The good news from the Human Development Report, or HDR, for 2011 is that India’s rank – 134 out of 187 – has remained unchanged. If we look at countries relevant to India – fellow BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa) and India’s neighbours (Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) – four have held their positions and three countries have gone up one notch. Thus, credit can be taken for not falling behind, but not for making any substantial progress. If human development is meant foremost to attack poverty in all its ramifications, then the recently crafted multi-dimensional poverty index provides the most useful guide to the state of things. According to this measure, India and its two underperforming neighbours – Pakistan and Bangladesh – form a distinctly backward cohort, whereas the rest are in a different league altogether. In fact, this underlines the key issue with India’s human development record — it is settling down in the wrong league. At a time when it should be striving to catch up with China (not so long ago many Indians were waiting with bated breath for India’s growth rate to match China’s), it is struggling to remain ahead of not just Bangladesh but at times Pakistan too. This is serious since China itself is not doing too well. Its record on the health front since its reforms began is being faulted and comparisons are being made with South Korea and Mexico, which were then on a par but have forged ahead.
The challenge that Bangladesh and Pakistan are posing needs to be highlighted. In terms of life expectancy and under-five mortality, Bangladesh is ahead of India. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are young nations like India, are doing a better job on educating their future generations with higher scores in mean years of schooling. What is even more startling is that both the neighbours, which are Muslim-dominated and, therefore, supposedly have social systems not very affirmative towards the status of women, score better on the key gender inequality index. In fact, Bangladesh scores better in terms of the total fertility rate. Thus, it is faring better not just in ensuring that there are fewer unwanted pregnancies, but those who are born also have a better chance of survival and longer schooling. This should really wake up India’s policy makers.
The key question that needs to be answered is whether India’s economic reforms make any difference to its human development effort. The reforms have undoubtedly raised the country’s per capita incomes rapidly, but this is somewhat neutralised by its income inequality status. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan score better on income inequality, whereas China lags behind. Rapid growth puts more resources in the hands of the government, allowing it to spend more on the social sector. So, rapid growth, which is facilitated by economic reforms, is a precondition for accelerated human development. But two points need to be made. One, if growing incomes are better distributed, then deprivation diminishes faster. Two, higher public expenditure will yield better results only if its quality is satisfactory. Governance issues are, thus, critical here. As of now, Bangladesh seems to be getting a bigger bang for the buck it spends on development. India must pull up its socks.