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This paper advances a particular measure of deprivation - called the Capability Failure Ratio (CFR) - on the dimensions of longevity, knowledge and income, and suggests how an (inequality-) 'adjusted' version of the CFR may be derived. These measurement concerns are explored in the context of relevant State-wise data for the Indian Union. The paper thus makes an attempt to enrich the analysis of human predicament by sensitising 'measures of central tendency' to distributional concerns.Capability Failure, Group Disparities, Income, Measurements, Human Development, Distribution Inequalities, India,

This paper is concerned to present a procedure for `adjusting' a real-valued index of deprivation in such a way that the resulting measure is a summary statistic of both the average level of deprivation and the extent of inequality which obtains in its distribution. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002

Contemporary economists and demographers have discussed the phenomenon of child labour using a family strategy approach, focusing their attention primarily on family resources, family constraints and the cost-benefit calculus of the family head. Diverging somewhat from this conventional path and starting from the vantage point of human security and development, this study makes a case for considering child well-being as a separate problem of its own, much as it is related to family welfare. The paper argues that non-schooling and work of children reflect not only parental income constraints but also, more importantly, the paucity of publicly provided educational opportunities; they are the products of not just parental utilitarian calculus but of deficiencies in public policy and social institutions. With a particular empirical focus on India, it demonstrates that the burden of child labour as well as the onus of educational deprivation are disproportionately borne by different population groups in the country. The paper concludes that in considering strategies to combat child labour, the school reform point of view and correlatively the expansion of an educational opportunities perspective should enter the current political and policy consciousness in a significant way.

This article aims to revisit the importance of nurturing reciprocal relationships of equality and enrichment between Bangla and English in the school life of children residing in the Indian state of West Bengal. We couple the descriptor “immersion” with English and “floatation” with Bangla to serve as metaphors for language ideology. After a brief review of the language in education policy in the country and in Bengal in both colonial and post-Independence periods, we draw on conversations with schoolteachers about the preference for English and the relative disregard for Bangla to present three basic arguments. First, there is no reason to be forced to choose between English and Bangla in Bengali education. There is even less reason – indeed, there are greater costs – to follow the policy of immersion in English and mere floatation in Bangla. Second, the equity-enhancing potential of “empowering people with English” may get neutralized if a disproportionate burden falls on the poor of purchasing minimal proficiency in English in schools providing “have-little” English. Third, unless English language training happens in the company of Bangla, children in schools of Bengal will lose a great opportunity to cultivate their freedom of self-expression.