Human Development Is The Centre of Concern in Bangaru Telangana

Human Development Is The Centre of Concern in Bangaru Telangana
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Highlights

The basic principles of economic development confirm that human beings are at the center of concern for sustainable development.

Human Development

The basic principles of economic development confirm that human beings are at the center of concern for sustainable development.
Human development has been thus an abiding concern in the process of economic growth. Undeterred by the complexities of division of the combined State, expenditure on welfare schemes in all the districts of Telangana indicates ranking in human development indices of 2011-12 is better than the previous reference year 2004-05.

Human Development across States

It is now well established that besides economic development, human development is very important. The outcomes of human development depend on several factors such as the social and macroeconomic policies of the union government in a federal context in general, policies and strategies of the State Governments particularly with respect to health and education besides the specific historical factors. The goal of the human development approach is to place people at the centre of development debate, policy and advocacy. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched Human Development Report in 1990 with the sole objective of advocating this approach to development policy.
The Human Development Report (HDR), released annually, used a simple composite measure called Human Development Index (HDI) to gauge the overall status of different countries and rank them. The HDI combines three dimensions of development - such as long and healthy life, knowledge and decent standard of living. Following the UNDP methodolo- gy HDI has been computed for major states of India and districts of Telangana for the years 2004-05 and2011-12.

The values of HDI along with their relative rankings are shown in Table 2.2.1. The indices clearly indicate that there has been significant improvement in the HDI across all the states. However the relative rankings of the states changed in the seven years between 2004-05 and 2011-12. In both the years, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab rank at the top four positions, while Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha appear in the bottom four. The rank of Telangana improved to 10 from 13.
Table :HDI and its Rankings among Major States of India

Source: Draft HDI Report 2011-12(2014), CESS Hyderabad.

The value of HDI in 2004-05 and percentage change in HDI between 2004-05 and 2011-12 are shown in the Chart 2.2.1. The chart very clearly shows that states with low value of HDI in 2004-05 have increased their HDI value faster compared to the states with higher HDI values.
An important result from the analysis of the changes is that the change in HDI is weakly related to Growth. The chart 2.2.2 below shows that the percentage changes in HDI and Per Capita GSDP (PCGSDP) between2004-05 and 2011-12. The chart clearly shows that states that have achieved high rate of improvement in HDI are not necessarily the states, which achieved high growth. In fact the correlation coefficient between the change in HDI and change in PCGSDP is as low as 0.125.

Human Development across Districts

The values of HDI at district level also show considerable increase, indicating good progress in human development. In both the years (2004-05 and 20011-12), Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Warangal and Karimnagar ranked at the top in that order. How- ever, there are changes in ranking in the middle and bottom range. Medak, slipped from 9th to 10th and Mahabubnagar slipped from 8th to 9th during the period 2004-05 to 2011-12. Correspondingly, the district of Nizamabad improved its position from 10th to 8th. Among the middle ranking districts, Nalgonda district slipped its rank from 5th to 7th, while Khammam improved its position from 7th to 5th .

While the overall HDI ranking in Telangana state has shown positive trends, the data reveals the need for em- phasis in certain areas. Out of the critical instruments to achieve, this is to improve the delivery mechanism at field levels, for which democratic decentralization can be an effective strategy. The next chapter traces the evaluation of democratic decentralization in Telangana and the new initiatives in this regard.
While the overall HDI ranking in Telangana state has shown positive trends, the data reveals the need for em- phasis in certain areas. Out of the critical instruments to achieve, this is to improve the delivery mechanism at field levels, for which democratic decentralization can be an effective strategy. The next chapter traces the evaluation of democratic decentralization in Telangana and the new initiatives in this regard.
G.Rajendra Kumar
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