From being a symbol of hunger and poverty in 1947, India has now transformed itself into one of the fastest growing major economies.
These achievements are extensive, considering the challenges of democratic governance & accommodating cultural diversity.
While growth remains strong despite some slackening, the societal reach of development is still largely un-quantified.
What are significant indices for tracking development?
There have been efforts to track individual social outcomes such as health, education and safety.
‘National University of Educational Planning & Administration’ and the Union HRD ministry computes an Educational Development Index.
NITI Aayog has rolled out the health, education and water index.
Apart from these individual indices, there have also been efforts to look at progress through the lens of a human development index.
But even these do not isolate the impact of economic growth.
A common measure to quantify social progress of Indian States is needed – Which is were ‘Social Progress Index’ fits in.
What is ‘Social Progress Index’?
It is a marker that ranks States using social and environmental indicators.
Their capability to provide for basic needs such as shelter, water, sanitation, education, health, and communication facilities is evalvuated.
While the extent of crime & corruption is taken into account, analysing the prevailing prejudices and its impact on personal decision making is also done.
The study (2005-2016) helps analyse whether policies are heading in the right direction and enables considerations for adjustments.
What are its findings?
Overall social progress - score for the country now stands at 57.03/100, which is approximately 8 points higher than in 2005.
The country performs better in the provision of basic human needs rather than opportunities for its citizens.
Therefore, despite small improvements, the creation of a society with equal opportunities for all still remains an elusive dream.
Statewise Progress - All States have recorded progress. The
Notably,states that had the worst performance in 2005 (Tripura, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bihar) imporved the largest.
Alternately, in states that had achieved a threshold level of social progress, driving improvements becomes more difficult.
Hence, states with a relatively low level of social progress can potentially improve rapidly.
Economic Resonance – A major finding is that the greatest improvements have been in areas where social progress most often accompanies economic prosperity.
But interestingly, areas that had a poor social progress were not strongly correlated with poor economic growth.
Access to ‘Information & Communication Technologies’ increased with per capita GDP, but ‘Health & Wellness’ had the little correlation to GDP.
This suggests that focusing on economic parametes will result in an unbalanced social development.
What is the way forward?
While the economy is on the right track, the urgency to identify and focus on social parameters is lacking.
The idea that economic development will automatically transform social conditions is flawed and needs to be tweaked.
Social progress needs to be stimulated by focussing on policies directly targeting social issues.
