Human Development MODULE - 9

Human Resource
23 Development in
India

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Notes

Whenever, we think about development, we normally tend to think about the material and
economic development. Materials may include house, landed property, motor vehicle, jewellery
etc. Again all these material assets are converted in terms of money, whenever or wherever
the need arises. Till today, the entire world is divided into two groups of countries - developed
and developing. This classification is mostly based on level of economic development. Though
this trend is still continuing but a change in thinking about development was introduced.There
has been a change in emphasis on measurement of development from purely economic
dimension to a composite socio-economic dimensions. From 1990 onwards, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), each year calculate Human Development Index (HDI)
and publish as a report which is known as Human Development Report (HDR). This report,
is published each year in which almost all the countries are placed under three categories,
high, medium and low based on the defined parameters.

In this lesson, we will learn about the concept and process of measuring human development
index. We will also find out India's position among the various countries in the world.
Simultaneously, we will also analyse position of various states of India as far as human
development index is concerned. At the end, we will suggest certain measures to improve
human development in our country.

OUTCOMES

After studying this lesson, the learner:

 defines the term human development and human development index;

 describes the regional patterns of human development; and

 highlights the need for improvement in inclusive human development.

GEOGRAPHY 203
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource 23.1 CONCEPT OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Development in
India Do you know who coined the term 'Human Development'? In 1990 economists Dr. Mehbub
Al Haque introduced the concept of Human Development. This concept was used for the
construction of Human Development Index. In the inaugural issue of Human Development
Report - 1990 published by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the authors
defined human development as "a process of widening people's choices as well as raising the
Notes level of well-being". Human development concept is based on the idea of "development as a
freedom". It is about building human capabilities - the range of things they can do and what
they can be. Individual freedoms and rights matter a great deal. But these freedoms and rights
are restricted for some because they are poor, illiterate, discriminated against, threatened by
violent conflict etc. To achieve this there is a need for re-orientation of our process of
development. In other words, development must revolve around the people, not people around
the development.

To know more detail about the concept, let us refer to the writing of MahbubulHaq
whopropounded this concept. In his book titled "Reflections on Human Development" discussed
about the four pillars of human development. These are equity, sustainability, productivity and
empowerment. Let us discuss them briefly.

1. Equity: Can you be able to elaborate the meaning of equity. In simpler terms it refers to
equal opportunity to everyone without any discrimination of gender,caste,income and
social influence. Can you now distinguish between equity and equality?

2. Sustainability: The second pillar is sustainability. It means providing continuous access

to and availability of resource by keeping in mind the future generation. In other words,
all future generations should have access to minimum resources utilized by today. You
will read in details about sustainability and sustainable development in the next module.

3. Productivity: The third pillar according toMahbubulHaq is productivity.It refers to

constantly improving capabilities of human resources for delivery their work.Ultimately
people are the real wealth for any nation,if they are more skilled their values certainly
will go up.

4. Empowerment: The fourth and final pillars of human development is empowerment.

Now a days you might be hearing about various schemes by state governments and
government of India for socio-economic empowerment of disadvantaged sections of
the society. What does this mean? It refers to a type of power which generates choice
of freedom in human beings.Good governance and people oriented policy are required
to empower human developments.

204 SENIOR SECONDARY

Human Development MODULE - 9

If you carefully read the definition of human development given in the beginning of this section Human Resource
you can found reflection of these four concepts in the statement. Development in
India
After knowing the concept of human development and its four pillars, can you differentiate
between the concept economic development and human development? The basic difference
between economic development and human development is that economic development entirely
focuses on the increase of income whereas the human development believes in expanding and
widening of all aspects of human life be it economic, social, political, cultural, etc. In economic Notes
aspect human development is one of the essential elements. The basic idea behind this is that
it is the use of income and not theincome itself that decides the human choices. Since, the real
wealth of a nation is its people, therefore, the goal of development should be the enrichment of
human life.

Need for Human Development: After knowing the concept of human developmentand , you
might be thinkingthat the need for creating another concept to measure the progress in
development. Paul Streeten, a development economist identified six reasons in favour of the
human development. The reasons are as follows:

1. The ultimate purpose of the entire exercise of development is to improve the human
conditions and to enlarge people's choice.

2. Human development is a means to higher productivity. A well-nourished, healthy,

educated, skilled alert labour force is the most productive asset. Therefore investments
in these sectors are justified on ground of productivity.

3. It helps in reducing the rate of growth of population.

4. Human development is friendly to the physical environment also. Deforestation,

desertification and soil erosion decline when poverty declines.

5. Improved living conditions and reduced poverty contribute to a healthy civil society
and greater social stability. 6. Human development also helps in reducing civil disturbance
in the society and in increasing political stability.

After studying the concept of human development, let us understand the measurement of
human development in section 23.2.

23.2 MEASUREMENT OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

To measure the levels of human development, a set of indicators were proposed under three
dimensions. Therefore, Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that measures
the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development.
These basic dimensions are a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
The above mentioned dimensions are measured by the following indicators.

GEOGRAPHY 205
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource 1. A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy at birth
Development in
India 2. Knowledge is measured by mean year of schooling and expected year of schooling

3. A decent standard of living is measured by GDP per capita (Adjusted do purchasing

power parity in US dollar)

But we should know that the purpose of its construction is not to give a complete picture of
Notes human development rather to provide a measure which goes beyond the traditional
measurement of development i.e. income. Therefore, HDI is a barometer for changes in
human wellbeing and for comparing progress in different regions.

Apart from Human Development Index (HDI), the other four indicators of human development
have been selected which were used by the Human Development Report for the last three
decades. These are:

(i) Human Poverty Index for developing countries (HPI-1)

(ii) Human Poverty Index for selected OECD Countries (HPI-2)

(iii) Gender - related Development Index (GDI)

(iv) Gender Empowered Measurement (GEM)

Gender - related Development Index (GDI), together with the Gender Empowerment Measure
(GEM), was introduced in the year1995 whereas the Human Poverty Index (HPI) was
introduced in the year 1997. There are two indices namely the HPI - 1, which measures
poverty in developing countries, and the HPI-2, which measures poverty in OCED developed
economies. From the above discussion it must be clear that India is assessed under HPI-1.

Out of these above mentioned five indices, HDI, HPI-1 and GDI are calculated by three
common dimensions namely. a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of
living. But some of the indicators are different within these dimensions. Let us know their
similarities and differences from the table 23.1 given below.

Table 23.1: A comparative analysis of Dimensions used in HDI, HPI-1 and GDI

Sr. Indices HDI HPI-1 GDI

No.

1 A long and  Life expectancy  Probability at  Female and male

healthy life at birth birth of nots life expectancy at
wimming to birth
the age of 40

206 SENIOR SECONDARY

Human Development MODULE - 9

2 Knowledge  Mean year of  Adult literacy rate  Female and male Human Resource
Development in
schooling mean years of
India
 Expected year schooling for adults
of schooling ages 25 years and
older
 Female and male

expected years of
schooling for children Notes

3 A Decent  GDP per capita  The percentage  Female and male

Standard (Adjusted do of the population estimated earned
of Living purchasing not using an income.
power parity improved water
in US dollar) source
 The percentage
of children under
-weight for their
age.

Till now you might have understood the importance of human development and about indicators
used by UNDP to measure HDI, GDI and HPI-1. Let us now have a closer look at India's
position at international level as far as human development is concerned. We will also try to
find out the reasons for low levels of human development in India.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.1

1. What is Human Development Index?

2. Differentiate between human development and economic development

3. Name the three dimensions and their respective indicator used for measuring HDI.

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

23.3 INDIA: TRENDS OF HDI

According to Human Development Report 2021-2022 India's rank was 133 out of 191
countries of the world. All the 191 countries are grouped under four categories. These are

GEOGRAPHY 207
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource very high, high, medium and low. The countries which had value 0.800 and above are grouped
Development in under very high whereas the countries which had values ranges 0.700 to 0.799 were ranked
India
as high human development. The countries which had value between 0.550 to 0.699 were
ranked under medium categories and countries which had value less than 0.550 were ranked
as low human development countries.

According to Human Development Report 2021-2022, India ranks 132 out of 191 countries
Notes of the world. India was placed almost at the bottom of the table in the medium level category.
Our neighbouring countries like China (78), Sri Lanka (73), Maldives (90), and Bhutan (127)
remained well above the India's position. Other neighbouring countries like Myanamar (149),
Pakistan (161) and Nepal (143) were placed below India. If we compare at global level, the
countries which lies below India were mostly from Africa and rest few countries were from
Asia.

Analysis of all the four parameters provide us a better picture about the current status. Out of
four, India has declined on three parameters and improved on one. Firstly, in health, life
expectancy has fallen down from 69.7 to 67.2 years. As far as education is concerned out of
two indicators, there is a drop in expected years of schooling, but mean years of schooling
have seen an increase. This drop is because of the school closure during the Corona pandemic.
Lastly, the standard of living; this is where the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita
comes in and for India, it has fallen from $6,681 to $6,590.

If we look at India's situation over the time we can definitely say that it has improved a lot over
the years. During the last 31 years (1990 - 2021), it has been observed that India has
continuously improved its human development score till 2019. In fact, the decline started after
2019 (0.645). There has been a decline in the year 2021 in comparison to 2020 (Table 23.2).
This was mainly due to Corona pandemic. This has not only happened with India but also with
most of the developed countries those are already in the very high and high category.

Table 23.2: INDIA: Human Development Index Trends in India 1990 - 2021

Years 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021

India 0.434 0.438 0.491 0.534 0.575 0.629 0.642 0.634

This improvement is not sufficient enough. There are many small countries of Asia and Africa
like Fiji, Mongolia, Tunisia, etc. are well above India. India has to work very hard to be
placed among the top countries in the medium human development category (0.550 - 0.699).
If the present trend continues it needs minimum 30 years to enter the high human development
category. And for this, a rigorous effort particularly in the social sector like education, health
and economic sector particularly reduction of poverty are required.

The following are some of the reasons to keep India at the bottom of human development (a)

208 SENIOR SECONDARY

Human Development MODULE - 9

rapid increase in population (b) large number of adult illiterates and low gross enrolment ratio Human Resource
(c) high dropout rates (d) inadequate government expenditure on education and health, (e) Development in
India
large proportion of underweight children as well as under nourished people (f) very poor
sanitation facilities and low access to essential lifesaving medicines.

Apart from HDI, the performance of India is also not very encouraging as far as Gender
Development Index (GDI) and Human Poverty Index (HPI) are concerned. According to
Human Development Report, 2021-2022, India's GDI stands at 0.849 which is significantly Notes
behind the world average. As mentioned in the table 23.1 GDI measures disparities in the
HDI by gender.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.2

1. What is India's position in Human Development Index according to Human Development

Report-2021-2022?

2. What was India's GDI stands as per Human Development Report, 2021-2022?

28.3 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX - A STATE LEVEL ANALYSIS

Till now we have studied concept, measurement and status human development all over the
world including India. But there are variations within India. Certain states are performing well
and certain states are still lagging behind. In accordance with UNDP Human Development
Report an attempt was made to rank various states of India in to different categories. Global
Data Centre of UNDP has analysed the data at sub-national level also. In the below given
HDI values of all the twenty eight states are given for the year 1990 and 2021.

Table 23.3: India : Human Development Index of States,1990 and 2021

Sr. No. States 1990 2021

1 Andhra Pradesh 0.427 0.630

2 Arunachal Pradesh 0.442 0.665

3 Assam 0.412 0.597

4 Bihar 0.379 0.571

5 Goa 0.557 0.605

6 Gujarat 0.474 0.638

7 Haryana 0.471 0.691

GEOGRAPHY 209
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource 8 Himachal Pradesh 0.484 0.703

Development in
India 9 Jammu & Kashmir 0.498 0.699

10 Jharkhand 0.562 0.589

11 Karnataka 0.447 0.667

12 Kerala 0.550 0.752

Notes
13 MadhyaPradesh 0.407 0.596

14 Maharashtra 0.498 0.688

15 Manipur 0.499 0.678

16 Meghalaya 0.461 0.643

17 Mizoram 0.531 0.688

18 Nagaland 0.539 0.670

19 Odisha 0.402 0.597

20 Punjab 0.501 0.694

21 Rajasthan 0.406 0.638

22 Sikkim 0.546 0.702

23 TamilNadu 0.475 0.686

24 Telangana 0.624 0.647

25 Tripura 0.449 0.629

26 UttarPradesh 0.398 0.592

27 Uttarakhand 0.627 0.672

28 WestBengal 0.443 0.624

29 India 0.434 0.633

If we analyse the patterns given in the above Table, it can be observed that there has been
significant improvements in all the states of India over the last thirty years (1990-2021).
However, as mentioned above the progress is varied. The below given table categorized all
the twenty eight states in to four categories as suggested by Human Development Report.

210 SENIOR SECONDARY

Human Development MODULE - 9

Table 23.4: Levels of Human Development Index among States of India, 2021 Human Resource
Development in
S. No. Levels of HDI Range Name of the State India

1 Very High Above 0.800 Nil

2 High 0.700 - 0.799 Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim

3 Medium 0.550 - 0.699 Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Notes

Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa,
Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya.
Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Telengana, Tamil Nadu,
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
West Bengal

4 Low Less than 0.550 Nil

If you analyse the above mentioned table, you will find that not a single state of the country is
in the very high category (0.800 and above). There are only three states namely Kerala,
Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim are in the category of high human development. Rest of the
twenty five states are in the medium category of human development.On the other hand, not
a single state is there in the category of low human development(Less than 0.550). This has
been due to constant efforts by the Government of India and State governments. If we compare
the situation in relation to national average there are ten states which are below the national
average. Identify these states from the above given tables. Try to find out the reasons responsible
for this situation.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.3

1. Name any five states of India which are below national average in HDI.

2. Name the three states of India which are in the high category of HDI..

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

The concept of Human Development Index (HDI) was propounded by Prof. Mehbub Al
Haque. From 1990 onwards Human Development Report is published by UNDP annually

GEOGRAPHY 211
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource which reflects the status of human development in almost all the countries across the world.
Development in HDI is a composite index that measures the average achievements in a country in three basic
India
dimensions of human development. They are long and healthy life, knowledge and decent
standards of living. The basic difference between economic development and human
development is that economic development entirely focuses on the increase of income where
as the human development stresses in expanding and widening of all aspects of human life. In
HDI, economic condition is one of the essential elements. Apart from HDI, various types of
Notes indices are constructed and published by UNDP. Some of the important indices are Human
Poverty Index, Gender Development Index, Gender Empowered Measurement index, etc.

According to Human Development Report- 2021, India's rank is 132 almost at the bottom
of the table in the medium level category. The reasons which keep India at the bottom of
human development are rapid increase in population, large number of adult illiterates, low
Gross Enrollment Ratio, inadequate government expenditure on education and health, large
proportion of under-weight children as well as undernourished people, very poor sanitation
facilities and low access to essential life saving medicines etc. Therefore, there is an urgent
need to improve in health situation, educational attainment and increased standard of living
and reduction of poverty level.

TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Differentiate among Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index and Gender
Development Index.

2. Explain any four reasons in favour of the human development.

3. Write any four factors responsible for keeping India almost at the bottom of human
development index table.

ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

23.1

1. The Human Development Index is a composite index that measures the average
achievements of a country in three basic dimensions of human development such
as long and healthy life, knowledge and decent standard of living.

2. Economic development entirely focuses on the increase of income. The human

development stresses in expanding and widening of all aspects of human life.

212 SENIOR SECONDARY

Human Development MODULE - 9

3. (i) Long and healthy life measured by life expectancy at birth. Human Resource
Development in
(ii) Knowledge is measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, India
secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio.

(iii) A decent standard of living is measured by DGP per capita purchasing power
parity in US Dollar.

23.2 Notes
1. 132 out of 191 countries.

2. 0.849

23.3

1. (i) Haryana, (ii) Himachal Pradesh, (iii) Karnataka (iv) Kerala, any other (Any
three)

2. (i) Bihar (ii) Madhya Pradesh (iii) Uttar Pradesh (iv) Rajasthan, any other (Any
three)

GEOGRAPHY 213
 MODULE - 9 Human Development

Human Resource
Development in
India

Notes

MODULE -10

Contemporary Issues and Challenges

24. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

25. Environment, Health and Sanitation

214 SENIOR SECONDARY