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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

In India, 80% of women don't have bank accounts'
New Delhi:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


India ranked a lowly 130 in the Human Development Index (HDI) even if up from last year's 135 in the list of 188 nations, thanks to higher life expectancy and gross national income.Stagnancy in education, women's empowerment and poverty continue to drag India down, keeping it in the medium human development category . Norway topped the ranking in the report released by UNDP on Monday .
HDI is a summary measure to assess long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development -a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. India's HDI value for 2014 was 0.609. A report released by the UNDP on Monday showed Bangladesh and Pakistan rank 142 and 147, respectively, on the the Human Development Index (HDI), worse than India's 130.
India has made improvements in life expectancy at birth which has increased to 68 years in 2014 from 67.6 in the previous year and 53.9 years in 1980. Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was $5,497 in 2014, up from $5,180 in 2013 and $1,255 in 1980. India's GNI per capita increased by about 338% between 1980 and 2014.
However according to the UNDP report, the expected years of schooling is stagnant at 11.7 years since 2011.Also, mean years of schooling at 5.4 years has not changed since 2010. Notably , over half of India's total employed are working poor, according to the international poverty line (PPP $2 per day).
The country does not fare well on the gender index either. Unpaid work, predominantly performed by women, is estimated at 39% of GDP. Women's workforce participation has also declined from 35% in 1990 to 27% in 2013. In 38 countries, including India, Pakistan, Mexico and Uganda, 80% of women are unbanked. By contrast, in Japan and South Korea, more than 90% women have bank accounts.
The Gender Inequality Index reflects gender-based inequalities in three dimensions -reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity. India ranks 130 out of 155 countries with a value of 0.563. In India, 12.2% of parliamentary seats are held by women, and 27% of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education compared to 56.6% of their male counterparts. For every 1,00,000 live births, 190 women die from pregnancy related causes; and the adolescent birth rate is 32.8 births per 1,000 women of ages 15-19. Female participation in the labour market is 27% compared to 79.9% for men. In comparison, Bangladesh and Pakistan are ranked at 111 and 121, respectively , on this index.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

Source: Times of India, 15-12-2015