Feb. 26: Life expectancy at birth in Assam is below the national average and is one of the lowest among major Indian states. This is only a fragment of the dismal picture that was brought out in the first-ever human development report of Assam, which was released today.
The report also says a high proportion of persons over 60 years continues to participate in the workforce. Two out of every three men over the age of 60 years have to work. ?This reflects society?s inability to allow people, specially the poor, to retire. Low incomes and no savings for many people mean that they have to continue to work throughout their lives.?
The report has been brought out by Dispur with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Planning Commission. Data has been collected till 2001.
In 1992-96, life expectancy at birth in Assam was 56.2 years: for males it was 56.1 years and for females it was only marginally higher at 56.2 years. For the country as a whole it was 60.7 years (for females: 61.4 years, for males: 60.1 years). There is a significant gap between the figures for urban and rural residents of Assam. There is nearly a 10-year difference for both males and females.
Seventy per cent of women in Assam have some degree of anaemia, not surprising in a state that has the highest incidence of anaemia in the country. Only 60 per cent of expectant mothers received any kind of antenatal care and 17.6 per cent of the deliveries took place in institutions. On vaccination, after an initial spurt in immunisation in the early Nineties, immunisation coverage for children declined during 1996-99.
The incidence of unemployment, measured as a percentage, is increasing and is higher than in the rest of the country. In 1999-2000 the country?s unemployment rate had risen marginally to 2.3 per cent but Assam?s unemployment rate had risen substantially to 4.6 per cent.
The state has an extremely high proportion of its population living in poverty: 36.09 per cent of the state?s population live below the poverty line, a figure appreciably above the national average of 27.09 per cent.
The high school dropout rate is a point of concern, with 1998-99 data showing that only about 40 per cent of Class I students actually continue to progress till Class IV and 35 per cent till Class VII.
The report maps the current status of human development across districts and is the first state human development report in the country that has attempted a district-level human poverty index.
The human development index (HDI) derived for the state as a whole is 0.407 but there are significant variations across districts. Jorhat is at the top in the HDI, income, education and health rankings.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said emphasis has to be laid on relatively underdeveloped districts so that they can catch up with the others.
Minister of state for planning and development Himanta Biswa Sarma said the second human development report would be prepared soon as the state has made remarkable progress since 2001. UNDP resident representative Maxine Olson said the report would also be published in Assamese.