The Global Data Lab has recently released data related to sub-human development index linked to Indian states from the year 1990 to the year 2017, thereby showing interesting facts regarding human development in the states of India. During the year 1990 to 2017, there has been a great improvement in the case of human development. For example, the value of India’s Human Development Index has increased from 0.427 to 0.640 in this period. Despite this, India’s position is not encouraging in terms of human development in Asian and developing economies. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India is ranked 130th in 189 countries in the Human Development Index. Hong Kong is at number 7, while Singapore is 9th. China is 86th in the case.
Under the ranking of Human Development Index, the scale of ranking is made on the basis of the person’s longevity, healthy life, and the ability to get education etc. India’s performance in some parameters has been commendable between 1990 and 2017, as in the case of life expectancy in India, there has been an increase of about 11 years. Not only that, but the number of children leaving school during primary education has also gone down significantly. Now children going to school are studying in schools for 4.7 years more than in the year 1990.
This index evaluates three-dimensional parameters like education, health and life expectancy. The age of starting ‘education’ in this index is considered to be six years, while the maximum age limit for completing school education is assumed to be 25 years. Under the ‘Health’ indicator life expectancy is measured at birth, while the level of living is measured by the per capita gross national income.
In order to clarify the position of India in relation to the Human Development Index, the states have been ranked on the basis of their marks. According to the Human Development Index for the year 2017, states like Kerala, Goa, and Punjab are at the top three places respectively, while Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are at the bottom of the list respectively.
The main reason for the better performance of the southern states in the human development index is the slow pace of population growth. Because of this, there is an increase in the population of the elderly as well as the inter-state migration of the population is increasing. In this sequence, the influence of the customs of other states is being seen on the social life of the southern states.
If we see, change in the ranking between the States between the years 1990 and the year 2017, then the ranking of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka etc. has seen a significant increase in the period, while most of the North Eastern states like Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur have been registered a decline in ranking. However, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have remained on the lower level for the last 27 years. Another interesting fact is that the states which were the worst during the 1990s, in the case of the Human Development Index, they are doing better work towards improvement in social norms since the year 2014. For example, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh have made the biggest jump in the total 25 states on this front.
In order to know whether the ranking of Human Development Index has declined or not, the development in Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and increased social expenditure was analyzed from the year 1990 to the year 2017. The correlations between growth in the Human Development Index and expenditure on social sector were not very inspiring. It shows that institutional bottlenecks, lack of awareness, trouble in implementation etc. are still intact in states. The benefits of spending on the social sector in the country are also uneven. Some states, like Haryana, are getting much benefit from the social expenditure, while states like Assam are not able to take advantage of it.
Area-related tendency in the Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is divided into areas. These areas are east, west, north, south, and north-east on a geographical basis. The average score is estimated based on the performance of related areas. On the basis of the number of sector-wise human development index, it can be said that the southern and northern states are performing well, whereas the performance of eastern states is not good. The trench between the eastern region and other states continued to increase by 2014, but since the year 2015, it is either similar to the past or it has declined. The main reason for this happening is the high economic growth in eastern states like Odisha and Bihar. The recent decline in the performance of the North-Eastern States, which were performing better in the case of Human Development Index, has declined recently and in such states, the value of human development index is declining.
Conclusions
India is full of diversities. It is also a big country. Many of these states are bigger than many countries from the area and population perspective. Some states are in a state of good social and economic condition, while some states have very poor conditions. In order to improve the human development index and keep people healthy, in September 2018, the government had started the Ayushman Bharat Scheme or Prime Minister Jan Swasthya Yojana. Under this, there is a provision to provide treatment to more than 100 million poor and weaker families in the secondary and tertiary level hospitals for up to Rs 5 lakh per year. It is the world’s largest government-funded health care plan. At the moment, the process of implementing this scheme is at the initial stage, but it is expected that once the implementation of the scheme is fully implemented in the states, the health of the common man will be improved on a large scale; this will also improve the Human Development Index.
By Satish Singh
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
