NEW DELHI, Jan 25 � In a new low for Assam, the State has been ranked eighth among the North Eastern States in the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
The report is an attempt to evaluate the performance of the North Eastern States (NES) in the recent times on sectors having direct impact on human development such has health, education and basic amenities like drinking water and sanitation, said Ghatowar.
According to the �Human Development Report of the North East States� based on data of 1993-1994 and 2004-2005, Mizoram has been ranked number one, beating Nagaland which was adjudged number one in 1993-1994. The State has been ranked two. The report has attempted to prepare HDI of the NES at two points 1993-1994 and 2004-2005.
According to the report, Assam with a score of 0.364 has been ranked eighth (2004-2005), but its performance has steadily improved from the value of 0.239 in 1993-1994 though its rank remained the same.
According to the report in 2004-2005, the ranking of other NES were Manipur (3), Sikkim (4), Meghalaya (5), Tripura (6) and Arunachal Pradesh (7).
The report focuses on economic attainment and well-being, quality of opportunity- education attainments, quality of life � longevity and health and basic amenities.
The HDI scores of each State for 2004-2005 has clearly divided the eight NES into two distinct groups of four States each. The first four States which scores over 0.5 are Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Sikkim and the second group with less than 0.5 include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.
The report says that what is significant is the rate at which each of the States has improved their scores. The year 1993-1994 marks the initial period of economic liberation, while by 2004-2005 the reforming States have responded to liberalisation with improved performance. The rate at which HDI scores improved between 1993-1994 and 2004-2005 also seem to reflect the economic performance of the States post liberalisation.
The report concludes by stating that NES are perceived to be doing fairly well in human development as compared to States in other regions of the country. The study is limited only to allow comparison among the NES and between two points of time.
While human development extends opportunity available to the people, in the context of NER, widening the scope of economic opportunity within the region remains the major challenge to the development policy-making, the report said.
Under economic attainment and well-being, Assam�s per capita income according to 2009-2010 figures is only Rs 27,197, while Arunachal Pradesh has the highest per capita income of Rs 51,644. Assam�s per capita income is lower than Manipur (Rs 28,531) though it is slightly higher than Nagaland (Rs 22418).
The per capita does not measure the well-being of individuals of the State, but is considered an important means by which individuals could improve their economic attainments and well-being, the report said.
