Giving Compass' Take:

• Swagata Yadavar from India Development Review discusses how reducing gender and income inequality in India is a necessary development to help the economy. 

• In what ways can funders in India and the US provide support in this area? What role does education philanthropy play?

• Here's how India is trying to achieve slum-free cities.

India lags many of its south Asian neighbours on the human development index (HDI) primarily because of inequalities, said a recent report by the United Nations Development Fund. These inequalities, in turn, hamper India’s economic growth.

India ranked 130 out of 189 countries on the 2018 HDI index with a score of 0.640 which places it in the “medium” category of development. It fared worse than Sri Lanka (HDI 0.77, rank 76) and China (0.75, 86) but better than Pakistan (0.56 and 150), Nepal (0.57, 149) and Bangladesh (0.68, 136).

India lost out 26.8 points on the index due to inequalities while the south Asian average for this factor is 26.1 points. Since human development index is driven by health, education and income, India would have to focus on excelling on these fronts to progress economically and reduce inequalities.

Read the full article about development in India by Swagata Yadavar at India Development Review.