India falls behind neighbours in health, social indicators: UN

[Al-zakir]

This report shuld be a slap to the big mouth indians who brag about there economy and dreaming about becoming superpower.

The Hindu News Update Service

New Delhi (PTI): If health and social indicators are anything to go by, then India lags behind its neighbours like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka who are considered to be economically much weaker, says a latest UN report.

While India has an infant mortality rate of 54 per 1000 live births, neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka have the rate of just 51, 44, 53 and 11 per thousand respectively.

The only exception to this is Pakistan which has a higher infant mortality rate of 67. On the other hand, China enjoys the distinction of having an infant mortality rate of just 23, says the report.

The report 'State of World Population 2008' prepared by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) shows that India lags behind its neighbours in terms of life expectancy also.

While Indian males have a life expectancy of 63.3 years, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans have 63.4, 65.4 and 68.8 years respectively while China has 71.4 years.

But when it comes to life expectancy of women, Indians are ahead though still much behind Chinese and Sri Lankans.

Indian women have life expectancy of 66.6 years whereas Bangladesh has 65.3 and Pakistan has 65.9. While China has a high female life expectancy of 74.9, it is still behind Sri Lanka with 76.3 years.

Reproductive health indicators point out contraceptive prevalence in India (any method) at 56 per cent among the married or couples entering consensual sex, while it is 58 per cent in Bangladesh and 70 per cent in Sri Lanka. Iran, which falls in South Central Asia has a contraceptive prevalence rate of 74 per cent. When it comes to modern contraceptive methods, Iran with 56 per cent is far ahead than the rest seven countries in the region including India with 49 per cent.

India with 62 births per 1000 women in the age group 15-19 years leads Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with 20, 36 and 25 respectively. China walks away with the cake with just eight births per 1,000 women in the same group.

While India has 47 per cent births under skilled supervision, Pakistan does much better with 54 and Sri Lanka with 97 per cent.

In terms of improved drinking water sources, India again lags behind some of its neighbours. Pakistan tops the list with 91 per cent of the population having access to clean drinking water followed by Nepal with 90 per cent, whereas in India the percentage is 86.

 

[Black Stone]

Chinese 'living longer than ever'

A UN report on China says the lives of its people have been vastly improved over the last three decades, BBC reported.

Poverty has fallen, adult literacy has climbed and Chinese people are now living longer than ever, it says.

But despite rapid economic progress, new problems have emerged, such as the gap between rich and poor.

The United National Development Programme (UNDP), which published the report, says these problems need urgent attention.

The report, entitled Basic Public Services for 1.3 Billion People, comes just weeks before China celebrates 30 years of economic reforms.

During this period, the Chinese government has largely ditched central planning in favour of the free market.

These reforms, started by the late, former leader Deng Xiaoping, have brought spectacular results, as the report makes clear.

"The speed, scope and magnitude of the improvements… rank among the most stunning achievements in the history of human development," says the UN's chief representative in China, Khalid Malik, in the report.

Between 1978 and 2007, rural poverty fell from 30.7% to just 1.6%, according to the UN.

But new problems have emerged, with not everyone benefiting equally from rapid economic expansion.

Rural areas lag behind urban areas, the east coast is richer that the western hinterland and there is a large wealth gap between different social groups.

Schoolchildren in the wealthy coastal city of Shanghai receive 10 times more funding than some rural pupils, the report says.

According to the UNDP, one problem is the Chinese system that requires all citizens to be registered in one particular place.

People usually receive welfare benefits in the area they are registered, which brings difficulties if they move.

This is a particular problem for the tens of millions of rural people who move to the cities to find work.

Chinese leaders have already acknowledged the existence of some of these problems, and have launched programmes to solve them.

The report makes it clear that the country now has the money to fix some of these problems.

 

[DarkStar]

More needs to be done, but what should be considered is the rapid decline in INfant mortality rates in Pakistan.

It stood at 100 per 1000 live births in 1990, 78 by 2006, and now at 67. That is a reduction of 15 percent in less than two years, an incredible achivement in itself. The steps the govt. has taken with regard to antenatal facilities is bearing fruit.

I hope that both the ROI and PAK are able to reduce these needless deaths even further.

 

[Vinod2070]

If our neighbors are doing better than us on this score, congratulations and more power to them.

May be India can learn some lessons from them.

 

[Flintlock]

Actually, South Indian states, and Gujarat, Himachal, Uttarakhand, J&K, Punjab etc. are doing significantly better than our neighbours.

India's average score gets dragged down by three states - namely UP, Bihar and MP, the BIMARU states, which are massively populated but socially underdeveloped.

If these 3 laggards manage to catch up soon, India will leave her neighbours far behind.

 

[Vinod2070]

Rajasthna is part of BIMARU.

I am sure that some other Eastern states like Orissa and West Bengal are also contributing in the low ranking of the country as a whole.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Rajasthna is part of BIMARU.

I am sure that some other Eastern states like Orissa and West Bengal are also contributing in the low ranking of the country as a whole.

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

 

[jeypore]

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

WHAT???????????????

 

[Flintlock]

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

LOl....whatever makes you happy Munshi!

 

[BanglaBhoot]

LOl....whatever makes you happy Munshi!

Yea I thought things were getting kinda boring not having a fight with the Indians once in a while.

 

[Ali.009]

India is also the hungriest country on earth, more poors then sub saharan africa, yet they need to send russian made space probe which crash lands on moon and half of it is destroyed already.

but anyway, there are 2 types of indians, 1) who are normal humans n know the reality of india 2) who have elevated view of india and live on castle of dreams, for them, the fake bollywood is the only india.

 

[Flintlock]

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

Actually Munshi, if you want to do an honest comparison with India, then compare your country with West Bengal.

 

[Vinod2070]

India is also the hungriest country on earth, more poors then sub saharan africa, yet they need to send russian made space probe which crash lands on moon and half of it is destroyed already.

but anyway, there are 2 types of indians, 1) who are normal humans n know the reality of india 2) who have elevated view of india and live on castle of dreams, for them, the fake bollywood is the only india.

Your country is 8 places behind India in HDI index. Bangladesh is behind even you.

So you will do well to look at yourself. You just don't have the credentials to advise us.

yet they need to send russian made space probe which crash lands on moon and half of it is destroyed already.

 

[Vinod2070]

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

Actually Munshi, if you want to do an honest comparison with India, then compare your country with West Bengal.

Bangladesh is an LDC, the least developed country in a region that is not particularly developed. Has the lowest HDI score in the region and is the poorest, the most threatened by the changing ecology and by the growing fundamentalism and corruption.

They need and deserve the help and support of the other countries. Not misplaced machismo.

Bangladesh an island of wealth in a sea of poverty: my arse. They are a perpetual global backwater that will always need support from others just to survive.

I didn't mean to say any of this. Some people force you into stating the obvious.

 

[daredevil]

If you put it that way it seems Bangladesh is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty. Smaller entities do better I think at least in our context. The needs of states in the Indian union may be sacrificed due to national policies against neighbours which would not apply if these states were independent and could trade more freely with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.

Talking about trade, here you go

India now top import source for Bangladesh

Dhaka, Nov 10 : India has regained the top position as Bangladesh's importing source, beating China, having exported rice worth $874 million last year.


Statistics released here last week by the Bangladesh Bank showed that a surge in rice import last fiscal pushed India up, which sent most of the quantity required as the crop over an estimated one million acres was destroyed in Cyclone Sidr that hit the country in November.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee flew in to Bangladesh Dec 1, 2007, a fortnight after the cyclone, to express solidarity and pledged to supply half a million tonnes of rice to that country.

Bangladesh's rice import bill from India soared to $874 million in 2007-08, up from $180 million in 2006-07 and $117 million in 2005-06, the bank data said.

"Majority of the rice import was from India," a senior central bank official told The Daily Star newspaper.

According to the central bank, Bangladesh imported 17-billion taka ($30-million) worth of more goods from India than China last fiscal. China was the number one country for Bangladesh's imports in fiscal 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Bangladesh's total import rose 26 percent to 1.47 trillion taka ($21.63 billion) last fiscal from 1.18 trillion taka ($17.16 billion) in 2006-07.

Imports from India stood at 232 billion taka ($3.4 billion) in 2007-08, while it it was worth 214 billion taka ($3.1 billion) from China.

Bangladesh's other three major import partners were Kuwait, Singapore and Japan last year.

As with other South Asian nations, Bangladesh has a negative balance of trade with India and the two sides have been working to bridge the widening gap.

India has extended duty-free import facilities and earlier this year, began importing eight million pieces of ready-made garments from its eastern neighbour.

What about TATA's investment of 3 billion being booted out by your government. How free do you think you country in trading?.