The Social Orientation of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program

Borooah, Vani (2018): The Social Orientation of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program. Published in: Health and Well-Being in India No. Palgrave Macmillan (May 2018): pp. 67-104.

Abstract

Launched in October 1975, India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program is its largest national program for promoting the health and development of mothers and their children. This chapter examines an aspect of the ICDS program that has been neglected, namely who are its beneficiaries? Are they persons from deprived groups who, but for the program, might not have received such services? Or are they persons from more privileged groups who have the resources to acquire them from other sources? In both cases the ICDS program adds value but, in the latter situation, it does so by displacing existing services. This evaluation of the ICDS program is particularly important in the light of the Government of India’s view, as articulated in its Eleventh Five Year Plan, that growth is not perceived as “sufficiently inclusive for many groups, especially Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities”. The chapter presents econometric estimates regarding the relative strength of the personal and household circumstances of persons in determining the likelihood of utilising ICDS services. Lastly, the chapter suggests a trade-off between quality and utilisation by hypothesising that the poor quality of services leads upper-caste mothers to exit the ICDS market and seek these services elsewhere.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Child Development, Social Groups, Exit, Voice
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

References

Barnagarwala, T. (2017), “Palghar: Take Home Ration for Children Consumed by Cattle”, Indian Express, 12 June 2017.

Blackaby, D.H., Leslie, D.G., Murphy, P.D. and O’Leary, N.C. (1999), “Unemployment Among Britain’s Ethnic Minorities”, The Manchester School, 67:1-20.

Blinder, A.S. (1973), “Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates”, Journal of Human Resources, 8: 436-55.

Borooah, V.K. and Iyer, S. (2005), "Vidya, Veda, and Varna: The Influence of Religion and Caste on Education in Rural India", Journal of Development Studies, 41: 1369-404.

Borooah, V.K., Sabharwal, N.S., and Diwakar, D. (2014), “Evaluating the Social Orientation of the Integrated Child Development Services Programme”, Economic and Political Weekly, XLIX: 52-62.

Davey, A., Davey, S., and Datta, U. (2008), “Perception Regarding Quality of Services in Urban ICDS Blocks in Delhi”, Indian Journal of Public Health, 52(3): 156-158.

Desai, S., Dubey, A., and Vanneman, R. (2015). India Human Development Survey-II University of Maryland and National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.

Dhingra, R. and Sharma, I. (2011), “Assessment of Preschool Component of ICDS Scheme in Jammu District”, Global Journal of Human Science, 11(6): 13-18.

Diwakar G.D. (2010), Critical Appraisal of ICDS Programme: Budget and Resource Analysis, Journal of the Madras School of Social Work, A half yearly review of social work and social sciences, Special Edition-II, pp 133-146

Dreze, Jean (2006), ‘Universalisation with Quality ICDS in a Right Perspective’, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 34, pp. 3706- 3715.

FOCUS (2009), Focus on Children under Six, New Delhi: Citizens’ Initiative for the Rights of Children under Six (CIRCUS).

Gill, K. (2012), Promoting ‘Inclusiveness’: A Framework for Assessing India’s Flagship Social Welfare Programs, Social Policy Working Paper Series – 2, New Delhi: UNICEF.

Ghosh, S. (2006), “Food Dole or Health, Nutrition, and Development Program”, Economic and Political Weekly, 41(34): 3664-3666.

Gragnolati, M., Shekar, M., Das Gupta, M., Bredenkamp, C., Lee. Y-K. (2005), India’s Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Harris-White, Barbara (1994), ‘Child nutrition and poverty in South India’, New Delhi: Concept Publishers.

Harris-White, Barbara (2004), ‘Nutrition and its Politics in Tamil Nadu’, South Asia Research, pp 51-71.

Himanshu (2013), Food security in India, ADB Working Paper Series (No.369), Asian Development Bank: Manila.

Hirschman, A.O. (1970), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organisations, and States, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Human Development Sector (2004), Reaching out to the Child: An Integrated Approach to Child Development, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Kapil, U. and Pradhan, R. (1999), “Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS) and its impact on the nutritional status of children”, Indian Journal of Public Health, 43(1): 21-25.

Mander, H. and Kumaran, K. (2006), Social Exclusion in ICDS: a Sociologist Whodunit, ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/food/resource/res15071101.pdf.

Nayak, N. and Saxena, N.C. (2006), “Implementation of ICDS in Bihar and Jharkhand”, Economic and Political Weekly, 41(34): 3680-3684.

Nielsen, H.S. (1998), “Discrimination and Detailed Decomposition in a Logit Model”, Economics Letters, 61:15-20.

Oaxaca, R. (1973), “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets”, International Economic Review, 14: 693-709.

Planning Commission (2008), Eleventh Five Year Plan, 2007-2012: Volume 1 Inclusive Growth, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Qadiri, F. and Manhas, S. (2009), “Parental Perception Towards Preschool Education Imparted at Early Childhood Education Centres”, Studies on Home and Community Science, 3(1): 19-24.

Rajivan, A.K. (2006), “ICDS with a Difference”, Economic and Political Weekly, 41(34): 3685-3688.

Sinning, M., Hahn, M., and Bauer, T.K. (2008), “The Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition for non-linear Regression Models”, The Stata Journal, 8: 480-492.

Sinha, Dipa (2006), ‘Rethinking ICDS: A Right Based Perspective’, Economic and Political Weekly, 41:34, pp. 3689- 3684.

Sundararaman, T. (2006), “Universalisation of ICDS and Community Health worker Programs: Lessons from Chhattisgarh”, Economic and Political Weekly, 41(34): 3674-3679.

Tandon, B.N. and Gandhi, N. (1992), “Immunisation Coverage in India for Areas Served by the Integrated Child Development Services Program”, Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 70(4): 461-465.

Thorat, S. and Sadana, N. (2009), “Discrimination and Children’s Nutritional Status in India”, IDS Bulletin, 40(4): 25-29.