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ARTICLES WORTH READING

(07.09.2012)
From The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3867058.ece
Heard of the Bangladesh shining story?
Jairam Ramesh, Varad Pande , Pranjul Bhandari
The country has shown that it is possible to have superior social outcomes at lower
per capita incomes and rates of economic growth
Bangladesh is very much in the news these days in our country, but for the wrong
reasons. In the unfortunate Bangladesh-bashing that seems to have become
somewhat of a pastime, we seem to have failed to notice the striking
developmental success that it has had in the last few decades, compared with some
high-profile Indian States.
Consider this. Bangladesh is considerably poorer than India going by GDP alone
its GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity) in 2010 was only
$1,585, roughly half of Indias ($3,419) and less than a third of Gujarats ($5,098)
and Haryanas ($5,434). But how is Bangladesh doing on social dimensions
compared to some of our richer States?
Let us start with the status of children. In almost every standard indicator of child
development, Bangladesh is doing better than some of the richer Indian States.
The infant mortality rate and the under-five mortality rate in Bangladesh is better
than 13 large Indian States, including much richer Indian States like Gujarat,
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
The proportion of children that are underweight is also lower in Bangladesh
compared to six Indian States, including richer Gujarat where the Chief Minister
has now come up with a truly bizarre explanation for the prevalence of
malnutrition there.

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Interestingly, Bangladeshs Total Fertility Rate, which measures the children born
per woman, is 2.2 (which is nearly the replacement rate) and lower than 10 large
Indian States, including Gujarat (2.5) and Haryana (2.3). Even when it comes to
access to improved sanitation, Bangladesh again does better than every large
Indian State other than Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
What does all this data tell us? Clearly, Bangladesh demonstrates that it is possible
to have superior social outcomes at lower per capita incomes and lower rates of
economic growth. There is more to social development than just GDP. So why has
Bangladesh done so well?
Two arguments
Let us first examine the arguments of the naysayers. One set of sceptics would
argue that Bangladesh simply exports its poverty to India, especially to our
Northeast. But even if one believes the most exaggerated statistics of Bangladeshi
migration to India, not more than five to six per cent of Bangladeshis seek their
livelihoods in our country.
The second argument of the naysayers is that Bangladeshs data is fudged or
exaggerated by the donor community to justify its larger than life presence in the
country. However, doctoring national data at such scale is simply not possible in
todays day and age of scrutiny by academics, researchers and sceptics.
So how might have Bangladesh done it? Spending has something to do with it. As
Jean Drze has argued, the public health expenditure as a proportion of the GDP in
Bangladesh has been much higher than in India until a few years ago.
Another clear lesson is that grassroot institutions seem to matter. One of the major
reasons for the success of Bangladesh has been social mobilisation at the local
level, such as through womens self-help groups (SHG), which has led to increased
public awareness and greater accountability in service delivery. A lot of this has
been facilitated by robust and effective development NGOs that have achieved
scale in fact, Bangladesh is perhaps the best case study of NGO success
anywhere in the world. As scholars have argued, NGOs are involved at scale in
virtually every development activity in the country, including education, health,
poverty alleviation, etc. NGOs may have broad-based social development in
Bangladesh, as some have argued, since they have primarily worked with the poor
through social campaigns, but this phenomenon may be unique to Bangladesh, as

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state institutions may be weaker, as compared to countries like India, and NGOs
may be filling up that space.
Nevertheless, there are lessons for India effective grassroot institutions matter
for service delivery. In the Indian context, financially and administratively
empowering the Panchayati Raj institutions, with their 2,50,000 gram panchayats,
and 30 lakh elected representatives (of which 12 lakh are women) is critical. This
is not happening on any significant scale. Similarly, the 30 lakh womens SHGs
(that we hope to increase to 70 lakh in the next five years through the National
Rural Livelihoods Mission Aajeevika), could play a major role in improving
social outcomes. But for this to happen, we will need to ensure that these SHGs are
linked to banks and involved in service delivery, as in Andhra Pradesh.
Enhancing connectivity
Currently, 80 per cent of all credit to SHGs goes to the four southern States of
India Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala and this needs to
be broad-based nationally. In addition, we need to enhance rural connectivity
the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), a major success in connecting
habitations above 500 population with pucca roads, needs to scaled up to connect
smaller habitations. Sanitation and hygiene have to undergo a veritable revolution,
given their multiplier effects on reducing child mortality and malnutrition,
enhancing economic productivity, and upholding the dignity of women.
Clearly we must not settle for lower GDP growth rates in India. Indeed, the data
shows that there is a clear positive correlation between GDP and social
development indicators. More importantly, continued high rates of GDP growth
are required for generating resources to invest in health and education, and
sustaining the investments on the required scale.
But what Bangladeshs experience shows is that we dont have to wait for that high
economic growth to trigger social transformations. Robust grassroot institutions
can achieve much that money cant buy.