Rising economic inequalities and wide gender gap don’t let India achieve a faster ascent among 189 countries
India now ranks 130 of 189 countries in the latest human development rankings released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday. This means the average age a child is expected to spend in school is now 6.4 years, which was three in 1990 and the life expectancy is 68.8 years, which was 57.9 years 28 years ago. India fares better than other South Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.
According to the UNDP, HDI is “a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living”.
Also, the difference between the countries with the highest and the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) is massive. While a child born today in Norway, which stood on top, can expect to live beyond 82 years and spend almost 18 years in school, another born at the same time in Niger, which has the lowest HDI, can expect to be alive for 60 years and spend just five years in school.
India’s standing
India’s HDI for 2017 is 0.640, which puts the country in the medium human development category. Between 1990 and 2017, India’s HDI increased from 0.427 to 0.640, a rise of almost 50 per cent—an indicator that the country has lifted millions out of poverty.
Within South Asia, India’s HDI is above average of 0.638 for the region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan, countries with similar population size, being ranked 136 and 150.
The UN report says that an unequally growing economy leads to a low HDI. This is why low and medium human development countries lose 31 and 25 per cent of their human development index to inequality. But those with high human development index face an average loss of 11 per cent. India loses 26.8 per cent HDI owing to inequalities. It is the highest among all other South Asian nations. The average loss in South Asian countries is 26.1 per cent.
Francine Pickup, country director, UNDP India, has noted the steady progress India made on HDI. “The success of India’s national development schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Swachh Bharat, Make in India, and initiatives aimed at universalising school education and health care, will be crucial in ensuring that the upward trend on human development accelerates and India achieves the key principles of the Sustainable Development Goals so no one is left behind,” says Pickup.
Gender difference
One key source of inequality is the gap in opportunities, achievements and empowerment between women and men. The average HDI for women in the world is six per cent lower than that for men owing to women’s lower income and educational attainment.
Global labour force participation rates for women are also lower than men—49 per cent versus 75 per cent. Also, women labourers’ unemployment rates are 24 per cent higher than their male counterparts’. Women globally also do much more unpaid domestic and care work than men.
Moreover, women’s share of parliamentary seats remains low. It ranges from 17.5 and 18 per cent in South Asia and the Arab states, to 29 per cent in Latin America and Caribbean and OECD countries.
In India too, it is quite evident that women hardly have a role in policy making. Women hold only 11.6 per cent of parliamentary seats, only 39 per cent of adult women have received secondary education compared to 64 per cent men and their participation in the labour market is 27.2 per cent compared to 78.8 per cent men. It’s time we buck up!
The share of government spending on nutrition, public health, family welfare and relief on account of natural calamities has reduced significantly in the last four years. Moreover, spending on social security and welfare has remained stagnant. On the flip side, the share of spending on housing, urban development, water supply and sanitation, and welfare of SCs, STs and OBCs has increased during the period.
These findings have emerged from the State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2017-18 and 2018-19 prepared by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) based on the analysis of budget documents of the state governments.
While expenditure on urban development increased by 112 per cent from Rs 52,600 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 116,000 crore in 2018-19 (revised estimate), spending on relief on account of natural calamities reduced from Rs 32,700 crore to Rs 21,000 crore in the same period. Similarly, while spending on education, sports, art and culture increased by almost 45 per cent from Rs 360,000 crore to Rs 518,700 crore, spending on disaster relief reduced by 36 per cent from Rs 32,700 crore to Rs 21,500 crore.
North East sees a reduced spending on social sector
Analysis of state-wise social sector expenditure since 2000-01 suggests that most northeastern states have seen a significant dip in spending in the last two years—2016-17 and 2017-18. Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim—whose collective spending (about Rs 67,000 crore) is slightly more than Gujarat—have put a check on social sector spending.
Larger states such as Chhattisgarh and Punjab have also reduced social sector spending, with the latter almost slashing the budget by 50 per cent from Rs 52,900 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 26,700 crore in 2017-18.
The states that have seen only a marginal increase in social spending include Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. NITI Aayog’s First Delta Ranking of Aspirational Districts: Sector-specific Ranks also suggests a similar trend. The 20 worst-performing districts in the health segment are mostly from Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir. The situation is no different in education segment, where the bottom 20 districts are primarily from Bihar, Mizoram and Uttar Pradesh. When it comes to basic infrastructure, districts from Odisha, Telangana and Jharkhand fared worse than the rest.
States are now increasingly under debt
According to the RBI report, outstanding liabilities of states have been growing at double digits, except in 2014-15. “The issuance of UDAY bonds in 2015-16 and 2016-17, farm loan waivers and the implementation of pay commission awards led to higher debt GDP ratio at 24 per cent in 2017-18 (RE) which is expected to rise to 24.3 per cent in 2018-19 (BE),” the report says.
State-wise data reveal that the debt-GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) ratio increased in 2018-19 for 16 states. “The share of the states in the general government deficit has been rising since 2015-16 with important macroeconomic implications,” observes the report.
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