"The Possibility of Inclusion" a talk by Dr. Anuradha Kalhan Siddiqui at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 2nd December 2013

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
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Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Seminar on ‘The Possibility of Inclusion’ by Dr. Anuradha Kalhan Siddiqui, Fellow, NMML.

Abstract : This paper examines the nature of Human, Social, Financial and Physical capital formation occurring among the poor, informally employed/ unemployed women living in metropolitan centres like Mumbai and Delhi. Methodologically, it does so  through field work  using probability sampling and juxtaposing the non-beneficiaries (control group) and beneficiaries of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojna (SJSRY), a ‘Sustainable Livelihood’ oriented poverty alleviation scheme for urban centres.  It uses the primary, quantitative and qualitative data obtained to analyse the impact of the policy. The scheme has been operational nationally since 1.12.1997. Funded by the Centre and State in the ratio of 75:25 and to be implemented by the local government, it is designed to provide skill/ training, form Self Help Groups, link groups to scheduled bank and create access to micro credit at reasonable rates. It also aims to spawn individual and group based micro enterprises, and create a self-managed hierarchy of local institutions with self-help groups at the base, their area level societies and ward level federations.  Poor urban women rather than men form the largest constituency of its beneficiaries.   The scheme’s galvanizing impact on poor women in Kerala has been documented by a study of Kerala’s Poverty Eradiation Mission- ‘Kudumbashree’ (2009) sponsored by the Planning Commission. Is that experience replicable, and particularly is it replicable in urban centres where the poor are amassing? This survey was undertaken to explore the possibility. It occurred over 2009-11 in Mumbai and February –May 2013 in Delhi.  It   found that the beneficiaries  in Mumbai where the scheme has been implemented (by the community development officers of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai under the purview of its poverty eradication cell)  since 2000  experience an higher frequency of human and social capital formation along with a growth in their savings and investments compared to the control group.  More mature SHGs were investing to undertake productive activity. This is occurring despite the fact that Community Development Officers were too few in proportion to the number of beneficiaries they were expected to serve and in spite of the fact that beneficiaries were at a lower income level when the scheme was launched, compared to the control group of non-beneficiaries. The beneficiaries in Mumbai were overwhelmingly in favour of the policy and experienced community development officers implementing it were of the opinion that it was an exceptionally well-designed policy to manage the multiple dimensions of poverty simultaneously. This paper examines the results of recent field work in Delhi, where the policy is implemented by NGOs enlisted by ‘Mission Convergence’ of the government of Delhi. It estimates the number and the nature of the activities of the SHGs, diversity of capital formation occurring, makes preliminary comparisons between the outcomes in the two metros and suggests policies to strengthen the delivery in the Juggi Jopdi and poorer colonies more for inclusive growth.

 The presentation is divided into the following parts:
1.    Significance of the Study

2.    Methodology and Field Work

3.    Results and Comparisons

4.    Conclusions (Problems in Methodology in Mumbai and Delhi, Explanation for trends).

Speaker : Dr. Anuradha Kalhan Siddiqui is a Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. She teaches Economics in Mumbai, is currently interested in the socio- economic impact of policies and is writing a book on ‘delivery mechanisms and impact of policies- some case studies’.

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