Day 30 – Q 5.What is Human Development Index (HDI). Evaluate India’s overall performance with respect to the indicators constitutions the HDI.

5. What is Human Development Index (HDI). Evaluate India’s overall performance with respect to the indicators constitutions the HDI. 

मानव विकास सूचकांक (एचडीआई) क्या है। HDI का गठन करने वाले संकेतकों के संबंध में भारत के समग्र प्रदर्शन का मूल्यांकन करें।

Introduction:

The Human Development Index emphasises that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. It is published by UNDP and was created by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990.

Body

The HDI is the composite measure of every country’s attainment in three basic dimensions:

• Standard of living measured by the gross national income (GNI) per capita. (SDG 8)
• Health measured by the life expectancy at birth. (SDG 3)
• Education levels calculated by mean years of education among the adult population and the expected years of schooling for children. (SDG 4)

Performance of India

• As per the latest human development ranking released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India has climbed one spot to 130 out of 189 countries.
• The Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) allows one to compare levels of inequality within countries, and the greater the inequality, the more a country’s HDI falls.
• The value of India’s Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) falls to 0.468, a 26.8 per cent decrease, far worse than the global average decrease in the global HDI value due to inequality at 20 per cent.

India’s statistics:-

• Life expectancy at birth – 68.8
• Mean year of schooling: 6.4 years
• GNI per capita:  6353 PPP $.

Health Outcomes

• IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) is 34.6 per thousand live births which are to be brought to 12 per 1000 by 2030.
• Mortality rate for Under 5 is 43 per 1000 with task of cutting it almost to its half by 2030 to 25.
• India remains to be the highest TB burden country according to WHO, with as many as 211 people per lakh suffering from either newly contacted or relapsed TB.
• India spends only 1.3% of its GDP on health expenditure

Education Achievement

• Total government expenditure on education is a paltry 4.6% of total GDP.
• Primary school dropout rate in India during 2007-2016 was 9.8%

National Income

• Total GDP of India in 2017 – 2.6 lakh crores $
• GDP per capita – 6,427 dollars

CHALLENGES IN INDIA

• Challenges such as violence against women, child marriage, and share of parliamentary seats for women are also evident in India, where despite considerable progress at the policy and legislative levels, women remain significantly less politically, economically and socially empowered than men.
• Fewer women’s participation: For instance, women hold only 14.58 per cent of parliamentary seats, and only 39 per cent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education as compared to 64 per cent males.
• Low Female labour participation –  27.2 per cent compared to 78.8 for men.
• Unequal distribution: According to the report, the unequal distribution of outcomes is visible not just between countries but also within each country. In India’s case, the inequality-adjusted HDI of 26.8 per cent is due to the stark inequality in access to education, health, and income.

Conclusion

India’s Human Development Index (HDI) has increased tremendously from 0.427 in 1990 to 0.640 in 2018, but this is not the end. To develop further, India needs to focus on inequality and the pockets of deprivation that are dragging the HDI down and affects it adversely. Increasing the participation of women in labour force and climate resilience should be focused on is to ensure sustained HDI growth.