Updated 18 September 2020 at 12:34 IST
India ranks 116th in the World Bank's Annual Human Capital Index
According to the World Bank's annual Human Capital Index, India ranks at 116th position. India's score has been increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018.
As per the latest edition of the World Bank's annual Human Capital Index (HCI), India has dropped one position and now ranks 116. India's score has been increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018. The parameters covered by HCI primarily include health & education.
India ranks 116th in the World Bank's Human Capital Index
Last year when India ranked 115 out of 157 countries, it had raise 'serious reservations' over the Human Capital index. Speaking about India's objections last year, the bank's chief economist for human development, Roberta Gatti, said that her team has worked hard to improve the quality of data so that the index can be better for everyone.
"An index is a conversation-opener, and what we have discussed with our client countries is that all that is in the index matters, but not everything that matters can be in the index. We have worked very directly with some of our client countries to use the index as a way to improve measurement, and India was exactly one of these cases," she added.
On being asked about the purpose of releasing HCI, Mamta Murthi, Vice President, Human Development, World Bank Group, said it provides a basis on which the Government of India can plan and prioritize strategies to support human capital. The Bank is working with the Indian authorities on supporting livelihood for the poor, she said. World Bank has estimated a drop of 12 per cent in employment. World Bank President David Malpass said that the impact of Coronavirus has been the deepest on the formal and informal market of the developing countries which has resulted in global inequality in addition to increasing poverty and distress.
'COVID-19 has been hard on developing countries'
Malpass said that there's two-fold inequality in this crisis. The first is that the developing countries are being left behind amid the pandemic and the poor are left further behind. "Our World Bank's concern in today's date is the challenges facing human capital creation in this environment." Witnessing such a stressful situation globally, Malpass said that the World Bank is trying its best to restart the learning process and also help countries by giving them a secure access to equipment, assisting in reopening and distance learning.
He further said, "countries are increasingly reporting declines in essential health services. Eighty million children are missing out on essential vaccinations. Most children, within more than a billion children, have been out of school due to COVID-19. And that could lose as much as USD 10 trillion in lifetime earnings because of the reduced learning, the school closing and the potential for dropping out of school and the disproportionate impact on girls".
Published By : Gargi Rohatgi
Published On: 18 September 2020 at 12:34 IST