Millions out of poverty but glaring inequalities in India reveals Human Development Index report

Millions out of poverty but glaring inequalities in India reveals Human Development Index report

News

1.India climbed one spot to 130 among 189 countries in the latest Human Development Index (HDI) published by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Important facts

2.India’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development category.

3.India performs better than its neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, which ranks 139 and 150 in human development index.

Measuring HDI

4.Standard of living measured through gross national income (GNI) per capita.

5.Health is measured through life expectancy at birth.

6.Education is calculated by mean year of education among the adult population and expected year of schooling for children.

Between 1990 and 2017

7.India’s HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640.

8.Life expectancy at birth increased by 11 years.

9.Mean school of education increased by 4.7 years.

10.Gross national income increased by 266%.

Challenges for India

11.26.8 percent of India’s HDI value is lost on account of inequalities.There is a need to focus on inequality and the pockets of deprivation that are dragging the HDI down.

12. Women remain significantly less politically, economically and socially empowered than men.

Female participation in the labour market is 27.2 percent compared to 78.8 for men. Women hold only 11.6 percent of parliamentary seats, and only 39 percent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education as compared to 64 percent males.

13. Another area that India needs to focus on, to ensure sustained HDI growth, is climate resilience. For example, Kerala’s recent response with regards to how quickly and robustly the state dealt with the floods is an indicator of its strong HDI to withstand climate pressures and constraints.