Lok Sabha Question No. 3203 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-06
Subject: Human Development Index 2020
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shashi Tharoor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3203

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2021

## HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX 2020

## 3203.  DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)      whether  the  Ministry  is  aware  that  India  has  fallen  by  two  spots  in  the  Human Development  Index  2020  rankings  released  by  the  United  Nations,  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (b)      whether the Government has taken note of the findings of the report pointing an increase in malnutrition-related issues such as stunting and wasting;
- (c)       if so, the specific measures taken in this regard;
- (d)      whether the report has also pointed out increase in the incidents of malnutrition amongst girls due to divestments in their health and education; and
- (e)       if so, the efforts made by the Government to check such incidents?

## ANSWER

## MINISTERY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)    As  per  the  Human  Development  Report  2020  of United  Nations  Development Programme (UNDP), India is ranked 131 out of 189 countries with a score of 0.645. As per the Human Development Report 2019, India ranked 129 th out of 189 countries with a score of 0.647. Human Development Index (HDI) ranks countries by HDI Values. HDI has  three  Dimensions,  (i)  Long  and  Healthy  Life,  (ii)  Knowledge,  and  (iii)  Decent Standard of Living. Therefore, overall performance on HDI depends on the performance on each of these three domains. As per the table given below, it can be observed that the overall score of India in the HDI has improved over the years:

|           |   Human Development Report |   Human Development Report |   Human Development Report |   Human Development Report |   Human Development Report |
|-----------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| Component |                   2015     |                   2016     |                    2018    |                   2019     |                   2020     |
| HDI rank  |                    130     |                    131     |                     130    |                    129     |                    131     |
| HDI score |                      0.609 |                      0.624 |                       0.64 |                      0.647 |                      0.645 |

(b)  to  (e): Malnutrition  is  not  included  as  part  of  the  dimension  of  the  Human Development Index.  However,  the Government  of  India  has  accorded  high  priority  to the  issue  of  malnutrition  and  is  implementing  several  Schemes/Programmes  through State/UTs  to  address  aspects  related  to  nutrition.  The  Ministry  of  Women  &  Child Development  implements  the  Anganwadi  Services  Scheme,  POSHAN  Abhiyaan, Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  and  Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls  under  the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as targeted interventions  for  children  upto  the  age  of  6  years,  Pregnant  Women  and  Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls, throughout the country.

In Budget 2021-22, Government has announced Mission Poshan 2.0 with focus on convergence,  governance,  capacity  building  and  nutritional  reforms  to  strengthen nutritional  content,  delivery,  outreach  and  outcomes  for  addressing  malnutrition.  In addition, 'Poshan Tracker', a robust ICT enabled platform, has been launched in March, 2021 to ensure real time monitoring of provisioning of supplementary nutrition by use of data analytics for prompt supervision and management of services. The system shall enable  real-time  monitoring  and  tracking  of  all  AWCs,  AWWs  and  beneficiaries on   defined indicators.

The National Health Mission (NHM), a flagship programme of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, addresses malnutrition by promotion of appropriate Infant and Young Child  Feeding  (IYCF)  practices,  Anaemia  Mukt  Bharat,  Iron  and  Folic  Acid  (IFA) supplementation,  de-worming,  promotion  of  iodized  salt,  Vitamin-A  supplementation, Mission Indradhanush to ensure high coverage of vaccination in children, conducting intensified diarrhoea control fortnights to control childhood diarrhoea, management of severely  malnourished  children  at  Nutrition  Rehabilitation  Centers,  monthly  Village Health  and  Nutrition  Days,  Home  Based  New  born  Care  (HBNC)  and  Home  Based Young Child Care (HBYC) programmes, Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, etc.

*****