As someone said ‘the poor’ is shorthand for a huge variety of people who have low incomes and struggle with problems such as hunger, ill health, illiteracy and inadequate housing. They work as household service providers, subsistence farmers, casual labourers, street vendors, and trash recyclers. Unleashing of market forces has made a marginal difference to the life of such people in Pakistan. Safety nets have also failed to make any visible dent. The reason is both of these traditional solutions are missing a vital part of the picture — the law of the land. Poverty alleviation efforts to be effective need laws that do not discriminate between the poor and the rich, and guarantee basic business rights. In other words it is important that to facilitate a person’s capacity to generate an income for himself the state should ensure his right to vend and to have a workspace without being pushed around by bribe seeking police, and to have access to necessary infrastructure and services such as shelter, electricity, water, sanitation without having to grease the palms of public providers. It is essential to have laws that make it easy and affordable to set up and operate a business, to access markets and promote inclusive financial services that offer entrepreneurs in the developing world what many of their counterparts elsewhere take for granted — savings, credit, insurance, pensions, and other tools for risk management. In the absence of these facilities, poverty reduction will remain a pipe dream.

Fulya Özerkan

In Turkey there are more than 12 million people aged between 15 and 24, or 17.6 percent of the entire population, and this demographic window of opportunity can turn upside down if Turkey fails to invest in its youth, says the UN's 2008 development report.

As the fastest growing country in the region with one of the largest and most dynamic youth populations, Turkey has 15 years to turn this window of opportunity into an advantage, suggests a United Nations report for Turkey, adding that failure to do so will upset social balances and may lead to nightmare scenarios.

“If Turkey can give the right opportunities to its youth today, invest in their education in order to prepare them for higher value-added jobs in the future, the demographic window of opportunity can be utilized effectively,” according to the 2008 Human Development Report for Turkey released Friday.

“But if this opportunity is mismanaged, unemployment, poverty and social unrest may lie ahead,” it warned.

The report “Youth in Turkey” published by the U.N. Development Program offers guidance on how employment, education and health policies for youth need to be reshaped to ensure these policies are people-oriented and better prepare the country for the upcoming demographic challenges.

The report has used an unorthodox research approach: It is to a significant extent based on a comprehensive “State of Youth Survey” which canvassed the views of 3,322 individuals aged 15-24 in 12 different regions of the country. It also included 24 focus group meetings with young people and four focus groups with adults.

In Turkey there are more than 12 million people aged between 15 and 24, or 17.6 percent of the entire population, according to the 2007 population census.

“This situation will change, however,” warned the report defining Turkey's youth as people between 15 and 24 years of age.

“Already, the percentages of 0-14 and 0-19 year-olds are declining. By 2040, the only rising proportion of the population will belong to the 65-year-olds and above. Therefore, 2040 will mark the end of the Turkish demographic window of opportunity.”

The U.N. report called for comprehensive policies to ensure that the country has a healthy, educated and skilled society to face the challenges of crucial next 15 years and beyond.

“Such an episode is a one-off opportunity in a country's history,” it stressed.

First a job

The favorable ratio of young to old presents opportunities as well as challenges. Unemployment is one of the challenges facing Turkey. Failure to create job opportunities especially for youth will lead to most worrying levels of high unemployment, said the report.

The unemployment rate for young people currently stands at 17-18 percent, almost twice the national average. The U.N. report revealed that in Turkey young people are twice as likely to be unemployed than the older population.

“You complete 16 years of education, go through all that but cannot find a job. How can we think straight? To do that one has to have decent living conditions. One's stomach must be full. You cannot get a break and start producing projects and ideas to improve your country. First, one must have a job,” an unnamed secondary school graduate from Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir was quoted as saying in the report. Nearly 40 percent of Turkish youth – almost 5 million people – are idle, neither working nor attending school, an alarming threat for the society.

Describing this group as “invisible or less visible youth,” the U.N. report said these include: Women who are neither in education nor at work at about 2.2 million; the physically handicapped are some 650,000; young people who have given up all hope and stopped seeking jobs number around 300,000; juvenile delinquents are some 22,000; and street children and youth living on the streets, internally displaced, or victims of human trafficking and others who rarely get noticed or mentioned in survey studies or in the media.

“Special attention must be paid to those youth who are currently ‘invisible',” it said.

Being a ‘nonexistent' young woman

The situation of adolescents in Turkey is complicated by gender disparities that still frequently reflect and emphasize the traditional preference for men and boys over women and girls, according to the report, underlining that gender discrimination has not been tackled with sufficient strength.

There is discrimination in concepts for boys and girls, it said. “The unpredictable temper of adolescents struggling with the profound physical and psychological changes typical of their age is acknowledged in young males as ‘delikanlilar' or crazy bloods, for instance, while girls of similar age are not treated with the same understanding.”

The report said the gender gap hit education as well when significant numbers of girls drop out of school after primary education or even earlier during the first five years and emphasized that this is especially the case in low-income areas where disparities in girls and boys' enrolment in primary education are more pronounced.

Highlighting another bitter truth of Turkey – honor killings – the report said murder in the name of honor is the most severe type of violence against women. “Turkish Police has recorded 1,091 honor killings in the last five years. And many of the honor killings are not reported to police; they are instead shown as suicide,” the report said, citing an interview with Professor Ahsen Sirin of Ege University.

Catch up with international progress

Turkey started a strong process of modernization under its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after 1923 but is lagging behind countries with comparable per capita income in the area of social policies, according to the report urging Turkey to catch up with international progress.

“A youth policy is important to ensure higher levels of human development, as defined by greater human choices. But it is also crucial in order to stave off potentially crushing demographic challenges.”

Of utmost importance is finalizing an employment strategy, the report said.

“Identifying the specific features, constraints, and opportunities which matter most in terms of employment creation will be crucial. Policies need to be developed in a participatory manner that builds the trust of youth in political institutions, laying the foundations for sustained human development.”

Droogtes door klimaatverandering zorgen volgens een VN-rapport voor een toename van het aantal ondervoede kinderen in Ethiopië. Het ‘Human Development’- rapport 2007/2008 met als titel ‘Bestrijden van klimaatverandering: menselijke solidariteit in een verdeelde wereld’ van het Ontwikkelingsprogramma van de Verenigde Naties (UNPD) stelt dat kinderen van 5 jaar of jonger 36% meer kans maken ondervoed te zijn en 41% meer kans maken op groeistoornissen wanneer ze geboren worden in een periode van droogte in Ethiopië. Het rapport rekent dat dit zich vertaalt in twee miljoen ondervoed geboren kinderen in het land in 2005 alleen. Het rapport werd al in december vorig jaar in Brazilië gelanceerd, maar werd afgelopen maandag in Ethiopië voorgesteld.

Het rapport zegt dat tussen 2000 en 2004 één op de negentien mensen in ontwikkelingslanden, maar slecht één op de duizend vijfhonderd mensen in rijke landen, getroffen werden door klimaatrampen. Los van de bedreigingen op lange termijn, treft de klimaatverandering nu al een deel van de armste en meest kwetsbare gemeenschappen in de wereld. Toegenomen droogtes, overstromingen en stormen kelderen mogelijkheden en versterken ongelijkheden. Klimaatverandering bedreigt in de eerste plaats en het meest direct de ontwikkelingslanden met de laagste inkomens (hoewel zij er het minst hebben toe bijgedragen). Zij zullen volgens het rapport de impact van de globale opwarming van de aarde niet binnen enkele eeuwen, maar binnen enkele jaren of decennia voelen.

Ethiopië is één van de landen die zich sterk inzetten om de Millenniumdoelstellingen van 2015 te halen. Het land heeft vooruitgang gemaakt in het terugdringen van de armoede en geraakt stilaan op het juiste spoor naar ontwikkeling. Hoewel veel landen zoals Ethiopië een significante vooruitgang hebben geboekt en vele mensen boven de armoedegrens hebben gelicht, wordt het nu duidelijk dat klimaatverandering één van de nieuwe factoren is waarmee rekening moet worden gehouden.

De Ethiopische regering zegt dat de strijd tegen armoede en de strijd tegen de effecten van klimaatverandering met elkaar samenhangen en beseft dat de beide problemen tegelijk moeten worden aangepakt. Bij de voorstelling van het UNPD-rapport in het Conferentiecentrum van de VN in Addis Abeba, zei Abera Deressa, minister van Landbouw en Landelijke Ontwikkeling, dat de regering de ontwikkeling van agro-bosbouw (combinatie van bomen en struiken met gewassen en vee) en landbouwprojecten die het behoud van de natuurlijke balans beogen om op die manier de degradatie tegen te gaan, wil stimuleren. De minister onderstreepte dat bovenop de lopende inspanningen om de bestaande milieuproblemen op te lossen, bijkomende maatregelen zullen moeten genomen worden om de nieuwe milieuproblemen te verzachten die door klimaatverandering teweeg worden gebracht.

© All Africa, Biruk Girma, 26.02.08 (kdg)

In comparison with the SAARC countries, the poorest country is Bangladesh in contrast to our common perception. Survival probably is best in Sri Lanka though the country is under civil war for long. Illiteracy is highest in Bangladesh though Government and many NGOs are working in the field. State of sanitation is also worst except Bhutan. Percentage of undernourished children is astonishingly same and high in Bangladesh, Nepal and India at 48%.

(From UN Human Development Report 2007-08)

An ordinary citizen

1) living a long healthy life( measured by life expectancy)

2) being educated( measured by adult education and enrolment at primary, secondary and tertiary level)

3) having a decent standard of living ( measured by purchasing power parity)

The index is not a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not include gender and income inequality and it does not include the difficult measurements like respect for human life and political freedom. It actually provides a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being.

The HDI for Bangladesh is 0.547 with a rank of 140 I among 177 countries.

Following is a comparison of countries in South East Asia

Sri Lanka amid wars in the country is holding the best position in relation to HDI among the SAARC countries with life expectancy 71.6 years, adult literacy rate 90.7%. combined entry in primary, secondary and tertiary level 62.7% and GDP of 4595 US$. Bangladesh is holding sad sixth position with life expectancy of 63.1 years, adult literacy rate 47.3% which is far below the Sri Lanka and Maldives, institutional entries 56% which is highest at Maldives at 65.8% and the GDP per capita income is 2853 where Maldives and Sri Lanka have 5761 and 4595 respectively.

HDI gives a more complete picture of human development than income. The following figure depicts that where with lower income Congo and Bangladesh share the same position.

Most of the regions of the world are showing upward trend in HDI from 1990. The South East Asia and South Asia showed an accelerated progress. The exception is the Sub-Saharan countries because of catastrophic effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy.

Hope that Bangladesh will improve its standing in the coming years. (Source: UN Human Development Report 2007-2008)

An ordinary citizen

Jag var i Tanzania nyligen under ett utbrott av Rift Valley fever, en sjukdom som drabbar boskap och gör mängder av djur oätbara, en stor förlust för Afrikas jordbruk. Det faktum att det inte gick att köpa nötkött någonstans var ju ingen personlig förlust för mig men  det drabbar Tanzanier som lever på boskapsskötsel mycket hårt. Sjukdomar som Rift Valley fever och malaria m.fl. kan komma att bli vanligare, och de är en plåga för afrikaner redan idag, om inte utsläppen av växthusgaser minskar.Den positiva ekonomiska utvecklingen som trots allt sker i många afrikanska länder kan brytas och åter kasta in fler människor i fattigdom.

Allt detta har poängterats tydligt av IPCC och UNDP pekar på vikten av att de länder som står för de stora utsläppen idag och historiskt sett måste ta ansvar för att skära ner på dessa. Det är på många sätt en moralisk fråga. Det är inte värdigt mänkligheten att vi låter dem som inte har skapat problemet och som har minst möjlighet att skydda sig drabbas av effekterna.

De krafitga nedskärningar i utsläpp av växthusgaser (80 % till år 2050) som Human Development Report anser måste genomföras av de rika länderna, en fråga som för närvarande diskuteras på Bali, måste inledas nu! Nedskärningen måste dessutom åtföljas av kraftiga satsningar på förnyelsebar energi då tillgång till energi trots allt är en viktig fråga för de fattiga i Afrika söder om Sahara och givetvis för resten av världen. Jag hoppas verkligen att minstrarna på Bali har läst rapporten, inser allvaret och tar tag i frågan!

The Human Development Report for the year 2006 has been released. This year’s HDI refers to 2004.India has moved one step up to be ranked 126 among a total of 177 countries. [Last year India was ranked 127] India’s HDI rank falls under the category of ‘medium human development countries’.

The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as inequality and difficult to measure indicators like respect for human rights and political freedoms. What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being. Read more on HDI here.

HDI Rankings

Norway is ranked first in this year’s HDR report, while the USA is ranked 8th, Japan 7th, China 81st and Pakistan 134th. And Niger is ranked last at 177.

India: Human Development [A few indicators]

1) HDI Rank: 126

2) The population below income poverty line of 2$ per day is 79.9%, though as per the national poverty line it is 28.6%.

3) The HPI (Human Poverty Index) for the 102 developing countries rank India at 55.

4) The Annual Population growth rate is pegged at a rate of 1.3%. [2004-15]

5) The Public health expenditure of India as a percentage of GDP is 1.2%, while that of the private is 3.6%. [2003]

6) The percentage of total population who are undernourished is 20%. [2001/03]

7) Life expectancy at birth: 63.1 [2000-05]

8] Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births: 62 [2004]

9) The public expenditure on Education as a per cent of GDP is 3.3% [2002-04] which has fallen from 3.7% in 1991.

An irony

“Only 25% of the poorest households in developing countries have access to piped water in their homes as compared to 85% of the richest households.” Says HDR 2006.

The same report states that only 14% of people in India lack access to an improved water source. This implies that 86% of people in India have access to improved water, thereby rendering India almost in par with developed countries in terms of access to an improved water source. This figure has been definitely deflated. One of the major reasons for this deflated figure is due to lack of adequate and complete statistics.

Conclusions

The HDI alone or the GDP alone cannot give the real picture of any economy. Both the HDI and the GDP do not take into account the inequalities. India is a country which is characterised by stark inequalities in wealth, income, education, health, land etc. India is the land of the billionaires as well as people who go hungry everyday and the land where little children are forced to work.

The authorities’ rhetoric of trickle down effects of an 8% GDP will not work, due to lack of proper institutions to cater to the needs of the poor. Microfinance, an institution which is working needs to be implemented more effectively and in a transparent manner, because the misuse of Microfinance institutions can lead to more trouble than not having them at all.

The main focus of this year’s HDR is on the Water Crisis which is plaguing countries both developed and developing alike. Adverse effects of pollution, increased green house gases can be witnessed in unanticipated floods and droughts plaguing many countries. And in the last few years, we had to face the Tsunami which wreaked havoc. According to Developments, "97% of all the deaths from natural disasters are in poor countries".

The Indian populace has been repeatedly told that India is reducing its poverty and that it is well under 30%. They are right. [According to the official poverty line of a dollar per day] But keeping in mind the needs of the people for a decent livelihood, a family needs at least an income of 2000 rupees per month!

On the whole, there is nothing in the report that makes India proud. India needs to step up its expenditure specifically targeting education and health sectors. The draft to the 11th 5 year plan, speaks about inclusive growth, but adequate emphasis has not been given to sectors which need development.

References

1) Human Development Report 2006

Importance
HDI serves the following purposes.
• To capture the attention of policy makers, media and NGOs and to draw their attention away from the more usual economic statistics to focus instead on human outcomes. The HDI was created to re-emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth.
• To question national policy choices - asking how two countries with the same level of income per person can end up with such different human development outcomes (HDI levels). For example, Viet Nam and Pakistan have similar levels of income per person, but life expectancy and literacy differ greatly between the two countries, with Viet Nam having a much higher HDI value than Pakistan. These striking contrasts immediately stimulate debate on government policies on health and education, asking why what is achieved in one country is far from the reach of another.
• To highlight wide differences within countries, between provinces or states, across gender, ethnicity, and other socioeconomic groupings. Highlighting internal disparities along these lines has raised national debate in many countries.

Drawbacks
The HDI does not reflect political participation or gender inequalities. The HDI and the other composite indices can only offer a broad proxy on some of the key the issues of human development, gender disparity, and human poverty.

HD Report 2005
The US has been given the 10th rank, China 85th and India 127th rank. China and India falls in the category of medium human development while US in high human development.

Conclusion & suggestions
We have a long way to go in the path of human development. With more than 50% of population poor, we really have a long path. The government needs to put in more funds for developing backward areas and it has to seek the help of the private sector in this development process. Only a development process with public private partnership will be successful. India needs to reform its education sector mainly requires more qualified teachers who have to be given adequate remuneration. The current wages for teachers need to be revised. Education is an important tool for enhancing growth in a country and also the most efficient way.
For sustenance we need proper health care centres and good hospitals and medical colleges. We need to have efficient and innovative pharmaceutical companies who should be willing to reduce the exorbitant rates of medicines.
To enable connectivity, proper transport must be readily and cheaply available. Roads must be well laid and rural connectivity must be specifically implemented with haste.
The central, state and the local self governments need to work together to achieve high rates of human development and growth!

References
HDR 2005