KARNATAKA - of Planning Commission

fewer economic opportunities than their urbancounterparts. The divide appears to be wideningsince improvements in rural areas have not beendramatic. In Karnataka, in 1996 for example, therural IMR was 71 and the urban IMR was 40.In 2004, the rural IMR declined to 64 but theurban IMR decreased quite substantially to 24.Clearly, IMR is declining much faster in the urbanenvironment with its many healthcare advantagesin terms of quality, quantity and access whereasthe reduction in the rural IMR is not satisfactory.NFHS-2 data shows that people in urban areasare likely to use health facilities more often thantheir rural counterparts: as many as 78.8 percent of urban women have institutional deliveriescompared with 38.5 per cent rural women. Mal andunder-nutrition are also more acute among womenand children in rural areas since urban women canafford a more balanced diet while rural women eatless fruits, eggs and meat. The Tenth Plan goal of75 per cent literacy has been achieved in urbanKarnataka where the literacy rate is 80.58 per centbut the rural areas with 59.33 per cent literacyare lagging behind. Government schools are quiterightly concentrated in rural areas, while urbanareas favour a mix of the public and the privatesector. Urban parents have the capacity to pay for‘quality’ education, which is perceived as improvingthe life opportunities of their offspring. There isconsiderable disparity in the quality of schoolingavailable to urban and rural children, which can laythe basis for inequity of life choices.Urban Karnataka is doing better than the rural partsof the state in terms of facilities such as drinkingwater and sanitation. Only 18.5 per cent of ruralhouseholds have access to drinking water withinthe premises compared with 56.5 per cent in urbanareas. Over 75 per cent of urban households havelatrines within the house while 82.5 per cent ruralhouseholds lacked this facility. House ownershippatterns, however, show a different trend. Houseownership is high in the predominantly agrariannorthern districts and it is below the state averagein Bangalore Urban district.What are the implications of spatial disparity forthe HDI? There is a strong correlation betweenthe economic development status of a districtand its HDI at least where the top and bottomranking districts are concerned. Districts fromboth north and south Karnataka have shown adecadal percentage improvement in the HDI thatis higher than the state average i.e. BangaloreRural (21.15), Gadag (22.87), Gulbarga (24.50),Hassan (23.12), Haveri (21.57), Koppal (30.49),Mysore (20.42) and Raichur (23.48). Signifi cantly,Koppal has the best performance and three out offi ve districts in the Hyderabad Karnataka regionhave seen very credible improvements in humandevelopment. However, there has not been acorresponding change in their rankings in HDI(which are low), since other districts have alsoimproved/maintained their performance.Another caveat is that while urban humandevelopment indicators may be higher than rural,the existence of disparities of income and accesswithin urban centres is an increasing phenomenonand points to the need to tackle urban povertywith speed.Service delivery, participatoryand community basedgovernanceInvesting in human development is, to someextent, about the provisioning of funds, butmerely spending money without addressing thesubject of effective service delivery means therewill be a tremendous wastage in human andfi scal terms. The issue is not merely ‘how much’has been provided but ‘how’ it has been spent.Systems should be effi cient, people-friendlyand corruption-free. Human development, tobe truly effective, must be people-centred andpeople-defi ned. Empowering people to decidetheir own development strategies is critical toproviding participatory development. Buildingstrong, democratic local bodies and vibrant civilsociety organisations in partnership with NGOscan create a self-sustaining environment forpeople-centred human development.GovernanceGood governance enables the emergence of acitizen-friendly, citizen-responsive administration,and in the process, ensures that public authority isexercised for the common good. Good governanceKarnataka Human Development Report 2005Investing in humandevelopment is, tosome extent, about theprovisioning of funds, butmerely spending moneywithout addressing thesubject of effective servicedelivery means there willbe a tremendous wastagein human and fiscal terms.Good governance enablesthe emergence of acitizen-friendly, citizenresponsiveadministration,and in the process,ensures that publicauthority is exercised forthe common good.315