India’s performance across global development indices continues to be abysmal. Recently, it slumped two spots on the Human Development Index, a measure of achievements in key dimensions of collective well-being. The Human Development Report 2021/2022, compiled by the United Nations Development Programme, has put India in the 132nd position out of 191 countries. India ranked 130 among 189 countries in 2020. Worryingly, it also registered a steady decline in its HDI score — a composite index that measures the average achievements of a country across such parameters as life expectancy, expected and mean years of schooling, gross and per capita income for over two consecutive years. The current HDI value of the country is 0.633, which is significantly below the global average of 0.732. As if that is not bad enough, India is ranked behind the world average on all the four parameters: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and Sri Lanka have performed better. Strikingly, India’s dismal performance pulled down that of South Asia, which registered the steepest decline in HDI values in 2021. Admittedly, India’s showing is consistent with the global trend: 90 per cent of the countries surveyed have recorded a fall on the index. In fact, this is the first time since 1990 — when the HDI was constituted — that the global HDI value has decreased for two years in a row owing to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war. This dip leads to two concerns: first, the momentum gained in realising sustainable development goals has suffered reversals; second, the report mentions that economies are facing a “new uncertainty complex” as a result of intersecting factors like widening inequalities and a polarising political ethic.

The relative deterioration of HDI figures globally cannot be a reason for complacency for India, more so since the deteriorating indicators of welfare have a bearing on the current political and social milieu of the country. India’s regression in critical avenues, such as health, gender, education and so on could further deepen economic iniquities and lead to the erosion of freedoms. What is disconcerting is the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government’s repeated dismissals of such credible appraisals. The irony is palpable. The fifth largest economy in the world is yet to allocate resources for public welfare evenly.