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Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai

Poverty Reduction Strategy for Madhya Pradesh

Shovan Ray1

Amita Shah2

Alok R. Chaurasia3

Rahul Banerjee4

December 2009

This study was undertaken on behalf of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR),

Mumbai by the scholars mentioned as part of Capacity Development in the SSPHD Project supportedby the United Nations Development Programme and the Planning Commission of India. The studywas coordinated by Shovan Ray at IGIDR

1 Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai2 Professor, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad3 Consultant, UNICEF, Bhopal4 Researcher, Indore


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Contents

1 Introduction

2 Overview

3 Economic Growth

4 Chronic Poverty and Poverty Reduction: Diagnosis and

Implications

5

Agriculture and Resource Management6 Elementary Education

7 Health and Longevity

8 Local Governance, Community Participation and Social

Inclusion of Marginalised Sections

Appendix Background note on Poverty


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Chapter 1: Introduction and the Storyline

This paper studies poverty in Madhya Pradesh (MP in what follows) and focuses on

the last two decades or so in terms of empirical evidence and trends; and goes on to suggest

strategic directions that could accelerate the poverty reduction process. The study of poverty

that underlies this paper is however multi-dimensional in scope and character, and not just

income poverty per se, though that remains an essential and critical part of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) based poverty that is addressed here. Several MDGs are

considered in the paper in assessing various dimensions of poverty in Madhya Pradesh, which

then form the basis for poverty reduction strategy for the state. It must be emphasized here

that this is perhaps the beginning of such an exercise and we should not fool ourselves into

believing that we know all the answers to these persistent deprivations and the pitfalls that lie

along our efforts to alleviate them. It is nevertheless an important milestone that we have

reached in this endeavour.

In our quest for identifying a set of policies, we wish to acknowledge the efforts made

thus far by successive governments at the Centre and in MP, but there are also important gaps

that remain in the agenda of poverty reduction. Our objective in this paper is to identify a set

of policies that in our opinion would deliver on the agenda rather than to point out possible

lapses that may have been committed over the decades. The overview chapter that follows

this provides a thorough discussion of all the major issues and the broad policy stance, and

the succeeding chapters present the arguments in their analytical details, embellished with

evidence where desired and available. In the next few pages we provide a storyline that

defines the contours of our strategy.

At the outset a few facts about the characteristics of economic deprivation would be

useful to motivate the discussion. With about 38 per cent of people living below the official

poverty line during 2004-05 (61stround of NSS), MP had the third rank in terms of incidence

of poverty among the major states in India. Unlike at the All India level, incidence of poverty

is higher among urban (42.7%) as compared to rural areas (36.8%). Prima facie, this maysuggest outflow of rural poor to urban areas in search of livelihood options. Among different

social groups scheduled tribes with 57.14 percent and schedule castes with 41.21 percent of

population below the poverty line were regarded as the poorest groups in the state. Poverty in

Madhya Pradesh is also quite severe as reflected by the estimated poverty gap ratio. The high


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agricultural development of the state with environmental consequences in the interest of its

long term sustainability and the prosperity of its stakeholders farmers and rural labour.

When we discuss forestry in the context of MP, we do not look at them merely as a

natural resource, which is of paramount interest no doubt, but also those who are organically

linked with them and have stakes in their sustainability. Agriculture and forests have strong

links, as they complement each other, but they also have strong links with water

conservation; and those who live in forests and mineral rich areas of the state are usually the

least beneficiaries of the large scale and grandiose development plans that are typically

fashionable. They are also chronically poor and most vulnerable of the population in the state.

Thus we would not be able to devise a suitable strategy of growth and development of the

state without caring for these important sections of our society if we ignore these strong

connections.

Whereas allocation of additional funds for strengthening the forestry sector may

operate as a serious limitation, the recent development with regard to compensatory

mechanisms for conservation being evolved through the 13th

Finance Commission is quite

promising. It is however imperative that the funds received through such mechanisms is

appropriately shared between the state and the people who have jointly conserved the forests.

In the same vein new opportunities under the carbon credit mechanisms need to be suitably

explored and the proceeds are made to work for poverty reduction.

Among different social groups scheduled tribes and schedule castes are the poorest

groups. Most of these poor people live in rural areas and forests of MP with limited

livelihood opportunities and quite a large section of them depend on forests and other rural

activities to eke out their subsistence. These need to be woven into the strategy of

development and poverty reduction, and are considered in this paper. We shall return to the

issues of poverty among these major social groups in MP and disparities between them and

the mainstream of society later in this section in the context of other aspects of social and

economic development in the state.

The contours of agriculture extend to livestock rearing and poultry also, and in the

context of MP they could be important sources of supplementary income apart from full time

livelihood choice for many households. In most rural parts the costs of rearing involved in

diary, poultry and hatcheries are relatively modest as these farm animals do not in most cases


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resort to stall feeding, but go out to the village commons for basic feeds. As a result their

produce may be an important source of income to households, both products such as milk and

eggs as well as their meat. These are important in both self-consumption and cash income to

the families, though in the second case marketing of produce may be an effective constraint

in rural areas with poor infrastructure. Thus, agriculture, forestry, poultry, fisheries, livestock

and other sources of livelihood must be considered both as a portfolio of economic

opportunities in a strategy of diversification as well as complementary in others, such as soil

and moisture conservations, manure for fields and long term health of agriculture and forests

as an integral strategy for both rural households and forest dwellers in MP.

Many households are unable to make both ends meet in the face of deteriorating rural

conditions in the state, long term damage to land and natural resources, and demographic

pressure on land and other asset bases of households, and they opt to move elsewhere. Some

end up as nomadic herdsmen, some as casual labour outside the state and others as manual or

semi-skilled workers in low-paid jobs in urban centres in MP and elsewhere. The ensuing

migration is an important fact of life in the state as partly reflected in heightened urban

poverty in recent years. It is true that migration can be an important source of livelihoods, but

that is not so in MP as most of these groups are endowed with low human capital and end up

earning miserable livelihoods elsewhere with little or no surplus left for remittance back

home for those left behind. Presently this is a major constraint to prosperity among people in

MP, but this liability could be turned into an asset with correct identification of a set of

policies such as quality education in the state. This is discussed later. It may be pointed out

here that the legal framework for regulation of inter-state migration in place needs to

effectively work in reality.

Besides, those who suffer from these conditions, particularly the itinerant migrants,

end up losing out considerably in terms of education and healthcare (considered later) for

their families and consequently their longer term prospect of escaping from the trap of

poverty. This is indeed the fate of many deprived groups belonging to SC and ST

communities in the state referred to above. Considering all these aspects together there is no

escape from a strategy that focuses on agriculture and rural development in MP, and one

designed in an integral manner discussed in the paper.


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We shall argue in this paper that the state should not harbour the illusion of large scale

industrial development of the state to take care of employment of its labour force through

migration from agriculture to industry in a dual economy model a laArthur Lewis. However,

a lot more mileage can be derived from value added activities from micro, small and medium

enterprises and their related services in rural areas of MP. Large investments emanating from

the state sector for development of PSU (central or state government) can no longer be

visualized in the changed economic environment. And the competitive race to attract large

private capital can be ruinous to the state coffers and damaging to both the endogenous

communities and the natural resources and environment of the state, and this tendency should

be closely guarded in our opinion; and this competitive race can be quite tough in comparison

with the neighbours such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, which boast of very high levels of

infrastructure support, industrial base and market depth. Hence it is very important to remain

careful about attracting private capital for large industries in MP. Their capacity to deliver on

the objective of inclusive growth and poverty reduction remains doubtful. Hence it may be

wiser to focus on agriculture and relatively smaller rural industries and services development

for achieving poverty reduction in MP.

There has been an increasing recognition the world over of the welfare outcomes of

infrastructural development. Access to infrastructure and basic amenities such as transport,

electricity, housing, drinking water and sanitation, health, educational, and information

services could have direct impact on quality of life and human well being, including

measureable poverty reducing outcomes, besides the growth inducing impacts across the

productive sectors. The states identification of infrastructure development is of critical

importance in this context, both hardcore infrastructure and rural connectivity, including

public provisioning for agricultural and irrigation, marketing, etc. As argued above, MP has

to largely focus on agriculture and relatively small and agro-processing industries, industrial

clusters of micro and small industries, etc. and all these are very dependent on public

provisioning of utilities and services. The challenge in our context is to make the

infrastructural agenda work directly in favour of the poor and the sectors on which they

depend for their livelihoods. Selection of the nature, scale, technology, ownership, and

location of the infrastructural projects therefore needs to be done by using the pro-poor lens.


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Road connectivity plays a crucial role in accessing the above services at distant places

and also for seeking economic activities outside the region. This would imply appropriate

priority being accorded to rural roads, especially in remote areas. Markets and marketing of

products of agriculture and micro and small enterprises face considerable hurdles in the

absence of connectivity and other communications facilities and these get a major boost with

physical infrastructure development.

Provisioning of physical infrastructure for health and education is important; what is

important however is to make optimal use of the existing provisions by making marginal

investments, so that for instance, teachers teach in the schools that are already there. It is also

important that several of the rural infrastructures such as these could be planned, developed

and managed by local communities through Panchyats and community organizations, which

may seek contributions in terms of labour and other resources available locally to increase the

returns to investment. The same may be done for optimizing infrastructure investment for the

health sector.

It is very important to consider issues of institutional structure, governance and

participation opportunities of the stake holders in all the changes contemplated, including

rights based issues that exist in several programmes such as NREGS. A lot of rural

infrastructures can be put in place with correct leadership, participation and simple

technology, such as for water harvesting, soil conservation, etc. and these are important

issues for governance that are well known.

Tourism of different hues is a hugely important source of livelihoods and employment

in the state and this has already been identified by the state. This can truly be made world

class over time with judicious policy for both domestic and international tourists. For

achieving this objective however quite a lot is required by way of not only infrastructure but

also education, training and identification of other provisions.

Turning to the health sector it is seen that MP displays one of the worst records and

possibly unacceptably high infant and child mortality rates (IMR, CMR) even by Indian

standards, and these need immediate attention. These are not only important MDGs and also

targets set by the national planning objectives, but such lapses degenerate into major hurdles

in other social and economic objectives of development. High IMR and CMR are

immediately reflected in low life expectancy at birth and these are clearly seen in the


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statistics for MP. Experience in various countries, and in several states in India show that it is

possible to make considerable dents in them by simple and low cost methods even in the rural

setting with some trained personnel and clean environment and low cost medicines and

support. Malnutrition of mother and children also affect the outcome and these need

addressing. Of course, some superstitions also exacerbate the problems along with the

widespread practice of low age at marriage and child birth and these must be curbed by direct

intervention by the state and effective education. All through however a central concern

running through health, illness, disease, morbidity, and death is the access to good quality

water for human consumption. This is a matter for serious attention by the state and the

municipal authorities. It is true that education, particularly of women, can contribute to better

healthcare of the household and its children, but the responsibility of the state can not be

washed away in this context.

Other than reflecting deplorable social statistics, major improvements in infant and

child mortality rates also have major economic gains for the state as children get educated

and join the work force. Combined with good quality education and training these new

cohorts of the hitherto non-existent or morbid members of society will add to productivity,

output and savings and bring growth and prosperity to MP the so-called demographic

dividends. When they migrate their prosperous livelihoods elsewhere would be reflected in

bountiful remittances, as seen in case of several other states in India like Kerala, or the Indian

and Chinese diasporas around the world today. These add to the demographic dividend of

turning around mortality rates in a society. Of course this ought to be combined with

interventions in nutrition to children and mothers, effective education and conducive work

opportunities to derive the desired benefits.

Improvements in quality and quantity of education need no emphasis, and while we

are aware of these now, and MP is no exception to this from its eagerness to intervene in this

area, the result on the ground is not always robust. We need to remind ourselves that an

improved outcome on this score would cut across virtually all dimensions and bring about

significant results on multi-dimensional poverty reduction outcomes. Some generic issues

relating to primary education are recounted here and an analysis with data is covered in

chapter 6.


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Despite quantum jumps in number for primary education several problems remain. These

include the rural-urban divide, the massive gender gap that persists, the participation and

achievement differences among social groups and in particular the difficulties faced by the

sizeable tribal populations in these areas. Ashram schools for tribals, notwithstanding many

of their inadequacies that need addressing, show their promise in the tribal context. It is also

important to keep the migrant childrens educational needs in mind, especially since in many

districts migration due to livelihood compulsions is a serious matter for several months in a

year and acutely so among several tribal groups in the state.

Enrolment at school is not a serious problem any more though there are doubts about

the veracity of claims in many cases. There are however important gaps that remain in all

aspects mentioned above, by area, gender, social groups, etc. Retention at school or its

obverse the dropout rate, and particularly as we go up the grade levels, is a more serious

problem among different categories of students. Retention is a general and genuine problem,

but it is more acute in rural areas, among low income groups, among girl students and SCs

and STs. Typically a girl student drops out early to help in domestic chores and sibling care

and in preparation of a new life after marriage at early age, and this problem is acute in low

income groups, rural areas and disadvantaged social groups. And the dropout rate assumes

precipitate levels at puberty for girls. It is however not true that the situation is satisfactory

for boys at that level either, though the context could be different. It is frequently the inability

to support education against the competing compulsion of working for livelihoods. It is also

issues of relevance of curricula, the quality and quantity of teaching material and the

inadequate infrastructure that are relevant.

An inadequacy that is particularly felt is the quality and commitment of teachers and

their adequacy and attendance in schools, particularly in rural areas. Teacher availability and

absenteeism when employed continue to remain relevant. In order to address the issue of

inadequacy of teaching staff in primary schools, special emphasis may be given to

recruitment of female teachers. This may open up avenues for female workers, especially

those who are willing to re-enter the job market at a later stage of their reproductive phase.

This may yield double dividends; one in terms of gender empowerment and another in the

form of obtaining stable and committed teaching staff from the local communities. This


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group may also get themselves involved over time in the larger issues of governance with

greater empowerment in the process.

Community participation and endeavors are important in this context. This perhaps

suggests a need to re-think over the entire issue of educational system, which may essentially

require participation of the parents and community more than the involvement of the private

sector for creating a parallel system for schooling and coaching classes that may create

further divisions between the poor and the rest.

A vigilant civil society is critical to good governance both of which continue to

remain inadequate for MP. A prognosis of what actions are possible, in addition to education

and political empowerment of the people that is underway, is seriously called for and some

issues are raised in this context. One reason for this is the fractured nature in the composition

of MP as a state and the continued domination of conservative forces in the ruling elite. Lack

of an industrial culture and a docile peasantry, and the absence of a critical intelligentsia

while they provide a peaceable social milieu, is not quite the fertile ground for such a civil

society.


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Chapter 2: Poverty Reduction Strategy in Madhya Pradesh: An Overview

1. Introduction:

With about 38 per cent of people living below the official poverty line during 2004-

05, the state of Madhya Pradesh accounted for nearly 11 per cent of the total poor population

in the country (Dev and Ravi, 2007). Of these, tribals are the most poor among social groups

as found elsewhere in most parts of India. Tribal communities are the most poor among social

groups as found elsewhere in most parts of India. In rural area 58.6 per cent of the tribal

population was found to be poor as compared to 42.8 per cent among the (SCs). The

incidence of poverty among STs and SCs in Madhya Pardesh is significantly higher than that

at the All India level. Tracking the high and persistent poverty in the state thus poses a

serious challenge especially in the wake of the large but stagnant agrarian economy in the

state.

Recent policy documents for the state have appropriately emphasized the central role

for agriculture sector, engaging as it does 71 per cent of the workforce in the state, as the

mainstay of the poverty reduction approach during the next 5-10 years5. It also lays specific

emphasis on development as well as provisioning of economic and social infrastructure with

special thrust on expansion of roads and power network in the rural areas. The target is to

reduce poverty from 38 to 25 per cent during the XI plan period. Though fairly valid, the

approach however may need fine tuning and further detailing in the light of the context

specific scenarios pertaining to a) natural resource endowment, b) past experiences with

respect to some of the major poverty reduction programmes, and above all c) socio-

economic-political dynamics influencing the nature and effectiveness of governance at

various levels.

At the outset it may be reiterated that Madhya Pradesh is characterized by certain

special features that constrain, and at times offer, potentially facilitating environment for

economic growth and poverty reduction. Some of the important facilitating factors include

the states central location, rich natural resources, and relatively less conflict ridden socio-

economic political environment, whereas the major constraints seem to have been in terms of

its feudal agrarian relations, absence of historical trade links, and above all the lack of a clear

5 The GoMP has prepared a Draft Annual Plan for 2009-10 ( www.mp.in/sbp/annualplan/AP-2009-10/home9x.htm). This paper draws upon and refers to this document at various points.


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strategy for driving economic growth. While some of these factors appear similar to that

found in the other neibouring states (in the `BIMARU category) such as Rajasthan on the

west side and Chhatisgadh, Orissa, Bihar on the eastern side, there are a few distinct features

that make MP fairly different from these states. It is essential to understand the finer aspects

of these distinguishing features so as to be able to understand the genesis of persistent

poverty and the dynamics of growth (or lack of that) in the state.

This paper aims at identifying certain specific attributes of what could be described as

`agriculture centric and human development focused strategy for poverty reduction in the

light of the context specific scenarios obtaining across sectors and regions in the state. The

paper is structured as follows: The next section 2 presents a brief recapitulation of macro

economic environment in the state, followed by the challenges of poverty reduction and

human development in section 3. Section 4 deals with sectoral thrust covering agriculture and

forests; industries, mining and energy; and health and education. The next section focuses on

some of the cross cutting aspects such as infrastructure development and right based

approach for access to resources/amenities, employment, and information. Section 6

discusses the issues pertaining to governance in the light of the political economy of poverty

reduction in the state. The last section 7 highlights major policy implications that need

immediate attention.

2. Macro Economic Environment: Imperatives for Poverty Reducing and Sustainable

Growth

Madhya Pradesh has relatively low economic base and a fairly slow pace of growth in

terms of state domestic product. In 2007-08 per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) in

Madhya Pradesh was Rs. 13299, which was almost 55 per cent of the all India level. During

1999-00 and 2007-08 per capita NSDP has grown 0.8 per cent per annum as compared to

4.85 at the national level. This more or less suggests a scenario of stagnancy in the state

economy accompanied by fairly substantial rise in population till the recent times. The

problem of low initial level of economic development is accentuated by sustained lower rate

of growth in the NSDP, which grew at the moderate rate of 2.51 per cent during the same

period.


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Of late the state economy has shown some degree of buoyancy registering a growth

rate of 3.78 per cent per annum during the period 1999-00 to 2007-08. While a part of the

buoyancy could be due to the abysmally low growth (i.e. 0.74 % per annum) during the early

part of 2000, it is nevertheless important to take note of the developments that have

contributed to the rise in NSDP in the period after 2003-04. The sectoral distribution of

growth suggests that a large part of the increase has come from secondary sector, followed by

the tertiary sector. Unpacking the sources of this growth is important for gauging its

implications of poverty reduction. It seems that the recent increase in the growth rate of

secondary and tertiary sectors is rooted in fresh investment coming to industrial sectors and

the expansion of the Government sector. Would this help reducing poverty of the kind that

persists in the state in the short or medium term? It is pertinent to address this question while

discussing the poverty reduction strategy in the subsequent analysis in the paper.

On the other side agriculture sector, accounting for about 28-30 per cent of the NSDP

does not show significant improvement. During 2003-04 and 2007-08, the sector had grown

at 0.34 per cent per annum, despite the state having experienced relatively better monsoon

during most parts of this period. The pertinent questions in this context are: Why has

agriculture sector failed to show any buoyancy in the recent period? And, what needs to be

done in order to lift the sector from its long drawn stagnancy syndrome in a manner that helps

the poor on a sustained basis? Getting a more nuanced understanding is crucial as the sector

has already received the due priority in the wake of the recent policy thinking in the state.

The long drawn stagnancy in the state economy has led to a sense of urgency for

boosting up economic growth during the XI Five Year Plan. The target is to attain 7.9 per

cent rate of growth taking a major leap from the modest rate of 3.8 per cent achieved during

2003-04 and 2007-08. The sectoral targets are set as 5, 10, and 8 per cent for primary,

secondary and tertiary sectors respectively.While the urgency and hope (based on the recent

upsurge of growth in secondary and tertiary sectors) is well in place, it is imperative to

examine the feasibility and the strategy that may actually work on ground towards meeting

the target.

Apart from benefiting directly from the sector specific growth, the state also needs to

boost up its economy in order to access its own resource base for investing that in various


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priority sectors, including agriculture and infrastructure development both economic and

social. In absence of this, the state is bound to continue its dependence on the Centrally

Sponsored Schemes (CSS) for development in general and poverty reduction in particular.

This syndrome of excessive dependence on CSS may have its own flip side especially

because of the restrictions they may impose on prioritization, sequencing and continuity of

such interventions. However, a relevant issue that emerges in the context of the states access

to financial resources is that of its effective use. This is important because generating the

requisite additional resources by boosting up economic growth within the state may take

longer than 5-10 years. Meanwhile the state may continue to draw from the already existing

schemes of the Central Government. In both cases the issue of `how effectively these

resources have been used would remain critical, hence warrants careful introspection.

It is here that the larger question of governance and the political economy shaping that

comes to the centre stage of the poverty reduction strategy discussed later in the paper.

3. Multidimensional Poverty and Human Development: Interface and Challenges

Extent and Nature of Poverty:

While the state has achieved notable reduction in poverty since the mid seventies, the

rate of poverty reduction in the more recent period (i.e. during 1999-00 and 2004-05) has

come to a halt, if not undergone reversal in the direction of change. Similarly the poverty gap

and squared poverty gap (denoting depth and severity of income deprivation among the poor) indexes

also decreased during this period in the state but the rate of decrease in these indexes has also

been slower compared to the national average as well as most of the major states of the country. The

rate of poverty reduction in M.P. was 1.09 as against the national average of 1.96 per cent per

annum. Similarly the poverty gap and squared poverty gap indexes also decreased during this

period in the state but the rate of decrease in these indexes has also been slower compared to the

national average as well as most of the major states of the country. According the estimates by Dev

and Ravi (2007), nearly 16 per cent of the population in the state was in the category of very

poor, whose expenditure level is below 75 per cent of the official poverty line. This is

substantially higher than the national average of 10.3 per cent. This proportion is higher than

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Unlike the all-India average, the incidence of poverty is higher among urban (42.7%)

as compared to rural areas (36.8%). Prima facie, this may suggest the outflow of rural poor to


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urban areas in search of livelihood options (UNDP, 2007 p. 74). While one finds a similar

pattern in other states like Gujarat, the situation is not quite comparable due to the fact that: a)

M.P., unlike Gujarat, is a state with net out-migration; and b) the relatively urban poverty is

juxtaposed against a fairly high level of overall poverty (almost double that of Gujarat) in the

state. The impact of migration is further reflected by rural-urban differences across regions

shown on Table 1. Close to half of the rural population in Vindhya, central and southern

regions in M. P. were poor during 2004-05. In urban areas, poverty is particularly high in

Northern region besides central and southern regions in the state.

A comparative analysis of NSSO-regions also suggest that all the six NSSO-regions

in the state were among the top 20 regions with highest incidence of poverty in the country;

and that five out of the six regions (except Northern) had appeared in the list of those that

were present in the three consecutive rounds of the NSSO-survey since 1987 (Shah, 2007).

This suggests that in a relative sense, poverty has been more or less intractable in most parts

(regions) of the state; the only other state that shows a similar pattern is Bihar. Chronicity of

poverty thus becomes an important feature of Madhya Pradesh, which essentially may call for

a more structural diagnosis of poverty in the state, as discussed later in this paper.

Apart from poverty being persistent and severe, the sate is also caught in a trap of

multidimensional poverty capturing the critical dimensions of human development. As a

measure of multi-dimensional poverty, Chaurasia (2009) has estimated district wise Human

Poverty Index (HPI) by incorporating the following four indicators (See the figure below):

Probability of a new born not surviving to 5 years of age.

Proportion of population at least 15 years old illiterate - unable to read

and write with understanding.

Proportion of asset less households, households having none of the

following six assets - radio/transistor, television, telephone, bicycle,

scooter/motorcycle/moped, and car/jeep/van. Proportion of households without access to safe drinking water.


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Figure 1: Social Categorywise Multidimensional Poverty (%) in Madhya Pradesh 2001

Two important aspects emerge from these estimates. First, unlike the HCR, which

takes into account only the money metric measure, human poverty index is found to be

significantly higher in rural areas than that in urban areas. Secondly, STs are the most

vulnerable social groups, a large proportion of which are located in forest based regions in the

state.

The estimate of Human Development Index (HDI) for M.P. during the year 2001 was

0.394 as against 0.472 for all-India. The state ranked fourth from the bottom, only after Bihar,Assam and Uttar Pradesh. Among districts in the state, the HDI varies significantly from

more than 0.6 in the case of districts with major urban centers like Indore, Harda, Bhopal,

Gwalior, Dewas, and Ujjain to as low as 0.398 in Jhabua.


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The various evidence presented in this report reveal that poverty (measured through

head count ratio, HCR) in MP is fairly widespread; it has persisted over a long period in most

parts of the state; and it has also spilled over from rural to urban areas. What is also important

is that the HCR and HPI depict a divergent scenario across rural and urban areas in the state.

Interface between Poverty (HCR) and Human Development:

A recent analysis of the typology of major states in the country indicates that Madhya

Pradesh falls into the category of a `vicious cycle with low levels of economic growth, per

capita income, and human development (Shah and Shiddhalingaswamy, 2009). This however

may not imply that the two sets of poverty-dimensions (i.e. income and human development)

are entirely independent of each other. The analysis of rank co-relation among the three

indicators viz; income, education and health capabilities across districts in the state brought

out two important findings: First, income and educational capability have significant positive

correlation. The causation, as indicated by several studies, may by and large imply that

persons endowed with higher income ends up with better educational attainment; the

causation to work in reverse direction may not be so strong especially at low levels of

income. And, second, attainment of health status is not significantly linked with income or

education. This may suggest that higher income may be a necessary but not sufficient

condition for ensuring better health status as much would depend on the effective access and

quality of health services besides affordability.

Together the evidence reinstates the importance of working simultaneously towards

income enhancement and provisioning of health-educational services. The important point

however is that improvement of these two sets of poverty indicators should take place

through processes that help building close links among each other lest the improvements turn

out to be short-lived. Identifying the right kind of policies that could build convergence

between income and human development aspects thus poses a critical challenge, which

essentially goes beyond attaining higher economic growth or creating the requisite physical

infrastructure for health and educational servicesper se.

4. Sectoral Strategies: Salient Features

This section discusses strategies for strengthening three groups of sectors viz,

agriculture and forest, industry and minerals, and education and health in the context of their


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specific roles in poverty reduction in the state. While these sectors have been given due

importance in the current Five Year Plan in the state, the focus here is to present a more

nuanced understanding on what kind of growth in these sectors could work for poverty

reduction on a sustained basis as against promoting growthper se.

a) Agriculture and Forests:

Given the critical dependence of a large proportion of the rural population on

agriculture and forest resources in the state, this sector has unequivocally assumed the central

stage of planned development and poverty reduction policies in the state. Evolving a strategy

for pro-poor and sustainable growth in agriculture and forests, however, calls for a careful

scrutiny of land and water resource endowment on the one hand and access to forest

resources, especially among the tribals, on the other hand. The strategy for agriculture-

forestry based growth therefore needs to be fine tuned in the light of the situation analyses on

these aspects.

The policy approach at present has laid special emphasis on expansion and utilization

of irrigation potential (both-surface and ground water) along with provisioning of road and

energy infrastructure to support this `irrigation driven approach for agricultural growth in the

state. While the critical role of irrigation in promoting agricultural productivity in the state

can not be over emphasized, it is imperative to note that such an approach may meet with

limitations set by geo-hydrological features, if not access and equity issues, obtaining across

different ago-climatic regions in the state.

The water resources in the state are marked by certain specific geo-hydrological

features that may have significant bearing on the water resource development. Madhya

Pradesh is a heterogenous state situated mostly on the upper watersheds of ten river basins

with poor quality soils of low soil depth and high slopes and some black soils of medium to

deep soil depth with flat slopes underlain by impervious hard rock. Consequently the natural

recharge is low and despite a moderate rainfall most of the state is in a physically water

scarce region. Thus the state comprises the uplands of Central India forming a drainage

divide between north, west and east flowing rivers. It has a semi arid upstream topography

with all the major rivers flowing outward from the state and lesser potential for natural water

storage.


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This constraint on water availability was sought to be overcome by providing

electricity at a subsidised rate for the operation of pumps and subsidised loans to purchase

these pumps and other accessories. Thus farmers could tap the water stored in the deeper

confined aquifers by sinking tube wells and installing submersible pumps and also the base

flow in the streams and rivers through lift irrigation at relatively small capital and operating

cost to themselves. In 1993 the supply of electricity to agricultural pumps of 5 horsepower or

less was made free by the government, thus further reducing the cost of water. In a situation

in which this extraction cost was rendered close to zero by electricity being made free and the

water, itself being a common property resource, did not have any price attached to it and

neither did its depletion result in a scarcity value, all the farmers tended to use as much water

as they could get, in the long run the water would be finished even if a few farmers adopted a

more conservationist approach. Consequently the groundwater situation in the state has

become very serious.

The strategy for agricultural growth therefore needs to seriously address these issues.

This essentially may imply a) moving towards a more water saving rather than water

intensive crops and technologies; and b) shifting to farming systems approach to suit the

agro-climatic conditions ranging from dry land to humid and forest-linked agriculture.

Promotion of skill and labour intensive farm practices to partly replace use of chemical inputs

may simultaneously help reducing cost and increasing the demand for productive labour in

the sector.

Enhancing soil moisture profile (rather than increasing the use of water per se),

through development of watershed and small catchments should be given a higher priority in

water resource development for promoting agriculture in the state. This should also provide

impetus for generating additional bio-mass that may be required for building up soil fertility.

In this context, forest-linked farming systems may deserve special attention.

At the same time command area development requires special attention so as to

harness the potential created through building of dams. There is urgent need to develop canal

systems right up to the field channels with proper lining and also putting up drainage

channels for carrying away the excess water. Land leveling of the farms within command

area is very crucial for facilitating efficient use of the canal water. A legislation for

participatory irrigation management is in place but its implementation needs to be


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strengthened significantly. A large part of these activities could be undertaken through

NREGS with pro-active involvement of the water users association.

Overall, the need is to move in the direction of promoting skill (rather than input)

intensive farming systems by providing adequate price and non-price support through pro-

active polices by the state.

Forest Resources and Tribals Livelihood

The legally notified forest area in the state is 95221 sq. kms., which is 31% of the

total area of the state. Of this 61.7 % are under reserved forests, 37.4% are under protected

forests and 0.9% is unclassified. The growing forest stock is estimated to be 500 lakh cubic

meters and is valued at Rs 2.5 lakh crores. The government has constituted a Madhya Pradesh

Minor Forest Produce Federation to oversee the collection, processing, marketing, research

and extension related to these valuable resources so as to provide the maximum benefits to

poor forest dwellers who are mostly Adivasis.

The major challenge to forest management however is the pressure on the forests

created by the livelihood needs of those residing in or near them, mainly the Adivasis. There

are 6 lakh headloaders in the state who draw as much as Rs 250 crores worth of fuelwood

every year. A livestock population of about two crores is also dependent on these forests for

grazing. In addition 20 lakh cattle and other animals visit the state from Rajasthan every year.

Apart from this there are encroachments for agriculture. There are as many as 50,000

encroachers occupying 1.43 lakh hectares of forestland.

The pressure on forests tends to get aggravated because of the stagnancy in

agriculture and the allied sector in the forest-based regions. It is therefore imperative to

develop forest-linked farming system that generates additional bio-mass for building up of

the soil fertility, thereby reducing dependence on external inputs such as chemical fertilizer

and irrigation- the point already noted above. The idea is to make agriculture and forests

complementary rather than substitutes for each other in providing livelihood support to the

tribal communities in the region.

The forests are managed by the forest department in accordance with working plans,

which are drawn up every 10 years for each of the 60 forest divisions in the state. The legal

authority in the hands of forest department staff has historically led to situations of


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continuous contestations, corruption, and excessive extraction by various sources including

the local communities. Of late the tribals have begun to organise themselves and demand

their rights, particularly the right to a decent livelihood. The passage of the Scheduled Tribes

and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act 2006 resulted in a new situation with

the rights of the forest dwellers strengthened. So far only about thirty thousand of the three

and a half lakhs of claims for rights made under this Act in the state have been settled in a

token manner, while for most of the others the process of verification has not even started. In

many cases the claims have been rejected without due verification on the ground. This needs

to be expedited.

It may however, be noted that providing legal access to forests among the local

communities may not necessarily result in regeneration and better management of forest

resources. This is particularly important in the light of the fact that most of the land accessed

by the triabls is already degraded thereby calling for additional investment for which the poor

may not have any disposable funds. A lot more therefore needs to be done by way of

promoting regenerative agriculture suitable to the ecology in the region. In this context, the

recent moves towards payment of compensation for forest ecosystem conservation may

assume special significance. What is however essential is that the forest dwellers should also

receive a part of the compensation for regenerating/conserving the forests. Some of the

provisions under the Climate Change framework may also be taken due advantage of. All

these may call for region specific planning and strategies as has been discussed subsequently.

Credit and Market Support

Access to institutional credit and marketing are equally critical for addressing the

needs of the poor producers. The present set of interventions mainly in terms of Self Help

Groups (SHGs) along with micro finance, and the modified Agricultural Produce Marketing

Cooperatives (APMC) need fresh thinking.

The experience from a large number of SHGs suggests that these institutions need to

be made viable by creating federations and linking them with institutional finance. Also the

SHGs need to be simultaneously dovetailed with the improvements to take place in the

spheres of production and marketing. What is therefore essential is to ensure institutional

support and hand holding over a longer period of time by creating dedicated organizations


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within the Departments or NGOs or jointly by the two. The successful experiments from

states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and also from parts of M.P. (e.g. promotion of SHGs by

ASA) invariably suggest criticality of institutional support over a longer period of time.

For rural marketing, the need is to balance between public (including cooperative) and

private operators so as to ensure healthy competition for protecting the interests of both

producers and consumers. The recent modification in the APMC therefore is a step in the

right direction. There is however, ample scope for promoting producers organizations

(including Producers Companies and Rural Business Hubs) for facilitating timely supply of

inputs, processing of farm produce, and output marketing. All these, once again, will

necessitate an umbrella organization for putting in place a regulating mechanism and

overseeing the actual operations by different players. An umbrella organization such as this

may have representatives from different segments of the market viz; the state, producers,

private players, NGOs and consumers.

b) Industry, Mining and Energy:

The growth experience in the secondary sector has a raised fair amount of optimism

on the prospects of industrialization in the state. A closer look at the composition of the

industrial sector in the state reveals that whereas the state does not have much presence in

manufacturing industry (accounting for only 6 % of the NSDP), there has been an increasing

thrust on promoting this sector by attracting mega projects for expansion in downstream

projects and also SEZs so as to be able to keep pace with the developments elsewhere in the

country. Such plans, as noted earlier, may involve longer time frame and also uncertainty

about their realization, given the competitive fiscal incentives and concessions offered by

already industrialized states in the proximity viz, Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are

however, some new opportunities opening up with the development of the Delhi-Mumabi

Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and also through the likely spill over effects of the industrial

corridor in the eastern part of Gujarat. An important point in this context however is that even

if these are realized in the next 5-10 years, industrialization of such type does not necessarily

penetrate deeper into the hinterland, especially in the absence of dynamic agriculture sector in

the periphery. Industrial growth of this type therefore may not assume special significance

from the view point of poverty reduction in the present context.


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On the other hand, the state is known for two important industrial activities. First,

handloom and specialized textile-printing, and second, nature-historical tourism on the other.

These two sub-sectors need special emphasis through comprehensive approach for cluster

based development. Adding a special thrust of ecological conservation may hold special

promise. It is imperative that promotion of traditional textiles and tourism is attained with a

view to create employment/income opportunities for the local communities. These aspects are

often missed out in the race of reaching out to large number of buyers/tourists from all over

the world, with thrust on standardized or certified products/services to cater to high end

market. The need however is to balance the sectors in such a manner that these activities may

also retain their roots in local producers/entrepreneurs and buyers/customers.

A similar approach may apply to mineral based industries though much of the

resources have been already lost out to Chhatisgarh. Overall the industry-mining sector may

be accorded relatively limited space in the context of poverty reduction in the state.

c) Health and Education:

Madhya Pradesh has a dubious distinction of having the lowest expectation of life at

birth in India which indicates that the health of the people of Madhya Pradesh is amongst the

poorest in the country. It also reflects a comparatively high infant and child mortality rates for

the state. According to the Sample Registration System, the expectation of life at birth in

Madhya Pradesh was around 58 years during the period 2002-06 which was 5.5 years less

than the expectation of life at birth for India as a whole (Government of India, 2008). The

situation was radically different about 30 years ago, during 1971-75, when the expectation of

life at birth in Madhya Pradesh was 47.6 years which was higher than the expectation of life

at birth in Assam, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh (Government of India, 1984). If the trend in the

expectation of life at birth is a reflection of the progress in health and well- being of the

people, then the increase in the expectation of life at birth suggests that improvements in

health and well-being of the people of Madhya Pradesh have been the slowest amongst the

major states of India during the 30 years between 1971-75 through 2002-06. Obviously,

poverty of health remains a major challenge in Madhya Pradesh. The persistence of poor

health and well-being of the people of the state, incidentally, has important implications for

other dimensions of poverty and hence for poverty reduction efforts.


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The Government of Madhya Pradesh has drafted the State Health Policy quite

sometime back. This policy still remains at the draft stage. It aims at addressing the issues of

physical access; effectiveness and affordability of that may still remain a questionable

proposition. It is however suggested that Madhya Pradesh Health Policy should focus on

creating opportunities for the people of the state to adopt positive health seeking behaviour by

making informed choices to ensure healthy life style for themselves, their family members

and to build and sustain a healthy environment in which they live, work and play. It should be

directed to achieve the following.

1) To increase the number of years of healthy life of the people of the state; 2) ensure

lasting improvements in the health-related quality of life of the people of the state which

reflects a personal sense of physical and mental health and ability to react to physical and

social environments; and 3) eliminate health related inequalities or disparities across different

segments of the population. To achieve the above goals, the action points are summarised in

section 7 in bullets points.

On Education front the state has performed relatively better through its massive

efforts for raising the literacy level from 45 to 64 during 1991 and 2001. This seems to have

been attained by expanding the network of primary schools and adult literacy centres. This

involved massive recruitment of para-professionals (Shiksha Karmis) to teach in the schools.

Initially a good move, the policy of para-professionals seems to have created major stumbling

blocks in the delivery of educational services for the last five years. The situation is very grim

as it arose out of what may be called a quick fix solution for spearheading the drive for

enhancing literacy levels in the state. The para-professionals have more or less stopped

attending to the schools in the wake of their pending demand - a salary hike and/or

regularization of their services.

What is in fact strange about this grim scenario is that no one in the villages,

including the Panchayats and Shiksha Samitis, have formal platforms for voicing their

demands for education in their respective villages. The situation needs immediate solution if

the goal of universal primary education is to be met. The recent developments in the wake of

Right to Education may help finding some solution to the basic problem of having the

teachers to teach; the other issues of quality of education and facilities at the schools thus

may get relegated to secondary concerns at this stage.


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This perhaps suggests a need to re-think over the entire issue of educational system,

which may essentially require participation of the parents and community rather than

involvement of the private sector for creating a parallel system for schooling and coaching

classes that may create further divisions between the poor and the rest.

Another key concern that has emerged is the quality of education. The available

evidence suggests that in terms of the quality of education, Madhya Pradesh ranks the lowest

amongst the states and Union Territories of the country, although the state has done relatively

better in improving the infrastructure and facilities. In this context, they need to revise their

approach for teacher recruitment and teacher development.

The state also needs to focus on higher and technical education also as the only way to

develop human resources is through higher and technical education only. The state record in

this context remains far from satisfactory. Privatisation of higher and technical education in

the state has resulted in mushrooming of a large number of private institutions with grossly

inadequate infrastructure and facilities and very little focus on research that contributes to

improving the productivity of social and economic production system. State investment in the

higher and technical education sector needs to be increased. At the same time regulatory

mechanism for ensuring the quality and relevance of technical and higher education needs to

be put in place.

5. Promoting Access to Infrastructure/Amenities and Rights based Approaches:

Walking on Two Legsa) Access to Infrastructure/Amenities among Poor:

Promoting sectoral growth with specific thrusts noted above however may necessitate

support in terms of provisioning of various social and physical infrastructure and rights-based

entitlements. There has been an increasing recognition of the welfare outcomes of

infrastructural development world over. Access to infrastructure and basic amenities such as

transport, electricity, housing, drinking water and sanitation, health, educational, and

information services could have direct impact on quality of life and human well being,

including measureable poverty reducing outcomes, besides the growth inducing impacts

across the productive sectors.

The recent Human Development Report for M.P. has highlighted the need for

enhancing infrastructural facilities as a strategy for promoting economic opportunities,

human development and poverty reduction. This indeed is an important break through from


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the conventional approaches that laid major emphasis on promoting macro-economic growth

for percolation to take place, which was later on followed by direct attack on poverty by way

of supporting income and employment generating sectors for the poor, and subsequently

provisioning of direct subsidies through social protection measures.

Promoting infrastructural facilities in a state like Madhya Pradesh also assumes

special significance in the sense that initiatives such as this could attract fresh flux of capital

investment for which the state does not have their own resources. Given this rationale, the

emphasis is likely to be more on large scale, capital intensive and perhaps growth promoting

infrastructural projects such as irrigation, power generation, and road construction.

The challenge in our context is to make the infrastructural agenda work directly in

favour of the poor and the sectors on which they depend for their livelihood. Selection of the

nature, scale, technology, ownership, and location of the infrastructural projects therefore

needs to be seen by using the pro-poor lens. This would imply that:

Drinking water should be given very high priority. Since much of the drinking water

supply schemes depend on ground water, which has already been already over

exploited, the focus should shift on harvesting and replenishing the water resources

through micro level initiatives like watershed development and rain water harvesting

rather than by digging more wells/bore wells and using electricity for pumping water

and then transporting to distance places.

Provisioning of physical infrastructure for health and education is important; what is

however more important is to make the teachers teach in the schools that are already

constructed. Also several of the rural infrastructures such as these could be planned,

developed and managed by local communities through Panchyats and community

organizations, which in turn may seek contribution in terms of labour and other

resources available locally.

Road connectivity plays a crucial role in accessing the above services at distant places

and also for seeking economic activities outside the region. This would implyappropriate priority being accorded to rural roads, especially in remote areas. Markets

and marketing of products of agriculture and micro and small enterprises face

considerable hurdles in the absence of connectivity and other communications

facilities and these get a major boost with physical infrastructure development.


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Since poor in the state depend largely on agriculture and forests, electricity driven

irrigation schemes may have limited scope for them given the geo-hydrological

features noted earlier. Similarly, regeneration of forest ecology may not require

development of large/medium irrigation schemes that lead to destruction rather than

regeneration of forest resources.

Lastly, a number of schemes already exist for promoting rural housing and sanitation.

The need is to work out more location specific solutions going beyond the pre-

determined norms of centrally/externally designed schemes.

All these are not to deny the importance of some of the large scale, capital intensive

and growth inducing projects for infrastructural development. The bottom line however, is to

ensure that larger projects such as these are not taken up at the cost of the pro-poor

infrastructural initiatives. Balancing this is difficult, especially because creation and

sustenance of pro-poor infrastructure in rural areas is far more complex than perhaps erecting

a few mega projects. The complexities arise mainly because of the vast coverage, areas and

beneficiaries, poor affordability, and absence of institutional mechanism at the local level for

ensuring that poor have their equal share in the benefits.

b) Rights-based and Participatory Approaches

Given the challenges of making the growth/development work for poor, a number of

initiatives have been taken up for promoting community based participation in the process of

implementation, if not so much in planning and designing. The state has taken a lead in

initiating several of these initiatives such as watershed Development, NREGS, SSA,

Drinking Water Mission, and joint Forest Management, credit support through Self-Help

Groups and livelihood support to ST- SC populations. Also emphasis has been laid on gender

equity especially in education and livelihood programmes.

In fact, the policies, like in most other states and the country as a whole, consists of a

number of well-intended schemes and programmes to reach out to the poor. The question is

that of adequacy and more than that their effective coverage of the poor and the most

marginalized among the communities and the regions. For instance, Madhya Pradesh has

attained a fairly impressive track record in terms of implementation of NREGS and also for

improving the school enrolment rate as well as literacy as compared to several other states.


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While it is too early to make any judgment on the poverty reducing impacts of these

initiatives, observations, though scattered, are at best mixed. Implementation of the Forest

Rights Act, however is one of the weaker components in the rights based initiatives

undertaken in the state.

There is however immense scope for improving the efficacy of these special schemes

and programmes such that they could actually make a difference on the life of the poor.

Improving the effectiveness of these initiatives however, may call for corrections at both

planning as well as implementation levels. The challenge is to go beyond the sectoral

approach for development and evolve a more comprehensive strategy to reach out to the poor

by identifying homogenous spatial clusters based on agro-ecological or social-political

characteristics. While this essentially involves convergence of various sectoral schemes and

rights-based programmes as envisaged by the newly crafted concept of Integrated Livelihood

Progarmme6, the comprehensive approach mentioned above may go beyond horizontal

convergence across the existing schemes.

An important element in the comprehensive approach is systematic planning for the

spatial clusters/regions based primarily on the resource endowment, socio-economic

characteristics, geographical context or connectivity. An approach such as this may involve

setting up of the region specific targets, priorities, resource allocation and also institutions

that are suitable to the spatial clusters/regions. In doing so it may unshackle poverty reduction

policies/initiates from the strait jacket approaches prescribed by Centrally Sponsored as well

as Externally Funded Programmes that are presently at the forefront of poverty reduction

policies in the state.

Adopting such a comprehensive region specific approach would require getting back

to the mode of systematic and multi-layered planning as against the present approach of

floating a number of schemes (and perhaps convergence thereof) through lateral distribution

of funds received through CSS or the donor agencies along with the priorities set by these

agencies. The policy space created through some of the Rights-based initiatives may have

greater chance of being used in favour of the relatively poorer and the marginalized among

the rural communities.

6 These include convergence among MPRLP, DPIP, NREGS, SGSY, BRGF, IADP/DPAD, RKVY etc.


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An important aspect that needs special attention in this context is intra- and inter-state

migration. Since migration is an important strategy adopted by many marginally non-poor to

avert falling into poverty or by the poor to check further deepening of their poverty

conditions, it is essential to factor-in migration while undertaking such planning exercises.

6. Decentralisation, Governance and Agency:

Madhya Pradesh, in its present form, came into existence on November 1, 2000

following its bifurcation to create a new state of Chhattisgarh. The undivided Madhya

Pradesh was founded on November 1, 1956. This occurred on the reorganisation of states on

linguistic lines and whatever area remained unclaimed in the middle of the country by the

dominant linguistic groups was lumped together to create the state. Consequently it is an

artificially created unit, comprising of many parts which were governed as autonomous

feudal states bereft of cohesive and binding forces. Thus, the most remarkable feature of the

state is its huge expanse and the amalgam of numerous and diverse communities. This large

spread translates into a range of socio-economic situations which in turn influence

governance. Thus it is difficult to view it as one natural homogeneous entity.

With the introduction of Panchayati Raj all over the country the formal democratic

structures for grassroots peoples participation were set in place. More and more functions of

governance and development at the local level were handed over to the panchayats by

government and quasi-government agencies so as to strengthen these institutions of localgovernance, which provide a legal forum for the political empowerment of the poor. Madhya

Pradesh has been a trendsetter in this sphere. Nevertheless the functioning of the Panchayati

Raj system in the state still leaves a lot to be desired. In the absence of a vigilant civil society

and comparatively low levels of educational attainment in the state the officials and other

political functionaries have denied them full and effective autonomy and and have

successfully coopted the elected PRI representatives into their circle. As a result mis-

governance continues unabated in most cases. Consequently the third tier of democracy too

continues to be controlled by and large by the bureaucracy and the Panchayat executiveconsisting of the Sarpanches and Panches and is riddled with corruption. What has been

handed over in one hand in legal parlance is thus reigned in effectively by the other hand; this

needs to be changed.


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A formal democratic structure invariably leads to the development of civil society

pressure groups that bring pressure to bear on the recalcitrant bureaucrats and elected

representatives for the proper functioning of the government and the administration; this is

evident from the experience of democracy at the state and central levels in India over the past

over half a century after independence and elsewhere in many mature democracies. So the

strengthening of the Panchayati Raj system did promote the spread and growth of grassroots

organisations of the poor that increased the demand for accountability from the government

and administration. These initiatives, so far, has remained scattered; the formation of a

consolidated force is yet to evolve in Madhya Pradesh. This is of critical importance in this

society and the state.

This brings us to the crucial point about the absence of agency to demand

development in the state and making that pro-poor. Creation of M.P. state, as noted earlier,

has subsumed a number of socio-cultural-political legacies, which perhaps made it difficult to

create dominant native stake holders who would identify, articulate and exert their stakes in

the processes of growth and development. As result, the state perhaps became subservient to

the policy framework adopted and subsequently kept evolving at the national level. The

question therefore is: who have been the important stake holders (or vested interests groups)

to hold the torch of economic growth and/or poverty reduction in the state? The answer, like

in several other predominantly feudal states, is the erstwhile ruling class, which soon got intothe key positions as politicians, bureaucrats, professionals, traders and the urban elite.

Absence of social movements and regional interest groups (otherwise reflected as relatively

conflict free social-political milieu) may have led to further consolidation of their historically

acquired power. Some of the recent initiatives through civil society organizations or social

movements have set the stage for creating peoples agency for development. However, given

the nature of the state and its polity, much of the energy of these emerging peoples agency is

being spent on resisting some kind of development or the non-compliance and asymmetric

implementation of the pro-poor programmes. This obviously, keeps the agenda of demandinga different kind of development unattended.

While creating agency of the people to demand development is not a one-shot

proposition to be achieved in the short run; however, not recognizing the absence of that may


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make the task almost unattainable. It is in this context that the importance of agency has been

accorded a critical importance for developing the poverty reduction strategy for the state.

An actionable point in the meanwhile is to evolve a strong `culture of independent

monitoring and evaluation with the associated transparency and public debates around that.

The present system of monitoring and evaluation is characterized by two extreme scenarios.

On one hand there is a Departmental system of monitoring and evaluation, which generally

remains influenced by the hegemony of the state with relatively limited scope for rigorous

and transparent processes of evaluation; much of this is often not shared in the public domain.

On the other hand, fresh space is being created for a transparent mechanism through social

audits; this is also likely to remain for at least some time to come under the clutches of those

with authority and power within a highly stratified and hierarchical society such as ours.

Breaking away from these scenarios would necessitate putting in place a system of

independent monitoring and evaluation with multi-stakeholder membership. Acknowledging

the limitations in the public fora would open up a platform for more workable solutions for

improvements in which both the state and the communities will have responsible roles to

play. In any case, being transparent will earn credibility to the state for being on the side of

the people, rather than being compelled to justify the inactions of a vast and multi-layered

state machinery put in the helm of implementing a highly complex and challenging task of

pro-poor governance.

7. Summing Up

On the basis of the above discussions which are distilled from the detailed chapters to

follow we make the following recommendations for Madhya Pradesh, which are by no means

exhaustive. These are grouped by the issues covered, though they are not intended to be

compartmentalized.

Economic growth and Infrastructure

Although income poverty has reduced, it is still fairly widespread except for

one region in the state. Also the level of food inadequacy is fairly high. Therefore,

promoting economic growth is inescapably an important channel for poverty

reduction in the state.


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While infrastructural development plays a significant role in promotion of

economic growth in general and also for improving access to health-and educational

services, that by itself may not yield the desired result as much of the growth potential

in the state is linked to boosting up productive initiatives in the primary sector viz;

agriculture and forestry on which large proportion of the poor depend for their

livelihood.

While a number of initiatives have already been taken up for promoting

agricultural growth, employment and access to forest resources among the tribal

communities in the state, it is imperative that these policies work in tandem with the

larger goals of empowerment, which in turn may help creating/strengthening the

agency of the poor to participate in the process of economic growth and human

development.

Agriculture and Allied Sectors

Since agricultural growth is at the centre stage of poverty reduction, emphasis

on technology and knowledge driven growth in productivity of crops and allied

sectors is inevitable. Dissemination of the already available research findings and

technologies especially for improving the seed quality and agricultural practices in

dry land farming on small landholdings has to be taken up on priority. A detailed

agro-climatic zone specific plan for various farming systems consisting of low

external input/organic agriculture, horticulture, livestock, inland fishery and forestry

will have to be drawn up and institutional support provided.

Concerted efforts need to be made to process agricultural bio-mass a

considerable part of which is wasted or burnt at present for conversion into fertiliser

and energy. This will also reduce carbon emissions from agriculture and contribute to

mitigation of climate change.

Rural markets or "haats" should be developed further and provided

institutionalised support in the form of greater credit and infrastructure fortransforming them into agro-processing centres for post harvest processing and value

addition. These should focus on various components of the farming systems.

Processing and cold chaining of primary products like milk, meat and eggs

for export out of the state and the country. Further development of the cooperative


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federation and its corruption free operation so as to process and market meat and eggs

in addition to milk. This will also ensure cheap nutrition for the poor.

Fodder development on vast tracts of land lying barren with the forest

department or in village commons through joint forest management along with

institutional support to the informal rural livestock markets so as to ensure that the

benefits of such markets reach the small livestock producers who are the most

vulnerable.

Surface Irrigation and Soil and Water Conservation

A programme of command area development must be taken up on a priority

basis under which completion and renovation of canal systems, field channels

and land levelling will have to be undertaken to fully realise the surface water

irrigation potential already created. Once this is done, participatory irrigation

management must be implemented properly and the operation of the centralised

irrigation systems must be made as efficient and equitable as is possible.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme primarily and all other

employment and rural development schemes should be geared to local area

specific soil and water conservation activities on a large scale. Stress should be

laid on mobilising the community for the construction and later maintenance of

the structures.

Particular attention should be given to artificial recharging of groundwater. The

Central Groundwater Board has prepared a detailed district wise National

Master Plan on Artificial Recharge and this needs to be implemented

immediately.

Forest Management

A massive participatory afforestation and conservation programme has to be

undertaken using NREGS funds in the head reaches of all the major riversoriginating in Madhya Pradesh and especially in the Chambal basin which has

become highly denuded. This may involve greater and more effective

implementation of Joint Forest Management Projects in minor forest produce

collection, processing and marketing.


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A special cell should be set up to identify potential projects that can qualify for

carbon credits and then follow up with implementation and earning of credits

under the Clean Development Mechanism.

The settlement of land rights of forest dwellers, mostly Scheduled Tribes, under

the STOFRR Act must be completed with transparency and speed to improve

the livelihood situation of lakhs of tribals.

Seasonal Migration

Proactive measures are necessary to ensure that the migration experience is a

positive one and the poor do not lose out on their entitlements in both their

residence and their destination areas because of migration. All laws and policies

in this regard should be implemented and a special department set up to take

care of the migrants needs as the present labour department is ill equipped and

under staffed for this purpose.

Health and Education

Support local level collective health action by creating and sustaining

community partnerships for health care delivery especially by reaching out to

non-traditional partners.

Create health disaster management network by involving the entire health care

delivery system and the broadest possible inter-sectoral and inter-institutional

collaboration and coordination to reduce the impact of emergencies and

disasters on the health of the people.

Revamp and expand the human resources development (education and training)

network to develop a healthy workforce profile that is adequate in terms of

knowledge and skills for the delivery of health care services necessary to meet

the health needs of the people.

It is essential to make a paradigm shift from outlays to outcome approach forimproving social sector attainments. This should essentially imply that basic

health services for immunization and maternal health as well as basic literacy

have to be ensured. Outcome based monitoring and incentives may help in

achieving the desired shift.


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Strengthen monitoring, evaluation and analysis of health and education status at

household level and at the level of the community with especial emphasis on

identifying disparities in the access and effectiveness of the public service

systems.

In order to address the issue of inadequacy of teaching staff in primary schools,

special emphasis may be given to female teachers. This may open up avenues

for female workers, especially those who are willing to re-enter the job market

at a later stage of their reproductive phase. This may yield double dividends; one

in terms of gender empowerment and another in the form of obtaining stable and

committed teaching staff from the local communities.

Grassroots Governance

The Gram Sabha and small Ward Sabhas in urban areas must be made the

paramount bodies for deciding on the management of all the cultural, social,

economic and political activities of the people.

A massive awareness campaign must be conducted and appropriate institutional

support provided to actualise the immense potential of the provisions under The

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and The Right to Information

Act. The administrative and infrastructural obstacles to the successful

implementation of the NREGS should be addressed and resolved as quickly as is

possible.

Micro-finance and Micro-credit through SHGs are a viable community based

solution to the serious problem of lack of access to cheap institutionalised credit

for the poor. This should be promoted along with stricter regulation of usurious

moneylending. These measures will especially benefit women who are normally

excluded from the development process.

NGOs should be involved in awareness building, training and monitoring andalso in the implementation of pilot projects for communitarian development.

Successful examples of communitarian development implemented in the state

by NGOs should be given publicity and encouragement so that they sustain


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themselves and also provide inspiration to others for replication on a wider

scale.

Rural Database

Presently the rural data base is a non-participatory one and is being maintained

by the Patwaris and other ground level staff in a non-transparent manner.

Consequently the reality of rural deprivation and resource degradation is not

adequately captured in this data base.

The Gram Sabhas should be held regularly to update and validate the rural data

base and make it more relevant for village level planning. Once this validation

by the Gram Sabha takes place the data should be uploaded onto an online

website which should then be available for all.

An independent and transparent monitoring and evaluation system with multi-

stakeholder membership to help creating a platform for moving into the

direction of pro-poor Governance.

References:

Chaurasia, A. (2009), Notes on Poverty in Madhya Pradesh, Background paper preparedfor Madhya Pradesh Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, coordinated by Indira Gandhi

Institute of Development Research, Mumbai.

CROMP (2009), Madhya Pradesh: the State of Children, Child Rights ObservatoryMadhya Pradesh, Bhopal.

Dev, M. and Ravi, C. (2006), Poverty and Inequality: All India and States, 19983-2005,Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 41, No.6, 509- 521.

Shah, A. (2007), Patterns, Processes of Reproduction, and Policy Imperatives forpoverty Reduction in Remote Rural Areas: A Case Study of Southern Orissa in India,Working Paper No. 179, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad.

UNDP (2009), Madhya Pradesh: Human Development Report, Oxford UniversityPress, New Delhi.


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Chapter 3: Economic Growth

The importance of economic growth in poverty reduction lies in the fact that despite

multi-dimensional nature of poverty, economic growth is the engine for all poverty reduction

efforts. Evidence from all over the world clearly indicate that domestic policies have

important effect on sustained economic growth including prudent macroeconomic

management. Macroeconomic stability provides an important precondition for higher

economic growth rates an

mp prsp final

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