New Delhi   

India one notch up in Human Development Index

Gargi Parsai

UNDP says it is not a comprehensive measure The poor are getting systematically excluded from access to water by their poverty

NEW DELHI: India has improved its rank one notch in the Human Development Index (HDI) value in the United Nations' Development Programme Report for 2006. India is ranked 126 among a total of 177 countries, going up one rank as compared to last year. The HDI for India is 0.611.

Among South Asian countries, India ranks third after Sri Lanka and Maldives but above Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The HDI measures the average progress of a country in human development. The indicators taken into account are education, health and income.

However, in the Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) value for developing countries, India ranks 55th among 102 developing countries for which the index has been calculated. The HPI-1 value for India is 31.3. Here, too, India ranks third among South Asian countries after Maldives and Sri Lanka but is placed above Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The HPI-1 focuses on the proportion of people below a threshold level in the same dimensions of human development as the human development index — living a long and healthy life, having access to education and a decent standard of living. Releasing the report here in the presence of Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, U.N. Resident Representative and U.N. Resident Coordinator in India Maxine Olson said the data was 18 months old and refers to 2004. This year's theme is "Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis." Norway, Iceland and Australia are among the top three in HDI, while Mali, Sierra Leone and Niger rank 175th, 176th and 177th. The HDI looks beyond the Gross Domestic Product to a broader definition of well-being. It provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development which include living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, income).

The index, however, is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development, says the UNDP. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as inequality and difficult to measure indicators like respect for human rights and political freedoms. "What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being," it says.

Dr. Olson said water scarcity the world over was due to unequal distribution, skewed access to infrastructure, poverty, unequal power relationships and poor water management of policies.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sordid tales of highwaymen
India one notch up in Human Development Index
Delhi Deputy Speaker threatens to quit
Italian orchestra to enthral Delhi
India, ASEAN agree to create joint fund
Legislators fear for their lives
Resolution to dissolve MCD rejected
Get on board the Venus Express
Re-schedule CBSE Board exams: PIL
Cong. accused of lacking statecraft
Golden Jubilee
Candlelight protest
Around The City
Briefly
In The Capital Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu