India needs to progress on human development index: Amitabh Kant

New Delhi [India] April 25 (ANI): Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant has said India needs to progress on human development index while stressing that several Indian states remain backward on human development indicators due to legacy issues.

He further said that India's eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index while stressing that there is need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well.

"I had stated India's eastern states have done remarkably well on Ease of Doing Business Index. We need to repeat this on Human Development Index. Several states of India remain backward on human development indicators because of legacy issues," he said.

He underlined that government's aspirational districts programme aims to correct this by focusing on education, health and nutrition on real-time basis.

"Focus of the programme is to improve India's rank in Human Development Index, raising living standards of citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all," Kant said.

Kant's statement comes days after he said the states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh were keeping India backward, while southern and western region of the country were growing rapidly.

Earlier on Monday, while delivering lecture at Jamia Millia Islamia University, Kant said, "Eastern part of India, particularly States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is keeping India backward especially on social indicators. While we have improved on ease of doing business, we have remained backward on human development index. We are still 131 out of 188 countries in Human Development Index."

Kant also faced criticism on Twitter over his comment as all these States are under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. In Bihar, the BJP has a coalition with the Janata Dal (United). (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI