India’s Social and Economic Transformation in the 21st Century

Pallavi Choudhuri is Senior Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Her primary research interests are in the area of poverty and inequality, informality, social protection and gender. Her recent work has focused on measurement gaps in the income and consumption data, women’s paid and unpaid work, and social protection. Prior to joining NCAER, Choudhuri taught courses in Economics at the Grand Valley State University as Visiting Assistant Professor. She has a PhD degree in Economics from the University of Wyoming. Sonalde Desai is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Sociology and Professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Her work deals primarily with social inequalities in developing countries. She studies inequalities in education, employment, and maternal and child health outcomes. While much of her research focuses on South Asia, she has also engaged in comparative studies across Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. She has published articles in a wide range of sociological and demographic journals. She is the principal investigator for the India Human Development Survey (IHDS). Amaresh Dubey is Professor of Economics at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Before moving to JNU, he taught Economics at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, and worked at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre, and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi. His publications include 6 co-authored and co-edited books, 50 articles and papers in international and national refereed journals, and 40 articles in edited volumes. In addition, he has 36 research project reports and commissioned policy papers for the Government of India, World Bank, DFID, UNDP, Asian Development Bank, etc.

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List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

1 India’s Social and Economic Transformation: Introduction

PALLAVI CHOUDHURI, SONALDE DESAI AND AMARESH DUBEY

2 Why Did Poverty Decline in India? A Non-parametric Decomposition Exercise

CARLOS FELIPE BALCÁZAR, SONALDE DESAI, RINKU MURGAI AND AMBAR NARAYAN

3 Do Income and Income Inequality Have Any Impact on Morbidity? Evidence From the India Human Development Survey

SOHINI PAUL

4 Excess Weight in India: Gender Differentials, Location Patterns and Health Consequences

PUSHKAR MAITRA AND NIDHIYA MENON

5 Does the Growing Private Sector Deliver Schooling for All? Role of Gender, Parental Altruism and Family Wealth

PUSHKAR MAITRA, SARMISTHA PAL AND ANURAG SHARMA

6 Private Schooling in India: Changes in Learning and Achievement Experience

SUVARNA PANDE AND AMARESH DUBEY

7 Expectations of Support From Daughters in India: The Role of Education, Employment and Empowerment

ABHIJIT VISARIA

8 Are the Young and the Educated More Likely to Have “Love” Than Arranged Marriage? A Study of Autonomy in Partner Choice in India

MANJISTHA BANERJI

9 The Impact of Household Membership in Community-Based Organisations on Child Health and Education in Rural India

MUGDHA VAIDYA, MEGHNA KATOCH RANA AND NABANITA DATTA GUPTA

Index