Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) A senior government official Monday suggested that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) include additional parameters to prepare data relating to migration for its Human Development Index.
“Some of India’s data seem to show a small percent of population as migration,” said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia here while releasing a UNDP report, “Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development”.

Suggesting that the report include other parameters for checking internal migration within a country, Ahluwalia said: “If you compare our internal migration with China’s, it is much lower. It is important to know migration within countries.”

He also suggested that the UNDP “look at how the report is perceived around the world”, adding: “They should come out with these reactions also.”

Ahluwalia was referring to census data on internal migration — from one state to another in India — that represented 4.1 percent of migrants.

On the other hand, migration from place of birth to another place stood at around 307 million.

In the latest Human Development Index that was released globally Monday, India has been ranked 134 among 182 countries.

The ranking clearly showed India has slipped in comparative terms in ensuring a better quality of life for its citizens as in the previous index, published for 2007 and 2008 together, it ranked 128, while the position the year before was 126.

Normally published annually since 1990, the index goes beyond a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) to measure the general well-being of people under a host of parameters, such as poverty levels, literacy and gender-related issues.