Snakes and Ladders - ERU Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

Taking its cue from the above framework (New Concept 2002), the study looks at children from
conception to 11 years – tracking key milestones of children in diverse poverty situations in one
district each in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. It explores the synergy
between health, education and nutritional inputs in the overall development of children in
different poverty situations and reflects on whether the proximal and distal environment promotes
holistic development of the child.
It is important to clarify that this study is not and does not purport to be an evaluation of existing
programmes on the ground although the discussion does include appraisal and evaluative
comments about the services at the ground level. Being essentially qualitative in nature, it is
exploratory and illustrative, seeking to understand context specific factors at each stage of the
development of children. The sample is skewed in favour of children living in diverse poverty
situations and, therefore, the findings of the study cannot be generalised to the larger universe of
children in the 0-11 age group. There is a wealth of quantitative and qualitative information
generated by the government giving an overall picture of both early childhood care and nutrition
on the one hand and primary schooling on the other which is often used by the government and
donor partners for making overall assessments. This study – at best – can enable us to understand
/ analyse issues in-depth that are generated from these macro studies, with reference to children
from the poorest households
At this stage, it would be valuable to recapture broad trends with respect to poverty and how it
influences maternal and child health and school participation.
It is now universally accepted that poverty is not only about income, it also encompasses factors
like health, education, nutrition and access to basic needs and services. Notwithstanding decades
of poverty alleviation and income generation programmes and an average rate of economic
growth of GDP of about 5 per cent per year, the country’s performance on the poverty alleviation
front has been disappointing, especially during the 1990s. The impact of rising food prices on the
real consumption of the poor and of stagnant rural employment opportunities continues to be a
matter of significant concern. A sharp decline in the off-take of the public distribution system
(PDS) food grains by states where poverty is concentrated is the result of a combination of fiscal
pressures on state budgets and the effect of policies resulting in higher prices for food grains.
Besides this, the increasing debt ratio and interest payment in the 1990s in contrast to the 1980s,
when the growth rates were at similar levels, worsened the scenario. The implications of these
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