Skip to main content

Improving human development: Gujarat's 12 yr performance below national average

Overall Human Development Index
By Rajiv Shah 
“India Human Development Report 2011” was recently updated in view of new facts on income, education and health indices. Despite the fact that Gujarat has improved along with other states, its improvement is not as fast as the national average.
The updated version of the “India Human Development Report 2011”, released at a seminar in New Delhi on March 11, 2014, has found that the six states which have low human development index (HDI) – Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam – have registered a much better improvement in HDI than several of the progressive states, including Gujarat. The report goes a long way to suggest that the percolation theory – which presupposes improvement in social sector even as economic growth rate improves — does not really work. Prepared by the Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), Planning Commission, the updated report states, “Despite lower absolute levels of HDI in poorer states (relative to the national average), HDI is converging across states.”
Titled “India Human Development Report 2011: An Update”, the data suggest that if between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, the HDI of India, on an average, improved from 0.374 to 0.452 on a scale of 1, between 2007-08 and 2011-12, the HDI further improved from 0.452 to 0.546. The original Human Development Report 2011, released in October 2011, depended on 2007-08 data for its analysis in order to arrive at HDI rankings for major Indian states, while the updated version of the report takes into account the data for the year 2011-12, too. If between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, the HDI rose by 21 per cent, in the entire 12 year period, between 1999-2000 and 2011-12, it rose by 46 per cent.
Coming to the “progressive” states, the report suggests that in the 12 years in question, while India’s HDI rose by 46 per cent, several “progressive” progressive states, including Gujarat, failed to raise their HDI equal to the national average.
Thus, while Gujarat’s HDI rose by 44 per cent, this was worse than 11 other states, including Uttaranchal (82 per cent), Jharkhand (76 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (64 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (61 per cent), Bihar (56 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (53 per cent), Karnataka (52 per cent), Assam (47 per cent), and Haryana (46 per cent). Other states whose HDI failed to increase as fast as these 11 states included Rajasthan (43 per cent), Tamil Nadu (42 per cent), North-East except Assam (42 per cent), West Bengal (38 per cent), Punjab (32 per cent), Kerala (38 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (26 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (25 per cent), and Delhi (23 per cent).
The report states that most of the improvement in the HDI has taken place in income and education indices, but not as much in health indices. It says, “Change in income index (by 67.8 per cent) is more than the change in HDI over 1999-2000 and 2011-12, i.e. 46 per cent. Thus, the income index account for higher increase in HDI, as it has increased by 67.8 per cent during the period.” It adds, “The income index (estimated using monthly per capita consumption expenditure, MPCE) ranges from 0.94 for Delhi to 0.12 for Chhattisgarh (on a scale of 1). The poor states have gained the most in income level in the last decade.”
Pointing out that “HDI increase is largely guided by both improved income index (67.8 percent) and education index (61.7 percent)”, the report says, “The education index ranges from 0.99 for Kerala to 0.58 in case of Bihar. Again, the improvement in the index has been better in some of the educationally backward and poorer states of India – Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand – suggesting strongly that education outcomes are converging across the states of India.”
Making a critique of the health indices, the report says, “While the income and education index have pulled up the HDI, it is the health index which constrains its improvement. The improvement in the health index has been relatively lower (24 per cent) between 1999-2000 and 2011-12. The health index ranges from 0.85 for Kerala to 0.47 for Assam. Nonetheless, the states with the most serious health outcome indicators and the worst health process/input indicators – Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Assam – have shown the most improvement. This further underlines the phenomena of a reduction in inter-state disparity.”
Overall, the report points out, in 2011-12, the inter-state rankings remain the same as they were when the “India Human Development Report 2011” was released, based on 2007-08 data. Thus, despite a low improvement in HDI, Delhi and Kerala continue to rank No 1 and 2, respectively, with a rating of 0.92 and 0.84 on a scale of 1. Then come Himachal Pradesh (0.71), Haryana (0.70), Punjab (0.69), Maharashtra (0.68), Tamil Nadu (0.66), and North East (0.65). Gujarat ranks No 9 with a rating of 0.64, followed by Karnataka 0.63, Uttaranchal 0.59, West Bengal 0.57, Jammu & Kashmir 0.56, Andhra Pradesh 0.54, Rajasthan 0.53, Uttar Pradesh 0.49, Assam 0.48, Jharkhand 0.46, Madhya Pradesh 0.45, Bihar 0.44, Odisha 0.44 and Chhattisgarh 0.43.
The breakup for the income index suggests that the best performing state between 1999-2000 and 2011-12 was Uttaranchal with an improvement of 157 per cent, followed by Odisha 148 per cent, Jharkhand 119 per cent, Karnataka 112 per cent, Tamil Nadu 106 per cent, Andhra Pradesh 104 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 102 per cent, Maharashtra 96 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 88 per cent, and West Bengal 86 per cent. Following these nine states, Gujarat improved its income index by 84 per cent. Then come Haryana 72 per cent, Kerala 71 per cent, Bihar 52 per cent, Assam 45 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 42 per cent, Punjab 42 per cent, North-East excluding Assam 41 per cent, Rajasthan 37 per cent, Delhi 36 per cent, Chhattisgarh 14 per cent, and Jammu & Kashmir minus (– )11 per cent.
As for improvement in the education index, Gujarat’s improvement during the 12 years was found to be particularly bad. As many as 17 states out of a total of 22 performed better than Gujarat. The best performer here was Jharkhand, which improved its education index by 139 per cent. As against this, Gujarat’s improvement was merely 43 per cent. In health index, Gujarat’s improvement was better, though almost equal to the national average (24 per cent). The best performer on this score was Chhattisgarh (41 per cent), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh (40 per cent each). Then come Jammu & Kashmir with an improvement of 32 per cent, Jharkhand 30 per cent, and Uttaranchal 27 per cent. With an improvement of 25 per cent, Gujarat performed worse than eight different states.

Comments

TRENDING

Crucial to revisit roots, embrace core Hindu principles: love, compassion, harmony

A note on religious leaders'  Satya Dharam Samvad in Haridwar: *** In a groundbreaking gathering, more than 25 religious leaders including Swamis, Acharyas, Pujaris, Gurus, and Sadhvis from all over India convened to discuss the tenets of Hinduism on September 16th, 2023, in Haridwar, to discuss and discern the current trajectory of Hinduism. This brand new initiative, the Satya Dharam Samvad, was inspired to organize its first assembly in response to the December 2021 Dharma Sansad, where hate speech and calls for violence against the Muslim community contravened the essential principles of Hinduism. Religion is being used to incite riots among Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, etc. In the face of such hatred, Swami Raghavendra felt that something meaningful should be done in the present climate. 

Maoist tendency of mechanically adhering to Chinese path ignores Indian conditions

By Harsh Thakor  The C.P.I. (Maoist) formed in 2004 with merger of the C.P.I. (M.L) Peoples War and the Maoist Communist Centre has demonstrated courage in intensity compared to any great revolutionary struggle in the history of the world. It leads the largest armed movement of a Peoples Guerrilla Army in the world today and proved themselves as the true torch bearers of the Indian Communist movement.

Significant step towards empowering and particularly engaging with informal workers

ActionAid note on drive to empower informal sector workers Odisha with the support of District Labour Department: *** The Odisha Unorganised Workers Social Security Board (OUWSSB) facilitated an Unorganized Workers Awareness Camp at the Red Cross Bhawan in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The event took place in collaboration with the District Labour Department at Khordha, Centre for Child and Women Development and ActionAid Association. This informative event aimed at empowering informal sector workers by disseminating crucial information regarding their eligibility for various social security schemes provided by the Government of Odisha.

Dev Anand ably acted as westernised, urban educated, modern hero, as also anti-hero

By Harsh Thakor  On September 26th we celebrated the birth centenary of legendary actor Dev Anand. Dev Saab carved out a new epoch or made a path breaking contribution in portraying romanticism and action in Bollywood cinema, giving his style or mannerisms a new colour. Arguably no Bollywood star manifested glamour in such a dignified or serene manner or struck the core of an audience’s soul in romantic melodies. Possibly we missed this evergreen star being cast in a Hollywood film. Dev Anand is like an inextinguishable soul of Bollywood. Although not as artistic or intense as Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor or Ashok Kumar ,Dev Anand surpassed them all for liveliness or flamboyance, with his performances radiating g energy on the screen, in realms rarely transcended. In his own right, Dev Saab, was a craftsman, like his classical contemporaries, with a characteristic composure. Perhaps never was a Bollywood star so suave, bubbling or charming as Dev Anand, who often looked like an Indian versi

We need to resurrect Neruda, give birth to poets of his kind amidst neofascist rampage

By Harsh Thakor  On 23rd September we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Pablo Neruda, whose contribution to revolutionary poetry was path breaking. Pablo Neruda’s poetry manifested the spiritual essence of revolutionary poetry and how poetry was a weapon for a revolutionary struggle. The story of his life illustrated the spiritual transformation undergone a human being to transform him into a revolutionary and how environment shapes the lie of revolutionary.

Grassroots NGO enlightens people of Kupwara with intricacies of Right to Information

J&K RTI Foundation and Founder Civil Rights Movement Kupwara note on how RTI Pend is empowering Kupwara with insights on Right to Information Act: *** RTI Pend, the grassroots initiative aimed at democratizing access to information, hosted its 2nd event in Kupwara. On the request of the Civil Rights Movement Kupwara, this event was tailored to enlighten the people of Kupwara with the intricacies of the Right to Information Act, presented in their local language and dialects. The event successfully bridged both offline and online participation, addressing queries on the spot and offering applicants practical solutions.

Abrogation of Art 370: Increasing alienation, relentless repression, simmering conflict

One year after the abrogation by the Central Government of Art. 370 in Kashmir, what is the situation in the Valley. Have the promises of peace, normalcy and development been realised? What is the current status in the Valley? Here is a detailed note by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties , “Jammu & Kashmir: One Year after Abrogation of Art. 370: Increasing Alienation, Relentless Repression, Simmering Conflict”:

Agro-biodiversity through seed identification, conservation, replication, crop selection

By Kuntal Mukherjee, Basant Yadav, Shivnath Yadav* This article is mainly based on a journey of the three of us since 2010 based on field experience, study of different articles, reflective journeys with local community based organisations, villagers and practitioners in Chhattisgarh. The slow growth of Agriculture in India with near stagnation in productivity since mid ‘80s in contrast to the remarkable growth during the green revolution period has come to the front as a great concern. In post WTO era Indian Agriculture has been witnessing structural changes, uncontrolled influx of agriculture goods and commodities from foreign countries due to open market nature. The gradual reduction in subsidies from internal production leads to increasing cost of production of agriculture produces at the farm gate. It causes gradual decrease in internal production as well as productivity and posing threats to small farm and stakeholders. 

Why Govt of India, Sangh Parivar want to stop the use of ‘India’? What's in a name?

By Ram Puniyani  Coincidentally after the opposition parties came together to form INDIA (Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance), the ruling BJP is desisting from the use of word India in official communiqués and its parent organizations RSS has issued a fatwa that only word Bharat should be used for our country. While inviting the representative’s participants of G 20, the President issued the invitation in the name of ‘Rashtrapati of Bharat’. Since then BJP is on the track of avoiding the use of the word India in all its pronouncements, saying this word smacks of colonial legacy since this word was given to the country by British colonial rulers. Mr. Hemant Biswa Sarma of BJP said that word India is part of the colonial legacy and should be removed. RSS chief and other functionaries have intensified this message. Speaking at a function at Guwahati Mr. Bhagwat, stated “We must stop using the word India and start using Bharat. At times we use India to make those who speak Eng

Sewer workers not given ESI cards that would ensure health benefits they need the most

A note by the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM), an organization working for the issues of sanitation workers in Delhi NCR, on right to life and dignity which still seems light years away for sewer workers: *** Exploitation of Sewer workers is not just a labour issue, but it is rooted in the caste system and cannot be separated from the historical socio-religious-cultural-economic exploitation of the Dalit community! Stated Mr. Y.S. Gill, Senior Journalist and Documentary Film maker in the press conference organised by Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) in Integrated Social Initiatives (ISI), Lodhi Road, New Delhi on issues of sewer workers in Delhi. The press conference was attended by a number of community members, activists, members of the civil society, students etc.