Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

170 DEEPAK K. MISHRA AND VANDANA UPADHYAY
may reflect inter-tribal disparities. Third, although until recently it has
been relatively free from secessionist violence and insurgency, its development
performance has not been satisfactory, particularly in terms of
human development indicators. Among the eight northeastern states,
Arunachal Pradesh occupied the second position in terms of per capita
NSDP in 1990–91 and is fifth in terms of consumption expenditure, but
according to the National Human Development Report: 2001 (Planning
Commission 2002), it was at the bottom of the Human Development Index
(Table 8.1). In terms of the Human Poverty Index, except Mizoram, its
position is the worst in the region. In 2001, it had the lowest literacy rate
among all the northeastern states as well as the highest urban-rural gap
and the highest gender gap in literacy. In terms of enrolment, drop-out
rates and school availability, its performance, in a comparative perspective,
has hardly been satisfactory (Table 8.2). Further, in terms of the health
status of the population, Arunachal Pradesh’s performance has been less
impressive than many other states of the region (Table 8.3). As the brief
analysis in the following section shows, the increasing inequality among
men and women, when viewed in a comparative perspective, is clearly
one of the serious problems associated with the modern growth process.
While it is always possible to explain away this relative under-performance
by citing many historical, geographical and economic constraints, any
forward-looking strategy of development for the state has to address these
issues in their entirety as well as in terms of their local specificities.
Table 8.1
Human Development Indicators
Per capita Per capita Gender
NSDP Consumption HDI HPI Disparity
States 1998–99 Expenditure (1991) (1991) Index (1991)
Arunachal Pradesh 12335 (4) 672.31 (3) 0.328 (8) 47.40 (2) 0.776
Assam 8826 (8) 473.42 (8) 0.348 (7) 46.29 (3) 0.576
Manipur 10504 (6) 596.36 (5) 0.536 (2) 39.82 (6) 0.815
Meghalaya 11090 (5) 639.13 (4) 0.365 (6) 49.41 (1) 0.807
Mizoram 13479 (1) 935.53 (2) 0.548 (1) 26.47 (8) 0.770
Nagaland 12408 (3) 1005.99 (1) 0.486 (3) 41.30 (5) 0.729
Sikkim 12645 (2) 559.97 (7) 0.425 (4) 38.59 (7) 0.647
Tripura 9613 (7) 589.50 (6) 0.389 (5) 42.71 (4) 0.531
All-India 14395 590.98 0.381 37.42 0.676
Source: Planning Commission, Government of India 2002.