M A I N   N E W S

Chandigarh tops in quality of life
Bihar lowest scorer; Punjab, J&K, Raj, HP slip
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22
India’s human and gender development record is improving, with the latest government report showing a significant increase in country’s position on human (HDI) and gender related development indices.

India’s HDI, which was 0.530 in 1996, rose to 0.605 in 2006, while GDI score improved from 0.514 in 1996 to 0.590 a decade later. A concern, however, is the country’s Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) score, which judges women’s participation in politics and decision-making, their representation in Parliament and legislatures and their control over economic resources.

Here, the government disagrees with the UNDP’s 1998 findings which put India’s GEM score at a low of 0.228. “Gendering Human Development Index in India”, released by Women and Child Development Ministry today, claims GEM score of 0.497 in 2006 against 0.416 in 1996, saying: “Use of indicators more relevant to India yield a GEM score which is more than double of that estimated by the UNDP, though values attained still reflect sharp disparities in gender empowerment.”

The government thus admits to gender disparity, with evidence showing that even high HDI and GDI scoring states reflect poor gender balance like in Lakshadweep, NCT Delhi and Daman and Diu.

Among states, India-wide data puts Chandigarh on top in both HDI and GDI rankings, with UT pipping Kerala to the top HDI slot, scoring 0.784. Kerala and Goa come second. NCT Delhi, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, Nagaland, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep follow, being among top 10 HDI scorers.

The lowest HDI score is of Bihar, which improved by 0.777 points in a decade of study. But several northern states actually lost ranks - Punjab which was 10th in 1996 is now 14th; Jammu and Kashmir slipped two ranks to 27; Rajasthan lost two ranks to stand 31st while Himachal lost a rank to come 15th. Haryana maintained its HDI ranking of 21 in 10 years, showing no major gains. The largest gainers were Daman and Diu (13 ranks) and Uttarakhand (9 ranks).

But nothing to beat Chandigarh, which is in top category in all three dimensions used to measure human and gender development - long and healthy life, knowledge and standard of living. Chandigarh, with an estimated annual per capita income of 1.5 lakh for males, has the best living standards in India. Other similar states (with HDI score above 0.701) are Kerala, Delhi, Puducherry, Andamans and Manipur.

Even on GDI, Chandigarh has put Goa behind to stand first in latest rankings, it scores 0.763 on the GDI. Other top GDI scorers are Goa (ranked second at 0.747), Puducherry and Delhi. Bihar has the lowest GDI score at 0.479. Over 10 years, Punjab, J&K and Karnataka lost three ranks each, with Punjab slipping to 14th and J&K to 28th rank.

A disturbing finding is the slight reduction in the differential between the HDI and the GDI - from 0.016 in 1996 to 0.015 in 2006. This means human development improvements are not translating into gender balances, with disparity (HDI, GDI difference) being the highest for Lakshadweep, Delhi, Tripura, Bihar, J&K and Chandigarh. Gender imbalance in Rajasthan is equal to India’s average; the worst gender scenario being in Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Himachal, where disparity is lower than 0.015, India’s average.