Indian dismay over UN ranking

India is praised for avoiding famine in adverse situations

By Satish Jacob BBC Delhi correspondent

India is unhappy at its ranking in the latest UN Human Development Report, which puts it at 124th among 172 countries.

The Minister for Human Resources, Murli Manohar Joshi, found it inexplicable for India, the world's largest democracy, to get such a low ranking.

The report heavily criticises the situation of women

In his opinion, the report may have been formulated by using only material development as the basis and ignoring spiritual happiness and intellectual advances.

The report is highly critical about social development issues, especially focusing on the situation of women and health issues.

It says of the 100, 0000 missing women in the world, half of them were in India.

It quotes a survey recently carried out in India which found 10,000 cases of female infanticide a year.

India's progress

However, the report goes on to acknowledge India's progress in many spheres.

Discussing the food situation, the report said that since independence there has been no recurrence of famine, in spite of the fact that the country has suffered drought frequently.

It went on to say that in every incident the government tackled the situation well to avoid famine.

India's judicial system is also praised in the report.

The report says the tug-of-war between the judiciary fighting to stay autonomous and political parties and the executive is a continuing feature of India political life.

Regional countries

India's ranking is only slightly better than Pakistan, which is 138th, but Sri Lanka finds a much higher position at 89.

Bangladesh's ranking is 145th, Nepal occupies 142nd position, while Bhutan is two steps up at 140.

The report has sought to measure quality of life, taking factors such as per capital income, education, literacy, liberty and life expectancy into account.