World Bank appreciates HP's achievement in reducing poverty

The latest World bank report has lauded the achievement of Himachal Pradesh in reducing poverty and attaining best human development outcomes but expressed concern over adverse female child sex ratio.
The report "Scaling the Heights: Social inclusion and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh," was released by state minister for social justice and empowerment, Dr Dhani Ram Shandil here today.
It said that poverty in the state was reduced fourfold during 1993-94 and 2011 while the poverty in rural areas where 90 per cent population lives was reduced from 38.5 per cent to 8.5 percent.
"Educational attainment in the state is among best in the country, poverty headcount is nearly one-third of the national average, life expectancy is 3.4 years longer than an average, per capita income is the second highest in India and Inter-group disparities are also less in spite of traditionally disadvantaged groups like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constituting 30 percent of the population and it is ahead of many other states in demonstrating a sense of environmental consciousness," the report said.

However, decline in the female child sex ratio, under nutrition in children and an aging population remained issues of concern as one-third of children under age five in the state were underweight in the National Family Health Survey in 2005-06 and the situation was similar in 2011 also.
The report said that even in the areas where the state has progressed well, the state may face fresh challenges and quoted the success in primary education where the work seems to have been completed as quality of education and ensuring that large, educated youth cohorts have adequate skills for jobs will be a key policy issue.

The median age was rising and very soon Himachal will have a high share of the elderly people and combined with increasing urbanization, larger cohorts of older people may imply a change in living arrangements with implications for the care of the elderly, the report pointed out.
Maitreyi Das, Lead Social Development Specialist, World Bank and an author of the report said that "Although Himachal stands apart from many states in India in poverty reduction, service delivery and human and social development outcomes and future economic growth is expected to result in significant economic gains, yet it can also entail potential costs as the state will have to deal with new challenges".

Stressing on protection of environmental heritage, the report said that although the attitude of the people toward economic development is positive, their support for the current growth trajectory is conditional on the extent to which the state's social and environmental heritage will be protected.