IGIDR Annual Report 2009-2010 - Indira Gandhi Institute of ...

Research Activities
Health. Survey. (RDHS). data. (1992,. 2000,. and.
2005). and. find. that. progress. towards. increasing.
the. share. of. assisted. deliveries. has. been. slow..
There. has. been. no. significant. increase. in. the.
proportion.of.women.seeking.antenatal.care..This.
could. partially. explain. why. a. large. proportion.
of. women. continue. to. deliver. at. home. without.
professional.assistance..Further,.women.who.gave.
birth. in. the. five. years. preceding. the. 2000. RDHS.
are. less. likely. to. deliver. in. a. health. facility. than.
those. who. gave. birth. in. the. five. years. preceding.
the. 1992. RDHS.. The. authors. do. not. find. such.
a. result. for. the. year. 2005.. They. also. find. that.
women. are. more. likely. to. deliver. at. home.
with. professional. assistance. in. 2000. and. 2005.
compared.to.1992.
S.. Chandrasekhar. and. A. Mukhopadhyay. in. their.
paper. “Poverty. and. Well-being. in. Indian. Cities.
during. the. Reforms. Era”. (Poverty & Public
Policy, The Berkeley Electronic Press,.Vol..2:.Iss..
2,. Article. 7,. 2010). seek. to. understand. temporal.
changes.in.poverty.and.well-being.in.Indian.cities.
during.the.era.of.economic.reforms..The.evidence.
on. improvements. in. well-being. is. mixed.. During.
this. period,. there. was. an. increase. in. the. number.
of.urban.poor..Using.two.nationally.representative.
samples,. they. compare. the. joint. distribution. of.
monthly. per. capita. expenditure. (a. private. good).
and. access. to. drainage. (a. public. good). in. the.
slums. and. non-slum. areas. of. Indian. cities. to.
understand. changes. in. well-being.. A. comparison.
at. two. points. in. time,. 1993. and. 2002,. suggests.
that. the. share. of. slum. dwellers. in. the. urban. poor.
has.declined..While.they.do.not.find.evidence.for.
improvement. in. the. well-being. of. slum. dwellers.
over. time,. they. do. find. that. non-slum. urban.
dwellers. are. better. off. in. 2002. as. compared. to.
1993.
In. recent. times,. much. has. been. made. of. a.
“booming”. Bihar.. However,. using. disaggregated
data. R.. Nagaraj. and. Andaleeb. Rahaman. in.
their. commentary. piece. “Booming. Bihar:. Fact.
or. Fiction?,”. (Economic and Political Weekly,.
February. 20,. 2010). show. that. the. growth.
has. been. based. almost. entirely. on. the. public.
works. program. which. boosted. state. output. in
construction. during. the. boom. in. that. sector.
from. 2004-05. to. 2006-07.. Despite. this,. value.
added. in. construction. is. overestimated,. given. the.
infirmities. in. estimation. methods.. Further,. there.
has. been. no. measurable. multiplier. effect. of. this.
infrastructural.investment.on.the.rest.of.the.Bihar.
economy.
In.the.book.chapter.titled.“Industrial.Performance.
1991-08:. A. Review”. (forthcoming. edition.
of. India Development Report, 2010,. Oxford.
University. Press),. R.. Nagaraj. reviews. the.
industrial. performance. in. terms. of. its. growth.
in. output,. fixed. investment. and. employment,.
in. order. to. assess. them. against. the. (i). record.
of. the. 1980s,. and. (ii). the. expectations. (and.
apprehensions). the. reforms. gave. rise. to. when.
they.were.initiated.about.two.decades.ago..In.the.
aggregate,.the.trend.growth.rate.after.the.reforms.
was.roughly.the.same.as.it.was.in.the.1980s.
In. the. paper. “Regional. Disparities. in.
Manufacturing. Growth. in. India”. K.V..
Ramaswamy. examines. the. issue. of. spatial.
disparity. in. manufacturing. growth. in. India.
in. recent. years.. He. focuses. attention. on. the.
registered.manufacturing.sector.in.14.major.States.
of.India..On.the.basis.of.this.study,.the.following.
inferences. may. be. made.. First,. the. evidence.
for. convergence. in. per. capita. State. Domestic.
Product.(SDP).in.the.post.reform.period.is.found.
to. be. very. weak.. Second,. the. comparison. of.
estimates. of. convergence. coefficient. in. the. two.
periods. suggested. that. the. convergence. tendency.
has. actually. weakened. in. the. post-reform.
period.. Third,. spatial. concentration. in. Indian.
manufacturing. clearly. shows. an. increasing. trend.
particularly. after. 1995-6.. On. this. basis. the. paper.
6 Annual Report 2009-10