Persisting Prejudice: Measuring Attitudes and Outcomes by Caste and Gender in India.

Nearly seventy years after India adopted one of the most progressive constitutions in the world ensuring equality for all its citizens irrespective of caste, class, race, and gender, the mind-set of its vast majority Indian remains steeped in gender and caste bias. Results from a new telephonic survey confirm persistence of conservative gender and caste attitudes in Indian society. High proportions of men and women across all social groups disapprove of women working outside their homes, consider it 'acceptable for husbands to beat their wives', and would object to relatives marrying a Dalit person. Analyzing data from the National Family Health Survey and the India Human Development Survey, it has been found that outcomes associated with these attitudes are even more conservative: a smaller fraction of women work than those who feel it is okay to step out of the house for work; a larger fraction of women experience violence in marriage than men who consider marital violence acceptable, and an even smaller fraction of people have inter-caste marriages than people who say they would not oppose such an alliance. An overwhelming majority is opposed to an inter-caste marriage with a Dalit in the family. With a few exceptions, the attitudes and outcomes we studied vary, surprisingly, little by respondent gender, caste, and religion. Dr.Ambedkar's legacy is indeed unfinished-people from all backgrounds must continue to work for the equality and dignity of women and Dalits.

Persistence of Solid Fuel Use in Rural North India.

Survey evidence from rural North India showing persistent solid fuel use despite increases in liquefied petroleum gas ownership is presented. Although three-quarters of survey households in these states had LPG, almost all also had a stove that uses solid fuels. Among those owning both, almost three-quarters used solid fuels the day before the survey. Household economic status, relative costs of cooking fuels, gender inequality, and beliefs about solid fuels were important contributors to high solid fuel use. To realise the full health benefits of the LPG expansion, attention must now be turned towards encouraging exclusive LPG use.

Revisiting Open Defecation: Evidence from a Panel Survey in Rural North India, 2014-18.

Since October 2014, the Government of India has worked towards the goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 through the Swachh Bharat Mission. Since October 2014, the Government of India (GOI) has worked towards the goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 through the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). In 2014, several of the co-authors reported on a survey of rural sanitation behaviour in North India (Coffey et al 2014) conducted by the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (r.i.c.e.). Different statistical methods produce slightly different numbers, but results from a wide range of approaches used concur that approximately 40% to 50% of rural people in these states defecated in the open in late 2018. The 2014 survey used a multistage sampling strategy to select households: first, districts were purposively selected to match the state-level trend in rural open defecation between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses; second, villages were randomly drawn using proportional-to-size sampling from a frame taken from the Government of India's District Level Health Survey; third, households were selected using an in-field randomisation technique similar to that used for Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey.

Measuring open defecation in India using survey questions: evidence from a randomised survey experiment.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate differences in reported open defecation between a question about latrine use or open defecation for every household member and a household-level question. SETTING: Rural India is home to most of the world's open defecation. India's Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2015-2016 estimates that 54% of households in rural India defecate in the open. This measure is based on a question asking about the behaviour of all household members in one question. Yet, studies in rural India find substantial open defecation among individuals living in households with latrines, suggesting that household-level questions underestimate true open defecation. PARTICIPANTS: In 2018, we randomly assigned latrine-owning households in rural parts of four Indian states to receive one of two survey modules measuring sanitation behaviour. 1215 households were asked about latrine use or open defecation individually for every household member. 1216 households were asked the household-level question used in India's DHS: what type of facility do members of the household usually use? RESULTS: We compare reported open defecation between households asked the individual-level questions and those asked the household-level question. Using two methods for comparing open defecation by question type, the individual-level question found 20-21 (95% CI 16 to 25 for both estimates) percentage points more open defecation than the household-level question, among all households, and 28-29 (95% CI 22 to 35 for both estimates) percentage points more open defecation among households that received assistance to construct their latrines. CONCLUSIONS: We provide the first evidence that individual-level questions find more open defecation than household-level questions. Because reducing open defecation in India is essential to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, and exposure to open defecation has consequences for child mortality and development, it is essential to accurately monitor its progress. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Registry for International Development Impact Evaluations (5b55458ca54d1).

Understanding Open Defecation in Rural India: Untouchability, Pollution, and Latrine Pits.

India has far higher open defecation rates than other developing regions where people are poorer, literacy rates are lower, and water is relatively more scarce. In practice, government programmes in rural India have paid little attention in understanding why so many rural Indians defecate in the open rather than use affordable pit latrines. Drawing on new data, a study points out that widespread open defecation in rural India is on account of beliefs, values, and norms about purity, pollution, caste, and untouchability that cause people to reject affordable latrines. Future rural sanitation programmes must address villagers' ideas about pollution, pit-emptying, and untouchability, and should do so in ways that accelerate progress towards social equality for Dalits rather than delay it.

An Experiment with Air Purifiers in Delhi during 2015-2016.

Particulate pollution has important consequences for human health, and is an issue of global concern. Outdoor air pollution has become a cause for alarm in India in particular because recent data suggest that ambient pollution levels in Indian cities are some of the highest in the world. We study the number of particles between 0.5µm and 2.5µm indoors while using affordable air purifiers in the highly polluted city of Delhi. Though substantial reductions in indoor number concentrations are observed during air purifier use, indoor air quality while using an air purifier is frequently worse than in cities with moderate pollution, and often worse than levels observed even in polluted cities. When outdoor pollution levels are higher, on average, indoor pollution levels while using an air purifier are also higher. Moreover, the ratio of indoor air quality during air purifier use to two comparison measures of air quality without an air purifier are also positively correlated with outdoor pollution levels, suggesting that as ambient air quality worsens there are diminishing returns to improvements in indoor air quality during air purifier use. The findings of this study indicate that although the most affordable air purifiers currently available are associated with significant improvements in the indoor environment, they are not a replacement for public action in regions like Delhi. Although private solutions may serve as a stopgap, reducing ambient air pollution must be a public health and policy priority in any region where air pollution is as high as Delhi's during the winter.