New HDI

Context: The Union government is looking to design a survey that can gauge the Human Development Index (HDI) specifically for about 28 lakh people of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) living in over 22,000 villages across the country. More on News:

• The government wants to draw up an HDI for primitive tribal groups. 
• This will also be able to quantify how government policies are changing their lives.
• The survey to create an HDI for PVTGs is part of the Pradhan Mantri Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM-­PVTG) Development Mission.

About Human Development Index:

• The HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in three dimensions of human development: 
  • a long and healthy life, 
  • being knowledgeable and 
  • having a decent standard of living. 
• The HDI is the geometric mean of normalised indices for each of the three dimensions.
• A report on the Human Development Index (HDI) is part of the Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme.
• In the 2021-22 Report, India is ranked 132 out of 191 countries.
  • India’s score of 0.633 is not only a long way away from the top-ranking scores — Switzerland is ranked 1 with a score of 0.962 — but also below the global average.

Image credit: UNDP

Pradhan Mantri Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM-­PVTG) Development Mission.

• The Pradhan Mantri PVTG Mission will be launched in 2023 for next three years as part of ‘Reaching The Last Mile- Leaving No Citizen Behind’.
• Funding: Rs.15,000 crore under the Development Action Plan for the Scheduled Tribes.
• Purpose: To saturate the PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Who are PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) ?

• PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups who are in need of greater support and development.
• PVTGs are a subclassification of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) or a section of STs who are considered more vulnerable than regular STs.
• The PVTG list was created by the government with the aim to improve on priority the living standards of endangered tribal groups.
• Spatial spread: According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 75 PVTGs are spread across 15 states and Union Territories.

• Criteria for identification of PVTGs: 
  1. Pre-agricultural level of technology
  2. Low level of literacy
  3. Economic backwardness
  4. A declining or stagnant population.

News Source: The Hindu