Addressing utilization of the ICDS programme in Tamil Nadu, India: how class and caste matters

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The reduction in under nutrition is very slow in the past two decades in India even with high-economic growth rate and expansion in the ICDS programme. The ICDS evaluation studies majorly stressed on the general factors but they fail to acknowledge the structural factors -class and caste -while providing solutions. In Tamil Nadu nutritional status and utilization of ICDS services are better as compared to all-India average. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nutritional status of the poor and scheduled caste (SC) in Tamil Nadu and their utilization of ICDS services and to examine the role of group-specific factors in low reduction of nutritional status and utilization of ICDS programme. Design/methodology/approach -Multivariate analysis and logistic regression method were used using SPSS. Findings -The reduction of underweight is slow among the poorest and SC, moreover, the disparity between the richest and poorest as well as upper caste and SC is increasing. Logistic regression analysis shows that the poorest are marginalized, children belonging to poorer income group have higher chances of using the ICDS than the poorest and it is significant. After making the wealth quintile constant, the utilization of ICDS services across social groups showed that, though the poorest quintile has less access, within them the SC had utilized less compared to the other backward class (OBC). This indicates the poorest SCs are more vulnerable and marginalized across all quintiles and social groups. Research limitations/implications -In Tamil Nadu there is no sufficient sample of other caste/tribe and scheduled tribe. It would have given more insight on the utilization pattern. Lack of qualitative data has limited in explaining few phenomena to get more insight. Social implications -It will help the government to formulate more inclusive policy and address the issue of exclusion of marginalized people. Originality/value -The main core argument was based on the Tamil Nadu National Family Health Survey (NFHS) III unit-level data.

Factors influencing the performance of community health workers: A qualitative study of Anganwadi Workers from Bihar, India

“…A few existing studies examined the influence of caste on the working of ASHAs and AWWs [31,32]. The studies that examined caste in the ICDS context as a factor in achieving inclusive service delivery support the finding of this study [19,33,34]. These studies did not look at how caste influences AWW performance; instead, they discussed the role of caste in shaping the service delivery experience of the provider (AWW) and the beneficiary (community members).…”

District Level Geospatial Analysis of Utilization of ICDS Services Among Children in India

“…The service utilization was found to be more clustered in the Southern states with high level of possession of BPL cards and Hindu religion. A study based on Tamil Nadu had reported that among the caste groups the poorest among the scheduled castes had utilized the ICDS services the least ( 39 ). In southern part, the BPL card possession was high as reported by a study based on South India, where the services utilization was maximum for JSSK (100%) followed by ICDS (97.9%) ( 40 ).…”

Alarming level of severe acute malnutrition in Indian districts

“…Adding to this, administrative pressure from higher authorities forces AWWs to under-report the prevalence of SAM, fearing retribution due to reputational harm to the district rather than support for dealing with SAM children 13–15. Based on the NFHS-4 (2015–2016), children from Scheduled Tribal communities or the poorest wealth quintiles with a higher risk of SAM are less likely to access Anganwadi services 16–19. Hence, these groups may go unnoticed if they are in SAM.…”

“…However, beyond the individual capacity of AWWs, studies have shown multiple levels of factors beyond their individual capacity that hampered the Anganwadi programme’s effectiveness, especially in poor-performing states. These include inadequate financing and infrastructure, prejudicial caste-based social relationships, seasonal labour migration, governance failures, inadequate/delayed salaries, punitive supervision and high workload 18 19 25. Hence, it is imperative to strengthen the AWC through capacity-building programmes for AWWs to accurate anthropometric measurement, provide supportive supervision with sufficient logistic support and increase financial incentives corresponding to their work burden.…”