Appraisal of education, Health, Physical and Financial Infrastructure Development in Himachal Pradesh
Education
Himachal Pradesh was under the direct control of the British colonial rule in the mid 19th century. Also, the state was the summer capital of India during the British colonial rule. Hence, the standard of education provided in the state has reached to a considerably high level. The state has several highly reputed educational institutions for higher studies. The Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), NIT Hamirpur are some of the pioneer institutions located in the state. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has allocated Rs 45 million to Himachal Pradesh University in the 10th plan which is an increase of nearly 70% over the ninth one. Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry has gained a unique distinction not only in the nation but also in whole of Asia for imparting teaching, research and extension education in horticulture, forestry and allied disciplines.
The government is working constantly to prepare various plans to strengthen the education system of Himachal. The state government has decided to start up with 3 major nursing colleges to develop the health system in the state.Himachal has one of the highest literacy rates in India. Hamirpur District is among the top districts in the country for literacy. Education rates among women are quite encouraging in the state. Himachal Pradesh is home to many educational institutions offering a wide variety of courses. There are five universities, two medical colleges, four dental colleges and two engineering colleges in the state. There are over 10,000 primary schools, 1,000 secondary schools and more than 1,300 high schools in Himachal. Hindi and English are compulsory languages in schools whereas Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu are chosen as optional languages.
Himachal Pradesh can be broadly divided into two distinct regions based on geo-morphological and climatic features. Seven districts namely: Chamba, Lahaul & Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur, Kullu and Mandi are characterised by high mountains of the relatively younger Himalayan Range — though a few parts of Kullu, Mandi and Sirmaur districts have valleys and broad ridges. The climate in these districts ranges from temperate in the valleys, lower hills and ridges, to arctic in the higher mountains. This second region has plains, wide valleys and low hills and comprises of the districts of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Solan and Una. The climate in this region varies from the tropical to the sub-tropical. These districts are quite close to the relatively developed urban centres of Punjab and Haryana and the population of this region is exposed to the dynamics of a fast changing society and an altering economic environment. Noticeably, the geographical features have had far reaching economic implications. In the geography, one can trace the origin of inter- and intra-regional inequalities.
The region with higher mountains is termed as the ‘High Mountain Horse Shoe’ (HMHS) — this term is derived from the horseshoe shape it forms; and the other region is referred to as the ‘Low Hills and Plains’ (LHP). The HMHS is a relatively thinly populated area as compared to the LHP, which has population density that is more than the State’s average.
Health
Since the launch of NRHM in 2005, the state of Himachal Pradesh initiated systematic and integrated policy changes in relation to recruitment, placement and manpower development which have made it possible to staff most of the institutions in focus districts and difficult areas of the state. Recruitment of Medical Officers has been lined with eligibility for Post Graduation and the differential pay structure (with higher monetary incentive to serve in tribal and inaccessible areas) has been adopted besides other positive, enabling HR policies to ensure availability of Medical Officers and Staff Nurses in remotest parts of the state. This has led to qualitative improvement in health care service delivery.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Health and Family Welfare Department provides health services through its network of 90 civil hospitals, 66 community health centres, 439 primary health centres, 22 civil/ESI dispensaries and 2,069 sub-centres. The state government is strengthening the existing medical infrastructure by providing modern equipment and specialised services as well as increasing the strength of the medical and paramedical staff in the medical institutions.
The delivery of primary health care is the foundation of rural health care system and forms an integral part of the national health care system. Primary health care services include primary health centres , sub-centres, other health services, school health schemes and family welfare. Primary health care is essential health care made universally accessible and acceptable to individuals, through their full participation and at a cost the community and country can afford. It is the first level of health care available to all people. While it integrates promotive, preventive and curative services, it is also conceived as an integral part of the process of socio-economic development of a community. Secondary care services include Employees State Insurance Schemes (ESIS), Central Government Health Schemes (CGHS), hospitals and dispensaries, community health centres, ayurveda and other systems of medicine.
The primary health care infrastructure has been developed as a three tier system and is based on the following population norms. For a sub-centre, the population norms are 5000 in plain areas and 3000 in the hilly areas. For a primary health centre, the population norms are 30,000 in plain areas and 20,000 in hilly/tribal areas. As far as community health centres are concerned the respective population norms are 1,20,000 and 80,000.
The first level of service is provided by the sub-centres as a link between the primary health centres and the villages. As per national norms two multipurpose workers (MPW), one male and one female cater to the health needs of about 5,000 to 8,000 population. The major activities of a sub-centre are dispensing medicines, conducting regular diagnostic exercises and weekly clinics. For periodical survey of clinics, the block health supervisor and the primary health centre doctors visit sub-centres.
The primary health centre at the block level is a key institution in the primary health care approach between the village community and the medical officer. These centres are established and maintained by state governments under the Minimum Needs Programme. Previously, each primary health centre covered population up to one lakh and more. However, the government has made an attempt to bring down the population covered by a PHC to 30,000 in plain areas and to 20,000 in hilly / tribal areas by the beginning of the Eighth Five Year Plan. A primary health centre is manned by two medical officers – one male and one female supported by the para medical and other staff. It acts as a referral unit for 6 sub-centres and has provision for 4 to 6 beds for inpatients. The main activities of primary health centre involve curative, preventive, promotive and family welfare services.
The governement of Himachal Pradesh has taken first step to provide universal health coverage to its people. Honorable Chief Minister Mr. Virbhadra Singh has announced the new scheme “Himachal Pradesh Universal Health Protection Scheme” in his budget speech 2016-17 on March 8th 2016. The Scheme will cover the all persons who are not enrolled under RSBY, Mukhya Mantri State Health Care Scheme or any other medical reimbursement schemes. The scheme is launched in order to improve the accessibility and affordability to health care services to people the the State. The beneficiaries will require to pay Rs. 1 per day i.e. Rs. 365 per annum for their health protection.
Physical and financial infrastructure
The robust industrial growth witnessed by the state after the announcement of Industrial Policy 2003 has changed the landscape of the economy and led to wide spread establishment of large and medium scale enterprises apart from the small scale industries. This has generated large scale employment; however the potential is expected to be much higher. In order to harness the true potential of the economic growth in terms of employment generation, HPIDB (Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board) intends to identify the gaps in human resource availability and initiate necessary interventions to ensure the sustainability of industry and employability of workforce.
Availability of high quality industrial infrastructure is most essential for sustaining and accelerating industrial growth. The Industry Department of the State has developed 41 industrial areas and 15 industrial estates in different districts with basic amenities as roads, power, sewerage, water and communication. During the period 2003-07, around USD 22.7 million has been spent on the development of industrial infrastructure in the state. One growth centre has been developed at Sansarpur Terrace in Kangra district on an area of approximately 1,000 acres with an estimated cost of USD 52 million. An export promotion industrial park, with an investment of USD 47 million, has been developed at Baddi by the Union Ministry of Commerce.
In the future, the Department of Industries proposes to set up an apparel park, industry clusters, agriexport zones (AEZ), and special economic zones (SEZ). Effective implementation of the existing and proposed schemes and programmes, encouragement of private sector participation in infrastructure development, and simplification of procedures are necessary to ensure accelerated industrial growth in the state.
Some industrial development agencies, viz., Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), have identified a few rural industrial clusters for further development. A bee-keeping cluster has been promoted by KVIB in Kullu. A cluster for steel and wooden furniture in Mandi district and a cluster for bamboo in Kangra district are under consideration. NABARD and SIDBI have identified clusters for metal, woodcraft, wool weaving and Tibetan handicrafts in Kullu district. Some of the District Industries Centres of the Industry Department have recommended activities, which could be viable under the industrial cluster program.
Himachal Pradesh has 20 commercial banks operating in the state, of which eight are private sector banks. Deposits and advances of all banks in the state have increased significantly over the period from September 2014 to September 2015, registering a growth rate of 22.5 per cent and 15.4 per cent, respectively.
he World Bank will support the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in its efforts to spend money more efficiently by improving the financial planning, budgeting and accounting of public funds in key government departments.
With higher devolution of central funds to the states, the $36 million loan for the Himachal Pradesh Public Financial Management Capacity Building Program, approved today, will help the state government put in place systems for better economic planning and budget management in four key departments of Finance, Excise and Taxation, Irrigation and Public Health, and the Department of Information Technology.
The program will help the departments put in place an architecture that will support them to execute their budget more efficiently; modernize their entire payment systems in order to reduce the turnaround time in delivering services to other departments/citizens; improve the contract management processes; scale up the IT infrastructure to provide online services to the citizens; and enable more efficient tax assessment procedures such that the revenue expenditure of the state is monitored and managed more effectively.