ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Nidhi Sadana SabharwalSubscribe to Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal

Evaluating the Social Orientation of the Integrated Child Development Services Programme

Examining who the beneficiaries are of the Integrated Child Development Services programme, an spect that has been neglected, this paper presents econometric estimates regarding the relative strength of personal and household circumstances in determining the likelihood of utilising the programme's services. These estimates suggest that inter-group differences in utilisation rates have less to do with characteristics and much more to do with group identity. The paper also 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.

Caste, Religion and Malnutrition Linkages

The poor are not uniformly disadvantaged. Across most health indicators, the situation of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Muslims is significantly worse than that of others. While nutritional status is closely linked with levels of income, education and public health services, the social belonging of persons also acts as an additional aggravating factor for nutritional inequity.

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