Inferences:
1. According to the World Bank, only 15 countries outside sub-Saharan Africa had a GNP per
capita lower than Indias in 2011: Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma,
Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Moldova,
Cambodia and Haiti.
2. In the table given above, we compare India in non-income parameters. India has, by choice
the highest GDP per capita, ranking 1 in it. Its rank is 10th or worse in the other parameters,
clearly reflecting the living standards prevalent in India.
3. Looking country wise, we see that Vietnam performs better than India in terms of all the
indicators in spite of being much poorer. Uzbekistan has almost 100 % literacy rates.
4. A striking contrast between India and Nepal can be seen with Nepal almost at par with India
with just 1/3rd of the income levels.
2-3
Inferences:
1. The 6 countries taken are- Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India.
2. Bangladesh- Indias per capital income was already more than 60% that of Bangladesh,
however Bangladesh has overtaken India in terms of social indicators like life expectancy (4
years higher in Bangladesh in 2010), child survival and enhanced immunization.
3. Nepal- In spite of 1/3rd of Indias income and poor governance, Nepal is almost at par with
India in terms of various social indicators.
4. Pakistan- Between 1990 and 2011, real per capita income has increased by 50 and 170 per
cent in Pakistan and India respectively, however the gap in social indicators hasnt changed
much.
5. Sri Lanka- Huge lead over India in terms of social indicators especially in terms of literacy
levels. Something to note, Sri Lanka achieved this with private schools being virtually absent
in Sri Lanka. Few people live more than 1.4 km away from the nearest health centre.
6. Comparing in terms of rank, overall, only one country in South Asia (Sri Lanka) clearly had
better social indicators than India in 1990, but now India looks second worst, ahead only of
Pakistan.
Case Study Bangladeshs Progress and Role of Women
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries of the world. Yet Bangladesh has made rapid progress in
crucial aspects of standard of living. However, Bangladesh cannot be considered as a model for
development as in spite of the recent development, it still remains one of the most-deprivation ridden
countries in the world. With 1/10th of the GDP of India and a mere 10 per cent expenditure on public
services (with lack of accountability), Bangladesh has quite restrained public services. Democratic
institutions do not function perfectly, maintaining the tradition of the opposition not attending the
Parliament. Yet there are features of astonishing achievements, one can see there.
There can be seen a pattern of sustained positive change in gender relations. Gender related indicators
are better in Bangladesh than in India. Greater literacy among women has led to more participation in
the work force, playing an important role in demographic transition (low mortality and fertility rates).
Bangladesh is one of the few countries where the number of girls exceeds the number of boys in
school. Womens share of seats in national parliament is 20 in Bangladesh and 11 in India. In fact,
some of the countrys recent achievements build in a fairly direct and transparent way on womens
agency. Very large numbers of Bangladeshi women have been mobilized as front-line health workers.
India
55
44
Bangladesh
8.4
82
88
97
39
81
55
89
Bangladesh has also followed effective and non-coercive family planning (Total fertility rate falling
from 7 in early 70s to 2.2 in 2011). Surveys show the high awareness about family planning and
higher use of modern contraceptive methods than in India. Another point to be noted is the importance
of social norms in health, education and related fields in bringing about changes in social and
community mobilization in bringing about the same. Many grass root health and community workers
have been mobilized to explain contraception methods, improved sanitation, organizing nutrition
supplement programmes, counselling pregnant women etc in various villages. India can indeed learn a
lot from its neighbouring country.
India
China
Brazil
Russia
3203
7418
10279
14821
64
61
74
72
15
99
70
16
99
63
12
100
43
N/A
1.2
2.7
4.2
3.2
3.3
N/A
5.6
4.1