Figure 6. Education Index across states

Even in the relatively poorer states like Assam, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand the Education Index is above 0.5. The north-eastern states have been good performers despite low levels of income. This highlights the fact that income is not a necessary condition for improvement in educational outcomes

The improvement of 28.5 per cent in the Education Index during the period 1999–2000 to 2007–8 has driven the HDI for the country upwards. Again, as with the Income Index, the improvement in the Education Index has been the greatest in the educationally backward and poorer states of India—Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand— listed here in ascending order of the improvement in the Education Index. The improvement in the educationally backward states suggests a strong trend of convergence across the states in terms of outputs and outcomes.