Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 4
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN KERALA: SPATIAL AND HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIES
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indicated for Malappuram district, which is an outlier
district and thus raises the variability, does not take
into account the significant amount of remittances
accruing to that district. More than 40 per cent of the
total international migration from Kerala is accounted
for by this district alone. Thus, it seems safe to assume
only marginal inter-district variability in respect of
the income dimension. And, this strengthens our
earlier argument that the overall situation is one of an
absence of any significant disparity in human development
between the 14 districts in Kerala. Viewed from an
all-India context, this should be reckoned as a
remarkable achievement.
3. Gender-related Development Index
Kerala is also ranked at the top in the gender-related
development index (GDI) among major States in India.
The lowest rank was observed in Bihar followed by
Uttar Pradesh. Further, there has been substantial
improvement in the GDI in Kerala in tandem with the
HDI. The GDI was 0.697 in 1997 and increased to
0.746 in 2001. Among the districts in Kerala,
Alappuzha has been in the fourth position with respect
to HDI; however, it ranked first position with respect
to GDI. Ernakulam district secured second rank, while
Malappuram district is ranked in the lowest position
with respect to GDI. Kozhikode district was in the eighth
position in HDI, however, it is pushed to thirteenth
position in respect of GDI. Analogous to HDI, the
disparity among the districts seems to be insignificant
with respect to GDI as well. The coefficient of variation
in the GDI is only 3 per cent and it ranges between
3-12 per cent among the GDI component dimensions.
Table 4.2: District-wise Gender-related Development Index (GDI), 2001
Districts Equally Distributed Index for GDI Rank
Income Health Education GDI
Thiruvananthapuram 0.486 0.835 0.910 0.743 9
Kollam 0.495 0.867 0.930 0.764 6
Pathanamthitta 0.478 0.859 0.957 0.765 5
Alappuzha 0.518 0.867 0.947 0.777 1
Kottayam 0.490 0.842 0.963 0.765 4
Idukki 0.559 0.790 0.877 0.742 11
Ernakulam 0.525 0.848 0.953 0.775 2
Thrissur 0.493 0.856 0.950 0.766 3
Palakkad 0.487 0.850 0.892 0.743 10
Malappuram 0.313 0.841 0.913 0.689 14
Kozhikode 0.406 0.838 0.945 0.730 13
Wayanad 0.514 0.810 0.886 0.736 12
Kannur 0.472 0.843 0.951 0.755 7
Kasaragod 0.509 0.844 0.879 0.744 8
Kerala 0.483 0.825 0.930 0.746
Coefficient of Variation (%) 12.3 2.5 3.4 3.0