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Department of Economic Analysis and Research
Rural Pulse
Issue - XVIII, Nov. - Dec. 2016
NABARD
states accounted for another 20 per cent, while
remaining districts were accounted by other states.
13. With change in focus, there was a shift from social
to economic parameters, access to financial services;
like bank accounts, loans, insurance, etc., and in order
to prepare plan to bring all households in the financial
front, GOI set up a committee under the Chairmanship
of Dr. Rangarajan (2008). The committee measured
backwardness of districts with respect to: i. Access to
financial services on the basis of per branch population
and ii. Credit gap of more than 95 per cent and ranked
more than 250 districts as backward. However, districts
which had more than 97 per cent adults not having a
bank account came to 140. Accordingly, districts of
North Eastern region, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh together accounted for 83 per cent.
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal were
the other states which made a presence in the list.
14. The methodology developed by the Committee for
Evolving a Composite Development Index of States
(2013) under the Chairmanship of Dr.G.Raghuram
Rajan proposed the following ten sub-components:
(i) monthly per capita consumption expenditure;
(ii) education; (iii) health; (iv) household amenities;
(v)poverty rate; (vi) female literacy; (vii) percent of SC-
ST population; (viii) urbanization rate; (ix) financial
inclusion; and (x) connectivity, and rated States. Central
Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA)
ranked the districts based on aridity index (UNCCD,
1994). This is computed by annual average rainfall and
PET (Average annual potential evapotranspiration).
Further based on these values, the districts have been
classified as arid, semi-arid, dry sub humid, moist to sub
humid, pre humid etc., based on the value of aridity index.
15. NachiketMor, Committee report on “Comprehensive
Financial Services (2013) for Small Business and Low
IncomeHouseholds” had identified the districts based on
access to financial services using parameters like, access
to bank account, deposit and affordable formal credit,
insurance, etc., with access to redressal at district level
for all financial services. According to this study, in the
bottom 100 districts in the country, 80 per cent belong to
North Eastern States, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
16. Credit Rating and Information Services of
India Limited (CRISIL) brings out an index namely
“Inclusix” to assess the degree of financial inclusion
at the national, regional, state, and district levels based
on parameters like a) branch penetration, b) credit
penetration, and c) deposit penetration. The latest
Inclusix -III (2016) indicated that from the bottom 50
districts, more than half fall in North Eastern states.
Another 40% fall in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, with
rest spread in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
17. Of late, various state governments also started
ranking their districts. Government of Andhra Pradesh
ranked its districts based on the following parameters:
i. Gross Domestic Product; ii. Per Capita Income; iii.
Per Capita Electricity Consumption; iv. Percentage
of Households having drinking water at home; v.
Percentage of villages declared as Open Defecation
Free; vi. Additional Irrigation Created; vii. Children
outside school viii. IMR; ix. MMR; x. Percentage of
girls passed 10 class; xi. Implementation of Health
Insurance; xii. Implementation of Pensions; xiii. New
Roads development; and xiv. Government response on
public complaints on state welfare schemes.
Global Indicators
18. The World Bank had developed Indicators in 2003
for assessing nations on relative strength known as
World Development Indicaters (WDI). WDI include
approxmately 800 indicators organized in six sections: i.
World View; ii. People iii. Environment; iv. Economy; v.
States and Markets; and vi. Global Links. WDI presents
a statistical snapshot of the world. These provide a larger
picture of poverty trends and social welfare, the use of
environmental resources, the performance of the public
sector, and the integration of the global economy.
19. In2000, UnitedNations adopted eight international
development goals as Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). These are: 1. To eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger; 2. To achieve universal primary education;
3. To promote gender equality and empower women;
4. To reduce child mortality; 5. To improve maternal
health; 6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other
diseases; 7. To ensure environmental sustainability;
and 8. To develop a global partnership for development.
20. On 25 September 2015, the UN General Assembly
adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled
“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development”. Accordingly, 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) associated with 169 sub
targets under these items have been identified. The 17
SDGs are presented in Diagram 1
Concentration of backwardness
21. Coming back to the ranking of the districts in India
it could be seen from the above analysis that whichever
is the committee or whatever are the parameters,
most of the districts from North East, Bihar (including
Jharkhand), Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh (including
Chhattisgarh) Rajasthan were in the list of the most
backward districts. Surprisingly, districts from some
