Events of IGC
Brief: An effective state with strong and inclusive institutions is a fundamental requirement for sustaining economic growth. The quality of governance and public service delivery can affect economic growth due to its impact on human capital, widening poverty, increasing inequality and corruption. It is agreed that there is a governance deficit in India and Bihar and while there has been progress in the delivery of public services, it is unsatisfactory when compared with other countries/ states at similar levels of development. The existing socio-economic disparities have forced the poor to suffer to a greater degree due to weak public service delivery than those who can access these services from the market.
Understanding why states are less effective is a critical first step but finding solutions to strengthen state capabilities is also essential to generate higher rates of inclusive growth. Apart from these, the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis has affected lives across the world and caused a massive economic and health shock. To help policy stakeholders understand the severity of the crisis, IGC India research is focused on gathering new evidence around the state capacity and women in the workforce. To stimulate thoughts on this important issue within the context of India, International Growth Centre and Asian Development Research Institute are co-hosting a webinar on State Effectiveness.
1st Panel: Building State Capacity
Panellists: Arvind Kumar Chaudhary (Rural Development Department, Government of Bihar), Balamurugan D (JEEViKA, Government of Bihar), Drew Cameron (Yale), Emily Pakhtigian (Penn State University), Pronab Sen (The IGC), and Uma Sarmistha (University of Florida).
2nd Panel: Women in the Workforce
Panellists: Ashmita Gupta (ADRI), Clément Imbert (University of Warwick), Deepshikha Batheja (Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy), Gabriel Kreindler (Harvard University), Harjot Kaur Bamhrah (Women Development Corporation, Government of Bihar), Neelanjan Sircar (Ashoka University and CPR) and Rashmi Singh (Department of Women & Child Development, Government of Delhi).
Date and Time: 28th May 2021 at 14.00 to 17.00 (IST)
Zoom Link for Registration: Registration Link
Patna, May 28. International Growth Centre of London School of Economics and Asian Development Research Institute organised a webinar on “Evidence for State Effectiveness in Bihar” on May 28th, 2021. An effective state with strong and inclusive institutions is a fundamental requirement for sustaining economic growth. To have inclusive growth, states need to be strengthened so that they are both accountable for delivering inclusive public services and in designing and implementing effective services and policies as necessary. Understanding why states are less effective is a critical first step but finding solutions to strengthen state capabilities is also essential to generate higher rates of inclusive growth. To help policy stakeholders to understand the issues and way forward on state effectiveness, IGC and ADRI organised two panels – 1. Building the state capacity and 2. Women in the workforce.
First panel was started by Dr Pronab Sen, setting the context mentioned that to strengthened state effectiveness it is important to understand what the current gaps are and what has been the evidence of the current situations for us to move forward toward building an inclusive state capacity. Drew Cameron (Yale)stated that in Bihar there is a demand to have access to municipal water systems; the State of Bihar is still not be able to reach every household andwater delivery is a ‘stop gap’ that eliminates the hassle cost of household however, more than 50% of the sample was not interested in purchase of clean water. Emily Pakhtigian (Penn State) shared the insights that in Bihar to address the issues of sanitation, women and men demonstrate different sanitation preferences –women are more willing to have preference on sanitation; for improving the sanitation scenario, the Government should have “light-touch” interventions to inform the hygiene behaviour. Uma Sarmistha (Florida) emphasized the positive aspect with DoorToDoor garbage collection, the majority (53%) of respondents are utilizing this service and around 50% are willing to contribute for change in Patna city. It is further suggested that a long-lasting sustainability can be achieved through awareness programs at the individual, household, and ward levels with the current system. This will help Patna to be cleaner.Concluding the first panel session, Arvind Chaudhary (PS RDD, Bihar) reflecting on the findings of the research presented and stated that short-term incentive models may not always work for long term sustainability. He shared that Bihar Government has started a campaign with ‘har gharnal ka jal’. He also emphasised that children should be part of campaign tobring changes in sanitation and waste management behaviours.At least 80% of open defecation has been solved however, next step is waste management. He further mentioned regarding the state capacity we have to focus on the supply side constraints such as government machinery to deliver programmes on ground and achieve results.
Second panel was moderated by Ashmita Gupta (ADRI) who set the context highlighting the low female labour force participation in India. Clément Imbert (Warwick) mentioned that migration is not the way into the labour force, particularly for women. Rate of participation by women in the formal labour force is very low.40.5% of the surveyed trainees who were part of salaried jobs were reduced to 27% post covid who were still part of the salaried workforce in Bihar. Post Covid women dropped out of the workforce taking up more domestic work, while men took up informal work - this is also related to reverse migration. Deepshikha Batheja (CDDEP) shared evidence from Bihar that it is not costly for firms to hire women, especially in male-dominated workplaces with adverse gender norms. In fact, firms could benefit with increases in productivity if the male employees have progressive gender attitudes. Call centre industry is the largest private sector employer in India which is important for sustainable job creation of many young female workers. Gabriel Kreindler (Harvard) stated the key takeaways as take-up of mobility subsidies may be positively correlated with education; and personalized interventions may help encourage low-income women’s mobility. Further, key finding from citywide policy impact is large increase in women’s bus usage and concentrated among high-education women. Neelanjan Sircar (CPR/Ashoka University) stated that it is important to reduce costs of movement -this means investment in safe, cheap, efficient transport for female workers would improve the female labour force participation.Closing the session, Harjot Kaur Bamhrah (WDC Bihar) remarked that Bihar lags behind in women’s literacy rate, where only 61% of women in Bihar have ever attended a school. Digital literacy should be prioritized for women particularly to address the concerns around mobility challenges and care work. Digital access helps in flexibility that is more suitable for women in the household and it also improves the access to finance and various government services. Rashmi Singh (WCD Delhi) stated that it is necessary to learn during the crisis and how to prepare for the long term through a combination of measures which is both a responsibility of the government aswell as the societal response through mapping, matching and measuring. Further she concluded that it is important to have proper coordination across different departments for more coordinated efforts to deliver a proper social safety net towards women and the need for a common resources pool to enhance access to various services and products. Dr Prabhat Ghosh member secretary (ADRI) gave the vote of thanks. He emphasised over the demand and supply side issues and stated that Bihar Government should address both.