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TOPIC 4: HDI 2018-INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPITAL IS THE BEST OPTION

THE CONTEXT: India climbed one spot to 130 (in 2017 it was 131) among 189 countries in the latest Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2017, released in September, 2018 by the UNDP. In this article, we will analyse the causes of the low ranks of India.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) VALUE FOR 2017: AN OVERVIEW

• India’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development category.

• The overall trend globally is towards continued human development improvements. Between 1990 and 2017, India’s HDI value has increased from 0.427 to 0.640, an increase of nearly 50%.

• For 2017, the top five countries were Norway (0.953), Switzerland (0.944), Australia (0.939), Ireland (0.938) and Germany (0.936); and Niger (0.354), the Central African Republic (0.367), South Sudan (0.388), Chad (0.404) and Burundi (0.417) have the lowest scores.

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• Among the other South-Asian countries, Sri Lanka ranked 76 with (0.77) and Maldives stood at 101 (0.717) were ahead of India and Bangladesh (rank 136) and Pakistan (rank 150) were behind the India.

• Among the BRICS (Russia (49), Brazil (79), China (86) and South Africa (113)) nations India has the lowest rank.

ABOUT HDI

• HDI’ was started in 1990 as a composite measurement of development that challenged purely economic assessments of national progress.

• The HDI is a measure for assessing human development based on three basic dimensions:

➢ a long and healthy life

➢ access to knowledge

➢ access to a decent standard of living

• It captures inequality in the distribution of human development across the population at the country level.

OTHER FINDINGS THE REASONSS FOR IMPROVEMENT (1990 - 2017)

• India’s life expectancy at birth increased by nearly 11 years, with even more

• There is a significant gain in expected years of schooling now Indian school-age children can expect to stay in school for 4.7 years longer than in 1990.

• India’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita also increased by a staggering 266.6%.

• Why the ranking of India is improving consistently? The success of India’s national development schemes like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, ‘Swachh Bharat’, ‘Make in India’, and initiatives aimed at universalising school education and healthcare ensured that the upward trend on human development accelerates.

But Gender difference is the concern

One key source of inequality is the gap in opportunities, achievements and empowerment between women and men.

• The average HDI for women in the world is six per cent lower than that for men owing to women’s lower income and educational attainment.

• Global labour force participation rates for women are also lower than men 49 per cent versus 75 per cent. Women labourers’ unemployment rates are 24 per cent higher than their male counterparts’.

• In case of India, only 39 per cent of adult women have received secondary education compared to 64 per cent men.

• Women participation in the labour market is 27.2 per cent compared to 78.8 per cent men and Women hold only 11.6 per cent of parliamentary seats its mean women hardly have a role in policy making.

• As much as 26.8% of India’s HDI value is lost on account of inequalities a greater loss than for most of its South Asian neighbours as the average loss for the region is 26.1%.

HOW INDIA CAN IMPROVE THE RANKING?

• Developing and empowering human capital should be the top priority of the government. For this, health and education should be in the government's priority list.

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1. HEALTH

SDG Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

CURRENT SIUATION

❖ The Centre and states spend approx. 1.2% of GDP on health in 2015-16, which is well below the world average of 5.99 per cent.

❖ Due to low investment in health and due to high out-of-pocket expenditure (85.6% which

according to the World Bank is among the highest in the world), nearly 60 million people are pushed further into poverty and into the poverty trap from that they are unable to escape.

❖ IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) which was 81 in 1990 reduced to 40 per 1,000 live births in 2015 (SRS, 2015). However, it still is much higher than the global average for the same period of 33.6 per 1,000 live births (World Health Statistics 2015).

❖ MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) was reported at 174 in 2015 than 215 in 2010 (World Bank). Still, in absolute numbers, nearly 45,000 mothers die due to causes related to childbirth every year that accounts for 17% of such deaths globally.

❖ India has one of the lowest density of health workforce; with density of physicians (7 per 10 000 population) and nurses (17.1 per 10 000 population) as against the global average of 13.9 and 28.6 respectively (World Health Statistics, 2015).

❖ Government started the 'Ayushman Bharat' programme for providing the health insurance to the poor people but Solution of Indian healthcare crisis lies in “preventive and promotive” Healthcare instead of focussing on only “curative” healthcare.

❖ The country at present suffers from the triple burden of disease — ✓ The unfinished agenda of infectious diseases. ✓ The challenge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), linked with lifestyle changes.

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✓ Emergence of new pathogens causing epidemics and pandemics.

HOW TO IMPROVE HEALTH STATUS IN INDIA ❖ A well-nourished and healthy population is necessary for building a futuristic workforce. Here,

a four pronged approach is required:

• Raise public healthcare spend to 3 per cent of GDP;

• Increase commitment to Non-communicable diseases at par with infectious diseases;

• Develop a sustainable mechanism to fund universal healthcare;

• Build a robust referral and preventive healthcare mechanism to reduce burden on tertiary-care.

❖ Leverage technology to transform public health. Modern technology has great potential in bringing efficiency in service delivery and enhancing the reach of the health services. Mobile technology holds great promise especially due to its ubiquitous nature.

2. EDUCATION CURRENT SITUATION

❖ Government spent nearly 3% of GDP on Education, which is lower than other developing and developed nations. World Bank data shows that countries like Brazil and South Africa were spending at least 6% of their GDP on education. The Kothari Education Commission had recommended an allocation of 6 percent of GDP on education, which has never been achieved.

❖ India ranked 104 out 149 countries on the Legatum Prosperity Index 2016. The index takes health and education along with other measures of prosperity.

❖ There is a mismatch between learning outcome and education spending trends. According to the 2016 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), the percentage of children in standard five who can do division has declined from 42.5% in 2007 to 26% in 2016, while the percentage of those who can read a standard two text has worsened from 53% in 2006 to 48% in 2016.This decline has happened despite enhanced spending on school education.

NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2017 ✓ It aims at achieving universal health coverage and

delivering quality health care services to all at affordable cost.

✓ The policy is patient centric and quality driven. It addresses health security and make in India for drugs and devices.

✓ The policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP in a time bound manner.

✓ It aims to raise public healthcare expenditure to 2.5% of GDP from current 1.4%, with more than two-thirds of those resources going towards primary healthcare.

✓ It aims to reduce total fertility rate (TFR) to 2.1 at sub-national and national level by 2025, mortality rate (MR) of children under 5 years of age to 23 per 1000 by 2025 and maternal mortality rate (MMR) to 100 by 2020. It also aims to reduce infant mortality rate to 28 by 2019 and reduce neo-natal mortality to 16 and still birth rate to ‘single digit’ by 2025.

✓ The policy talks about yoga in preventive healthcare system.

SDG Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

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❖ Problem of absenteeism of teachers is still a problem in India. According to a study, 23.6% of teachers in India’s government-run schools in rural areas were found absent during unannounced inspections.

❖ Spending on teachers training has one of the lowest priorities in expenditure. ❖ The educational system is out of tune with the job market despite having skill India

programmer. Being placed at a poor 105 out of 130 nations in the WEF human capital index ranking clearly shows this. India is placed much below China, ranked 71st, and even Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are better placed than it.

HOW TO IMPROVE EDUCATION STATUS IN INDIA ❖ There is a need to increase the public spending on education atleast to 6% as recommended

by Kothari Commission. ❖ Increasing government spending alone, in education is not enough to improve educational

outcomes. There is need to put in place better accountability and monitoring mechanisms to exploit the gains of increase in fiscal outlays on education.

❖ Also, the need is to overcome institutional inertia and outdated socio-cultural norms so that the gap between widening skills gaps and skilling systems can be bridged.

❖ Some structural changes which are needed for transforming education :

• Integration of higher education with skills and vocational education;

• Attracting the most credible talent to the teaching profession;

• Building global recognition to the education system; and

• Streamlining regulation to attract credible private sector entities to education. WAY FORWARD

❖ It is virtually impossible to learn future skills for future jobs. Even the best crystal gazing is unlikely to predict the changes across industries. However, there are certain quintessential for making a future ready workforce which should not be ignored by the government -

• A well-nourished and healthy population

• Access to high speed internet,

• Multidisciplinary learning

• design thinking

• Data science

• Information filtration capabilities. ❖ Government requires investing quantitatively as well as qualitatively in human capital.

❖ New Dimensions Need Inclusion: although, it is true that the concept of human development is a broader one than the traditional concept of development. But there are many other aspects such as civil and political rights, environmental quality, food and nutrition security, job security, health security and energy security should be added in the HDI.

❖ Looking beyond the HDI at the Quality of Development.

CONCLUSION: HDI bring out a very real and necessary picture about Indian but India needs much more to achieve the vision of the superpower the investment in human capital is the best option in this regard. Health and education will be the first basic inputs to develop and sustain a healthy, highly skilled workforce.