India Slips on Human Development Index

India slips on human development index
New Delhi: Developed countries can finance the rising burden of their ageing population far better if they allow more migration from countries like India, says the Human Development Report 2009, the flagship publication of the United Nations Development Programme.
“The growing labour abundance of developing countries suggest that we are entering a period when increased migration will benefit not only them (migrants) but will also be advantageous for the populations of destination countries”, it says.
The report has, therefore, criticised the trend to shut the labour market from migrants in the wake of the global recession, saying this has hurt the economies of the recipient countries. Without migration, the report says, dependency ratios (the percentage of people depending on the wage earner) by the year 2050 will rise to 78, instead of 71. In developing countries it will peak at 55 at the same time.
On the same lines, it has also suggested cities like Mumbai should develop facilities for migrants from rural areas like temporary ration cards and education opportunities for their children.
The annual HDI report has established itself as the most comprehensive measure of how economies have performed compared with the limited development scorecard offered by the rate of growth of the GDP.
On that score, India has slipped up by six positions to the 134th position among 182 countries. The score is based on the new income index developed by the World Bank. India’s score has been pulled down by its slower progress in education and health reforms compared with most nations.
The nation’s government expenditure on health as a percentage is only 3.4% in 2006 compared with 8.3% in Sri Lanka and 6.8% in Vietnam. Similarly, the public expenditure on education as percentage of total government expenses is 10.7% over the years 2000 to 2007.
Therefore, according to the report, life expectancy at birth, at 63.4 years, in India is worse than Egypt, Lebanon or Albania.
This is because the improvement in the growth rates of the country has not impacted its distribution. India’s HDI ranking is six rungs lower than the country’s per capita income ranking in PPP dollar terms, in sharp contrast to neighbours like Bangla-desh, which has a HDI ranking higher by 9 rungs, China 10 rungs and Sri Lanka 14 rungs. “Overall, however, India has made steady progress on the human development index. Its value has gone up from 0.556 in 2000 to 0.612 in 2007,” according...