Orissa for instance, finds that while child and infant mortality rates (IMRs) are higher among the Scheduled Tribes, these are largely a function of poverty (lower levels of income and assets), low levels of education, and poor access/utilization of health services (World Bank 2007). This is confirmed more recently by Sharma et al (2009) whose analysis of the NFHS data for Orissa shows significant disparity in neo-natal, infant and under-five mortality rates in the state by tribal status, wealth and education groups. The authors find that the lowest and the second lowest wealth quintiles (based on an asset index) experience the highest under-5 mortality (119 and 97 deaths respectively, compared to 66 and 28 deaths among children of families belonging to the top two quintiles). In other words, children from the poorest households are four times as likely to die before their fifth birthday compared to children in the richest quintile. Finally, our own multivariate analysis using the RCH II data also found that the effect of tribal (and Dalit) status disappeared once we controlled for wealth quintile (World Bank, 2006).

In sum, the conventional narrative is that higher mortality of tribal children is explained by their poverty status. Our analysis finds that _even after controlling for wealth_ , tribal children have a higher likelihood of dying than their non-tribal peers between ages one to five. This comes through because we disaggregate under-five mortality into its age-specific constituent parts. This finding has significant policy relevance because it means that more than socio-economic status, the problem of high child mortality is explained by its concentration in tribal groups. Addressing poverty alone therefore may not help. Unless interventions reach these groups, India may not be able to meet its goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

**While there has been improvement for all children over the last decade or more, yet child mortality rates for tribals in rural areas have nearly stagnated.** In Table 3 we look at changes in childhood mortality rates for different birth cohorts (by caste/tribe status). We compare mortality rates of children born in 2001-2005 (0-4 year-olds at the time of fielding NFHS-3 survey) with those of children born in 1991-1995 (the 10-14 years age cohort at the time of fielding NFHS-3). The table reveals several interesting stylized facts.

First, it suggests that neonatal, post-neonatal, and infant mortality rates declined for children from all groups. In fact Scheduled Tribes – especially in urban areas – experienced the most dramatic reductions (in the 30 to 60 percent range) with respect to these mortality measures. Similarly, neonatal, post-neonatal, and infant mortality levels among Scheduled Castes dropped considerably (reduction rates ranging from 11 to 21 percent). Driven by improvements in children’s survival to first birthday, under-five mortality rates also declined for all groups.

However, for STs and SCs (particularly STs in rural areas and SCs in urban areas) change in child mortality has not kept pace with improvements on the other four mortality indicators. In fact, child mortality _increased_ among the Scheduled Caste children in urban areas: an SC child in a city or a town had a higher probability of dying between her first and fifth birthdays than she did in 1991-95. Notably, in rural areas, child mortality among Scheduled Castes declined by over one-third.

While there was no increase in child mortality among Scheduled Tribes in general, there was a stagnation in child mortality rates among ST children in rural areas. While significant declines (44 percent) were recorded in child mortality rates for tribal children in urban areas, this needs to 7