Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 10
BY WAY OF CONCLUSION: SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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in low levels of inputs. The average calorie intake is the
lowest in Kerala among all Indian States and nutritional
intake is characterised by low vitamin intake. These
problems mainly affect the lower income groups. Public
provisioning has taken care of minimum requirements and
a wider distribution of these services. The focus henceforth
has to be on enhancing the quantum and quality.
2.4 Strengthening Child Development
has been captured in this Report in the form of
constructing a Generalised Deprivation Index, which
shows an incidence of around 30 per cent. There are some
regional (inter-district) variations here but the districts,
which experience the highest incidence, are Wayanad
and Idukki. But here again the disparity is higher in terms
of social groups than districts. In specific terms, there is
need to give special attention to the provision of pucca or
permanent housing facilities to the Scheduled Castes and
Tribes and similarly placed socially disadvantaged groups.
Along with this, the provision of basic household facilities
such as sanitary facilities, electricity and access to drinking
water has to be given particular care. Given the experience
of the last decade, the local governments (panchayats) are
best placed to implement such schemes.
While the problem of human deprivation (both in
income and non-income terms) has a social dimension,
there is an underlying occupational dimension, which
is not adequately captured by existing data. The higher
incidence of deprivation in such activities is rooted
more in low and irregular employment than in wage
rate per se coupled with the expectation of non-manual
and regular work by the school-educated young adults
from poor households. As a prelude to focused policy
initiatives, there is need for studies on the incidence
and nature of poverty and deprivation according to
households dependent on different occupations. Here
again programmes that help skill formation and skill
up-gradation are called for.
2.3 Second Generation Problems and
the Need to Focus on Quality
Kerala’s achievements in human development have also
thrown up important challenges. Better outcomes have
been registered at low levels of income often manifested
For example, the Integrated Child Development Scheme
and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme for pre-school and schoolgoing
children leaves considerable scope for improvement
of the quantity and quality of food given. In schools the
meal usually consists of a gruel made of rice and cereals.
There was a policy announcement in 2002 to provide
a glass of milk to school children. But that is yet to be
implemented fully. It would have gone a long way in
providing a balanced diet to the young children. Serious
consideration should be given to revive the proposal and
arrangements be made for the provision of milk.
The financial implications of enhancing public
provisioning are certainly of concern. Generally speaking,
Kerala is a child-friendly society with innumerable
opportunities for children in the field of formal and nonformal
education, village level reading and recreation
facilities, sports and arts festivals, children’s clubs and a
variety of voluntary organisations working with children.
Successive governments have been child-friendly and
have contributed to a healthy public policy on children.
Despite considerable scope for improvement, there is
hardly any incidence of child labour; most children
are in school and child mortality is the lowest. The
advanced stage of demographic transition resulting in
less than two children per couple has helped enhance
the value of children. But such a perception has also to
be reflected at the societal plane. This is not absent; in
fact children’s programmes have acquired a collective
social concern that are manifested in the establishment
of children’s organisations by social organisations, print
media and political parties. Large-scale cultural events
such as school youth festivals and sports events have
acquired the status of big media events. Yet, there is a
perceptible deficit in the concern for the welfare of
poor children from a social point of view. Otherwise
the resources required for strengthening such socially
relevant programmes like Mid-Day Meals would not have
been in such deficit as they are today. Local communities
and socio-cultural organisations spent enormous amounts
of money in organising social and religious festivals and