Articles by D Narayana

The enrolment of the poor in the flagship health insurance scheme, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in its third year of operation does not show any sign of it covering all the poor by 2012. This article estimates the proportion of the eligible below the poverty line families enrolled for the scheme and the fraction of those hospitalised who are covered.

and Economics Report of the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, 2005.

With the passing of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments in India the structure of governance has changed permanently from a two-tier to a three-tier system with union, state and panchayats/nagar palikas. However, a necessary condition for the transformation of panchayats into local governments is devolution of powers, resources and functions to them and capacity building among the elected representatives. This paper analyses the functioning of the elected representatives at the gram panchayat level in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, elected ward members show poor awareness of powers and responsibilities, but Kerala is different. In Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, panchayats are perceived as agents of state governments, whereas in Kerala they are taken as local governments. In all three states, panchayat presidents understand the legislation better but planning for development is a far cry as little effort seems to have gone into capacity building and devolution of powers and resources. Unless larger powers and resources are devolved and elected representatives are trained, local government will be a dream.

The issue of poverty reduction in India has been a subject of debate for long. Following the initiation of economic reforms in 1991 the issue has gained added importance in that the question being asked is, has growth trickled down. The answer to the question has depended on the data used, and which data who has used has largely been guided by faith. Believers in National Sample Survey (NSS) hold that poverty has not come down whereas nonbelievers hold that poverty has come down rapidly in the 1990s.

In their zeal to push through financial sector reforms and to turn the sector into a handmaiden of industry and trade, the government and pro- reform academics are ignoring the pivotal role banks have played in promoting private capital formation in agriculture.