A brief description and justification for inclusion of each indicator is given below.
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1. Female Literacy (7+ years): The female literacy for 7 years and above is taken for the computation
of the composite index. It is well known that female literacy is directly related to the level of social
development and it is one of the key variables in the developmental process. A high level of female
literacy is associated with low birth rate, a lower level of infant and child mortality and a higher use
of contraception.
2. Gender Disparity in Literacy: The gender disparity in literacy means that there is a male female
differential in literacy level. It is also related to the status of women. Gender disparity has been
computed as the ratio of female to male literacy multiplied by 100. The ratio varies between 0 to
100. The lower the index value, the higher the gender disparity and vice-versa.
3. Child Sex Ratio: Sex ratio has been used as an indicator of the status of women. The overall
sex ratio may be a good indicator at national and state levels. However, there are various factors
affecting the sex ratio of the population below the state level. Of these, migration by males plays
a greater role. This process reduces the sex ratio in the districts that receive male migrants and
increases sex ratio in those districts that send out male migrants. Therefore, districts having a
higher sex ratio (more females per 1000 males) will not necessarily be a developed one. Many poor
districts from where large numbers of males migrate to an already crowded urban agglomeration
for employment show more females. Further, the sex ratio of the population in 2001 is the legacy
of the past many years and does not indicate the situation of today or development that has taken
place in the very near past. It is therefore, difficult to say whether the sex ratio of population would
be a good indicator at district level. Rather, the sex ratio of the 0-6 population is least affected by
migration and reflects changes that have taken place in the near past. Child sex ratio is defined as
the number of girls per thousand boys in the age group of population between 0-6 years. Thus the
sex ratio of 0–6 children has been considered for computing the composite index.
4. Proportion of Population in 0-6 years Age Group: Children in the 0-6 year age group are those
who have survived during the last six years. The higher the proportion of children in a district, the
higher is likely to be the birth rate and vice versa. This proportion is preferred as compared to the
decadal growth rate. The growth rate has two components - natural increase and net migration.
While natural increase is likely to be negatively related to development, the relationship between
migration and development may not be so. The overall growth rate therefore may not show a
clear relationship with development. A similar argument also holds true for the overall sex ratio of
population in a district.
At district level, population growth rate is very sensitive to even a small change in these components.
Generally, it has been observed that low development in a district leads to a large out-migration
of males, so population growth remains low. At the same time, developed districts attract a large
volume of labour and therefore, may have higher growth rate. So, population growth rate may
not be a good indicator at the district level. In place of this, the proportion of population in 0-6
years will be a good indicator. It reflects the survival of births during the last six years and may
approximate current fertility and therefore, has been used in the present exercise.