Most of the new local government leaders in northern India had never had the chance to serve their communities until a 1993 federal policy guaranteed them the opportunity.
New research from the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain measured the impacts of the increased representation among historically disadvantaged groups. The study found a number of health-related improvements, including lower infant mortality and more mother’s pre-natal doctor’s visits and tetanus vaccinations.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).
“Local leaders from scheduled castes in India made decisions about spending on health and education that appear to address some structural inequities in local communities,” said Paul Hastings, senior author on the study and Distinguished Professor of psychology in the College of Letters and Science.
National policy to overcome caste inequality
India’s caste system is a powerful, structural source of inequality. Rooted deeply in the nation’s history, the caste system involves a rigid hierarchy dividing people and families. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy experience discrimination that impacts their access to health care, education and jobs.
India’s Constitution established affirmative action by listing specific groups in its schedule of castes and tribes that have been historically marginalized and then creating legal protections for those groups. A 1993 law mandated that states reserve a fraction of seats in local government leadership for historically disadvantaged groups in villages with a large enough share of people in these groups.
This new study measured how the election of local leaders through this affirmative action policy affected child health and education in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India with over 240 million people. The state is also among the four poorest states nationally, with 23% of its population in poverty.
The study, which was conducted by Priyanka Pandey, a Ph.D. student in human development in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, K G Sahadevan, professor and economist at the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, and Hastings, combined statistical analyses of 1,656 pregnant women and interviews with 60 local leaders and 60 health activists in 2023.
The analysis compared outcomes in villages with and without a mandate for affirmative action in the 2021 elections for local leadership.
Improved infant mortality and vaccination but no effect on education
The study found that greater representation of historically marginalized groups in local governments predicted significant improvements in infant mortality and prenatal health services. Expectant mothers in villages with the mandate were much more likely to have two pre-natal visits, two tetanus vaccinations and prenatal supplementation by the second trimester.
While these benefits for children are significant, local leaders from marginalized groups in mandated villages reported more discrimination than their peers in non-mandated villages. In follow-up interviews, they talked about having more difficulty working with teachers in their communities.
Discrimination also discouraged potential leaders from scheduled castes from stepping forward. One health advocate reported that in a nearby village not included in this study the local leadership position reserved for someone from a scheduled caste remained vacant due to intimidation and threats despite government protections.
The researchers said that affirmative action may require additional efforts to mitigate these levels of discrimination in order to improve lives for all children.
“Local affirmative action for marginalized groups like scheduled castes could be viewed as part of public policies to improve health outcomes and services,” said Pandey.
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