Human Development in India: Regional Pattern and Policy Issues

Development literature in the past decade has become more people centric with human development being projected as one of the 'ends' of development planning. The present paper tries to explore the trends, patterns and regional dimension of human development (HD) in India through construction of alternate HD indices for the districts of India. The association between HD indices and conventional measures like per capita income has been explored. Substantial inter-regional disparity in HD is observed. Probable reasons for such disparity have been inquired. Suggested policies to enhance HD include greater role of the State in provisioning of social infrastructure, especially to the hitherto marginalized groups.