October 21, 2011 7:46:27 pm
Despite a shining Gujarat story of high economic growth model applauded by a US Congressional report,the India Human Development Report 2011 points out that the state fares the worst in terms of overall hunger and malnutrition in the country.
Taking a dig at the Gujarat model,Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh,while releasing the report,said “on nutrition,I am puzzled why the high rate of malnutrition continues to persist even in pockets of high economic growth”.
Among the industrialized states,Gujarat has very high incidence of malnutrition among Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women,the report points out.
Gujarat also comes one notch down in the Human Development Index,with the state coming at the 11th position among the states in 2007-08,against the 10th spot in 1999-2000. It has now been pipped by strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir which was holding the 11th spot on the HDI in 1999-2000.
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The score of Gujarat on the Human Development Index has,however,improved to 0.527 in 2007-08,from 0.466 in 1999-2000. Gujarat HDI,however,is above the national average of 0.467 as per the report of 2007-08.
The performance of Gujarat on the HDI is lower as compared to many smaller states like Kerala,Himachal Pradesh,Goa,Punjab,Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East (excluding Assam).
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