Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2002 Government of Himachal Pradesh Shimla 2002 Published by The Government of Himachal Pradesh © The Government of Himachal Pradesh 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the Government of Himachal Pradesh. Price: Rs 600 Cover Design Planning Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla 171002 Layout, design and typesetting by Astricks, New Delhi 110070, www.astricks.com Printed by The Himachal Pradesh Government Press, Shimla 171005 Foreword Human Development is a continuous process known to enrich human resources in terms of enlarging people's choices which, in turn, is instrumental in enabling human resources mobilizing and allocating all other resources prudently so as to ensure development on sustainable basis. Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report takes into account only the aspects related' to income, education and health, though the process of human development encompasses several other critical areas and consumes many more inputs related to various aspects of human life apart from the mentioned ones. This report is the first step in institutionalising this process and brings to fore the strengths and weaknesses of human development effort in Himachal Pradesh. I am sure that subsequent reports would attempt other aspects of human development to make the concept more comprehensive. The report highlights the much talked about achievements the State has made especially in the fields of education, health and infrastructure-physical and social. The report is an attempt in stock-taking the factors responsible for these achievements made given the odds in terms of geo- morphological and financial constraints. Inter-district and inter-regional comparisons indicate to micro-level achievements. The report also brings out the issues like disequilibria in distributive mechanism, probability of deterioration in gender parity, maintaining ecological balance and in- adequate availability of infrastructure in the far flung areas, which require special attention for quick redressal. I am sure that this document will not only provide the necessary information required for understanding the trends and present status of many aspects of economic and social well-being but would also help in providing important inputs for designing future strategy. I would like to thank the UNDP and the Planning Commission, Government of India, for all the support and assistance provided during preparation of the Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report and I am sure that this partnership would grow stronger as we follow up the HPHDR I also commend the hard work done by the Planning Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh in bringing out this document. (Prem Kumar Dhumal) 6 January 2003 CHIEF Minister Shimla HIMACHAL PRADESH Preface The process of human development is perhaps as old as the existence of human beings itself. As civilization marched on, focused interventions started assuming importance in giving new dimensions to the process of human development in sharp contrast to the earlier practice of learning from experience. As widely accepted, the process of human development enlarges people’s choices. The objective of enlarging people’s choices can be achieved by making efforts to build human capabilities. The efforts required to build human capabilities enabling people to exercise their choice over increased opportunities varies with the levels of development already achieved. It also depends upon the developments taking place at the global level. Happenings at the global level become important in the face of the changes aimed at integration of world economies taking place at a rapid pace. Thus the desired level of human capabilities to be built to enlarge people’s choices does vary, not only across the societies, it also varies with the changes that take place at the global, national and sub-national levels giving the process of human development a highly dynamic character. The dynamic character of human development is also evident from the complex relationship not only between various factors instrumental in enhancing the level of human development and the process of human development but also among the factors themselves. Factors pertaining to social, cultural, political, environmental, economic and almost all other aspects of day-to-day life make contributions of varying degrees in developing human capital. In turn, human resources, depending upon the ‘acquired capabilities’ mobilize and allocate all other resources and hence determine the course of development. Methodological limitations have confined the scope of this report to covering the aspects related to income, education and health only in determining the achievements made related to human development. The first attempt to demonstrate that it is not only the accumulation of wealth but how well this accumulated wealth is mobilized in enlarging people’s choices is really what matters, was made by the UNDP in 1990 by bringing out its first global Human Development Report. Subsequent reports attempted incorporating various other aspects of human life into the concept of human development. However the most widely accepted and used index of human development still remains the same as is used in this document, though, slight deviation in the methodology has been adopted because of serious limitations in terms of data availability at district level. The index encompasses indicators related to income, education and health only. Concerted efforts from all quarters are required to make this index more com- prehensive by including indicators related to other fields also. The need to assess the level of human development at the sub-national level has brought together the UNDP, the Planning Commission, Government of India and the State Governments to write State Human Development Reports. The UNDP and the Planning Commission, Gov- ernment of India, have been providing technical and financial assistance to bring out State owned reports. The Government of Himachal Pradesh also entered into a tripartite contract with the xiv Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2002 UNDP and the Planning Commission, Government of India to bring out the Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report. Recognizing the need to enlarge people’s choices by building human capabilities, the Govern- ment of India has been putting in efforts in terms of introducing various programmes to meet this objective from time to time. Various poverty alleviation schemes with an objective to provide income generating assets, programmes aiming at building physical and social infrastructure and programmes with an aim to provide basic minimum amenities required to live with bare minimum comfort are some of the efforts made by the Governments at the national and sub-national level in India. Not going into the question of shortcomings in the implementation of these programmes, the programmes have achieved their objectives to a large extent. After becoming a full-fledged State in 1971, Himachal Pradesh also followed the same strategy as the Government at the national level with few deviations necessitated by local needs. Heavily constrained by the geo-morphological and financial limitations and poorly developed infrastructure, Himachal Pradesh has seen tough times and has still managed to get a distinction in being compared with the most developed States of the country. The achievements in terms of high literacy rates, almost universal enrolments at primary level, availability of schooling facilities, and expansion in health care and physical infra- structure are worth mentioning. However, issues like distortions in distributive aspects, inadequate infrastructure in remote areas, indications of deterioration in sex ratio, protection of fragile ecology need immediate attention. The document attempts to list the factors responsible for these achieve- ments and concerns. It further goes into the issue of regional disparities by comparing inter-district indicators of human development. The Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2002 is the culmination of the efforts of the Government of Himachal Pradesh in documenting the achievements and concerns in the field of human development, but at the same time it has to be viewed as a beginning in the direction of achieving high levels of human development and also in attempting to cover more aspects other than income, health and education of human well-being to make the concept of human development more comprehensive. This is a report owned by the Government of Himachal Pradesh but is different from other government owned documents in the sense that it has been prepared after a lot of interaction with the academicians and NGOs and their views have been duly incorporated into this report. (S.K. Sood) Principal Secretary, Planning and Finance, 4 January 2003 Government of Himachal Pradesh Acknowledgements The Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2002 has been prepared by the Government of Himachal Pradesh in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Planning Commission, Government of India. Preparation of the Report has been supervised by a Steering Committee under the overall direction of the Principal Secretary, Finance and Planning to the Government of Himachal Pradesh. We wish to thank Dr Brenda Gael McSweeny, Resident Representative, and UNDP India Country Office for her consistent support