Government schools

Sikkim Human Development Index

The practice of human development calls for a three-pronged strategy:

Expand opportunities in Sikkim

• In the human development framework, an equitable expansion of opportunities economic, social, political and cultural is regarded as being essential for ending human poverty.
• A focus on expanding opportunities for people can ensure that progress can combine growth with inclusion, and social justice with equity.
• Human poverty can be fundamentally traced to inadequacies and inequalities in the distribution of opportunities, between women and men, across regions, between rural and urban areas, and within communities.

Enhance security in Sikkim

• Human security is more than the absence of violent conflict. For most people, a feeling of insecurity arises from worries about everyday life.
• For them, security symbolizes protection from the threat of disease, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression and environmental hazards.
• Human security complements human development by addressing ‘downside risks’ that threaten survival, healthy life, livelihoods and the dignity of human beings.
• Promoting human security calls for (i) protection against downside risks—shielding people from acute threats and (ii) empowerment of people to take charge of their own lives.

Promote sustainability in Sikkim

• Sustainability is a matter of distributional equity—of sharing development opportunities between present and future generations.
• The strongest argument for protecting the environment today is the ethical need to guarantee to future generations opportunities similar to the ones previous generations have enjoyed.
• This demands guaranteeing both intra-generational and inter-generational equity.
• The purpose of sustainable development, therefore, is to create an environment in which all people can expand their capabilities, and opportunities can be enlarged for both present and future generations

Human Development Aspects in Sikkim

• Human development in Sikkim is a process of enlarging people’s choices. But human development is also the objective, so it is both a process and an outcome.
• Human development implies that people must influence the processes that shape their lives. In all this, economic growth is an important means to human development, but not the end.
• Human development is the development of the people through building human capabilities, by the people through active participation in the processes that shape their lives and for the people by improving their lives.
• It is broader than other approaches, such as the human resource approach, the basic needs approach and the human welfare approach.
• The composite Human Development Index (HDI) integrates three basic dimensions of human development. Life expectancy at birth reflects the ability to lead a long and healthy life. Mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling reflect the ability to acquire knowledge. And gross national income per capita reflects the ability to achieve a decent standard of living
• To measure human development more comprehensively, the Human Development Report also presents four other composite indices.
• The Inequality-adjusted HDI discounts the HDI according to the extent of inequality. The Gender Development Index compares female and male HDI values.
• The Gender Inequality Index highlights women’s empowerment. And the Multidimensional Poverty Index measures nonincome dimensions of poverty

Human development—a people-centred approach in Sikkim

• Human development is about acquiring more capabilities and enjoying more opportunities to use those capabilities. With more capabilities and opportunities, people have more choices, and expanding choices is at the core of the human development approach. But human development is also a process.
• Anchored in human rights, it is linked to human security. And its ultimate objective is to enlarge human freedoms. Human development is development of the people through the building of human resources, for the people through the translation of development benefits in their lives and by the people through active participation in the processes that influence and shape their lives.
• Income is a means to human development but not an end in itself. The human development approach in the 1990 Human Development Report also introduced a composite index, the Human Development Index (HDI), for assessing achievements in the basic dimensions of human development. Those dimensions of human development are to lead a long and healthy life, measured by life expectancy at birth; to acquire knowledge, measured by mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling; and to achieve a decent standard of living, measured by gross national income per capita.

Life Expectancy at Birth in Sikkim

• The indicator of life expectancy at birth is used to measure the realised achievement in the health dimension, that is, ‘to be able to live a long life’.
• The life expectancy at birth denotes the number of years that a child can expect to live at the time of birth, given the agespecific mortality rates in the population.
• The life expectancy, however, is an indicator of very long-term improvement in health.

Mean Years of Schooling in Sikkim

• Mean Years of Schooling (MYS) is one of the two indicators used to measure educational achievement in HDRs by UNDP.
• It replaced the literacy rate as an indicator under the education dimension in 2010. MYS indicates the average number of completed years of education of a country’s population.
• Usually, MYS is estimated for populations aged 25 years and older, which is also the indicator used in the calculation of the HDI by UNDP

Expected Years of Schooling in Sikkim

• EYS is a measure of the number of years of schooling a child at the start of his or her education is expected to receive, if current rates of enrolment are maintained throughout the child’s life.

Income Per Capita

• Income per capita is considered as an ‘indirect’ indicator of human development. The first HDR of UNDP (1990) observes that an indicator of ‘command over resources needed for a decent living’ requires data on access to land, credit, income and other sources.
• In 2010, instead of GDP per capita, Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is taken as the indicator.
• For allowing cross-country comparison, the GNI per capita of the countries was adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) ratios.

 

Some Human Development Aspects in Sikkim

• By 2009, over 85 per cent of children below two were fully immunized—the highest proportion across Indian states.
• Institutional delivery rose to 81 per cent by 2011.
• In 2005–06, Sikkim reported the lowest proportion of under-weight children (20 per cent). Only 3 per cent of children under three were severely under-weight—as against the national average of 19.5 per cent in 2005–06.
• By 2011, Sikkim reported amongst the lowest percentage of population below the poverty line—8 per cent—across Indian states. In 2004–05, close to 170,000 people lived below the poverty line. By 2011, this number had come down to 51,000—a 70 per cent reduction in the number of poor.
• Enrolment in primary and upper primary schooling is near universal, with net enrolment ratios being the highest in India.
• Close to 93 per cent of households have electricity and 100 per cent have a latrine facility within the premises.
• The sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) has improved from 875 in 2001 to 889 in 2011. The child sex ratio (0–6 years) for 2011 is higher at 944, which is also higher than the national average of 914.
• Inequalities in the distribution of income and consumption have improved between 2004 and 2010. Sikkim registered the lowest Gini coefficient of urban consumption (0.186) across all Indian states in 2009–10.
• The gap between male and female literacy rates in 2011 was 10 percentage points— 16 points less than in 2001. Sikkim ranks highest among the north-eastern states on its per capita health expenditure, Rs 1,507, which is higher than the all-India figure of Rs 1,201.
• Sikkim is ranked fourth among all states of India on the Composite Educational Development Index for 2012–13—a significant jump from the 12th position in 2011–12

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of Sikkim

• The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies overlapping deprivations at the household level across the three dimensions of the HDI (living standards, health and education) and shows the average number of poor people and deprivations with which poor households contend.
• The MPI for Indian states varies from a low of 0.051 in Kerala to a high of 0.479 in Bihar. Sikkim ranked eighth with an MPI value of 0.150.
• The biggest contribution to this low MPI value has been improvements in health and nutrition.
• Sikkim features as the ‘best’ in terms of the lowest levels of deprivation attributable to health and nutrition. Equally significant is the progress that Sikkim has made in providing improved sanitation

Income of People of Sikkim

• In 2012–13, Sikkim reported a per capita income (net state domestic product) of Rs 142,625—the highest among the northeastern states, higher than all states and Union Territories with the exception of Chandigarh and Delhi, and more than double the all India average of Rs 68,757.
• Between 2004–05 and 2011–12, Sikkim’s real per capita income more than doubled from Rs 26,690 to Rs 70,477.
• In 2004–05, Sikkim ranked 15th; by 2011–12, Sikkim ranked among the top five states in terms of per capita income.
• The growth performance of Indian states. Between 2004–05 and 2011–12, Sikkim’s real per capita income grew at an annual average rate of around 15 per cent the highest among Indian states and more than twice the national average of 6.7 per cent per annum.

Employment and jobs of the People of Sikkim

• Of the total workers, 62 per cent continue to be engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Another 13 per cent of the workers are employed in the secondary sector (mining, manufacturing, electricity, water supply and construction), with more than half of them being employed in construction.
• The tertiary sector constitutes 26 per cent of the workers. According to the Census 2011, the number of total workers increased from 263,043 in 2001 to 308,138 in 2011 an increase of 17 per cent.
• A majority (55 per cent) of this increase was in the category of marginal workers. The work participation rate has increased by almost 2 percentage points in the decade 2001–11. Also, among the marginal workers, about 30 per cent were found to be employed for almost three months.

Health Aspect of People of Sikkim

• Sikkim reported an infant mortality rate of 24 per 1,000 live births in 2012— considerably lower than the national average of 42. Health care in Sikkim is provided almost entirely by the public sector.
• The state has established a well-functioning primary health care system through a network of two Community Health Centres, 24 Primary Healthcare Centres and 146 sub-centres.
• Health care is provided, among others, by 273 doctors and nine AYUSH practitioners.
• This gives an adequate ratio of approximately one doctor per 2,500 population.
• Except for the Sikkim-Manipal Central Referral Hospital, which provides secondary and tertiary care, there are very few private medical institutions.
• The state had four district hospitals and 1,560 hospital beds in 2012 or 2.6 beds for 1,000 people. Fourteen PHCs out of 24 were without a medical officer in June 2012; most vacancies were in north and west districts.

Nutrition aspect of People of Sikkim

• In 2005–06, close to 20 per cent of Sikkim’s children below 5 years were classified as being underweight the lowest in the country against a national figure of around 43 per cent.
• According to the National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3), only 10 per cent of children born in Sikkim were of low birth weight.
• According to NFHS-3, four out of five women in Sikkim consume milk or curds at least once a week.

Literacy and education aspects in Sikkim

• In 1951, Sikkim had an overall literacy rate of less than 7 per cent, with barely 11 per cent of men and 1 per cent of women who could read and write. By 2011, the literacy rate had increased to 82 per cent in 2011 with 87 per cent of men and 76 per cent of women who could read and write.
• The most developed East district came on top with 85 per cent, followed by South district (82 per cent), West district (79 per cent) and North district (77 per cent). Sikkim has a strong network of 781 government schools, 421 private schools, 71 monastic schools, 25 local body schools, 11 Sanskrit schools and three Islamic schools.
• The state is also experimenting with alternative and innovative models of education. Sikkim became the second state in India to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Quality Council of India on 27 March 2011 for developing accreditation standards towards quality government schools.
• Enrolment in primary and upper primary schooling is near universal, with net enrolment ratios being the highest in India.
• The gender parity index for enrolment in primary classes (I to V) in Sikkim is 0.98 compared to the all-India figure of 0.94. The net enrolment rate (NER) in primary education in Sikkim is encouraging.
• In 2007–08, 90 per cent children aged 6–10 years were enrolled in Class I–V. Only 10 states and Union Territories are ahead of Sikkim in this category.

Poverty aspect in Sikkim

• Between 2004–05 and 2011–12, Sikkim recorded a sharp fall in the poverty level—next only to Goa.
• Latest data released by the Planning Commission says that in Sikkim, the proportion of people below the poverty line (BPL) came down from 30.9 per cent in 2004–05 to 8.19 per cent in 2011–12 an average annual rate of decline of over 17 per cent.
• The number of people living below poverty line in Sikkim has come down from 1.70 lakh in 2004–05 to 51,000 in 2011–12 and the proportion of the poor in the Himalayan state remains well below the national average.
• Sikkim has also done well on the poverty gap ratio which reflects the extent to which average consumption of the poor falls below the established poverty line, indicating the depth of poverty.
• In 2011–12, Sikkim reported a rural poverty gap ratio of 0.96 next only to Goa. In 2011–12, Sikkim reported the lowest urban poverty gap ratio 0.45. Between 2004–05 and 2011–12, the poverty gap ratios fell in both rural and urban Sikkim

Some Basic Fact about Sikkim regarding Human Development

1. Per capita Income of Sikkim -48937 (2009-10)
2. Monthly per capita Consumption Expenditure of Sikkim -738.52 (2004-05)
3. Rural and Urban Monthly per capita Consumption Expenditure of Sikkim -688.53 & 1106.79