Progress of Human Development in India free essay sample

Therefore, large –scale investments in human resources are needed under public sector if physical capital available is to be exploited in a more efficient way. Human development index of India has improved from 0. 515 in 1990 to 0. 611 in 2004, but India still has miles to go before she can enter the group of high human development countries. The process of development has to accelerate the pace of human development. In this paper an attempt is made to highlight some of the factors which promotes human development. 1. INTRODUCTION Human development report 1990, has defined human development ‘as the process of enlarging people’s choices’. The most critical ones are to lead a long and healthy life, to be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living. Additional choices include political freedom, other guaranteed human rights and various ingredients of self respect. Human development is thus a process of widening people’s choices as well as raising the level of well-being achieved (UNDP 1997). We will write a custom essay sample on Progress of Human Development in India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The concept of human development puts people back at center stage, after decades in which a maze of technical concepts had obscured this fundamental vision (Paul Streeten 1996). â€Å"Income clearly is only one option that people would like to have, though an important one. But it is not the sum total of their lives. Income is also a means, with human development the end (UNDP 1997). Economic growth contributes most to poverty reduction when it expands the employment, productivity and wages of poor people and when public resources are channeled to promoting human development. A virtuous cycle of economic growth and human development arises when growth is labour using and employment generating and when human skills and health improve rapidly. The defining difference between the economic growth and the human develop- ment schools is that the first focuses exclusively on the expansion of only one choice – income – while the second embraces the enlargement of all human choices- whether economic, social, cultural or political (Mahbub-ul-Haq 1996). Haq rightly warns† unless societies recognize that their real wealth is their people, an excessive obsession with creating material wealth can obscure the goal of enriching human life. † The world Bank (IBRD 2006) is used GNI per capita to classify the economies by income per capita and by region: Low- income $ 825 or less in 2004: middle income, $ 826 to $ 10, 665; and high income, $ 10, 066 and above. A further division at GNI per capita $ 3, 255 is made between lowerTable 1: GNP per capit a and PPP estimates of GNP per capita in U. S dollars (2004) (in U. S $) Country Norway Switzerland United states United kingdom Australia China Srilanka India Bangladesh Kenya Niger GNP per capita 52030 48230 41400 33940 26900 1290 1010 620 440 460 230 PPP estimates of GNP per capita 38550 35370 39710 31460 29200 5530 4000 3100 1980 1050 830 Source: World Bank, World Development Report 2006. 14 middle – income and upper- middle – income economies. It Can be concluded from the table 1 that while GNP per capita in India was only $ 620 in 2004 as against $ 41,400 in USA, the PPP estimate of GNP per capita in India was $ 3100 against $ 39710 in USA (which is the standard for comparison) in 004. If we use PPP estimates of GNP per capita, we find that income inequalities between the High, middle and lower income economies are some what lower than those we observe on the basis of exchange rates as conversion factors. Human development report states (UNDP 2006) that millions of the world’s people lack access to safe water not because of scarcity, but because they are locked out by poverty, inequality and government failures. Tackling these problems holds the key to resolving the global water crisis. Safe water and sanitation are fundamental to human development. When people are deprived in these areas they face diminished opportunities to realize their potential as human beings. Unsafe water and inadequate sanitation are two of the great drivers of world poverty and inequality. They claim millions of lives, destroy livelihoods, compromise dignity and diminish prospects for economic growth. Poor people especially poor women and children, bear the brunt of the human costs. At the start of the 21st century we live in a world of unparalleled prosperity. Yet almost 2 million children die each year for want of clean water and toilet. More than 1 billion people do not have access to safe water and some 2. 6 billion lack adequate sanitation. Mean while, inadequate access to water as a productive resource consigns millions to lives of poverty and vulnerability. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Various human development indices of UNDP and HDI and its trends for selected countries have been discussed in Section ii. Comparison of human development indices for some selected countries and HDI trends among selected states are discussed in Section iii. The progress of human development in India is discussed in Section iv. Section v presents concluding observations. II. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The search for an alternative to GNP as a measure of economic development has led to the T. KOTI REDDY computation of the Human Development Index (HDI). The United Nations development programme (UNDP) introduced the HD1 in its first Human development report prepared under the able stewardship of Mahbub ul Haq, and published in 1990. The measure has been enlarged and refined over the years and many related indices of human development like Gender- Related development Index (GDI), Gender empowerment measure (GEM) Human poverty index (HPI) have been developed in subsequent human development reports published annually by UNDP. Human Development Index (HDI) The HDI is a summary measure of human development. It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development (UNDP 2006). A long and healthy life as measured by life expectancy at birth  · Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two – thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one- third weight)  · A decent standard of living as measured by GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms (ppp) in US dollars. Gender – Related Development Index (GDI) While the HDI measures average achievement, the GDI adjusts the average achievement to reflect the inequalities between men and women in the following dimensions (UNDP 2006)  · A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth. Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio.  · A decent standard of living as measured by estimated earned income (PPP US $) Human Poverty Index for Developing Countries (Hpi-1) While the HDI measures average achievement, the HPI-1 measures deprivations in the three basic dimensions of human development captured in the HDI (UNDP 2006)  · A long and healthy life- vulnerability to death at a relatively early age, as measured by the probability at birth of not surviving to age 40. PROGRESS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA 15 development report 2006 calculated the index. India which was at No. 138 in HDI in 1994 has improved its position to 126 in 2004 (Table 2). It is observed that the HDI trends for selected countries over the last 15 years (1990 – 2004) reveals that all countries are making efforts in varying degrees to improve their human development indices. If the trend is maintained, several medium HDI countries will enter the high HDI group and several low HDI countries will join the medium HDI range. This is a welcome development. India has improved its HDI index value from 0. 510 in 1990 to 0. 611 in 2004 (Table 3). It is observed that near gender equality exists in Norway, Iceland, Australia, United States, New Zealand, Russian Federation, China and Sri Lanka. There is a greater awareness in the world about gender inequality and efforts are being made to reduce gender inequality by promoting the education of females and giving them a better status in the family (Table 4). It is observed from the table 5 that HDI varies between 0. 38 for Kerala and 0. 367 for Bihar in 2001 while Kerala can be ranked as a medium HDI state; Bihar presents a dismal value of HDI even  · Knowledge – exclusion from the world of reading and communications as measured by the adult literacy rate.  · A decent standard of living – lack of access to overall economic provisioning, as measured by the unweighted average of two indicators, the percentage of the population without sustainable a ccess to an improved water source and the percentage of children under weight for age.