Rajesh Kumar Abhay

Despite numerous established benefits of girls’ education, globally large numbers of girls are out-of-school (OOS). This poses challenges to achieving quality education (SDG 4) and gender equality (SDG 5) by 2030. In India, there are socioeconomic and spatial disparities also. The latest National Sample Survey (2017–18) data provides an opportunity to explore these issues. We used the unit-level data of 117,115 children (5–17 years). Our multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that the likelihood of OOS girls is at least 16% higher than that of boys. The probability declines at every stage of income quintile from ‘poorest’ to the ‘richest’. The likelihood in urban areas is almost 35% lower than the rural areas. Compared to the upper castes the probability is higher for the backward castes. Compared to Hindus, the likelihood is higher among Muslims but lower among Christian and Sikh children. Our three-layer cross-tabulation reveals that poor Scheduled-Tribes girls are the most vulnerable. The spatial plotting shows that the majority of the vulnerable regions belong to a few states viz. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat. Therefore, we argue for localized solutions for girls of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in different regions. The relevance of this study also arises from the fact that there might be a further increase in the number of OOS girls due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ANOVA test suggests that there might be a shift of girls from private to government schools also, which calls for strengthening the public education system to prevent the problem from aggravating further.

One out of three people in India is urban. In 2011, there were about 53 urban agglomerations larger than 1 million population as against only 35 in 2001. Much of this urban expansion has been occurring in the country’s largest metropolises including the National Capital Territory of Delhi which has expanded horizontally and vertically both. This has also added to overall decline in its already dilapidated housing stock and quality of life. Delhi, a historical hub for regional, national, and international commerce, and a place for the socio-political elites, has failed to provide basic life amenities to its average citizens. This research critiques the (un)sustainable elements of Delhi’s urbanization and concomitant decline in basic amenities pertaining to quality-of-life by examining the growth and expansion of its urban-built-up areas during 2001–2011–2020 and provides nuanced insights into its ‘livability’ by examining select quality-of-life attributes. The LANDSAT imageries for 2010 and 2020 are used to measure NDB-Index that assesses its built-up area and change, which are later corroborated with Census household data to examine change in its ‘livable’ and ‘dilapidated’ housing structures. Significant sub-regional disparity exists in the availability of good and livable homes, with almost 20–30% of several districts still without drinking water source inside premises. However, significant progress is also noted for basic amenities like lighting, latrine and bathing facilities, and majority of Delhi’s built-up area has expanded along newer developments and transportation corridors. This calls for goal-oriented strategic interventions by policymakers to help achieve the SDG-11 on Sustainable Cities.