Rural Poverty in Madhya Pradesh

Looking beyond Conventional Measures

This study examines the incidence of rural poverty in Madhya Pradesh based on a field
survey of 2,208 rural households spread over 11 districts. The issues of poverty are
examined in a multidimensional perspective with emphasis given to issues related to access
to publically provided services like health and education. There is a need for greater and
more effective fiscal intervention for poverty reduction and employment generation. The
implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act may prove to be an
effective intervention in reducing poverty in rural areas of the state.
D K SRIVASTAVA, S K SANYAL, C BHUJANGA RAO, PINAKI CHAKRABORTY

M
adhya Pradesh is one of the less developed states of proportion of illiterates among females could serve as an indicator
the country with vast area and sharp inter-regional variable in the selection of samples. The units in some populations
differences in socio-economic achievements. As per vary greatly in size in relation to the study variable (y). Large
the 2001 Census, the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh1 is the second units obviously contribute more to the population total.
most populous state in the country with a population of 6.039 Simple random sampling (SRS) does not take into account this
crore spread over 45 districts. The district with the highest human fact as every unit has an equal probability of selection. And
development index (HDI) is Indore (0.694) and that with lowest if the distribution of units in the population is such that very
HDI is Jhabua (0.371).2 At the all-India level, although since small units are many in number as against a few large units,
1973-74 there has been a consistent reduction in the poverty equal probability selection will result in the selection of many
head-count ratio, the spatial concentration of poverty increased of the smaller units. In such a situation, a varying probability
implying that a limited number of states account for a dispropor- scheme which assigns higher probability of selection to bigger
tionately large share of rural poor. The official poverty estimates units than to smaller ones would provide more efficient estimators
prepared by the Planning Commission for 1999-2000 show that than SRS. If information on y is not readily and reliably available
nearly 74 per cent of the rural poor live in just six states, viz, for the population, information about an auxiliary variable x,
Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar which is highly correlated with y may be used for selection of
Pradesh. There have also been wide inter-district disparities the sample.
in poverty and human development in these states. In this In search of auxiliary variables, one obvious choice would be
paper, we undertake a detailed review of the incidence of rural the officially identified households that fall below the poverty
poverty in Madhya Pradesh based on a primary survey carried line for the public distribution system which leads ultimately to
out in the 11 districts of the state. Shifting away from the limited the poverty ratio at the village, block and district levels. Although,
notion of income poverty, we focus on the multifaceted incidence some data are available on poverty head count ratio (HCR)
of poverty including access to various public services and according to districts based on the below the poverty line (BPL)
examine the efficacy of the pro-poor fiscal intervention strategy survey for the public distribution system (PDS), there are many
in Madhya Pradesh. shortcomings. Also, identification based on for BPL cards would
This paper is organised into the following sections. In Section I, lead to a narrow set because of the income-based definition of
we discuss briefly the survey methodology and the number of BPL beneficiaries. Secondly, many non-poor may also be holding
households surveyed in each district. In Section II, the social and BPL cards due to inclusion error.
demographic characteristics are analysed. Further, the concerns The proportion of the landless and agricultural labour house-
of economic insecurity are analysed by examining the economic holds could be used as a proxy variable but is not preferred
opportunities, indebtedness and migration of rural poor. Section because this set was not inclusive of the entire population of the
III discusses the status and access of the publicly provided poor. In addition, it is also difficult to compile the required data
services. The ground realities with respect to pro-poor fiscal at the different levels. We have selected the proportion of female
intervention strategies are analysed in Section IV. The perception illiterates as the auxiliary variable for the purpose of drawing
of poor regarding poverty and its alleviation programmes are samples for statistical as well as analytical reasons. The illiteracy
discussed in Section V. Conclusions are drawn in Section VI. rates among females being highly correlated with poverty, it is
useful for the PPS selection. It may, however, be noted that the
I use of a particular proxy variable for sampling from a specially
Survey Methodology prepared frame does not per se exclude the use of other variables
in the next or the ultimate stage of sampling. The object is only
The sampling design for the survey was based on the Probability the identification of a unit where the poor would figure in large
Proportional to Size (PPS) methodology where size would be numbers. In selecting the proportion of female illiterates as the
an indicator of poverty. For example, the poverty ratio or pro- auxiliary variable in the selection of a sample based on the PPS
portion of landless and agricultural labour households, or methodology, we are ensuring an inter se representation of

Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007 381

households where a priori there is an unfair access to household regressive nature is also evidenced by female illiteracy rates in
resources by the female members of the family. Besides, in a stratum 2 though in a slightly lesser form (six districts reporting
multidimensional conceptualisation of poverty, lack of access to above 70 per cent).
education is itself a dimension of poverty.
Eleven districts, viz, Dindori, Chhattarpur, Shivpuri, Jabalpur, Economic Opportunities for Rural Poor
Tikamgarh, Katni, Dhar, Ujjain, Guna, Sagar and Balaghat were
selected with probability proportional to female illiteracy rate Employment and unemployment status presented in Table 3
from the 45 districts of the reorganised Madhya Pradesh, and reveals that in stratum 1, unemployment rate is very high at 11 per
have been surveyed. The survey was canvassed during October- cent for males and 13 per cent for females; these rates are much
November 2003. Households were divided into two strata. Stra- less in stratum 2. Considering the fact that women are by and
tum 1 refers to the focus group of poor, identified on the basis large engaged in household chores, the proportion (53 per cent) of
of a priori conditions. This group consists of agricultural labourers, females “not in labour force” is particularly high in both strata.
marginal farmers, scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST), The percentage distribution of the number of persons reporting
woman-headed households and those possessing the BPL card. “paid employment” and “self-employment” are presented in
Stratum 2 relates to the remaining households and is used to draw Table 4. In stratum 1, agricultural labourers form the bulk (86
comparisons with the focus group. Table 1 shows the sample per cent) of those engaged in paid employment. The rest are
size by districts in terms of the second and ultimate stage units distributed over a dozen other occupations in very small propor-
that were surveyed. The sample size is 2,208 rural households tions indicating that the scope of paid employment is limited.
spread over 11 districts. This also implies the lack of economic opportunities other than
agriculture to absorb a larger number of rural poor. There are
II Table 1: Number of Samples Allotted and Surveyed
Social and Demographic Characteristics
Districts Number of Sample Number of Sample
and Economic Opportunities Villages Households
Allotted Surveyed Stratum 1 Stratum 2
Based on the survey data, a few characteristics of the 11 districts Surveyed Surveyed
are presented in Table 2. Three ratios, namely, average household
Dindori 10 10 80 20
size, sex ratio and adult illiteracy ratio estimated for the sample
Chhattarpur 20 20 200 48
show that the estimated proportion of the poor households varies Shivpuri 22 22 192 48
widely from 30 in Guna to 70 in Balaghat. It is observed that Jabalpur 18 18 140 36
for seven districts out of 11, this proportion is 40 or above, Tikamgarh 18 18 138 38
Katni 16 16 136 34
including three above 50, bringing out the sharp differences in Dhar 24 24 197 49
the inter-district incidence of poverty. The estimated average Ujjain 18 18 157 40
household size varies from 4.35 in Dindori to 5.33 in Guna in Guna 22 22 147 43
stratum 1. Except for Balaghat, the household size in stratum 2 Sagar 24 24 189 48
Balaghat 20 20 184 44
is much higher in all the districts than in stratum 1. Madhya Pradesh 212 212 1760 448
It is observed that except for Katni and Balaghat, the sex ratio
among the poor households is below 900. This ratio is very low Table 3: Distribution of Estimated Number of Persons
for Guna (693), Shivpuri (751) and Dhar (783). In general, by Usual Activity Status by Sex and by Strata
stratum 2 also reflects the same feature but special mention may (Per cent)
be made of Dindori and Shivpuri where more females are reported Usual Activity Male Female
than males. The poor households are disadvantaged on account Status Code Stratum 1 Stratum 2 Stratum 1 Stratum 2
of fairly high male illiteracy, particularly in Guna (83 per cent), Employed 42.42 49.67 34.04 31.07
Katni (64 per cent) and Shivpuri (62 per cent). Besides, gender Unemployed 11.41 3.67 12.82 5.05
inequality in the field of education is very much pronounced in Not in labour force 45.73 46.30 52.59 63.68
stratum 1, the female illiteracy rate being very high with seven Not specified 0.45 0.36 0.56 0.20
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
out of 11 districts reporting above 80 per cent illiteracy. This

Table 2: Selected Features of the Sample Districts

Districts Per Cent of Poor Estimated Average Estimated Females Estimated Adult Illiteracy Rate
Households Household Size Per 1,000 Males (Per Cent)
Stratum 1 Stratum 2 Stratum 1 Stratum 2 Stratum 1 Stratum 2
Male Female Male Female

Dindori 47 4.35 5.86 857 1132 53.10 81.31 45.32 71.51

Chhattarpur 33 5.08 5.40 891 867 52.78 83.38 38.78 68.66
Shivpuri 40 5.17 5.29 751 1015 61.82 88.79 47.17 79.85
Jabalpur 58 4.47 5.71 784 821 40.82 71.82 35.95 49.51
Tikamgarh 34 5.27 6.20 815 810 52.77 89.20 36.14 66.04
Katni 48 4.53 5.45 961 694 63.99 89.42 15.65 44.06
Dhar 57 4.55 4.88 783 797 45.05 74.64 20.92 46.85
Ujjain 42 4.79 5.20 807 841 39.63 64.68 14.03 33.93
Guna 30 5.33 6.57 693 864 83.31 94.33 60.44 79.48
Sagar 33 5.01 5.80 802 769 46.19 81.09 32.47 73.50
Balaghat 70 4.56 4.46 915 821 27.58 47.15 13.71 28.36

382 Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007

some paid-employment occupations yielding more than double members to places outside the villages. In this group, 22 per cent
the income of agricultural labourers but these are in negligible left for casual work in agriculture.
proportions. The estimated average annual income per agricul-
tural worker was a meagre Rs 5,046. Indebtedness of Rural Poor Households
Among those self-employed in the poor households, 85 per
cent are small cultivators with average annual income estimated Table 5 gives the percentage distributions of households and
at Rs 7,290. About 6 per cent, engaged as big cultivators, have the share of indebted households by per capita income class. A
a relatively higher annual income at Rs 9,902. The non-household heavily skewed income distribution is notable for the poor house-
industry attracting only 2.25 per cent of households yields an holds with 30 per cent of households having per capita income
average annual income of only Rs 3,219. of less than Rs 2,500 per year, 66 per cent below Rs 3,500 and 86
On an average, a self-employed person in a poor household per cent below Rs 4,500. In other words, every three out of 10
earns Rs 7,338 annually as compared to Rs 5,246 earned by a households subsist on a per capita monthly income of less than
person in paid employment. The results clearly show that for Rs 208; two out of three households survive on per capita monthly
stratum 2 households, self-employment is a much more viable income of less than Rs 292. Merging the lower small income
proposition than those in stratum 1. The average income of ranges, 87 per cent of the poor households have per capita income
Rs 23,716 for stratum 2 in self-employment is more than less than Rs 4,500 that is, Rs 375 monthly. At the other end, only
three times that of the self-employed in stratum 1. Lack of 0.70 per cent has per capita annual income of Rs 10,000 or more.
opportunities, uncertainties in both paid and self-employment With low incomes, many household are forced to incur debt.
and the high incidence of poverty may induce people to seek The incidence of indebtedness, as defined by the percentage of
employment outside the village. However, in Madhya Pradesh, households taking loans during the year preceding the survey, is 23
only 2.68 per cent of the households reported migration of their per cent. The share of indebted households is 26 to 27 per cent at the
Table 4: Occupation and Income Profile lower end but increases marginally to 28 to 31 per cent in some of
the income groups after Rs 6,500. As against 0.70 per cent in
Occupation Paid Employment Self-Employment stratum 1, it is observed that in stratum 2, 18 per cent earn
No of Per Worker No of Per Worker
Person Income Person Income Rs 10,000 or more. However, in stratum 2 about 43 per cent have
(Per Cent (in Rs) (Per Cent (in Rs) to survive on an annual per capita income of Rs 4,500. Of
Share) Share) the total households on an average, 15 per cent are indebted;
Stratum 1 over the income groups, in general, this ratio is less than that in
Agricultural labourer 85.72 5046.35 2.57 7617.05 stratum 1.
Cultivators small 0.00 0.00 84.88 7290.29
Cultivators big 0.00 0.00 5.71 9902.25
Livestock and fishermen 0.16 6005.55 0.97 5407.58 III
Forest-based tribals 1.87 1323.97 0.67 3273.45 Public Service Delivery: Status and Access
Mining and quarrying 0.51 10526.67 0.13 3006.07
Household industry 0.35 6778.26 0.95 11508.37 This section focuses on two important public services, viz, the
Non-household industry 0.78 6962.77 2.25 3219.05
Construction 1.92 7772.31 0.03 40000.00 provision of primary education, and healthcare services. As we
Electricity, water, gas 0.10 5376.60 0.02 0.00 are dealing with the broader concept of poverty including not
Retail trade 0.32 10907.05 0.01 20000.00 only the calorie deprivation but also deprivation of opportunities
Transport, storage and
in terms of basic necessities like health and education, we have
communication 0.16 11584.73 0.00
Hotel, restaurant, dhabas 0.09 12462.50 0.09 8000.00 examined in detail the provision of education and health services
Financial service provider 0.11 6028.88 0.00 in rural Madhya Pradesh.
Community, other service provider 0.41 4899.90 0.00
Other different from above 7.51 7748.63 1.73 6035.98
Total 100 5245.51 100 7337.72 Education

Table 5: Distribution of Households according to Per Capita Table 6 provides the status of education among adults and
Income Classes and Indebtedness children in male and female categories across strata. Educational
(Per cent) status is classified into three categories, viz, “can read and write”,
Per Capita Income Class Stratum 1 Stratum 2 “read only” and “can’t read and write”. Table 6 shows that,
Distribution Share of Distribution Share of across gender, literacy rate among the adults is much higher in
of Indebted of Indebted stratum 2 compared to stratum 1. In stratum 1, more than 47 per
Households Households Households Households
cent of the adult males fall in the “can’t read and write” category
Less than Rs 1,500 2.46 26.18 1.33 0.01 and the same ratio is 33 per cent in stratum 2. The differences
Rs 1,500-2,500 28.05 26.77 5.57 24.10
Rs 2,500-3,500 35.81 23.11 21.21 17.12 in the adult female literacy achievement across strata show that
Rs 3,500-4,500 20.43 16.96 14.82 16.18 compared to males, the disparities are much higher in case of
Rs 4,500-5,500 7.16 21.87 14.11 16.23 female with 24.64 per cent literate in the category of “can read
Rs 5,500-6,500 1.80 22.26 9.48 11.58
Rs 6,500-8,000 2.53 28.20 8.71 12.83 and write” in stratum 1 and 38.21 per cent in stratum 2.
Rs 8,000-10,000 1.03 26.01 7.10 4.42 In the case of the educational status of children also there are
Rs 10,000-12,500 0.34 31.20 7.54 17.72 disparities across gender but not to a significant extent across
Rs 12,500-15,000 0.18 20.48 3.43 22.70
More than Rs 15,000 0.09 6.82 6.97 11.47 strata. However, disparities are much lower in case of children
Not specified 0.10 – 0.12 – compared to adults. The percentage of children in stratum 1,
Total 100 22.99 100 15.29 who fall in the category of “can read and write”, is 80.46 per
Average PCI 3,041 6,015
cent, with male children at 82 per cent and female children at

Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007 383

79 per cent. In the case of stratum 2, these ratios are 80.88, 85.05 Table 6: Adult and Children Education Status:
and 75.74 per cent respectively. By Sex and Stratum
(Per cent)
The distribution of children not attending schools by sex and
reasons for the poor is given in Table 7. Shortage of finance is Adults Adult Education Status Children’s Education Status
Stratum 1 Stratum 2 Stratum 1 Stratum 2
the main reason for children not able to continue education in
stratum 1. Male
In order to examine whether the distance of schools from the Can read and write 50.95 65.85 81.98 85.05
Read only 1.87 1.08 2.72 0.79
place of residence is a significant factor in terms of regular Can’t read and write 47.19 33.07 15.30 14.16
attendance to the school, we looked at the relationship between Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
distance and attendance. Table 8 shows that there is no clear Female
Can read and write 24.64 38.21 78.51 75.74
relationship between the two. If we take the attendance in the
Read only 2.85 2.15 3.90 5.22
last two classes of attendance, i e, 0-80 to 1 and equal to 1 in Can’t read and write 72.51 59.64 17.59 19.04
stratum 1, it explains 62 per cent of the attendance when the school Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
is less than one km away. At the same time, it also explains 60 Persons
Can read and write 38.78 53.14 80.46 80.88
per cent of the attendance when the school distance is between Read only 2.32 1.57 3.23 2.77
two to five km. In other words, school distance does not matter Can’t read and write 58.90 45.29 16.30 16.35
when it comes to the question of attending the school. However, Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
it needs to be emphasised that this finding is not an argument to
have lower school density in rural Madhya Pradesh. Table 7: Distribution of Children Not Attending
The primary survey investigated the benefit incidence of School by Sex, Reason and Strata
government programmes in education by stratum in scholarship, (Per cent)
free books, mid-day meal schemes and others as summarised in Reasons Stratum 1
Table 9. For stratum 1, the percentage of school going children Male Female Persons
receiving benefit exceeds 100 per cent. In the case of stratum 2,
Shortage of finance 80.96 78.31 79.70
the percentage of children receiving benefits is 85.41 per cent. School is too far 2.82 4.81 3.77
Further, the distribution of the nature of benefits reveals that the Poor quality in affordable school 0.69 – 0.36
mid-day meal scheme is the most predominant form of benefit Discontinued after marriage 0.11 0.72 0.40
Have to do household work 0.50 1.20 0.83
received by the school going children followed by free books Have to earn for family 1.82 6.12 3.87
and scholarships. The benefit in the form of free uniform is No interest 5.24 – 2.74
only 3 per cent and negligible in stratum 1 and stratum 2 Not specified 7.87 8.84 8.33
respectively. The distribution of expenditure across benefit also Total 100.00 100.00 100.00
reveals that the major share of expenditure is on mid-day meal
schemes. Table 8: Distribution of Children by Attending School
The distribution of benefit across strata, as given in Tables 9 by Distance and Strata
and 10, reveals that more than 65 per cent of the total benefit Attendance Less than 1-2 Km 2-5 Km More than
goes to the children belonging to stratum 1 and the rest goes to Last Week 1 Km 5 Km
stratum 2. The per capita expenditure benefit across strata reveals Stratum 1
that per capita expenditure benefit is higher in stratum 1 than Less than 0.20 2.59 0.89 0.00 0.00
in stratum 2 indicating a progressive benefit distribution. 0.20 to 0.40 0.88 1.16 0.00 0.00
0.40 to 0.60 4.30 4.30 3.16 7.02
0.60 to 0.80 30.33 33.40 37.29 27.04
Health 0.80 to 1.00 27.66 23.59 30.61 38.41
Equal to 1.00 34.24 36.65 28.94 27.53
The provision of public health services and its access have a Total 100 100 100 100
significant impact on human development. Issues examined in
this perspective are the pattern of health service seeking behaviour, Table 9: Benefit Incidence of Government Programme
the cost of consultation as per the use of type of health services, in Education: State-wise Estimates by Stratum
health expenditure across MPCE class and the status of antenatal Type of Stratum 1 Stratum 2
care services in rural Madhya Pradesh. According to secondary Benefits Number Expenditure Number Expenditure
data, Madhya Pradesh has a rural health infrastructure with 8,835 Benefiting Distribution Benefiting Distribution
(Percentage a c r o s s (Percentage across
sub-health centres, 1,194 primary health centres, 229 community Share) Benefits Share) Benefits
health centres and 36 district hospitals. The Third Human
Development Report of Madhya Pradesh has reported the gap Scholarship 20.36 28.54 19.11 25.75
Free books 36.66 21.51 37.49 26.89
in the rural health infrastructure where an additional 1,689 sub- Free uniform 3.09 1.00 3.68 0.37
health centres, 497 primary health centres, 199 community health Mid-day meal 34.73 47.60 31.77 46.49
centre and nine more district hospitals are to be added to meet Others 5.16 1.36 7.95 0.50
Total 100 100 100 100
the demand for the provision of public health services in rural As per cent
Madhya Pradesh.3 to schoolgoing children 151.22 85.41
Given these limited public health facilities, the survey enquired Per capita expenditure
about the health service seeking behaviour of households benefit 122.38 103.33
Benefit Excl MM as per cent
based on the nature of consultation with various health service to schoolgoing children 98.71 17.68
providers during the last one year. Table 11 shows that more

384 Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007

than 75 per cent of the rural households seek medical help from Table 13 shows the distribution of households reporting illness
primary health centres, followed by private doctors, quacks and across monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) class, correspond-
health workers. However, there is a large proportion of house- ing health expenditure across medicine, doctors and others,4 per
holds who seek the service of the category called “others” in household health expenditure and the share of health expenditure
both the strata, which among other providers include mobile in total expenditure of households. The MPCE class-wise dis-
dispensary, maternity centre, indigenous practitioners, faith tribution of households reporting illness shows that more than
healers, and chemists. 98 per cent of the households below the poverty line reported
Table 12 shows the spread of average consultation cost in illness during the last one year in stratum 1. At the higher end
stratum 1 for these health service providers. The modal value of the MPCE classes, the reporting is 100 per cent. In regard
of average consultation fee is Rs 10 for PHC, health worker and to the composition of health expenditure, the bulk of the expen-
private doctor. Around 57 per cent of the households pay less diture (more than two-thirds of the total health expenditure) goes
than Rs 10 in stratum 1 for health workers. While for ‘Jhola chhap’ to medicines followed by others and doctors. It is also notable
quack, around 34 per cent of the households, pay Rs 25. that per household health expenditure increases across MPCE
class. The average per household annual health expenditure in
Table 10: Expenditure Benefit across Stratum stratum 1 is Rs 879. The average share of health expenditure
Type of Benefits Stratum 1 Stratum 2 Total in total expenditure in stratum 1 is 6 per cent.
Another dimension of health services, where there is active
Scholarship 67.57 32.43 100
Free books 60.05 39.95 100 government intervention, is reproductive and child health ser-
Free uniform 83.40 16.60 100 vices (RCH). The RCH programme in general and the antenatal
Mid-day meal 65.81 34.19 100 care services in particular are said to have a salutary effect on
Others 83.60 16.40 100
Total 65.27 34.73 100
family planning [Mishra et al 1996; Pandey et al 2002]. Another
thrust area of the RCH programme is to encourage deliveries
under the supervision of trained health professional [Pandey et al
Table 11: Households by Type of Health Service
Seeking Behaviour 2004]. The national population policy also specified achieving
80 per cent institutional deliveries and 100 per cent deliveries
Stratum 1
by trained health professionals by 2010 as its socio-economic
Health worker 13.92 goal. The survey probed into the status of RCH programme by
PHC 75.38 examining the status of antenatal care services and type of
Private doctor 31.69
‘Jhola chhap’ quack 20.31
assistance sought during deliveries.
Others 57.35 During last pregnancy, the clinical consultation of currently
Not specified 1.35 married women as per the number of visits brings out the fact
Note: This is as a percentage of total households. that the distribution is concentrated around two and three visits
respectively. The distribution of the type of consultation providers
Table 12: Distribution of Households as per Average reveals that in the single consultation class, it is mostly the
Consultation Cost and Type of Health Service untrained and trained ‘dai’ whose services were sought. In the case
< Rs 10 Rs 10-19 Rs 20-29 Rs 30-49 Rs 50+ Total
of two consultations category, the number of women visiting trained
dai constituted more than 53 per cent in stratum 1 (Table 14). If
Stratum 1 we consider “other” as a category in this, the share goes up further.
Health worker 56.91 10.00 13.39 14.57 5.13 100.00
PHC 36.34 21.55 25.56 5.77 10.78 100.00 It can further be inferred that in the class of five or more visits,
Private doctor 31.34 22.17 14.13 14.10 18.26 100.00 the nature of consultation is mostly with trained professionals
‘Jhola chhap’ quack 27.40 27.03 34.30 7.03 4.25 100.00 like nurses and doctors. However, when we look at the aggregate,
Others 44.48 17.78 22.85 6.23 8.65 100.00
Not specified 34.60 7.34 29.85 1.14 27.06 100.00
22 per cent of currently married women sought the help of
untrained dai in stratum 1. Based on National Family Health
Table 13: Distribution of Households and Health Expenditure across MPCE Classes
Per Cent of Distribution of Structure of Health Expenditure Total Per Household Per Cent to
MPCE Households Households Medicines Doctors Others Health Total
Reporting Reporting Expenditure Expenditure
Illness in Total Illness Reported (in Rs)

Stratum 1
Less than Rs 190 97.39 21.12 69.03 14.08 16.88 100.0 494.16 4.61
Rs 190-210 98.09 10.52 66.87 16.15 16.99 100.0 705.58 5.32
Rs 210-235 99.94 13.16 67.97 14.73 17.29 100.0 708.54 5.25
Rs 235-265 98.00 11.01 67.46 13.31 19.23 100.0 781.29 5.30
Rs 265-300 98.12 13.37 64.74 14.01 21.25 100.0 855.69 5.45
Rs 300-355 98.97 15.72 63.76 11.22 25.02 100.0 1,084.79 6.56
Rs 355-455 97.19 10.30 55.71 22.87 21.42 100.0 1,271.33 6.97
Rs 455-560 100.00 2.34 63.38 11.65 24.97 100.0 1,594.52 9.48
Rs 560-650 100.00 1.24 66.94 9.89 23.18 100.0 4,255.05 20.68
Rs 650-750 100.00 0.24 38.60 9.78 51.62 100.0 898.40 5.50
Rs 750-1,000 70.72 0.50 63.38 11.44 25.18 100.0 1,756.07 7.31
More than Rs 1,000 100.00 0.38 65.36 3.74 30.90 100.0 1,035.62 3.62
Not specified 100.00 0.10 62.50 37.50 - 100.0 800.00
Total 98.11 100.00 64.50 14.58 20.92 100.0 879.54 6.04

Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007 385

Survey 2 data, Roy, Kulkarni and Vaidehi (2004), while analysing 81 per cent of the total benefit was in the form of cash benefit,
the pattern of utilisation of antenatal care services and the delivery followed by benefits given for the improvement of living con-
status (safe/unsafe) across socio-economic groups, found ex- dition and temporary employment. From the nature of benefits
treme inequality in Madhya Pradesh with regard to utilisation which is dominated by cash, it is evident that these are transitory
of these services. These findings are reinforced by our survey in nature. These do not have a lasting influence in raising rural
in these 11 districts. incomes and reduction in poverty. Restructuring and rationalising
these streams of benefits to help improve the village social and
IV economic infrastructure and increase in income opportunities
Pro-Poor Fiscal Intervention: would make a more permanent dent on poverty. The distribution
The Ground Realities of households reporting to have received government benefits
across the MPCE class is presented in Table 16. MPCE class-
There have been various pro-poor direct fiscal interventions wise distribution of benefits reflects a progressive pattern of
made by the government in the form of direct income support, distribution. Out of total households in stratum 1 reporting benefits
subsidies, employment generation schemes and schemes for received from the government, 85 per cent of the households fall
other basic necessities across states. These are in the form of below the updated poverty line which falls in MPCE class up
various centrally-sponsored or state schemes. Most of these to Rs 355.
schemes are generally implemented through the district deve-
lopment agencies or panchayats. Table 15 shows some of Sensitivity of Public Representatives
these important schemes at the village level. The information
gathered through the village level questionnaire provides Apart from the direct fiscal interventions, the sensitivity of
detailed information on the functioning of these schemes. The public representatives towards their constituency should have a
village community participates in these schemes through the profound influence on rural development. Though it is difficult
formation of people’s groups, mobilising the labour time of to judge the sensitivity of public representatives vis-à-vis their
people, community monetary contribution, capacity-building respective constituencies, as a rough measure, we have examined
and others. However, it is notable that the percentage of their frequency of visits and also the nature of development
panchayats not participating in these schemes is quite high. For activities initiated through MP and MLA local area development
example, in respect of one of the most common schemes like funds. More than 31 per cent of the visits fall in the category
anganbadi, 47 per cent of the panchayats are not participating of more than one year in the case of visits of MP implying that
in Madhya Pradesh. 69 per cent of villages were not visited by there MPs even once
The percentage of households benefiting through the govern- in a year. In the case of MLA’s visit, more than 42 per cent of
ment schemes is only around 9 per cent. Among the benefits, the visits fall within the category of more than one year. What
cash benefit is the most dominating one. In stratum 1, more than is striking is that for both MPs and MLAs, a large part of the
rural population failed to specify anything about the visits of their
Table 14: Percentage of Currently Married Women Seeking representatives to their villages.
Different Types of Consultation during Last Pregnancy by Each
Category of Number of Visits The nature of development schemes run by the public repre-
sentatives, broadly classified, reveals that these are in the nature
No of Visit Doctor Nurse Trained Dai Untrained Dai Others NS Total of raising the village infrastructure by the provision of public
Stratum 1 water supply, village roads, community hall, etc. More than 75
1 2.40 0.00 30.22 53.59 9.07 4.72 100.00 per cent of the villages could not report the nature of any
2 5.53 9.83 53.33 24.74 2.06 4.50 100.00
3 2.73 5.80 66.08 10.52 0.00 14.86 100.00
development schemes run by their respective representatives
4 0.00 0.00 60.25 32.77 0.00 6.98 100.00 either by the MPs or MLAs. Among the other schemes reported,
5 or more 36.04 14.74 28.95 5.97 0.00 14.30 100.00 these are mostly concentrated in the construction of rural roads
Total 7.43 7.95 52.82 21.81 1.68 8.31 100.00 (12.05 per cent), followed by public hand pumps (6.25 per cent)
Note: NS – not specified. and community halls (4.04 per cent).

Table 15: Role of Panchayat in Implementation of Various Government Schemes

(Per cent)

Initiating Formation of Mobilising Community Capacity- Others Not Total

People’s Labour Monetary Building Participating
Group Time of Contribution
People

Swarna Jayanti Rozgar Yojana 8.74 5.85 8.37 0.00 0.00 1.66 75.38 100
Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana 15.41 5.38 7.87 1.10 2.13 1.60 66.51 100
Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana 7.95 3.53 6.01 0.00 1.38 0.00 81.14 100
Pradhan Mantri Gramodhaya Yojana 3.42 2.62 2.24 0.00 0.63 0.59 90.50 100
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana 4.01 2.15 3.33 0.45 1.27 0.76 88.03 100
PM Rural Drinking Water Project 3.24 3.21 0.77 1.40 0.89 0.30 90.18 100
Anganwadi 19.42 4.52 0.00 4.20 0.71 24.47 46.69 100
Balika Samridhi 9.46 2.89 0.00 7.30 0.64 14.36 65.35 100
Bal Poshahar 9.15 3.67 0.96 7.61 0.00 12.70 65.90 100
Widow Pension 26.11 4.00 0.00 0.00 0.51 16.47 52.91 100
Kisan(old age) Pension 13.23 3.41 0.00 9.35 0.00 16.94 57.06 100
Others 2.51 1.37 0.93 1.62 0.64 7.13 85.80 100

386 Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007

 In the multitier system of governance in India, local bodies, the non-poor class. In spite of government employment genera-
i e, village panchayats also provide various public services in tion schemes, 86 per cent of earners in the paid-employment
their jurisdiction. Table 17 shows that like most other states, in category are agricultural labourers with a small average annual
Madhya Pradesh also, the panchayat services are confined to income of Rs 5,046 whereas other occupations yield more than
various civic services in the form of maintenance and provision double this income. Further, 85 per cent of the self-employed
of the public water supply system, provision of additional fa- earners among the poor are small cultivators with an average
cilities in the form of setting up of hand pumps, running of annual income of Rs 7,290 but his counterpart in stratum 2 earns
schools, maintenance and construction of roads and bridges. In Rs 18,655.
fact the major share of expenditure of panchayats goes for creating (2) Gender inequality in the field of education is also very
additional facilities in the form of roads and bridges. In the case much pronounced in stratum 1, female illiteracy rate being
of health services, they conduct vaccination programmes, and very high (7 out of 11 sample districts reporting a rate of more
look after the running of village hospitals (primary health centre). than 80 per cent). The poor in Madhya Pradesh exhibit a high
The average expenditure of each panchayat in running these
functions works out to about Rs 67,000 per year. Table 16: Distribution of Households Reporting
The finances of panchayats are weak as they are unable to raise Benefit and Its Nature by MPCE Class
their own resources. Table 18 shows their heavy dependence on MPCE Distribution of Distribution of
centre and states for resources. According to the size class of Households Benefits
Reporting
panchayats, the structure of funds according to various sources,
viz, centre, states, own resources and others, shows that across Stratum 1
size class, panchayats’ own revenues in total resources of the Less than Rs 190 24.31 28.34
Rs 190-210 8.92 7.77
panchayats constitutes only 8 per cent. The direct resource trans- Rs 210-235 16.05 15.84
fer from the centre constitutes around 49 per cent of the total Rs 235-265 6.78 7.23
resources, and the rest comes from the state government. Rs 265-300 17.77 16.18
Rs 300-355 11.66 10.78
Rs 355-455 7.35 6.75
V Rs 455-560 5.42 5.08
Poverty Alleviation Strategies: Rs 560-650 0.00 0.00
Rs 650-750 0.00 0.00
Perception of Poor Rs 750-1,000 0.00 0.00
More than Rs 1,000 1.74 2.03
To understand the perception of poverty by the poor, the reasons Not specified 0.00 0.00
for poverty and the poverty alleviation strategies, the survey Total 100.00 100.00
asked open-ended questions. Table 19 summarises the various
perceptions of the poor. In their perception, lack of employment Table 17: Various Public Services Performed by the Panchayats
schemes and lack of education are considered as the main
Percentage of Percentage Per Village
reasons for the persistence of poverty. Nearly 37 per cent of the Villages Distribution Expenditure
rural households consider lack of education as one of the main Reporting of Expenditure (Rs)
constraints. Relatively less importance is given to the factors Street lighting 12.04 2.89 47977.1
like lack of land possession and lack of wealth. Under- Vaccination programmes 27.88 0.57 4095.7
nourishment is also considered as a significant factor and by itself Running of village hospitals 6.37 1.22 38405.5
it is a dimension of poverty. Table 20 indicates that the most Setting up of hand pumps 43.77 7.30 33337.6
Maintenance of pumps/wells/ponds 53.16 24.56 92374.5
helpful government schemes suggested by the rural poor in Village sanitation 28.99 1.48 10196.0
alleviating poverty are employment schemes, followed by health Running of schools 21.48 1.07 9990.1
facilities, provision of irrigation facilities. Direct government Construction of roads and puliyas 38.80 39.13 201630.1
Maintenance of roads and bridges 22.77 3.78 33199.2
intervention to remove poverty is also emphasised by both the
Construction of irrigation
poor and non-poor strata. water channels 6.57 0.94 28528.4
Dispute resolution 14.93 0.95 12748.0
Others 21.47 16.11 150108.3
VI Total 100 67046.7
Summary and Concluding Observations
This paper examined the multidimensional nature of rural Table 18: Size of Panchayats and Sources of Funds
poverty in Madhya Pradesh on the basis of a primary survey (Per cent)
across 2,208 rural households spread over 11 districts, viz, Size of Panchayat Per Cent Structure of Revenue Resources by Sources
Dindori, Chhattarpur, Shivpuri, Jabalpur, Tikamgarh, Katni, by Number of Villages
Dhar, Ujjain, Guna, Sagar and Balaghat. The survey has of Members Centre States Own Others Total
highlighted the incidence of extreme poverty in rural Madhya 1-5 4.45 45.23 46.58 2.47 5.72 100
Pradesh, gender inequality in access to various publicly provided 6-10 14.73 40.99 40.01 14.64 4.35 100
services and the ground realities with regard to the pro-poor 11-15 42.94 51.53 41.16 2.75 4.56 100
16-20 34.17 49.66 35.55 11.63 3.16 100
fiscal intervention in these districts. The following are the 21-25 3.71 43.96 44.51 11.52 0.00 100
main findings: 26-30 0
(1) The study noted that unemployment rate among the poor is > 30 0
Not specified 0
very high at 11 per cent for males and 13 per cent for females
Total 100 48.82 39.53 8.03 3.61 100
compared to 4 and 5 per cent respectively for stratum 2, capturing

Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007 387

illiteracy rate for males too, though not as much as in the case (8) The preferred mode for poverty alleviation in terms of the
of females. perception of the poor is employment generation followed by
(3) The benefit incidence of government programmes in edu- opportunities of education. The implementation of the National
cation shows the percentage of schoolgoing children receiving Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) may go a long way
multiple benefits. Mid-day meal scheme is the most predominant in generating additional employment in rural areas.
form of benefit received followed by free books and scholarship. (9) A larger budgetary support is needed for health and education,
The per capita expenditure benefit is also higher in stratum 1 and more effective facility for accessing low cost credit.
than in stratum 2 reflecting progressivity in the benefit distri- Thus, given the high gender discrimination in rural Madhya
bution in education. Pradesh reflected in the adverse sex ratio, extremely low adult
(4) In regard to health services, three-fourths of the households female literacy rate and the status of RCH programme, efforts
seek the services of the PHCs, a little less than one-third, private should be focused not only be for poverty reduction but for a
doctors, and one-fifth, the quacks, among others. The very fact pro-gender development policy. EPW
that other providers including chemists, indigenous practitioners,
faith healers, etc, are consulted in tandem gives the message that Email: srivastava@mse.ac.in
the reliance on PHCs is not total for either of the strata. Roughly
5 to 5.5 per cent of total expenditure go towards expenditure Notes
on health with medicine alone claiming 65 to 69 per cent of the
total health cost. [This paper is part of a broader study on ‘India: Fiscal Policies for Reducing
(5) Supply-side infrastructural bottlenecks should be removed Poverty’ financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
for work carried out at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
to achieve better connectivity as the survey points out that almost Assistance from CIDA is gratefully acknowledged.]
all the facilities including medical, educational, banking, trans-
port are located more than two km away for a substantial pro- 1 The state of Madhya Pradesh was bifurcated to form Chhattisgarh on
November 10, 2000.
portion of villages surveyed. 2 Third Human Development Report, Madhya Pradesh (2002).
(6) The pro-poor fiscal intervention strategy shows that most of 3 Third Human Development Report, Madhya Pradesh (2002), pp 70-71.
the centrally-sponsored schemes are being implemented 4 Other medical expenditure comprises hospital charges, expenditure on
through district development agencies or panchayats. A high account of X-ray and various other diagnostic tests.
proportion of panchayats, ranging from 47 per cent to 90
per cent, is not even participating in such schemes or has no References
idea of the ongoing schemes. Only 9 per cent of the households
Census of India (2001): Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2001,
in stratum 1 are benefited by the schemes, mostly via cash Madhya Pradesh series 24.
benefits. – (2001): Provisional Population Totals Rural-Urban Distribution Paper 2
(7) The finances of the panchayats are weak. Their own resources of 2001, Madhya Pradesh series 24.
amount to only 8 per cent of the total revenues. Government of India (2001): ‘Poverty Estimates for 1999-2000’, Press
Information Bureau, February 22, New Delhi.
Table 19: Perception of Poverty: – (2001): Provisional Population Tables, Census of India, 2001, papers 1
The Perspective of Rural Households and 2, Office of the Registrar General, New Delhi.
(Per cent) – (2003): Statistical Abstract India 2002, Central Statistical Organisation,
Perception Stratum 1 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, New Delhi.
Government of Madhya Pradesh (1995): Human Development Report 1995,
Lack of employment 39.86 Directorate of Institutional Finance, Bhopal.
Lack of land possession 4.44 – (1996): State Finance Commission (Report for Rural Local Bodies), June
Undernourishment 3.49 (April 1996 to March 2001).
Lack of housing 6.91
– (1996): State Finance Commission (Report for Urban Local Bodies), June
Lack of wealth 1.44
Lack of education 36.59 (April 1996 to March 2001).
Others 7.26 – (1998): The Madhya Pradesh Human Development Report 1998, Directorate
Total 100.00 of Institutional Finance, Bhopal.
– (2001): Statistical Diary, Bhopal.
– (2002): Third Human Development Report, Bhopal.
Table 20: Most Helpful Government Schemes and Services: Mishra, U S, T K Roy and S Irudaya Rajan (1996): ‘Antenatal Care and
Perception of Poor
(Per cent)
Contraceptive Behaviour in India: Some Evidence from NFHS’, The
Journal of Family Welfare, 44(2), pp 1-14.
Stratum 1 Pandey, A, Nandini Roy, D Sahu and Rajib Acharya (2004): ‘Maternal
Health Care Services: Observations from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
Employment scheme 59.54
Food for work programme 0.30 Uttaranchal’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XXXIX, No 7,
Health facilities 5.34 pp 713-20.
Provision of electricity 0.06 Pandey, A, Pradeep Mishra and A Ojha (2002): ‘An Analysis of the Child
Provision of irrigation facilities 3.12 Specific Effect of the Utilisation of Maternal Health Care Services in
Provision of communication facilities 1.00 Some Selected States of India’ in Chandra M Pandey, Pradeep Mishra
Provision of housing facilities 3.86 and Uttam Singh (eds), Bio Statistical Aspects of Health and Epidemiology,
Drought relief work 0.35 pp 39-46.
Public distribution system 0.16
Planning Commission (2002): National Human Development Report 2001,
Removal of poverty 4.26
Education 0.95
New Delhi, March 27.
Others 21.07 Roy, T K and Sumati Kulkarni Y Vaidehi (2004): ‘Social Inequalities in Health
Total 100.00 and Nutrition in Selected States’, Economic and Political Weekly,
Vol XXXIX, No 7, pp 677-83.

388 Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007