Progress
For Children - A Report Card On Nutrition
This report card – the fourth in a UNICEF
series that monitors progress for children towards
the MDGs – measures the world’s performance
on nutrition, taking the prevalence of underweight
among children under fi ve as its primary indicator.
The global
community promised to cut the proportion of underweight
children by half between 1990 and 2015, but we
are still not on track to reach that target.
State Human Development Reports
These reports, owned by the government and
prepared by independent experts, serve as platforms
for public accountability and action. The SHDRs
focus on issues related to Poverty, Livelihoods,
Health and Education.
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Assam HDR 2003
The Assam Human
Development Report provides an account of the
status of human development, across districts
of the State and identifies the challenges for
future action. While analyzing the human development
attainments, the report considers also the atypical
characteristics of the State, in particular
the geographical location and insurgency.
The report documents successes in different
sectors, e.g. in literacy and improvements in
access to health facilities. It also records
that despite the considerable development that
has occurred since Independence, Assam has levels
and rates of growth of income below the average
for the country, high incidence of poverty and
an evident gender gap in development. For the
first time an attempt has been made to calculate
at the district level the Human Poverty Index
(HPI).
On the basis of the analysis, the tasks identified
are: to achieve higher growth for all, to bring
basic services within the reach of each and
every citizen of the State and to reduce disparities
and inequalities. Decentralisation and involvement
of community are identified as strategies to
achieve faster and inequitable development in
the State.
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Tamil Nadu
HDR 2003
The Tamil
Nadu HDR (2003) provides insights into the
process of development of a state characterized
by heavy industrialization, urbanization
and good growth rates (marginally ahead
of fifteen major Indian States). While identifying
the challenges that the state confronts,
the reports highlight the achievements recorded
in terms of social development and women’s
empowerment.
In particular, the report recommends that
economic policies to be integrated with
human development objectives and calls for
removing inter-district disparities.
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Himachal Pradesh
HDR 2002
The Himachal
Pradesh HDR (2002) attempts to assess and
explain the status of human development
in the state and articulates policy implications.
Gender and people’s participation
are the cross-cutting themes of the report,
which focuses on health, education, natural
resources and poverty. The analysis, moving
from the state to the district level, helps
to highlight the existence of regional imbalance
within the state.
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Karnataka
HDR 1999
The Karnataka
Human Development Report (1999) attempts to
provide an overall developmental map of the
state. In particular, it analyses issues pertaining
to health, nutrition, family welfare, education,
income, employment, poverty, housing, water
supply, sanitation, gender, status of children
and decentralization. This is the first SHDR
report that has dedicated a section on the
status of the children of the state. Recommendations
are made on the major macro issues considered.
The report emphasizes that despite the substantial
investment in the social sectors, the level
of human development in the state is only
marginally above that of the country as a
whole. In view of the disparities existing
across districts, the report emphasizes the
need for greater investment in social sectors
to the more needy districts. But structural
inadequacies have also to be addressed.
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Sikkim HDR
2001
The Sikkim
Human Development Report (2001) advocates
governance for sustainable human development
as the guiding principle for the State and
civil society action in Sikkim.
While identifying a hill state’s constrains,
the report highlights the importance of
focusing on people and their capabilities
and opportunities. Thus, in consideration
of the strong linkages existing between
people’s well-being and the state natural
resources / environment, it emphasizes that
it is necessary to ensure growth but not
at the expense of the environment. Despite
the gains that have been recorded in the
State since 1975, the report calls for a
greater focus on elementary education and
vocational education and easier access to
health facilities.
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Maharashtra
HDR 2002
The Maharashtra
Human Development Report attempts to assess
and explain the status of human development
in the State. Moving from the state to the
district level, issues related to population,
poverty, education, health, nutrition and
gender have been analyzed.
While highlighting the State’s achievements,
the report recommends interventions for
sustainable human development. In particular,
the report calls for better management of
water resources, stabilization of income
potential from agriculture operations, empowerment
of women, compulsory elementary education
for all children and improved healthcare.
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Rajasthan
HDR 2002
The Rajasthan HDR (2002) maps the status and role of people who are at the centre-stage of development. Rajasthan has in fact witnessed several important initiatives involving voluntary groups, issue-based citizens’ action and democratic decentralization. The report illustrates the state’s commitment to sustainable human development and indicates that sustainability of livelihoods is at the forefront of people’s agenda in Rajasthan.
Thus, the main issues analyzed are sustainable
livelihoods, education and health. Considering
that the challenges posed by droughts and
poverty lead to insecurity of livelihoods,
the report calls for more effective public
action focused towards the building of human
capabilities in education and health.
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West Bengal
HDR 2004
The West Bengal Human Development Report (HDR) brings out a mixed picture of the current state of human development in West Bengal, with some important successes and also some areas of inadequate achievement, as well as certain emerging problems.
The West Bengal HDR analyses two major public initiatives, which have characterised the State for the last 26 years, i.e. land reforms and decentralisation and has examined their effects on human development. Further, it attempts to understand the reasons as to why the positive effects of these initiatives have not been more pronounced on human development attainments.
In addition to the “traditional” issues
covered in a human development report such
as health, education and livelihoods, and
the chapters on land reforms and decentralisation,
the West Bengal HDR analyses issues such
as human security, material conditions,
environment and problems of special regions
within the State.
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Punjab HDR
2004
Punjab is
at a more advanced stage of development
than most other Indian states. However,
the remarkable achievements of the state
have not been equitable. Amidst prosperity,
pockets of deprivation remain among sections
and areas. This report is an important research-cum-policy
document, which focuses on the current levels
of achievement, as well as areas of concern
and possible ways of progress with reference
to crucial socio-economic indicators.
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Nagaland HDR
2004
Nagaland State
Human Development Report 2004 draws attention
to human development indicators in the areas
of income and livelihood, education, health
and women’s empowerment, which are critical
for the all-round development of the State.
The report has attempted to identify gaps
or indicators of deficiency, thereby signaling
areas that require specific policy attention.
In this way, the Nagaland SHDR identifies
the strengths as well as weak areas, and advocates
greater resources for human development priority
sectors in the State.
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Orissa HDR
2004
The Orissa
HDR was released by the Honourable Chief Minister,
Mr. Naveen Patnaik on 24 March 2005 in Bhubaneshwar.
It analyses the State's attainments vis-à-vis
three basic tenets that define human development
– livelihood, health and education as well
as some key issues that are central to human
development in the State’s context such as
food security and vulnerability to natural
disasters. It discusses the problems faced
by groups that need special attention such
as women and the scheduled tribes. The HDR
also elaborates on the critical issue of financing
for human development.
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Gujarat Human
Development Report 2004
This is the
first Human Development Report of Gujarat.
It looks at human development as the goal
as well as the development paradigm that is
conducive to the promotion of development.
The Report shows that the status of human
development in Gujarat is determined by the
macro development path, the efforts made in
sectors like literacy and education, health
and nutrition etc., and by the micro level
preparedness and empowerment of communities.
The State has experienced a deceleration in
the achievements of human development in the
1990s, in spite of a high rate of economic
growth. The Report therefore recommends a
strategy that strengthens the linkage between
economic growth and human development. It
also identifies critical areas for interventions
at different levels and in diverse sectors
for promoting human development in the State.
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Madhya Pradesh
HDR 2002
The Madhya Pradesh HDR (2002) highlights the progress registered on the human development agenda. It presents examples where, thanks to the decentralization process existing in the state, spaces were created and utilized to work on human development goals. But the report asserts also that the effort of putting democracy to use in improving its human development indicators has been stymied by the dominance and proliferation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
The report also calls for the introduction
of a scheduled tribe-scheduled caste development
index to capture their deprivations.
Assessing the Information Needs of the Rural
Communities in India using Information Need Assessment
Model (INAM)
Introduction
Why are we emphasizing on the Information Needs
Assessment of Rural Masses? After all as Scientists,
Planners and Domain Experts we are used to finding
out the specific requirements and goals that the
solution (ICT) must address! Probably, it is the
term “Rural” that lends importance to
the entire Needs Assessment exercise, that too in
two ways. First, a majority of the population in
India and developing world lives in rural areas
and more importantly, poverty also co-inhabits with
the rural masses in these areas. Therefore, the
developmental initiatives, with or without ICT,
must focus on the needs of the rural populace, which
necessitates an exact determination of those requirements,
so as to render the development efforts successful.
Secondly, the rural domain exhibits different characteristics
than urban areas, implying that the needs of an
urban man cannot be taken to mean the requirements
of the rural poor as well, which is generally the
convention. Rural sector is different from the urban
in quite a few respects as indicated below :
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Marginalized
from the mainstream
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Poor standard
of living
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Low Literacy
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Strong feeling
of voicelessness and powerlessness
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Strong local
imprints
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Conservative
society
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Closer to the
Mother Nature
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Traditional ways
of learning
A closer analysis
of ICTs reveals that there is a tremendous scope
of ICT’s application in rural areas. ICT can
reduce the globe into a village thus addressing
the issue of marginalization. It can help improve
the economic status directly through e-commerce
applications and indirectly through access to varied
kind of business information. Internet can empower
people by inducing transparency and accountability
in the system and also building a smooth interface
with the Government. Most importantly, Internet
serves without any prejudices of caste, creed or
religion thus removing all barriers of social injustice.
In short, ICT is powered to address the issues related
to the rural areas.
However, it is important to emphasize that the ICT
solutions should be sensitive to the rural characteristics.
The applications should be designed in such way
that it speaks the rural poor’s language,
reflect their culture and above all should address
their information needs.
NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500
030
NATIONAL WORKSHOP
On Peoples’ Empowerment through Panchayati
Raj Institutions in Scheduled V Areas and Studies
on Laws Affecting the Poor (MoRD – UNDP Sponsored
Sub-Programme)
PROCEEDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP
REPORT ON NIRD-MORD-UNDP
Collaborative
Brainstorming workshop on Information Technology
for Rural Development (4-8-2004)
Workshop
Recommendations on “Poverty Reduction and
Strategies for Coastal Areas”, (February 14-15,
2005).
Workshop Director:
Dr M.Thaha & Co ordinator : Dr T.G.Ramaiah
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