Millions have been lifted out of poverty between 1990 and 2017. How do we know in quantifiable terms? Well, India’s Human Development Index value improved from 0.427 to 0.640, which translates to a 50 per cent rise. That means decrease in poverty on parameters of life expectancy, gross national income, access to education and health—no mean achievement.
Also striking because this period saw a variety of ruling dispensations, all moving according to an unspoken consensus around the economic template formulated in the early nineties. But the good news from the UNDP’s latest HDI report comes with some attendant, sobering revelations. India has climbed just one step of the HDI ladder—it’s still 130th in a list of 189 countries.
Never mind that its HDI value is above the average of 0.638 for the region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan ranked below us. Or a string of other encouraging facts: Indian children are staying longer within the formal education system, 4.7 years more than before 1990; GNI rose by a whopping 266.6 per cent; big strides were made in life expectancy, up from 57.7 years in 1990 to 68.8 years in 2017.
But the same economic liberalisation that helped reduce poverty has created gross inequality. India tops the regional list, with an 18.8 per cent increase in disparity in income and opportunity. This is what sucks out much of the other positives. No less than 26.8 per cent of India’s HDI value is lost on account of inequalities. Of course, no HDI report is required to see what is apparent, compared to the number of the rich becoming richer, the poor becoming middle class is far less.
India is yet to become a middle income economy. The other abysmal picture is that of women: their education, access to health, socio-political empowerment and participation in workforce remain low. Perhaps domestic studies should be conducted to see what policy interventions helped the better performing states in the South uplift themselves, and replicate those in the less endowed ones, with local adjustments.