What is human development?
Some years back, a country was said to be developing if it experienced high economic growth. It was believed that higher economic growth would allow more people to lead better lives. In reality, economic growth could only benefit some people. A large number of people continued to face problems like illiteracy, malnutrition, and poverty. Due to this, scholars came up with the concept of human development.
Human development is the development that increases our freedoms and capabilities. It aims to increase our incomes as well as our access to hospitals, schools, community activities, political rights, etc.
What is the Human Development Index?
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) created the Human Development Index (HDI) in 1999. The HDI measures a country’s progress on three features – a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
It calculates a country’s score based on the following factors – life expectancy at birth, years of schooling, and how much money a person earns in a year. It gives each country a score between 0-1. The closer the score is to 1, the better that country’s human development.
This year’s HDI saw India’s rank dropping by one point.
What is the state of India’s human development?
A person born in India today is expected to live till the age of 67 years. This is quite low compared to countries with higher HDI scores like Sweden, where people live till the age of 83.
Most of our children do not complete their schooling. While some boys drop out early to earn money for their families, many girls are married at a young age.
According to HDI, an average Indian earns around ₹5 lakhs per year. But we have to keep in mind that India has a huge population, thus this number does not tell us about the incomes of the majority of Indians.
What can India do to improve?
UNDP has commended India’s efforts to provide clean water, toilet facilities, and renewable energy to its people. India is also doing a lot to achieve equality between men and women, a great example being the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign.
Going forward, India should focus on improving its hospitals and encouraging more children to complete their schooling.
