Level of Human Development in Cooch Behar District of West Bengal, India

 

Dr. Piyal Basu Roy¹ , Anup Sen²

¹Associate  Professor and Head,  Department of Geography, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Vivekananda Street, PO & Dist-Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India PIN-736101

 

ABSTRACT:

Assessment of the level of human development in an area is highly essential to know about the overall quality of that area from different perspectives. Three aspects that are considered to assess the level of human development are healthy and creative life, education, and access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. Many other aspects are also considered, like environmental sustainability, equality between men and women etc. while measuring the level of human development. An attempt has been made in the study to analyse the inter-block disparity in terms of human development in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, India. To obtain the status of human development in the study area, secondary have been used followed by application of few statistical techniques. In addition, a few indicators like Health Index, Education attainment Index (EIA), and Standard of living Index based on Net Per capita and selected Infrastructure have been unveiled to find out spatial variation of human development in Cooch Behar district. Results show significant spatial variation in the field of Health index, Education Attainment index (EIA) and Standard of living index across the district. All of these indices have influenced the varied level of human development in the district.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Human Development Index (HDI) is a tool for measuring the level of human development across the countries. It is a widely accepted tool devised by United Nations (UN) to determine the level of socio-economic development of people of different countries. Since human development and economic growth are closely intertwined, attention is being paid in all type of policy formulations across the nations. To achieve satisfactory level of human development, three basic aspects of life have been taken into consideration viz. Long and healthy life; knowledge and decent standard of living. Long and healthy life refers to life expectancy of population at birth whereas knowledge is meant by educational attainment by the people of a country and a decent standard of living is indicated by real Gross Domestic production (GDP) per capita index. These indices are applied while measuring the level of human development and subsequently in preparing the reports on human

 

development. The Human Development Reports thus attempt to take on the task of incorporating the view of human being as ends in the accounting and assessment of development¹.

 

West Bengal, an Indian state, significantly ruled by communist Government for more than a quarter of a century and presently ruling by non-left Government has become one of the growing states in terms of income². In terms of human development, the state is somewhat in the middle of all Indian states. As there has been prevailing strong division in terms of economic responsibility between central and state governments in India, disparity exists significantly across the states. This is because of the federal structure of the nation whereas states enjoy limited power in terms of resource mobilization. The structure of human development in different districts in West Bengal has been remarkably affected by the macroeconomic conditions of the state.

 

Cooch Behar, ruled initially the Royal Koch dynasty is one of the least populous districts of West Bengal. The area is characterised by significant share of schedule caste and minority population. In the study, an endeavour has been made to prepare an index for a comprehensive study of spatial variation in terms of the well being of common population living in the district of Cooch Behar bearing mixed characteristics in its population composition.

 

OBJECTIVES:

The study includes the flowing objectives-

1.    To identify the spatial variation of health index in Cooch Behar district

2.    To find out the spatial difference in terms of educational attainment index in Cooch Behar district.

3.    To study varied Net Per Capita Index values of different blocks in Cooch Behar district

4.    To explain spatial variation of infrastructure index in Cooch Behar district

5.    To highlight the inter block disparities in terms of standard of living of Cooch Behar district.

6.    To identify developed, moderately developed and less developed blocks of Cooch Behar district based on human development index.

 

STUDY AREA:

Cooch Behar district is located in the north eastern part of the state of West Bengal between 26°32'46'' N latitude to 25°57'6'' N latitude and 89°52' E to 88°45'02'' E longitude. The district is enclosed by Alipurduar district in north, Bangladesh in south, Assam in the east and Jalpaiguri district in the west. The total area of the district is 3386 km² having 28,227,80 population with a population density of 833 per km² as per census report, 2011. The main towns of the district are Cooch Behar, Dinhata, Tufanganj, Mathabhanga, Mekhliganj, and Haldibari.

 

DATABASE AND METHODS:

The study is based on secondary data sets that have been collected from District Statistical Handbook, Primary Census Abstract and Human Development Reports of West Bengal. Calculations have been made in order to obtain Health Index, Education Attainment Index, Net Per Capita Index, Infrastructure Index and Standard of Living Index of Cooch Behar district. The Human Development Index has finally been prepared by calculating simple average of these three indices. All the indices have been cartographically represented with the help of Arc GIS 10.4 software to make the entire study easily understandable.

 

THE HEALTH INDEX:

Health has been considered as one of the important aspects of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for a country, but it is too hard to measure the status of health at block level because of scarcity of available data for measuring the level of health. Life expectancy at birth is the main parameter for measuring the health condition of the concerned population⁴. Here, to identify the health status, an index has been prepared based on Health centre density, availability of doctors and Beds in Hospitals. The Health Index has been prepared by averaging the mentioned three parameters.

 

THE EDUCATION ATTAINMENT INDEX:

Literacy and enrolment in educational institution are the two basic aspects that determine the status of primary level of education. Literacy is not only essential for improving individual’s quality but also help to eradicate poverty and mental isolation for cultivating peaceful and friendly relation that finally influence level of human development³. Education attainment index is basically the combination of total literacy index and combined enrolment index. The Education Attainment Index (EAI) has been calculated based on the formula used in Human Development Report of  West Bengal (2004) that consists of a weighted average of two third weights to total literacy rate divided by one third weight to combined enrolment index.

 

The Standard of Living Index:

Standard of living means better way of living. It is the enhancement of the capability to live better and richer lives, through more freedom and opportunity⁵. The standard of living index has been obtained based on net per capita values generated by major crops and number of mouzas having drinking water facility and electricity in Cooch Behar district.

 

Net Per Capita Index:

Per capita income is a board quantitative indicator for public welfare. Net per capita has been obtained total value of major crops and population of the block.

 

Infrastructure Index:

The physical, organizational structural facilities like electricity, drinking water facility, etc are important indicators to measure the infrastructure index. Infrastructure index has been obtained by flowing formula-

 

Infrastructure Index = (Drinking water facility Index + Electrified mouzas index)

Human Development Index

Human Development Index (HDI) is a tool that measures the rank of different countries based on certain parameters like health, education, and standard of living. It may be used the level of human development of micro level also. The HDI has been calculated different dimension values that is-

 

HDI = 1/3(Health Index + Education Attainment Index + Standard of Living Index)

 

Dimension Index

Each indicator of HDI is defined as a dimension. The HDI rests within a minimum and a maximum value for each dimension and  the value should range between ‘0’ to ‘1’. The general method for manipulation each dimension index is

 

Dimension Index = (Actual value – Minimum value) ÷ (Maximum value - Minimum value)

 

 

 

 

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

Table: 1, Health Index of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Health centre/ 10km2	Number of Doctors/000 population	Availability of Beds/ 000 Population	Health Index
Cooch Behar-I	0.11	0.02	0.2	0.11
Cooch Behar-II	0.26	0.05	0.61	0.3
Dinhata-I	0.07	0.01	0.07	0.05
Dinhata-II	0.2	0.02	0.16	0.13
Sitai	0.19	0.04	0.23	0.15
Mathabhanga-I	0.06	0.01	0.05	0.04
Mathabhanga-II	0.13	0.04	0.16	0.11
Sitalkuchi	0.11	0.03	0.14	0.09
Mekhliganj	0.1	0.03	0.19	0.11
Haldibari	0.2	0.01	0.14	0.12
Tufanganj-I	0.13	0.02	0.09	0.08
Tufanganj-II	0.11	0.03	0.13	0.09

Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

The block wise health index of Cooch Behar district shows significant spatial variation across the district. The blocks have been categorised into three groups viz. Developed, Moderately Developed and Less developed (Table-1). The blocks belonging to these categories are given hereunder:

 

Developed:

 (0.15-0.30): Cooch Behar II

Moderately Developed:

(0.09-0.15): Cooch Behar I, Dinhata II, Sitai, Mathabhanga II, Mekhliganj, Haldibari

 

Less Developed:

(0-0.09): Dinhata I , Mathabhanga I , Sitalkuchi, Tufanganj I and Tufanganj II

 

 

 

Table: 2, Educational Attainment Index of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Enrolment in Primary School	Enrolment in Middle School	Enrolment in High School	Enrolment in Higher Secondary School	Combined Enrolment Index(CEI)	Total Literacy Index(TLI)	Educational Attainment Index(EAI)
Cooch Behar-I	1	1	1	1	1	0.67	0.78
Cooch Behar-II	0.87	0.4	0.45	0.62	0.59	0.72	0.68
Dinhata-I	0.75	0.3	0.5	0.34	0.47	0.64	0.58
Dinhata-II	0.63	0.2	0.45	0.21	0.37	0.63	0.54
Sitai	0	0	0.1	0	0.03	0.54	0.37
Mathabhanga-I	0.53	0.6	0.1	0.45	0.42	0.61	0.55
Mathabhanga-II	0.52	0	0.1	0.28	0.22	0.63	0.49
Sitalkuchi	0.35	0.7	0.2	0.21	0.36	0.61	0.53
Mekhliganj	0.32	0.6	0	0.24	0.29	0.58	0.48
Haldibari	0.17	0	0	0.17	0.09	0.6	0.43
Tufanganj-I	0.61	0.7	0.4	0.48	0.55	0.65	0.62
Tufanganj-II	0.45	0.8	0.2	0.24	0.42	0.67	0.59

Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

The Educational Attainment Index (EAI) shows a little variation among the blocks of Cooch Behar district (Table-2)

 

The blocks have been classified into three categories viz. Developed, Moderately Developed and Less developed.

 

Developed: (0.62-0.78): Cooch Behar I , Cooch Behar II

 

Moderately Developed (0.49-0.62): Mathabhanga I, Sitalkuchi, Dinhata I, Dinhata II, Tufanganj I and Tufanganj II

Less Developed: (0.39-0.49): Haldibari, Mekhliganj, Mathabhanga II, Sitai

 

 

Table: 3 , Net Per Capita Index Value based on Crop Production of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Total rice production in Metric Tonnes	Per Capita	Wheat in Metric Tonnes	Per Capita	Jute in Metric Tonnes	Per Capita	Net Per Capita	Index of Per Capita
Cooch Behar-I	48265	1774	8233	378	171309	18360	20512	0.441
Cooch Behar-II	65472	2284	673	29	148970	15161	17474	0.372
Dinhata-I	74375	3117	250	13	92893	11357	14487	0.305
Dinhata-II	50461	2481	1273	78	131929	18919	21478	0.463
Sitai	29736	3234	133	18	28775	9128	12380	0.257
Mathabhanga-I	67965	3737	358	24	64070	10277	14038	0.295
Mathabhanga-II	57950	3058	377	24	70245	10811	13893	0.291
Sitalkuchi	58066	3759	10	0.8	178001	33611	37371	0.822
Mekhliganj	37798	2921	2668	257	29796	6717	9895	0.201
Haldibari	23899	2758	408	58	28457	9589	12405	0.258
Tufanganj-I	49356	2382	5429	327	49247	6933	9642	0.195
Tufanganj-II	43336	2785	3771	302	35134	6585	9672	0.196

Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

The Net Per Capita Index again shows varied character. The blocks have been divided into three categories representing part of status of living standard of people. The obtained values of per capita index of different blocks have been grouped into three categories viz. Developed, Moderately Developed and Less Developed and the following blocks belong to these categories (Table-3).

 

Developed:

(0.465-0.822) : Sitalkuchi

 

Moderately Developed:

(0.305-0.463): Cooch Behar I, Cooch Behar II, Dinhata II,

 

Less Developed:

(0.195-0.305): Sitai, Mathabhanga I,Mathabhanga II,  Mekhliganj, Haldibari

 

Dinhata I, Tufanganj I and Tufanganj II,

 

Table:4 , Infrastructure Index of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Percentage of Electrified Mouzas	Index	Percentage of Drinking Water Facilitated Mouzas	Index	Infrastructure Index
Cooch Behar-I	100	1	100	1	2
Cooch Behar-II	100	1	100	1	2
Dinhata-I	99	0.99	98	0.98	1.97
Dinhata-II	100	1	99	0.99	1.99
Sitai	98	0.98	100	1	1.98
Mathabhanga-I	99	0.99	99	0.99	1.98
Mathabhanga-II	97	0.97	99	0.99	1.96
Sitalkuchi	97	0.97	97	0.97	1.93
Mekhliganj	78	0.76	82	0.8	1.56
Haldibari	98	0.98	94	0.93	1.91
Tufanganj-I	99	0.99	99	0.99	1.98
Tufanganj-II	98	0.98	100	1	1.98

Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

The infrastructure index calculated for different blocks of Cooch Behar district bears a little variation among the blocks (Table-4). Although the index values are nearer to each other, three categories have been identified as Developed, Moderately Developed and Less Developed.

 

Developed:

(1.93-2.0) : Cooch Behar I,  Cooch Behar II, Dinhata I, Dinhata II, Sitai, Mathabhanga I, Mathabhanga II, Tufanganj I and Tufanganj II

Moderately Developed:

Haldibari , Sitalkuchi

 

Less Developed:

(0.00-1.56): Mekhliganj

 

 

Table: 5 , Standard of Living Index of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Index of Per Capita	Infrastructure Index	Standard of Living Index (SLI)
Cooch Behar-I	0.441	2	0.961
Cooch Behar-II	0.372	2	0.915
Dinhata-I	0.305	1.97	0.86
Dinhata-II	0.463	1.99	0.972
Sitai	0.257	1.98	0.831
Mathabhanga-I	0.295	1.98	0.857
Mathabhanga-II	0.291	1.96	0.847
Sitalkuchi	0.822	1.93	1.191
Mekhliganj	0.201	1.56	0.654
Haldibari	0.258	1.91	0.809
Tufanganj-I	0.195	1.98	0.79
Tufanganj-II	0.196	1.98	0.791

Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

 

The standard of living index of different blocks shows variation in terms of their index values. Based on the obtained values, three groups have been identified viz. Developed, Moderately Developed and Less Developed and the blocks belonging to these categories are -

 

Developed:

(0.915-1.191): Sitalkuchi, Cooch Behar I, Dinhata II

 

Moderately Developed:

(0.791-0.915):  Cooch Behar II, Dinhata I, Sitai, Mathabhanga I, Mathabhanga II,  Haldibari,

 

Less Developed:

(0.654-0.791): Mekhliganj, Tufanganj I and Tufanganj II

 

 

 

Table: 5 , Human Development Index of Cooch Behar District

Blocks	Health Index	Educational Attainment Index(EAI)	Standard of Living Index (SLI)	Human Development Index
Cooch Behar-I	0.11	0.78	0.961	0.62
Cooch Behar-II	0.3	0.68	0.915	0.63
Dinhata-I	0.05	0.58	0.86	0.50
Dinhata-II	0.13	0.54	0.972	0.55
Sitai	0.15	0.37	0.831	0.45
Mathabhanga-I	0.04	0.55	0.857	0.48
Mathabhanga-II	0.11	0.49	0.847	0.48
Sitalkuchi	0.09	0.53	1.191	0.60
Mekhliganj	0.11	0.48	0.654	0.41
Haldibari	0.12	0.43	0.809	0.45
Tufanganj-I	0.08	0.62	0.79	0.50
Tufanganj-II	0.09	0.59	0.791	0.49

 Source: Calculated by Authors

 

 

 

Human Development Index values of different block of Cooch Behar district have been divided into three groups viz. Developed, Moderately developed, less developed. There is little variation among the values of HDI and Cooch Behar II block secures the highest rank (0.63) whereas Mekhliganj block scores lowest (0.41) in terms of overall human development in different blocks of Cooch Behar district.

 

Developed:

(0.55-0.63): Cooch Behar I, Cooch Behar II, Sitalkuchi

 

Moderately Developed:

(0.45-0.55): Dinhata I, Dinhata II, Tufanganj I , Tufanganj II, Mathabhanga I, Mathabhanga II

 

Less Developed:

 (0.41-0.45): Mekhliganj, Haldibari, , Sitai 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

Three blocks namely Cooch Behar I, Cooch Behar II and Sitalkuchi are most developed blocks in terms of human development in the Cooch Behar district. This is because of their central location in the district along with the services provided by the district Headquarter i.e. Cooch Behar located in Cooch Behar I block. In addition, the level of Human development is comparatively higher in these blocks due to developed health infrastructure, advanced educational status, higher per capita income and better standard of living. Blocks adjacent to these three blocks are moderately developed because of their semi urban location, lesser level of infrastructure, education and standard of living as compared to the centrally located blocks. Three blocks namely Mekhliganj, Haldibari and Sitai, located away from the central Cooch Behar are least developed in the field of human development. This is because of their agricultural based economic activity, poor per capita income, educational and infrastructural backwardness. It is quite clear that human development in the district of Cooch Behar has been taken place in and around the district Headquarter as most of the facilities are available there and people of good economic and educational status reside in this zone. Therefore, to spread the human development across the district, a decentralised planning for infrastructure development particularly health and education is highly essential.

 

 

 

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