Level and Pattern of Human Development in Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The composite index is formed in this study for evaluating the variation in the human development transversely the blocks of the district. The Human Development Index (HDI) of Paschim Medinipur has been calculated and premeditated on the basis of three basic indices, viz., education index, health index and economic livelihood index by using the methodology developed by the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) - the construction of the individual indices are elaborated in this study. These three indices have been combined together to formulate the Human Development Index (HDI) of different blocks in the district. Human development index has been prepared by giving equal weightage to education index, health index and economic livelihood index. Daspur II is ranked first in terms of human development index (0.772) followed by Daspur I and (0.728) and Ghatal (0.649). Nayagram has the lowest value of Human Development Index (0.423) precede by Jamboni (0.454) and Binpur II (0.479). In this regard the thematic mapping, geographical delineation and spatial pattern of the blocks as per Human Development Index (HDI) value give a complete perception about human development of different blocks in the district.