MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEFENCE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a) & (b): As per the Human Development Report (HDR) 2014 of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the overall global trends in human development are positive and the progress is continuing. The UNDP uses Human Development Index (HDI) as its summary measure of human development. It is a composite index measuring the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. As per the latest methodology adopted by UNDP, health is measured by life expectancy at birth. Achievement in knowledge is indicated by mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling. The standard of living is indicated by purchasing-power-adjusted per-capita Gross National Income (GNI). According to HDR 2014,the HDI Value for India is 0.586 in 2013 which has improved from 0.583 in2012.It has been clarified in the report that International Data Agencies continuously improve their data series. Therefore, year to year changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) values and rankings across different editions of the HDR are not strictly comparable. The key features of HDR 2014 with respect to Indiaare as follows:
India_HDR 2014 Indices Value Human Development Index (2013) 0.586 Gender Inequality Index (2013) 0.563 Gender Development Index (2013) 0.828 Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (2005-06) 0.282
(c):As per the HDR 2014 India was placed at 135th position out of 187 countries in 2013. It is the lowest rank among the BRICS countries wherein Brazil was placed at 79th position, Russian Federation at 57th position, China at 91st position and South Africa at 118th position in 2013. In the report, Russian Federation, Brazil and China fall in the category of countries with ‘High Human Development’ whereas India and South Africa fall in the Medium Human Development category. Details of HDI and its components for BRICS nations are given in the Table below:
Human Development Index and its components Country HDI HDI Life Mean years Expected Gross national income Rank Value expectancy of years (GNI) per capita at birth schooling of schooling (Years) (Years) (Years) (2011 PPP $) Russian Federation 57 0.778 68.0 11.7 14.0 22,617 Brazil 79 0.744 73.9 7.2 15.2 14,275 China 91 0.719 75.3 7.5 12.9 11,477 South Africa 118 0.658 56.9 9.9 13.1 11,788 India 135 0.586 66.4 4.4 11.7 5,150
(d) & (e): Over the years India has registered a consistent improvement in Human Development Index (HDI) value which increased from 0.483 in 2000 to 0.570 in 2010 and further to 0.586 in 2013.In fact, India has registered an improvement in average annual HDI growth rate from 1.15 percent in 1990-2000 to 1.49 percent in 2000-2013.The Government`s strategy of achieving high growth rate by generating more employment opportunities and strengthening social infrastructure such as public health and education through implementation of flagship programmes like National Health Mission (NHM), SarvaSikhshaAbhiyaan (SSA), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and poverty alleviation by providing wage and self-employment, safe drinking water, Swachh Bharat Mission etc. have impacted the human well-being positively and are expected to further improve India’s social indicators.
