State to prepare poverty, human development indicators in districts

For better targeting of poverty alleviation programmes and getting a true picture of development in the rural areas, the Orissa government is working on a plan to chart human development indicators at the district level.

It is in discussion with expert bodies working on these issues such as the Mumbai based International Institute of Population Studies (IIPS) under the Union ministry of Health and Family welfare.

A senior official of the state planning and coordination department recently visited the institute and held preliminary discussion with the officials there.

“Our aim is to prepare reliable poverty, health and literacy related indicators at the district level. Though it will take a longer time, we have already initiated the process”, RV Singh, special secretary, planning and co-ordination department, Orissa government told Business Standard.

Currently, only the state level poverty and human development indicators are available, which is not sufficient for formulation of district level plans.

“The state level indicators are not sufficient for better targeting of poverty alleviation measures and improvement of health and literacy penetration at the district level”, he pointed out.

Besides, the measurement and the indicators of the human development will have to be credible for the acceptance of the Government of India (GoI). “We will adopt the methodology adopted by the GoI for developing these indicators and we are making headway in that direction, Singh added.

While the infant mortality rate (IMR) measurement sampling is done by the National Family Health Survey, the state government is working on how to modify the method to make it suitable for adoption at the district level.

Similarly, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) measurement is another area where measures are proposed to be modified for adoption at the district level.

In this context, the state government plans to have discussion with the organizations like National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the next few months.

In the first phase, the state government has identified four districts like Ganjuam, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi for preparing the district level poverty and human development indicator.

The district level core and steering committees are headed by the district collectors and are being formed to conduct survey and prepare human development report. The non-governmental organisations are being roped in for these districts and the United Nations Development Programme is financing this project in these districts, sources added.