Quality-adjusted HDI changes perspective

It offers a more nuanced understanding of health, education, and economic opportunities. Focusing on qualitative aspects is crucial for India's growth

- JANAK RAJ INDRAMANI TIWARI Senior Fellow and Research Analyst, Centre for Social and Economic Progress

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI)- comprising income, health,and education elements-introduced by the United Nations Development Programme in 1990 has become a key indicator to gauge human development in a country.

However, HDI does not tell a complete story about human development as it covers only quantitative elements like economic growth (for income), numbers of schooling years (education), and life expectancy at birth (health). Forinstance, despite a rise in enrolment rates in rural schools-from 96.7% in 2011 to 98.4% in 2022-less than half of Class 8 students could not perform basic division, a function expected of a Class 4 students. Likewise, per capita income of India grew 2.67 times between 2011-12 and 2022-23.But the top 1% of India's population was earning ₹53 lakh on an average in 2022-23,and the bottom 50% only ₹71,000. These qualitative aspects remain invisible in traditional HDI.

To unravel a true picture of human development, our recently released study titled"India's Human Development: How Do Quality-adjusted Elements Change the Picture?" computes quality-adjusted HDI at the state level for three years2011-12, 2017-18, and 2021-22.All three components of HDI were adjusted for quality-the health index was adjusted for disability, the income index for income inequality, and education index for reading and mathematical abilities of students.