Skip to main content

India's "below average" progress in sustainability of income equality, civil society, governance, environment

 
A high-profile report prepared by the Boston Consulting Group, US, has suggested that India may have progressed well in the economic indicator (which consists of income, economic stability and employment), and investment (instructure, health and education), but its progress in sustainability (income equality, civil society, governance and environment) remains below world average.
Rating 162 countries across the world, though without ranking them, the report finds that in the overall economic progress, India's score is 45.6 (on a scale of 100), higher than the world average of 43.2; in progress in investment, the score is 54.6, with the world average being 40.1; but in progress in sustainability, its score is 50.4, below the world average of 54.4 per cent.
The report, which seeks to analyze data up to 2014-end, finds that, among BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), in all three indicators of progress -- economics, investment and sustainability -- China performs better than India, at 60.1, 69.1 and 52.3 respectively.
Brazil performs better in economic progress (52.7) and sustainability (54.7), but in investment it doesn't do so well (46.4). Russia does worse than India in economic and investment progress (43.6 and 39.9 respectively), but better in sustainability (53.1).
Among India's neighbours Sri Lanka does better than India in economic progress and investment, but it fails to do as well in sustainability (51.2, 53.6 and 49.6 respecively). Pakistan is way behind India in economic progress and investment, yet it is a little ahead in sustainability (37.1 34.4 and 51.3 respectively).
Nepal may be behind India in economic progress (41.8 per cent), it is way ahead of India two other indicators, investment and sustainability (61.0 and 55.4). And Bangladesh is ahead of India in economic progress (47.7), but it is behind India in investment and sustainability (51.9 and 43.8 respectively).
While conceding that "India’s overall progress is slightly below what would be expected given its growth rate from 2006 to 2014", the report underlines, "But considering the country’s robust growth, its progress has been impressive. India is in the top quintile in recent progress owing to strength in the investments element, which includes health, education, and infrastructure."
Seeking a Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) on the basis of the three indicators, even as analyzing 44 sub-indicators, the report offers two set of data -- current level scores and recent-progress scores. While developing countries like India would be naturally be far behind developed countries in current level scores, the recent progress scores, indicate the authors of the report, provides the real overall ability of a country to move ahead in SEDA.
Analyzing SEDA against the backdrop of how governments, in alliance with private sector, seek to convert wealth, as measured by income levels and growth rate, into well-being the report believes, it si financial inclusion which is providing the real fillip to India's overall progress.
Pointing out that the top ten countries in “current well-being” remain in Western Europe, as in the past, the report says, India and China have shown shown better performance in “recent progress”. It says, in India, "the government has been a major catalyst", between 2006 and 2014, in providing "all citizens a national ID, along with new regulations that allow companies other than financial institutions to operate as 'payment banks'”.
"A key element of the government’s financial inclusion push is the adoption of a national ID system. The government launched a programme, dubbed Aadhaar, in 2010 to give every person in India a biometric ID, which includes a 12-digit number along with iris scans and fingerprints", the report says.
Praising the PradhānMantrī Jana Dhan Yōjanā (PMJDY), it adds, "The national ID push was followed in 2014 by new regulations that allow companies with distribution expertise to offer deposit and payment services as 'payment banks'. The goal of these relaxed rules is to expand options for low-income people, migrant workers, and small businesses".

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

Two decades on, hunger still haunts Gujarat: Survey exposes stark gap behind poverty claims

A Niti Aayog report , released about two years ago, estimated that in Gujarat — which our powers-that-be have long considered a model state — 11.66% of people are "multidimensionally poor," a term referring to an index that seeks to estimate "multiple and simultaneous deprivations" at the household level across three macro categories: health, education, and living standards.