Human Development and HDI

Introduction

Globalization, computerisation, industrialisation, enhanced education system, advanced medical facilities are considered symbols of human development. 

“Human development can be defined as the process of improving people’s choices, such as education, health care, income, and empowerment, while also including the complete range of human choices, from a healthy physical environment to economic, social, and political liberty.”

As a result, an essential part of human development is expanding people’s choices. Living a long and healthy life, receiving an education, and having access to resources necessary for a fair quality of living, such as political freedom, secured human rights, and personal self-respect, are all non-negotiable parts of human growth.

Human Development in India

The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the level and changes in quality of life by combining life expectancy, education or access to knowledge, and income or standard of living.

With nearly 1.20 billion people, India is rated 131 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). With a composite HDI of 0.640, India is classified as a medium level of human development. Low HDI scores are cause for concern, although others have expressed qualms about the approach and the metrics used to construct the index values and rank the states/countries. 

Lack of sensitivity to historical factors such as colonialism, imperialism, and neo-imperialism, socio-cultural factors such as human rights violations, social discrimination based on race, religion, gender, and caste, social problems such as crime, terrorism, and war, and political factors such as the nature of the state, forms of government (democracy or dictatorship), and level of empowerment are all critical in determining the nature of human development.

These aspects have special significance in the case of India and many other developing countries.

Role & Importance of Human Development Index

Indicators of Economic Attainments

The key to productivity, well-being, and human growth is a rich resource base and equitable access to these resources for all, particularly the poor, oppressed, and marginalised. The Gross National Product (GNP) and its per capita availability analyse a country’s resource base/endowment. Individuals’ economic success and well-being are dependent on economic growth, job possibilities, and asset access.

Indicators of a Healthy Life

A healthy life is devoid of illness and ailment and has a reasonably long lifespan. Some significant measures of a healthy and reasonably long life include the prenatal and postnatal healthcare facilities to reduce infant mortality and post-delivery deaths among mothers, as well as elderly health care, proper nourishment, and personal safety.

The death rate has decreased from 25.1 per thousand in 1951 to 6.5 per thousand in 2015. Infant mortality has decreased from 148 per thousand to 37 per thousand. From 1951 to 2015, it also improved male life expectancy from 37.1 to 66.9 years and female life expectancy from 36.2 to 70 years.

Indicators of Social Empowerment

Human development requires freedom from hunger, poverty, slavery, bondage, ignorance, illiteracy, and other types of oppression. Only through the empowerment and engagement of people in the exercise of their powers and choices in society can true freedom be achieved. To be free, one must have access to information about society and the environment. Literacy is the first step in gaining access to such a world of knowledge and liberty.

Reasons For India’s Underperformance on Human Development Index

India is ranked 131st in the 2019 HDI, with a per capita income of $6,681, a notch down from its 2018 ranking of 130th. Deep-seated sociological and economic disadvantages are to blame for a poor ranking for an economy in the world’s top six in terms of size. The following causes can be attributed to India’s poor Human Development Index performance:

1. Increasing Income Inequalities: Inequalities in income increase deficiencies in other HDI metrics of human development. In countries with substantial income disparity, intergenerational income mobility is lower. Inequality in income in our country is a burning curse that is affecting human development in the economy.
2. Gender Inequality: According to statistics, female per capita income in India was only 21.8 percent of that of males, although it was more than twice in other emerging countries, at 49 per cent. Females’ low per capita income in India is primarily due to their absence from the labour field. 
3. Cumulative Impact: These factors have a long-term effect that spans generations. This intergenerational loop deprives people at the bottom of the pyramid of opportunity.

Conclusion

Indian culture and civilisation have been acutely aware of population, resource, and development challenges for a long time. It would not be wrong to argue that the ancient scriptures were primarily concerned with the harmony and balance of nature’s elements. In recent years, Mahatma Gandhi has urged for the strengthening of the two’s harmony and balance. 

A politically committed government implementing inclusive policies to improve public health, education, and nutrition, eliminating gender discrimination and ushering in an equal society can improve India’s HDI.