Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Deepa Narayan and Democracyand The Promise of Promise The Empowerment Empowerment , editor in India 48598 MOVING OUT OF POVERTY, VOLUME 3 The Promise of Empowerment and Democracy in India About the Series The Moving Out of Poverty series presents the results of new comparative research across more than 500 communities in 15 countries on how and why poor people move out of poverty. The findings lay the foundations for new policies that will promote inclusive growth and just societies, and move millions out of poverty. The series was launched in 2007 under the editorial direction of Deepa Narayan, former senior adviser in the World Bank. She earlier directed the pathbreaking Voices of the Poor project. Titles in the Moving Out of Poverty series: Volume 1 Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Mobility Volume 2 Success from the Bottom Up Volume 3 The Promise of Empowerment and Democracy in India Volume 4 Rising from the Ashes of Conflict (forthcoming) Moving Out of Poverty VOLUME 3 The Promise of Empowerment and Democracy in India Deepa Narayan, Editor A COPUBLICATION OF PALGRAVE MACMILLAN AND THE WORLD BANK ©2009 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org E-mail: [email protected] All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 12 11 10 09 A copublication of The World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. 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ISBN: 978-0-8213-7217-3 (softcover) eISBN: 978-0-8213-7218-0 (softcover) ISBN: 978-0-8213-7838-0 (hardcover) DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-7217-3 ISSN: None Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for. Cover design: Drew Fasick Cover photograph: Brice Richard Printed in the United States Dedication To the thousands of women, men, and youth who took the time to share with us their experiences, their hopes, and their dreams Contents Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii Contributors xxi Abbreviations xxv Glossary xxvii Map of India xxviii 1 Moving Out of Poverty in India: An Overview 2 Deepa Narayan, Binayak Sen, and Katy Hull 2 Assets Gained and Lost: Understanding Mobility through Life Stories 64 Deepa Narayan, Denis Nikitin, and Brice Richard 3 Communities Where Poor People Prosper 112 Deepa Narayan, Patti Petesch, and Saumik Paul 4 Caste Dynamics and Mobility in Uttar Pradesh 166 Soumya Kapoor, Deepa Narayan, Saumik Paul, and Nina Badgaiyan 5 People’s Organizations and Poverty Escapes in Rural Andhra Pradesh 234 Deepa Narayan, Giovanna Prennushi, and Soumya Kapoor 6 Politics of the Middle Path: Agrarian Reform and Poverty Dynamics in West Bengal 286 Klaus Deininger, Deepa Narayan, and Binayak Sen 7 Who Benefits from Conflict? Some Evidence from Assam 348 Deepa Narayan, Binayak Sen, and Ashutosh Varshney Appendix 1 Technical Note on Household Regressions 417 Appendix 2 Data Collection Methods 437 Appendix 3 List of Variables for Household Regressions 443 Appendix 4 Weights for the PCA-Constructed Indexes, by State 449 Index 453 vii viii Contents Tables 1.1 The ladder of life in Kamalapur, Andhra Pradesh 12 1.2 Summary indicators of mobility 16 1.3 Objective measures of well-being largely align with subjective perceptions 18 1.4 Moving out of poverty and falling into poverty both affect net poverty reduction rates 24 1.5 Across mobility groups, initiative is most important reason for upward movement 26 1.6 In agriculture, movers benefit from new assets and technology while chronic poor rely on hard work 27 1.7 Death and health shocks are leading reason for asset depletion among fallers 30 1.8 In all mobility groups, a majority of parents have high aspirations for their children 33 1.9 Across mobility groups, family is the most important institution in asset accumulation 37 1.10 Correlates of escape from poverty: Summary results from state-level household regressions for movers 42 1.11 Well-off people get business loans from government banks, while poor people rely on moneylenders 47 1.12 Civil society organizations are among the sources of credit for consumption 48 2.1 Life stories show the importance of intangible as well as tangible assets 71 2.2 All groups emphasize emotional over relational assets, but the chronic poor rely on emotional assets most of all 73 2.3 Accumulation and depletion are simultaneous across mobility groups 77 2.4 Poor people take as much initiative as movers and the never poor 80 2.5 In agriculture, the chronic poor rely more than other groups on hard work, less on new technology and assets 81 2.6 Family is the most important institution in asset accumulation 83 2.7 Idiosyncratic shocks are the most important in causing asset depletion 89 2.8 Death, health, and social stresses are most important idiosyncratic shocks 90 2.9 Social and financial shocks are the main reasons for land depletion 93 2.10 Most covariant shocks relate to environmental hazards or lack of basic services 94 2.11 Financial shocks have the largest and longest impact on mobility 102 A2.A Composition of accumulation through four types of institutions 106 A2.B Composition of accumulation through central/state government 107 Contents ix A2.C Composition of idiosyncratic depletion of all tangible and intangible assets 108 3.1 Summary mobility outcomes for total village sample show simultaneous movements up and down 117 3.2 Standard deviation of key indexes is lowest at state level, highest at community level 118 3.3 Summary mobility statistics show contrasts between top, middle, and bottom thirds of study villages 120 3.4 Government programs and roads are leading factors in economic prosperity 135 3.5 Agricultural problems and natural disasters hinder economic prosperity 135 3.6 Public participation in community affairs is higher in low-MOP villages 139 3.7 Determinants of moving out of poverty index (MOP): OLS outcomes 150 3.8 OLS outcomes across the key mobility indexes 152 A3.A Correlations between social, political, and economic access 159 4.1 Transitions in the sample population, 1995–2005, Uttar Pradesh 174 4.2 Variations in poverty and mobility trends across sample districts, Uttar Pradesh 177 4.3 Factors behind community-level mobility in Uttar Pradesh: OLS outcomes for MOP index 180 4.4 Distribution of mobility groups across caste categories, Uttar Pradesh 193 4.5 Aspirations for children’s future, by mobility group and caste group, Uttar Pradesh 194 4.6 Factors behind household-level mobility in Uttar Pradesh: OLS outcomes for MOP index 197 4.7 Perceptions about economic opportunities, by mobility group and caste group, Uttar Pradesh 198 4.8 Rating on influence over local government, by mobility group and caste group, Uttar Pradesh 200 4.9 Perceptions about fairness by mobility group and caste group, Uttar Pradesh 203 4.10 Perceptions about control in daily decision making, by mobility group and caste group, Uttar Pradesh 206 A4.A Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of total and per capita income in Uttar Pradesh and India since 1951 213 A4.B Annual percentage change in gross state domestic product in constant prices, Uttar Pradesh, 1994–2003 213 A4.C Assembly results, Uttar Pradesh, 1989–2007 214 A4.D Composition of landholding categories by social group, Uttar Pradesh, 1983 and 1999/2000 215 x Contents A4.E Distribution of adult males within social groups by education status, Uttar Pradesh, 1983 and 1999/2000 216 A4.F Disparities in socioeconomic status of social groups,