CH 28
CH 28
Human resource
development in India
28
Notes
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES
After studying this lesson, you will be able to:
define the term human development;
explain the term human development index;
describe the regional patterns of human development index in the states of
India; and
highlight the need for improvement in human development index in Indian
contex.
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development in India 28.1 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that measures the
average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human develop-
ment. These basic dimensions are a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent
standard of living. The above mentioned dimensions are measured by the follow-
ing indicators.
Notes
1. A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy at birth
2. Knowledge is measured by the adult literacy rate (with two thirds weight)
and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with
one third weight)
3. A decent standard of living is measured by GDP per capita in purchasing
Power Parity (PPP) US Dollars.
But we should know that the purpose of its construction is not to give a complete
picture of human development rather to provide a measure which goes beyond
the traditional measurement of development i.e income. Therefore, HDI is a ba-
rometer for changes in human well-being and for comparing progress in different
regions. Human development concept is based on the idea of development as a
freedom. It is about building human capabilities - the range of things they can do
and what they can be. Individual freedoms and rights matter a great deal. But
these freedoms and rights are restricted for some because they are poor, ill, illiter-
ate, discriminated against, threatened by violent conflict, or denied a political voice,
etc. That is why in the inagural issue of Human Development Report - 1990, the
authors defined these above mentioned indicators as essential choices and the
absence of which can block many other opportunities. Therefore, they defined
human development as a process of widening people’s choices as well as raising
the level of well-being”. To achieve this there is a need for re-orientation of our
process of development. In other words, development must revolve around the
people, not people around the development.
The basic difference between economic development and human development is
that economic development entirely focuses on the increase of income whereas
the human development believes in expanding and widening of all aspects of hu-
man life be it economic, social, political, cultural, etc. In economic aspect human
development is one of the essential elements. The basic idea behind this is that it is
the use of income and not the income itself that decides the human choices. Since,
the real wealth of a nation is its people, therfore, the goal of development should
be the enrichment of human life.
Apart from Human Development Index (HDI), the other four indicators of human
development have been selected which were used by the Human Development
Report. These are:
(i) Human Poverty Index for developing countries (HPI-1)
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(ii) Human Poverty Index for selected DECD Countries (HPI-2) development in India
(iii) Gender - related Development Index (GDI)
(iv) Gender Empowered Measurement (GEM)
Out of these given, HDI, HPI-1 and GDI are calculated by three common dimen-
sions - a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. But
some of indicators are different within these dimensions. Let us know their simi- Notes
larities and differences from the table given below.
Table No. 28.1: A comparative analysis of Dimensions used
in HDI, HPI-1 and GDI
Sl. Indices HDI HPI-1 GDI
No.
1. A long and Life expectancy at birth Probability at birth of Life expectancy at birth
healthy life not swimming at age 40
2. Knowledge Adult literacy rate Adult literacy rate Adult literacy rate
(with two third
weight) and
The combined primary, Percentage of the Combined primary,
secondary and gross population without secondary and tertiary
enrolment (with one sustainable access gross enrolment ratio
third weight) to an improved water
source
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development in India Till now you might have understood the importance of human development. Let us
now have a closer look at India’s position at international level as far as human
development is concerned. We will also try to find out the reasons for low levels of
human development in India
28.3 INDIA : TRENDS OF HDI
Notes According to Human Development Report 2005, India’s rank was 127 out of
177 countries of the world. All the 177 countries are grouped under three catego-
ries. These are high, medium and low. The countries which had value between
0.800 and above are termed as high. The countries which had value between
0.500 to 0.799 were ranked under medium categories and countries which had
value less than 0.500 were ranked as low human development countries. India
was placed almost at the bottom of the table in the medium level category. Our
neighbouring countries like China (85), Sri Lanka (93), Maldives (96) remained
well above the India’s position. Other neighbouring countries like Myanamar (129),
Bhutan (134), Pakistan (135) and Nepal (136) were placed just below India. The
countries which lied below India were mostly from Africa and rest few countries
were from Asia. If we look at India’s situation over the time we can definitely say
that it has improved a lot over the last thirty years (Table 28.2)
Table No. 28.2: INDIA : Human Development Index Trends
in India 1975 - 2005
Years 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
This improvement is not sufficient enough. There are many small countries of Asia
and Africa like Fiji, Mongolia, Tunisia, etc. are well above India. India has to
work very hard to be placed among the top countries in the medium human devel-
opment category (0.501 - 0.800). If the present trend continues it needs minimum
30 years to enter the high human development category. And for this, a rigorous
effort particularly in the social sector like education, health and economic sector
particularly reduction of poverty are required. The following are the reasons to
keep India at the bottom of human development (a) rapid increase in population
(b) large number of adult illiterates and low gross enrolment ratio (c) high drop-
out rates (d) inadequate government expenditure on education and health, (e)
large proportion of under weight children as well as under nourished people (f)
very poor sanitation facilities and low access to essential life saving medicines.
Apart from HDI, the performance of India is also not very encouraging as far as
Gender Development Index (GDI) and Human Poverty Index (HDI) are con-
cerned. According to Human Development Report, 2005, India’s position in GDI
was 98 out of 140 countries and in HPI-1 was 58 out of 103 countries.
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Study the following table to know health related indicators. development in India
Note: The figure given in the brackets refer to the year which is different from the
reference year mentioned in the particular columns of the table
I am sure you have read the table carefully. As we said earlier that there has been
significant improvement in each health indicator. But the desired result has not
been achieved in reducing birth rate, infant mortality rate as well as total fertility
rate. There is a need for sustained effort particularly in remote rural areas where
health care system is almost non-functional. As far as health care facilities in the
country are concerned it has increased in leaps and bounds.
Table 28.4: INDIA : Trends in Health Care Facilities 1951-2004
Sl.No. Facilities 1951 2004
1. Sub centre, Primary Health centre, 725 1,68,986
Community Health Centre
2. Dispensaries and Hospitals 9,209 38,031 (2002)
3. Beds (Private and Public) 1,17,198 9,14,543 (2002)
4. Nursing Personnel 18,054 8,36,000
5. Doctors (Modern System) 61,800 6,25,131
Source: Economic Survey 2005-06, Ministry of Finance, Govt of India, p-212.
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development in India average are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Punjab,
Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Nagaland.
To improve the educational attainment particularly enrollment and retention at el-
ementary level and reduce the adult illiteracy Government of India has started
various new programmes and also strengthened existing programmes.
(iii) ___________________________________________________
3. Define Gross Enrollment Ratio
_______________________________________________________.
4. Name any three states in which people are living below poverty line. Notes
(i) ___________________________________________________
(ii) ___________________________________________________
(iii) ___________________________________________________
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Human resource
development in India If we analyse the pattern given in the above Table 28.6, it is concluded that there
is a north south divide barring a few exceptions. All the southern Indian states are
doing well except Andhra Pradesh. On the other hand most of northern states
except Punjab and Haryana are doing badly in human development index. These
northern states are given an accronym “BIMARU” (whcih stands for Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh). Apart from north-south divide, there ex-
Notes ists a east - west divide also. Western states like Gujarat and Maharashtra are
doing fairly well in comparision to eastern states – Orissa, and Assam. Both these
states are below national average. West Bengal is exactly positioned at the na-
tional average. Therefore there is a need to pay a greater attention to those states
which are not doing well in HDI. An efforts should be made in these states to
improve human development index.
In the following paragraphs we will make a detailed discussion at the states level in
India based on the development radars suggested in the National Human Devel-
opment Report - 2001 prepared by Planning Commission of India. Development
Radars are diagrammatic representation of progress in HDI prepared, separately
for rural and urban areas on eight distinct social indicators for two points of time,
i.e. early 1980 and early 1990. Development Radars were constructed for all the
states. The indicators have been included with a view to reflect attainments on
three critical dimensions of well being - longevity, education and command over
resources. At the same time development radar (DR) highlights the progress in
meeting out the basic human needs of accessibility to safe drinking water and
shelter. The social indicators selected for the construction of Development Radars
(DR) are as follows;
(i) Per-capita consumption expenditure.
The indicators scale through a magnitude from zero to five. Here, zero corre-
sponding to least achievement while five given to maximum achievement.
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TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Differentiate among Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index and
Gender Development Index.
2. Explain any four reasons in favour of the human development.
3. Describe any four visions envisaged in National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
implemented by Government of India.
4. Write any four factors responsible for keeping India almost at the bottom of
human development index table.
28.3
1. (i) Bihar (ii) Madhya Pradesh (iii) Uttar Pradesh (iv) Rajasthan (Any three)
2. Development Radars are diagramatic representation of progress of states
separately for rural and urban areas on eight distinct social indicators for
two points of time namely early 1980 and early 1990.
3. (i) per-capita expenditure (ii) poverty
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Human resource
development in India 2. Refer to section 28.2
3. Refer to table 28.5
4. Refer to section 28.3
Notes
Point to Ponder
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