Abstract :
India has been characterized as a country with a low level of Human Development Index and
there are basic variations in the levels and trends of HDI in major states of India. This paper is an
attempt to explore several socioeconomic factors associated with human Development Index in
major states of India. Using quantitative secondary data collected from various databases and
regression & principal component analysis as statistical methods, study show that infant
mortality rate, incidence of poverty and marriage below age eighteen are also playing an
important role in reducing the value of HDI. The two dimensional plotting of variables show that
one group of variables including incidence of poverty, percent marriage below age eighteen and
households do not have latrine facility have located in negative quadrant explains negative
association with HDI and another cluster of socioeconomic indicators like per capita income,
literacy, female engaged in salaried work, share of urban population and household facilities like
electrification and telephone accessibility, which uplift the living standards are situated in
positive quadrants, suggesting positive association with HDI in India. Thus policy suggestion is
crystal clear that enlargement of women empowerment and household facilities are essential to
enhance the value of HDI in India. There is a cluster of states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, which is located in
the negative quadrant, suggesting lower status of socioeconomic development. Thus policies
affecting the economy of the state have to be outlined and implemented separately for each of the
homogeneous clusters and separate plan outlays have to be proposed according to the nature of the
problems and level of development of the cluster.
