Introduction
Human Development Index (HDI) in India: Human Development is the process of enlarging people’s choices. The ethos of planning in India has always been people-centric. However, the introduction of the human development paradigm in the planning mechanism ensured the focus of human development in the growth process.
As the country was opening up its economy in the 1990s, this central position was essential for policy planners to continue focussing on people who may be excluded from market-oriented growth. Additionally, it is extremely essential to incorporate human development into the planning process so that people can be empowered to hold their Governments to account and Governments can be encouraged to be responsive to the needs of the people. (UNDP, 2010).
Thus, in 1990, the UNDP gave the call for a broad approach to improving human well-being that would cover all aspects of human life, for all people, in both high-income and developing countries, both now and in the future. It went far beyond narrowly defined economic development to care for the full flourishing of all human choices essential for quality of life.
For a large country such as India, the utility of the study of human development is enhanced once the exercise is attempted at the state level. Apart from the diversity, an important reason for establishing a “benchmark” and subsequent “follow-up” on different aspects of human welfare at the state level is due to the dominant role played by the states in social sectors in the country.
Components of the Human Development Index (HDI) in India
Knowledge: Literacy in India
Literacy level and educational attainment are vital indicators of development in a society. Attainment of universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations to be achieved by the year 2015.
Literacy rate and educational development are considered to be key variables affecting demographic indicators like fertility, mortality (especially infant mortality) rate, and migration. It greatly contributes to improving the quality of life, particularly life expectancy, infant mortality, learning levels, and nutritional levels of children.
Higher levels of literacy and educational development lead to greater awareness on the one hand and help people in acquiring new skills on the other. Literacy is critical for promoting and communicating sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environmental and development issues. It facilitates the achievement of environmental and ethical awareness, values, and skills consistent with sustainable development and effective public participation in decision-making.
This indicator provides a measure of the stock of literate persons within the adult population who are capable of using written words in daily life and continuing to learn. It reflects the accumulated accomplishment of education in spreading literacy. Any shortfall in literacy would provide indications of efforts required in the future to extend literacy to the remaining adult illiterate population.
The number of literates and illiterates aged seven and above in India as per the provisional population totals of Census 2011 are 778,454,120 and 272,950,015 respectively. !ere has been a marked improvement in the proportion of literates in the last decade. Literates in 2011 constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above as compared to 65 per cent in 2001. On the other hand, illiterates form 26 per cent of the total population in 2011 as compared to 35 per cent in 2001.
In India, between 1980 and 2013, mean years of schooling increased by 2.5 years, and expected years of schooling increased by 5.3 years.
Table: India: Trends of Education Scenario
| Year | Expected Years of Schooling | Mean Years of Schooling |
| 1980 | 6.4 | 1.9 |
| 1985 | 7.3 | 2.4 |
| 1990 | 7.6 | 3 |
| 1995 | 8.3 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2005 | 10 | 4 |
| 2010 | 11.1 | 4.4 |
| 2011 | 11.7 | 4.4 |
| 2012 | 11.7 | 4.4 |
| 2013 | 11.7 | 4.4 |
The national average of mean years of schooling is 4.10 years. All states except economically poorer states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh (including the newly formed states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand ), and Assam fare as good as or better than the nation as a whole in the sub-index of the education dimension. Kerala performs exceptionally well with a figure of 6.19 years. It is followed by Maharashtra and Punjab at 5.12 years.
Table: Statewise Schooling
| States | Expected Years of Schooling | Mean Years of Schooling |
| Andhra Pradesh | 3.06 | 9.66 |
| Assam | 3.96 | 9.54 |
| Bihar | 2.97 | 9.58 |
| Chhattisgarh | 3.39 | 9.31 |
| Gujarat | 4.54 | 8.79 |
| Haryana | 4.74 | 9.68 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 4.88 | 11.05 |
| Jharkhand | 3.32 | 9.68 |
| Karnataka | 3.95 | 9.75 |
| Kerala | 6.19 | 11.33 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 3.47 | 8.95 |
| Maharashtra | 5.12 | 9.86 |
| Orissa | 3.34 | 8.74 |
| Punjab | 5.12 | 9.8 |
| Rajasthan | 2.96 | 9.19 |
| Tamil Nadu | 4.79 | 10.57 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 3.56 | 9.19 |
| Uttarakhand | 4.97 | 10.23 |
| West Bengal | 4.36 | 8.87 |
| India | 4.1 | 9.62 |
School Life Expectancy (or Expected years of schooling) is defined as the number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrollment rates were to stay the same throughout the child’s life (UNDP 2010).
Estimates for states in India are made taking into account age-specific enrollment rates for the age group six to 18 years (both inclusive). The national average for expected years of schooling is 9.62 years. Kerala again leads the pack with 11.33 expected years of schooling. It is followed by Himachal Pradesh (11.05), Tamil Nadu (10.57), and Uttarakhand (10.23).
Long and Healthy Life: Life Expectancy at Birth in India
This indicator shows the expected years that an individual born will live. The importance of this indicator is that it indicates the kind of health services and amenities available to the population. The lower value of life expectancy implies either the health services provided are not sufficient or the work undertaken in life leads to a reduction in the years that a person lives.
Mortality, with fertility and migration, determines the size of human populations, their composition by age and sex, and the population’s potential for future growth.
Life expectancy, a basic indicator, is closely connected with health conditions, which are in turn an integral part of development. The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) notes that the unprecedented increase in human longevity reflects gains in public health and in access to primary healthcare services (paragraphs 8.1 and 8.2), which Agenda 21 recognizes as an integral part of sustainable development and primary environmental care (paragraph 6.1).
The ICPD Programme of Action highlights the need to reduce disparities in mortality and morbidity among countries and between socio-economic and ethnic groups. It identifies the health effects of environmental degradation and exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace as issues of increasing concern.
Life expectancy is included as a basic indicator of health and social development in, among others, the Minimum National Social Data Set endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 29th session in 1997, the Human Development Index, the UNDG-CCA indicator set, and the OECD/DAC core indicators.
In India, the life expectancy at birth for males was 62.6 years as compared to females, 64.2 years according to 2002-06 estimates. Urban Males (67.1 years) and Urban females (70 years) have longer lifespans as compared to their rural counterparts. The life expectancy in Kerala is the highest (74 years) and the lowest in Madhya Pradesh (58 years).
Decent Standard of Living: GNI Per Capita Income (PPP$) in India
Income provides material wealth, which opens up avenues for enhancing capabilities. Income may not directly lead to a better life but it certainly improves the standard of living and also gives freedom to make choices in life. It is an important aspect of any human development strategy.
Globally, it is important to use standard indicators to calculate the HDI for cross-country comparisons. At the national level, available sub-national data should guide the choice of indicators. Per capita income from household surveys can be used instead of GDP per capita, for instance.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the monetary value of goods and services produced in a country irrespective of how much is retained in the country. Gross National Income (GNI) expresses the income accrued to residents of a country, including international flows such as remittances and aid, and excluding income generated in the country but repatriated abroad. Thus, GNI is a more accurate measure of a country’s economic welfare.
Gross national product (GNP) contributes to Human Development through household and government activity, community organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The same level of GNP can lead to very different HD performances depending on the allocation of GNP to various groups and distribution within each category.
The propensity of households to spend their income on items which contribute most directly to the promotion of Human Development, e.g., food, potable water, education, and health, vary depending on the level and distribution of income across households, as well as on who controls the allocation of expenditure within households. In general, as the incomes of the poor rise, the proportion of income spent on HD increases (Behrman, 1993, 1996).
Table: Statewise Per Capita Income of India
| States | PPP Income Per Capita (PPP2008$) |
| Andhra Pradesh | 3398.76 |
| Assam | 2883.44 |
| Bihar | 2161.8 |
| Chhattisgarh | 2497 |
| Gujarat | 3782.87 |
| Haryana | 4574.51 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 4168.39 |
| Jharkhand | 2516.41 |
| Karnataka | 3269.76 |
| Kerala | 5262.89 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 2673.76 |
| Maharashtra | 3913.14 |
| Orissa | 2185.84 |
| Punjab | 4885.12 |
| Rajasthan | 3289.27 |
| Tamil Nadu | 3835.05 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 2910.58 |
| Uttarakhand | 3536.13 |
| West Bengal | 3414.08 |
| India | 3337.33 |
India: Composite Development Profile- Human Development Index
India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586. This is in the medium human development category of countries. India ranks 135 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1980 and 2013, India’s HDI value increased from 0.396 to 0.586, an increase of 58.7 per cent or an average annual increase of 1.41 per cent.
Table: India: Human Development Index (HDI)1980-2013
| Year | Expected Years of Schooling | Mean Years of Schooling | Life Expectancy at Birth | GNI per capita (2011 PPP$) | HDI Value |
| 1980 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 55.4 | 1268 | 0.369 |
| 1985 | 7.3 | 2.4 | 57.1 | 1490 | 0.404 |
| 1990 | 7.6 | 3 | 58.5 | 1789 | 0.431 |
| 1995 | 8.3 | 3.3 | 60.2 | 2087 | 0.458 |
| 2000 | 8.5 | 3.6 | 62.1 | 2573 | 0.483 |
| 2005 | 10 | 4 | 64.1 | 3305 | 0.527 |
| 2010 | 11.1 | 4.4 | 65.7 | 4589 | 0.57 |
| 2011 | 11.7 | 4.4 | 65.9 | 4841 | 0.581 |
| 2012 | 11.7 | 4.4 | 66.2 | 5000 | 0.583 |
| 2013 | 11.7 | 4.4 | 66.4 | 5150 | 0.586 |
India’s 2013 HDI of 0.586 is below the average of 0.614 for countries in the medium human development group and below the average of 0.588 for countries in South Asia. From, South Asia, countries which are close to India in 2013 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Bangladesh and Pakistan, which have HDIs ranked 142 and 146 respectively.
The major states are distributed between the categories of countries with ‘Medium’ and ‘Low Human Development’ as per the HDR 2013 classification. Kerala, with a global HDI of 0.625, is in the ‘Medium HDI’ category. Other major states in this group are Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand. Nine other states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Orissa fall in the ‘Low HDI’ category.
While India is ranked 135 out of 169 countries in the Global HDI, our estimates for different states range from 101 for the state of Kerala (whose Global HDI estimate places it between the Philippines and the Republic of Moldova) to 152 for Orissa (whose Global HDI estimate places it between Myanmar and Yemen).