The Hindu Business Line : Karnataka trails in human development: Report

Miles to go
Udupi ahead of Bangalore in health index
Koppal district records maximum HDI progress
SC/ST development much lower than overall figure

Banglore , Dec. 15

Amid the opulence of the urban rich striking gold through the IT boom, Karnataka's overall Human Development Index (HDI) report for 2001 presents a contrast, with only a marginal improvement reflecting the need for enormous increase in expenditure to improve the conditions of the population still remaining in backwardness.

Solace comes only in the Gender Related Development Index, where it has climbed one rank higher, exhibiting the characteristics of improved gender quality in the State.

The HDI values for the State have increased from 0.541 in 1991 to 0.650 in 2001, showing 20 per cent betterment.

It trails Kerala, which ranks number one (0.746), followed by Maharashtra (0.706), Tamil Nadu (0.687), Punjab (0.679), Gujarat (0.655) and Haryana (0.653).

Districts where the decadal percentage of improvement in the HDI was higher than the State average were Bangalore Rural (21.15), Gadag (22.97), Gulbarga (24.5), Hassan (23.12), Haveri (21.6), Koppal (30.5), Mysore (20.42) and Raichur (23.48).

The HDI report was released at a conference by the Chief Minister, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Bangalore Urban, expectedly, topped the ranking among the districts in HDI and Income Index for 2001, while it surprisingly trailed Udupi in health.

Dakshina Kannada ranked number two in HDI.

Udupi occupied second position in education after Bangalore Urban, while health saw Belgaum ahead of Udupi; Dakshina Kannada grabbed second spot in income.

Bangalore Urban was fourth in HDI ranking in 1991.

According to the report, what truly is significant is the fact that the maximum progress in HDI was in the backward district of Koppal and that three out of five districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region had made remarkable progress.

However, there was no corresponding change in the ranking in improvement in pace of development in the most backward districts of the State (20th among all districts).

This indicated that they were still a long way from catching up with other high performing districts.

With respect to progress in gender differences, the Gender Development Index at the State level has improved from 0.525 in 1991 to 0.637 in 2001.

The pace of reduction in gender disparities was rather slow, but marginally higher than the increase of 20 per cent in HDI during the same period, the report said.

The HDI data has revealed that, as with women, the development process has bypassed Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) to a considerable extent.

The attainment of human development of SC (0.575) was higher than that of ST (0.539), but much lower than that of the total population of the State (0.650).

"Financing human development was a very critical aspect of ensuring that public policies became concrete realities and that the poor and other vulnerable sub-population are supported by the State, enabling them to become empowered being capable of realising their inherent potential in a participatory democratic context," the report said.

The best strategy for human development is to ensure generation and better distribution of income through strong policies.

In addition, Government services in social infrastructure such as schools, health clinics, nutrition, food subsidies and physical infrastructure such as roads, electricity and housing could help the poor bridge the gap caused by paucity of incomes.