District Human Development Report of Panch Mahals (2017)
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District Human Development Report Panch Mahals District Human Development Report: Panch Mahals Copyright : Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society (GSIDS) Published By : Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society (GSIDS) First Published : 2017 Setting & Designed : GSIDS, Gandhinagar All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission from the publisher. This Report does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society (GSIDS). While every care has been taken to reproduce the accurate data, oversights / errors may occur. If found convey it to the Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society (GSIDS). The report is prepared by Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar as part of Tripartite MoU among Member Secretary, Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society (GSIDS), District Collector, Panchmahals and Vice Chancellor, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar Gujarat enjoys the reputation of being the most progressive and well-administered State in the country. The State Government is aware that although progress has been achieved in various sectors since the State’s inception much remains to be done in many fields. The Government is, therefore, making strenuous efforts to provide basic minimum services to the people, including drinking water, housing, health, education, livelihood opportunities, etc. The issues like securing peoples participation, poverty alleviation, social protection to the poor, removal of regional imbalances, good governance are also high priority areas of focus on the agenda of the Government. We are committed to the cause of Human Development. I compliment the Sardar Patel University- Vallabh Vidyanagar for collaborating with the State Government in preparation of the District Human Development Report of Panchmahals District, which provides an objective, in-depth analysis of the present status of various aspects of human welfare in the district. I also compliment the GSIDS, General Administrative Department (Planning) for undertaking this project. I am sure, the comprehensive document, so meticulously prepared, providing a realistic assessment of the current status of the district and will serve as a guide for future planning in various fields which leads towards inclusive development of the people of the district. I appreciate the endeavor. (Nanubhai Vanani) Human Development is a development paradigm which is beyond mere rise or fall of national incomes. It is about creating an environment where people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accordance with their needs and interests. People are the real wealth of nation. Development is thus about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value. The District Human Development Report is a Document which gives the present status of Human Development in different talukas of the District. Human Development requires focus on the basic as well as crucial indicators of Human Development. Thus this report has highlighted three important pillars which are: Education, Health and Livelihood. I commend the efforts put in by stakeholders in preparing this publication and hope that this will be useful to all the state & district level officials, policy makers and planners in working towards improving Human Development scenario of the District. (S. Aparna) Principal Secretary (Planning) and Chairperson, GSIDS It is my pleasure to present the District Human Development Report of the Panchmahals. From Wealth to well-being, the report endeavors to throw the light on the human development of the district. It assesses the contribution of resources in the development of the district and its people. The objective of happy and healthy society can be achieved by the creation of opportunities for advancement through sustainable economic growth, smart innovative ideas, quality services and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of benefits in a safe and secure environment for all citizens. Therefore, the objective of the present exercise is to build up a developmental path, which will help to address the challenges. The report covers all aspects related to human development- standard of living, health and education, which has been used for measuring the development. While devising development strategy it is advisable to include all those, at formulation stage, who are supposed to deliver it. In other words, the whole exercise has to be participatory in nature to get optimum result. An attempt has been made to include all the line departments in this exercise. At the same time other stakeholders have also been included in identification of the bottlenecks and solutions. We have included several case studies to capture the essence of the district and success stories from the district itself that may be torch bearer for the acceleration of the pace of human development. The formulation of Human Development Index (HDI) has not been attempted here as the quality of data varies from district to district and is on basis of that data if we measure HDI, the comparisons across districts may become erroneous. But quality of data within a district is likely to be similar, a comparision within a district may provide us a relative picture of progress and a comparison of talukas over conveniently defined indicator will not be off the mark. In any case, using the normal HDI formulae may not be able to capture the specific nuances and barriers to human development in different parts of a district. Since we need to build an overall strategy we should use a framework, which is flexible enough to capture the specific need of the district in terms of human development. HDI formulation is rather complicated and is difficult to comprehend for certain sphere. Preparation progress began with formation of a district core committee involving all the line departments, other government officials and academicians. A Core committee constituted consisting of government officials, Panchayat functionaries, representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGO) and representatives from academia. Based on the issues highlighted in the district level workshop weaker pockets under each sector in the district were identified followed by identification of barriers in each area for human development. Reports like these are only as good as the actions that follow. I therefore look forward to the holistic planning and decisions around these issues and that will meet the development aspirations of the citizen in an equitable and sustainable manner. I would like to put on record my thanks to all who have been participated in this exercise. I appreciate the efforts put in by the officers all departments including Revenue, Forest, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Irrigation, GWSSB, District Industries Centre, Department of Education, Department of Health and Department of Social Justice. I would also like to acknowledge assistance of the back office staff and office of District Planning Officer. I express my gratitude to the representatives from Sardar Patel University- Vallabh Vidyanagar who has helped us in preparing this report. Special mention may be made of Dr. Yogesh Joshi and his team for all the efforts they put in. I also express my sincere thanks to the GSIDS, General Administration Department (Planning), Government of Gujarat for their kind guidance and constant encouragement. Human Development is a development paradigm that is about much more than the rise or fall of national incomes. It is about creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests. People are the real wealth of nations. Development is thus about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value. The Human Development approach arose in part as a result of growing criticism to the leading development approach, which presumed a close link between national economic growth and the expansion of individual human choices. As of 1990, the human development concept was applied to a systematic study of global themes, as published in the yearly Global Human Development Reports under the auspice of the UNDP. The Human Development story of India is unique in its kind. India initiated Human Development issues during 8th Five Year Plan (1992-97). In order to integrate Human Development into state planning in India the preparation of reports at state level has been started. Now-a-days the Gujarat State is on the fast track of development. NITI Aayog- Government of India and UNDP had partnered Strengthening State Plan for Human Development (SSPHD) programme, under which the Government of Gujarat had initiated the process of integrating Human Development in planning and policy documents. The preparations of DHDR (District Human Development Report) marks the beginning of the process whereby people is mobilized and actively participate in the development process. In the year 2008-09, the state government has initiated the work of preparing District Human Development Report. The DHDR is expected to be an important document for formulating the District Human Development Plan. The report has examined the status of Human Development in different talukas of Panchmahals District. The report depicts the present status of the district with available information for various indicators of Education, Health and Livelihood. It is hoped