For the study, researchers from poverty, health and nutrition division of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and other institutions compared two rounds of India’s national family health survey (NFHS) data–2005-06 and 2015-16–and examined trends in anaemia for children six to 24 months old and pregnant and non-pregnant women 15 to 49 years old.

A woman’s education proved to be most important factor in reducing anaemia in pregnancy, as per the study. In the case of children, interventions such as consumption of iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets, deworming and full immunisation and vitamin A supplementation worked best.
They selected changes in 30 factors and used statistical process called regression to find out which factors drive change in anaemia levels.

Anaemia is a condition in which a person has an insufficient number of red blood cells or quantity of haemoglobin, which reduces the capacity of their blood to carry oxygen. Normal haemoglobin for women is 12 gram per decilitre (g/dlL) and men 13 g/dL.
Anaemia is widespread in India–58.6% of children, 53.2% of non-pregnant women and 50.4% of pregnant women were found to be anaemic in 2016, as per the NFHS. India carries the highest burden of the disease despite having an anaemia control programme for 50 years.
Currently, the coverage of paediatric IFA supplementation and deworming in India is poor, said Samuel Scott, research fellow, health and nutrition division, IFPRI, and co-author of the paper. Nutrition and health efforts should focus on “improving the coverage and ensure that they are delivered with quality”, Scott told IndiaSpend in an email interview. “Efforts are ramped under Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (anaemia-free India campaign) to improve coverage of interventions.”
Anaemia doubles the risk of death during pregnancy and leads to poor motor and mental growth in children. It can lower productivity in adults and cause a loss of upto 4% of gross domestic product, according to this study. This means a loss of $113 billion or Rs 7.8 lakh crore, which is five times India’s budget for health, education and social protection in 2018-19.

Iron-deficiency anaemia was also the top cause of disability of India for 10 years to 2015, IndiaSpend reported in October 2016.

Higher haemoglobin rates but anaemia persists
While the mean haemoglobin rates increased for all groups in a decade, it did not rise enough to make a significant difference to anaemia prevalence. The highest decrease in anaemia was in children and pregnant women.

The models used by IFPRI researchers could explain 49% of change in anaemia levels in children and 66% of difference in pregnant women.

In children, decline in anaemia was explained by nutrition and health interventions (18%); women’s schooling (10%) and socioeconomic status (7%). Changes in meat and fish consumption, improved sanitation facilities, maternal anaemia and low body mass index contributed 2-3% each to the shift.

Among pregnant women, fall in anaemia was explained by improvements in maternal schooling (24%), socioeconomic status (17%), and nutrition and health interventions (7%). Other factors included improved sanitation (9%), number of children under five years of age (6%), maternal age (2%), and meat and fish consumption (1%).

Poor coverage of health and nutrition interventions
Health interventions targeted at pregnant women together with interventions for women and children during childhood–such as integrated child development scheme interventions for lactating mothers, paediatric iron and folic acid tables and deworming–could have led to the anaemia reduction in children, said the study.

These services are now increasingly available but their coverage remains inadequate. In 2016, IFA consumption coverage was 30% in pregnant women, deworming coverage was 18% during pregnancy and 32% during early childhood.  

Anaemia persisted despite 50 years of  National Nutritional Anaemia Prophylaxis Programme because iron supplements in adequate amounts reached all intended beneficiaries but were not actually ingested by all of them, IndiaSpend reported in November 2017.

Intake of non-vegetarian, leafy vegetables is not adequate
There was a 7- to 9-percentage-point increase in weekly meat and fish consumption between 2005-06 and 2015-16 and this led to about a 2-3% fall in anaemia. But while 80% of men and 70% women in India consume fish, eggs and meat occasionally, less than 50% of them do so even weekly, IndiaSpend reported in May 2018.

Since eating non-vegetarian diets is expensive, dark green leafy vegetables may prove to be a good source of nutrients and prevent anaemia but NHFS data suggest that daily consumption of dark green leafy vegetables has reduced from 64% to 48% in the last decade.

The need for improved sanitation
Women’s education explained 10% fall in anaemia among children and 24% in pregnant women. But 31.6% of women are still illiterate in India and only 35.7% have completed more than 10 years of schooling.

Educated women have healthier children, IndiaSpend reported here, here and here.

A one-year increase in age at pregnancy and a 10% reduction in open defecation could each result in a 3.5- to 3.8-percentage-point reduction in anaemia in pregnant women, IndiaSpend reported in June 2018.

“One of the primary causes of school dropout in girls is early marriage, thus schemes that help delay marriage may also benefit anaemia in the long run,” said Scott.

Improved sanitation played a role (9%) in reducing anaemia especially in pregnant women, and yet only 50% of households used an improved sanitation facility, according to NFHS-4.

Also, social beliefs about caste impurity and pollution drove 44% of Indians in rural India to defecate in the open in 2018, IndiaSpend reported in January 2019. “Further investments in women’s education, women’s livelihoods and household sanitation are needed to optimally reduce anaemia among women and children” said the study.

Adolescents missed out
Though focussed mostly on pregnant women and children, India’s national anaemia programme started a weekly IFA supplementation programme for adolescents in 2013. But it was likely to be ineffective given that there was only a 1.7-percentage-point reduction (from 55.8% to 54.1%) in anaemia in girls in the last decade.

Anaemia prevalence in 10- to 14-year-olds is not included in the national family health survey but other studies showed that it is up in early adolescents from 50-90%, IFPRI researchers said.

Also, since Indian girls begin menstruation between ages 12 and 14 years and 8% have their first child between 15 and 19 years, it is important to intervene early and track this group, the study said.

“Adolescents are also growing rapidly, and have high nutrient requirements. Thus, they are at increased risk of nutrient depletion–hence, anaemia” said Scott. “Early adolescence is also an important time to form good habits since many Indians still get married and have children as teenagers. Waiting until the late teenage years may be too late.”

Not just iron-deficiency anaemia
In low income countries, only 15-25% of anaemia with high inflammation is caused by iron deficiency, showed a highly cited 2016 paper published in global journal Nutrients.

When 75-85% of anaemia is unrelated to iron deficiency, iron supplements will not address the problem, said Scott. Other causes of anaemia include worm infestation, malaria, and infectious diseases that cause intestinal inflammation causing reduced nutrient absorption, genetic causes that affect red blood cells, blood loss, and deficiencies in nutrients other than iron such as folate, vitamin A and B12.

Other than folic acid deficiency, those causes are not addressed by IFA supplementation. “This may be why 50 years of IFA supplementation in India has failed to address the problem,” Scott said.

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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Rajanikandham, the dalit president of Nachangulam panchayat in Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai district, has no assets. The state pays her an honorarium of Rs 1,000 a month, and she often ends up paying out of her pocket to visit the district collectorate for panchayat work. Having no fixed income affects dalit and adivasi women presidents disproportionately since they have to do a full-time constitutional role at the expense of their wages and employment.
 
Ask Rajanikandham, a dalit daily wage worker, who heads the Nachangulam village panchayat in southern Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai district. Her husband too earns daily wages and the couple have three children, one of whom is disabled.
 
A state-run, guaranteed rural job scheme like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is critical for poor families like these but as a panchayat head, Rajanikandham is not allowed to profit from it.
 
“I hold an office, I have power and prestige but no income. I get no salary from the panchayat and I can’t work for wages under MGNREGA because I am panchayat president,” she said. “All I have are three goats I got under a government scheme.”
 
In Tamil Nadu, panchayat presidents–an elected full-time constitutional role–are not paid any salaries. The only other states in India that do not pay a salary to its rural elected representatives are Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha.
 
Panchayat presidents in Tamil Nadu are paid an honorarium of Rs 1,000 to cover travel expenses and an additional Rs 100 for attending a meeting twice a month.
 
Compare this to the earnings of a member of the state’s legislative assembly (MLA)–after a recent 100% hike, he/she receives a basic monthly salary of Rs 1.05 lakh, apart from the several perks and pensions. The last time Tamil Nadu revised its honorarium for panchayat officials was in 2012, when it was hiked from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000. And the meeting fee was raised from Rs 50 to Rs 100.
 
This Rs 1,000 is barely enough to cover the panchayat head’s expenses for the mandatory weekly meeting at the block development office (BDO) or the regular trips to the district collectorate to lobby for extra funds for development projects and procure information about different government schemes.
 
In the first part of our series, we saw how Tamil Nadu’s women panchayat leaders were changing the face of rural governance. In the second part today, we investigate the financial challenge they face every day, especially dalit and adivasi women leaders: How to raise money for poorly funded development projects even as they struggle with poverty at home.
 
This is a problem male panchayat leaders face too but the honorarium system puts even greater pressure on women from marginalised communities. Like many working women, they also have to deal with social and familial pressures as they struggle to bring in extra resources for the panchayat. Unlike men, they cannot spend long hours away from home, lobbying for funds with the male-dominated network of higher officials.
 
“For women, taking a day out and travelling to the district collectorate periodically and spending an entire day there is difficult,” said Rajeswari, of Kuruthangudi panchayat (Kalaiyarkovil block) in Sivagangai district, who belongs to the Parayar community. “They have to answer so many questions from their families and society. We are often asked, ‘What is the need to go out so often and come back late?’”
 
Women leaders also have to deal with insults and slander for being out of their homes and travelling. “Earlier, posters of women (leaders) would be put up in villages calling them ‘characterless’ for staying out late for panchayat work. Things got a bit better after the state government gave strict orders to district collectors to ensure that only women attended meetings and not their male relatives,” said G Uma, assistant professor in the gender department at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), who has researched on women in Tamil Nadu’s panchayat governance.
 
Yet, when women had to choose between a regular salaried job and the power to make a change, IndiaSpend found many opting for the latter.
 

Tenmozhi, the president of Sitilinghi panchayat in the reserved forests of Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district, gave up a job offer from the state’s electricity board to fulfil her constitutional role as an elected representative. When women had to choose between a regular salaried job and the power to make a change, IndiaSpend found many women panchayat presidents opting for the latter.
 
Tenmozhi, a maths graduate from the tribal Malayali community who featured in our series last year, declined a job offer from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board because she was just elected the president of her panchayat and wanted to set the agenda for change.
 
50% of dalit women panchayat heads are daily wage workers
 
The state bars panchayat presidents from holding a paid employment or any job that receives government funding, such as employment under MGNREGA, to avoid conflict of interest.
 
But consider what this means to women whose families survive on daily earnings. In our survey of 32 panchayats headed by women in six districts of Tamil Nadu, we found that dalit and adivasi women came with almost no assets and meagre family incomes.
 
Six of the 12 dalit women we interviewed were daily wage workers with no assets at all. The other six were slightly better off, owned between 1-5 acres of lands. Two of the three adivasi women lived in a one-room tenement, and subsisted on either daily wage work or collecting forest produce. In contrast, women from the dominant castes such as Thevars, Gounders and Vanniyars had family ownership of lands ranging from 10 acres to 30 acres.
 
For those who worked in private jobs, there were other kinds of problems. Dalit women panchayat leaders from the Arunthatiyar community, who mostly earned their living from daily wage work on farms owned by dominant castes like Thevars and Gounders, had a particularly difficult time managing with meagre resources.
 
Taking time off their daily wage work to travel on official business to various district and block offices means loss of the day’s wages, which is not compensated in any form by the panchayat.
 
To add to all this, a panchayat leader is expected to serve refreshments for visiting government officials. Often, they are also expected to refuel the vehicles of the visiting government staff.
 
“A visiting engineer who prepares plans and estimates for civil works or a visiting deputy BDO (block development officer) often demands that the president pay for their fuel. These lower level bureaucrats have fuel limits set by the government,” said IGNOU researcher Uma.
 
IndiaSpend saw these problems first hand when we visited a panchayat where a block-level official insisted that the president arrange refreshments despite our protests. She ended up spending Rs 300 out of her pocket.
 
In Dindigul district, George Dimitrov, a lecturer in Gandhigram Rural University, who has researched and documented all the 25 dalit women presidents, found that 11 women from the Arunthatiyar community worked as daily wagers in the farms of dominant caste landholders. A lack of salary affects their autonomy and makes it difficult for them to resist the demands of their employers.
 
Saroja heads the Kakkadasam panchayat in Krishnagiri district but it is her husband who actually controls it. For her, MGNREGA is more than just work. “I wanted for this term to end soon so I can go for MGNREGA work. I feel like a slave in this household,” Saroja said. “MGNREGA work gives me the freedom and a community of women I can talk to. This job has snatched away my freedom without giving me any real power.”
 
Tamil Nadu’s neighbouring state, Kerala, pays its panchayat leaders Rs 13,200, the highest in the country. Telangana has recently revised the salary to Rs 5,000 while Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have revised it to Rs 3,000.
 

Source: Data collected from state panchayat raj department websites
 
Mobilising resources: How women manage despite odds
 
As we reported in the first part of this series, women leaders were going beyond their assigned duties–such as provision of drinking water, sanitation, streetlights, road repair–to invest in services which have been neglected by their male predecessors.
 
But mobilising extra funds is difficult because of how Tamil Nadu’s panchayat finance is structured. The panchayat has three revenue sources:
 

 
Own revenues, over which panchayats have complete control, constitute only 10% of the total revenues, as per our analysis. These are mainly from the taxes that panchayats can levy on their residents–house tax, profession tax, water tax, advertisement tax and some licenses and fees.
 
In a micro study of three villages in Tamil Nadu, Anand Sahasranaman of Institute of Financial Management Research (IFMR) Trust estimated that this own revenue is usually sub-optimal: It makes for only 0.15% to 0.2% of the total village income.
 
Rates of house tax–the largest source of own revenues–have not been revised in many years and are kept flat irrespective of the size of properties. Poor households actually end up subsidising rich ones. If panchayats were to increase their tax collection to even 2.5% of village incomes, their own revenues would increase by 15 times, calculated Sahasranaman’s study.
 
The state government has also abolished matching grants to the house tax collected, an incentive for better tax collection.
 
Panchayats, thus, have to depend on devolved grants and pooled assigned revenues, which form two-thirds of the total revenues.
 
Based on the fourth State Finance Commission (SFC) (2012-2016) recommendations, the state government designated 10% of the state tax revenues as grants to urban and rural local bodies in the ratio of 42:58. Gram panchayats are assigned 60%, the highest among the three tiers of rural governance.
 
But even while the state government increased the SFC grants, ‘untied funds’ that can be used freely, from 8% in 1997 to 10% in 2012, it imposed a more complex system of bureaucratic approvals on them. For instance, 10% of the SFC grants due to panchayats are now reserved for Infrastructure Gap Filling Fund, which is under direct control of the district collector.
 
Every panchayat in Tamil Nadu gets a uniform SFC grant of Rs 3 lakh (revised down from Rs 5 lakh after enhanced revenues from the 14th Central Finance Commission in 2015) and an added grant based on the population. A panchayat of 2,000 population gets anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 8 lakh annually from the devolved SFC grants.
 
This finance architecture, while being the same for all panchayats, affects those headed by women more.
 
Large development projects require massive capital outlays, which materialise after lobbying for a number of years. Tenmozhi, as we reported in our earlier series, had to lobby with the Centre for two years for a Rs 30-crore grant to build a bridge connecting 5,000 people from seven villages.
 
‘I had to struggle for everything’
 
Lobbying demands time, effort and access to officials of the district collectorate. Women have a tougher time investing in these.
 
Rajeswari of Kuruthangudi panchayat is popular in her district for her skills in mobilising funds for various schemes. But for a Parayar dalit, it did not come easy. She recounted her story:
 
“I had to struggle for everything–ration shop, school, library. We have no funds to build these. Most of the big scheme funds as well as NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) funds are handled by the assistant director of panchayats. We need to regularly show our face to get funds. Men go directly to him, sit with him for a long time and ensure funding. We can’t.”
 
Rajeswari has been able to manage the time and expenses for travel because of a supportive family and a husband who holds a government job. But this is not the story of other dalit and adivasi women presidents.
 

Mazharkodi Dhanasekar (left) of Melamarungoor panchayat is from a dominant caste, and her family owns 15 acres of land. She spent Rs 1 lakh of her own money to build toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Leaders such as Prema (centre) and Rajeswari (right), dalit presidents of Kurthangudi and Silakkapatti panchayats, have to lobby hard for funds. This takes time, effort and access to officials–easier for their male counterparts.
 
Even self-employed women like Prema, the president of Silakkapatti panchayat in Sivagangai district who runs a small general store in her village, has a tough time because shutting shop means loss of business.
 
Other important sources of funding like MLA and MP funds and funds from district and block panchayat unions (additional tiers of local governance) need political access to male-dominated networks. This, women leaders said, is hard work especially for first-timers. Although panchayat leaders are not supposed to be affiliated to political parties, such affiliations are now common and, often, determine funding.
 
Manjula, who heads Mallachandaram panchayat (Thally block in Krishnangiri district), managed to get public works worth Rs 26 crore sanctioned. This included a brand new high school building, several roads, and a ration shop. It is not lost on her that this was possible her husband is a member of the district unit of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
 
“MLAs as well as district and block chairpersons prioritise party loyalists. Here, if you are from the AIADMK, there is greater chance of getting more funds,” she said. “Also MLAs allocate certain amount for each block so they can fund only a few panchayats. So we have to be seen constantly when they are in their constituency to get attention.”
 

Manjula, the president of Mallachandaram panchayat in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, managed to get public works worth Rs 26 crore sanctioned. It is not lost on her that this was possible her husband is a member of the district unit of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Leaders who are party loyalists have better chances of getting funds allocated from members of legislative assembly and parliament.
 
Mazharkodi Dhanasekar, the feisty president of Melamarungoor in Sivagangai district whose campaign against open defecation we featured in our last series, had to spend Rs 1 lakh of her own money to build toilets under the Swachh Bharat Scheme. As a member of the dominant Maravar community, a subcaste of the Thevars, whose family owns 15 acres of land, it was easier for her.
 
“I could do it because we are financially well off and my husband did not object,” she said. “Many women neither have the money nor the independence. We need more funds to build necessary infrastructure.”
 
Women leaders are bullied by upper-caste employers
 
Since 2006, panchayats in Tamil Nadu have seen greater bureaucratisation, with increased government control and shrinking autonomy. Autonomy over funds that are necessary for routine maintenance works, such as repair of streetlights, have been tightened. Lower-level block officials are now assigned to exercise greater control over the panchayats.
 
“Earlier, the BDO was only advising the presidents. Now the deputy BDO has greater control,” said Kalpana Satish, who has trained women panchayat presidents and worked with the Federation of Women Panchayat Presidents. “Panchayat presidents cannot sign cheques without their permission. Even for untied funds, presidents have to make a proposal and send to the BDO and wait for his approval.”
 
As per Tamil Nadu Panchayat rules, presidents can spend upto Rs 600 for repairs to hand pumps and Rs 7,500 for motor pump maintenance without an approval from engineers. Presidents are allowed upto Rs 2,000 at a time or Rs 5,000 a year for urgent public works without any technical approval. This is grossly inadequate, said women leaders.
 
“Everyday there is some problem with pipelines, motors and their maintenance. Is Rs 2,000 enough?” asked Thulasimani (30), the dalit president of Koombur panchayat in Dindigul.
 
Thulasimani has often been the target of casteist attacks from the upper-caste Gounder men because she dared to sit on the president’s chair.
 

Thulasimani, the dalit president of Koombur in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district, has often been the target of casteist attacks from the upper-caste Gounder men. Presidents are allowed upto Rs 2,000 at a time for urgent public works without any technical approval. Since 2006, panchayats in Tamil Nadu have seen greater bureaucratisation, with increased government control and shrinking autonomy. Lower-level block officials are now assigned to exercise greater control over the panchayats.
 
“When we get calls from people, especially upper castes, to repair a motor pump, we don’t have the time to wait for estimates and approvals. We have to repair then and there,” she said. “Sometimes we get credit, but many times we even have had to borrow at an interest from moneylenders.”
 
Despite all these structural challenges, women are delivering beyond the basic services and this is not because of the system, but in spite of it. Tamil Nadu’s finance system for local governance is a classic example of how systems are designed without envisioning the roadblocks they present to the most marginalised groups.
 
This is the second of a five-part series on women panchayat leaders in Tamil Nadu. You can read the first part here.

(Rao is a co-creator of GenderandPolitics, a project which tracks women’s representation and political participation in India at all levels of governance.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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The first woman that comes to my heart and mind, is naturally my own mother. She nurtured me in her womb for nine months, as all mothers do. She gave birth to me, cared for me, taught me the meaning and values of life, in a way only mothers can do. My mother was always a teacher; in fact an educator par excellence. Though she is no more, she will undoubtedly, always be part of my life

Then there are my two sisters, both elder to me: they are the ones who held my hands when I learnt to walk; sat by my side when I tried to escape my studies; protected and reprimanded me, the times I was up to mischief; nevertheless have loved me and cared for me all these years.

My maternal grandmother (nana) and the two sisters of my mother (who were both religious nuns) were a world to me (one is still living –she is a Wonder Woman). Though miles separated us, I always looked forward to receiving their letters filled with plenty of advice and love; and of course writing to them! Summer holidays were something I eagerly look forward to- when I used to be thoroughly spoilt by a ‘doting’ grandmother; other grandaunts, aunts (including my favourite one!) and little cousin ‘sisters’ were of course ever present with their caring, challenging, cajoling, complaining and all.

We had some special women who were our neighbours – their faces and names come back to me. All of them with due respect were an ‘Aunty’ to me; it could not be otherwise. Wonderful women who also felt duty-bound ‘to complain’ to my mother that they saw me jumping on rooftops trying to catch a fallen kite or about some other prank! These good souls at the same time would most generously give me a share from the goodies they made

Women have been my teachers in school, in University, in the Seminary. They were all great women (we have a school alumni ‘WhatsApp’ group and we often remember our extraordinary schoolteachers); some of my teachers were simply amazing. They gave of their best and made sure that we were educated in the complete sense of the word.

During my school and college days, I have had great women friends. Am still in touch with some of them. A few of them have done exceedingly well in life; some are grandmothers; and of course, all are in the ‘retirement’ or ‘semi-retirement’ – waiting for the ‘twilight years’. These friends have been so much part of my growth- just being there: warm, helpful, caring, thoughtful .We hardly see each other but the bonds have never been broken all these years.

In my religious and professional life, many women have enriched me. The deeply spiritual ones; the simple, unassuming ones; the kind, generous ones. When I think of them at this moment, face after face like a film reels through my mind; so many of them. Some simply outstanding ones, human rights defenders – who have taken courageous stands in the face of all odds; brave women who have stood up against the most powerful on behalf of the victims, vulnerable and poor. Women whose social activism and commitment to a cause, has made this world a better place. Women who have given and not counted the cost.

Over the years, I have been touched by several women who live in remote villages, in the filth and squalor of dehumanizing slums; by women who are refugees or have been forcibly displaced; by women who have been exploited and harassed, denigrated and excluded – just because they are women! Some of them struggle all the time to make both ends meet- with little or no choices in life. Many of them are women of strength, women of substance; their lives are full of hope, optimism and resilience. They are the anonymous women and unknowingly they have shaped my life too.

For a little over two years now, I have been engaged with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) based in Beirut; we work in five countries of the MENA Region. Many of the refugees and the displaced we work with, are women. The amazing dimension of our work is that a very large percentage of our staff both in the countries we work in and in the Regional office are women (hopefully tomorrow I will write another article about this). This stint in JRS has given me the unique opportunity of being in the midst of some wonderful women: their capacity to reach out, their sensitivity to others, their ability to work under pressure; their professionalism; their commitment to service. There is much I have learnt from them and I am still learning.

There have been and there are many other women in my life. I had not planned that these random thoughts would enter the realm of ‘categories’; they happened rather naturally! So obviously unintentionally, I would have left out several other ‘groups’. In my work, I have been helped and supported by many women. Today too, I am in touch and encounter wonderful women all the time!

Tonight I want to say a big THANKYOU to every woman in my life – those who have died, those who I am not in touch with, those who I have hurt, those who are far away, those who are close to me,  and to every one of YOU ( hopefully this will reach some of you)!

THANKYOU for helping me grow towards becoming a better person, for your caring and sharing, for your struggles and suffering, for your sensitivity and sincerity, for your inspiration and guidance, for the joy, love, courage and peace you have given to me and to  many others.

THANKYOU for all that you have meant and been to me!
THANKYOU for accompanying me in this journey of life!
THANKYOU for helping me touch the feminine face of God!

THANKYOU WONDER WOMAN!
 
*(Fr Cedric Prakash SJ has penned these personal reflections as a tribute to women for International Women’s Day 2018. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com)

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The empowerment indicators are based on data from 14 states and two union territories. Until now, the International Institute for Population Sciences, the Mumbai-based organisation tasked with collecting and analysing NFHS survey data, has yet to release data for other states, including several of India’s most backward states: Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The 2005-06 NFHS provides comparative data for 12 out of the 14 states, and did not cover any union territories.
 
NFHS measures land ownership for the first time
 
This is the first time the NFHS has collected data on land owned by women, use of hygienic methods of protection during menstruation, and experience of violence during pregnancy. No other nationwide survey in India measures ownership of land by women.
 
The highest percentage of women who own land, individually or with another person, is in Manipur, at 69.9%, followed by Bihar at 58.8%. But this number does not reflect actual land ownership by women, as it includes both women who have sole ownership of land and those who own land jointly with another person–a family member or someone not from the family.

Source: National Family Health Survey 4
 
Research suggests that the actual number of women who have complete ownership over land would be lower.
 
Women in rural areas of Karnataka individually owned no more than 14% of all plots, while they owned 22% of all non-farm business activities in urban areas, according to this 2011study published by the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. Women in Karnataka owned less land (20%) when compared with other developing countries like Ecuador (51%), and Ghana (36%), according to this 2011 study.
 
Research suggests that ownership of assets such as land and housing is especially important because it increases a women’s bargaining power in the household, and is correlated with decreased violence within the household. In Kerala, for instance, owning property, among other things, reduced the likelihood that a woman will be physically assaulted in a marriage, according to this 2005 study.
 
15.9% women from Tamil Nadu had bank accounts in 2005; in 2015, 77%
 
Bank accounts owned and used by women show the biggest improvement in the last decade of any indicator of women empowerment. The greatest increase was in the state of Tamil Nadu where bank accounts for women rose by 61.1 percentage points, from 15.9%, as measured in 2005-06, to 77%, according to data from the 2015-16 NFHS. Most women in Goa, 82%, own and use a bank account, followed by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at 81.8%, and Tamil Nadu, at 77%, according to data from NFHS 4.
 

Source: National Family Health Survey, 3 and 4
 
As many as 358 million Indian women now have a bank account, IndiaSpend reported in August 2016, with more than 75 million added to banking system in 2014 alone.
 
Spousal violence falls marginally; 31% women still face violence
 
Over the last decade, spousal violence has fallen marginally in all states, except Haryana, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Manipur, where reported spousal violence increased. Overall, 31.24% women in 12 states reported such violence in 2015-16, down from 33.15% in 2005-06.  
 

Source: National Family Health Survey, 3 and 4
 
The biggest decrease in spousal violence was in the state of Tripura, where the percentage of women facing spousal violence dropped from 44.1% to 27.9%. The largest increase in spousal violence was in Meghalaya, from 12.8% in 2005-2006 to 28.7% in 2015-2016.
 
Many women still use unhygienic methods of protection during menstruation
 
Using hygienic methods of protection during menstruation, such as sanitary napkins, tampons, or locally prepared napkins, is far from universal, according to data from NFHS 4. The lowest percentage of women, between the ages of 15 and 24, use safe methods in Bihar (31%), followed by Madhya Pradesh (37.6%) and Tripura (43.5%). Overall, more women in urban areas use safe methods of protection during menstruation, as compared to women in rural areas. The highest usage of safe methods during menstruation is in the union territory of Puducherry, at 96.9%.

 

Source: National Family Health Survey 4
 
More women participate in decision making within the household
 
All states except Assam, Haryana and Tamil Nadu saw an increase in the percentage of women who usually participated in household decisions–from an average of 83.1% in 12 states to 87%, over the decade ending 2015-16.
 

Source: National Family Health Survey, 3 and 4
 
The greatest increase was in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where 68.5% women participated in decision making within the household, a 14.3 percentage-point increase from 2005-06.
 
(Shah is a reporter/editor with IndiaSpend.)
 
This article first published on India Spend
 

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Video courtesy: Saurabh Kumar, Opia Films
Soni Sori speaking on sexual violence by police and para-military forces in Bastar [Video]
 

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