Telangana govt told to balance development: HDI report 2017

HDI indicates high-level of progress

Hyderabad: The Human Development Index (HDI) Report 2017 released here on Friday said the government should formulate policies to reduce the level of inequalities in human development across social groups; gender; between rural and urban areas and across districts.

Releasing the report, former Union Minister and Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat Prof Y K Alagh said the policy goals of the government of Telangana broadly converge with the development paradigm of UNDP that human development is the expansion of people’s freedom to live long.

He said the policies need to be formulated by the Telangana State to suit the social structure, which is skewed against SCs, STs, BCs and minorities.

Levels, growth and inequalities in human development across social groups, and across districts and rural urban areas need to be assessed to identify the concerns that need to be addressed by the government of Telangana.

The report says that Telangana’s rank in HDI had improved from 13 in 2004-5 to 10 in 2011-12. This overall improvement was also reflected in all the districts.

The status of districts with lower HDI in 2004-5 had improved faster by 2011-12, reflecting declining inequalities in HDI. This is also evident in the three components of HDI, names, standard of living, health and education, indicating that convergence in HDI had taken place across the districts.

However, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy remained the top districts, while Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar and Medak remained the bottom districts in HDI in both the periods.

The report said the gap between the HDI of the OCs and STs had narrowed between 2002-2004 and 2007-2008 and rural urban inequalities had also declined, but the HDIs of all social groups were higher in urban areas than in rural areas at both points of time.

Gender differentials in HDI had also come down in all districts, and for all the components of HDI income, education and health, with the exception of Adilabad. However, education differentials were the highest followed by income differentials.

It further said that an analysis of the pattern of government expenditure shows that the allocation of funds has not been made on the basis of demand under social services or economic services. The allocation of funds had not been prioritized properly across the districts of Telangana.

The relationship between growth in human development and economic growth through labour productivity is weak in many districts and needs to be strengthened. The allocation of funds should be based on a need specific decentralized method, which becomes even more crucial in view of the recent reorganization of districts into 31 districts, the report said.

The report said that there has been great increase in the enrolment of children in schools but the learning outcomes of children in government schools have been poor as compared to private schools, it said.

The quality of numeracy and literacy skills has declined in government and private schools and the inadequate and inefficient utilization of school infrastructure has affected the learning outcomes, it added.

The report felt that inclusive growth should be the key for human development. A decentralized method of financing human development should be the strategy. Educational institutions should be revamped and health institutions should gear up to meet challenges. Sustainablity of human development should be the bottom line, the report said.

It also felt that fundamental changes are required in public policies and related programmes in relation to human development. Reorganising the districts into 31 smaller units increases accountability and participatory development, and has a tremendous potential for addressing concerns specific to the districts. Village plans can be aggregated at the mandal and further at the district level more easily, it said.