Bhubaneswar: The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of Odisha grew 15.1 per cent from 1990 to 2017, placing it among the top five states in this category, says a report prepared by the State Bank of India. The other states are Haryana, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Haryana recorded the highest CAGR of 15.7 per cent, the report said. But the impressive jump in CAGR of social expenditure has not made much of an impact to Odisha’s rank in the Human Development Index (HDI) among 25 states. It has moved up just one rank from 23 in 1990 to 22 in 2017.
The report assumes significance for the ruling BJD dispensation, considering its efforts to increase social spending through a bevy of schemes during the past decade.
The report said eastern states had performed poorly in HDI performance. Most northeastern states like Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur were also seen slipping. Southern and northern states, in comparison, had performed much better from 1990-2017.
The 2017 HDI scores indicate that states like Kerala, Goa and Punjab occupy the top three positions while states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are at the bottom of the rank.
Among other highlights, industrially progressive states Gujarat and Maharashtra have slipped on the HDI front. The states were being ranked on the basis of education, health and standard of living.
The report further says that though India’s situation in human development has improved significantly during the period (from 0.427 to 0.640, an increase of nearly 50%), its position is still lowest among its peer countries (Asian and Developing economies).
As per UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) India is ranked 130 among 189 countries. The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of Human Development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. However, India’s performance in some of the metrics is commendable. Its life expectancy at birth has increased by nearly 11 years, with even more significant gains in expected years of schooling where today’s school-going children can expect to stay in school for 4.7 years longer than in 1990.
