INTRODUCTION
Development has many aspects.
To understand that people have different perspectives on development and there are ways by which we can arrive at common indicators for development.
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 enviromental sustainability.
Meaning of devElopment for different people
What development or progress is likely to mean to different persons?
Do all the persons have the same notion of development or progress? Most likely not. Each one of us seeks different things. People seek things that are most important for them, i.e., that which can fulfil their aspirations or desires. 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 households 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.
Different persons can have different developmental goals and thus, what may be development for one may not be development for the other. It may even be destructive for the other.
Income & other goals
(1) For development, people look at a mix of goals. People desire are regular work, better wages and decent price for their crops or other products that they produce. In other words, they want more income.
(2) Besides seeking more income, one-way or the other, people also seek things like equal treatment, freedom, security and respect of others. They present discrimination. All these are important goals. In fact, in some cases, these may be more important than more income or more consumption because material goods are not all that you need to live.
(3) Money, or material things that one can buy with it, is one factor on which our life depends. But the quality of our life also depends on non-material things mentioned above.
(4) 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 increase. 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.
National development
Economic Indicators of Development :
Those indicators of development which relate to the use of scarce resources in a manner such that people achieve a high level of income, output and employment. The indicators are :
(a) High level of output
(b) High level of employment
(c) High level of income
Social Indicators of Development :
Social indicators of development which relate to social structure of the country and show a high status of people of country are :
(a) High literacy level
(b) High life expectancy
(c) Using enviornmental-friendly products
(d) High quality of life
(e) Equal distribution of income and wealth.
Comparision between different countries or states
(i) 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. The income of the country is the income of all the residents of the country. This gives us the total income of the country.
(ii) However, for comparison between countries, total income is not such a useful measure. Since, countries have different populations, comparing total income will not tell us what an average person is likely to earn. 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.
(iii) In World Development Report 2006, brought out by the World Bank, this criterion is used in classifying countries. Countries with per capita income of Rs. 4,53,000 per annum and above in 2004, are called rich countries and those with per capita income of Rs. 37,000 or less are called low-income countries. India comes in the category of low-income countries because its per capita income in 2004 was just Rs. 28,000 per annum. The rich countries, excluding countries of Middle East and certain other small countries, are generally called developed countries.
Income and other criteria
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.
What could these attributes be ? Let us examine this through an example. Table given below gives a comparative data on Punjab, Kerala and Bihar.
Tabel Some Comparative Data On Punjab, Kerala and Bihar
| State | Infant Mortality Rate per 1,000 (2003) | Literacy Rate (%) (2001) | Net Attendance Ratio for Class I-V (1995-96) | Per Capital Income (2002-03) |
| Punjab | 49 | 70 | 81 | 26000 |
| Kerala | 11 | 91 | 91 | 22800 |
| Bihar | 60 | 47 | 41 | 5700 |
Case study : Kerala
(i) In terms of quality of life, Kerala is an astonishing success story. In contrast to the rest of India and most other low income countries, people in Kerala enjoy education and health at levels close to those of European countries.
(ii) Kerala’s policy-makers followed a successful “basic needs first” strategy, which priortised the improvement of social and economic standard of its population (in terms of education, health, food & social security) and implemented an extensive land reform, which has been widely viewed as one of the most successful outside socialist countries.
(iii) Kerala’s food security policies led to supply of foodgrains and other essential commodities at subsidised prices in fair price or ‘ration’ shops and the School Meals programme distributed free launch for primary school children and one free meal for women and their infants.
(iv) The food programme was complemented by a large amount of public spending on primary and secondary education, health care (free health care in public health institution) and family planning.
(v) The standard of living of the people of Kerala is very high compared to the other states in India-in terms of longevity (better medical facilities), decent standard of living and education.
Thus, Kerala’s extraordinary achievements resulted in terms of improved literacy, health care and demographic characteristics of the population.
Case study : Punjab
India has gone from a food deficit to a food surplus country largely beacuse of the agricultural transformation of Punjab. The economic transformation of rural Punjab is basically a story of agricultural transformation. During the 1960’s a fundamental change occurred in the institutional and economic infrastructure due to massive public investment. There was irrigation and power development, agricultural research and extension services and the strengthening of the
co-operative credit structure.
Punjab led the country’s Green Revolution in the 1960’s and earned for itself the distinction of becoming India’s “BREAD BASKET”. The Green Revolution has been the backbone of Punjab’s development. According to the figures of Per Capita Net State Domestic product at current prices for 2002-03, Punjab has the highest per capita income but the proportion of the children dying within one year of birth is 49, which is nearly 5 times more than Kerala.
Case study : Bihar
The main occupation of people in Bihar is agriculture. In addition to agriculture, quite a large number of people are employed in industrial etablishments. In this era of globalisation, when Indian economy is projected to grow by more than 8 percent, Bihar has an important role to play in Indian economy.
The constraints in development – Lack of education, poor health, and inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation – are closely associated with high levels of poverty. Educational enrolment and literacy, reveal large differences in education outcomes across gender and social economic groupings.
Conclusion :
Bihar faces many daunting challenges. It requires a development strategy based on a multi-dimensional approach across sectors and institutions. Improving educational and health outcomes requires working with different organisations – private, public and non-governmental – to utilise scarce resources. It will require developing a vision and strategy for reforming the administrative system to remove antiquated rules, strengthen capacity, and eliminate the paralysis in decision-making. The need of the hour is combining the right economic policies with governance reforms that will provide a conducive environment for development.
Public Facilities
Income by itself is not a completly adequate indicator of material goods and services that citizens are able to use. The reason is-money in your pocket cannot buy all the goods and services that you may need to live well.
For example, normally, your money cannot buy you a pollution-free 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.
Actually for many of the important things in life the best way and also the cheapest way, is to provide these goods and services collectively.
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. If some PDS shop, i.e. ration shop,does not function properly in such places, the problem is rectified. 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 Punjab, 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 2007.
Table Some data Regarding India and its neighbours for 2004
| Country | Per Capita Income in US$ | Life Expectancy at birth | Literacy Rate for 15 + yrs population | Gross Enrolment ratio for three levels | HDI Rank in the World |
| Sri Lanka | 4390 | 74 | 91 | 69 | 93 |
| India | 3139 | 64 | 61 | 60 | 126 |
| Myanmar | 1027 | 61 | 90 | 48 | 130 |
| Pakistan | 2225 | 63 | 50 | 35 | 134 |
| Nepal | 1490 | 62 | 50 | 61 | 138 |
| Bangladesh | 1870 | 63 | 41 | 53 | 137 |
Sustainable Development
Definition :
Sustainable development may be defind as development that meets the needs of present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For example :
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.
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.
Terms :
(i) Infant Mortality Rate : (or IMR) indicates the number of children that die before the age of one year as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year.
(ii) Literacy Rate : measures the proportion of literate population in the 7 and above age group.
(iii) Net Attendance Ratio : is the total number of children of age group 6-10 attending school as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.
(iv) Life expectancy : at birth denotes, as the name suggests, average expected length of life of a person at the time of birth.
(v) Gross Enrolment Ratio : for three levels means enrolment ratio for primary sclool,secondary school and higher education beyond secondary school.
(vi) Per Capita Income : is calculated in dollars for all countries so that it can be compared.It is also done in a way so that every dollar would buy the same amount of goods and services in any country.
Add to your Knowledge
(1) Pandemic diseases are those diseases which are widespread over the whole country or a large part of the world.
(2) In India \frac{1}{3} seats are reserved for women candidates in local self government.
(3) Madhya Pradesh in India has the largest ST population in India.
(4) The Indian constitution guarantees the Right to Education for all children between age group of 6-14 years.
(5) According to 2001 census, the average density of population in India is 324 persons per square km.
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