Ch'nagar slowly inching away from the 'backward' tag

Chamarajanagar district, which was in the 25th position in the list of backward districts all these years, is now in the 22nd place, according to a draft of the Human Development Index (HDI), submitted to the government.

The district, which was in 24th place in the year 1991, dipped to 25th place in the year 2001. According to the report prepared for the year 2014, Chamarajanagar district now stands in the 22nd place.The objective of the Human Development Index is to find out the overall development of the district.

The assesment includes financial, social, cultural and political growth. The HDI plays a major role in upgrading the standard of living of the people.

Based on the HDI report, the government chalks out various programmes for the benefit of the people. HDI also highlights the failures of the government projects. Prof M Devaraj and Dr H R Kumar of University of Mysore have prepared the draft of the HDI.

A district committee comprising Zilla Panchayat members had given approval to the same, and the draft has been submitted to the government. The draft is based on the standard of living, health and educational standards. As per the draft, Kollegal taluk tops the list in maintaining the living standards, followed by Chamarajanagar, Yalandur and Gundlupet taluks. Kollegal again tops in the education sector, followed by Chamarajanagar, Gundlupet and Yalandur.

In Health, Chamarajanagar taluk tops the list, followed by Kollegal, Gundlupet and Yalandur taluks. The draft also suggests the guidelines to be followed while preparing government schemes, and also expose the government projects to the beneficiaries. The report confirms once again that only 23.46 per cent of houses have toilets constructed under Nirmala Bharatha Abhiyan. Shockingly, around 76.54 per cent families are still resorting to open defecation, it said.

School dropouts

The report stresses that necessary steps be taken to retain students of primary and middle school and prevent school dropouts, which is 5.36 per cent in Chamarajanagar taluk, 3.87 pc in Gundlupet, and 3.51 pc in Kollegal.

Malnutrition

According to the draft, 31.70 pc children are suffering from malnutrition in the district, while around 67.96 per cent of pregnant women are affected from anaemia. Child mortality rate is in the ratio of 39:1,000.