Bhubaneswar, March 27: The progress report on human development in Orissa is out, raising several questions for the Naveen Patnaik government.

The report, drawn up by the Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies in collaboration with the UNDP and the Planning Commission, reveals that Orissa?s economy is growing, but at a slow pace.

The relative per capita income of Orissa has declined vis-?-vis the other less-developed states in the second half of the Nineties. The per capita income of Orissa was 76 per cent of the national figure in 1981-82, which dropped to 55 per cent by 1999-2000.

The report reveals that the relative growth rate of the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) has been unsatisfactory. The long-term (1950-51 to 1989-90) NSDP growth rate has been only 2.7 per cent per annum and that of per capita NSDP 0.67 per cent.

Though the incidence of poverty has reduced from 69 per cent in 1973-74 to 47 per cent in 1999-2000, he poverty ratio in Orissa is the highest in the country. The report notes that poverty is an overwhelmingly rural phenomenon in the state. Besides, there is a sharp regional difference in the incidence of poverty in the state, it observes.

Releasing it on Thursday in the city, the chief minister said the government intended the report to be an independent and objective assessment of human development conditions in the state. ?It can be seen as a benchmark study against which future attainments in respect of human development can be judged,? he maintained.

In terms of the human development index (HDI), Orissa occupied the 11th position among 15 major Indian states in 2001, ahead of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar. Though the relative position did not improve between 1981 and 2001, the absolute value of HDI increased by as much as 51 per cent.

The government?s efforts in the field of food security have failed to yield the desired results, the report shows.

Orissa has been included in the category of ?severely food insecure regions?. This has been attributed primarily to a vulnerable population with poor livelihood access or livelihoods susceptible to natural disasters like cyclones.

In short, poor growth performance (particularly in agriculture), income poverty and capability poverty form a vicious circle in the case of Orissa, the report says.

In terms of education, the literacy rate has increased from 40.97 per cent in 1981 to 63.61 percent in 2001, a growth of 55.5 per cent.

Moreover, gender disparity in enrolments at the elementary level is on the decline. While the literacy rate has increased significantly, the dropout rates are 42 per cent and 57 per cent at the lower and upper primary levels respectively in 2000-01.

A robust indicator of the improvement of health status of a population is the crude death rate and this has been declining quite slowly in the case of Orissa: by 5.7 per cent and 11 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s respectively.

On the other hand, the infant mortality rate (IMR) declined by 10 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively over the same period.

Life expectancy at birth increased from 53 to 56.9 years at a rate of 7.4 per cent between 1981 and 1996.