- The basic objective of the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) is to promote AYUSH medical systems through cost-effective AYUSH services and strengthening of educational systems. The UN has declared 21 June International Yoga Day.
- The latest estimates of poverty are available for the year 2011-12. These estimates have been made following Tendulkar Committee methodology using household consumption expenditure survey data collected by the NSSO in its sixty-eighth round (2011-12). Over a span of seven years the incidence of poverty declined from 37.2% to 21.9% in 2011-12 for the country as a whole, with a sharper decline in the number of rural poor.
- The 2014 Human Development Report (HDR) presents the Human Development Index (HDI) values and ranks for 187 countries in terms of three basic parameters: to live a long and healthy life, to be educated and knowledgeable, and to enjoy a decent standard of living. India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586, positioning the country at 135 out of 187 countries and territories—the lowest among the BRICS countries, with Russia at 57, Brazil at 79, China at 91, and South Africa at 118, and slightly ahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- Significantly, while China improved its ranking by ten places between 2008 and 2013, India’s position improved by just one rank. Thus a lot remains to be done to bridge the gap.
- In terms of gender equality, the HDR ranks India 127 out of 152 countries with a Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 0.563.
- The Gender Development Index (GDI), defined as a ratio of the female to male HDI measures gender inequality according to three basic parameters of human development: health (LEB), education (expected years of schooling for children and mean years for adults aged 25 years and older); and command over economic resources (estimated GNI per capita).
- Country rankings are based on absolute deviation from gender parity in HDI. The GDI is calculated for 148 countries. The female HDI value for India is 0.52 as compared to 0.63 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.828. In comparison, Bangladesh and China are ranked higher with values of 0.908 and 0.939 respectively.
- Thus, while India is in the bottom 25% of all countries on the HDI, it ranks in the bottom 20% on the GII. These statistics reflect the high levels of gender inequality in India and the poor status of women and girls in Indian society.
