Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time: New states unable to make much headway on social indicators

Sunday, December 13, 2009

New states unable to make much headway on social indicators

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Economic Times	13/1 Govt. Place. Kolkata 700069 Ph: 22446800	Economic Times (Daily)
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Ganashakti	31 Alimuddin St. Kolkata 700016 Ph:22449533	Ganashakti (Bengali Daily)
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Times Of India	105/7A S N Banerjee Rd Kolkata 700014 Ph: 22445140,22443233, 22484711/12/13	The Times of India (English Daily)
The Hindu	11, Govt. Place East Kolkata 700069 Ph: 22482984	The Hindu (English Daily)
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Small needn't mean beautiful

- New states unable to make much headway on social indicators

CHARU SUDAN KASTURI

New Delhi, Dec. 12: Creating smaller states may improve access to infrastructure but there is little statistical evidence to suggest that Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand have outperformed their parent states in social indicators since they were carved out.

The governments in India's three youngest states have improved access to electricity for their people at a far greater rate than their respective parents over the same period of time, according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) findings.

But the three states are yet to prove that their creation has helped improve levels of school education or reduce infant deaths despite a smaller area to govern, the NFHS-2 and NFHS-3 suggest.

The relative ease of governing smaller states is frequently used as an argument to carve out new states. The BJP — whose government created Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand — argues that smaller states are likely to witness better development.

Neglect from the state administration and the need for an independent identity are the prime arguments behind the demand for a Telangana state which the Centre accepted earlier this week.

NFHS-2 was conducted in 1998-99, a year before the creation of the three new states — Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand from Bihar and Uttaranchal (now called Uttarakhand) from Uttar Pradesh.

The data from the survey were revisited after the creation of the three states and status indicators were calculated for the newly carved regions.

NFHS-3 was carried out in 2005-06 and presents a picture of how far the new states and the ones they were carved out of had progressed between the two surveys.

Access to electricity in areas under Jharkhand increased by 70 per cent from 23.6 per cent to 40.2 per cent between the two surveys, significantly higher than the 52 per cent hike in access Bihar's residents witnessed.

Areas now in Chhattisgarh were almost 10 per cent behind Madhya Pradesh in access to electricity in 1998-99. Today, they are on a par.

Uttarakhand witnessed a 52.6 per cent increase in access to electricity from 52.4 per cent to 80 per cent while Uttar Pradesh managed to improve access by 17 per cent from 36.6 per cent to 42.8 per cent.

Uttarakhand has improved access to sanitation facilities — including flush toilets and pit toilets — at a faster rate than its parent.

All three new states have also outperformed their parents in controlling anaemia in children.

But the infant mortality rate (IMR) and the frequency of children who die before 5 years have worryingly increased in Jharkhand and Uttarakhand since their creation.

Areas today under Jharkhand were far ahead of parent Bihar in battling child deaths in 1998-99. Today, Jharkhand is lagging behind Bihar.

Uttarakhand's sex ratio has dropped from 1,041 to 996 even as Uttar Pradesh has improved its gender ratio in the same period.

Madhya Pradesh had a higher IMR — indicating more child deaths before the age of one — than Chhattisgarh in 1998-99. Today, a year before the three new states celebrate a decade of their existence, Chhattisgarh has fallen behind Madhya Pradesh in curbing child deaths.

Education statistics calculated in NFHS-2 and NFHS-3 — based on the number of years of schooling — also provide no evidence of any improvement that outstrips the performance of the parent states.