Suchergebnisse

The decision on the number of children is taken within the household decision making framework. One argument states that, the rising costs and declining economic value of children drives couples to go for smaller families. The other major economic argument states that, it is in parent's best interest to have large number of children in any agrarian or poor economic setting, where children can be put to work to contribute to the household income. Therefore, in this study an attempt has been made to capture the economic effects in a poor state of India i.e. Odisha, where sustained fertility decline has occurred in spite of unfavourable conditions. Data for the study are drawn from National Family Health Survey and also from a primary survey carried in one district of Odisha. The result demonstrated that the desire to stop child bearing increases rapidly with the number of living children. Multiple classification analysis shows that caste, educational level, standard of living of the household, exposure to mass media and number of living son are important determinants of desire family size. It is also evident that in spite of widespread poverty in the state the economic provision of the government is not a precondition for the decision of number of children. The result show that the thresholds have fallen because of the changing value of children; cost of raising them has increased and child participation in work force has decreased. Such changes have occurred because of diffusion of ideas.

For reducing morbidity, mortality and disabilities from the six serious but preventable diseases—that is, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis and measles—the government of India initiated Expanded Programme on Immunisation by making free vaccination services easily available to all eligible children. Despite considerable gains in immunisation coverage, a large chunk of children die from vaccine preventable diseases. The article sheds light on the coverage of child immunisation in India and estimates the effect of selected demographic and socio-economic characteristics on immunisation coverage. Data for the study have been utilised from DLHS-RCH, conducted during 2002–04. Both bi-variate and multivariate techniques have been carried out in due course of analysis. Multivariate analysis in the form of multinomial logistic regression is employed to see the net effect of each of the independent variables on the dependant variable, that is, immunisation (no immunisation, any immunisation and full immunisation). The different background characteristics considered for the study are age of mother, educational level of mother, birth order, sex of the child, place of residence, religion, caste and standard of living of the household, antenatal care (ANC) and geographical region. The result reveals that about half the children are fully immunised but one-fifth of the children have not been immunised. There is a substantial variation in full immunisation across background variables. Those children are more likely to be fully immunised whose mothers are more educated. Besides this, the sex of the child, place of residence and standard of living of the household also show statistically significant effect on full immunisation.

SummaryOrissa, one of the extremely backward states of India with moderately high infant mortality, extreme poverty, low female literacy and very low level of industrialization and urbanization, has shown an impressive fertility decline in the last two decades. This anomaly calls for an indepth understanding of the fertility transition of the state. An analysis of the period parity progression ratios computed from the fertility histories obtained in the National Family Health Survey III shows a high progression up to the second birth, but a gradual decline after that. Thus, the transition at low level of socioeconomic development suggests a fall in the thresholds for fertility decline from levels presumed to be required in the past.

Using data from National Family Health Surveys I, II, III and IV, the present study explores the emerging trends and determinants of having daughters only in India. Results reveal there is an increasing trend in daughter preference in southern states, while the prevalence of daughter-only families is lower in northern, central and western states. The binary logit regression analysis reveals younger age of women, educational level, urban residence, wealth index of the household and southern region have a significant positive effect on daughter acceptance in India. The study found despite an increasing desire for smaller families, there is still a perceived necessity of sons for inheritance, carrying on the family name, economic support during old age and performing religious rites. At the same time, there are indications that some couples are accepting permanent methods of family planning without having a son. Therefore, it is important for the Government of India to focus on effective strategies to reduce its son preference and accelerate the acceptance of daughters.

Lack of education among the scheduled castes (SC) population in India may be the main reason for remaining at the lower end of the social structure. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the changing trends in literacy among the SC to find out the determinants of higher education and to explore the major reasons for never enrolling or discontinuing/dropping out from educational institutions among the SC population in India. Using the data from the Census of India and also from National Sample Survey and employing both bivariate and multivariate analysis, the results reveal that though there is an increasing trend in the literacy rate among the SC population, but the rates remain quite below the national average. Gender disparity in literacy is quite evident. The low level of higher education mainly due to reasons like failing in examinations, heavy drop-outs and stagnation caused by their poor socio-economic background. Despite various efforts by the central and state governments to eradicate differences in educational attainment among the social groups through several constitutional steps from time to time there still remain gaps to be bridged.

Domestic violence is one of the most pervasive and commonest manifestations of violence targeted towards women. It is very difficult to problematise domestic violence in any one analytical framework as the factors contributing to it are interlinked and are culturally and contextually specific. The inter-linkage between women's work-often seen as a proxy for their enhanced status-and domestic violence is one of the most nuanced and little understood issues. The paper, therefore, focuses on working women and their experience of domestic violence situating the analysis in the referential framework of other contributing factors by using the data from the National Family Health Survey II (1998-99). The results show that working women face more violence as compared to the rural counterparts, which may be because of their being economically active and relatively better informed about their rights which on one hand, threaten male dominance and on the other, may result in better reporting of incidences of domestic violence although it is extremely difficult to sift the independent contribution of these outcomes. However, there are intercepts to disturb such a neat proposition and exposure to mass media-proxy for awareness, age at marriage as well as standard of living and educational level seem to have ameliorating implications for domestic violence. And yet, working urban women are more susceptible to violence than working women in rural India suggesting that urban women are in a more direct confrontation with established and coded gendered domains vis-à-vis men.

Population belonging to 'Scheduled Tribe' (ST) in India are considered as socio-economically backward section of the society. Tribal display different set of rules regarding inter-tribe and inter-clan marriage. There is a need to understand changing marriage pattern among tribal in North-east India, a region with geographically inaccessible, economically underdeveloped and where a large tribal population resides. Data from Census of India 2001 and 2011, revealed that Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM) among STs of Northeast is comparatively higher than the ST of India. The spousal age gap has also been decreasing over time. Among the major STs in the Northeast, the SMAM is highest among the Mao, Paomai Naga and among the Tangkhul Nagas of Manipur. Although the Nagas supported early marriage in its lore days, the marriage structure has tremendously changed with dawn of Christianity. Western education brought by Christian Missionaries had great impact on the traditional norms.

"Migration has emerged as an important issue in the contemporary global politics and in the discourse around human development. This book highlights the role of migration in socio-economic development and its interdependence with urbanization, employment, labour, and industry. This volume identifies the challenges which migration, and the subsequent dynamism in population and spatial parameters pose to land-use patterns, ecology, social politics and international relations. Through a study of migration patterns and trends in different parts of India, this collection analyses the relationship of migration with social and occupational mobility, poverty and wealth indices, inequality, distribution of resources and demographic change. It also explores policy measures and frameworks which can bring migration into the fold of national development strategies. Timely and comprehensive, the book underscores the importance of migration and urbanization, sustainability and inclusivity to economic growth and development. It will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of migration studies, political studies, sociology, urban studies, development studies and political sociology"--