Ch 1- Development

1. Meaning of Development

Development means all round improvement in aspects such as freedom, income,

Different People and Different Goals

People have different goals due to which development is sometimes different and
conflicting. For example, industrialists want big dams for their electricity requirement.
However, dams displace local community, so local people prefer small check dams or
tanks for irrigation.

This shows the following two aspects of development

(i) Different persons can have different developmental goals.

(ii) Development for one may not be development for another. It may even be harmful for
the other.

Income and Other Goals

Income is considered as the most important component of development as it can be used

Apart from income, people also seek non-material things like equal treatment, freedom,
security and respect of others. Thus, the quality of our life depends on both material things
and non-material things.

For development, people look at a mix of goals and these developmental goals include
both better income and other important things in llife.

1. National Development:-
As the individuals have different goals, their belief of national development is also
likely to be different. Their goals can also be conflicting.

National development means thinking about the following

■ Whether all the ideas taken are equally important

■ Whether the decisions taken are fair and just for all

■ Whether there is a better way of doing things

■ Whether the idea benefit a large number of people or only a small group.
3. Comparison of Different Countries or States:-

'For comparing countries, their income is considered to be one of the most important
factors. Countries with higher incomes are more developed economically than others with
lower incomes.

This is because more income means that people have more of the things they need, such
as food, shelter and healthcare.

Total Income of the country is the income of all the residents of the country.

However, this is not a useful measure as countries have different populations and
comparing total income will not state the average amount earned by a person.

Thus, average income is calculated by dividing total income of country (GDP) by its total
population. It is also called Per Capita Income (PCI).

In World Development Reports, the World Bank use the criteria of Per Capita Income to
classify the countries in the following ways:-

(i) Countries with PCI of US $ 49,300 per annum and above in 2019 are termed as high
income or rich countries. These countries, excluding middle Eastern countries, are also
called Developed countries.

(ii) Countries with PCI of US $ 2500 or less are termed as low income countries. In 2019,
India's per capita income was only about US $ 6700 per annum and it was classified as a
low middle income country.

4 Income and Other Criteria:-

Apart from average income, other factors should also be considered for measuring the
development of a nation or a region. These factors are:-

■ Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) It indicates the number of children that die before the age of 1
year as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year.

■ Literacy Rate It measures the proportion of literate population aged 7 years or above.

■Net Attendance Ratio It is the total number of children of age group 14 and 15 years
attending school, as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.

Thus, money cannot buy all the goods and services that are needed to live well. So, income
is not an adequate indicator of material goods and services that the people are able to use.
5 Public Facilities:-

Public facilities are provided by the government for collective benefit of the society.

States where adequate public facilities are provided, have more progress. For example,
Kerala has low Infant Mortality Rate due to good basic health and educational facilities.

Similarly, in states where there is good Public Distribution System² (PDS), the health and
nutritional status of people is better.

Human Development Report

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) releases the Human Development
Index (HDI) for 189 countries each year in its Human Development Report. The HDI is the
best method to measure development.

The report compares countries based on three criterias namely:-

■ Living standard (Per Capita Income)

■ Health status (Life, Expectancy)

■ Educational levels of the people (Literacy rate and years of schooling).

India occupied 130th rank in HDI 2018. The Human Development Index (HDI) considers
public health, education, poverty level, inequality and environmental aspects to measure
human development.

Sustainability of Development:-

Every country including India wants to become a developed country. However, the present
type, and levels, of development are not sustainable.

Non-renewable resources are those that get exhausted after a few years of use. These
resources can not be replenished and there is a fixed stock only. Renewable resources are
replenised by nature but these are overused. For example, groundwater which is used more
than what is replenished by rain. Some examples that show overuse of resources are:-

■ Groundwater in India In India, nearly one-third of the country is overusing its ground
water reserves. It is particularly found in agriculturally prosperous regions of Punjab,
Western Uttar Pradesh, hard rock plateau areas of Central and South India.

Exhaustion of Natural Resources:- According to World Energy Review, June 2018, the
total reserves of the crude oil stock in the world is going to last just for 50 years as
countries are fast using up the oil reserves.
Thus, the whole world is facing environmental degradation sustainable development is
the way through which this degradation can be prevent.