Why India Needs to focus On Human Development

Human development, coined by economist Mehbub ul Haq, refers to a process which demonstrates how we, as a human, from what we are to what we were, have evolved over a certain period of time. It aims at setting new standards as soon as the previous ones are achieved, raising the bar for themselves in terms of the standard of living, thinking, achieving financial means and any area where there is a scope for the improvement. 

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It focuses on scaling up resources to help human lead a sustainable life, have opportunities to grow economically, socially and morally. Human development has different meanings and goals for each nation. Roughly speaking, the goals can be divided into two ways-for a developing country and for a developed country.

Developing countries, like India, struggling to provide the basic needs for a healthy living, in equal proportion, to its people, aim to fulfil these fundamental aspirations of their people by distributing opportunities judicially, whereas developed countries, like Japan, having attained a certain standard of living for their people, look forward to setting higher standards for themselves to arrive at.

The Human Development Index (HDI), the Human Poverty Index (HPI) and the Multidimensional Development Index (MPI) are some measures of human development.

India ranks 130, out of 189 countries, on 2018 Human Development Index released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The country’s index for 2017 is 0.640. The reports suggest between 1990 and 2017, India’s HDI value have gone up from 0.427 to 0.640, marking a commendable increase of nearly 50 percent. In another report, published by the UN's latest Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), it was claimed India had lifted 271million people out of poverty line, from 2005-06 to 2015-16, over a period of ten years. These statics clearly show we have come a long way and made remarkable headway; yet a far more to be achieved to catch up with highly developed countries like Norway, Switzerland, Australia and Ireland in terms of HDI. The fundamental blocks for human development are equity, sustainability, productivity, empowerment, cooperation and security. To live up to people’s expectations on given areas for development, India, in my opinion, should work on the following key areas:                                            

EDUCATION

Education has been one of the major concerning areas in India since independence. According to a report, published in Jansatta, a Hindi newspaper, there are more or less 1 million out of 6 million posts for teachers lying vacant in government schools. What adds to the misery is 0.9 million out of those lying vacant are at the primary level –which deems to lay the foundation for the future of children. The plight at government schools of the country is visible to all. Unified District Information System of Education (UDISI) in 2016-17 revealed there were 92,275 schools running on a solitary teacher at both elementary and secondary level. With the quality of education deteriorating at every level in government schools, parents are opting for private schools-most of which charge a hefty amount of money, not affordable to many   -for their children. Lakhs of crores have been spent on Sarva Shikha Abhiyan – a movement by the government to spread education, but corruption and ignorance at every level have turned it an uphill task to completely transfer benefits to the rightful. Around 94k crores have been allotted to the education sector in 2018-19 budget, around 10% more of the previous budget, but it sums only 3.4% of the total budget-down from 3.74% the previous year. 

Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash

The experts suggest the education budget should sum at least 5 to 7% of the total for better and accepted standards. The continuous Underspending of whatever allotted by successive governments at the centre has been another major concern – 17% in 2014-15. How can, with this education standard, we even dream to become the global leader. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement claiming India will provide teachers across the globe seems hilarious considering the scarcity of quality teachers and must be applied in India first if we really wish to become “Vishwa Guru”.  

Health Services

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay 

A total amount of  Rs 64,559 crore has been allocated to the health ministry by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, making it 2.32% of the total budget. This allocation seems to neglect the crisis of acceptable health services in the country. According to World Health Organization(WHO), there should be 50 beds and 25 doctors for every ten thousand people, while in India, 7 and 9 could be provided respectively, failing miserably to match the accepted standard. A report, launched by the central health ministry, national health profile-2015, claimed there was a single hospital for every 61 thousand, and one bed for every 1833 people. The plight at government hospital has grown so severe, people fear visiting there due to negligence of staff. In many cases, Infants have been eaten up to death by pet animals. With the population increasing rapidly, the government needs to take major steps to ensure acceptable health services.

Unemployment   

The statistics ministry disclosed that the unemployment rate has surged up to 6.1% - highest in the last 45 years. Unemployment gives birth to many threatening elements in society like increasing crime rate. When unemployed, common men are bound to suffer excessive pressure, anxiety, depression and other mental ailments. Governments at every should pay heed to the generation of employment at a satisfactory level. Citizens, with sufficient financial resources to look after their family and themselves, can play a considerable role in the overall growth of the nation- knowingly or unknowingly.

Population Explosion 

The world is facing an absolutely acute crisis of population explosion. According to a report, launched by United Nations in June, 2019, the world population is expected to increase by 2 billion, making it 9.7 billion, while India’s population is claimed to have surpassed that of China’s by 2027. This has become a central impediment to high growth in the country taking into account the fact that we have failed miserably, as a country, to distribute equal resources to our people. The gap between the rich and the poor is beyond control. In consideration of the current situation, our failure to stop population growth may fetch unwanted consequences.

The dream of being a successful nation in terms of human satisfaction requires the full participation from us. We are required to realize the responsibilities we are entrusted upon to take our nation ahead in every possible aspect. All the government institutions meant for the well-being of people will be bound to function far better provided we become aware and put aside personal benefits we may receive by not abiding by the law.