Chapter 9: Human development & Fostering Inclusive growth

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

The 2014 Human Development Report (HDR) presents the Human Development Index (HDI) values and ranks for 187 countries in terms of three basic parameters:

1. to live a long and healthy life,
2. to be educated and knowledgeable
3. to enjoy a decent standard of living.

India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586, positioning the country at 135 out of 187 countries and territories—the lowest among the BRICS countries, with

• Russia = 57
• Brazil = 79
• China = 91
• South Africa = 118
• Bangladesh =142
• Nepal =145
• Pakistan = 146

India’s HDI is also below the average of countries in both the medium human development group (0.614) and in South Asia (0.588).

As compared to BRICS nations and some neighbouring countries, India reports the least mean years of schooling and an LEB that is just above that of South Africa. Bangladesh, with less GNI per capita than India, has a much higher LEB and mean years of schooling. China, which recorded a slightly higher HDI than India in 1980, has widened the margin in 2013 (Table 9.5). The existing gap in health and education indicators between India and developed countries and also many developing countries highlights the need for much faster and wider spread of basic health and education, as reflected by China and Sri Lanka.

Gender Inequality Index:

• the HDR ranks India 127 out of 152 countries with a Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 0.563.
• The GII for 149 countries reveals the extent to which gender inequality erodes national achievements in reproductive health, empowerment and labour market participation
• Unlike the HDI, a higher GII value indicates poor performance 

The Gender Development Index (GDI)

• defined as a ratio of the female to male HDI
• measures gender inequality according to three basic parameters of human development: health (LEB),education (expected years of schooling for children and mean years for adults aged 25 years and older); and command over economic resources (estimated GNI per capita).
• The GDI is calculated for 148 countries.
• The female HDI value for India is 0.52 as compared to 0.63 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.828.
• In comparison, Bangladesh and China are ranked higher with values of 0.908 and 0.939 respectively

Thus, while India is in the bottom 25 per cent of all countries on the HDI, it ranks in the bottom 20 per cent on the GII. 

Sex discrimination

India is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is often described as an international bill of rights for women. It defines discrimination against women and sets the agenda for national action to end violations of women’s rights.

• An important element of CEDAW is its affirmation of women’s reproductive rights, including the right to determine the number and spacing of children and equal access to family planning.
• Unfortunately in India there is an increasingly disproportionate emphasis on women’s sterilization; thus tubectomies account for a whooping 97.5 per cent of all sterilization operations in 2013-14 (a massive jump from 78.6 per cent in the 1980s). This runs counter to our goals of achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Sterilization constitutes 75 per cent of India’s contraceptive use. It is unparalleled in any country in the world today. The closest is Latin America where it forms 40 per cent of all contraceptive methods.

Child Sex Ratio

• Another concern is the secular decline in the child sex ratio (CSR– girls per 1000 boys aged 0-4 or 0-6) in India from 976 in 1961 to 918 in 2011; the SRS (2013) reports a figure of 909 for 2011-13. Globally CSR is calculated as boys per 100 girls. Comparatively, in Asia and the Pacific, the CSR (boys per 100 girls aged 0-14) was 110 in 2012, much higher than the sex ratio under natural conditions (105). While China’s CSR declied from 121 in 2010 to 117 in 2012, India’s CSR increased from 109 to 111 over the same period.

Violence against Women

• The UN General Assembly in 1993 defined violence against women as “any act of gender- based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women.” Consequently, apart from violence against married/adult women, excess female child mortality, female infanticide, and child marriage are also considered violence against the female gender. The implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) is weak, as nineteen states have no planned schemes.

BBBP Programme

• Appropriately a new scheme, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Programme, for promoting survival, protection, and education of the girl child was launched on 22 January 2015 at Panipat, Haryana, a state that is noted for the lowest CSR – 835 (SRS 2013).
• It aims to address declining CSR through a mass campaign targeted at changing social mind set and creating awareness about the criticality of the issue.
• The overall goal of the BBBP programme is to celebrate the girl child and facilitate her education with the objectives of preventing gender-biased sex-selective elimination, ensuring survival and protection, and education of the girl child.

FOSTERING INCLUSIVE GROWTH

• The disbursement of benefits to marginalized and poor sections of society needs a systematic channel which will provide for financial empowerment and make monitoring easier and the local bodies more accountable.
• The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) launched on 28 August 2014 and the RuPay Card, which is a payment solution, are important schemes in this regard. These two schemes are complementary and will enable achievement of multiple objectives such as financial inclusion, insurance penetration, and digitalization.
• Government has restructured and fine- tuned a number of ongoing programmes based on the field experience to make them need based.
• To facilitate coordinated functioning of various social infrastructure and human development programmes, the government has launched the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) which will be implemented through the convergence and implementation of existing government programmes.
• In addition, the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna will be implemented in one block each of ten states that have Fifth Schedule areas.
• Given the multiple schemes implemented to foster inclusive growth, the role of Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local governments (ULG) is critical 

Need to Strengthen Village Panchayats and ULGs

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments marked a watershed in the history of decentralized governance, planning, and development in India as these made panchayats and ULGs the third tier of government with reasonable power and authority in addition to creating space for women and marginalized groups in the federal set-up.

Decentralized democracy was also extended to Fifth Schedule areas through the provisions of another Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 known as the Extension Act which not only made the gram sabha a strong body, but also put ‘jal, jungle, and jamin’ (water, forest, and land) under its control.

These central acts, however, instead of clearly specifying the powers and functions of panchayats and municipalities, have left it to the discretion of state governments. Articles 243 G and 243 W of these acts decree that the legislature of a state may, by law, endow the panchayats/municipalities with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government.

Such law may also contain provisions for devolution of powers and responsibilities upon panchayats/ municipalities, subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, with respect to the preparation of plans and implementation of such schemes for economic development and social justice as may be entrusted to them. These may include inter alia schemes and plans in relation to socio- economic development and providing basic services as listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules of the constitution.

Article 243 ZD of the 74th Amendment Act providing for constitution of district planning committees (DPC) by the state government in every district is a milestone in decentralized planning with people’s participation. These committees are expected to consolidate the plans prepared by the panchayats and municipalities in the district and prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole. DPCs have been set up in most of the states. Much of implementation of these panchayat acts, i.e. power-sharing with panchayats / ULGs, is left to the states. Over the years panchayats and ULGs have not been strengthened in terms of functions, finances and functionaries (triple Fs) with regard to preparation of plans and the listed subjects.

These amendment acts have the potential of becoming true vehicles for carrying out the government’s slogan of less government–more governance if an atmosphere of general consensus to adopt it is created among all the states. In order to convert outlays of the panchayat /municipality-centric programmes into outcomes, these institutions need greater awareness, responsibility, and accountability, which will also enable better connect of these programmes with the common man. There needs to be greater devolution of powers to the panchayats and municipalities in respect of the triple Fs in a phased manner. The majority of panchayat/municipality-centric programmes do have earmarked funds for awareness generation and capacity building. These funds across ministries need to be pooled together under the Panchayati Raj Ministry and Ministry of Urban Development to make infrastructure and capacity building of panchayats and municipalities a continuous and regular process. This will enable panchayats and municipalities to understand not only their role and rights but also their responsibilities and will make them accountable, bringing about qualitative improvement in governance at decentralized level. Such facilitation by the government will transform panchayats and municipalities into vibrant institutions and enable them to perform their envisaged role in participatory planning, implementation, execution, monitoring, and supervision and also carry out social audit of all panchayat/ municipality-centric programmes including the Swachh Bharat Mission.

DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND AND RELATED POLICY INTERVENTIONS

• A declining 0-14 population will impact both elementary (5-14 age group) and higher education (15-29 age group). Elementary education can be further subdivided into primary (5-9 age group) and middle/upper primary (10- 14 age group).
• The first stage of impact will be felt in declining enrolment in primary schools. As stated earlier, total enrolment in primary schools has fallen in 2013-14 while upper primary enrolment has grown.
• The dependency ratio for India is expected to fall from 54 per cent in 2010 to 49 per cent in 2020.

In this scenario, given interstate disparities, states that are already facing this situation need to adopt specific policy measures in the field of education, wherein, instead of expanding the number of primary schools, focus should be on 

1. improving access to education considering the high dropout rates among senior students;
2. removing gender disparity especially in the higher age group and in rural areas; and
3. improving quality of education, including pupil-teacher ratios and provision of amenities in schools, especially in view of the declining learning levels.

 Owing to substantial fertility decline in the south during the last two decades, the south is ahead in the demographic transition compared to the north, thereby the window is already wide open in the south compared to the north. 

This lag in demographic transition among states in India could turn out to be a great blessing from the point of view of coping with the problem of declining population. India is better placed in this respect than most other countries.

• Thus states already well into the demographic window should actively pursue policies for employment generation to the already bulging labour force, while states just entering the window period have some time to plan and must pursue policies simultaneously in several areas like education, health (including reproductive health), gender issues, and employment generation from now on so that they can fully utilize the opportunity.

TRENDS IN INDIA’S SOCIAL–SECTOR EXPENDITURE

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on expenditure on social services by the general government (centre and states) as a proportion of total expenditure has also been showing a mixed trend.
• It had declined to 22.9 per cent in 2012-13 from 24.7 per cent in 2010-11 but increased to 24.1 per cent in 2013-14 (RE) and declined again to 22.3 per cent in 2014-15 (BE).
• As a percentage of the GDP, expenditure on social services has declined from 6.9 per cent in 2009-10 to 6.7 per cent in 2014-15 (BE), with expenditure on education increasing from 3.0 per cent to 3.1 per cent and on health declining from 1.4 per cent to 1.2 per cent.
• Government spending on healthcare in India is only 1.2 per cent of GDP which is about 4 per cent of total government expenditure, less than 30 per cent of total health spending. The failure to reach minimum levels of public health expenditure remains the single most important constraint to attaining desired health outcomes. While it is important to recognize the growth and potential of a rapidly expanding private sector, international experience shows that health outcomes and financial protection are closely related to absolute and relative levels of public health expenditure.

CONCLUSION

With women accounting for nearly 48 per cent of India’s population (Census 2011), there is need to ensure and safeguard their place in the socio-economic milieu. Since this requires a change in the patriarchal mindset of the larger population, government has to continue to be a proactive facilitator of this change through consistent policies. India aims to be in the top 50 countries of the Doing Business ranking; it must at the same time endeavour to be in the top 50 countries in HDI and GII rankings.

Low levels of education and skill deficit are responsible for low income levels of a large majority of the labour force, thereby perpetuating inequality. Consequently, the government’s thrust on skill development as well as ‘Make in India’ aims at improving employability and generating employment avenues.

Since demographic predictions warn that the promise of the demographic dividend will not last long, in any case not beyond 2050, India needs to take advantage of this demographic window in the next couple of decades. The challenge for the country now is in planning and acting towards converting its demographic ‘burden’ into enhanced opportunities for growth by dovetailing the quality of manpower to the requirements of employers (off-farm, industry, and services sectors), both domestic and international. For this intention to translate into reality, a ‘bottom-up’ approach using Panchayati Raj institutions and ULBs as agents of change is the need of the hour.