The book is the outcome of the IHD-WFP workshop on ‘Food Insecurity and Child Work’ held in Delhi in March 2001. Poverty, seasonal food distress and vulnerability to hunger due to recurrent natural calamities alter the lifestyles and coping mechanisms of affected families with adverse consequences on the freedom and the education of their children. However, the availability of timely support in the form of food can become the turning point of the decision to enroll the child in school as against work, to ensure regular attendance of the already enrolled children and to eventually break the vulnerable household-child labour syndrome. Part I explores this theme across space, in terms of seasonality and time-use and through the gender lens. Four papers deal with different aspects. Part II seeks to explore the determinants of child work with a view to establishing links between child work, schooling and food insecurity. This section contains four papers. Regional disparities across the country remain sharp. As such, no single policy measure is likely to suffice throughout the country. Part III contains a set of six papers covering six child labour-prone states of the country. Linking nutritional and educational poverty with the persistence of child work leads naturally to the question of the means to offset the impact of these determinants. Part IV is a collection of six papers dealing with this theme. The last chapter seeks to answer the questions raised in the introduction based on a review of the preceding chapters, while also incorporating the highlights of the discussions at the workshop.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lionel Massun
Lionel Massun obtained a Law Doctorate and a Master’s degree in Social Development at the UCL, Belgium in 1965. He spent four years teaching sociology and researching on the peasant movement in Colombia, for the National University of Colombia (Bogota). Later, he joined the UN and worked with the ILO. As Director of the ILO Office in Mexico, he was constantly involved in programmes for the poorest segments of the rural population in Latin America. In Mexico, he launched an important UNDP – Funded programme for the benefit of the indigenous populations of Oaxaca aimed at enhancing livelihoods and promoting community empowerment. As ILO Representative for India and Bhutan until November 1999, his first priority was the supervision of the ILO International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). He also launched research and technical cooperation projects in the informal sector and for rural women in Gujarat. After his retirement from the ILO, he lives in India and is an occasional consultant for the WFP.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nira Ramachandran
Nira Ramachandran is a development consultant and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi. Prior to this, she was engaged in post-doctoral research on sustainable development as an ICSSR Senior Fellow at the LBSNAA, Mussoorie, where she also spent two years as the Co-ordinator, Centre for Sustainable Development. Her previous appointments were as CSIR Senior Fellow, Delhi University; Assistant Professor, Bangalore University and Research Fellow, IIM, Bangalore. She holds a Ph.D. in Regional Development from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has been trained at the Institute for International Studies and Training, Fujinomiya, Japan. She has lectured extensively and conducted training programmes in the areas of food security, environmental sustainability, primary education and project management. She has several publications to her credit including a book entitled Monitoring Sustainability: Indices and Techniques of Analysis (2000) and Carrying Capacity of Mussoorie (co-author), which is forthcoming. She has also worked as Consultant for International Organisations like the FAO and is EDI Fellow of the World Bank.
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