Poverty and Human Development

Poverty

International Gender Poverty Summit held at New Delhi on 9-11 November, 2003

• This conference has scheduled some of top world leaders from political, multilateral agencies, civil society and academic domains to discuss global gender poverty. The Prime Minister of India, Sri Atal Behari Vajpayee inaugurated the Summit and the valedictory address was delivered by Sri. I.K Gujral, Ex Prime Minister of India. Academics, political thinker and civil society representatives from 30 countries participated. The proceedings of the Summit are being published by the Social Science Press.

Alternative Definitions of Poverty in India

• Theoretical research efforts entirely based on evidence based empirical methods to find out overlaps in four types of poverty concepts. The work is undertaken in association with the Department of Applied Economics, Oxford University and supported by DFID, London.

Poverty Round Table Discussion once a month during 2001-02.

• `Monitoring Human Development by UN Agencies', A consultancy project funded by the UN System in India: New Delhi, December 1996. A monograph entitled INDIA: Population and Development Goals, jointly with K. Srinivasan was published by the Oxford University Press, New Delhi, September 1997.

Poverty Profile of the Indian States: Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal

• This empirical research was aimed to document the variation in poverty estimates over time and at the disaggrigated district level. This consultancy project funded by the DFID, British Development Cooperation, New Delhi has also reviewed state policies on poverty alleviation and food security.
  

Human Development

Program of Studies on Human Development and Analytical Plan for 1998-2003

In this programme, collaborative research has been launched by networking 14 national level consultants / institutions and 7 international academics / institutions on a number of issues pertaining to human deprivation in India. The focus of this research has been to empirically establish the importance of analytical research in setting the poverty alleviation strategies including conceptualizing and designing the social and economic safety net programs. Noteworthy national institutions networked are the Institute of Economic Growth, Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Institute of Nutrition, Allahabad University, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and so on. A few international institutions with whom joint research was pursued were the Harvard Institute of International Development of the Harvard University, Economics, Departments of Stanford University, USA and Oxford University, Oxford, The UK, Cambridge University, The UK and many others. An international seminar on Human Development was organized in New Delhi in which 21 commissioned and collaborative papers were discussed. Dr. Nicholas Stern, the Chief Economist and Vice President of the World Bank inaugurated the seminar and Dr. Bimal Jalan,. Governor, Reserve Bank of India graced the occasion. The others who spoke ware Ms Brenda Mc Sweeney, Resident representative of the United Nations and Dr. N. Saxena, Secretary of the National Planning Commission. The proceedings of this seminar are now in press by Orient Longman Publishers.

Human Development Indicators for India and major States

A large project funded by UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and IDRC and executed by NCAER on behalf of the Planning Commission, Government of India. A report based on the primary data from 33,000 households across all parts of India has been finalized. The Oxford University Press has now published this report entitled INDIA Human Development Report.

Sixteen State level reports based on both the review of secondary and the HDI primary data and are in the process of finalization for publications a series of State Human Development Reports.

Twenty-six village studies are being edited for publication.
Human Development Indicators for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India.