abstraCt This article is based on a micro-level village study in Kerala, the southernmost Indian ... more abstraCt This article is based on a micro-level village study in Kerala, the southernmost Indian state with its long-standing impressive basic indicators in health, economic growth and social development. Using the theoretical perspective of 'cultural inflation of morbidity' for a hypothesis of continuing inequities in health outcomes, it examines how far such impressive basic indicators have actually translated into equity in health outcomes, defined in terms of incidence of morbidity and morbidity pattern. Confirming the hypothesis, the findings discuss to what extent both caste and gender, separately and together, may be continuing today to mediate health outcomes in a changing socioeconomic environment.
This paper makes an attempt at understanding why inequalities continue to exist in the educationa... more This paper makes an attempt at understanding why inequalities continue to exist in the educational profile of the population despite high literacy, universal enrollment in schools and relatively better infrastructural facilities. In this connection, the questions relating to entry barriers in higher education and labour market outcomes gain considerable significance.
Globalisation has led to large scale outsourcing of production activities to developing countries... more Globalisation has led to large scale outsourcing of production activities to developing countries manifesting in global commodity chains. The perspective of global commodity chain or GCC framework and social embeddedness is used to understand the organisational and social linkages in the embellishment production network in garment industry. The findings are based on the fieldwork conducted in Bareilly situated in Uttar Pradesh, an important centre of embellishment activity in India. The mapping of the value chains in terms of the production process and through the network of agents helped to identify two types of governance structures: control over work processes and control through social institutions. The paper find subtle differences between export and domestic chains in terms of the governance structures or controls used. It also sheds some light on the implications of entry into and exit from the international chain for workers including home based workers. Working in export market is risky and uncertain due to strict controls through lead time and quality parameters. The earnings from export products are not adequate enough to compensate for the risks and uncertainties associated with it. The paper also does not find evidence to show improved working conditions for those workers engaged in the global network. The social embeddedness of the network ensures that agents choosing to opt out of the international chain are able to insert themselves in the domestic chain more or less on equal terms.
Is there a strong correlation between caste and class in access to education, especially higher e... more Is there a strong correlation between caste and class in access to education, especially higher education? This is the broader question addressed by the study in the context of Kerala, the southernmost state in India, with impressive conventional indicators in education. Micro-level insights based on the study of a village in Kerala show that old forms of inequalities have been replaced by new forms of inequalities in education. Notwithstanding Kerala's impressive indicators, huge inequalities exist in the educational attainments of the population. The Scheduled Castes (SCs) are still at the bottom of the rankings in enrolment in higher education despite the adoption of a positive discrimination policy and educational subsidy by the state. This situation is explained through an examination of three issues: the perception of the lower employment potential of conventional or mainstream higher education; the educational polices of the state and disparate access to economic resources. The study concludes by offering a few policy recommendations to make higher education more inclusive for marginalised sections of society.
The mainstream theories on development try to understand the empowerment of women through select ... more The mainstream theories on development try to understand the empowerment of women through select indicators relating to education and health. Kerala provides a suitable setting to understand how far higher levels of literacy, enrolment in higher education, favourable sex ratio, small family and access to health care facilities translate into empowerment of women defined in terms of their role in decisionmaking within a household and freedom of physical mobility. Our findings based on the micro-level study of a village in Kerala reveal that remarkable achievements measured by conventional indicators have failed to elevate women from their subordinate status within a household. The analysis of Kudumbashree, a state-sponsored woman-centric poverty alleviation programme, also reveals that women's access to community programmes has failed to empower them. Such an apparent paradox is explained through a complex process of gendering at three levels: education, employment and access to economic resources. Social norms, the dowry system, the patrilineal system of inheritance and patrilocal residence also affect such a gendering process. The choices that a woman/household makes regarding her education, activity pattern and community participation are very much shaped by a gendered social structure where a man is associated with 'outside activity' and woman with 'inside activity'. different measures of empowerment in the context of power relations within a household show that women's access to education, health and 'small family' has failed to elevate them from their entrenched subordinate status. Also, women's participation in state-sponsored poverty alleviation programmes such as Kudumbashree has not been translated into real empowerment outcomes. Such an apparent paradox is explained through a complex process of gendering in education, work participation and access to economic resources.
abstraCt This article is based on a micro-level village study in Kerala, the southernmost Indian ... more abstraCt This article is based on a micro-level village study in Kerala, the southernmost Indian state with its long-standing impressive basic indicators in health, economic growth and social development. Using the theoretical perspective of 'cultural inflation of morbidity' for a hypothesis of continuing inequities in health outcomes, it examines how far such impressive basic indicators have actually translated into equity in health outcomes, defined in terms of incidence of morbidity and morbidity pattern. Confirming the hypothesis, the findings discuss to what extent both caste and gender, separately and together, may be continuing today to mediate health outcomes in a changing socioeconomic environment.
This paper makes an attempt at understanding why inequalities continue to exist in the educationa... more This paper makes an attempt at understanding why inequalities continue to exist in the educational profile of the population despite high literacy, universal enrollment in schools and relatively better infrastructural facilities. In this connection, the questions relating to entry barriers in higher education and labour market outcomes gain considerable significance.
Globalisation has led to large scale outsourcing of production activities to developing countries... more Globalisation has led to large scale outsourcing of production activities to developing countries manifesting in global commodity chains. The perspective of global commodity chain or GCC framework and social embeddedness is used to understand the organisational and social linkages in the embellishment production network in garment industry. The findings are based on the fieldwork conducted in Bareilly situated in Uttar Pradesh, an important centre of embellishment activity in India. The mapping of the value chains in terms of the production process and through the network of agents helped to identify two types of governance structures: control over work processes and control through social institutions. The paper find subtle differences between export and domestic chains in terms of the governance structures or controls used. It also sheds some light on the implications of entry into and exit from the international chain for workers including home based workers. Working in export market is risky and uncertain due to strict controls through lead time and quality parameters. The earnings from export products are not adequate enough to compensate for the risks and uncertainties associated with it. The paper also does not find evidence to show improved working conditions for those workers engaged in the global network. The social embeddedness of the network ensures that agents choosing to opt out of the international chain are able to insert themselves in the domestic chain more or less on equal terms.
Is there a strong correlation between caste and class in access to education, especially higher e... more Is there a strong correlation between caste and class in access to education, especially higher education? This is the broader question addressed by the study in the context of Kerala, the southernmost state in India, with impressive conventional indicators in education. Micro-level insights based on the study of a village in Kerala show that old forms of inequalities have been replaced by new forms of inequalities in education. Notwithstanding Kerala's impressive indicators, huge inequalities exist in the educational attainments of the population. The Scheduled Castes (SCs) are still at the bottom of the rankings in enrolment in higher education despite the adoption of a positive discrimination policy and educational subsidy by the state. This situation is explained through an examination of three issues: the perception of the lower employment potential of conventional or mainstream higher education; the educational polices of the state and disparate access to economic resources. The study concludes by offering a few policy recommendations to make higher education more inclusive for marginalised sections of society.
The mainstream theories on development try to understand the empowerment of women through select ... more The mainstream theories on development try to understand the empowerment of women through select indicators relating to education and health. Kerala provides a suitable setting to understand how far higher levels of literacy, enrolment in higher education, favourable sex ratio, small family and access to health care facilities translate into empowerment of women defined in terms of their role in decisionmaking within a household and freedom of physical mobility. Our findings based on the micro-level study of a village in Kerala reveal that remarkable achievements measured by conventional indicators have failed to elevate women from their subordinate status within a household. The analysis of Kudumbashree, a state-sponsored woman-centric poverty alleviation programme, also reveals that women's access to community programmes has failed to empower them. Such an apparent paradox is explained through a complex process of gendering at three levels: education, employment and access to economic resources. Social norms, the dowry system, the patrilineal system of inheritance and patrilocal residence also affect such a gendering process. The choices that a woman/household makes regarding her education, activity pattern and community participation are very much shaped by a gendered social structure where a man is associated with 'outside activity' and woman with 'inside activity'. different measures of empowerment in the context of power relations within a household show that women's access to education, health and 'small family' has failed to elevate them from their entrenched subordinate status. Also, women's participation in state-sponsored poverty alleviation programmes such as Kudumbashree has not been translated into real empowerment outcomes. Such an apparent paradox is explained through a complex process of gendering in education, work participation and access to economic resources.
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