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Human Development Report

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March 23, 2017

Why in news?

2016 Human Development Report has been released released by the UNDP

What are the facts?

  • The HDI is a measure for assessing progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and access to a decent standard of living.
  • The world’s top three countries in HDI are Norway, Australia and Switzerland.
  • India slipped down one place to 131st place from 130 among the 188 countries ranked in terms of human development.
  • India’s HDI value of 0.624 puts it in the “medium human development” category, alongside countries such as Congo, Namibia and Pakistan.
  • It is ranked third among the SAARC countries, behind Sri Lanka (73) and the Maldives (105), both of which figure in the “high human development” category.
  • The largest gender disparity in development was in South Asia, where the female HDI value is 20% lower than the male value.
  • The report says 54% of people who live in multidimensional poverty are concentrated in South Asia.
  • While India’s HDI value increased from 0.428 in 1990 to 0.624 in 2015, it still had the lowest rank among BRIC nations.
  • The percentage of women in the workforce is the lowest in India among the BRICS countries.
  • India’s public health expenditure (1.4% of GDP) was even lower than South Asian average spending (1.6% of GDP).

What were the postivies mentioned?

  • In India, between 1990 and 2015, life expectancy has improved by 10.4 years.
  • Child malnutrition declined by 10% points from 2015.
  • There were some modest gain in infant and under-five mortality rates.
  • The report praised India’s reservation policy, saying even though it has not remedied caste-based exclusions, it has had substantial positive effects.
  • It also hailed the MGNREGA, Right to Information, National Food Security, and Right to Education Acts.
  • It commended the Indian grassroots group Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan for popularising social audits of government schemes.

What needs to be done?

  • After 1990, the rise in incomes that came with a more open economy has not translated into a higher quality of life for many Indians.
  • Significant inequalities persist, particularly between States and regions, which act as major barriers to improvement.
  • A central focus on social indicators is necessary for India to break free from its position as an underachiever.
  • More should be done to eliminate subsidies for the richest quintile.
  • The rise in revenues should go towards making public education of high standards accessible to all and delivering on the promised higher budgetary outlay for health care.
  • One crucial metric that gets insufficient attention in the measurement of development is the state of democracy, reflected among other things in access to justice.
  • It is relevant to point out that India has not ratified UN conventions on torture, rights of migrant workers and their families, and protection against enforced disappearance.
  • Sustaining and improving the quality of life will depend on policies crafted to handle major emerging challenges such as urbanisation, the housing deficit, access to power, water, education and health care.

 

Source: The Hindu

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