Poverty Dynamics in India's Western and Eastern Ghats

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Poverty Dynamics in India's Western and Eastern Ghats MARGINS IN THE MOUNTAINS: POVERTY DYNAMICS IN INDIA’S WESTERN AND EASTERN GHATS JOHN KARL PATTISON A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy This research programme was carried out in collaboration with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, India and the University of Alberta, Canada September 2016 DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis, or any part of it, has not been accepted in substance for any previous degree awarded to me, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of Doctor of Philosophy being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise identified by references and that the contents are not the outcome of any form of research misconduct. John Karl Pattison _____________________ Date: _________ Jeremy P. Haggar _____________________ Date: _________ (First Supervisor) John F. Morton _____________________ Date: _________ (Second Supervisor) Sandeep Mohapatra _____________________ Date: _________ (Third Supervisor) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The doctoral journey has been an endurance race full of twists, turns and many stages. Fortunately, this race is not run alone: many people and organizations have provided me with guidance, encouragement and support along the way; they deserve my thanks and recognition. First, thank you to my supervisors for your guidance and insight throughout the entire process: Jeremy Haggar for kind counsel over fair-trade coffee, Sandeep Mohapatra for patiently explaining Rilke excerpts, and John Morton for the lending of books. Second, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada provided financial support through the Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition Project (APM) at the University of Alberta (UA). I am also indebted to Brent Swallow and Nat Kav in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science (ALES) for flexible leadership styles and Ellen Goddard for support and encouragement. Third, the field research was conducted with the support of colleagues and friends in India. Institutional partners M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Madras School of Economics (MSE) and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) were essential. Specifically I would like to thank Damodaran Rajesenan (CUSAT); Sukanya Das and Santosh Sahu (MSE); Girigan Gopi, Arun Raj, Rajees and Sangeetha Mahadevan of the MSSRF Wayanad team; Siddick Abubaker, Oliver King, Venkatesan and Duraraijan of the MSSRF Kolli Hills team; and Chaudhury Shripati Mishra, Seema Tigga, Rajakishor Mahana and Sanjeeb Kumar Behera of the MSSRF Jeypore team. Most importantly, I thank the local women and men in the Jeypore, Kolli Hills and Wayanad research sites for so generously sharing their life experiences. Fourth, the individuals at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) and the newly minted Natural Resources Institute Postgraduate Society (NRIPS) of the “Tower” helped me keep perspective and have fun. It was truly an enjoyable place to gain an education. Finally, I thank my family: my parents, my siblings and their families, and my new in-laws. Most importantly, my wife Naomi was an example of patience and encouragement – and exhaustive editing – through the whole journey, even after hearing me say for the hundredth time “I’m almost there!” Thank you. iii ABSTRACT Extreme poverty is a persistent issue in south India and there are moral and economic imperatives to change this situation. Effective poverty reduction strategies require ongoing advances in knowledge so that strategic action on poverty alleviation can be implemented. This thesis addresses that need by using an integrated methodological approach to explore household poverty dynamics in three mountainous regions in south India. Nine hundred household surveys and eight focus group discussions were conducted amongst landless, landed and scheduled tribal (ST) groups to answer four specific research questions: 1) What are the perceived trajectories of local wellbeing 2) Do multiple equilibria poverty traps exist? 3) What is the influence of women’s power and other covariates on household asset accumulation? 4) What are the local perspectives on government policy schemes? Qualitative results indicate a general positive outlook of wellbeing that does not differ due to household land ownership or ST membership, but does show slight differences between research sites: positive in Jeypore, negative in Kolli Hills, and ambiguous in Wayanad. Quantitative results support this conclusion by showing no evidence of multiple equilibria poverty traps using income, expenditure or asset dynamic approaches. A novel semi- parametric multiple factor polynomial (MFP) analysis shows household characteristics such as age, education and female headship are positively related to asset accumulation, while factors such as household size and ST membership have a negative effect. Women’s power was unexpectedly found to have a non-linear impact on asset accumulation, with the challenging conclusion that increasing women’s power does not always enhance the wellbeing of a household; to my knowledge this is the first time that women’s intra-household bargaining power is included in empirical poverty trap analyses. Finally, government schemes were considered to be a major contributor to this wellbeing advance. While this thesis sheds light on poverty dynamics in three remote locations, the primary research contribution is methodological: using the MFP approach to semi-parametrically assess poverty traps; and empirical: finding a non-linear relationship between women’s power and household asset accumulation. Keywords: multiple equilibria, poverty traps, semi-parametric, India, policy, asset dynamics, intra-household bargaining iv CONTENTS ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................... xii GLOSSARY ....................................................................................................... xiv 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research Objective and Questions ............................................................... 7 1.1.1 Trajectories of Wellbeing ............................................................................ 7 1.1.2 Semi-Parametric Poverty Traps ................................................................. 8 1.1.3 Women’s Empowerment ............................................................................ 9 1.1.4 Policy Perspectives .................................................................................. 10 1.2 Contributions to the Literature .................................................................... 10 1.3 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................. 13 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................ 14 2.1 Chapter Overview .......................................................................................... 14 2.2 Conceptualizing and Measuring Poverty .................................................... 14 2.3 Trajectories of Wellbeing ............................................................................. 16 2.4 Conceptualizing and Measuring Poverty Traps ......................................... 20 2.5 Multiple Equilibria Poverty Traps: Empirical Studies ................................ 26 2.6 Spousal Bargaining Power ........................................................................... 31 2.7 Policy Perceptions ........................................................................................ 35 3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ................................................................ 39 3.1 Chapter Summary ......................................................................................... 39 3.2 Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots ......... 39 3.3 Project Site Descriptions .............................................................................. 41 3.3.1 Jeypore Research Site, Odisha ................................................................ 45 3.3.2 Kolli Hills Research Site, Tamil Nadu ....................................................... 49 3.3.3 Wayanad Research Site, Kerala .............................................................. 54 3.4 The Scheduled Tribes: A History of Marginalization ................................. 57 4. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 61 4.1 Chapter Overview .......................................................................................... 61 4.2 Methodological Approach ............................................................................ 61 4.2.1 Mixed Methodology .................................................................................. 61 4.2.2 Recall Approach ....................................................................................... 63 4.3 Preliminary Focus Group Discussions ....................................................... 64 4.4 Determinants of Household Economic Development (DHED) Survey ..... 65 4.4.1 Survey Design .......................................................................................... 65 4.4.2 Sampling Approach
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