Inter-district disparities in human development in Chhattisgarh

 

Nilesh Kumar Tiwari¹*, Dr. Ritesh Kumar Agrawal², Dr. Ravindra Brahme³

¹Research Scholar, School of Studies in Economics, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur Chhattisgarh

²Assistant Professor, Government College, Vaishali Nagar, Bhilai  Chhattisgarh

³Professor, School of Studies in Economics, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur Chhattisgarh

 

ABSTRACT:

The assessment of human development by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through their approach as ‘human development is about enlarging human choices’, shifted the focus of policy makers, academicians and researchers from ‘economic aspects (especially per-capita gross national product)’ to human development. This research paper attempts to explore the inter district disparities in human development in Chhattisgarh state over the period of 2001-02 to 2011-12. In this paper Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method has been used for computation of composite index of human development. This study concludes that districts such as Durg, Dhamtari, Raipur, Korba Rajnandgaon has been found highly developed followed by Koriya, Kanker, Bilaspur and Mahasamund as medium developed districts. Low developed districts of Chhattisgarh have been Jajgir-Champa, Raigarh. Extremely backward districts have been Dantewada, Bastar, Surguja, Kawardha and Jashpur.

               

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION:

The concept of human development (HD) as defined by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) considered three dimensions of human beings of a country; (i) long and healthy life free from diseases, (ii) attainment of knowledge in terms of education, and (iii) Income level for decent standard of living. The year 2015 witnessed 25 years of the introduction of ‘Human Development Report’ by UNDP and the outlook towards human development is expanding with richness of human life rather than economic growth and developments in the economy at large [1].

 

Studies on Human Development across India depict the scattered pattern of development in terms of human development as well as at economic dimensions across the Indian states and districts. Several studies have been carried out on human development which represents diverse status of Indian States as well as districts. Punitha [2] found inequality in HD, status of poverty across Indian states during three decades time period from 1980 to 2010. This study also concluded that Kerala, which was considered as role model state in terms of HD in India, witnessed increased inequality over the period of 2004-05 to 2009-10. Somra [3] analyzed the impact of educational infrastructure towards human development in Rajasthan at district level and found prevalence of inter district disparities in educational attainments. Yadav [4] in his study ‘Inter-district disparity in Chhattisgarh’ highlighted the causes of regional disparity in the state. The study highlights that geographical factor, poor infrastructure, lack of regional planning, lack of land use policy, Maoist violence and political factors as causes of uneven development across Chhattisgarh. 

 

This study attempts to examine the status of HD in Chhattisgarh state. This research paper examines the status of inter-district disparities in human development at the time of state formation i.e. during the year 2001-02 and for the year 2011-12 considering selected indicators of human development. During the year 2000-01 and 2011-12, 11 new districts has been formed totaling to total 27 districts (16 districts at the time of state formation), for better administration and effective governance [5]. However considering the limitation of data availability on all selected indicators, disparities at district level has been computed and analyzed through conversion of 27 districts into original 16 districts for selected indicators. 

 

On the basis of the above, followings are the objectives of this study;

1.     To examine the inter-district disparities in Human development in Chhattisgarh during the year 2001-02 and for the year 2011-12.

2.     To evaluate disparities in human development through classifying districts into high medium and low developed.

3.     To examine if disparities in Human Development has narrowed down or widened during the period of 2001-02 to 2011-12.

 

2. METHODOLOGY:

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been widely used statistical method for preparing Composite Index among academicians, policy makers and researchers. PCA have excellent mathematical properties in which sum of squared correlation coefficients of the index with with constituent variables are maximized for assigning weight [6].In this study PCA method has been used for making composite Index of Human Development. First Principal Component explains the maximum percentage of variation among the variables has been used for computation of composite index [7]. In this study 16 Districts of Chhattisgarh has been considered for comparative analysis of disparities on selected indicators of Human Development (Health, Education and Household Amenities). This study considers analysis of inter-district disparities in Human development at two intervals i.e. for the year 2001-02 and 2011-12 through making composite index using PCA. Through Coefficient of Variation (CV) this study analyses whether disparities in selected indicators of human development has narrowed or widened during last decade.

 

Following indicators (district wise) have been used for composite index of human development in Chhattisgarh;

·         District level health status of Chhattisgarh at has been analyzed considering variables such as Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), percentage of Institutional Deliveries, percentage of Safe deliveries, percentage of Full immunization and number of rural allopathic hospitals (NAH) per 1 Lakh population (including Primary Health Centre and Sub Health Centers).

·         Literacy has been considered as the basic indicator of educational attainment [8]. Therefore, for assessment of district wise disparity at educational attainment variables such as overall Literacy Rate, Male Literacy Rate, Female Literacy Rate, Rural Literacy Rate, Urban Literacy Rate, Net Enrollment Ratio (NER-Primary and Upper Primary schooling), percentage of SC Enrollment and percentage of ST Enrollment (Primary schooling) has been considered.

·         Household Amenities Index (HHAI) has been computed for capturing economic dimension of human development at district level due to non-availability of data for Income (District Domestic Product).The Committee for Evolving a Composite Development Index of States used ‘Household Amenities index’ in 2013 [9]. Similarly, District Human Development Report of Hooghly [10] March 2011, uses Livelihood Opportunity Index (LOI) in absence of Income data.  For current study HHAI has been computed using variables such as percentage of Households (HHs) having drinking water within premises, percentage of HHs having Toilet within the house, percentage of HHs using Electricity as source of lighting, percentage of HHs using LPG and Kerosene for Cooking, percentage of HHs having Telephone/Mobile, percentage of HHs having Scooter, Motor cycle, percentage of HHs having Bicycle, percentage of HHs having Television and percentage of HHs availing Banking Facilities.

 

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Status of Human Development in Chhattisgarh

According to PCA based Composite Index 2001-02, Durg has been ranked number one district in HD followed by Dhamtari and Raipur as second and third ranked districts respectively.  Durg, Raipur, Korba having industrial setups has performed better on selected indicators of human development in comparison to other districts. Factors which contributed for development of these high ranked districts, was high literacy rate, availability of employment opportunities in district for employable population who is willing to work apart from getting engaged in agricultural activities and availability of the proper healthcare facilities. Districts such as Mahasamund, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Raigarh, Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa were found medium developed. Whereas Districts of Koriya, Jashpur and Kawardha were found lagging behind      in overall HD. Lastly two most under developed districts were Bastar and Dantewada. 

 

 

 

Table 1: PCA based district-wise human development index of Chhattisgarh 2001-02

District	Health Index	Education Index	Household Amenities Index	HDI	Rank
Durg	0.7113	0.9706	1.0000	1.0000	1
Dhamtari	0.4958	0.8925	0.5694	0.6967	2
Raipur	0.4634	0.7927	0.7247	0.6952	3
Korba	0.3969	0.6147	0.8970	0.6424	4
Mahasamund	0.7414	0.8256	0.3687	0.6273	5
Kanker	0.7095	0.8248	0.3185	0.5955	6
Rajnandgaon	0.1085	1.0000	0.4171	0.5934	7
Raigarh	0.4987	0.8459	0.3760	0.5794	8
Bilaspur	0.2557	0.7941	0.5309	0.5527	9
Janjgir-champa	0.1399	0.8882	0.3543	0.5016	10
Koriya	0.0000	0.6627	0.7042	0.4801	11
Jashpur	0.6071	0.6988	0.0619	0.3708	12
Kawardha	0.1870	0.6055	0.1898	0.2584	13
Surguja	0.2597	0.5193	0.2089	0.2312	14
Bastar	0.2090	0.2734	0.1446	0.0313	15
Dantewada	1.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	16

Source: Computed by author

 

 

Similarly, Durg, Dhamtari and Raipur district retained their ranking during the year 2011-12 on human development index. Rajnandgaon district improved significantly from seventh rank in 2001-02 to fourth rank in 2011-12 on the overall human development. No change in the rank of Kanker district was found during HD indices of 2001-02 and 2011-12.  Korea district improved its ranking from eleventh in 2001-02 to seventh in 2011-12’s HD indices. However the districts namely Dantewada, Jashpur, Surguja, Bastar and Kawardha remained at bottom on human development indices during the year 2001-02 and 2011-12.

 

According to the study by a committee [11] constituted by Planning Commission, Government of India in 2005, which indentified 170 most backward districts of India including 55 extremist affected districts, considered 9 districts of Chhattisgarh as backward which were namely Bastar, Dantewada, Jaspur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon and Sarguja.

 

 

 

Table 2: PCA based district-wise human development index of Chhattisgarh 2011-12

District	Health Index	Education Index	Household Amenities Index	HDI	Rank
Durg (d)	0.4820	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	1
Dhamtari	0.7333	0.9490	0.7214	0.8974	2
Raipur (e)	0.3202	0.9761	0.8559	0.8731	3
Rajnandgaon	0.4743	0.9420	0.6244	0.7777	4
Korba	0.2390	0.7978	0.6921	0.6838	5
Kanker	1.0000	0.7315	0.3644	0.6799	6
Koriya	0.3813	0.7233	0.6045	0.6402	7
Mahasamund	0.5141	0.8261	0.4141	0.6251	8
Bilaspur (b)	0.0688	0.8835	0.5791	0.6224	9
Raigarh	0.3749	0.8563	0.4204	0.6068	10
Janjgir-champa	0.1155	0.9750	0.3904	0.5807	11
Bastar (a)	0.9238	0.3363	0.2233	0.4011	12
Kawardha	0.1590	0.6161	0.3289	0.3908	13
Surguja	0.0000	0.5783	0.3009	0.3176	14
Jashpur	0.1688	0.6951	0.0976	0.3117	15
Dantewada (c)	0.4279	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	16

Source: Computed by author

 

 

Note: The district of Bastar (a) includes district of Narayanpur and Kondagaon. Similarly Bilaspur (b) includes Mungeli district. Dantewada (c) also known as Dakshin Bastar includes Bijapur and Sukma. Durg (d) includes Bemetara and Balod. Raipur (e) includes Baloda Bazar and Gariyaband district.

 

Durg, Dhamtari Raipur, Korba, districts has been found highly developed followed by Koriya, Kanker, and Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur as medium developed districts. Low developed districts of Chhattisgarh being Jajgir-Champa, Raigarh and Mahasamund. Extremely backward districts are Surguja, Kawardha, Bastar, Jashpur and Dantewada. Poor infrastructure and naxal issues have been primary concern in these extremely low developed districts.     

 

Table 3: Measurement of Disparities in Human Development in Chhattisgarh

2001-02
District	Health Index	Education Index	Household Amenities Index	HDI
Mean	0.4240	0.7006	0.4291	0.4910
SD	0.2782	0.2618	0.2908	0.2590
CV	0.6561	0.3737	0.6776	0.5275
2011-12
Mean	0.3989	0.7429	0.4761	0.5880
SD	0.2906	0.2661	0.2693	0.2550
CV	0.7285	0.3582	0.5656	0.4336

Source: Computed by author

 

Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the variance with respect to mean and measures disparities. Through CV, the study found that disparities in health performance have increased from the year 2001-02 to 2011-12. In case of educational index, CV has slightly reduced that indicate positive improvement in educational attainment. Similarly, the CV of household amenities index showed downward trend that indicate improved status of socio-economic status of households over the period of 2001-02 to 2011-12. The CV for HD index signifies improvement in human development over the period of 2001-02 to 2011-12. Similarly India’s human development [12] report 2011 stated improved status of human development in Chhattisgarh during the year 2007-08 (HDI value 0.358) from 1999-2000 (HDI value 0.278).  

 

4. REFERENCES:

[1]   United Nations Development Programme. Human Development. Available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev

[2]   Punitha, A. Reflection on state indicators of growth, human development, poverty and Inequality. Journal of the Indian Economic Association. Special issue, December 2015: 60-70

[3]   Somra, SS. Human Development and Educational Attainment in Rajasthan. Journal of the Indian Economic Association. Special issue, December 2015: 288-301

[4]   Yadav, Hanumant. Inter-District Disparity in Chhattisgarh. In Inter Regional Disparities in India, A.K. Thakur and S.S.Singh Chauhan. Deep and Deep Publications.2010; pp. 616-637

[5]   Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Statistical Abstract of Chhattisgarh.  2011-12; pp8.

[6]   Kendall, M.G. and A. Stuart. The Advanced Theory of Statistics, Charles Griffin and Company, London. 1968. Vol 3.

[7]   Mishra, S.K. Construction of an Index: A New Method. Growth and Human Development in North-East India, Edited by P. Nayak, Oxford University Press.2010; pp 25-35.

[8]   Planning Commission, Government of India. Report of the Inter-Ministry Task Group on Redressing Growing Regional Imbalances.2005; pp 17.

[9]   Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Report of the Committee for evolving a composite development index of states. 2013; pp 27.

[10]         Development and Planning Department. Government of West Bengal. District Human Development Report Hooghly. 2011; pp 25.

[11]         Planning Commission, Government of India. Report of the Inter-Ministry Task Group on Redressing Growing Regional Imbalances.2005; pp 33.

[12] Institute of Applied Manpower Research. India Human Development Report. Towards Social Inclusion. 2011

 

Received on 22.02.2016          Modified on 05.02.2016

Accepted on 28.03.2016         © A&V Publication all right reserved