Child Poverty and Social Inclusion

The Institute for Human Development was chosen as a partner organisation to undertake research studies in India as part of the current UNICEF country programme, which focuses on issues of children and social exclusion. The first component of this partnership was a study on Child Well-being and Equity that sought to provide evidence of the incidence and causes of multiple deprivations facing children, even beyond material poverty. IHD Senior Fellow Preet Rustagi was the lead researcher for this study. The second part focused on filling knowledge gaps and developing an evidence based advocacy on issues of Adivasi populations. The specific disadvantages affecting adivasi children who lag behind any other social group in the country are also analysed through a set of commissioned papers which focus on these issues. The lead researcher for this part was Prof. Dev Nathan.

Under the Child Poverty and Social Exclusion project, ten technical background papers were commissioned in consultation with Social Policy, Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation (SPPME), UNICEF. These are part of the IHD-UNICEF working paper series ‘Children of India: Rights and Opportunities’. Children below the age of 18 years account for nearly 40 per cent of India’s population. Enabling these children to realize their full creative potential is critical for sustaining India’s economic growth and human development. The following papers offer a platform for examining different dimensions of child rights. Experts and commentators were invited to explore the impact of development policies on children and women and suggest alternative approaches to the elimination of children’s deprivations.

Working Paper 1
From Poverty to Well-being: Alternative Approaches to the Recognition of Child Deprivation in India
Ashwani Saith and Rekha Wazir

Working Paper 2
Demographic Transition, Employment Structure and MDG Goals: Focus on Child Population in Urban India
Amitabh Kundu and P.C. Mohanan

Working Paper 3
Rising Food Prices and Financial Crisis in India: Impact on Women and Children and Ways of Tackling the Problem
S. Mahendra Dev

Working Paper 4
India’s Fiscal Policy Space for Investing in Children
Praveen Jha and Subrat Das

Working Paper 5
The Legislative and Institutional Framework for Protection of Children in India
Asha Bajpai

Working Paper 6
Including Children in an Inclusive Growth Strategy for the Eleventh Plan
Santosh Mehrotra

Working Paper 7
Perspective for Understanding Status of Tribal Children in India
Virginius Xaxa

Working Paper 8
Scheduled Tribe Children in India: Multiple Deprivations and Locational Disadvantage
Preet Rustagi, Sunil Kumar Mishra and Balwant Singh Mehta

Working Paper 9
NREGA and its Impact on Child Labour
S. Mahendra Dev

Working Paper 10
Orissa and Inclusive Tribal Development
Soumya Kapoor

IHD Project Leader: Preet Rustagi
IHD Team members: Sunil Kumar Mishra, Balwant Singh Mehta, Rajini Menon

UNICEF Advisers: Social Policy, Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation (SPPME): Ramya
Subrahmaniam, A. K. Shiva Kumar