Integrated child development services in Karnataka

Karnataka is a progressive state in India, proactive in the implementation of ICDS. Nonetheless, the benefits of the program are not distributed as per the need, thereby resulting in varied malnutrition levels throughout the state. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the magnitude of the State’s intervention in terms of financial inputs and programme coverage on malnutrition. This paper investigates the funding patterns, physical infrastructure, and human capital components of the ICDS programme over time and analyzes them in relation to malnutrition levels at the sub-state level (region-wise, division-wise and district-wise) for Karnataka. Although Karnataka has consistently increased resources for the ICDS programme over time and generally uses the allocated resources completely, it cannot be implied that resources are being used efficiently. Therefore, a technical efficiency analysis, using the Data Envelopment Analyses Program version 2.1, was undertaken to examine how efficiently the resources of the Supplementary Nutrition Component of ICDS were being used to reduce the levels of malnutrition in the various districts of the state of Karnataka. It was found that certain districts in the State are better performing than the others over time. In the year 2007-08, the technically efficient districts were Chickmagalur, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Kodagu, Kolar, Mysore and Tumkur; while in the year 2012/13, the districts of Bagalkot, Bangalore Urban, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Gadag, Haveri, Kodagu, Koppal, Mandya, Raichur and Udipi were most technically efficient. Further research needs to be undertaken to examine 1. the technical efficiency of SNP component of ICDS at the sub-district level and 2. the implications of the WHO Child Growth Monitoring Standards on the technical efficiency of the districts.