Re: HDI, GNP and the PPP factor

[Paul <paul_@xxxxxxx>]

Ulhas writes:
> I don't know what you mean "neo-liberal", but nobody
> is using _PPP numbers_ in India to support neo-liberal
> policies.....

It is "buried" in the statistics they (the neo-liberal proponents)
use.  For example, on Thursday you helpfully posted the Financial Express's
article on the statement from the Government releasing the HDI
statistics.  The first line (quoted from your post) reads:
"India's human development index (HDI) has shown a steady improvement in
the last couple of years. India's ranking, however, at 127 out of 177
countries remains the same as in the previous year..."

Well, this HDI, that has "shown steady improvement in the last couple of
years" is partly based on the PPP version of India's GNI (and only that
version is presented).
What the Government should really have to answer for is why - after decades
of significant improvement - the infant mortality rate and the under-five
mortality rate have NOT improved "in the last couple of years".  For
reasons I explained earlier, these are much more illustrative statistics
when it comes to human development.  In fact there were almost 2.5 million
child deaths EACH year.  According to UN and Government of India-agreed
estimates the vast majority of these deaths could have been prevented and
were unnecessary - if these poor children had been given a small fraction
of the "political commitment" shown the business community.

BTW, I would  *guess* that for the pro-neo liberals virtually every GDP\GNI
statistic in the India vs. China debate uses the PPP version.

> Btw, the Human Development Report for India is prepared by India's
> Planning Commission. What WB has to do with it?
>
> Ulhas

Yes the last Report was 2001 (publ. 2002) and prepared by the IPC, funded
by the UNDP.  The various Indian state reports (worth looking at, see
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/view_reports.cfm?country=IND&countryname=INDIA%20
) were prepared by the state governments and funded by UNDP.  These reports
are different than the global Human Development Report which publishes the
global HDI and is published exclusively by UNDP itself.  The press report
you posted referred to the global UNDP report.  It prepares the HDI based
on the data received from the World Bank (for national accounts).

Paul