India has made significant progress in promoting gender equality, and has a value of 0.490 on the Gender Inequality Index (GII), the Economic Survey 2022-2023 stated, highlighting the performance of the government's policies. This score is a remarkable improvement compared to the South Asian region's average value of 0.508 and is close to the world average of 0.465, and has got India a rank of 122 among over 190 countries.
The improved GII score comes after the government's commitment to promoting gender equality through inclusive growth, social protection, and gender-responsive development policies. The country's investments in these initiatives have led to a reduction in multidimensional poverty and an improvement in the status of women in society, said the survey tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday.
The government has launched several major initiatives in the past few years aimed at reducing the gender gap and empowering women in all aspects of social, economic, and political life. The following are some of the key initiatives that have been launched in recent years:
However, women's participation in the labor force still remains low, and there is a significant pay gap between men and women. India's score of 0.490 in 2022 also registers a slight slippage from 0.493 in 2021.
The past few years have been challenging for the world, with the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict having a significant impact on human development globally.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 90 percent of countries recorded a reduction in their Human Development Index (HDI) in 2020 or 2021, marking the first time in 32 years that human development has stalled worldwide.
In India, the situation is not much different, with the country ranking 132 out of 191 countries and territories in the 2021/2022 HDI report. India's HDI value of 0.633 in 2021 places it in the medium human development category, which is lower than its value of 0.645 in 2019.
The country has seen the HDI fall significantly in the last two years. The ranking fell to 130th in 2020. This is a drop from its 2019 ranking of 129th, with a score of 0.645, among 189 countries.
India's position and trends in the global HDI 2021:
Despite this setback, India's HDI value continues to exceed South Asia's average human development and has been steadily increasing towards the world average since 1990.
One of the main reasons for India's progress in human development is the priority given to investment in social infrastructure. The government has made significant efforts to ensure universal health and education, and this has played a crucial role in the country's progress towards a better future.
(Edited by : Pradeep John)
First Published: Jan 31, 2023 5:14 PM IST
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