India's (UN)True Growth Story

What's This Blog About?

I recently conducted a poll on my blog, asking whether the Indian Govt. should start focusing on improving its UN Human Development Index rather than bettering its GDP year on year. I got a staggering response, with a total of 6 people stating their opinion!! I am really thankful to those 6 people from the bottom of my bottomless heart, really. Although the population size is not statistically significant to infer any results, yet I would say that 83% of the respondents were in favour of UN HDI over GDP. Well, I'd like to concur with the majority, and that is what this blog is all about!!

UN HDwhat??

Well, I wouldn't like to delve into the intricacies of how HDI is calculated. As they say, a picture speaks as much as 100 pages of writing (don’t scratch your heads; I just made it up!!). So I hope that by looking at the above graphics, one would be able to understand the basics of how HDI is calculated. For more details, (as if one needs to be told :)), please Google UN HDI or have a look at  UN HDI

India’s Growth True Story

Coming to India's stats: India - hailed as one of the most promising economies in times to come, the Great Investment Destination, blah blah blah (you can think of as many such accolades as you can, that keep coming in the business papers and business news). In 2010, India stands at a position of 119 out of 169 countries that were a part of the survey conducted by UN for their Human Development Report!! Can you beat that? One is forced to think how that could be possible. All the economies of the world go gaga over the "India Growth Story". At this time when even the IMF has made an upward revision of estimated growth of India's GDP YoY, does the common man also stand to gain from this growth? At this time when India is poised to grow at such enormous rates which even other economies of the world can only dream of, is this the "Inclusive Growth" that the politicians keep on talking about?

Consider this -

• % of Population without electricity (as of 2008) - 34.2
• Employment to population ratio - 55.6
• Employed people living on less than $ 1.25 a day - 51.4
• Overall Life satisfaction (on a scale of 0 to 10; 0 being the lowest) - 5.5

For more statistics, I have compiled a ppt taking excerpts from the UN HDR 2010 annual report. You can access the file here.

Do we need more Indices??

Recently, I read somewhere that a few countries want to create and adopt a new index- "Happiness Index"- and India wants to follow suit. My question is what would happen if the Govt goes ahead and adopts it. Isn't it shameful enough for us to be placed at 119 out of 169 countries? The actual image of India wouldn't change, no matter whether it’s UN HDI or any other index, unless it takes some drastic steps to improve on the other indicators included in calculating the HDI. Concentrating on just GDP is not going to help India in the long run. To me, this increase in GDP year on year just seems to be a kind of bubble that is bound to explode one day, shattering the hopes of millions of India's inhabitants as well as the foreign players/FDIs/FIIs. The Govt needs to focus on growing internally, and not just focus on making the face of India as a place where only businesses make profit. There is a need to strengthen India internally, and I am sure that the only way ahead is Public Private Partnerships. After all, whatever expenditure the Govt would make in improving the quality of life of fellow Indians will add to economic activities and increase the GDP finally.

To Sum it All…

The end goal remains the same (increase of GDP YoY); only the approach needs to change a bit. It's high time to introduce the new concept of GSR (Govt. Social Responsibility), and take a further leap from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). After all, People are the Real WEALTH of a Nation.

India is doing a good job by improving upon its HDI year on year, but it’s not a great job. The people here are hungry to see a phenomenal growth in its HDI, just like they are seeing in the GDP. After all, it’s a matter of our well being rather than that of self respect and pride. I believe the Govt should also incorporate seeing India in the top 80 nations out of the 169 nations, in the UN HDR, in its 5 Years plan. To add on, this objective should actually materialize in coming 5 years, unlike the status of previous 5 year plans. The Govt can do wonders if it improves on its efficiency and effectiveness of execution of its strategies that would help in the timely achievements of its goals. Let’s hope for the best. Amen!!