be married is a ‘burden’ on her sees her disability, abandonment and frequent parents, prolonging the dependent state of their illnesses as divine punishment, and ostracizes her childhood (irrespective of her contributions to for the presumed sin. that household)—in this view, the girl becomes a ‘woman’ by helping her family in the only signiicant way possible for her—leaving them. Over half of 4.3 Education our adult respondents had never been married. Bina, a teacher in a government school in Churchu, he valorizing of marriage was widespread was adamant that plenty of government provisions but not universal among our respondents. Sangita exist for children with special needs in Jharkhand. mentioned that she had not wanted to get married, his is in stark contrast to Martha, her hearing- and in that one sense, losing her vision just at the impaired predecessor, who said that there must end of school when her family was beginning to be some provisions for such children, but never discuss her marriage, came as a relief. Although having had any such child in her school, she had she takes care of her two bedridden parents, with never found out what they were. According to Bina, limited help from her intellectually disabled sister teachers have to create and maintain a register of and none from her non-disabled brothers who all children with special needs in their school’s live in the same village, for this one aspect of her catchment area, along with up-to-date records of situation Sangita remains grateful. their educational status (also the rule in Karnataka). For those who can learn in the classroom, every hose unhappily married relect on it with efort is made to ensure they attend, and her teachers resignation and some regret. Chhaya was married to have so far had two training sessions on how to a mentally ill man because it was considered ‘it’ for teach them efectively. For those who cannot attend a girl with a vision disability. ‘My sister’s marriage is classes, para-teachers are engaged to teach them at so good’, she told us ruefully, ‘When she’s sick, they home, focusing, in particular, on self-care and other don’t even make her cook. hey tell her to rest.’ She basic skills in addition to literacy. his is the policy and her two-year-old son remain dependent on her as Bina explained it; the rest of our respondents natal family for medicines, items of personal care cannot attest to any part of its implementation. and clothes, and she is mostly conined to her house because it is located next to a highway that she We did not meet any girls who were taught at cannot see well enough to cross. At least, she says, home by a teacher or para-teacher. Instead, we heard

243 India Exclusion Report from many parents that enrolment is denied by us about the experience. On the one hand, they all schools to those with severe disabilities on grounds agreed that there was insuicient access to drinking of untrained staf, lack of appropriate infrastructure, water and toilets, that all parts of the school were not and in some cases, even a perception of the child as always accessible, and that teachers did not make a ‘incapable of learning’. In many cases, of course, the special efort to ensure they were able to participate. decision to not send these girls to school is taken at On the other hand, most children expressed that home, by parents who prioritize their non-disabled they were treated well by teachers and students, or male children. At the same time, parents who some friends even stopping by their houses before themselves have had limited or no education and are school to help them carry their schoolbags. At the uncertain about their children’s itness for school, same time, many of the women who dropped out and about the utility of education for them in a of school young, mention ‘teasing’ as a source of situation of such limited work opportunities, are discomfort, and that when their parents took them consequently discouraged by this attitude and keep out of school, or allowed them to stop attending, their children at home. Even in ability-segregated they were comfortable with the decision. here may schools, of which there are few, discrimination have been changes in the experience and attitudes persists. One mother told us she was discouraged on to education that the women in our study faced as hearing that the special-needs school in Hazaribagh girls, and the ones that the girls do presently. his would only accept children who could wash their also varies signiicantly by state—most of the girls own clothes, which her daughter could not do. In from Karnataka were in school, while many in the the interviews, these parents depicted completing other states were not—but may also have to do with school as an extraordinary achievement in itself, difering beliefs about the capability of disabled girls. diicult enough for ‘normal’ children and thus too For girls like Munita and Kiran, who have much to hope for from their own children. developmental disabilities, their parents mock the Like many of our respondents, Walsi, a visually researchers when asked if these girls have attended impaired girl of 13 in a hamlet in Pottangi, said that school or might do so in future. heir parents she had stopped attending school some years ago, restrict their hopes to their daughters’ ‘getting better’ and could give no speciic reason for the same. Ater (meaning better at self-care, communication and her father passed away and her mother remarried, social interaction) when they have enough money she was taken in by an uncle and aunt, on whose saved for a medical remedy—the ‘good doctor’ in instruction or suggestion she stayed at home and the city. Munita’s father is a schoolteacher, and quite did chores instead of studying further. She told clear that education, as he understands it, has little us in the presence of her guardians that she had role to play here. In the meantime, if their children been indiferent about school at the time; she only can simply be kept occupied, prevented from remembered that some of the boys used to tease her misconduct, and physically taken care of, their own unpleasantly, but she had good friends too. When aspirations will be met. As to Munita’s own opinion, we are away from her house, however, she confessed her mother says lightly that they have no idea what quietly that she now wishes she could go to school she thinks. or get married—as her cousins will do—and feels Education, among the families interviewed, sure that her guardians will not let her do either. is desired because it is considered to increase Children who are able to attend school, mostly social status, capacity for articulation, and children with less restricting disabilities or with possibly even greater work opportunities—if access to assistive devices, rarely complained to relevant opportunities happen to be available in

244 Resisting the Margins the woman’s context. However, whether it is the business, are willing (and able) to provide the empowered, socially valued and articulate who capital, rather than having her live alone in a town, receive an education, or the educated who attain for given what they see as her exceptional vulnerability. themselves this increased esteem, remains unclear. For others, who ind capital hard to come by, self-help groups (SHGs) organized by local 4.4 Equitable Access to Decent Work NGOs can ofer a (rare) way out. One such group, composed entirely of disabled women, decided on Equitable access to work that is ‘fairly remunerated, embroidery and basket-making rather than the safe and digniied’ as well as ‘compatible with agricultural work done by other SHGs in the area. aspirations and capabilities’, which last year’s Despite choosing two crats at which they excelled, India Exclusion Report demanded for women, as well as there being a state government scheme is even more diicult to access for women with to promote such products, they hit numerous disabilities, oten incrementally so. Discrimination roadblocks and ran out of capital. hough the about capacity for work and gendered wage rates embroidery was acknowledged to be ine, it was compound the diiculties many women with expensive, and it was diicult for even the most orthopaedic and vision disabilities face in going mobile member of the group—Sangita, who is out to work every day, ensuring they earn lower visually challenged—to travel and buy the materials incomes. Manju, who lives in Pottangi, supported necessary or to market the products adequately. he her family by selling bangles at the village fair or state scheme also refused to market the baskets, in remote villages, travelling by bus for long hours. since they used plastic thread for binding, and the When she could, she also did agricultural labour, scheme was committed to ‘natural’ products. Both besides most of the domestic work—her daughter problems arose from insuicient information and helped a little. But Manju was determined her mobility infrastructure, but neither the NGO nor children would go to school, and ater borrowing the women decided to pursue the attempt further. money to treat them for malaria the previous year, One of the women mentioned that it was diicult she couldn’t aford to get herself treated for frequent to ind time for a larger scale and better-organized fevers this year—which meant she was not able to attempt—there was already too much work to do. work as much or as oten. It is important at this point to emphasize that Even with more education, opportunities for poor rural women in these locations, domestic for employment other than manual labour are work—which includes the two distinct tasks of practically nil in most villages—education opens household work and care work—is always the ‘irst up opportunities only in more urban areas and the shit’. his includes time-consuming and physically villages close to them (with public transport), or demanding tasks such as fetching water over long else in government employment. Except for those distances and cooking for the family over a coal or women suiciently educated to become teachers, wood ire. Care of children and the sick also take up for others, education itself can become of doubtful time, and cannot be shared unless a daughter reaches value. Lachma, who has completed school and could adolescence. If physically it for it, cultivation of any go to college, says she would rather open a small land owned by the family is the next priority, and grocery or food shop in the village and become only ater that, wage labour—it is no surprise, then, inancially independent as further education is less that women who are not in straitened circumstances certain to provide her those opportunities. Her do not choose to pursue paid work. It is an arena in brothers, who are all employed in a family carpentry which self-fulilment comes at a high cost in terms

245 India Exclusion Report of time, energy and the co-operation of others in the and psychological distance between these families family. Paradoxically, it may be more important for and health practitioners then gives rise to either those not able to perform agricultural or household consistent scepticism or blind faith. Diagnoses tasks to ind dignity through other forms of work. are frequently not explained or not understood, in which case doctors evaluate on results alone. Particularly with intellectual disabilities, where such 4.5 Health Care results are diicult to perceive despite a signiicant ‘he village people believe that disability is God- application of time, efort and money, the distance given, but they aren’t superstitious about it.’ between doctor and patient only grows. One such doctor in Ranchi, famous among our respondents — Phulmani, 45. in Jharkhand, insisted that he kept no records of Rural communities from all three states oten patients he had seen, and also said that his rural explained disability as ‘God-given’, and thus beyond patients were oten not capable of understanding their capacity to control or change. Yet families still his diagnosis, so he simply sold them the medicines make eforts to change the situation, and seek a ‘cure’. and sent them away. On the door to his oice, a If the option is available, local remedies—whether large sign read: ‘It is strictly forbidden to touch the alternative medicine or various magical practices— feet of the doctor.’ are tried irst since they have community sanction he distance between the centre of care and the while also being more immediately accessible. site of disability also brings into question the one- he researcher and Somi’s mother, for instance, size-its-all approach of both medical practitioners discussed at length the efectiveness of a ‘machine’ and existing rehabilitative devices. Wheelchairs in the nearest town, which they had heard might are an instance of this. While Masidhani had a cure disability of any kind. (he researcher had wheelchair ‘specially made for her’ by an NGO in paraplegia and Somi, a developmental disability). faraway Kolkata, she was afraid to go anywhere One of the chief beneits of the treatment was that in it, because its high seat and small front wheel it required only a one-time payment of INR 300. made it unstable for travelling on the uneven paths Cost, as Somi’s mother reminded us, was the major of her village—she had already fallen twice. Savita, prohibitive factor in even seeking care, combined one of our researchers, had also given up using her with a distrust of the medical practitioners within wheelchair, which was itted with a hand-pedal— physical and inancial reach. it didn’t it inside her house, the paths in her tola he concentration of medical expertise and (colony) were too uneven, and despite the tarred infrastructure at urban centres is an idea deeply main road connecting the village to the block ingrained in the rural families of our respondents. headquarters at Churchu, it was too far to pedal to. Both for treatments related to their disability as well In any case, Savita usually remained within the house as for other major illnesses, while some expressed and its precincts and so did not consider herself less faith in ‘big doctors’ at Ranchi, Patna or Kolkata, disabled by the presence of the wheelchair. others went to district hospitals at Koraput or When Savita was afected by polio as a child, she Hazaribagh. ANMs5 might be able to help with says, no one knew what it was or what to do about it. fever or pain medicines, but are no more informed When she was told that polio has been eradicated, about disability than the families themselves, she irst looked sceptical, then resigned—as though and very few people reported being able to see used to hearing announcements of positive change a doctor close to their own village. he physical that did not apply to her life.

246 Resisting the Margins

4.6 Water and Sanitation by the everyday nature of the task, as it is seen as a he Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) has been one daily burden passed on to someone else. However, of the largest government programmes in recent many women still do it, with tremendous pain and years, under which the government claims to have diiculty—like Sangita, who has very low vision, constructed 95 lakh toilets in India in the irst year. and broke her leg carrying water from the village Yet for women with disabilities in rural India, access borewell to her house. to toilets and sanitation remains a major challenge. Masidhani has not one, but two toilets built near 4.7 Human Dignity, Agency and Legal Capacity her house. he one constructed by the government is used to store grain, because they believe the pit Dignity is oten associated with independence, and is not deep enough for the toilet to be sanitary. he physical, inancial and social independence could NGO-constructed toilet, which is functional, is be seen as degrees of such independence or dignity. used only by two women out of the 10 members If we accept this loose deinition, then materially, of the household. Masidhani herself can use neither dignity is related to such concrete details as the toilet, since they are too narrow to accommodate amount and regularity of pension received, how her wheelchair and she cannot use an Indian-style much each person contributes to earning or to toilet in any case. She uses a bedpan—the toilet is maintaining the household, and their participation perhaps only helpful in that this does not have to be in the life of the community—religious, political, carried far to be cleaned. and so on. However, dignity, as well as a related concept, agency, cannot be limited to this external he penalty that inadequate sanitation imposes form, because it is an individualistic vision of on a disabled person is indignity. he long journey society that gives independence such centrality. In to the site for open defecation is painful for those such a society, the capacity for production and the with a locomotor disability. For those with low exercise of power—in a sense, the use of diferent vision, having to make that journey either at forms of capital—are the precondition for value as night or before dawn always bears a risk of injury. a human being. Cleaning and other forms of self-care are not always possible for those with intellectual disabilities and In contrast, Meyer (2010) argues that this inability is rendered publicly visible. Whatever ‘collectivist’ cultures take one of two positions the disability, bodily functions are usually strictly with respect to disabled persons: segregating and controlled to minimize the need for the journey, subordinating them within the group or society to and its attendant risk of sexual assault. Toilets are which they belong, or else the group taking care of crucial for these vulnerable women, but diicult to such members. While Meyer himself argues that use for many, and still out of reach for most, despite there is more evidence for the irst interpretation, in disabled people oicially being prioritized in the the present study, it appears that both explanations construction of government toilets. are true to an extent, and interact to produce the present situation. In a less visible, but no less important way, water access is also a source of indignity for women Sargun Devi had received Rs 200 as pension with disabilities. Fetching water is one of the main since the pension was irst activated; her neighbour tasks expected of women—and almost all our receives Rs 400—the mandated amount is Rs 600. respondents had diiculty doing it. his gives rise to Sargun did not know why she received so little: a sense of incompleteness and shame, exacerbated the weakness associated with old age, added to her

247 India Exclusion Report paraplegia, means she cannot leave the house to ‘what is best for her’, and certainly not for anybody ask at the bank herself. Her sons, though meagrely else, even her own children. employed, seemed disinterested in the matter. A victimhood narrative does not do justice She said they were indiferent to her presence and to this situation. It is problematic to argue that concerns—although she lived in a joint family with agency, dignity or independence are matters in her four sons, daughters-in-law and their children, which, paradoxically, the agency for according it no one talked to her all day. all lies with others. Mangari, for instance, wrests Like Sargun, Mangari Devi’s children too ofered her dignity from others and maintains it with to have her live with them. Instead, her daughter- emotional fortitude through physical hardship. in-law avows that Mangari insisted on moving out Yet the signiicance of structural factors persists: of their house into a tiny hut of her own. While the lack of participation of disabled women in she can, Mangari means to look ater her elderly, public life is not only by choice or circumstance, vision-impaired husband and herself, supporting but deeply embedded, for instance, in law and themselves on his pension and the income from policy, in the structure of the economy and socio- their few goats, and cooking with her one well- cultural attitudes. hese are discussed further in the functioning hand. Both Sargun and Mangari’s following section. children would fulil their social obligations towards their parents, in terms of providing them food and 5. Processes of Exclusion shelter. Yet becoming disabled meant dependence and subordination. While some elders may receive 5.1 Role of Patriarchy respect and even have a say in the decisions of their adult children, these women did not. Nor do Women occupy multifarious marginalized positions members of their society respect them—Sargun within a patriarchal societal structure, based on their said that in the years since she stopped being able to positionality and the sociocultural identities of class, walk, one by one all her friends and acquaintances caste, rural/urban location, sexual orientation and stopped coming to see her. Even in a relatively dense disability. Mangari’s case indicates that her experience village society, she had become invisible. of disability is connected to her membership, in Social agency is also accorded by a society based particular of her caste, class, and residential position, more broadly on the capacity to communicate. but most importantly, her gender. Hearing-impaired Manju, though capable of Within India, several authors have argued that responding to our interviewer with help from her the incidence of disability is intersected or inluenced sister-in-law, sits silently through gram sabhas and by gender (Ghai, 2003, 2015; Hans and Patri, 2003; family gatherings. Others largely behave as though Das and Agnihotri, 1999). he available statistics she cannot understand the proceedings, rather than also indicate that disabled women are marginalized merely not being able to respond verbally. For those much more than disabled men (Agnihotri and with intellectual disabilities, despite long exposure Patel, 2007). While the Indian cultural reality has to their ways of expressing themselves, the family is never been favourable to the birth of daughters (as oten unable to understand their thoughts, opinions is clear by the consistent fall in the gender ratio), and feelings, and either attribute to them the intent as a society that also accepts the able-bodied norm, to be diicult, or else no distinct personality at all. it subjects disabled girls and women to the most hey then cope with the diference by infantilizing inhumane treatment possible. his holds not only the woman—she is not allowed the space to decide for those whose disability is very severe, but also

248 Resisting the Margins

Mangari Devi of Lasod village in Jharkhand is a 51-year-old woman with a weather-beaten face and a small, strong frame. Paralysis in her let side, ater her youngest child’s birth, has let a permanent mobility impairment in her arm. Living in a small hut at the edge of the village, Mangari spends her days grazing her goats out in the scrub forest beyond the ields. hough a mother of two married sons, she and her (visually impaired) husband largely sustain themselves without any assistance, on his old age pension and their few goats. he family still shows concern—for instance, when Mangari was very ill for some weeks, the couple stayed with their son for the duration. However, she moved out again aterwards. Mangari says she needs her disability pension to pay for medicines, but hasn’t been able to get it. She tried a few times to get a disability certiicate, but there was ‘nothing written on it’. (Her daughter- in-law brought it to show us later, and it said 35 per cent, just 5 per cent short of what was needed to get the pension. She said they didn’t have money to bribe the committee for that extra 5 per cent). Mangari’s husband lost his eyesight ater something sharp went into one eye during threshing, almost twenty years ago. Mangari’s son later explained the complete loss of vision as the injured eye watering, and thus drawing light out of the other eye until that too went blind. Mangari’s son also described his mother’s disability saying she couldn’t use one hand, and was also ‘mildly mentally disabled’. When we ask Mangari about the mental disability her son has just mentioned in her presence, she retorts that people think she’s ‘paagal’, but if a thing is laughable what else is there to do but to laugh at it? She grins wryly, and then asks if we are done and she can go. Her goats are waiting to be fed. Mangari’s interview is interspersed with another one with her daughter-in-law, Soni, who is a member of the village women’s self-help group, as well as a representative in the village council. She has a hand-painted poster on her wall that says ‘Dalit mahilaon ke virudh hinsa bandh karo— Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan’ [Stop violence against Dalit women—National Dalit Women’s Movement] next to a poster of women in various uniforms and roles—including doctor, army oicer, construction supervisor and farmer. Soni says they ind it diicult to sustain themselves and educate their children—they live of the proits of a small food stall they run in the local market on three days of the week. Yet they have been doing their best to take care of the old couple. She shrugs and says, ‘hings are very diicult, how many things will we look ater?’

for anyone who is diferent from the ideal form. negative perception. If the male gaze makes non- his treatment, as noted in our research, is not only disabled women feel like passive objects, the ‘stare’ meted out by unknown strangers and impersonal of the normative turns the disabled person into a institutions, but even by carers and other close grotesque sight. Disabled women thus contend not associates. As a mother lamented, ‘Wasn’t it enough only with how men look at women but also with that we have a hand-to-mouth existence! Why did how an entire society stares at disabled people, God have to punish us further by giving a langdi stripping them of any semblance of resistance. (crippled) daughter?’ One explanation for this treatment is ofered Indian feminists have analysed the impact of by the work of Hartsock (1998) and Harding the evaluative male gaze in operationalizing this (1991), in which the disabled are framed as an

249 India Exclusion Report opposition to the category of the able-bodied, or non-disabled is the able-bodied normative ideal. as ‘pathological’ to the category of the ‘normal’. In While accepting that positionality is ‘a mediated this situation, ‘othering’ has to be understood not rather than immediate understanding’, Hartsock as a given, but as a process which pushes a certain conceives of women’s experiences as providing the group of people to the margin of social worth, and foundation for a liberatory vision. Arguably, even if constitutes them as a threat to the social order and disability did not play the dominant role in the self- a challenge to the community. Yet, the paradox is deinition or ‘lived experience’ of the woman with that the ‘mainstream’ is unable to identify itself disability, it still becomes the basis of most other or corroborate the elevated—at worst ‘normal’— people’s deinitions. However, Wendell (1996), a nature of its being without reference to the margin. scholar and a woman with disability further argues that it is pragmatic for women with disabilities to hrough this very centrality to dominant use their diverse range of ‘epistemic advantages… discourse, ‘the other’ is silenced and delegitimized. and interpretations of their experiences’ to speak As Edward Sampson (1993) says: back to non-disabled knowledge systems. If I ind myself in and through you, but no longer control the you that grants me my self, then I am At the same time, we cannot ignore the forced to deal with a self which is beyond my heterogeneity of disability as a category. A key control, and I may not enjoy this self with which I source of the invisibility of disabled women’s must now contend. concerns has been the mindset that takes recourse to binaries of disabled/non-disabled. he primacy Disabled women confronting recurrent of this identity has rendered a large part of the exclusion are thus refused expert status either on experiences of women with disabilities, including the lives of the non-disabled, or on the colossal and the experience of violence, invisible. brutal domination that marks their own. A related An instance of this was the highly publicized irony is that though feminists have historically incident in which girls with intellectual disabilities engaged actively with the issue of diference, were compelled to undergo hysterectomies in Pune united in their attempts to empower the powerless in 1994. he institution in question catered to a and transform social inequalities, they have not large rural community that let developmentally picked up on the meaning of ‘othering’ for disabled disabled girls under its care. he girls, however, women. While the disability movement’s failure were not allowed to wear pajamas with drawstrings to acknowledge disabled women can be fathomed as well as sanitary napkins with belts, as it was as relecting the patriarchal character of a society claimed that they might use these strings to commit it accepts and aims to join, their disregard by the suicide. he absence of protective gear, such as feminist movement is less understandable. he pajamas, undergarments, and sanitary napkins, struggle of disabled women is then not simply a made the management of the bodily functions struggle to assert an identity, but a ight to assert such as menstruation diicult. To deal with their a diference, and to account for the injustices done menstrual hygiene, the hospital decided to conduct to women that have not found expression in the hysterectomies on the girls. Notwithstanding this language of feminism. paternalistic deprivation of women’s necessities, Nancy Hartsock (1983) argues that whether boys in the same institution were issued pajamas one can see the ‘reality’ of disability depends complete with drawstrings—braving the risk of on where one is positioned, since ‘material life suicide. hough there have since been eforts to structures understanding’. he vantage point for the seek a ban on forced hysterectomy for mentally

250 Resisting the Margins and physically challenged girls, the incident throws hough our case studies have little in the way of into sharp focus the denial of rights and autonomy information about sexual violence, they substantiate that patriarchal discourse and institutions are the silence around the subject, the prevalence able to enact on women with disabilities. he of physical and emotional violence, as well as restrictions on mobility, reproductive choice and the everyday violence of deprivation and lack of voice that are enacted on all women are ampliied dignity. Family and local community are rarely able in their situation—as evidenced in the acceptability to intervene positively in this structural violence. of institutionalization. he lack of enabling In Jharkhand and Odisha, there was also almost no infrastructure and services receives so little attention incidence of DPOs, and self-help groups set up by in policy and public discourse (as discussed below) NGOs were encouraged to work towards economic because empowerment is not considered equally goals, rather than build conidence and solidarity. signiicant for those so intrinsically devalued by his welfare-centric approach, arising from the society. ingrained medical and cultural understandings, then feeds into the material exclusions faced by his is also noticeable in the uncanny silence these women. that follows violence and sexual assault on disabled women. Since disabled women are seen as ‘asexual’, violence against them is oten denied or ignored. 5.2 Economic Processes As Avinash Sashi (2016) argues, ‘In the quest of According to Oliver (1990), in capitalist society, safeguarding family honour, the practitioners disability was used to categorize people into either of patriarchy refrain from addressing, let alone the work-based or the needs-based system of acknowledging, the violence and sexual assault distribution. Since the factory system and assembly experienced by disabled women within the family line were measured and paced to the ‘normal’ and in the public domain.’ It is possible that the body, disabled people were excluded from the wage culture of sterilization of mentally ill and challenged labour system. Oliver further argues that while this women, both in families and care homes, permits medicalized division could have been used to secure and perpetuates their sexual exploitation. the economic and social status of those unable to

Panchami Devi lives in her paternal home with her husband and two children, as well as her larger joint family. he house is a large, pukka house behind the village school and surrounded by ields— mostly those belonging to the family—and with its own borewell. Her father took care of her and arranged a marriage for her, her mother having died when she was young. She tells us that her daughter Pooja does the cooking, and has for a long time; she herself only washes dishes in the house. Panchami dotes on her daughter, but Pooja seems uncomfortable in her company. Meanwhile her husband seems accustomed to speaking on her behalf, and taking decisions for the family. Panchami’s husband comes from an economically weak family in Bihar, and lost his home in the loods. Since his marriage, he has lived with his wife’s family in Chauparan taking care of her, their children, the house and the farms let to him by her father. ‘Of course, I have regretted marrying her,’ he says. ‘Many times. But I married her and now there is nothing more to be said about it.’

251 India Exclusion Report labour in such a system, in practice it reinforced hough technology is helpful, job opportunities for existing stigma and oppression. disabled people have reduced: for example, positions Even in present day (urban) workplaces, the as telephone operators, stenographers, and typists reluctance to provide an enabling and accessible once available to persons with visual impairments, environment, the non-availability of materials in have declined. In their place, privatization has alternative formats for visually impaired people, and opened new avenues for employment of disabled the mammoth task of acquiring even the disability people in highly-skilled and service jobs, which certiication ensure that the employment rates for many remain unqualiied even to aspire to. the disabled remain abysmally low. However, these he economic participation of our respondents low rates are not seen as related to the structural and was oten limited to manual labour and self- attitudinal barriers in capitalist societies. It is worth employment, irrespective of their level of noticing that the multinational corporations that educational achievement, suggesting that the abide by the legislations regarding accessibility—in expansion of economic opportunities away from terms of both built infrastructure and augmentative urban centres is an urgent need, particularly in communication—change drastically as they step the formal sector. For rural disabled women, the into developing countries such as India. informality of their work—whether home-based Women, in their roles as unpaid caregivers piecework or as part of a small family enterprise— and subsistence producers, have been historically means that they are unable to access even those excluded from this deinition of ‘productive’ workers’ rights and protections that exist. workers. he present economic system prioritizes As Ghai (2001) contends, globalization has the value of productive contribution to the market allowed greater access to information, assistive economy. his has serious implications for social technologies and potentially wider solidarities, services that enhance capabilities and freedoms, which enable re-imaginings of possibilities for including education and health care, which are then people with disabilities. At the same time, the seen in instrumentalist terms rather than as tools engines of power and proiteering have in practice for genuine empowerment. deepened the marginalization of vulnerable groups, Consequently, training ofered to the disabled creating economic conditions that constrict their oten has little or no meaning outside the special access to even food and livelihoods. school classroom. As the national focus group points out: 5.3 Law and Policy With these so-called vocational skills that we he interaction between poverty, gender and impart, the disabled will never be able to catch disability and its resultant ‘multiple vulnerability’ up with their peers or transfer the skills taught in is relected clearly in the life of hirukavva and school to the real world, because society has no many of the women who spoke about their lives jobs for them. hus, we deny most of the disabled from Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka. Law policy a real chance of becoming gainfully employed and living a healthy life. and programmes must then address the host/ web of factors that afect the lives of rural women A move away from the construction of deiciency with disabilities so she can live with dignity and mandates that we provide skills that enable full and fulilment in her environment and make choices equal citizenship rather than a bare minimum. for her life.

252 Resisting the Margins

At 35 years of age, hirukavva C Bajantri lives with an alcoholic husband and a son who is deaf. hirukavva herself has lived with deafness since an attack of typhoid when she was younger. Getting up early in the morning she completes all the housework and then goes out to work as a coolie for the rest of the day, checking in the evening with the landlord whether she has another day of work the next day. hirukavva is the sole earning member of the family but not the major decision- maker. he decisions are made by her husband and the family lives on the edge of malnutrition as the money she earns is oten taken away by her husband. She lives in a rented home with no electricity, toilet or drainage facility. here is high luoride content in the scarce water in her village and people oten have to collect water from the neighbouring villages. It is diicult for hirukavva to visit the Panchayat and government oices that are about eight kilometres away. Because of her deafness she cannot hear vehicles on the road making it diicult for her to move independently. Lack of money prevents her from using transport and therefore restricts her movement further. At work and in the community she is isolated and oten shunned because people do not know how to communicate with her.

5.3.1 UNCRPD: Setting the Bar children with disabilities are vulnerable to violence In 2007, India ratiied the United Nations and abuse, and asks for legislation and policies Convention on the Rights of Persons with that are women- and child-focused in these areas Disabilities (UNCRPD), which marks a paradigm (Article 16). Recognizing also the speciic issues of shit in understanding disability. he Convention sterilization of women and girls with disabilities, foregrounds the importance of addressing the Article 23 (Home and Family Life) speciically social, economic and political barriers that prevent underlines the right of all disabled people to retain full participation of the person in all aspects of their fertility and have a family. life. Besides holding ‘equality between men and At the heart of the Convention is Article 12 women’ as a central tenet, a separate article (Article (Equal Recognition under the Law) that provides 6) emphasizes the rights of women and girls. he for recognition of equality before law and of the article also recognizes women and girls with legal capacity of all disabled people (particularly disabilities are subject to multiple discriminations. persons with intellectual disability and mental With its nuanced understanding of equality and illnesses) who have been seen as incapable of non-discrimination, the Convention underlines making any decisions for their lives, now have the the importance of reasonable accommodation right to determine their own life choices. Many of and support of disabled people as essential for the principles of the Convention such as ‘respect for realizing their rights. Of particular signiicance is inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the emphasis on access of women and girls with the freedom to make one’s own choices, and disabilities to social protection programmes and independence of persons’ (Article 3) would not be poverty alleviation programmes (Article 28), valid without an equal recognition for all under the as well as on making health and health-related law. he recognition of capacity resonates in all the rehabilitation services gender-sensitive (Article 26). diferent articles of the convention with all persons he Convention also recognizes that women and with disabilities having the right to informed

253 India Exclusion Report consent (Health, Article 25) to marry and have a Further, despite a countrywide acknowledgement family (Article 23), the right to vote and political of the vulnerability of women and girls in general, participation and the right to manage one’s own disability laws have had little in terms of airmative inances and property. action or underlining the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Contextual realities such as the fact Article 12 also recognizes that in the exercise that a majority of persons with disabilities live in the of capacity, some persons with disabilities will rural areas have not found much acknowledgement need support and the levels of this support may in the law. vary. Wherever required, they are to be provided with support to take their own decisions instead of he Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 decisions being taken for them. (henceforth PWD Act) was seen as the law deining the group of persons with disabilities, and World over, this paradigm shit in thinking has delineating their rights. It laid out a set of medically caused and continues to spur great debate about determined criteria for who among these would be how to interpret this article and how to implement oicially counted as persons with disabilities (40 it! However, it would be important at this juncture per cent or more disability, determined by a panel to remember that women too have fought this of doctors), and outlined the groups of persons battle for equality under the law and continue to with disabilities, or kinds of disability, that would do so in many countries. Article 15 of the CEDAW be recognized. While the PWD Act dealt with aims at ensuring women’s legal autonomy. It education, employment, non-discrimination and conirms women’s equality with men before the airmative action, it failed to go into the realm of law and additionally requires States’ parties to rights such as the right to life, political participation, guarantee women equal rights with men in areas liberty, security and freedom from violence and of civil law where women have traditionally been abuse, or even health rights. discriminated against (for example, property law or inheritance law). Both the National Trust for the Welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental As women move slowly to gain their legal Retardation and Multiple Disabilities 1999 and the capacity, women with disabilities, particularly Mental Health Act 1987 (MH Act) were enacted women with intellectual and psychosocial at a time when the legal capacity of persons with disabilities have remained many steps behind in the intellectual disability and mental illness was not move towards equality under the law. recognized in the law. his has resulted in their exclusion from all major legal decisions on their 5.3.2 The Rights of Disabled Persons in India own behalf, including signing for oneself, entering India’s four speciic disability-related laws were into legal contracts, getting married and selling drated and enacted at a time when the impairment property. of the person was paramount in deining their While the stated objective of the NT Act was identity and entitlements. he framework that the to enable people to live independently in their laws provided has not been one where persons with community, it detailed procedures for guardianship disabilities enjoy all human rights on an equal basis of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental with others, but one where only a few rights are retardation and multiple disabilities. Similarly, outlined and a large number not discussed—and while the MH Act does talk of the rights of persons for some, many rights are taken away. living with mental illness, a majority of its provisions

254 Resisting the Margins are devoted to the mechanisms of guardianship and communication to recognize a range of forms of custodial care in mental hospitals. he Act has been communication including tactile communication, criticized for endorsing a custodial rather than signs, plain language and alternative and rights-based approach. augmentative modes of communication among It took nearly 10 years ater India’s ratiication of others. the UNCRPD and many drats for the Parliament he law outlines a range of rights that were to pass the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act earlier not covered by law. hese include the right 2016 in December, 2016. While this law replaces to live in the community (Section 5), protection the 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act, the new from abuse, violence and exploitation (Section Mental Health Care bill 2016 which is to replace the 7), protection and safety in situations of armed Mental Health Act of 1987 still awaits assent of the conlict, humanitarian emergencies and natural Lok Sabha. disasters (Section 8), the right to home and family he Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (9), access to justice (12), the right to participate in (henceforth RPWD Act) was unanimously passed recreational activities (29) and much more. by the Indian Parliament in the winter session he Act provides for reservation in education of the Parliament of 2016, thereby replacing the in government and employment (albeit only Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995. he new Act in government establishments for jobs and ushered in a series of changes in the government government and government-aided for education), deinition and provisions for persons with disability. while also emphasizing the need for reservations It increased the number of recognized disabilities in promotion. An important distinction between from 7 to 21, which will presumably lead to a rise in the RPWD Act and the erstwhile Persons with the oicial count of persons with disabilities in the Disabilities (PWD) Act, 1995 is the provision future. Speech and speciic learning disability and for penalty in the form of imprisonment and/or acid attack victims, among other forms of disability, ine for violation of provisions of the former and have been included in the Act. discrimination against persons with disabilities. he RPWD Act has marked a clear shit in he Act also provides for a two-year stipulated time- the government’s recognition of disability from a period for ensuring that a ‘barrier-free access’ is medical deinition to a social deinition, in keeping available for persons with disabilities in all physical with the UNCRPD guidelines. It deines a ‘person infrastructure and transport systems. Designated with disability’ as ‘a person with long term physical, Special Courts have been proposed to handle cases mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, of violation of rights of persons with disabilities in in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and a speedy manner. efective participation in society equally with Disability activists have however been deeply others.’ disappointed by the caveats in law and the weak he law for the irst time takes cognizance of the protection in the area of discrimination on grounds fact that some persons with disabilities will support of disability [Section 3(3)]. Under the chapter on needs that are more than others and deines ‘high rights of persons with disabilities, Section 3 says that support’(2(l) and ‘persons with high support needs’. ‘no person with disability shall be discriminated on Steps to ensure ‘reasonable accommodation’ for the ground of disability, unless it is shown that the persons with disabilities are mandated in the law. impugned act or omission is a proportionate means Like the UNCRPD, it widens the deinition of of achieving a legitimate aim’. Outlining a right and

255 India Exclusion Report then inding a way out of it seems to be the pattern oten supported by their parents, voice the fear that the new law follows. concerning how they will live/survive once the Women with Disabilities people who protect and support them are no longer alive. Parents too voice this concern. his concern For women with disabilities, the new law can be is voiced across all impairment groups. Situations seen as a starter for the delineation of their rights. of great vulnerability where women with disabilities Despite the Standing Committee recommendations are mothers of children with disabilities or there are to restore the chapter on the rights of women and two or more family members with disabilities have children with disabilities in earlier drats, the new not warranted proactive support in any way. law chooses to state that the ‘appropriate government While the law does attempt to address some of and local authorities shall take measures to ensure these intersectional concerns, it falls shy of making that women and children with disabilities enjoy a strong commitment in these very important areas. their rights equally with others’ [Section 4(1)]. In the section on Social Security, the RPWD Act Further sections of the law exhort the govern- 2016 urges governments to develop schemes and ment into taking gender, disability and age programmes ‘to safeguard and promote the rights dimensions into account when formulating schemes of persons with disabilities for an adequate standard and strategies, particularly in the area of social of Living to enable them to live independently or in security. his along with some strong and speciic the community.’ While stipulating that the quantum references to the rights and needs of women with of assistance for such schemes will be at least 25 per disabilities also mark the new RPWD Act 2016. cent higher than the similar schemes applicable to Section 37 of the law provides for 5 per cent others, the law also gives the government a way out reservation in all poverty alleviation programmes by putting in the caveat of ‘within the limits of its with priority given to women with benchmark economic capacity’! Governments have to consider disability. he same reservation and priority is factors such as diversity of disability, age, gender, and given to women with benchmark disabilities in socio-economic status while framing such schemes. the allotment of agricultural land and housing in Within the social security section too, there all relevant schemes and development programmes are clauses that could be valuable for women with [37(a)] as well as allotment of land at concessional disabilities. Some of these include ‘support to women rates for various purposes. with disabilities for livelihood and upbringing his speciic priority for women is important of their children’ [24(d)], ‘access to safe drinking since poverty is an overarching factor in the lives of water and appropriate and accessible sanitation women with disabilities in the three communities facilities especially in urban slums and rural areas’ studied. We see not only the lack of money, i.e., (Section 24), ‘caregiver allowance to persons with economic poverty, but also material poverty. he high support needs’ [24(i)], and ‘provisions of aids access to water, food, housing, health services is and appliances, medicine and diagnostic services, precarious at best. Again and again, we hear women and free corrective surgery to the poor’. saying that poverty was one of the major reasons Rehabilitation why they could not get educated. Rehabilitation services that enable girls and women Because of these factors, the lives of many to learn skills of self-care, mobility, communication women are also conined/limited to their families and others are conspicuous by their absence in the and homes. Women living in their natal homes rural areas of the country. Poverty, gender as well

256 Resisting the Margins as lack of access to any rehabilitation services are catching the infrequent bus which they cannot multiple factors that collude with the impairment board without help, or be conined to their homes of women and prevent full participation. he because there is no information available about narrowing of options that women and girls training or changes in the local environment that experience causes great vulnerability as seen in the enable the visually or hearing-disabled to move present study. about in safety and security. Poverty, a lack of At present no programme or law provides choice and any accommodation or support for for personal assistance or support to the family their impairment limits their mobility further. he members who are the major safety net for women distinction between the urban and the rural has and girls with disabilities. Very little information not found a voice in the law as yet and many of our seems to be available on what is possible and where solutions have been urban-centric. to go, either to families, communities, or diferent Some of the recent national disability-speciic oice bearers. programmes such as the Accessible India Campaign While the law gives persons with disabilities have focused much more on the built environment the right to live in the community (Section 5), and accessible websites, sign language interpreters governments will only endeavour to provide and making accessible transport available. hough ‘access to a range of in house, residential and other laudable, these have as yet not addressed the community support services including personal requirements of women with disabilities in remote assistance necessary to support living with due rural areas whose realities may require diferent regard to gender and age’. solutions. Further although the law deines rehabilitation he RPWD Act for the irst time recognizes as ‘the process aimed at enabling persons with that strategies for the urban and the rural may disabilities to attain and maintain optimal physical, be diferent and promises that standards and sensory, intellectual, psychological, environmental rules for accessibility in physical environment, or social function levels’ the state does not take transportation, information and communication, on this responsibility entirely. Instead these including appropriate technology and systems and essential services are to be undertaken or cause other facilities and services, will be made taking to be undertaken ‘within the economic capacity both urban and rural realities into consideration. and development’ of the state and by NGOs in the Accessible transport and roads are mandated country (Section 27). and the government will take ‘suitable measures’ to Accessibility and Personal Mobility see that these are in place (Section 41). he government will also support the personal he realities and notions of accessibility in remote mobility of persons with disabilities by developing rural areas are very diferent from the urban. schemes and programmes to provide incentives and Villages may not be connected by roads and may concessions, retroitting of vehicles and personal be cut of in the monsoon by a swollen stream. mobility assistance [41(2)]. Transport options from one place to another may be erratic and extremely limited afecting the personal he strong provision here is the commitment mobility of women with disabilities in many ways. of the government to ensure that all existing public For example, women may ind it diicult to walk buildings are made accessible within a period of to the next village to fetch water, or have trouble ive years from the date of notiication of rules.

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While the law opens up a wider array of a person to take life-decisions. Such decisions must possibilities in some areas, in some contentious be arrived at ater due process since they afect the areas such as legal capacity and education it relects life of a person in a very fundamental way. the debates and dilemmas prevalent at present and he National Trust Act had broken with earlier does not take very strong stands in one direction. tradition to give the power of assigning guardianship Legal Capacity to a local level committee consisting of a person with disability and member of a registered organization Unlike the provisions of the National Trust Act and for or of persons with disabilities and the District the Mental Health Act 1987, the Rights of Person Magistrate. While there are many issues with the with Disabilities Act 2016 starts with a presumption way in which these committees function on the of legal capacity and equality under the law for all. ground, the attempt to put such important decision Section 13 of the law ensures that ‘persons with making into the hands of people rather than oicial disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis bodies has been a unique one and should have been with others in all aspects of life and have a right to strengthened. equal recognition everywhere as any person before the law’ 13(2). It gives the person with disability the he implications for the process provided by right to own and inherit property and control their the present law for rural women with disabilities, inancial afairs, and the right to alter and modify amongst the most vulnerable, are many. he any support arrangements. perceived lack of capacity of some men and women with disabilities over generations, has deeply afected However, in Section 14, the law provides for their agency in society. For rural women and girls limited guardianship and the decision to decide this with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, this lies in the hands of the district court or an authority perceived lack of capacity coupled with poverty, lack designated by the government. he law envisages of choices and exclusion from various institutions of that limited guardianship will be an equal, time society sets in motion a vicious cycle oten leading to bound relationship for a speciic purpose,with the grave isolation even at an early age. he fact that they guardian not exercising undue inluence on the are women has certainly added to their exclusion person and the person having the right ‘to alter, from society. here is now substantial consensus modify or dismantle any support arrangements and among disability groups that the human rights of seek support of another’ [13(4)]. PWDs require recognition as do their capacities to However the law also provides for what it take decisions critical to their lives and well-being, calls full support to the person to whom limited including relating to property and money. Yet guardianship is granted. debates continue with regard to how these rights his decision of guardianship, and the nature and should be operationalized and also about the need manner of support given to a person is now given for and nature of support, checks and balances. into the hands of the district courts or any other Manjula Nooresha Banjara, 23, who is seen as authority that is designated by the government. he intellectually disabled, is entirely conined to her decision is to be reviewed periodically. One of the house, isolated from the community and utterly big challenges in guardianship being decided by dependent on her mother. Her mother never takes district courts lies in the nature of the institution of her out of the house because she feels that her the court itself. he decision to provide guardianship daughter does not understand anything and behaves is essentially a decision on the perceived capacity of like a child. According to the interviewer she is seen

258 Resisting the Margins as being ‘incapable of having any responsibilities’. three sites of education are now available to children Manjula’s perceived incapacity does not come from with disabilities. While this could be seen as a the nature of her impairment. Rather it is built upon positive, the lipside of all these choices is in the way with the interaction of her impairment with years they are conceived and implemented. of isolation and lack of participation in society. he RTE provides for home-based education Decisions of capacity and incapacity are therefore with no direction on how this is to be implemented. extremely diicult to take. Is the district court the Similarly, the RPWD talks about special schools right agency to be taking such decisions? but gives no directions about how they are to be Education conceived. Given the reality of special schools being he new law has much to say about education. largely funded and run by the MSJE and schools While it adds to the RTE Act 2009 in some areas, for children with developmental disabilities being it also weakens some important commitments. run in informal ways; it is likely that these present For the irst time we have a deinition of ‘inclusive practices will continue. he push of the RTE for education’ in the law; ‘a system of education wherein the education system to become inclusive, is now students with and without disability learn together likely to get diluted. For the parent too, the general and the system of teaching and learning is suitably school system that continues to be of low quality adapted to meet the learning needs of diferent and actively pushes out the child is unlikely to be types of students with disabilities.’ the irst priority. In order to make systems inclusive, the law As seen on the ground, no real choice exists for details a range of very important actions. hese the most vulnerable. It is oten the state that makes include among others, reasonable accommodation the choice regarding which child to put into home- according to individual requirements and based education and now children with disabilities individualized support measures. he law speaks are likely to be pushed into special schools too. about accessible buildings and campuses and he RTE that held great possibilities for children training of professionals and staf at all levels of with disabilities when it was amended in 2012 to education to support inclusion, all of which are speciically include them in the disadvantaged enabling clauses and fundamental to the success of groups sufered from a narrow interpretation, inclusion of any child with speciic requirements. absolutely no change in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Unfortunately, the commitment to implement programme (the vehicle through which the law is inclusive education is weak. he government implemented), and reduced budgetary allocations. pledges to only ‘endeavour’ to provide inclusive All together, these and many other systemic factors education in all educational institutions funded or have together reduced its impact for the education recognized by them. his commitment immediately of children with disabilities. reduces inclusive education to a particular school At present, children with disabilities continue or institution and not changing the system as it is to be the largest out-of-school set of children in deined and supposed to. the country. Among them, far fewer girls with Meanwhile, children with benchmark disabilities disabilities get a chance to go to school. Between have been given the right to ‘free education in a 2009–10 and 2014–15, on an average only 74 girls neighbourhood school or in a special school’. With the with disabilities are enrolled in schools as compared RTE provision of home-based education as a choice to 100 boys with disabilities. When this is compared for children with severe or multiple disabilities, all with the 94 girls enrolling in schools in relation to

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100 boys, the GPI for girls with disabilities remains Care Bill, 2014 as well as the National Trust Act for a cause for concern. the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disability which he experience of girls with disabilities in rural has dealt primarily with issues of guardianship of areas continues to be fraught with barriers. Many these groups. With the RPWD Act having dealt with have dropped out and many have still not accessed the area of legal capacity and a range of other rights, education. Only those who can swim with the the relevance of the bill and the law is unclear. In the current or those who have been lucky to receive area of mental health, the law leaves the institutions individual support have had any chance of receiving working for the care of mentally ill persons out of an education. In human terms, the fallout of these the requirement of registration with the act, perhaps situations are grave as we can see from the lives of making room for the Mental Health Bill to regulate Parbati Mahji and Satoshi Kumari. and outline how these institutions are run. here is Parbati Mahji is 12 years old and blind. With now a need to look afresh at all disability-speciic no access to rehabilitation services she remains laws and bills in relation to what the new law says. completely dependent on her mother for her daily Resourcing the New Law needs. Worried about her safety and security in a village, her parents do not encourage her to go While the RPWD Act 2016 stuns you with the wide out of the house and she has not gone to school. At array of rights it deals with, the state gives itself 12 years of age Parbati is already experiencing life a way out on some very critical areas for women second-hand through her family members who go with disabilities living in remote rural areas to live out and visit places she does not. ‘I like to talk much independently and with dignity. hat is why this is more’ she says, ‘because I am generally let at home a law that will require close scrutiny and auditing by most part of the day.’ person with disabilities. Much will depend on how this law is interpreted, implemented and resourced. Santoshi Kumari, is from Lara village in Jharkhand and lives with multiple disabilities. Her For example, it remains to be seen whether family is iercely protective of her and is ready to the disability pension will remain uneven go to any length to ensure her rights. But when throughout the states as it has been or will it now her mother approached the school for admission be equal to minimum wage, inlation-indexed, and she was refused by the headmaster who said that complemented by diferent kinds of support? there was no order from the government to take in he budget for persons with disabilities, children with disabilities in school. Unable to ight announced in February 2017, accounts for a back her mother gave in and Santoshi remains at mere 0.0039 per cent of the GDP. With a wide- home alone the whole day moving from place to ranging new law in place, unless a larger volume of place in the house and playing by herself. Worried resources is pledged and used, the rights envisaged and stressed by people’s attitudes, her mother are unlikely to be translated into reality. oten threatens to kill herself and take her disabled daughter with her. It is her brother who saves the With varied chapters on health, protection and day by promising that he will take care of his sister. safety, skill development and employment, access to justice, right to culture and recreation, etc., the he New Law, the New Bill and the other Disability responsibility of the law falls on the shoulders of Laws: Recommendations many diferent ministries. For example, the law he passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities envisages the inclusion of persons with disabilities Act 2016 has implications for the Mental Health in all mainstream policies—including formal

260 Resisting the Margins and non-formal, vocational and skill-training and children and others who are vulnerable among schemes and programmes and schemes to promote persons with disabilities in the country. Although healthcare. It would be important to monitor the law does not mandate it, it is also important closely the plans, resources and commitments of that persons with disabilities including women are these diferent ministries in the coming years. at the forefront of this training. he exclusion of the disability discourse from Women with Disabilities the larger development discourse has been very While the law makes a beginning in the recognition strong in our country. For example, even though of the rights of women with disabilities and the the links between disability and poverty are well recognition is uneven and not strong enough understood and even though there are Supreme in many critical areas. In the areas of access to Court orders (like the Right to Food case) to education, rehabilitation, skill development include persons with disabilities in the Antyodaya and work, for example, the explicit recognition scheme, the National Food Security Act 2013 does is missing. In the area of health, while the law not recognize women and children with disabilities makes a speciic reference of providing sexual and in its deinition of vulnerable groups, even as it reproductive healthcare especially for women with attempts to empower women by seeing them as the disabilities (Sec 25(2k)), it does not mandate just head of the household. Key livelihood programmes access to health care for them. here is enough such as the MGNREGS seem to have fought shy ground and research evidence to show that the of recognizing the vulnerability of children and gender element is strongly present in access to persons with disabilities with no speciic provisions health care in India. for them in the law and their rules. To reverse Work opportunities for women in rural areas these trends is going to remain a challenge unless need to be explored and expanded: easier access to concerted strong action and monitoring is done by capital, markets, and transport to work locations. disability groups. Regulation of conditions for home-based work Building Capacities might also positively impact their livelihoods. Strategies for promoting independent, assisted Apart from resources, the law requires capacity living in rural areas must be explored further. building of a range of personnel who need to be trained to work with children and persons with 5.3.3 Recent Policies and Legislation disabilities. hese include panchayat members, legislators, administrators, police oicials, judges, Recent legislative guidelines from the State as well lawyers and others. A disability component for as Courts have signalled a lack of will on the part of all education courses for school, college and the government to bring in any sustainable changes. university teachers, doctors, nurses, para-medical While the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of personnel, social welfare oicers, ASHA workers, 2016 is a welcome piece of legislation, it is not free Anganwadi workers and others (Section 47). his from major loopholes manifested in its lack of special is an extremely important section of the law if provisions for women with disabilities, its failure inclusion is to happen. Although not speciied, it to address the problems related to certiication of would be important now that the trainings happen disability, or its contentious provision on reservation and that they break away from the very medical for persons with disabilities. he Act has been understanding of disability and focus on the social criticized by disability-rights activists for negating and economic contexts and the rights of women the progressive judgements of 2013 in Union of

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India vs National Federation of Blind, MCD vs rights organizations. he judgement, that directed Manoj Kumar Gupta, and Rajiv Kumar Gupta persons with disabilities to ‘maintain maximum vs Union of India, wherein the Court interpreted possible alertness’, has been criticized by Jayana Section 33 of the Persons with Disabilities Act Kothari, the author of he Future of Disability Law 2005 so as to include reservation of persons with in India, as being ‘completely ofensive and shows disabilities in all groups of government oicers, i.e., disrespect and disregard for so many diferent A, B,C and D groups, at the time of recruitment as conditions/disabilities that people may have’. well as promotion. he new Act reduced the impact of the clear Court guidelines by relegating the right 5.3.3.1 Government Programmes to reservation in promotion to a mere proviso under In the absence of new legal frameworks, many Section 34 of the Act. he Act also does not address of the concerns of women living in rural Odisha, the bureaucratic hurdles faced by persons with Jharkhand and Karnataka, go unnoticed in both the disabilities in obtaining a certiicate of disability, design and implementation of programmes. which is the necessary gateway for demanding any Some of the recent national disability-speciic entitlements from the State. While the Minister programmes such as the Accessible India Campaign of Social Justice and Empowerment, haawar have focused much more on the built environment Chand Gehlot, announced in the Parliament that a and accessible websites, sign language interpreters scheme of ‘universal identity card for the disabled’ and making accessible transport available. hough is on the anvil and an agency has been inalized laudable, these have as yet not addressed the for this purpose, the feasibility of such a scheme is requirements of women with disabilities in remote debatable. his is particularly so as the identity card rural areas whose realities may require diferent is proposed to be linked to the disabled person’s solutions. For example, women may ind it diicult Aadhar Card, which itself has been ruled by the to walk to the next village to fetch water, or have Supreme Court to be not mandatory for availing trouble catching the infrequent bus which they State beneits.6 cannot board without help, or be conined to their he Accessible India Campaign, another lagship homes because there is no information available scheme launched by the present government in about training or changes in the local environment 2015, was to be allocated INR 193 crore exclusively. that enable the visually or hearing-disabled to But this amount was, in fact, subsumed under the move about in safety and security. Poverty, a lack of existing schemes arising out of implementation of choice and any accommodation or support for their the Persons with Disabilities Act. Equals, Centre impairment limits their mobility further. for Promotion of Social Justice, a disability rights State-level Provisions organization based in Chennai points out that such an allocation is regressive in its focus on a select he disability pension, the scheme for provision of number of urban cities (50 government buildings in aids and appliances, and concessions in transport 26 cities, and 25 government buildings in another are some of the schemes for disabled persons. 22 cities), discriminating against the 69.5 per cent he disability pension is one universal attempt of rural population of persons with disabilities. made by the government to provide some kind A recent 2016 judgement of the Supreme Court of support to disabled people living in diicult which provided for guidelines for persons with economic circumstances throughout the country. disabilities for when the National Anthem is being Each state in the country decides on its own played came under intense censure by disability quantum of support which varies from INR 300 per

262 Resisting the Margins month in Odisha, INR 400–600 in Jharkhand, and per cent of PWDs were not aware of the disability between INR 400–1000 in Karnataka (depending certiication process, and that only around 21 per on the degree of disability). Although the amounts cent were in possession of a PWD card. given monthly in the pension are oten very he state should adopt a much more inclusive meagre, most disabled people are aware of this deinition of disability, incorporating many provision and value it highly. Other schemes such previously excluded categories of disabled persons, as the Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ and use a 6 per cent disability rate in calculating Fitting of Aids and Appliances scheme, 2014(ADIP) budgetary requirements of this most vulnerable through which aids and appliances are provided free population. he medical criteria used to identify of cost to disabled persons living below a certain disabilities should also be revised, and standardized income level, on the other hand, do not seem to across the country have reached many women with disabilities. Shit towards Using Social Models In most of the narratives of women with disabilities in the three states, the Panchayat Traditionally we looked at disability mainly in did not appear to be a strong force creating terms of the medical impairment a person lives opportunities and support, as mandated by law. he with, known as the ‘medical model’ of disability empowerment of women with disabilities was not recognition. However, a ‘social model’ recognizes seen to be signiicant among their priorities and no that it is not the medical impairment which disables real attempt was made to include them in the afairs a person; it is social, economic and cultural barriers of the Panchayat. which persons with disabilities face, which disable them.

6. Recommendations he UNCRPD, as noted above, has laid grounds for changing the deinition of disability, 6.1 Recommendations for Law and Policy by shiting from a medical to a social model. he South African Policy on Disability is one example Ensuring Correct Census of Persons with which incorporates this paradigm shit in how Disability we construct disability into its perspective. It recognizes, for instance, that ‘it is the inability of Identifying the number of disabled is not important the ordinary schools to deal with diversity in the solely from a statistical standpoint. At a macro classroom that forces children with disabilities into level, these estimates guide government spending special schools’. decisions on disability. In recent years, direct spending by the government on the disability his results in an approach that requires that sector has been a miniscule 0.05 to 0.07 per cent resources be made available to transform so- of its budget. At an individual level, timely and called ‘ordinary’ amenities and services to cater accurate identiication of persons with disabilities is for a more diverse environment. All current laws important in order to ensure that they receive proper deine PWDs entirely on a medical model. hese care and beneit from government schemes for their must be shited fully to social deinitions that are welfare. In practice, the current identiication and sensitive to multiple deprivations of gender, caste, certiication process reaches a small proportion of class, religious identity and geography. his would potential beneiciaries. he World Bank survey in require governments to create appropriate social rural Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu found that 56 scales and systems of evaluation.

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Consolidation of Legal Instruments Integrated Education here are multiple laws in India that provide and At present, educational outcomes for both children protect the rights of people with disability in and adults with disabilities remain extremely poor India, many of which are currently in the process as compared to those for non-disabled persons. of amendment. he processes of amendment for his highlights the importance of promoting each of these, however, are working in isolation inclusive education programmes in regular from others. Separate ministries too are involved schools, to ensure suitable support and to lower in amending these bills and acts, including the the likelihood of disabled students dropping out of Ministry of Social Justice, the Ministry of Health, school. Even supporters of special education should and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. realize that for rural girls with disability, a network his leads to confusion in the drating of provisions of special schools within accessible distance is in each of the laws, with fears not just of overlap impossible to accomplish: it would be a budgetary but even contradictions. In addition, provisions impossibility, let alone the diiculties of providing regarding the right to education of children with the requirements of trained personnel. disabilities also overlaps with Right of Children to here is a need to ensure that RTE suiciently Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE). safeguards the interests and rights of children with Legal Capacity for the Disabled disabilities. Data from the SSA for 2005 shows that spending on inclusive education was only about 1 In consonance with the UNCRPD, the laws per cent of the budget, and even for this, execution must airm that persons with disabilities enjoy rates were a lot lower than other areas. Parents, legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all educational service providers and the community aspects of life. At the same time, the system should at large need to be sensitized to the special needs acknowledge, as the UNCRPD mandates, the of children with disabilities, and promote their need for ‘support they may require in exercising inclusion in regular schools. his is particularly their legal capacity’, with ‘appropriate and efective true with respect to attitudes towards children with safeguards to prevent abuse’ in extending such mental disabilities. Besides this, the development support, checks to ensure that these ‘respect the of appropriate curriculum and learning materials, rights, will and preferences of the person’, and that adequate inancial support, efective monitoring and the supports ‘are free of conlict of interest and evaluation programmes, and even ensuring physical undue inluence, are proportional and tailored to accessibility to regular schools (for example, only 18 the person’s circumstances, apply for the shortest per cent of SSA schools nationally were considered time possible and are subject to regular review by a accessible in 2005) are other important focus areas competent, independent and impartial authority or for making education more accessible and relevant judicial body. he safeguards shall be proportional for children with disabilities. to the degree to which such measures afect the person’s rights and interests’. Poverty and Exclusion We believe that at least where local networks of Laws and programmes related to PWDs need disabled persons exist, they could be given a much to further recognize poverty, gender and social greater role in ensuring that the supported decision exclusion, and geographical exclusion (especially relects as far as possible the true aspirations and rural locations) as crucial factors afecting the best interests of the person. rights of children and persons with disabilities, and nuances of how disability as a social vector of

264 Resisting the Margins exclusion intersects with other traditionally socially policies to support families with disabilities or excluded groups such as Dalits, Adivasis, and persons with disabilities themselves engaging in or Muslims to create a complex matrix of vulnerability accessing gainful employment. Financial and tax in the Indian context. Further, the rights of the beneits to private employers of PwDs, subsidies disabled need to be linked to food security in India, and inance incentives for starting small-scale given the high rates of malnutrition. income generation activities by PwD households, should be incorporated. he national disability It is estimated that there are 70 million disabled fund needs to play a greater role in enhancing people in the country and studies show that 70 per livelihood opportunities for poor disabled people. cent (50 million) of these belong to poor families. We need to carry out further R&D in the area of Poverty is both a cause and consequence of disability. technology and the use of appropriate devices for It is important for law makers to recognize that PwDs creation of livelihood opportunities of poor people have greater needs than others to meet additional with disabilities. costs of health care, basic needs, accessibility and transport, whereas they have a lower earning Public awareness programmes should be capacity deriving from their impairment and the undertaken to explain the causes and remedial lack of socio-economic access and opportunities. measures possible for disabilities and related health concerns. In particular, awareness should be raised he law must guarantee social security beneits, about issues of sexual assault and bodily autonomy. aids and appliances, medicine and diagnostic, corrective surgery without cost to persons ASHA workers and ANMs should be trained with disabilities. here should be no eligibility as Village Rehabilitation Workers as well (as in requirements for this right, because that would in the Karnataka), and trained to recognize disabilities, end tend to exclude those most in need of support. provide counsel, networking, or care support to families, as the need arises. Reproductive support here are provisions for reservation or preferential should be made available, and closer monitoring access for PwDs under a number of the government’s of women with disabilities during and ater poverty alleviation schemes, but in many cases pregnancy. Forced sterilization should be discussed implementation has been weak. he status of and strongly discouraged. disability reservations in employment needs to be reviewed: are positions being let empty because of the lack of suitable applicants, or because jobs ofered Postscript to PwDs are being narrowed and undermined? Take corrective action to operationalize this provision. Happy be they who understand my strange step when walking and my heavy hands. Happy be they he law and programmes also need to recognize who know that my ears have to be strengthened the practical gender needs that diferentiate access to understand what is said. Happy be they who for men and women, and to look at how it is doubly understand that though my eyes shine my mind diicult for a disabled woman to determine and is slow. Happy be they who see yet don’t notice access public spaces like transport, hospitals, parks, the food that drops and falls of the side of my etc. Apart from access to infrastructure and public plate….Happy be they who listen to me, since I spaces, the law also needs to look at political, too have something to say. cultural and social spaces, and facilitate increased access to all of these for women with disabilities. Argentinian National Association for the Promotion of Disabled People here is not much support in existing laws and

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Others: Raghavendra and Nandini from ActionAid Karnataka, Satish GC from CRT. Also Pauline Endnotes Oosterhof for her comments. 1. Jharkhand: 2. We prefer to use the term ‘disabled people’ instead of Researchers: Ms Savita Kumari, Ms Rinki Kumari, ‘people with disabilities’ in this chapter because, in Ms sangita Tigga, Ms Nilima Tigga, Mr Ajit ram, accordance with the social model, we see disability Ms Kiran Kumari, Mr Amit Kumar Singh, Mr as being imposed by the environment rather than a Mohd. A Parwez, Ms Shabbo Khatoon, Ms Meena necessary outcome of an impairment. herefore, it Kumari, Ms Babita is not possible to ‘have’ a disability, but only to have Other acknowledgements from Jharkhand, Mr an impairment. Moreover, we believe reducing the Vivek Kumar, Mr Ramlal, the entire staf of Jan stigma associated with being disabled begins with Sewa Parishad (our partners in Jharkhand), Mr accepting disability as a fact of life for many people, Dhalu Sahu, Ms Hemanti, Ms Alka Nizamie and the which in no way deines their whole identity other staf of Deepshikha India 3. According to Census of India, 2011, approximately 69.5 per cent of the disabled population resides in Karnataka: rural parts of the country. Researchers; Nagaratna Kavali, Shobhaa Hiremath, 4. For their invaluable help in carrying out this study, Shantavva Waddar, Manahtesh Talwar, Wallamma we are indebted to South Odisha Voluntary Action Hanakanahalli, Mahadevi Halli, Jayalaxmi in Koraput, Janamukhi in Gadag and Jan Seva Rangapur, Manjula Hadapad, Nethra Kuri. Parishad in Hazaribagh, respectively. Ravi G and Basavaraj Myageri, and the staf of 5. he snowballing method, or chain referral sampling, Janamukhi. is a method of sample selection in which each Orissa: respondent recommends or helps recruit the next Researchers: Sushma Sisa, Bhahgabati Jani, Raila respondent from among her own acquaintances. Dishari, Padmini Nayak, Mukta Nayak, Sanjaya 6. Auxilliary Nurse Midwives, or the village-level Khara, G. Gourisankar Rao, Leeon Takri, Geetanjali female health workers in India, are commonly Bagderia, Tirnath Gemel. known as ANMs. Ramprasad Pattnaik, Sanjit Patnayak and all the 7. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 855 of 2016. staf of SOVA (South Orissa Voluntary Action), Koraput.

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268 Siesta on the street. Fort Kochi, Kerala. Photo Credit: Rahul M. Strife in a Metro Airming Rights to Admission in the City of Delhi*

Rajanya Bose and NC Saxena

1.1 Introduction rather an academic segregation imposed by those ‘When you irst come here, there is a lot of hope, trying to understand their reality. he scope and abhilasha. You think anything is possible. You aim of the chapter is thus to provide glimpses into have heard all the stories of people who have the vulnerabilities faced by the population, in their made it big in the city. Slowly, as time goes by, you living and working in Delhi, to bring out various start wondering what you are doing. One year, forms of penalty and denial of citizenship rights by two years, three years, and bharosa, something the state. will happen. But slowly you realize, nothing he irst part of the chapter discusses the major will happen, and you can live the next ive years trends of urbanization in India and how the ‘urban just like the last three years, and everything will be the same. Wake up, work, eat, drink, sleep, poor’ are deined. Stating important observations and tomorrow it’s the same thing again…. Ater of the 2012 Hashim Committee Report (Hashim, enough time in Delhi, you even stop dreaming, 2012), it highlights the signiicance of the concept you could go crazy if you think about it too much.’ of ‘vulnerability’ as a break away from monetary calculations of poverty. Adopting the framework of —A Free Man by Aman Sethi the report, the second part of the chapter illustrates the experiences of residential, occupational and he ‘urban poor’ is a fraught term that oten hides social vulnerabilities to understand how exclusion the extreme heterogeneity of the poor in an urban manifests itself in the national capital. he third space. An economic deinition of poverty and section illustrates two examples of good practices, the poverty line is inadequate to understand the one through legislative eforts of the state and multiple forms of deprivation that a person or a another through eforts of the civil society, family might experience in the harsh exclusive aimed at making urban spaces more inclusive. cities in India. It is also almost impossible to deine he inal section lists recommendations for the the population or the community of the ‘urban State to improve the conditions of the vulnerable poor’ in the context of Delhi, neither is that the communities in the city. scope or the purpose of this chapter. It is even more diicult to ascertain the exact nature of the In 2007 for the irst time, more people in the population that would come under this category world were recorded as living in cities than in given that the people themselves do not identify villages. In 2005, the United Nations estimated that with this classiication as a political identity. It is the world’s urban population growing at a rate of

* Reviewer: Patrick Heller, Richard Jolly

270 Strife in a Metro

1.8 per cent annually would soon outpace the world Only 70 per cent of urban households have access to population growth of 1 per cent (United Nations, piped water, 74 per cent of urban households have 2005). Nearly 48 per cent of the world’s population access to latrines, 23 per cent of sewage is treated, lived in urban areas, and the developing countries and only 30 per cent of solid waste generated is were urbanizing more rapidly compared to the treated prior to disposal (Finance Commission, developed countries. 2008). hese deiciencies are particularly severe for the urban poor and have serious livelihood impacts he urban population in India is now around for them. Lack of political and administrative will, 377 million, constituting 31.2 per cent of the total inadequate inances and investment and hostility population. It has grown 15 times in 110 years; in towards migrants, compounded by weak municipal 1901, only 25 million people constituting 10.8 per institutions and poor delivery systems have cent of the population lived in urban India (Finance constrained the administration’s ability to improve Commission, 2008, p. 237). he igure of 377 the living conditions, incomes and services for the million, however, is possibly an underestimation urban poor. in itself due to the undercounting in informal settlements in towns and in big metropolitan 1.2 Urbanization: Major Trends cities. Moreover, the growth of population in slums is diicult to assess since the 2001 and 2011 While the pace of urbanization in India has not been Censuses are not directly comparable; while the as fast as in many other middle income countries, 2001 Census only covered statutory towns with the urban share of India’s overall population rose population greater than 20,000, the 2011 Census from 23 to 31 per cent between 1980 and 2011. covered all 4,041 statutory towns (he Times of Changes in the share of urban population and in India, 2013). A big gap remains between the pace the decadal growth rate since 1951 are shown in of urbanization and the provision of infrastructural Figure 1 (Planning Commission, 2012). facilities required for supporting such a large Urban growth in India, according to oicial concentration of population. As a consequence, igures, has been modest in the last few decades. urban environments, particularly in large cities, Despite reaching its peak in the 1970s, the growth are deteriorating very rapidly. All cities have rate fell in the 1980s and further in the 1990s. acute shortage of housing, water supply, sewerage, Between 2000 and 2005, the growth rate has developed land, transportation and other facilities. been estimated at only 1 per cent (Kundu, 2011).

Figure 1: Urban Share in Total Population &

271 India Exclusion Report

Kundu has argued that urbanization has become Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Jaipur and concentrated in developed regions and larger cities, Kanpur will have a population of over 4.0 million while it has stagnated in smaller towns (2011). in 2025 and these mega cities will have a total population of 127 million, which is likely to be over A World Bank agglomeration index report 24 per cent of the total urban population of the released in 2015 on urbanization in South Asia country (Vaidya, 2009). showed that 55.3 per cent of Indians lived in areas with urban features (he Hindu, 2016). he In addition to the 53 metro cities, each of which underestimation in the Census could be due to the has a million-plus population, there are 468 cities fact that it does not enumerate populations living with a population of 100,000 and more, and these on peripheries of towns or other urban centres, and account for 28 per cent of the urban population. refuses to acknowledge the ‘subaltern urbanisation’ he remaining 30 per cent of urban India is in India1 (Denis, Mukhopadhyay, Zerah, 2012). scattered over 4041 towns with populations less India might be more urbanized than the oicial than 100,000 (Census of India, 2011). In addition, igures admit with more than 10 per cent ‘living there are 3894 census towns, deined as those with in dense built-up settlements that do not satisfy a minimum population of 5000, with at least 75 per the Indian census deinition of urbanization. he cent of male workers engaged in non-agricultural large cities are important and growing steadily pursuits and a population density of at least 400 per but 41% of the urban population lives outside sq. km. hese have not been declared as statutory Class I towns, and there is growth there too (2012, towns by the states, as the states fear that doing p. 56).’ Subaltern urbanization takes account of so would lead to a reduction in the development ‘diversiied cities’ (Ramachandran, 1989) which are assistance that they receive from the Centre. Each urban centres that might not be connected to an state can decide norms for declaring these as towns, immediate metropolis but are connected to a global as there is no uniformity in the country regarding centre.2 norms for what constitutes towns and when they should be declared as such, etc. If the population Besides ‘subaltern urbanization’, the increasing of these census towns, which technically continue concentration of urban population in larger to be rural, were to be taken into account, the total cities, is one of the key features of urbanization urban population would be an estimated 35 per in India (Table 1). he number of cities with over cent by now. 1,000,000 population, in 2001 was 35 and the urban population share of these cities was over 37 It is worth noting that the population growth per cent. his number has gone up to 53 in 2011, of Indian towns with population less than 100,000 and 42 per cent of the total urban population has been slowing down, particularly in the 1990s. lives in these cities. Moreover, 11 cities, namely, heir population growth decelerated from 3.4 per Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, cent per annum in the 1970s to 1.6 per cent per

Table 1: Past Trend of Growth of Metro Cities in India 1981 1991 2001 2011 Number of metro cities (population-1 million +) 12 23 35 53 Population (million) 42 70 108 161 Percentage of total urban population 26 32 37 42

272 Strife in a Metro

Table 2: Growth of Urban Population by City Size (per cent per annum) 1971–81 1981–91 1991–2001 2001–2011 Cities 3.7 3.2 2.9 2.7 Metropolitan Cities >4 million (m) 2.8 3.8 2.9 3.5

Class IA >5 m 2.7 3.4 2.8 3.3 Class IB 1–5 m 3.4 4.0 3.1 3.8 Other Cities(Class IC) 0.1–1 m 4.2 3.1 3.3 1.7 Towns 3.4 3.2 2.3 1.6 Class II 50000–100000 4.8 3.7 2.5 1.6 Class III 20000–50000 2.7 3.4 2.3 1.6 Class IV+ <20000 2.3 2.4 2.2 1.6 Total Urban Population 3.9 3.2 2.8 2.4 Rural Population 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.2 Total Population 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.5 Source: (Planning Commission, 2012) annum in the last decade. Migration from villages of urban poor populations based not just on caste, has been largely to the metropolitan cities and their ethnicity, place of origin, age and gender, nature peripheries, and the small and medium towns have and relationship with family, but also on the nature languished for want of an economic base. of their living arrangements, and their occupations. Lastly, there is a great deal of inter-state he diverse groups of urban poor populations do variation in urbanization. Among the larger states, not have the cognition of a cohesive class identity Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized at 54.4 per cent (Gooptu, 2001). he search for homogeneity in what followed by Maharashtra (46.2%) and Gujarat is otherwise an extremely diverse population is an (40.3%), whereas the least urbanized states are attempt on the part of researchers and planners, not Assam (14.1%) and Bihar (11.3%). In tune with the emanating from the political consciousness of the experience of other countries, urbanized states tend group itself. to be more prosperous, with Himachal Pradesh, a Poverty is also a subjective judgement about hill state, being an exception with very low poverty an acceptable standard of living in each country levels despite only having a 10.1 per cent urban (Wratten, 1995, p. 16). While the poor can be population (HPEC, 2011). efectively involved to arrive at this deinition of poverty (Francis, 1991), Wratten says such 1.3 Who are the Urban poor? Poverty v/s deinitions oten highlight the concepts of Vulnerability vulnerability and entitlement, which help in understanding how people not only become but he widely used terminology of ‘the urban poor’ remain poor (1995). disguises an enormous amount of heterogeneity among deprived urban populations. here are wide Accordingly, a useful way of assessing and variations in the speciic proiles and experiences understanding the experience of urban poverty

273 India Exclusion Report is by assessing the vulnerability of a household or established that economic deprivation is not the person or a group which indicates how dangerously most signiicant factor when it comes to rural-urban close the family is to slipping below the poverty migration, not even for seasonal migrants. ‘One line. Vulnerability, in such case, will mean ‘not observes that both poor and rich households report lack or want, but defencelessness, insecurity, and out-migration, although the reasons for sending exposure to risk, shocks and stress’ (Chambers, out their family members and the nature of jobs 2006, p.1). For Chambers, vulnerability can be sought by them are diferent’ (Kundu and Sarangi, both internal and external, the former being of 2007, pp 306). NSS data conirms this and indicates risks, shocks and stress while the latter refers to that short-term migration opportunities are availed the inability to cope without sufering losses like of by the better-of segments of population (Kundu, economic impoverishment, physical weakness or 2007, 2011). herefore, even though urban poverty psychological harm. he income or consumption may be partially a spillover of rural poverty, the measure, though convenient for policy makers, former’s causes and manifestations difer from could sustain ‘stereotypes of the amorphous and rural poverty. he Hashim Committee Report inds undiferentiated mass of the poor’. In other words, a that urban poverty can be best captured through family could increase its income and consumption three categories of vulnerabilities: residential, levels through borrowing, but become more occupational and social. It is using the framework of vulnerable due to the debt. Recognizing the concept these three categories that the chapter will navigate of vulnerability is the irst step towards thinking the complex idea of the urban poor. beyond income-based poverty measures to assess exclusion and deprivation. Residential Vulnerability he Hashim Committee report reads: he Committee report observes: Poverty is an ex-post measure of a household’s he most visible manifestation of urban poverty well-being (or lack thereof). It relects a current is in the crowding of large masses of the urban state of deprivation, of lacking the resources or poor under the open sky, completely vulnerable capabilities to satisfy current needs. Vulnerability, to the extremes of nature, or in precarious and on the other hand, may be broadly interpreted as unsanitary slums in sub-human conditions of an ex-ante measure of well-being, relecting not survival and always lacking a sense of safety and so much how well of a household currently is, but security. (2012, p. 25) what its future prospects are. What distinguishes the two is the presence of risk—the fact that the his would consist of living arrangements such level of future well-being is uncertain. (2012, as homelessness and also physical environments p. 24) lacking in hygiene, water supply, sanitation and other basic provisions in the place of living, as Vulnerability as against income-based poverty well as the context of land rights and rightful measures especially become signiicant in the urban citizenship in the context of ‘illegal’ settlements context, since cities are characterized by a greater and ‘encroachments’. Residential vulnerability will degree of commercial exchange, where one needs also cover ‘legal’ habitations , i.e., the designated money or more money to buy water, housing, food, slums in the cities or rehabilitated settlements and fuel, than in rural areas (Wratten, 1995, p. 22). In that planned settlements in the case of New Delhi will sense, urban poverty need not be seen as a spillover have inadequate provision of basic services (Centre of rural poverty (Mitra, 1992). In fact, it has been for Policy Research, 2015).

274 Strife in a Metro

Occupational Vulnerability Educational qualiications and the nature of work arrangements are two of the many factors that determine occupational stability. For regular workers, in both large cities and small towns, the possibility of falling below the poverty line is lower than for those in casual employment.3 NSS data shows that ‘the ordering in terms of poverty probability from lowest to the highest, thus works out to be regular, self-employed, unemployed and casual workers’ (Kundu and Sarangi, 2007, p. 306). he Hashim Committee Report also points out that not just the status of employment but the quality of employment determines the vulnerability of an individual or group. he vulnerable group here is again heterogeneous, comprising daily wage workers, construction labour, petty traders, hawkers, street children, sex-workers, rickshaw pullers, domestic workers, etc. Labour markets remain highly segmented, in which the vulnerability and desperate survival needs of the unorganised workers and high levels of competition amongst the large army of work-seekers, enable exploitation by employers, and sometimes middlemen who mediate access (Hashim, 2012, p. 30).

Social Vulnerability he urban poor population is socially disaggregated as well; some social groups are more at risk to fall into poverty than others. As the report says, ‘Socially vulnerable groups are deined as those groups who routinely face severe social barriers to livelihood, food and digniied living’ (p. 28). he gendered aspect of poverty, for example, is diicult to ignore with women constituting 68 per cent of the urban poor

275 India Exclusion Report look eagerly for the letover samosas (fried snacks), 2.1 Residential Vulnerability or roti (bread) or discarded plastic bottles. he he Delhi government has eight ways in picture encapsulates the nature of grinding poverty which it broadly classiies housing clusters in a metropolis like New Delhi. in Delhi:JhuggiJhopri (JJ) clusters or squatter Delhi or the National Capital Territory is the settlements (14.8 per cent), slum designated areas second largest metropolis in India with a population (19.1 per cent), unauthorized colonies (5.3 per of 1.86 crore people in 2016 (World Population cent), JJ resettlement colonies (12.72 per cent), rural Review, 2016). he NSS survey results in 2012 villages (5.3 per cent), regularized unauthorized estimated: colonies (12.72 per cent), urban villages (6.35 per 4 the total number of slums as 6343 and the total cent) and planned colonies (23.7 per cent). Only number of households therein was estimated as one of the eight categories is considered planned 10.20 lakhs. About 29% of slums were having and the rest are considered unplanned. 20-60 households, while rest 71% of slums were hese categories assume increased signiicance having more than 60 households each. Average as the tenurial classiication also ‘represents a grid 161 households per slum were found to be in of diferentiated citizenship, a system by which these slums (Directorate of Economics and the state systematically assigns diferent levels of Statistics, 2015, p. 14). services to diferent categories of citizens based on By the government’s own admission, only 23.7 their tenurial status’ (CPR, 2015). Only 23.7 per cent per cent of the total population live in ‘planned of the population of Delhi which lives in planned colonies’ while the rest live in entirely ‘illegal’ colonies is in zones of full citizenship with access to settlements or areas that were never authorized for electricity, piped water, sewage system, paved roads, development and as such never properly planned. solid waste collection, i.e., the ‘inclusive city’ (CPR, he absence of planning means not only that the 2015). he Census data reveals that 14.6 per cent physical space of the settlement is not laid out in of households in the city live in slums, excluding accordance with basic building codes or public resettlement colonies and big parts of unauthorized space requirements (including road and access colonies. grids) but that the settlement is not integrated into he NSS survey in 2015 estimated that 90.24 the city’s bulk infrastructure delivery system (CPR, per cent of the slums are on public land, of which 2015). 45.83 per cent are on the land owned by local Instead of delving into an analysis of policies bodies, 28.24 per cent on the land owned by the and meting out of state provisions to alleviate urban Railways and remaining 16.18 per cent are on the poverty, this chapter endeavours to portray the lived land of other government agencies. About 2 per experiences of the urban poor in Delhi in order to cent of the slums are on private land and about 8 understand the nature of urban vulnerability in a per cent of the slums are on land whose ownership mega city. he ield work for the study was done is not known to the knowledgeable persons of the between the months of May and November 2016 locality. For 86.50 per cent of slums, the major through focussed group discussions and in-depth source of drinking water is either tap water or hand interviews with homeless people, people living in pump. While only 30 per cent of the slums use unauthorized clusters and resettlement colonies set lush type latrines, 22 per cent had no latrine at all. up by the government, street vendors, rag pickers, Underground sewerage exists only in 16.3 per cent construction workers and disabled persons. of the slums and garbage collection happens in less

276 Strife in a Metro than a third of the settlements. Only 16.76 per cent of slums have both street and house lighting (NSS, 2015). he irst category described here is that of the homeless population in the city, outside the realm of the eight tenurial classiications in the city, arguably with the worst access to any public provisioning; the second of a JhuggiJhopri cluster which is a squatter settlement; and the third of a resettlement colony with varying degrees of exclusion from state services.

2.1.1 Homeless Surveys have put the number of homeless people in Delhi between 52,000 and 2,46,000 (Lama and Bharadwaj, 2016). With at least nine deaths reported in Delhi every day, according to a report by Hindustan Times, the government has shown apathy at best and been hostile at worst in its inability to provide roofs over heads or any protection to this vulnerable population. In 2015, there were 3285 unidentiied dead bodies found in Delhi. he government estimates that there are 1,25,000 homeless people residing in Delhi (the number could be much larger) but it only has less than 200 night shelters. In a group discussion with homeless men in a night shelter near Kashmiri Gate,5 most people admitted that inding a place to stay in Delhi was more diicult than inding food. Govind,6 originally from Nepal, was penniless when he came to Delhi. He was 11 then, knew no one and had no idea what he would do next.

277 India Exclusion Report occupational and residential vulnerability therefore alternative habitation (Bhan, 2009, p. 128). he draw inertia from each other, reinforcing the other. state government, through its institutions and Conditions are far worse for women and policies, has robbed people of any claim to the city little girls who are oten sexually harassed and which is seen as ‘a show window to the world of our molested not only by complete strangers, drug culture, heritage, traditions and way of life… and addicts or other homeless men in the shelters but cannot be allowed to degenerate and decay’ (Delhi also by shelter caretakers and cops on the road. High Court judgement, 1995). Additionally, most shelters for women in Delhi We went to Shakur Basti, West Delhi, which are temporary structures and not conducive to was in the news for being demolished in December inhabiting in summer (Hindustan Times, 2016). It 2015. A few families had been brought here from has also been reported that transgenders are among Uttar Pradesh by labour contractors when a training the worst suferers. Since there are no shelters for centre was being built behind it. he contractor them in the city, they must ‘become men’ to avail had built temporary huts for the workers on the of nightshelters. hey face regular harassment from piece of land which they had called home for more other pavement dwellers and are also harassed than three decades. More families joined them by police oicials who extort money from them. eventually, most working as casual labourers to he experience of homelessness is harsher when load or unload cement trucks for the Public Works combined with social vulnerabilities, as the Department (PWD), as construction workers experiences of sexual minorities reveal. or working any other odd jobs they could ind. he Railways and the Delhi government, trying to 2.1.2 Jhuggi Jhopri clusters reclaim the land belonging to the Railways, were Settlements notiied under the 1956 Slum Areas responsible for the demolition that claimed the life (Improvement and Clearance) Act can be considered of a six-month-old, found buried under the rubble. Slum Designated Areas (SDA). he last notiication Politicians were quick to show up with plenty of an SDA had come out in 1994, which means of blankets, food and sympathy. he Delhi High most other sprawling slum-like settlements are Court, however, pulled up the authorities for the seen as Jhuggi Jhopri clusters (JJC), built on public demolition in harsh winter, pointing out that the land and treated as ‘encroachments’. In 2011, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) policy and the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act estimated that there are 672 clusters in 2014, with provide protection for clusters that have existed 304,188 jhuggis. With an approximation of even since before 2006. It even ordered for rehabilitation ive members in each jhuggi, it would amount to 15 by all the concerned authorities notwithstanding lakh people who irst got recognition only in 2010 the legal status of the cluster (Indian Express, with the passing of the DUSIB Act (CPR, 2015).7 2015). At the time of writing, almost a year ater he Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has not the demolition, which the residents claimed was built housing for the economically weaker sections, the ith in 35 years, people are living under plastic neither did it provide efective rehabilitation sheets and torn clothes and sarees crated into during the same period for those displaced during makeshit homes. Both the approach road and demolitions across Delhi for the Commonwealth internal roads are ill-built. Electricity metres have Games 2010. Between 2004 and 2007, more than been restored in around 100 households, a few 45,000 homes were allegedly demolished while temporary mobile dry toilets have been built and only less than a fourth of the settlers received any residents collect and store water distributed by a

278 Strife in a Metro tanker that comes twice a day. he basti comprises saw the setting up of 26 more, with a population ive clusters and has around 1700 households. of 250,000 households. he third wave came post Only around 250 households, the residents report, the Commonwealth Games in 2010, which took the have ration cards. here is an Anganwadi8 in the total number of colonies to 55 (CPR, 2015). cluster but no Asha worker to support it. One of Eviction and resettlement in Delhi have the residents told us, ‘he Anganwadi worker gets been studied at length (Ramanathan 2006, Bhan one bucket of food for 70 kids, which cannot feed 2013). he Delhi Laws (Special Provisions Act) even half of them. People have stopped sending 2006 provided the government with the power children there.’ Some families are even scared to to demolish settlements without any obligation send their kids to primary school as that involves to ensure alternative housing for the poor running the risk of crossing the railway line to (Ramanathan, 2006). Between 2003 and 2008, access the school. Mohammad Kaleem, who had around 350 slum clusters with more than 3,00,000 lost his granddaughter during the demolition said, people were demolished and some estimates suggest ‘Every household has a member sufering from only a third of these were rehabilitated. dengue, chikunguniya or chicken pox now. Look at my feet, mosquito bites in the evening turn into In six resettlement sites in Narela, people such infections; even ambulances do not want to received empty plots with no basic services like come to jhuggis, and this is the Health Minister’s piped water, sanitation or electricity even ater 15 constituency.’9 years of resettlement. he resettlement sites being far from the city means that children lose out on he people said that railway oicials oten decent schooling and people lose their regular threaten the settlers to leave. hough there are no livelihood opportunities (he Quint, 2015). more threats of demolition due to the ongoing case in the court, oicials tell them to stay in hough the DDA even established the DUSIB impermanent structures. Many families had put in 2010 to service and resettle JJC clusters, a CAG their lives’ savings into building proper houses report in 2013 observed, that DSUIB ‘had no and ater the last demolition do not want to risk mission to relocate all the JJCs, instead it takes action losing it all again. hough the people have ration only on the request of the land owning agencies in cards from 35 years ago, Kaleem’s new voter card the clusters prioritised by the department’ (CAG, states the residential address as ‘Homeless’ followed 2013). by the address of the ‘railway jhuggi’. His Aadhar As the Cities of Delhi project says, ‘Nowhere card however does not describe him as a homeless (other than resettlement colonies) is the gap person. he sense of helplessness and uncertainty between legal designation and policy practice more together with the will to ight against the authorities pronounced and more emblematic of planned state and to not give up their homes is palpable at the failure’ (CPR, 2015). he legality of tenure is also basti; and that sense of hope is the only relief. unique with people getting licences and not titles, which are non-transferable and have to be renewed 2.1.3 Resettlement Colonies (though there are no records of renewal) (Bhan Since the 1960s, there have been at least three rounds 2013). Rentals are therefore illegal on these plots of eviction of residents who have been resettled though widely prevalent. into colonies with the promise of better planning In a positive move recently, the Delhi and public services in the city. he 1960s saw 18 government has approved a plan to give ownership such resettlement colonies come up while the 1970s rights to the land so that the original allottees can

279 India Exclusion Report divide properties further and avail of credit facilities down 10 years back. I had to pull my kids out of at a price of INR 10,000 for the 45 old resettlement school.’10Another resident Chameli moved from colonies (he Hindu, 2012). hose who are not Bandipur in Rajasthan to Delhi ater her marriage. original allottees would have to pay less than INR Her husband was a manual labourer and she used 50,000 (Indian Express, 2015). to cap bottles of jam earning INR 2,000–3,000 a month. ‘But now there is no work for us; and the We visited the Shakurpur colony set up near price of groceries has gone up so much. You take Motinagar metro station. he residents estimated INR 100 to buy vegetables and you will get nothing. it was built 30 years ago, with many households You ask any woman here what do they want, uprooted from slums in Chanakyapuri. Many something they could earn from nearby or from residents are from the southern part of India who home,’ she told us. migrated two generations ago. Both the approach road and internal road were well made, though the he third problem that people pointed out was residents said that waterlogging in the monsoon that of the apathy of the local elected councillor is a major issue. Over the years, people have built towards helping out people with issues like open more loors above the initial single-storey houses drains, or to stop the increasing epidemic of allotted to them. he population of the colony has Chikunguniya and Dengue in every household. multiplied with many families renting houses for hey said the authorities had dug huge pits while INR 4,000–6,000 per month. he government had installing a tower nearby and never illed them constructed public toilets in the past, but most up. One boy died of asphyxiation and his brother inhabitants today are building private toilets on was badly injured when they fell into the pit while their own. Some of these are however pit latrines, playing. Even ater multiple appeals to the authority with no proper sewage system to process the waste. no one had done anything earlier, and it was only All the houses, however, do have electric metres ater the accident that the pit was illed. and receive piped water from the municipality. he other issue that was pointed out was the It must be admitted that the condition of a concern regarding women’s safety, particularly in resettlement colony cannot be compared with that the late hours. Even though most women admitted of the clusters with no public provisioning. However, that safety had been a concern even 30 years ago, as admitted by the residents and observed by the the consensus was that the situation had become researcher, there are serious issues people face here. worse over time. Leena (name changed) explained, First, most people rehabilitated were staying ‘here is too much alcohol in the cluster now. here very far away in the city when they were evicted are shops around, but people also sell liquor out and resettled here. As a result, many people lost of their homes and young boys buy it. If you come their livelihood, or school admissions and had to here ater 7 or 8 at night, you will ind the men start their life almost afresh. Second, even today intoxicated. he police know about it but everyone women ind it very diicult to get jobs in the area. has their share of the proit, we guess.’ Few women work as a domestic help in nearby households, but most do not have a secure source 2.2 Occupational Vulnerability of income anymore. As Kiran (name changed) said, “I worked in a factory nearby that made jams and Philip Amis suggests that proleterianization and the pickles and ran the household. My husband drank labour market, rather than urbanization, have to be on most days and stayed at home. But the factory taken as the starting points of urban poverty, where that employed many women from this area shut an individual becomes completely dependent on

280 Strife in a Metro cash wage and is deprived of subsistence production employment, for instance the National Urban (Amis, 1995, p. 147). In the absence of full-time Livelihoods Mission (NULM) under the central wage employment for those migrating into the city, scheme of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana the nature of urbanization marks a departure from (SJSRY) in the 12th Five Year Plan (he Hindu, the Euro-centric notion of rural-urban migration 2013).he government claims, ‘he target of NULM due to industrialization. he 61st round of the NSS is urban poor, with special focus on the urban data has in fact shown a decline in real wages for homeless, street vendors, disadvantaged groups like the irst time since independence, which implies a SCs, women, minorities and disabled.’ However, possible decline in the standard of living and even concrete implementation is yet to begin in the city. perhaps a lower collective bargaining power of the Occupational vulnerability is discussed in the working class. here has been a simultaneous ‘shit following section through case studies of street away from wage/salaried work to self-employment vendors, rag pickers and construction workers in and casual labour, employment situations where the city. workers must take on a certain element of risk within the open market’ and increasing dependence 2.2.1 Street Vendors on the market even for staples like rice and wheat Delhi has roughly 3,00,000 street vendors though (Bhan, 2009, p. 136). the oicial igure that the Delhi Municipal In some cases, the state itself is involved in Corporation uses is 1,25,000, out of whom a third restricting employment opportunities, as in the are women (Self-Employed Women’s Association case of some 100,000 units closed in Delhi for not website). he National Association of Street being in legal areas (Heller and Mukhopadhyay, Vendors of India (NASVI) conducted a 10-city 2015). Sometimes these were given alternative survey which revealed that 30 per cent of street sites‘in peripheral industrial estates. As of 2009–10, vendors are between age groups of 21 and 30 22,749 were allotted sites of which only 13,142 had while more than half are between 31 and 50 years taken possession.’ he city had 10 lakh unemployed of age. Forty per cent of the vendors are illiterate workers in 2003 (Harriss, 2005, p.1043) and also and around 56 per cent live in kuchcha (temporary) became more dependent on industries like garment houses. More than 70 per cent of the vendors spend factories, embroidery, etc., that use casual cheap 8–12 hours to sell their wares and spend two more labour in informalized spaces (Mezzadri, 2008). hours for cleaning and display. And 60–70 per he monetization in the urban economy, as cent of vendors pay bribes between INR 2 and 100 discussed in an earlier section, makes the standing per day to the authorities. In Delhi, this could go of an individual or household in the labour market a upto INR 500–700 per day for the shoe sellers at crucial determinant of their residential vulnerability the Sunday market near Red Fort (SEWA website). Hawkers and street vendors are now guaranteed as well. One’s job gets both determined by and protection under the Street Vendors’ (Protection determines the living space in that sense, and one’s of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) place in economic production would shape in a Act, 2014, but from her interactions with vendors, sense, one’s access to the urban space in the inal this researcher learned of the poor implementation instance. of this law which prevents its realization. For A few attempts have been made by the state instance, Town Vending Committees which are to provide skills and livelihood opportunities to mandated to survey and regularize vendors, are the urban poor for self-employment and skilled either non-existent or inefective. he moratorium

281 India Exclusion Report under the Delhi Special Provisions Act for the sign it and they physically assaulted me. But all our hawkers and vendors also remains, though the vendor brothers and sisters sat outside the police central government might order their evacuation station in solidarity and they released me ater in case land is needed for ‘special public projects’ midnight. hey insisted I go home aterwards but (Ramanathan, 2006, p. 3197). we refused; we wanted to get a medical done irst 13 On a Tuesday aternoon in the monsoon of for the assault.’ 2016, we visited the busy Lajpat Nagar Central Jitendra Singh, who has been selling goods in Market to meet some street vendors. Many of them the market for the past 35 years now, said, ‘he were already associated with the NASVI. hey government is sleeping; it acts on behalf of the said that around 500 vendors work in the market rich.’ Most vendors we spoke to complained of which implied that the market provides a means harassment by police and municipal authorities to live for at least 1,500 people (considering their despite the new Act. ‘he British used to look at families). he government, they complained, makes Indians like garbage; that’s how the shopkeepers it diicult for those who are trying to earn a living look at us. And the authorities? Keede makode honestly. Kiran, one of the leaders of the struggle ke tarah vyavahar karte hain. (hey treat us like for the vendors who sells readymade garments on insects),’ said a vendor, who wishes to remain the road said, ‘It is not just us and our families. unnamed. Imagine the manufacturers and suppliers of our Besides the police and municipal authorities, products: street vending in this market supports the street vendors are also ighting the union lives of many more people than is apparent.’11 Most people said they came to this profession through of shopkeepers at the Central Market. he someone they knew from their village or otherwise, shopkeepers, they allege, bring in new people to who was already a street vendor. hey said that they sit outside their shops so that the new government had come to the city to escape the unemployment survey includes them and not the street vendors and poverty of rural life. Most began with odd jobs, working in the market for years. Shopkeepers employed to wire wi-i or as a security guard. charge the vendors INR 500–600 per day to sit outside their shops. Such bribes or ‘rents’ have put Police harassment was another issue they most vendors under enormous debts. highlighted. In the past, they used to pay regular bribes to the authorities; however, following the here are local inanciers who come to the passage of the Street Vendors Act in 2014, the market every day to provide loans for picking up government is supposed to form Town Vending supplies or payment of rents. For a loan of INR Committees under each municipal corporation 10,000, the going rate of interest is INR 500 per day to issue licences and collect fees from registered (at the time of writing this). When her husband members (he Hindu, 2016). Despite this, police built up a debt of INR 4 lakh in the market, Kamala harassment continues. ‘Even a few weeks back (name changed) began to sell wares herself. She said, we were demonstrating to be allowed to sell ‘My husband was scared the loan sharks would hurt products12 when the SHO picked many of us up him. I started selling wares and told them every day from the market. At the police station we are that the man who used to sit here had run away. I oten manhandled with not even a woman oicer sold my house back in my village and over a period present,’ said Kiran. She continued, ‘he SHO gave of time paid back the loan. Now we sit together me a letter to sign that said we never sold our wares again; but many people just run away.’ People oten here, neither will we do so henceforth. I refused to lose their goods to municipal raids. ‘hey take our

282 Strife in a Metro goods and return half of them ater we pay the take up this work from a young age and frequently penalty. What they return is also soiled. Last Diwali sufer from cuts, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis they picked up goods and there was a ire at their and other infections (Ray, Mukherjee et al., 2004). warehouse. We did not get back anything, and no It is high time that the government took cognizance compensation was given,’ says Subir who has been of the fact that waste management has to be treated selling garments for 22 years at the market. For not just as a technical crisis but as a human crisis women, the marketplace is more hostile; as Kiran as well. says, ‘A woman who sits on the street is seen as In ‘Darkness Under the Lamps’, a CES study “loose”, someone who does not have a man at home. undertaken in Madanpur Khadar, a colony of A woman would not come and sit on the streets if ragpickers, it was reported that the residents were she had other options, people feel. Also, there is ‘treated with suspicion and derision, because of their only one public toilet in the whole market which extreme poverty, vocation of ragpicking, minority is oten in an unusable condition.’ he struggle is faith and suspicions that they are from Bangladesh made more diicult by the fact that the vendors are by the middle-class community living around’ not a part of the vote bank in the area where they (Mander and Manikandan, 2011). Moreover, the work; this makes local elected authorities apathetic same study found that children of ragpickers oten towards help them. carry on in the same occupation and are denied education. 2.2.2. Ragpickers With the support of the KachraKamgar Union, India, according to estimates, has over 15 lakh a union of rag pickers in the city, we visited a wastepickers or ragpickers, whose work includes ragpicker’s colony near Vasant Kunj close to the collecting waste, sorting, segregating, and trading airport. More than 250 families here depend on it (Chintan, n.d.). According to other estimates this ragpicking to earn a livelihood. he men leave early number stands at 40 lakh with ive lakh of them in in the morning with their carts to pick waste. A Delhi itself (Singh, 2016). Government statistics few of them work where the municipal corporation shows that 36.5 million tonnes of solid waste is deposits their waste, a few pick them from the roads generated in India annually (Chintan, 2011). Upto while many cycle around various neighbourhoods 20 per cent of this waste is removed from the waste picking anything on ofer from door to door. stream by informal sector workers like ragpickers Ranjit was a landless labourer in Bihar who came and petty traders. Wastepickers have been classiied to Delhi looking for more stable and better paying into four groups: those who carry sacks and work. Kundan used to graze cattle in a farmhouse collect anything of resale value from open drains, in Chhattarpur for many years before he picked municipal bins, dumps, etc; those who carry two up this profession. Another man washed toilets sacks separately on a bicycle and collect items like at the Delhi airport prior to settling down at the glass, bottles, plastics and keep them separately; ragpickers’ colony. Chandrika, who was a bonded those who carry tricycles and collect almost 50kg of labourer in Bihar and earned 1.5 kg of vegetables waste each day and travel long distances to sell them; for a month’s work, came to Delhi in 1985 at a very and those who work for waste dealers collecting and young age. She said, ‘It is out of absolute destitution sorting waste for them (Sarkar, 2003, p. 7). Research that people come to the city. Sometimes people are shows that their health problems are linked to their contracted into the work through moneylenders occupation which exposes them to toxins with no who dump several people in a single room and pay provisions for adequate protective gear. hey oten a pittance to make them work. here are traders

283 India Exclusion Report who do it for ragpickers as well.’14 But most in this not want to treat them, and most of them go to colony work independently in the profession. Most private dispensaries to get medicines. Neither the men we spoke to agreed that they had tried their government nor the citizens have given a thought hand at other work but came back to ragpicking to the human cost of how their waste is treated. due to the very poor payment and instability in For example, both diapers and sanitary napkins other forms of work. Most families here too follow must be treated as medical waste. However, with no the pattern of helping their kin from villages to get proper mechanism to treat them, they are handled the same job they have, which means most people as domestic waste and thrown in dumpyards where in the basti have come from two states: Bihar and ragpickers roam around with bare feet. Without any Bengal. protective gear, they are bound to fall sick (Indian Express, 2016). he women we met, do not go out for picking, but are expected to sort the waste at home. Even eight- he colony, built on ‘forest land’ belonging or 10-year-old children oten join their parents in to a nearby village, has no concrete houses as sorting. Kundan complains, ‘If you work 12–14 hours the landowners will not allow any construction a day, you can make a living in this work. But rates that suggests permanence. Only a third of the have gone down signiicantly. One sack of rag could households have ration cards while no one gets a fetch us INR 300 ive years ago. Now it is not possible pension at present. here is no personal or public to get more than INR 175–200. See the price of rice toilet in the colony, and no electric metres have and vegetables; it is impossible to survive now.’ Police been installed. We asked a few women, originally harassment is also common among ragpickers. Young from Uttar Pradesh, sorting waste in the colony, boys are picked up on false allegations and beaten up that if the government granted them one facility in police stations. Sometimes young men pick up what they would ask for. hey replied, disposal mobile phones or other goods which have been stolen bins for the letover waste ater sorting is done. As or lost, but they get arrested when tracked. However, pointed out by them, the colony only consists of at this colony, regular harassment has reduced over kuchcha houses with no proper roads or drinking the past few years due to the strength of the union, water or sewerage system allowing the waste to the residents say. pile up ater ‘valuables’ like plastic, bottles, paper, wrappers or hair have been removed. ‘Give us that he best rates are fetched by hair and plastic, and access to water. We buy two buckets of water they say, but sorting waste is diicult and hazardous. every other day and pay INR 1000–2000 a month ‘We open sacks and there are sanitary napkins in to the one person who has a hand pump. If a tanker newspapers, and human excreta in polythene; would come, we could have a bath properly. Yes, we there are shards of glass, syringes or nails. We cut deal with garbage, but we want to be able to live in ourselves, develop rashes and infections. here is a space that is clean.’ oten completely rotten food which causes health problems. We have no pension, no recognition, no medical facilities. And here we are falling sick all 2.2.3 Construction Workers the time, inding it diicult to breathe or sufering Informal employment in the construction sector from incessant stomach infections,’ says one of the almost doubled between 2004–5 and 2011–12 from residents of the colony. When the main earning 2.49 crore to 4.89 crore, according to NSS data (Srjia member falls sick or a child does not recover for and Shirke, 2014).15 Construction is the largest weeks, the family goes to the native village to employer in the country ater agriculture (ibid., recover. he government hospitals, they say, do 2014) though this employment is of a casual nature

284 Strife in a Metro

(National Labour Commission Report, 2002). ‘he and will not go to the village.’ hey complained construction industry in India is characterized that instead of individual contractors, most of them by poor work habits, lack of ergonomic practices, have to work with big builders on massive projects prolonged work hours with inadequate rest now. ‘he wages have gone down, so many of us periods, hazardous working conditions, migrant are unemployed. In 10 years, per day wage has not labor with poor rights and say at the workplace and even gone up by INR 10. It is around INR 300–400 poor healthcare access’ (Valsangkar and Sai, 2012, a day and you will not even get 10–15 days of work p. 1727). he National Commission for Labour in a month,” a worker rued. hey complained that (NCL) adds, ‘Unstable employment/earnings and in a big construction site the builder only registers shiting of workplaces are the basic characteristics 500 workers if 2000 are working there so that the of work for construction workers’ (2002, pp.633– contribution to the welfare board is low.16 If there are 34). Construction workers are recruited on a casual inspections, they give a day’s leave to the workers. and oten daily basis either directly by a builder or In case of accidents or injuries on sites no one takes construction company, but mostly by intermediaries responsibility for the treatment. If a death occurs, who take a commission on the payment being a big contractor might give some compensation made. Women are paid lower wages (NCL) and to suppress the matter, and the workers said that oten the children are deprived of ‘primary facilities a construction worker working alone on a site like health, water, sanitary facilities, education and without a family and facing grievous injuries is ration cards’ (NCL, 2002). most vulnerable to such suppressions. We spoke to a group of construction workers Janaki, who came to Delhi with her husband who are part of Nirmana, an NGO working for the and has worked on construction sites throughout rights of construction workers and the enforcement her adult life informed us that in large sites they of he Building and Other Construction could make disposable toilets. But in smaller sites, Workers Act and he Building and Other there are neither creches nor washrooms. he Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996. houses built on the sites are of very poor quality Most people who come as migrants, the workers and women’s wages, always much lower than the said, know someone from their village or a relative, men’s are handed over to the man of the family with whom they enter this ield. hey were landless (National Labour Commission, 2002). Umesh agricultural labourers or farmers with such little Singh and Ishwar, who have been with the NCC- land that the city was their only hope of survival. CL movement from its early days said, ‘Even in the Some of them had been artisans who traditionally metro construction sites, it is compulsory to build made shoes or ploughs or other articles. Unable crèches and bathrooms. But they will put tins and to compete with mass-produced cheap consumer a curtain and pass it of as toilet. When we work in goods, they have all joined the urban labour force. houses which have been built or are being renovated Mangal Singh, from Ajmer in Rajasthan came to and have running water, we cannot even use it for Delhi in 1977 during the Emergency. He said, ‘In drinking or for going to the bathroom.’ A worker the village they were giving vegetables as wages and can send his children to school if they can aford to scarcity brought many of us to the city. he land in take a house in a slum. Otherwise they shit from the village is not fertile since the good land parcels one site to another and older siblings take care of have been taken by upper caste men. I began as a the younger ones. Babita(name changed to protect construction worker but now take up contracts identity) said, ‘During the constructions for the myself sometimes. My kids have grown up here Commonwealth Games, most labourers were hired

285 India Exclusion Report like bonded labourers. here were instructions that unequal access to skill and education (as well as land they could not leave the site or speak to anyone. he and capital endowments) and (lack of) occupational contractors paid a lump sum to the workers’ family mobility (horat, 2010). It has also been shown back in the village and brought them here for three that urban male workers from ‘SC, ST, OBC and months.’ A woman who had joined the meeting Muslim communities earn disproportionately said, ‘Caste discrimination was rampant on those lower than what is consistent with their education sites. he wages were lower for the lower caste and and experience’ (Singh and Husain, 2016). While their children would eat separately.’ their occupations are already low-paying, they earn even less than the market rate in these occupations. he Delhi government collected a cess of INR 1536 crores from 2002 till 2016 (though it should Here, social vulnerability is discussed along have collected more) but spent only a little more than three axes—disability; gender , i.e., the experience 10 per cent of this, INR 174.71 crore (Newslaundry, of being a single woman; and the Muslim 2016). he AAP government has recently decided identity. hese case studies attempt to dismantle to divert INR 1000 crores from the welfare cess the the ‘universalism’ (Nash, 2008)17 of residential government collects at the sites to build schools and occupational vulnerabilities, revealing the and hospitals which makes the workers’ fate worse heterogeneity of vulnerability depending on one’s (Times of India, 2016). social location.

2.3 Social Vulnerability 2.3.1 Disabled People While mapping both occupational and residential he United Nations Convention on the Rights of vulnerability, we have seen that the social Persons with Disabilities, 2007, interprets disability standing of a person oten makes the experience as an ‘evolving’ concept, one that is born out of of negotiating the city more cumbersome. an interaction between the physical condition Gender, caste, religious identity and disability and the social barriers a person sufering from oten determine a person or household’s access such a physical condition faces (Fremlin, 2015). to urban space as well as the more abstract space he treatment of the medical condition, though of of the labour market. If vulnerability is conceived paramount importance, must be seen as aligned as the risk to slip into poverty, it is imperative to with addressing the social stigma that comes with engage with the social identities of a household or it. he medical condition, as evident in several an individual, to efectively recognize and analyse interviews with disabled people from diferent age the multi-dimensionality of the lived experiences of groups and parents of disabled children, is less marginalized subjects. Intersectionality is useful to crippling in a city like Delhi than in rural areas conceptualize the simultaneity of multiple identities or even small towns. State negligence, however, in (Crenshaw, 1989) that make one vulnerable. providing proper education, public infrastructure and jobs excludes people from equal opportunities. Most interviewees shared that they migrated to urban areas, to escape limited employment Social marginalization leads to exclusion from opportunities in the native villages. But the social accessing health care, education, or employment identities in rural areas continued to shape their leading to poverty, which in turn results in livelihoods and lives in urban areas. Research has restricted access to safe housing and food, health shown that disparities have endured in India across care and so forth (Groce et al, 2011). In the social and religious groups due to diferentiated and Vikalangbasti (colony of the disabled) near the

286 Strife in a Metro

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which houses about get 7–10 calls a day, mostly from lower middle 450 households (about 1000 people), most people class or poor households. Most of the callers are are disabled and earn their livelihood by seeking concerned about their child’s school admission alms. Only around 10 per cent households have or about entitlements like pensions. He said that ration cards. he case of the Viklang basti shows unlike in rural areas, the urban poor in Delhi do not how disability is made even more challenging by always stay permanently in one location. Running state apathy (Mander and Manikandan, 2011). prolonged awareness programmes, therefore, 26-year-old Gaurav lost his eyesight ater Class 12 becomes more diicult. 25-year-old Shabana when a fever afected his brain. Growing up in a pointed out that schools are not easy for such poor family of a single mother and other siblings, children. She, as a child, was almost never helped to he eventually started computer classes and plans go to the toilet as the teacher would not be supportive to apply for admission in a college for distance in such matters. Because of limited mobility, she learning. ‘I had only heard about disability. Now chose to educate herself through a correspondence I know what it means. Sometimes I stand at bus course for college. hough she might get a job in stops for an hour because no one tells me what the future, she is worried about travelling to the bus number is approaching. One day I asked the workplace everyday. She complained that most conductor to drop me at Nehru Place, and he of her seats for university examinations were in dropped me at Nehru Nagar instead. I reached faraway colleges. In one of the examination centres, home at 10 at night,’ he recalled.18 He explained that disabled students were made to sit separately, which he gets a pension of INR 1500 from the government was an insulting experience for most. When asked and a bus pass from the terminal on showing the what she would want from the government besides disability certiicate, but all he wants are options a pension, she said, ‘I don’t even want pension if I for a full-time job. He says his family has never let get a job. hat pension money does not even cover him feel impaired, but the lanes in the slum are so my medicines. I would prefer to work and earn on narrow that stepping out alone is diicult. my own. What I want is that the government create Rakesh, who has a locomotive disability since conditions that allow for us to work.’ childhood, and is from the same slum in Govindpuri has a similar complaint. He says that there is no 2.3.2 Single Women way a wheelchair or a crutch could be used in the he institution of marriage and family has been slum. Even in school there were no ramps or lits given so much importance in Indian society and and oten it would be diicult to attend a class on its laws and policies that single women oten have the third or fourth loor. Till the ith standard his to face stigma in addition to solitude and poverty mother had to carry him to the school. hough the when there is no family support. One must government has reserved quotas for the disabled acknowledge that single women are not just victims. in jobs, they are not serious about maintaining it. heir decisions to either leave their husbands, ‘his time, my seat for the exam for a railway job oten single-handedly running their families and was in Rohini Sector 6, 40 kilometres away from bringing up their kids, or to not marry at all, exhibit my house, even when I had attached my disability their grit and agency. But being a woman and certiicate and my address with the application’, said choosing to stay single oten magniies the gender Rakesh. discrimination that follows; single women are oten Rupin, who manages a disability helpline for an looked at with pity, sympathy or as sexual objects. NGO in Delhi, informed the researcher that they In an urban setting, with smaller nuclear families,

287 India Exclusion Report the experience of being single could be more single and have brought up my daughters with much diicult; but as most women we spoke to admit, it is diiculty. If the elder one comes back, no one will easier to work and earn to live in one’s own in a city marry my younger daughter.’20 With a two-year-old than in their native villages. Cities, especially large child, and no one to support her, Jaishree inds it urban areas have more single women or women- very diicult to work and earn without someone to headed households (Khosla, 2009, p. 7). Unless take care of her infant. backed by better human capital endowment, their Age and the inability to continue to work participation in the labour market will continue to make single women especially dependent on be on unfair terms. Poverty is higher in urban areas their children or any support they can get from among female-headed households as compared to neighbours or relatives. A 70-year-old widow male-headed ones (Rustagi, 2006). Also, stigma Antara (name changed) now lives with her and societal pressure make these women more daughter’s family in Vasant Kunj. She said that even vulnerable. though she was being cared for, she wanted to have Kiran, a second-generation street vendor in the access to a pension to help her daughter inancially Lajpat Nagar Central Market, lost her husband to and buy her own medicines. However, staying in an illness a few years ago. As a child, Kiran used the ragpicker’s colony with not even a valid Voter to stand at the car park to sell wares which she ID card or other identity proof she has not been would put on car bonnets. Ater her marriage, she able to get her entitlements. struggled with poverty in Gujarat—her husband In conclusion, Kiran, Jayshree and Antara may had an unstable income and yet did not allow her all be clubbed together under the category of single to work. In 2005, she returned to Delhi with her women. However, once one considers factors such children. She came back to Lajpat Market to work as age, mobility, area of residence, and the capacity as a street vendor and paid half her earnings to her to work, their experiences of Delhi could not have mother to stay at her house. Her husband came back been more diferent. to her ater he gathered that she had started earning and they took a house on rent in a slum. She lost 2.3.3 Muslims him soon ater. However, even before her husband’s passing, Kiran had learnt what it meant to be a According to Planning Commission estimates, single woman ighting to arrange food, shelter and among religious groups in urban areas, the poverty education for her children. She said, ‘People judge ratio is highest for Muslims at 33.9 per cent, i.e., you even when you try to rent a house. So many one out of every three Muslims in urban India lives men see you on the road and think ill of you. hey below the poverty line. he Planning Commission tell you, “Road pe baith ke kya karegi? (What will while releasing its poverty estimates in March 2012 you do on the road?)” hey want to ofer money for the irst time segregated its data into religious 19 and think you are available.’ groups, along with the other usual social groups.21 Jaishree in Shakurpur married outside her But as Kalyani Menon rightly points out, it is caste at a young age. he relationship turned out more than economic impoverishment that a poor to be physically abusive and she returned to her Muslim faces in a city like Delhi. Here, while ‘the maika(mother’s house) in a few years. But Jaishree’s securitization of the state impacts everyday life mother, Kalyani, no longer welcomes her: ‘I do not in the form of metal detectors, security cameras, want Jaishree here. I did not get her married; she check points, identity veriication and armed chose herself and must ind a solution to this. I am personnel policing public space, notions of security

288 Strife in a Metro are inlected by majoritarian understandings of Nagar, let his native village ater he lost his father at nation and citizenship that position Hindus as a very young age and came to Delhi to stay with his the normative subject, while relegating religious uncle. He was not put into any school and started minorities to the murky margins of the national working as an air conditioner mechanic for cars. imaginary’ (Menon 2015, p. 114). But because of the seasonality of the job and the low income, he came to Lajpat to sell wares. ‘All other She (Menon) writes about Ameena Baaji who shopkeepers and even vendors would say “Yeh sees the burqa as an integral part of her religious Musalman hai” and refuse to give me any space to practice. But she is forced to take it of when she work.’ Access to labour markets is also limited by comes out of her neighbourhood to see her doctor or access to education. One fourth of Muslim children else she is perceived as being ‘dirty’ or a ‘thief’. Like in the country go to unrecognized schools; only 15 many other major cities, Delhi also has its pockets of per cent are enrolled in English medium schools predominantly Muslim-inhabited areas like Jamia and only 4 per cent in Madrasas (Singh and Husain, Nagar, Okhla, and most parts of Old Delhi which 2016, p. 43). are derogatively called ‘mini Pakistan’ (Ahmad, 2016). In Delhi, Muslim ‘ghettos’ have emerged as Exclusion in both occupational and residential a result of the Muslim minority community seeking spheres in such cases is deeply rooted in prejudice a sense of security and belonging in numbers. An against and the marginalization of a religious architect and urban planner, Sadiq Zafar writes, minority. ‘High population density, sub-standard housing structures, crowded streets, unplanned haphazard 3. Best practices growth and encroachments make Okhla one of the most vulnerable residential pockets…. Basic A lot of eforts are being made across the world issues like water supply, sewage and drainage, by community-based movements and civil society parking, waste collection and disposal and natural organizations to improve the lives of the urban ventilation are some of the core issues which people poor. However, the two examples below are not just face collectively at the grass roots’ (Zafar, 2016). about improving living conditions and catering to his commonly observed segregation does not their needs, but about empowering the poor, aiding imply that Muslims do not live in mixed spaces in them for what is rightfully theirs: a place to live and Delhi. As Mohammad Kaleem, who now lives in work with dignity in the city. he irst example is Shakur Basti and who had travelled to Delhi with of a new law for the protection of street vendors other migrants from Uttar Pradesh long back to while the second one is of an initiative led by a non- work in a construction site said, ‘When we came governmental organization to strengthen the ight it was a mix of people from diferent religions of the poor for better rights. travelling for work. So even today ater 35 years, a. Legitimization of street vendors:he Street this settlement has a mix of Hindus and Muslims Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and staying together. Here it is diferent from Old Regulation of Street Vending) Bill 2014, Delhi; people are daily wage labourers here and referred to earlier, is a laudable legislation discrimination based on religion is not common.’ that rescues street vending from the But diiculty in inding jobs in such mixed perception of being a nuisance and protects places is commonly experienced by Muslims. the livelihood of lakhs of vendors in the Hafeez (name changed), a street vendor in Lajpat country. he law prescribes the formation

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of the Town Vending Committees (TVC) constantly battle state structures which at the municipal level, though the criterion treat them as illegal/criminals/encroachers. for issuing street vendor licenses is based on hough India ofers legal aid in the judicial various criteria which are not speciied in system, the system does not favour the the Act. he TVC is supposed to comprise weaker group and the police-lawyer-judiciary street vendor representatives (40 per cent of nexus oten renders the poor vulnerable. the TVC), planning and local authorities, As Namati, which builds grassroots legal local police, the Municipal Commissioner, advocates within the community explains Resident Welfare Association and other in a report, the efort must treat people not trader associations. he Act provides for as victims who require technical expertise, a certiicate of vending which proves the but those whose participation in the legal legitimacy of street vending as a profession. process must be enhanced. In a research Chapter VII of the Act prevents harassment evaluating 199 cases of providing legal of any registered street vendor, which is the services through community para-legals, most important concern of the vendors. 191 had positively impacted citizens, and 111 But the penal provisions in the Act give had led to an increase in legal knowledge and immense power to the local police and the willingness to act, and facilitated actual municipal authorities. Any breach of the law action. he most prevalent change noticed is can lead to a cancellation of the certiicate. the ‘increases in the agency of participants— Additionally, the formation of the TVC itself both willingness to act and actual action—as needs a survey of all vendors which is very well as enhanced legal knowledge (Goodwin diicult. Moreover, the Act says the vendors and Maru, 2014). cannot have any other profession, which In Chile, government-aided NGOs, central is an unfair demand given that the income and local government agencies, the Justice is poor and volatile (Pariroo Rattan, 2015). departments and many young professionals Such provisions coupled with the poor are involved mainly in training young implementation of the Act have not provided para-legals from low income groups. Many much relief to the vendors. However, the community leaders have also been trained Act has to be treated as a step in the right to become local legal leaders (UN-Habitat) direction for legitimizing the profession of and this has been included by the UN- lakhs of people in India. Habitat as one of the best practices for access b. Training community para-legals: he to land rights for the poor (United Nations United Nations had estimated that 4 billion Human Settlement Programme, 2003), people live outside the protection of the something which is of prime importance in law. Community organizations could help urban India. In India, this has been tried by people with legal training to empower them the organization Namati in Gujarat, which to understand and use the law for collective has a presence in 10 countries working on rights. Training community para-legals from similar lines. It helped people in the small low income groups in the urban context has industrial town in Vapi, Gujarat, to ile a been practised in several countries which complaint with the Gujarat Pollution Board empowers the community to navigate against industries for dumping waste in the the legal system. he poor in urban India river. he board in turn issued a notice to 53

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factories, asking them to abide by the law or to the urban poor must come from the GoI and shut down (Vijayann, 2016). state governments, who need to ensure that municipalities are empowered and incentivized to his model could be extended to other do justice to the poor. urban areas in India, however, instead of just depending on non-governmental he major recommendations for improving the organizations, the government must aid conditions of the urban poor are: legal training and certiication and training of para-legals under its skill development or 1. Redeine urban poverty to consider both per urban development programmes to empower capita expenditure and civic services while people to ight for their rights. accounting for the urban poor. Migrants must be recognized by the government for the provision of subsidized food, healthcare, 4. Recommendations schooling, and services.

Policies and programmes in India need to respond 2. Urban housing shortage for the Economically to India’s urban poverty challenges from a human Weaker Sections (EWS) stands at 56 per cent development perspective. he starting point for this and the Low Income Group (LIG) households must be an acceptance of the presence of the urban at 40 per cent (Firstpost, 2014). It should be poor in the cities. As of now, there are categories obligatory to reserve 25 to 40 per cent of land of urban poor, whose very presence is considered in city development plans for the new social illegitimate by the city authorities, by denial of housing stock to accommodate the future recognition of living spaces, denial of access to inlow of poor migrants. Heavy taxation on basic services, hostile working conditions through unoccupied land or lats could be used as a harassment by the police or municipal oicials, etc. deterrent to speculation. Government programmes such as Basic Services for 3. he government must provide inancial Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and incentives to the states for the implementation Slum Development (IHSDP) have been started for of laws that protect informal workers, such them, specially by the GoI, but only half-heartedly. as the law for protecting street vendors. hese are marred by inadequate allocation and Ragpickers, rickshaw pullers, construction even lower expenditure, as city municipalities are workers, etc., must be issued job identity engulfed in their obsession with smart cities, air- cards to allow them to work without police conditioned shopping malls, ive-star hotels,and harassment. housing for the elite. Construction of these facilities for the elite creates jobs for the poor, who migrate 4. Provision of basic water and sanitation should from the countryside and live and work in inhuman be de-linked from issues of land tenure and conditions to earn a livelihood. heir earnings are legal status. his basic service should be not suicient for them to ind shelter and satisfy extended to recent and temporary/seasonal basic human needs in an oppressive market with migrants as well. hese services should be little governmental intervention. Neither are the provided on the clear understanding that this poor able to exert pressure on municipalities to provision does not automatically translate give them any priority as they are not organized into legal entitlements in other spheres, politically. herefore this chapter argues that especially with regard to legal rights to the initiatives to provide essential basic amenities land and/or dwelling space.

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5. All health posts should provide outreach higher costs (number of passengers less with services to slum and slum-like areas. Special number of staf employed remaining the provisions should be made for providing same), to be plied on narrower roads. health services to pavement dwellers and 7. A survey of multiple workers in the temporary settlements. unorganized sector, similar to what the 6. he improvement of afordable public Street Vendors Act aims at, and issuing of transport must be made a priority by the identity cards to recognize various categories state government. Buses ply most passengers of work like ragpicking, construction work, in the urban centres, and a megacity like home based work, etc. One should be aware Delhi must focus on making its bus leet however, that such implementation of a numerically and technically adequate to deal process of identiication of workers should not with the pressure of transport. Buses of even lead to more exclusion of workers, like already small sizes could be considered, though at discussed in the case of street vendors.

Notes other’s farm or non-farm enterprises (both household and non-household) and getting in return wages 1 Subaltern urbanization, as the authors deine it, according to the terms of the daily or periodic work ‘refers to the growth of settlement agglomerations, contract is a casual wage labour. Usually, in the rural whether denoted urban by the Census of India areas, one category of casual labourers can be seen or not, that are independent of the metropolis who normally engage themselves in ‘public works’ and autonomous in their interactions with other activities. he concepts related to ‘public works’ are settlements, local and global.’ discussed later in this chapter. 2 Authors argue that Gurgaon, in Delhi’s periphery, Accessed at http://mail.mospi.gov.in/index.php/ could be an example to see how the nature of catalog/143/dataile/F5/V206. growth of an urban centre changes over time. While 4 Note how percentage of population under two the initial growth of Gurgaon (the municipality has categories oten match to the decimal. For example, grown by 15.9 per cent annually from 2001–11) both resettlement and regularized unauthorized could be dependent on Delhi and its investment in colonies have 12.72 per cent while both rural the Maruti automobile factory, today it owes much villages and unauthorized colonies comprise 5.3 per of its expansion to its modern service sector and cent of the population. his is highly unlikely and manufacturing sector not dependent on Delhi. So points to the quality of survey conducted to reach its urbanization to a great extent is independent of the mentioned igures by the government. being peripheral to Delhi. 5 Approximately 200 night shelters are being run 3 Deinition by Ministry of Statistics and Programme in Delhi in 2016, under the Delhi Urban Shelter Implementation: Improvement Board, in collaboration with NGOs. Regular wage/salaried employee: Persons working 6 FGD on 22 August 2016, Kashmiri Gate, New Delhi. in other’s farm or non-farm enterprises (both All quotes used in this section are from a part of a household and non-household) and getting in focused group discussion held on the same day and return salary or wages on a regular basis (and not told to the author directly. on the basis of daily or periodic renewal of work 7 Elsewhere, DUSIB has also stated that there could contract) are regular wage/salaried employees. his be 30 lakh people living in six lakh jhuggis, while category not only includes persons getting time admitting that none of the numbers are based on wage but also persons receiving piece wage or salary door-to-door surveys or a systematic census. and paid apprentices, both full-time and part-time. 8 A pre-school shelter which was started by the Casual wage labour: A person casually engaged in Indian government in 1975 as a part of Integrated

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Child Development Services. It provides health and deaths-in-custody-could-be-prevented-if-police- education services to children between 0–6 years follow-rules-designed-to-deter-mistreatment/ and nutrition supplements like contraceptives, 14 Interview on 21 September 2016,VasantKunj, New maternity nutrition, etc. Delhi. 9 FGD on 17 September 2016, Shakur Basti, New 15 he Delhi Building & Other Construction Delhi. All the quotes in this section are from a Workers Welfare Board is constituted under the focused group discussion as a part of primary chairmanship of the Ministry of Labour, Delhi ield work on the same day, and told directly to the which is responsible for inancial assistance and author. welfare schemes for construction workers. Under 10 Interview on 22 September 2016, Shakurpur, New the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Delhi. All the quotes in this section are from a Welfare Cess Act, all organizations carrying out focused group discussion as a part of primary construction projects need to pay a labour cess ield work on the same day, and told directly to the to the government for it to carry out welfare author. activities, like providing healthcare beneits, ration 11 Interview on 20 September 2016, Lajpat Nagar, cards, mobile creches and mobile schools to the New Delhi. All the quotes in this section are from construction workers. Once workers are registered a focused group discussion as a part of primary they are issued identity cards and passbooks to avail ield work on the same day, and told directly to the of the beneits. author. 16 Pitampura Sudhar Samiti vs Government of 12 he incident was also reported in theTimes of India, National Capital Territory of Delhi (CWP Lajpat Nagar street vendors protest against eviction. 4215/1995). 7 September 2016. 17 Interview on 14 September 2016. All interviews in 13 he Code of Criminal Procedure was amended this section were conducted between 14 September ater Supreme Court rules were set out to prevent 2016 and 15 September 2016. custodial torture in the case of DK Basu vs West 18 Interview on 20 September 2016, Lajpat Nagar, New Bengal in 1997. A medical examination right at the Delhi. beginning of taking someone into judicial custody 19 Interview on 22 September 2016, Shakurpur, New is mandatory so that injuries caused during judicial Delhi. custody can be determined later. Also, such a 20 he poverty ratio in urban areas is particularly medical test has to be carried out every day while bad for Muslims in states like Rajasthan, Uttar someone is in judicial custody. For more details on Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and West Bengal (Planning the rules, see https://counterview.org/2016/12/19/ Commission, 2012).

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Delhi’s homeless: nameless, on Urban Poverty, Slums, and Service Delivery System. forsaken even in their death [Electronic version]. he October. New Delhi. Hindustan Times. 16 August. Retrieved 10 October 2016, Planning Commission. (2012a). Press Notes on Poverty from http://www.hindustantimes.com/static/rooless-in- Estimates, 2009-10. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from delhi/ http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/press_pov1903. ——— (2016b). Homeless women: Easy Targets [Electronic pdf version]. he Hindustan Times. 17 August. Retrieved 10 ——— (2012b). Report of the Steering Committee on Urban October 2016, from http://www.hindustantimes.com/ Issues. New Delhi. static/rooless-in-delhi-women/ Purcell, M. (2002). Excavating Lefebvre: he right to the city ——— (2016c). Life by the milliliter [Electronic version]. he and its urban politics of the inhabitant. GeoJournal, Hindustan Times. 18 August. Retrieved 10 October 2016, 58(99), doi:10.1023/B:GEJO.0000010829.62237.8f. from http://www.hindustantimes.com/static/rooless-in- PRS Legislative Research. (n.d.) Street Vendors (Protection of delhi-hiv/ Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012, ——— (2016d). hey have a home, out in the open [Electronic Highlights of the Bill. Retrieved 1 January 2017, from version]. he Hindustan Times. 18 August. Retrieved 10 http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-street-vendors- October 2016, from http://www.hindustantimes.com/ protection-of-livelihood-and-regulation-of-street- static/rooless-in-delhi-transgenders/ vending-act-2012-2464/ Mander, H. & Manikandan, V. (Forthcoming). Darkness Under Ramachandran, R. (1989). Urbanisation and Urban Systems in the Lamps. New Delhi: Centre for Equity Studies. India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Mathur, A. (2015). Shakur Basti demolition drive: Children Ramachandran, S. (2012.). In resettlement colonies residents sufering in cold, you don’t care: Delhi HC tells Railways ight for rights [Electronic version]. he Hindu. 17 [Electronic version]. Indian Express. 15 December. Retrieved September. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http:// 10 October 2016, from http://indianexpress.com/article/ www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/in-resettlement- cities/delhi/shakur-basti-demolition-drive-what-was-the- colonies-residents-ight-for-rights/article3906451.ece tearing-hurry-delhi-high-court-raps-railways/ ——— (2015). Schemes for urban poor cleared [Electronic

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version]. he Hindu. 5 September. Retrieved 10 October eviction [Electronic version]. he Times of India. 7 2016 from http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp- September. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http:// national/tp-newdelhi/schemes-for-urban-poor-cleared/ timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Lajpat- article5094807.ece Nagar-street-vendors-protest-against-eviction/ Ramanathan, U. (2006). Illegality and the urban poor. Economic articleshow/54038154.cms and Political weekly, 41(29), 3193–3197. Srija, A., & Shirke, S. V. (2014). An Analysis of the Informal Rattan, P. (2015). Street Vendors Act 2014: A Forgotten Promise? Labour Market in India. Special Feature (Confederation (Researching Reality Summer Internship 2015, Working of Indian Industry). Download: http://www. ies. gov. in/ Paper: 341). Retrieved 15 October 2016, from https:// pdfs/CII% 20EM-october-2014. pdf ccs.in/internship_papers/2015/341_street-vendors-act- Srivastava, R. (2011). Internal Migration in India: An Overview 2014-forgotten-promise_pariroo-rattan.pdf of its Features, Trends and Policy Challenges. New Delhi: Ray, M.R., Mukherjee, G., Roychowdhury, S. et al. (2004). UNESCO. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Srivastava, S. (2014). Entangled Urbanism: Slum, Gated Health, 77(595), not known. Community and Shopping Mall. New Delhi: Oxford Rustagi, P. (2007). Women and poverty: Rural-urban University Press. dimensions. Social Change, 37(4), 1–36. horat, A. (2010). Ethnicity, caste and religion: Implications for Sarkar, P. (2003). Solid Waste Management In Delhi – A Social poverty outcomes. Economic& Political Weekly, 45(51), Vulnerability Study in Bunch, M. J., Suresh, V. Madha 47–53. and Kumaran, T. Vasantha eds., Proceedings of the hird United Nations Development Programme. (2013). Human International Conference on Environment and Health, Development Report. New York: UNDP. 451–64. Chennai: Department of Geography, University United Nations Human Settlement Programme. (2003). of Madras and Faculty of Environmental Studies, York Handbook on Best Practices, Security of Tenure and Access University. to Land Implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Kenya: SEWA, New Delhi. (n.d.). Street Vendors. Retrieved 10 October UN Habitat. 2016, from http://sewadelhi.org/advocacy-campaigns/ Vaidya, C. (2009). Urban issues, reforms and way forward in street-vendors/ India (Working Paper No. 4/2009-DEA). Department of Sheikh, S. & Mandelkern, B. (2014). he Delhi Development Economic Afairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of Authority: Accumulation without Development: A Report India. of the Cities of Delhi Project. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Vijayann, M. (2016). A new league of ‘barefoot lawyers will Research. transform justice in the next 15 years. Retrieved 15 Shrinivasan, R. (2013). 17% of urban India lives in slums: October 2016, from https://www.ashoka.org/en/story/ Census [Electronic version]. he Times of India. new-league-barefoot-lawyers-will-transform-justice- 22 March. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http:// next-15-years articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-22/ World Population Review. (2016). Delhi Population 2016. india/37936264_1_slum-population-slum-households- Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http://worldpopulation rajiv-awas-yojana review.com/world-cities/delhi-population/ Singh, A. (2016). How the dream of ‘clean India’ ignores World Bank. (2013). Urbanization beyond Municipal ragpickers who work for little money and no rights. Youth Boundaries: Nurturing Metropolitan Economies and ki Awaaz. 7 March. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from: Connecting Peri-urban Areas in India. Washington DC: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/03/ragpickers-in- he World Bank. india-shashi-bhushan-pandit-interview/ Zafar, S. (2016). Life within Delhi’s largest Muslim ghetto. Singh, M. & Husain, Z. (2016). Self-fulilling Equilibrium and Caravan Daily. 13 March. Retrieved 10 October 2016, Social Disparities in Urban India. Economic & Political from http://caravandaily.com/portal/life-within-delhis- Weekly, 51(48), 43. largest-muslim-ghetto/ Singh, P. (2016). Lajpat Nagar street vendors protest against

296 Basket Burning by safai karmacharis at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi – a symbolic act of defiance to push the demand for elimination of manual scavenging. Photo Credit: Safai Karmachari Andolan he Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging

Bezwada Wilson and Bhasha Singh*

‘For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is questions that the Indian democracy must answer. a battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation he observations and arguments in this chapter of human personality.’ are derived from decades of irst-hand experience —Dr. B.R. Ambedkar of having lived and worked within the scavenging (Vundru, 2013) community. hrough the chapter we will highlight the ground reality and everyday experiences of We would like to begin this chapter with some people who are dependent on manual scavenging diicult questions, perhaps at the risk of making for their livelihood. he lives of scavengers in every you, the reader, uncomfortable. Why are the Indian aspect are deined and governed by livelihood government and even the media and civil society ‘choices’ which are a direct consequence of the quiet about the death of more than a thousand of caste group they are born into and die a part of. its citizens (homas, 2016)? People are being killed he chapter will focus on the extent and nature of in sewer and septic tanks every day and yet, so far the problem of manual scavenging and describe there has been no relevant discussion by policy the struggles that have taken place against it in an makers, in state assemblies or the Parliament. By attempt to ensure an ultimate goal of elimination. the time you are reading this essay, this number Before delving in to this we want to emphasize would have increased multifold. What could be that this aim to eliminate manual scavenging is the reason for this apathy and indiference? Is this linked with the process of annihilation of caste as because all who die in sewers and septic tanks are visualized by Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar. It Dalits? Why is it that even amidst the rhetoric of is from Ambedkar that we, the Safai Karamchari development and progress in 2017, 1.3 million Aandolan (SKA), draw our energy, strength and (FirstPost, 2016) Dalits in India, and mostly women, intellectual clarity. Our vision can be summed up are forced to manually clean human excreta? Why with the following words— does the country allocate a budget of INR 16,248 We shall struggle and build solidarity to reclaim crore1 for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan while it our dignity, equity and human personhood. has only INR 5 crore to spare for rehabilitation of hrough eradicating manual scavenging we manual scavengers, as per the Union Budget for the will break the link imposed by the caste system iscal year 2017–18? Why is India unable to invest between birth and the dehumanizing occupation. in inding a technology to clean sewer septic tanks without endangering human life? hese are serious (Safai Karamchari Andolan)

* Review: Usha Ramanathan

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Introduction clean septic tanks, sewers and open drains, under the ambit of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Why are People Dying? Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012. he Most people act ignorant when faced with the issue Manual Scavenging Act, when passed in 2013 was of manual scavenging. People have oten asked us passed with this clause, deining the employment in surprise, ‘Are there human beings who carry of people for ‘hazardous cleaning’ as criminal. other people’s excreta even today? Where are these he caveat in the Act is that ‘hazardous cleaning’ dry latrines?’ hese questions are oten followed by refers to the employment of sewer workers without an emphatic statement that they have never been ‘prescribed protective gear’. witness to the act of manual scavenging. his speaks According to the Supreme Court judgement to a convenient blindness as the Indian Railways, (Safai Karamchari Andolan & Ors v. Union of India prominently visible and public, is the largest & Ors., 2014) dated 24 March 2014, no human employer of manual scavengers (IndiaSpend, 2015). being should be allowed to enter into sewers or Coaches are itted with dry latrines from which the septic tanks for cleaning. he judgement says— shit that drops onto the railway tracks, has to be If the practice of manual scavenging has to be manually cleaned. his denial, real or feigned, of brought to a close and also to prevent future the existence of scavenging speaks volumes about generations from the inhuman practice of manual our cultural tuning and caste bias, where despite scavenging, rehabilitation of manual scavengers clear evidence, people cannot face the reality. will need to include:- Similarly, sewer and septic deaths are not taking Sewer deaths – entering sewer lines without safety place in un-inhabited locations but in the midst of gears should be made a crime even in emergency so-called smart cities, metropolitan cities, small situations. For each such death, compensation of towns and even in the National Capital. It is a INR 10 lakhs should be given to the family of the national phenomenon. he post-mortem reports deceased. read the same for each death—gas illed in choked sewer lines or septic tanks killed the victim. Since No steps to implement this judgement have the noxious gas is fatal, death is instantaneous. been taken yet. Even at the time of writing this No great amount of analysis is required to see that essay, we were informed that three people had died methane gas is a killer, and yet, fellow Dalit citizens while cleaning underground drainage in Cuddalore are hired for such jobs without hesitation. (Tamil Nadu). he Cuddalore incident occurred on the heels of other similar deaths in Vijaywada, he deaths of sewer workers with no one being Bangalore, Mumbai. he list is endless. held accountable, and the denial of justice has pushed the SKA to include the issues of sewer-septic We are very clear in our mind that we are not workers within the larger ambit of the struggle ighting for any protective gear or safety belts—we against manual scavenging. his view has found want that no human being belonging to any caste some validity in recent legal and policy decisions. should have to enter sewer-septic tanks for cleaning. he Supreme Court, in a judgement in 2014 stated It is simply a big NO. that in order to completely abolish the practice of he struggle for survival of women like manual scavenging, rehabilitation would have to Penchalamma is not getting registered on any take into account the issue of sewer deaths. his platform, despite such deaths being reported even judgement irst set up the grounds to bring the from the National Capital, Delhi. On 11 November group of persons who were traditionally forced to 2016, 30-year-old Chandan, who was working as a 299 India Exclusion Report

Box 1 Penchalamma’s husband died in Chennai while cleaning a septic tank. She calls it a murder. Penchalamma was very straightforward. Her husband, Malakondaiah, was 48 when he died cleaning a septic tank in the Stanley Hospital area on 16 July 2014. ‘his society doesn’t consider us humans,’ she said. ‘It pushes us to the gutters to clean its shit. My husband died and you all are responsible for that. Who killed him? He didn’t die of any illness. He was not killed in an accident. He was murdered.’ She goes quiet for a moment, brings out a bottle of water from her bag, takes a few sips and starts again, ‘his is a cold-blooded murder and the culprits are roaming free… trying to push another person into the pit of death. Neither these killings will stop, nor will the murderers ever be caught.’ She was talking without any grief or anger in her voice. ‘hey had to get their septic tank cleaned and for long they were coercing my husband to do that. hat day, they caught hold of him when he was returning from work. hey took him along from the way. I was at work and had no idea whatsoever of his whereabouts. While I was returning home, I saw some commotion on the way. People were shouting. Seeing the crowd, I stopped by to ind out what’s happening… Oh my God! He is my husband. He was still breathing but he never opened his eyes again. When the police came and enquired about what happened, the house owner just said that this man was drunk and was desperately asking for work. He was pressing us to give the work of cleaning tank to him. We thought of helping him… and this happened. Just imagine! My husband was dying of poisonous gas in a septic tank of their house and here they were talking so shamelessly! hey were the ones who pushed him in their shit and just turned the blame upon him even before he breathed his last! ‘What should I do? Whom should I catch hold of? Today elders are saying that there is no “man” let in the house. How will we live? I say, it’s not just matter of compensation. Even ten million will not be enough to bring back the father of my children. My husband died just a few days back. I have stepped out of the house ater that for the irst time, to come here and just say that these killings should be stopped forthwith.’ Source: Extracted and translated from a book called havikkapattavarkal authored by Bhasha Singh

housekeeper in Vasant Kunj Square Mall died while of cleaning sewer-septic tanks without adequate cleaning the septic tank in the mall. Another man, protective gear, as illegal. hough the SKA is trying Israel, got injured in the incident and is currently to help bring their families justice by intervening, in a coma. Chandan Daloi was a migrant from the criminal silence that prevails has made our Sundarban area in West Bengal. His wife Putul, work all the more diicult. who is hardly 24–25 years old, and her eight-year- old son Alok Daloi are now struggling to survive. 1.2 What is Manual Scavenging? In the whole Bengali Mohalla of Masudpur Dairy 39, no one was aware of the 2014 Supreme Court According to the ‘he Prohibition of Employment judgement or he Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation 2013’ (Ministry of Law and Justice, 2013) a manual Act, 2013, both of which clearly deine the work scavenger is deined as:

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…a person engaged or employed,... by an its roots within aspects of Hindu philosophy and individual or a local authority or an agency or religious practice. As the caste system has evolved, a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, it has permeated all religions but it can still be found disposing of, or otherwise handling in any in its worst and most discriminatory form within manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine Hinduism. he casteist practice of scavenging, or in an open drain or pit into which the human whereby the burden of cleaning human excreta excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, rests on Dalits has over the years been legitimized or on a railway track or in such other spaces or institutionally and continues to be propped up by premises, as the Central Government or a State the political classes and the government, as society Government may notify, before the excreta fully cannot be bothered to ind a way of managing its own decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, shit. his barbaric system whereby a community is and the expression ‘manual scavenging’ shall be construed accordingly. tasked with cleaning human excreta proves to be a cheap and convenient sanitation solution at the cost Manual scavenging describes any task that of the dignity of life for millions. Cleaning human involves carrying, cleaning, or dealing with human waste is considered ritually ‘unclean’ or ‘impure’ as excreta with only hand tools or bare hands. Manual is any association with animal and human death, scavengers, or safai-karamcharis, are employed to or even with menstruation. Jobs around these clean dry latrines (toilets not connected to a disposal physiological processes such as burning bodies system), railway tracks, streets, septic tanks, or at funeral pyres, skinning and tanning of animal sewers. It is also carried out in private latrines and in skin, midwifery are a few of the many other tasks community latrines built by governmental and non- assigned to the most discriminated, even within governmental organizations. In most parts of North Dalit castes. From its emergence to its continuance, India where there are community toilets, these are the practice of manual scavenging has an obnoxious not dry latrines. However, in South India community link with the existing caste and patriarchal systems. toilets are under the aegis of the panchayat or the We believe that unless there is concerted and direct municipality and are oten built as dry latrines to attack on these exploitative and discriminatory save cost. Manual scavenging is generally one of two structures, it is impossible to eliminate manual types: irst, the cleaning of dry latrines, where the scavenging in all its forms. work of the manual scavengers is to gather human he safai-karamchari (s/he who cleans) excrement in a bucket or some vessel and then throw community is divided into diferent castes and it at some ixed place; second, the cleaning of septic religions all over the country. hey are diverse and tanks (or sewage pits) which function as the means take pains to establish their unique identity. hey all of waste disposal for toilets in people’s homes or in belong to Dalit castes, but are in a race to establish municipalities. he work of cleaning tanks full of themselves as slightly superior to others. his excrement is done at night and oten people are hired complex manipulation of one’s identity is indicative collectively for this purpose. Both men and women of how deeply the Manusmriti has penetrated our clean tanks, whereas the dry latrines in houses and society. public places are generally cleaned by women. his Within those who follow the Hindu faith, practice, where it is still continuing, has developed examples of castes whose members are employed according to local needs or customs. as manual scavengers are Bhangi, Balmiki, Mehtar, Manual scavenging is, in absolute terms, a caste- Lal Begi in the North; Har, Hadi, Dom, Sanei in the based occupation, gendered in nature, and inds East; Mehtar, Bhangias, Ghasi, Olgana, Zadmalli,

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Barvashia, Metariya, Jamphoda and Mela, etc., scavengers. Similarly even Christian Dalits are part in central and west India; and Mukhiyar, hoti, of the same occupation. Chachati, Pakay, Relli in the South. However, It is important to understand that the untouchability and this labour segregation on the associations of impurity imposed on a caste are basis of caste is not limited to the Hindu faith. he socially and culturally entrenched. herefore, where Helas in Madhya Pradesh, Halakhors in Bihar and the struggle is against caste oppression, a change in Uttar Pradesh are Muslim caste groups employed as

Box 2 What’s in a name? ‘Dabbu-wali’ (Bengal), ‘Balti-wali’ (Kanpur), ‘Tina-wali’ (Bihar), those doing ‘kamai’ work (Lucknow and north India), ‘Tokri-wali’ (Haryana and Punjab), ‘hottikar’ (meaning ‘dustbin’, in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), ‘Paaki’ or ‘Peeti’ (meaning ‘excrement’,in Orissa), ‘Vaatal’ (in Kashmir)— there are as many names as localities. All these names arise from the work they do. hese are not caste names; these are manual-scavenging Dalits who are known by the names of the tools they use to clean human excrement with their hands. Just listening to these terms brings an expression of contempt on the face of civilized society, but these names are stuck to living men and women, to human beings. hese terms have become their identity, and they have mostly forgotten their real names. Members of the houses they work in all their lives don’t know their names; they just recognize them by the upper part of their faces. In case they need to address these women, they use the tainted term particular to the state or locality they are in, be it ‘hotamma’ or ‘Balti-wali’. In Anantapur of Andhra Pradesh, sixty-year-old C. Narayan Amma got used to the sound of her name only in her itieth year. From the age of fourteen or iteen she had only been addressed as ‘hottame’ (manual scavenger). In her daily routine of cleaning communal dry latrines from early in the morning till aternoon, she would constantly hear this call, ‘Hey, hottame, clean here, hurry up.’ So for a long period of her life, she remained nameless, and when the people of the organization began addressing her by her real name she took quite some time to get used to it. It was not surprising that in the locality where she worked for so many years, no one knew her name until 2010. he dry latrines there were destroyed under Narayan Amma’s leadership. But even ater all that ruckus, no one knew that she was Narayan Amma. ‘Across the country, our bastis [slums or localities in which the scavenger community lives] are also referred to by the same names—gandibasti, valmikibasti, vatalmohalla, etc., and entrances are separate so that household members can avoid any contact with the scavengers.’

Source: Extracted from B. Singh, he Truth about India’s Manual Scavengers and H. Mander, Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives.

302 The Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging a person’s economic situation cannot be an end in the traditional sense, to encapsulate the issues of itself. While the rehabilitation package has been sewer-septic workers as well. Sustained struggle designed to provide some monetary support to by the scavenger community and the changing manual scavengers who leave the work behind, sanitation infrastructure across India, are two this has to be seen as a stopgap measure. Loans among many factors that have resulted in the and subsidies to encourage entrepreneurship also current situation where there are less functional run the risk of reairming the same caste barriers dry latrines today. Dry latrines are easier to instead of helping break out of them. destroy than manual scavenging however, which is deeply rooted in a socio-political culture of caste As a part of the India Exclusion Report this oppression and untouchability. Rather than being chapter will attempt to unpack ‘manual scavengers’ abolished, the nature of manual scavenging has as a vulnerable group—explore the causes of this therefore adapted to the changing times. Today, vulnerability, and the consequences of the same. he the members of the same scavenging communities chapter also looks at what attempts there have been are employed as sewer-septic workers to clean the to address this vulnerability. On this point we would same human shit. like to state at the very outset that manual scavengers form a unique category of vulnerable group as the To draw this parallel is not to claim that the very existence of this group is unconstitutional experience of manual scavenging and cleaning and needs to be challenged. We therefore want sewer-septic tanks is the same, or that they to reairm that any amount of efort by the should even be compared. For one, while manual government to make scavenging safer and healthier scavengers, as described in the rest of the chapter cannot ensure a digniied life for people engaged in are largely women, sewer and sanitation workers such dehumanizing work as cleaning human ilth. are both men and women (mostly men). he Furthermore the exclusion of manual scavengers nature of work also difers as do the conditions from basic services and guarantees is intrinsically of work and nature of employment contracts. tied to their caste identity and livelihood. he chapter Furthermore, while manual scavenging has come will highlight the issue of sewer-septic deaths that to be recognized as unconditionally illegal, sewer- has brought these workers and their right to life to septic work has not. he position of the SKA the forefront of the struggle in recent years. In this however, is clear—the unimaginable hardship context, the chapter will also touch upon the ‘Swachh and indignity faced by a manual scavenger in Bharat Mission’, the government’s programme aimed every sphere of her life is intrinsically linked with at making India ‘open-defecation free’, and providing scavenging work and the caste she is born into. Her every household with a toilet. he chapter will look life cannot improve unless she is able to leave the at what this drive and programme means for today’s life of scavenging behind. We believe that the same safai-karamcharis. argument can be made of a sewer-septic worker who is also trapped in this line of work because of the caste he belongs to. While delving into 1.3 Sewer Workers under the Ambit of Manual Scavenging every aspect of the lives of sewer-septic worker is outside the scope of this chapter, we would like to he recurring incidents of sewer-septic deaths highlight the issue of sewer-septic deaths which in recent years that have been referred to in an is one that highlights the extent of government earlier section, have stretched the scope of the SKA negligence and complicity in crimes against safai- beyond the issues of manual scavengers deined in karamcharis.

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here are a range of causes of sewer-septic deaths. People who clean sewer-septic tanks cannot It is very rare for sewer-septic workers to reach the work without being intoxicated. Renu who cleans age whereby they become eligible to receive old septic tanks in Patna once said, ‘It is impossible age pensions. If they do not die due to exposure to to pick up a bucket of excreta without illing one’s methane gas and drowning in human excreta while mouth with tobacco. he stench makes you throw cleaning sewer-septic tanks then they are killed by up.’ Perumal from Coimbatore who cleans septic other diseases at a young age. Mani, a sewer-cleaner tanks corroborates, in Coimbatore poignantly commented, ‘We would not be able to cope and keep doing this ‘Every time I enter the sewer, before sucking work without getting drunk. It is not only the stench air into my mouth to hold my breath, I recall my but the large number of cockroaches and other insects daughter’s face. She has always been lucky for me. also creep on our bodies while we clean. Intoxication Even if I don’t come out alive, at least I’ll die with her becomes a necessity for us’ (Perumal, personal image in my mind’ (Mani, personal communication, communication, 21 January 2014). 20 January, 2014).

Box 3 BhimYatra We launched a nationwide campaign against these deaths and we had a simple demand from the government—STOP KILLING US! BhimYatra was launched on the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and set of on 10 December 2015. It travelled across the country for 125 days, travelling more than 30,000 kilometres and reaching more than 500 districts in 30 diferent states. On 13 April 2016, the eve of Ambedkar’s birthday, they gathered with allies at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, in order to summon fellow citizens to stand with them in their struggle. People from the community participated in the Yatra and it received huge support from civil society. Women who lost their loved ones in sewer and septic tanks came forward and shared their agony and anger. It was the irst churning in the community on this issue. An unprecedented call was sent out: STOP KILLING US IN SEWER AND SEPTIC TANKS! Earlier in 2010, SKA had organized the Samajik Parivartan Yatra to push the agenda of elimination of manual scavenging. We are sharing the experience of BhimYatra to emphasize that the scavenging community is ighting hard to come out of this casteist practice of dooming safai-karamcharis in ilth and death. But the policy makers and political representatives have not even started thinking about this problem yet. Due to their criminal silence there have been so many deaths, which for us are nothing short of political murders.

Source: Authors’ own descripton of the Bhim Yatra organized by the SKA.

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2. Unpacking Vulnerability scavenging and opened a tea shop but no one was ready to have tea from her hands. Despite this she 2.1 Perpetuating Untouchability continues to ight for her right to a digniied life. Untouchability is banned by the Indian constitution but it continues to persist even ater seven decades 2.2 Nothing ‘Decent’ about it of independence. Not a single village or city escapes its horrifying shadow. Some of the worst victims he ILO deines decent work (ILO, Guidelines are manual scavengers; all of them fall under the for Producers and Users of Statistical and Legal category of untouchables. Untouchability destroys Framework Indicators, 2013) as productive work their basic human right, to even dream of a life that you can earn a fair income from that provides with equality and justice. Women scavengers have security at the workplace and social security for to face the worst kind of exploitation and mental workers and their families. It is also deined as work trauma—their movement, entry into the job market that aids in personal development, social integration and many other aspects of their life are restricted and allows for a freedom that can be expressed as a consequence. Many women who want to leave through speech, association and participation in this livelihood are not allowed to do any other work. decisions that govern your life. Decent work is also We have encountered thousands of such cases of about equal opportunity. Manual scavenging is an liberated women scavengers who have tried to move occupation that does not manage to tick of even on to a more digniied livelihood, but have been a single of the above categories. It is work that is rejected by society because of their caste. Geeta a direct consequence of the caste system, a system Devi of Patna for example managed to leave manual of social exclusion. It is forced work that is deeply

Box 4 Untouchability his was the only work that Saroj Bala had known since she was 13 years old. Like many other women in Ambala—a city of more than a million residents on the border of Punjab and Haryana—she would clean dry latrines in nearly a hundred houses each day. In return, she was given two stale rotis by many householders, and eight annas at the end of the month. Two years ago, when she inally let this work, she was being paid INR 10 in some homes, INR 20 in others. he women scavengers would enter the houses from separate entrances reserved only for them, and climb segregated staircases. heir employers would purify the loor with gangajal ater they let. he women would collect the shit in baskets, and balance these on their heads as they trudged six times a day to the dump a kilometre away. People would shrink and cover their noses with the edge of their saris or hankies. he rainy season was the most traumatic, because the shit would slip through the baskets onto their hair and shoulders. hey had to use separate public water taps, and even vegetable vendors sold them vegetables from separate carts.

Source: Resource Handbook for Ending Manual Scavenging, International Labour Organization, 2014.

305 India Exclusion Report gendered, pays little, and ranks amongst the most prepared by Human Rights Watch highlights that unsafe and dangerous occupations. 95 per cent of the removal of human excrement Manual scavengers are oten asked why they from public streets and dry latrines is carried out by don’t just ‘choose’ a diferent profession. his women. his is seen as one of the dirtiest forms of question and the ignorance about how the caste manual scavenging as the untreated human excreta system functions is infuriating. Narayan Amma, a has to be collected by hand. From the perspective symbol of the ight against manual scavenging, has of the toilet users, dry latrines are usually inside now become an important member of part of the the home and the owners prefer that women enter highest policy structure of the SKA. She fought a to clean. On the other hand the safai-karamchari decisive battle against dry latrines in Anantpur in community is equally patriarchal and creates Telangana. She asks succinctly, conditions whereby it is women who have to take up jobs that pay the least and are most looked down How can any person with a brain and all his/her upon. he women get paid as little as between senses think that the work of carrying others’ INR 10 and 50 every month per household, and excreta can be someone’s chosen work? his work sometimes as a bonus they are given stale letover can never be a work of choice. If there was any other work then why would we do this? Liting food and worn-out clothes. a basket of another person’s excreta puts us in a A system called jajmani prevails in safai- position where we begin to see ourselves as less karamchari communities that ties generations of than human. women to the job of manually cleaning dry latrines. Jajmani loosely translates into ownership over the No poor Brahmin or member of any non- rights to clean a select number of dry toilets. hese Dalit caste would ever even consider this job of rights are equivalent to property rights and can scavenging, not even in a state of complete penury be bought and sold, always in connection to the and starvation. his is where it is important women of the family. Mothers-in-law oten transfer to understand how basic one’s caste is to one’s their jajmani to their daughters-in-law. In times of occupation and livelihood. You cannot choose your crisis, these jajmani documents are also pawned caste because you are born into it and die within it. to borrow money. he girls of the community Your occupation is decided by your caste and your are oten betrothed on the basis of the number of ancestral history as you can only continue to do jajmanis their mothers have and on the other hand what your ancestors have been doing. If you speak the girl’s family also enquires about how many up against caste oppression then you risk losing jajmanis the groom’s family has. Unless the bride’s your livelihood and oten even your life. his is the family is satisied about the number of jajmanis it vicious cycle in which the scavenger community is is diicult for the match to take place. 55-year-old trapped. he livelihood of scavenging, ironically, is Vimla Kumari from Lucknow, a woman who has in fact the only security that the community has as now been liberated from scavenging, explains the there is no competition. As this inhuman work is forced exclusively on this community it has been practice as an example of the caste-based inferiority internalized by them also, as their own work. complex rooted deeply in the community’s mindset. Her own experience was such that her father called of three diferent marriage alliances because he felt 2.3 It’s a Woman’s Job that the number of households the groom’s side had A report titled ‘Cleaning Human Waste: Manual were too few. It was his belief that a large number of Scavenging, Caste, and Discrimination in India’ jajmanis would guarantee that his daughter would

306 The Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging never sleep hungry, that she would at least ind stale menstruate more during our periods, sufer from food with which to ill her stomach. his is not miscarriages more oten, our children are oten only Vimlaji’s story, but a common story for many born with some deformity or disability. Asthma, women whose job security and future is determined and other allergies causing skin lesions and through this system of bondage. While the reduced itching are common side efects.We chew tobacco to counter the smells which then leads to a higher numbers of dry latrines, and changing times has incidence of Tuberculosis. his is only to name a meant that this system is not as widespread as before few…. it still exists and a woman’s value is still assessed in the same way. Addiction and intoxication are a part of the When thinking about how policies of everyday for scavengers, for both men and women government to eradicate manual scavenging have and come with their own set of consequences. impacted women speciically, it is important to hese stories can be heard in any corner of the remember that most manual scavengers who clean country; stories of lives being ruined because of dry toilets are women and therefore all policies this addiction/intoxication, particularly of women targeted towards scavengers should be designed and children. At the same time you cannot blame primarily keeping women in mind. Despite this, the person, as any of us in his/her place would have however, schemes aimed at rehabilitating manual resorted to intoxicating ourselves. he true culprit scavengers are focused on an imaginary male is the work of manual scavenging which needs to be breadwinner. stopped. Unless this practice is uprooted, it would be extremely diicult to bring the safai-karamchari Corruption in the implementation of community out of this addiction mess. Similarly, rehabilitation schemes has also meant that fewer their diseases and other health impacts cannot be women have beneited from these schemes, than wished away with treatment and medication as men. Of the men, many are not and have not ever long as they have to handle urine and excreta for a been manual scavengers. he problems with how livelihood. the government has envisioned, designed and implemented its policies to rehabilitate manual scavengers have been elaborated on, in a later 2.5 The Dream of Holding Pens instead of section. Brooms

Access to education is ideally a route through which 2.4 Health, not a Luxury that we can Afford manual scavengers can be liberated, and a means he impact of this work and lifestyle on the health through which societal attitudes can be changed. of safai-karamcharis is at one level obvious, but Unfortunately, like access to other basic services, at another level invisible, especially to people the level of education in the safai-karamchari outside the community. When asked by a journalist community is very low. Children of the community whether manual scavenging leads to illnesses, Saroj are oten addressed and insulted by various caste from Haryana, quoted earlier, replied, names in schools where children from other castes have already been conditioned to not come in Would you be alright sitting in a gutter? Ater relieving yourself you clean your hands with contact with scavenger children. At the primary soap because they are dirty, right? We have to level they oten attend schools in the mohallas carry that very same excreta. Our health is bound exclusively meant for children of the community to be bad because our work is with ilth. We and identiied for instance as a valmiki school or a

307 India Exclusion Report vatal school. he level of education here is extremely he cornerstone of Indian democracy is its poor. When they come out of primary school Constitution. he Preamble of our Constitution and attend schools in which children from other talks of Equality, Fraternity and Liberty. Article 17 communities study as well, they have to carry their of the Constitution prohibits untouchability. But scavenger identity with them (even if they do not in the form of manual scavenging, untouchability engage in the work themselves) and are sometimes is practised across the country, without any shame. forced to clean the toilets of the schools they study Article 32 guarantees all its citizen equality before in. Despite the challenges however, in our homes, law, but the same practice of untouchability, and the biggest warning children are given is that if they the forced livelihood of scavenging renders this don’t study then they’ll have to pick up a broom. promise void. Democracy, a system of governance that boasts of equal participation, equal rights Quality formal education is a good that very few and opportunities is still a mirage. For instance, people in India can aford, and the challenge for this it has come to our notice that the Maharashtra community to access good education is even bigger. Government has reserved sanitation-related he government’s rehabilitation package stops works in local bodies for persons traditionally at scholarship support regulated through certain and generationally involved in cleaning work. conditions. he SKA, in its recommendations, How can any legitimate government perpetuate continues to stress that a signiicant measure would untouchability like this? his is a blatant denial of be for the government to open residential schools justice and equality. Justice in this context should for children of manual scavengers to reduce the mean that the government starts taking necessary discrimination they face. Further, all children action to eradicate untouchability, and guarantee should have access to free government-run schools alternative work opportunities to children of up to Class 12, with scholarship support to cover all families that have handled and cleaned human shit additional costs. for generations. he SKA believes there is no scope of debate on Untouchability was made unlawful and the idea that we will have to come out of the work punishable as early as 1955 when the Untouchability of cleaning, picking up the broom, cleaning human Ofences Act was passed. his act states that the excreta and entering the gutters. imposition on anyone, of a practice or profession on account of untouchability, is a crime. his 3. Fight for the Law: Towards deinition very clearly includes manual scavenging. Eliminating Manual Scavenging? he Untouchability Ofences Act is an act that is weak in its provisions as well as in how it has India is the only country in the world that still been enforced. he penalty for carrying out an practises manual scavenging. People cannot fathom act of untouchability (as deined under the law) is who will do this work if safai-karamacharis are either an imprisonment of six months or a ine of rehabilitated. When a parliamentary committee INR 500. In 1976, Section 7A was introduced into was set up to make a new law to end manual the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, to make, scavenging and all organizations were going to the act of compelling any person on grounds of submit their recommendations, we witnessed even untouchability to scavenge, an ofence punishable honorable MPs choosing to ignore the barbarity of by imprisonment. the practice and ask—‘How will our urine-excreta Furthermore, the SC ST Prevention of Atrocities be cleaned if these people do not do it?’ Act 1989 built a stronger legal regime to prevent

308 The Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging and punish acts and crimes of untouchability and even in this extended period, the rest of the states violence, but even this had very little impact on the took no note of it and did not show any eagerness continuance of ‘unclean occupations’ like manual to approve it. In fact, until 2005, no other state took scavenging, and to combat the discrimination faced any steps towards implementing it. Only when the by scavengers. SKA submitted a petition in the Supreme Court, and every state received a notice from the Court, did they wake up and appoint inspectors and 3.1 The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry executives to implement the law. In spite of this, six Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993: states, including the capital city of New Delhi, did Promises and Limitations not approve it till the end of 2010. his resistance by states paints a sorry picture. It took more than a decade, in 1993, for the Parliament to pass the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Now let us look at the provisions of this law Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, which hinder its basic purpose. First, in this law, which rendered even voluntary employment of the deinition of manual scavengers is limited to manual scavengers for removing excreta an ofence, those who clean dry latrines only, whereas those and another four years for the act to be notiied. who clean railway tracks, manholes, sewerage his law, in spite of its many drawbacks, showed lines, septic tanks, open toilets, etc., have not been manual scavengers the way to liberation. It was for considered, though all these jobs are various forms the irst time in 1990—Baba Sahib Ambedkar’s birth of the same work. hus, a big percentage of manual centenary year—that the government began looking scavengers were deprived of the beneits of this seriously at the Dalit agenda, and the process of law. Second, in Article 3(1) of the Act, there is a forming some opinion about it began to take shape. provision that even ater states are notiied, the law his culminated in the form of the Employment will not automatically become efective over the of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry whole state immediately. States will have to issue Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. a separate notiication and identify those districts or areas where this practice prevails. Moreover, Since the subject of cleanliness and health is part a period of ninety days would have to be given to of the concurrent list, this Act came under Article those areas to implement the law. As if this were 252 of the Constitution. A law passed by the Central not enough, in Article 3(2), there are loopholes government on a subject from the concurrent list provided by the law which serve to undermine can be implemented only when the Vidhan Sabhas the total eradication of this practice. In Article of the states approve it too. Unfortunately, when 3(2) (2), the condition for implementing this law this law was placed before Parliament, only ive is that there should be adequate supply of water in states had given their prior approval, weakening the the given area for lush toilets. Similarly in Article law from the very start. 3(2) (3), the implementation of the law has been At this juncture it is important to relect on further hindered under the guise of protecting the the level of seriousness of the lawmakers or our environment and public health safety, which means political representatives. he law was passed by that if any local oicial so wishes he can refuse to Parliament in 1993 and the President signed its implement the law in the name of shortage of water notiication on 24 January 1997. hat meant it took or hazard to the environment or public health. four years for this law to cover the distance between hus, the whole of Article 3(2) seems to be against the Parliament and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. But the basic spirit behind the formulation of the law.

309 India Exclusion Report

If these escape vents are not enough, in Article children and for promotion of lush latrines in place 4 of the Act, the state governments have been given of dry latrines, the very design of these schemes was total liberty that they can exempt any category of problematic. It entirely disregarded the aspirations buildings or class of persons from the provisions of of the safai-karamchari community. he schemes this law. here may or may not be a reason for this, referred to loans and self employment but ignored only the whim of the state government is needed. If the fact that pursuing these options is a challenge such exemptions have to be given, then what is the for a socially and economically backward group whole point of having a law? such as manual scavengers who ater years of being put down are hesitant to leave the security that their he desire of the lawmakers is clear: everything livelihood and way of life provides. should remain as it is and whatever little is let may be given to the manual scavengers. his is very similar to the mentality that, for centuries, has kept 3.2 The Prohibition of Employment the Dalit castes deprived of all facilities and pushed as Manual Scavengers and Their them out of villages and towns. Lawmakers should Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, be asked whether there should be any exemption to 2013) granting all the human dignity that is guaranteed A Step Ahead from 1993 in the Preamble to the Constitution of India. In the India passed a new law in 2013 that prohibits 1993 Act, it has also been said that only as much manual scavenging. he strength of the new as is possible should be done for the purpose of law, unlike the 1993 law, is that it is a central law, rehabilitation of scavengers—meaning there is no binding on all states, and not a state law requiring watertight provision here. First, the law is so loosely endorsement by state legislatures. It recognizes the formulated and, on top of that, the administration ‘…historical injustice and indignity…’ (MS Act, that has to implement is so snail-paced, even 2013, p. 2) caused to people forced for generations reluctant. Only a few people were ever prosecuted to perform this degrading work, and imposes under this law and Central government agencies strict penalties for its further continuance. It also like the Railways openly violated the law. proposes package measures towards rehabilitation. Harsh Mander in the Resource Handbook for his law is more comprehensive than the past one, Ending Manual Scavenging (ILO, 2014) states that: and for the irst time it brings in both the railways and sewers into the ambit of its deinitions and Even though banned by the Employment of prohibitions. Technical options exist today which Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry can ensure that no human contact with excreta is Latrines (prohibition) Act, 1993, the practice necessary. But railways and municipalities have continued unabated, almost exclusively by women refused to make the investments necessary for whereas men clean septic tanks of wet latrines. In human dignity of the sanitary workers, and the 1997, the statutory National Commission for Safai- new law does well to bring them under the law. he Karamcharis observed that manual scavengers are ‘…totally cut of from the mainstream of 2013 Act has more stringent penalty clauses. INR progress…’ and are still ‘…subjected to the worst 50,000 or imprisonment up to one year; subsequent kind of oppression and indignities’. penalty is higher (INR 1,00,000 and two years in prison) and for violation of ‘hazardous cleaning’ is Even though the government launched INR 2,00,000 (and subsequently INR 5,00,000) and programmes for livelihood rehabilitation of freed two years (and subsequently ive years) in prison; manual scavengers, for the education of their and this is a cognizable and non-bailable ofence.

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However, a mere enactment of a law doesn’t Supreme Court sent notices on this litigation on liberate anyone unless the law is implemented 8 January 2004 to the Central government, Social well. here are countless examples, discussed in Empowerment Ministry, Railway Ministry, Defence subsequent sections, of how governments indulge Ministry, Ministry of Industry, National Safai in fraudulence rather than providing beneits to the Karamchari Aayog and 29 states and six Union community if there are no vigilant eyes at every step. Territories. Till the next hearing on 9 August 2004, only Goa and Tripura had sent their replies to the court. herefore the court gave the other states four 3.3. The Safai-karamchari Andolan and its Legal Battle more weeks to send in their responses. Ater this, on 13 September 2004, the Supreme Court asked he SKA has been engaged in a protracted struggle the Chief Secretaries of seven states (Assam, Jammu since 1983 to eliminate manual scavenging and and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, to reclaim our dignity and human personhood. Gujarat and Delhi) and one union territory (Dadra We have been employing diferent strategies in and Nagar Haveli) to appear in Court. From 2004 our campaign since 1996: conducting surveys to to 2007, there were twenty hearings on this petition. identify dry latrines, users and those forced into On the directive of the Court, the state governments manual scavenging, iling petitions and complaints gave aidavits about the state of manual scavenging with government oicials at diferent levels, in their respective states. housands of pages of educating and sensitizing the civil society especially replies were written. Predictably, in their aidavits dry latrine users, iling a Public Interest Litigation most state governments denied outright that (PIL) in the Supreme Court and networking with manual scavenging exists in their state. Further, individuals, media and civil society organizations there was a mockery of the Court’s orders. he to form solidarity and pressure groups. Supreme Court, in its earlier notices had also asked When the situation of manual scavengers did the municipalities and corporations to reply. Many not change even ater the 1993 Act was passed, corporations like the National Corporation of six organizations (including the SKA) and seven India, all dockyard corporations, Zinc Corporation manual scavengers iled a PIL (Litigation no. 583) of India, etc., replied to the notice although most of in 2003 in the Supreme Court under Article 32 for them had nothing to do with the matter, but none the implementation of the 1993 Act. SKA under of the municipal corporations—the ones who were the guidance of S.R.Sankaran strategized a legal really supposed to provide answers—chose to reply. battle as the best way to demand justice from the hrough the duration of the hearing, it became Indian State. he present Justice of the Delhi High clear that the State was not concerned with whether Court and then advocate S. Muralidhar became the scavenging basket was removed from the head the advocate for the litigants. he petition quoted of the manual scavengers or not. the statutory National Commission for safai- States that denied the existence of either dry karamcharis, which estimated the presence of latrines or scavengers within their borders took around 96 lakh dry latrines in the country. he other to destroying dry latrines in the period between reports revealed that manual scavengers were being receiving the notice and sending their response. In employed by both private employers and several the hearings they would then accuse the litigators urban local bodies, and most unconscionably by of having provided false information. hey were the military engineering services and army, public shameless enough to demand that action be taken sector undertakings and the Indian Railways. he against the litigators for this! On 5 August 2008, the

3 11 India Exclusion Report

Supreme Court asked the litigators to ind out all the he legal battle to establish a diferent truth and places in the country where the work of scavenging hold the State accountable carried on in court for was still continuing. hey were given a period of 11 years. his lengthy struggle helped mobilize the only eight weeks to do so. To expect an organization community into action and the growing desperation or litigator to do a countrywide survey and hand to break out of the shackles of caste, among members it over in just eight weeks seemed impossible and of the safai-karamchari community, became it seemed as if we had been punished for asking evident. Lakhs of women scavengers not only burnt for justice in the irst place. he Supreme Court their baskets but also gave memorandums to district burdened us with work, which should have been oicials; they knocked on every closed government done by the administrative system of the country. door to make their presence felt. heir voices were Instead of providing justice or paving the way for also heard during the Samajik Parivartan Yatra justice to the hapless litigators, the Supreme Court organized by the SKA in 2010. his yatra was taken asked us to prove, on our own, that the practice of out to eradicate and uproot the practice of manual manual scavenging was still prevalent in parts of scavenging from across the country and helped the country. highlight the plight of the scavenging community. his in turn forced the Central government and the he SKA decided to take on this challenge as National Advisory Council to take cognizance of a part of the larger struggle to eliminate manual the problem. he Central government, which was scavenging and with the help of 1260 activists, did denying the very existence of manual scavenging till a sample survey in 18 states and 274 districts. We then, started taking steps towards its eradication. found proof of manual scavenging in 14 states. his was relected in the budgetary allocations that Such facts were revealed which, in all these sixty were subsequently made. years ater independence, no government with its extensive resources had been able to collect. he In the same year, under the guidance of the many governments at the Centre and in the states, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in with all their political power, had conspired to 18 states 1,18,474 scavengers and dependents render the practice of manual scavenging invisible. were identiied for training and loans as means of And yet this downtrodden community organized rehabilitation (Press Information Bureau, 2015). Of itself and had the courage to lit the veil from this igure, 43,909 were documented as desirous of the governments’ dubious claims. he surveyors training, and the data shows that all 43,909 were managed to nail each oicial falsehood to the wall provided training. Similarly, 78,941 were identiied with moving, detailed aidavits, oten with stomach as loan beneiciaries, and the data shows that all churning photographs. Many of these aidavits 78,941 were provided loans. Under the scheme for should be compulsory reading. From Ahra, Bihar, rehabilitation, children of scavengers (or people unlettered Dinesh Ram, now 15 years old, has been engaged in unclean occupations) were provided doing this work since he was 9. He told the Court, with pre-matriculation and post-matriculation ‘I hate this work. I do not feel like doing it. But my scholarships. In 2007–8, a total of 7,35,129 pre- problem is that I do not know any other work.’ matriculation scholarships were provided; in Ramrakhi, who has worked as a scavenger since she 2008–9, 6,18,277; and in 2009–10, 7,04,925. was 10, spoke up, ‘he gas emitted by the shit has Similarly in 2007–8, 31,16,041 post-matriculation spoilt my eyes, and my hands and feet also swell. It scholarships were provided; in 2008–9, 33,79,488 sticks to my hands and makes me nauseous. ‘ and in 2009–10, 4,02,49,888 children of scavengers were supposedly covered under the same scheme.

312 The Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging

Despite steps towards spending on rehabilitation, manual scavenging. Overall, the total number of it is also important to highlight the discrepancies households with ‘insanitary latrines’ in India is in the data. With the numbers of dependents of 26,06,278 (2.25 per cent), out of which 12,76,530 scavengers and scavengers themselves being so (49 per cent) households are found in rural areas incomparable, one has to ask who is being covered. and 13,29,748 (51 per cent) households are in urban areas. Also, according to Census 2011 data On 12 January 2011, the Supreme Court directed there are 4041 statutory towns in India. In these that the writ petition be taken forward by the statutory towns there are 8,82,271 households various High Courts of the country, for the purpose with insanitary latrines in which night soil or of implementation of the various directions passed human excrement collected at night in buckets, is by the Court, and also for the implementation of disposed into open drains and there are 1,78,296 the provisions of the 1993 Act. In multiple hearings households with insanitary latrines in which night of this case to date, governments have persisted in soil is removed by humans. Uttar Pradesh relects iling ‘nil’ reports of people engaged in the outlawed the highest percentage (18.2 per cent) of insanitary livelihood of manual scavenging. But each time latrines followed by Tamil Nadu (13.4 per cent), SKA has fought back by responding to each lie, Andhra Pradesh (12.8 per cent), Maharashtra (12.6 with unimpeachable data, reports and photographs per cent) and Rajasthan (8 per cent). However the detailing women still engaged in this work, and dry igures given in the census and those in the Socio- latrines that continue to stand. Economic Caste Census are vastly diferent. On 27 July 2011, the Delhi High Court directed Section 4 (1) of the 2013 Act mandates the survey the Indian Railways to rehabilitate sanitation of insanitary latrines by local authorities within two workers employed in cleaning railway tracks months from the commencement of the Act. hese and technologically upgrade 1,72,000 toilets in surveys should have been completed by 6 February trains, reairming the need for new legislation to 2014. However, far later than the deadline, even encompass all forms of sanitation workers (ILO, in 2015 only 11 states and union territories had 2014). reported the number of insanitary latrines in urban areas, and only nine states and union territories had 4. Changing of Terminology: reported the numbers in rural areas. he numbers Contesting Government Figures declared in the survey vary greatly from the 2011 Census data. For instance, while the 2011 Census he Government of India introduced a new term— data for Odisha identiies a total of 81,285 insanitary insanitary latrines—for the irst time in the 2011 latrines (54,066 rural and 27,219 urban), this survey census. Instead of pushing for exact numbers of identiies zero insanitary latrines in rural areas, and dry toilets and inding out numbers of manual 25 in urban areas. his absurd diference in data calls scavengers, a new jargon was created. he census into question the method and quality of the survey shows insanitary latrines being cleaned by animals conducted by the few states that have declared and being disposed of in open drains. his portrayal numbers. Also whether both common, insanitary of the data marks a deliberate attempt to shit focus latrines and household latrines have been surveyed away from dry latrines and manual scavengers. is not clear. he data if taken at face value could be he number of ‘insanitary latrines’ was used to make the argument that since 2011, states calculated for the irst time in the Census of 2011 have taken measures to end scavenging, which is a and we had pushed this to show prevalence of clear misrepresentation of numbers.

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According to the Ministry of Social Justice and louting of the process laid out, where veriication Empowerment (SJ&E), Government of India, the is supposed to be done in the presence of the NGO total population of manual scavengers in 1992 was responsible for identiication. 5,88,000 (Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, 2012). In he latest Socio-Economic Caste Census data the year 2002, a total of 7,87,000 were engaged in released on 3 July 2015 reveals that 1, 80,657 scavenging. In 2002–3, the same ministry quoted households are engaged in this degrading work for the number as 6,76,000. he anomalies in these a livelihood. Maharashtra, with 63,713, tops the estimates prevent a realistic idea of the extent and list with the largest number of manual scavenger prevalence of manual scavenging. he fraudulent households, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar manipulation of statistics is something in which Pradesh, Tripura and Karnataka, as per Census the governments have continued to indulge, as data. In a review meeting held on 21 July 2016 and evident in many documents presented in diferent organized by National Commission for Scheduled government meetings, surveys, etc. Castes, data submitted by state governments show Sections 11 and 14 of the new Act call for the vast discrepancies between number of dry latrines survey of manual scavengers to be carried out and number of manual scavengers cleaning them. if local authorities believe that there are manual Telangana, for instance, reported 1,57,321 dry scavengers being employed in their region of latrines as of 31 December, 2015, but zero manual jurisdiction. As per the data extracted from the scavengers (Pathak & Sampath, 2016). he survey Survey of Manual Scavengers in Statutory Towns results submitted by Himachal Pradesh, too, and archived by the Safai Karamchari Andolan, out showed 854 dry latrines but nil manual scavengers. of the 30 states which chose to declare survey results, Chhattisgarh reported 4391 dry latrines but only 17 states declared that zero manual scavengers were three workers. Similarly, Karnataka reported 24,468 identiied in urban areas. Karnataka which in the dry latrines but only 302 manual scavengers, and same survey identiied 890 insanitary latrines in Madhya Pradesh’s numbers were 39,362 and 36. rural areas declared that no manual scavengers Bihar reported only 11 manual scavengers, while could be identiied. Haryana reported nil for both dry latrines and manual scavengers (Pathak & Sampath, 2016). Contesting the igures provided by the state and union territory governments, NGOs provided Even now the Indian government doesn’t have their own data on the number of scavengers in any accurate igure of the number of dry latrines 15 states. hey identiied a total of 10,698 manual and manual scavengers. Generally very little data is scavengers. It was decided that, together with the available with the government on the rehabilitation NGO that had identiied scavengers, the states of manual scavengers. Government schemes such would verify the numbers, and where manual as ‘he Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation scavengers were located, they would provide of Manual Scavengers’ (SRMS) state that liberated them with the sanctioned rehabilitation package. a manual scavenger is entitled to get a loan of a However this veriication was carried out without maximum of INR 15 lakh. But not a single person the presence of the NGO. Out of 10,697 identiied has received an INR 15 lakh loan. Rehabilitation cases, the government was only able to verify the also does not mean an end to untouchability and existence of 625 manual scavengers. Of these 625 discrimination. We have seen that in a majority of eligible beneiciaries, the government claims to cases the government will push liberated manual have rehabilitated 528. his blatant disregard for scavengers to take loans for livelihood activities data collected by NGOs is only made worse by the such as pig rearing, goat rearing, etc.

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All these years, the budget allocation for Ironically, under SRMS the government made rehabilitation of manual scavengers and for shameful deductions of INR 5 crore in the budget education of their children was largely unspent. his estimate of 2017–18 as compared to the budget shows deliberate negligence on part of the executive, estimate of 2016–17. he Swachh Bharat Mission which is still continuing. Now the government has seems to be reversing all the eforts of the SKA. mercilessly reduced the budget for rehabilitation Swachh Bharat has gloriied the broom and has to just INR 5 crore. he National Commission posed an obstacle in the path of caste-liberation. for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) observed in a note When the campaign to pull safai-karamcharis out circulated for the meeting that ‘…expenditure of the abyss of manual scavenging was reaching a for the last three years is negligible…’ under the decisive stage, Swachh Bharat entered the scene Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of with pomp and show. he entire focus shited from Manual Scavengers (Pathak & Sampath, 2016). he those cleaning the toilets to constructing toilets. budgeted amount for SRMS for 2015–16 was INR Prime Minister Narendra Modi has bet big on 470.19 crore. he actual expenditure was nil. this Swachh Bharat campaign but nobody asked Schemes for rehabilitation of manual scavengers the basic question—who will clean these 12 crore have failed for reasons illuminated by the extremely toilets? Nobody asked where the excreta and urine insightful report released in 2003 by the Comptroller from these toilets will go. Are sewer lines being and Auditor General (Safai Karamchari Andolan laid out for dealing with this urine and excreta? Till & Ors v. Union of India & Ors., 2014). He found now there is neither any such proclamation nor any the scheme ‘a prisoner of its own statistics’, since budgetary allocation for this. It is more likely that although the government claims that it rehabilitated these 12 crore toilets being built under the Swachh 2.68 lakh scavengers, the number of oicially Bharat Abhiyan will actually be 12 crore septic tanks. recognized scavengers did not go down, but instead Ater the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a lot of news rose further to 7.87 lakhs. he problem, the report reports have emerged about Dalit children being pointed out, was that those scavengers it claimed to forced to cleaning toilets in schools (Sudhakar, liberate were not those who were ‘rehabilitated’. he 2015). Also, the kids of manual scavengers are quite scheme instead oten gave loans to persons who are hesitant to share their parents’ occupation in their not really manual scavengers, for low-skill, low- schools. his inferiority complex generated because wage alternatives, ignoring factors of ‘habitation, of the shame attached to their parents’ profession cluster, aptitude, gender and motivation’. also leaves them behind. And once they grow up then the only option they are let with is to do the 5. Swachh Bharat Mission— work that their families have been doing—the work A Critical Look of holding the broom and cleaning. Programmes like Swachh Bharat Mission are more likely to On 2 October 2014, the 150th birth anniversary of prepare several grounds for exploitation of these Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kids if they continue to be compelled by their school restructured the existing Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan administration to clean toilets. and announced another mission called Swachh Moreover, a separate cess has been levied Bharat Mission. he mission aims to eradicate for Swachh Bharat and hence billions are being open defecation in India by 2019 by constructing collected for constructing toilets. he government 12 crore toilets in rural India, at a projected cost of doesn’t have any interest in identifying those who approximately INR two lakh crore (US$29 billion).

315 India Exclusion Report are scavenging and doesn’t care about rehabilitating of the ballot to create political pressure for their them; it only cares about the construction of emancipation from the torment of scavenging. toilets. All the big corporate houses are also busy he issue of eradicating manual scavenging has competing in constructing toilets in the name of never been framed as a political issue. he burden their social responsibility. he Corporate Social of changing their own lived condition continues to Responsibility (CSR) money which could have rest on the backs of manual scavengers themselves. been used to improve the lives of ordinary people he central problem is that most laws, policies especially the safai-karamcharis is now being used and schemes aimed towards abolition and removal only for constructing toilets. If the CSR funds of of this practice as well as towards the rehabilitation all big corporations are probed then we’ll come of erstwhile manual scavengers, fail to acknowledge to know that all these companies are claiming to how the practice is merely a symptom which is build toilets at a mass level. It seems that the biggest actually deeply rooted in the caste system. he problem of the country is construction of toilets majority of the country, unafected by this nature of and nothing else. Apparently the government is caste discrimination, feeds into this vicious cycle— also contemplating making 30 per cent of all CSR where the homes remain clean, and the indignity money mandatorily to be used for Swachh Bharat sufered by the safai-karamchari community gets (Singh & Surabhi, 2016). invisibilized. While over the last few years, the he idea of Swachh, implying purity, is a community itself has started treating manual problematic concept in itself. Swachh Bharat is scavenging as a political issue, and has begun an extension of the purity and pollution theory, demanding their right to life with dignity, the rest Swachh representing a casteist mindset that is of the country oten washes its hands of the moral built upon a Manuwadi (those whose social and responsibility for this violation of human rights. political position in the society is inluenced by Even ater numerous Supreme Court orders Manuwada, particularly with respect to caste) and directives, the State has time and again failed structure. In this there is no room for the principle the movement. Till as recently as February 2017, of justice. By focusing Swachh on the users of the the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis toilets and silencing the lives and struggles of the (NCSK), established under the Ministry of Social cleaners, Swachh Bharat is only perpetuating the Justice and Empowerment back in 1994, did not practice of manual scavenging. We feel afraid of even have adequate members, with all oice bearers’ the government’s ambition to construct 12 crore posts lying vacant, except those of Commission toilets by 2019. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will be Secretary Narain Dass and the Deputy Director counterproductive in the people’s struggle to break Varinder Singh, along with Section Oicer G the historical ties between their birth and caste, and Srinivas (DNA, 2017). his has been the state of between their caste and occupation. he questions afairs for over a year now. hus, even the little bit then arise; how much more burden will be placed the government has done in order to put an end on the community? How many more sewer-septic to this practice has oten amounted to tokenism. tank deaths is this nation waiting for? While the movement will continue to grow more political, certain things at the level of the State must 6. Conclusion be done. Some recommendations are given below:

In the last seventy years, manual scavengers have (a) National Level Common Survey for Safai- never really had the opportunity to use the power karamcharis: Before the government can

316 The Long March to Eliminate Manual Scavenging

efectively formulate any solution, we need to the indignity sufered by the community on have reliable and consolidated information on the basis of their caste. It makes it an issue the extent of the problem. he Government of implementing better infrastructure in the of India, thus, needs to initialize a national form of protective gear rather than removing level common survey to identify the number the practice altogether, thereby allowing the of manual scavengers as well as dry latrines in state to regularize and normalize manual the country and use it as a point of reference scavenging as a practice. his is dangerous for the implementation of all policies and and the Act should be amended at the earliest schemes. It needs to collect data from each in order to hold Central authorities like the state on the number of persons engaged in Indian Railways responsible for this practice. manual scavenging, the family information (d) he 2013 Act and Need for Accountability with data on dependents, the number of of the Monitoring Agency: he 2013 law Community Dry Latrines (CDLs) and prescribes the process for the setting up of number of Individual Dry Latrines (IDLs). Vigilance Committees both at the Central (b) Need for Data from Authorities under as well as state level, in order to monitor the Central Government: he Government the implementation of the act. However, as of India should also initialize a survey the experience of the movement has shown, and, in conjunction with the national level the efectiveness of such committees has survey, acknowledge the fact that even with been negligible. Hence, there needs to be ‘protective gear’, what they are efectively a framework for the accountability of the doing is employing manual scavengers. he monitoring agency, taking cognizance of the Indian Railways must provide information fact that manual scavenging is a violation about the number of such workers employed of human rights and the constitutional by it, as well as number of employees engaged rights of the victims, and as such, a failing by other Ministries and other undertakings, Vigilance Committee must be answerable including mines, and household information to the community for not addressing their and details of their dependants, must also demands. be collected. he government should devise (e) Review of Rehabilitation Programmes: a separate rehabilitation policy for such Digniied livelihood opportunities, free employees as well. of scavenging should be the core idea in (c) Amend the 2013 Act: here is a striking framing any rehabilitation programme. his loophole in the 2013 law (he Prohibition must include job security, land, housing and of Employment as Manual Scavengers and free, good education for their children. All heir Rehabilitation Act, 2013), whose the schemes should cater to the aspiration Article 2, Clause 1, sub-clause (g) comes with of community women. he government an explanation that ‘…a person engaged or has formulated various rehabilitation employed to clean excreta with the help of programmes for erstwhile manual such devices and using such protective gear, scavengers and their dependants, but given as the Central government may notify in this their inefectiveness, as described in the behalf, shall not be deemed to be a “manual chapter, it is necessary that the government scavenger”’. What this efectively does is to should initiate a review of its programmes, dissociate the problem of scavenging from and table status reports, state-wise, of the

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implementation of welfare and development and its rhetoric, as they stand now, run the measures meant for safai-karamcharis danger of normalizing practices like manual and their children. A contract system in scavenging, thus pushing the community sanitation work should also be abolished. further into the vicious cycle of continuing in this line of work. he government needs to (f) Amending the Swachh Bharat Programme: acknowledge this caveat in its understanding No more toilets should be built under any of public and private cleanliness, and must schemes unless the government ensures alter its programme so as to work with our that no human being will be forced to clean movement, and not become a roadblock to it. gutters and sewer-septic tanks. We don’t want more killing gas chambers for our people. It is a long march to break shackles of all kinds Modernization of sewage system should be of discrimination. We have to commit ourselves guaranteed. he Swachh Bharat Programme, towards the annihilation of caste. We have to though popular, has turned a blind eye to the stand as foot soldiers of the vibrant democracy in problem of caste and to the fact that notions all spheres of life. of purity and cleanliness in India are deep- Jai Bhim! rooted in the caste system. he programme

References story/jobs-outlawed-but-state-main-employer-of- manual-scavengers-47324 DNA. (2017). National commission for safai-karamcharis Limaye, Y. (2016). India’s sewer workers risking their lives. 5 ‘member-less’ [Electronic Version]. 19 February. Retrieved April. Retrieved 4 April 2017, from BBC: http://www.bbc. 4 April 2017, from DNA Daily News and Analysis: http:// com/news/business-35958730 www.dnaindia.com/india/report-national-commission- Mander, H. (2001). Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives. for-safai-karamcharis-member-less-2327924 New Delhi: Penguin Books India. FirstPost. (2016). Manual scavenging may be prohibited but Ministry of Law and Justice. (2013). IndiaCode, [Electronic continues unhindered in India [Electronic Version]. 27 Version]. Retrieved 4 April 2017, from http://indiacode. May. Retrieved 4 April 2017, from http://www.irstpost. nic.in/acts-in-pdf/252013.pdf com/living/manual-scavenging-may-be-prohibited-but- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. (1955). continues-unhindered-in-india-2801604.html Retrieved 4 April 2017, from http://socialjustice.nic.in/ HRW. (2014). Cleaning Human Waste; Manual Scavenging, writereaddata/UploadFile/PCR%20Act,%201955.pdf Caste, and Discrimination in India. Human Rights Watch. ——— (2013). he Prohibition of Emplyment as Manual ILO. (2013). Guidelines for Producers and Users of Statistical Scanvengers and heir Rehabilitation Act, 2013. Retrieved 4 and Legal Framework Indicators. Retrieved 4 April 2017, April 2017, from http://socialjustice.nic.in/writereaddata/ from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--- UploadFile/manualsca-act19913635738516382444610. dgreports/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_223121. pdf pdf NSKFDC. (n.d.). National Safai Karamchari Finance & ILO. (2014). Resource Handbook For Ending Manual Scavenging. Development Corporation. Retrieved 12 April 2017, Retrieved 4 April 2017, from http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/ from http://nskfdc.nic.in/content/revised-srms/self- ResourceHandbookForEndingManualScavenging.pdf employment-scheme-rehabilitation-manual-scavengers- IndiaBudget. (2017). Union Budget 2017-18. Retrieved 4 April srms 2017, from IndiaBudget: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ Pathak, V., & Sampath, G. (2016). India’s invisible manual ub2017-18/eb/sbe89.pdf and http://indiabudget.nic.in/ scavengers, [Electronic Version]. 23 July. Retrieved 4 ub2017-18/eb/stat4a.pdf April 2017, from he Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/ IndiaSpend. (2015). Jobs outlawed, but state main employer news/national/India%E2%80%99s-invisible-manual- of manual scavengers [Electronic Version]. Retrieved scavengers/article14504840.ece 4 April 2017, from http://www.indiaspend.com/cover- Press Information Bureau GOI. (2015). Freedom from Manual Scavenging, [Electronic Version]. 14 August. Retrieved 4

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April 2017, from PIB: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel. csr-spend-to-be-made-mandatory-for-swachh-bharat/ aspx?relid=126057 article8402480.ece Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan. (2012). Uncompleted and Sudhakar, P. (2015). Teachers held for forcing Dalit students unsuccessful Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers and to clean toilets [Electronic Version]. he Hindu, 24 April. heir Children in India. Retrieved 4 April 2017, from Retrieved 4 April 2017, from http://www.thehindu.com/ http://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/user_folder/pdf/ news/national/tamil-nadu/teachers-held-for-forcing- New_files/Key_Issues/Manual_scavenging/Jan_Sahas_ dalit-students-to-clean-toilets/article7136306.ece Note_2012_-_Rehabilitation_of_Manual_Scavengers.pdf he Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Safai Karamchari Andolan & Ors Versus Union of India & Ors., Atrocities) Act, 1989. (1989). 11 September. Retrieved 4 Writ Petition (Civil) Nn. 583 of 2003 (Supreme Court of April 2017, from http://socialjustice.nic.in/ViewData/ India 24 March 2014). Details?mid=1242&catID=113 Safai Karamchari Andolan. (n.d.). Safai Karmachari he Untouchability (Ofences) Act, 1955. (1955), 8 May. Andolan: A movement to eradicate manual scavenging homas, B. (2016). Govt should stop killing us in sewers: in India. Retrieved 12 April 2017, from http:// Magsaysay award winner [Electronic Version]. Deccan safaikarmachariandolan.org/aboutus.html Chronicle. 28 July. Retrieved April 04, 2017, from Singh, B. (2014). havikkapattavarkal. Vidiyal Pathippgam. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current- ——— (2014). Unseen: he Truth about India’s Manual affairs/280716/govt-should-stop-killing-us-in-sewers- Scavengers. New Delhi: Penguin Books. bezwada-wilson.html Singh, S. R., & Surabhi. (2016). 30% of CSR spend to be made Vundru, R. S. (2013). From Marathi to English. Retrieved 4 mandatory for Swachh Bharat, [Electronic Version]. April 2017, from he Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/ Retrieved 4 April 2017, from he Hindu Business Line: todays-paper/tp-features/tp-bookreview/from-marathi- http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/30-of- to-english/article4779757.ece

319 About the Authors

1. Amandeep Kaur is currently pursuing her 6. Deepti Srivastava has a background in PhD from Centre for the Study of Regional education. Her doctorate is on street and Development, School of Social Sciences, homeless children negotiating ‘diference’ in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She school. She has been working with Rainbow has an MPhil from the same Centre at JNU. Homes since 2016 in the capacity of Education and Futures Coordinator. 2. Amar Chanchal is Senior Research Oicer at the Centre for Budget and Governance 7. Dr P Raghu is leader, Land and Livelihood Accountability, New Delhi. He is currently Knowledge and Activist Hub at Actionaid working on issues related to Budget in New Delhi. He has a PhD from Andhra Transparency, Centre-State iscal relations University, Visakhapatnam. in India, and Urban Poverty. E-mail: amar@ 8. Eshita Mukherjee holds a Master’s degree cbgaindia.org in Environmental Economics from Madras 3. Anita Ghai is Professor at the School of School of Economics, Chennai. Her interests Human Studies, Ambedkar University. Both include climate change, poverty & inequality as academician and advocate, she works on a in India, and energy. programme of Disability Studies. 9. Gitanjali Prasad is a researcher working 4. Bezwada Wilson is a social activist and the on issues of social justice, while pursuing a national convenor as well as founder member Bachelor of Law degree at Delhi University. of the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA). Her academic training is in Psychology He was awarded the prestigious Ramon and Dalit and Tribal Social Work. Magsaysay Award in 2016 for ‘asserting the Email: [email protected] inalienable right to a life of human dignity’. 10. Harsh Mander is a writer and social activist, 5. Bhasha Singh is an assistant editor with and founder and Director of the Centre for Outlook (Hindi). She is also an activist, Equity Studies (CES), New Delhi. He was the member of the Safai Karamchari Andolan former Special Commissioner to the Supreme (SKA), and a writer. Her book, Unseen: he Court, in the Right to Food case. Email: Truth About India’s Manual Scavengers was [email protected] published by Penguin in 2014. 11. Jawd Alam Khan works with CBGA. His work

320 About the Authors

focuses on iscal decentralisation, social sector 17. Radhika Alkazi is an artist, a social activist and programmes and responsiveness of budgets to also the founder of AARTH-ASTHA, one of disadvantaged groups like minorities, Dalits the few cross-disability organizations working and Adivasis. He has 13 years of experience with children and persons with disabilities. in research and has authored several research 18. Radhika Jha is a research executive at Common reports and papers in his areas of interest. He Cause, Delhi. She has done her MA in Social has an MPhil in Economics and is pursuing a Work (criminology and criminal justice) from PhD from JNU, New Delhi. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and 12. Kinjal Sampat is a sociologist based out of LLB from Faculty of Law, Delhi University. New Delhi, India. Formerly, she managed 19. Raina Aggarwal is a research scholar with the the research programme at Centre for Equity Digital Empowerment Foundation. She has Studies. Email: [email protected]. a PhD from Delhi University. Her focus area 13. Mrinal Satish is an Associate Professor of Law is youth development and the development of at the National Law University, Delhi, where he community learning centres. is also the Executive Director of the Centre for 20. Rajat Kumar is a research scholar with the Constitutional Law, Policy and Governance. Digital Empowerment Foundation. He He specializes in criminal law. has six years of experience in teaching and 14. NC Saxena retired as Secretary, Planning research, and his interest lies in psychology, Commission and is a former IAS oicer environmental science, design philosophy and and ex-member of the National Advisory data science. Council. A Rockerfeller Foundation fellow, he 21. Rajanya Bose is a researcher and programme obtained his PhD from University of Oxford. manager at Centre for Equity Studies. She has He was also Secretary, Rural, Shastri National done her MA in Development Studies from Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 15. Osama Mazar is an inspiring speaker, angel and researches on issues of tribal land rights, investor, mentor and believer. He founded communal violence and urban poverty. Email: Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) that [email protected] has digitally enabled over 5 million people 22. Rhea John is a student at the Institute across remote and rural India through digital of Development Studies and formerly a resource centres and the last mile access. researcher with the Centre for Equity Studies. 16. Preeti Mathew is a social worker by profession. 23. Sandeep Chachra is Managing Editor, Agrarian Ater graduating from Baroda School of Social South: Journal of Political Economy, Co-Chair Work, she worked with the Azim Premji of World Urban Campaign, UN-HABITAT Foundation on learning assessment with rural and Executive Director, ActionAid India. government primary schools. She has been working with street children since 2010 at the 24. Satya Pillai positioned her focus on issues of Centre for Equity Studies and presently she children in diicult circumstances in 2007 ater is with Rainbow Foundation India where she having studied and practised Psychology for a focuses on documentation on the Rainbow decade, and has been associated with the cause Model and capacity building of the staf. since then. With the belief that comprehensive

321 India Exclusion Report

knowledge is essential for better outcomes, 25. Subrat Das is Executive Director at the Centre she has been working with her team towards for Budget and Governance Accountability, enhancing the understanding about the street New Delhi. He has worked for more than a children. She heads the Knowledge and Policy decade on budget issues at the national and Unit in the Rainbow Foundation India sub-national level in India in various social sectors. E-mail: [email protected]

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