The Hindu : New Delhi News : A tale of the good and the bad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 25, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A tale of the good and the bad

Staff Reporter

Although the Capital has a low per capita debt and high per individual assets, it holds the dubious distinction of being a city that is unsafe for women, elderly and children

NEW DELHI: Delhi might rate as one of the best metro cities with a low per capita debt and high per individual assets, but it holds the dubious distinction of being a city that is unsafe for women as well as the elderly and the children. This aspect has been highlighted in the latest Human Resource Development Report-2006 released by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, here on Thursday.

The report, commissioned by the Delhi Government to get a feedback on the various aspects of life and routine in the Capital, was released in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at Delhi Secretariat.

Interestingly, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that while the report had highlighted that the traffic situation in the Capital was under control, he had to face major traffic snarls to reach the Delhi Secretariat!

The report states that as far as crime and safety are concerned, Delhi ranks first among the 35 cities for crimes against children. Not only this, the Capital holds the dubious distinction of having a very high rate of crime against women, an aspect that has been in focus for the last few months due to various incidents involving harassment of women and their criminal assault.

Similarly, the report points out that senior citizens in the Capital who are increasingly being targeted by criminals are facing utter neglect along with the working and street children and disabled.

It also points out to increasing discrimination against the girl child, showing a sharp decline in the sex ratio among children in the age group of 0-6 years from 915 in 2001 to 865 in 2003, the lowest among the four metros.

The report also reflects poorly on the quality of schooling in the Capital, stating that among children in the age group of 7-10 years, 37 per cent in government schools and 16 per cent in private schools could not even read simple words. For children among the 11-14 years age group, 40 per cent in government schools and 20 per cent in private schools are unable to do a Class III level arithmetic operation. On the positive side, the report states that Delhi has the lowest death rate in the country at 5 per 1,000 people and a high life expectancy of 69.6 years. There has been an impressive reduction in poverty with 8 per cent of population (around 1.15 million) below the poverty line as against the national average of 26 per cent population below poverty line.

An interesting fact that has come to light is the net decline in the migrant population to the Capital. There has been an increase in migrants from 1.64 million between 1981-91 to 2.22 million between 1991-2001. The net addition to Delhi's population as a result of migration has, however, declined from 14.4 per cent in 1980's to 12.7 per cent in 1990s. Forty-six per cent of the migrants come from Uttar Pradesh while the share of migrants from Bihar was up from 11 per cent between 1981-91 to 23 per cent between 1991-2001.

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