Mismatch of economic growth and human development in Gujarat:Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, 12 November, 2011

Addressing a gathering of environmentalists and intellectuals on the occasion of the release of the Human Development Report 2011, central Minister Jairam Ramesh today flagged the declining child sex ratio, malnutrition and hunger indices in Gujarat.

Ramesh said, “Child sex ratio indices are not only adverse in Punjab, Delhi and Haryana but have become increasingly adverse even in Gujarat also, which is a bit of surprising. That was not the case 20 years ago but, today, Gujarat is one of the states that is mentioned with Punjab, Haryana and Delhi for adverse sex ratio in the country.”

Ramesh also said, “Gujarat ranks even lower than some North Indian states, when it comes to malnutrition and hunger indices.”

Holding that economic development does not necessarily ensure human development, Ramesh pointed to “retrogation” in social development indices in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat.

“Economic development does not guarantee human development. It does not automatically guarantee social development. A more disturbing fact is that actually economic development may lead to retrogation of social indices,” he told a gathering of environmentalists and intellectuals on the occasion of the release of the Human Development Report 2011.

Citing the case of Kerala and Gujarat, he said, “Kerala is the number one state in India in terms of Human Development Indices (HDI) but ranks pretty low in economic growth and Gujarat, which is very high on economic growth ranks pretty low in human development.

“Gujarat ranks even lower than some North Indian states, when it comes to malnutrition and hunger indices,” Ramesh said.

“This is a paradox that in pockets of economic prosperity, you do not find commensurate increase in human development and social indices,” he said.

Ramesh said though economic growth is essential for employment and generating resources to tackle problem of backlog in human development, it’s not an automatic relation that you get social development through economic development.