Tata Strategic Management Group, the largest Indian-owned management consulting firm, today published a report on the Well Being Index (WBI) and Female Security Index (FSI) for India.
Tata Strategic analysed the data of Census 2001 and household surveys by National Sample Survey Organisation to generate the WBI. It studied the National Crime Bureau’s report of 2006 and 2007 on crime against women to compute the FSI for each district of India.
The key findings of the WBI refer to the Eastern and Central regions as the worst-hit in India; the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are among the best. Within a certain state there is significant disparity among districts. For example, in Karnataka variation across the districts has been noticed: while Bangalore is among the ‘best’, Bellary and Gulbarga are ‘bad’ and Bijapur, Koppal and Gadag are amongst the ‘worst’ category.
While the index captures most major material and social parameters, it does not include a very important aspect of the Indian society – the well being status and how women are treated. Using gender ratio and data on crime against women, a scoring methodology was used to compute the female security index for each district in India.
The key findings on the FSI are that there is a clear divide between North India on one side and South & Eastern India on the other. The ‘worst’ rating has been reported from Punjab, MP, West UP, Haryana and Delhi. Uttarakhand and Eastern UP stand comparatively better; Peninsular India is well placed on female security, while some large states exhibit huge disparities across the districts.
