Development has many aspects.

The purpose of this chapter is to enable students to

understand this idea. They have to understand that people have different perspectives on
development and there are ways by which we can arrive at common indicators for development.
To do this, we have used situations that they can respond to in an intuitive manner; we have
also presented analysis that is more complex and macro in nature. How can countries or states
be compared using some selected development indicators is another question that students
would read about in this chapter. Economic development can be measured and income is the
most common method for measuring development. However, the income method, though
useful, has several weaknesses. Hence, we need newer ways of looking at development using
indicators of quality of life and environmental sustainability. It is necessary for you to expect the
students to respond actively in the classroom and on a topic such as the above, there would be
wide variation in opinion and possibility of debate. Allow students to argue their point of view. At
the end of each section there are a few questions and activities. These serve two purposes:
first, they recap the ideas discussed in the section and second, they enable better
understanding of the themes discussed by bringing the learners closer to their real life
situations. There are certain terms used in this chapter that would require clarification — Per
Capita Income, Literacy Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, Attendance Ratio, Life Expectancy, Gross
Enrolment Ratio, and Human Development Index. Though data pertaining to these terms are
provided, these would need further explanation. You may also need to clarify the concept of
Purchasing Power Parity that is used to calculate Gross National Income per capita in Table 1.6.
It is necessary to keep in mind that these terms are used as an aid to the discussion and not
something to be memorised. Sources for Information The data for this chapter is taken from
reports published by the Government of India (Economic Survey, Reports of the National Family
Health Survey and Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy), United Nations
Development Programme (Human Development Report) and World Bank (World Development
Indicators). Many of these reports are published every year. It may be interesting to look up
these reports if they are available in your school library. If not, you may log on to the websites of
these institutions
The idea of development or progress has always been with us. We have aspirations or desires
about what we would like to do and how we would like to live. Similarly, we have ideas about
what a country should be like. What are the essential things that we require? Can life be better
for all? How should people live together? Can there be more equality? Development involves
thinking about these questions and about the ways in which we can work towards achieving
these goals. This is a complex task and in this chapter we shall make a beginning at
understanding development. You will learn more about these issues in greater depth in higher
classes. Also, you will find answers to many of these questions not just in economics but also in
your course in history and political science. This is because the way we live today is influenced
by the past. We can’t desire for change without being aware of this. In the same way, it is only
through a democratic political process that these hopes and possibilities can be achieved in real
life.In fact, at times, two persons or groups of persons may seek things which are conflicting. A
girl expects as much freedom and opportunity as her brother, and that he also shares in the
household work. Her brother may not like this. Similarly, to get more electricity, industrialists may
want more dams. But this may submerge the land and disrupt the lives of people who are
displaced – such as tribals. They might resent this and may prefer small check dams or tanks to
irrigate their land. So, two things are quite clear: one, different persons can have different
developmental goals and two, what may be development for one may not be development for
the other. It may even be destructive for the other.
which are conflicting. A girl expects as much freedom and opportunity as her brother, and that
he also shares in the household work. Her brother may not like this. Similarly, to get more
electricity, industrialists may want more dams. But this may submerge the land and disrupt the
lives of people who are displaced – such as tribals. They might resent this and may prefer small
check dams or tanks to irrigate their land. So, two things are quite clear: one, different persons
can have different developmental goals and two, what may be development for one may not be
development for the other. It may even be destructive for the other.
However, it will be wrong to conclude that what cannot be measured is not important. Consider
another example. If you get a job in a far off place, before accepting it you would try to consider
many factors, apart from income, such as facilities for your family, working atmosphere, or
opportunity to learn. In another case, a job may give you less pay but may offer regular
employment that enhances your sense of security. Another job, however, may offer high pay but
no job security and also leave no time for your family. This will reduce your sense of security
and freedom. Similarly, for development, people look at a mix of goals. It is true that if women
are engaged in paid work, their dignity in the household and society increases. However, it is
also the case that if there is respect for women there would be more sharing of housework and
a greater acceptance of women working outside. A safe and secure environment may allow
more women to take up a variety of jobs or run a business. Hence, the developmental goals that
people have are not only about better income but also about other important things in life.
If, as we have seen above, individuals seek different goals, then their notion of national
development is also likely to be different. Discuss among yourselves on what India should do for
development. Most likely, you would find that different students in the class have given different
answers to the above question. In fact, you might yourself think of many different answers and
not be too sure of any of these. It is very important to keep in mind that different persons could
have different as well as conflicting notions of a country’s development. However, can all the
ideas be considered equally important? Or, if there are conflicts how does one decide? What
would be a fair and just path for all? We also have to think whether there is a better way of doing
things. Would the idea benefit a large number of people or only a small group? National
development means thinking about these questions.
You might ask if development can mean different things, how come some countries are
generally called developed and others under - developed? Before we come to this, let us
consider another question. When we compare different things, they could have similarities as
well as differences. Which aspects do we use to compare them? Let us look at students in the
class itself. How do we compare different students? They differ in their height, health, talents
and interests. The healthiest student may not be the most studious one. The most intelligent
student may not be the friendliest one. So, how do we compare students? The criterion we may
use depends on the purpose of comparison. We use different criterion to choose a sports team,
a debate team, a music team or a team to organise a picnic. Still, if for some purpose, we have
to choose the criterion for the all-round progress of children in the class, how shall we do it?
Usually we take one or more important characteristics of persons and compare them based on
these characteristics. Of course, there can be differences about what are important
characteristics that should form the basis of comparison: friendliness and spirit of cooperation,
creativity or marks secured? This is true of development too. For comparing countries, their
income is considered to be one of the most important attributes. Countries with higher income
are more developed than others with less income. This is based on the understanding that more
income means more of all things that human beings need. Whatever people like, and should
have, they will be able to get with greater income. So, greater income itself is considered to be
one important goal. Now, what is the income of a country? Intuitively, the income of the country
is the income of all the residents of the country. This gives us the total income of the country.
However, for comparison between countries, total income is not such an useful measure. Since,
countries have different populations, comparing total income will not tell us what an average
person is likely to earn. Are people in one country better off than others in a different country?
Hence, we compare the average income which is the total income of the country divided by its
total population. The average income is also called per capita income. In World Development
Reports, brought out by the World Bank, this criterion is used in classifying countries. Countries
with per capita income of US$ 49,300 per annum and above in 2019, are called high income or
rich countries and those with per capita income of US$ 2500 or less are called low-income
countries. India comes in the category of low middle income countries because its per capita
income in 2019 was just US$ 6700 per annum. The rich countries, excluding countries of Middle
East and certain other small countries, are generally called developed countries.
When we looked at individual aspirations and goals, we found that people not only think of
better income but also have goals such as security, respect for others, equal treatment,
freedom, etc. in mind. Similarly, when we think of a nation or a region, we may, besides average
income, think of other equally important attributes. INCOME AND OTHER CRITERIA What
could these attributes be? Let us examine this through an example. Table 1.3 gives the per
capita income of Haryana, Kerala and Bihar. Actually, these figures are of Per Capita Net State
Domestic Product at Current Prices for 2018–19. Let us ignore what this complicated term
exactly means. Roughly, we can take it to be the per capita income of the state. We find that of
the three, Haryana has the highest per capita income and Bihar is at the bottom. This means
that, on an average, a person in Haryana earned Rs 2,36,147 in one year whereas, on an
average, a person in Bihar earned only around Rs 40,982. So, if per capita income were to be
used as the measure of development, Haryana will be considered the most developed and
Bihar the least developed state of the three.
Just think of how dear you are to your parents, think of how every one is so happy when a child
is born. Now, try to think of parents whose children die before they even celebrate their first
birthday. How painful it must be to these parents? Next, note the year to which this data
pertains. It is 2018. So we are not talking of old times; it is 70 years after independence when
our metro cities are full of high rise buildings and shopping malls! The problem does not end
with Infant Mortality Rate. The last column of table 1.4 shows that about half of the children
aged 14-15 in Bihar are not attending school beyond Class 8. This means that if you went to
school in Bihar nearly half of your elementary class friends would be missing. Those who could
have been in school are not there! If this had happened to you, you would not be able to read
what you are reading now.
How is it that the average person in Haryana has more income than the average person in
Kerala but lags behind in these crucial areas? The reason is — money in your pocket cannot
buy all the goods and services that you may need to live well. So, income by itself is not a
completely adequate indicator of material goods and services that citizens are able to use. For
example, normally, your money cannot buy you a pollutionfree environment or ensure that you
get unadulterated medicines, unless you can afford to shift to a community that already has all
these things. Money may also not be able to protect you from infectious diseases, unless the
whole of your community takes preventive steps. The problem does not end with Infant Mortality
Rate. The last column of table 1.4 shows that about half of the children aged 14-15 in Bihar are
not attending school beyond Class 8. This means that if you went to school in Bihar nearly half
of your elementary class friends would be missing. Those who could have been in school are
not there! If this had happened to you, you would not be able to read what you are reading now.
Actually for many of the important things in life the best way, also the cheapest way, is to
provide these goods and services collectively. Just think – will it be cheaper to have collective
security for the whole locality or for each house to have its own security staff? What if no one,
other than you, in your village or locality is interested in studying? Would you be able to study?
Not unless your parents could afford to send you to some private school elsewhere. So you are
actually able to study because many other children also want to study and because many
people believe that the government should open schools and provide other facilities so that all
children have a chance to study. Even now, in many areas, children, particularly girls, are not
able to go to high school because the government/society has not provided adequate facilities
Kerala has a low Infant Mortality Rate because it has adequate provision of basic health and
educational facilities. Similarly, in some states, the Public Distribution System (PDS) functions
well. Health and nutritional status of people of such states is certainly likely to be better.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT Once it is realised that even though the level of income is
important, yet it is an inadequate measure of the level of development, we begin to think of
other criterion. There could be a long list of such criterion but then it would not be so useful.
What we need is a small number of the most important things. Health and education indicators,
such as the ones we used in comparison of Kerala and Haryana, are among them. Over the
past decade or so, health and education indicators have come to be widely used along with
income as a measure of development. For instance, Human Development Report published by
UNDP compares countries based on the educational levels of the people, their health status
and per capita income. It would be interesting to look at certain relevant data regarding India
and its neighbours from Human Development Report 2021-22.
Isn’t it surprising that a small country in our neighbourhood, Sri Lanka, is much ahead of India in
every respect and a big country like ours has such a low rank in the world? Table 1.6 also
shows that though Nepal and Bangladesh have low per capita income than that of India, yet
they are better than India in life expectancy. Many improvements have been suggested in
calculating HDI and many new components have been added to the Human Development
Report but, by pre-fixing Human to Development, it has made it very clear that what is important
in development is what is happening to citizens of a country. It is people, their health, their well
being, that is most important. Do you think there are certain other aspects that should be
considered in measuring human development?
Suppose for the present that a particular country is quite developed. We would certainly like this
level of development to go up further or at least be maintained for future generations. This is
obviously desirable. However, since the second half of the twentieth century, a number of
scientists have been warning that the present type, and levels, of development are not
sustainable.
Groundwater is an example of renewable resources. These resources are replenished by nature
as in the case of crops and plants. However, even these resources may be overused. For
example, in the case of groundwater, if we use more than what is being replenished by rain then
we would be overusing this resource.
Non-renewable resources are those which will get exhausted after a few years of use. We have
a fixed stock on earth which cannot be replenished. We do discover new resources that we did
not know of earlier. New sources in this way add to the stock. However, over time, even this will
get exhausted.
Consequences of environmental degradation do not respect national or state boundaries; this
issue is no longer region or nation specific. Our future is linked together. Sustainability of
development is comparatively a new area of knowledge in which scientists, economists,
philosophers and other social scientists are working together. In general, the question of
development or progress is perennial. At all times as a member of society and as individuals we
need to ask where we want to go, what we wish to become and what our goals are. So the
debate on development continues.