India
Chennai, ranking fourth, is trailing behind three districts — Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar and Thoothukudi.
Updated : Jul 30, 2017, 07:25 AM IST
Chennai may be one of the top metropolitan cities in the country, but the city's rank in the latest Tamil Nadu Human Development (TNHD) Report 2017 is not so good.
Chennai, ranking fourth, is trailing behind three districts — Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar and Thoothukudi.
The TNHD Report ranks all 32 districts in the state based on the human development index, which is calculated using per capita income, life expectancy, literacy rate, and gross enrollment ratio in primary and secondary schools.
The previous TNHD report 2003 indicated that Chennai, Kancheepuram, Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi, and Coimbatore were the top five districts in the state. The new report reveals that Kanyakumari has achieved the top position, while Virudhunagar made its entry removing Coimbatore from the top five districts.
The report prepared by the State Planning Commission has brought out glaring regional disparities in the overall human development index (HDI).
"Clearly, interventions in the low-ranking districts need to be more broad-based, as opposed to designing sector-specific interventions in districts such as Tiruppur that have high living standards, but without comparable attainments in health or education," the report said.
It added that high per capita income does not necessarily translate into high HDI, unless accompanied by investments made in the education, health and other social sectors.
Virudhunagar's rise to the top has been primarily due to its relatively higher per capita income which in turn can be attributed to the spread of small scale industries such as printing and fireworks, and also a vibrant agricultural marketing economy, the report said.
Districts Index
Kanyakumari 0.944
Virudhunagar 0.855
Thoothukudi 0.852
Chennai 0.847
Kancheepuram 0.845
Districts Index
Thiruvarur 0.568
Villupuram 0.561
Theni 0.539
Perambalur 0.447
Ariyalur 0.282