When UNDP ranked 175 countries through the human development index (HDI) in the Human Development Report 1997, India ranked 138th. Indias poor social sector record is not news. All the same, on a fiftieth anniversary there is scope to be smug about the past. Since there are some bright spots, the inevitable comparison with sub-Saharan Africa can wait.
Consider the figures immediately after independence (figures given are mostly for 1950-51, contemporary figures where given, are in brackets). At 1980-81 prices, per capita income was Rs 1,127, less than half what it is now. Both real per capita income and real per capita consumption expenditure have gone up and the composition of expenditure has changed. Around independence, 65.5 per cent of private final consumption expenditure was on food, beverages and tobacco, with cereals and bread accounting for 22.1 per cent. Only 5.4 per cent was on clothing and footwear (11.3 per cent today) and 2.0 per cent on recreation and education (3.8 per cent).
Per capita net availability of cereals and pulses was 395 grams per day. Per capita availability for selected consumer goods was 2.6 kilos for edible oils, 0.5 kilos for vanaspati, 296 grammes for tea and 3.0 kilos for sugar. Per capita availability of domestic electricity was 1.0 kwt. Only 3,001 villages were electrified, 0.5 per cent of the total number of villages. Of commercial energy consumption 79.6 per cent was through coal and only 3.3 per cent through electricity. Agriculture accounted for only 4.2 per cent of power utilisation (29.7 per cent).
Gross domestic savings as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 10 per cent. The household sector accounted for 73.6 per cent of gross domestic savings, the public sector chipped in with 17.2 per cent. Of the 73.6 per cent, only 6.3 per cent was in the form of financial savings and 67.3 per cent was in physical assets.
Per capita income would have increased more had it not been for population growth. There were only 117 people per square kilometre and 17.3 per cent of the population was urbanised. Calcutta had a population of 4.7 million, Greater Mumbai 3 million, Delhi 1.4 million and Madras 1.5 million. Of the working population, 72.1 per cent was employed in the agricultural sector, with 50.0 per cent as cultivators (38.7 per cent) and 19.7 as agricultural labourers (26.1 per cent).
The gross irrigated area as a percentage of gross cropped area was 17.1 per cent (33.3 per cent now). The percentage of net area irrigated through government canals was 34.4 per cent (34.6 per cent). There were virtually no tubewells. But 5.5 per cent of net irrigated area was irrigated through private canels (1.1 per cent) and 17.3 per cent through tanks (6.8 per cent). The percentage of total area devoted to rice was 23.6 per cent (virtually unchanged). However, the area under wheat was 7.6 per cent (13 per cent) and that under oilseeds was 8.3 per cent (13 per cent).
Only 20.6 million tonnes of rice and 6.5 million tonnes of wheat were produced. The production of sugarcane was 57 million tonnes. Procurement of foodgrains as a percentage of production was 7.9 per cent (16.3 per cent). Public distribution as a percentage of net availability was 15.3 per cent, while imports as a percentage of net availability were 9.2 per cent. Incidentally, exports covered 99.7 per cent of imports and foreign exchange reserves provided 16.8 months of import cover. Nine per cent of the rural population (65 per cent) was covered through primary agricultural credit societies and commercial and regional rural banks as a channel for institutional credit to agriculture were non-existent.
Indian Railways carried 88.0 per cent of goods traffic and 74.2 per cent of passenger traffic. There were 8,120 steam locomotives, 17 diesel locomotives and 72 electric locomotives. The total road length was 0.4 million kilometres (2 million). With 0.4 million post offices, the population per post office was 10,000 (almost double what it is now). Each post office catered to 91 square kilometres (22).
The literacy rate was 18.3 per cent, with figures of 25 per cent for males and 7.9 per cent for females. Life expectancy at birth was 32 years, the crude birth rate was 39.9, the crude death rate was 27.4 and infant mortality rate was 146 per thousand. There were 209,671 primary schools (roughly half the present number). And there were 13,596 upper primary schools (one tenth the present number) and 7,416 secondary schools and pre-degree colleges (one tenth the present number). While 60.6 per cent of boys aged 6-11 went to primary school, the figure for girls was 24.8 per cent.
Expenditure on education as a percentage of net national product was 1.3 per cent (3.9) per cent. Rather remarkably, fees provided 20.4 per cent of income of all educational institutions (6.1 per cent), while government funds provided 57.1 per cent (83.1 per cent). For every one lakh persons, there were 32 hospital beds (96), 17 doctors (48) and five nurses (40).
In an absolute sense, there have thus been improvements. But the track record is insignificant in terms of what other countries have achieved.
Indias poor social sector record is not news. All the same, on a fiftieth anniversary there is scope to be smug about the past.
