Human Development Report

Among various areas of development to which a state caters, there is one important area called Human Development. Long back it was felt by planners in the country that for balanced development of India, it would be advisable if state-wise human development report was prepared and forwarded to the Planning Commission of India. It was even desired that such reports if drawn on district level would be more welcome as these would give the precise situation on the ground and thus help planning for the country. The Planning Commission of India was the agency that sponsored the idea and in consequence signed an agreement with the State Government way back in 2003. However, only casual attitude was adopted towards the project and after a decade gone by even now there is no Human Development Report in sight for our state.  This is despite financial assistance provided by the Planning Commission for the execution of the project.
What is the purpose of the Human Development report? Let us first clear the idea. Ours is a diverse country in many respects and though we speak of uniform development yet in reality it is not possible because of great differences in areas like geography, topography, natural and human resource, connectivity, weather conditions and physical facilities etc. Planning Commission would very much like to know the conditions on the ground so that it can plan for development. Therefore, it was felt that a Human Development Report would encompass the State in its entirety of human resource, meaning its natural resources, climatic conditions and effects, education level, health services level, income level, life style, habits and customs, power consumption statistics, water resources, road connectivity and many more things that can give an overall picture of what is the exact situation. The Planning Commission would encourage even if this kind of report is prepared on district level so that it makes planning more effective.
Thus we see that a report of this kind would he highly useful for the State and for the Planning Commission. It could become the roadmap for the Planning Commission to make allocations to the State for various heads. In all probability the State would be highly benefited and it would not have to go into hassles for asking more funds for various heads. It could also throw up new areas of expenditure to which the planners may not have paid their attention previously. However it is unfortunate that the State Government, despite a good start in 2003, has not pursued the matter and brought it to logical conclusion. We know that the process of development is gong on but what the planers are thinking about is to take stock of the impact of planning on ordinary citizens. After all ordinary citizens must have a feel of development. How can that feel be gauged? It was for this purpose that the idea of Human Development report was conceived. We often hear voices in the State that there is deprivation, discrimination and negligence on the part of Government agencies in regard to balanced and just development in the entire State.  The Government should have been more than willing to come out with not only a state level human development report but even one on district level as well.  Where does the State of J&K stand in comparison to other states of the Union is what the Human Development report could speak for every body. J&K State with different geography and economy had more reasons to submit such report as early as possible to support demand for annual plan allocations.
The State Government should respect the agreement it has signed with the Planning Commission and take the question of preparing human development report with all seriousness. The thread should be taken up where it was left and whatever work has already been done in this matter should now be brought to completion.

Follow our WhatsApp channel