LESSON 1-DEVELOPMENT
Development
Development is defined as the people’s economic growth, along with the availability of
their basic needs like education, health, comfortable lifestyle, etc.
Different people have different development goals.
The development goals are varying from people to people.
For example, a girl from a rich urban family wants as much freedom as her brother and is
able to pursue her studies abroad.
Whereas a girl from a poor rural family wants to find a job that will provide her the money to
feed and clothe herself.
Developmental goals may be conflicting
To get more electricity for their industries, 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.
Income and other goals
Money is considered to be the basic need of people to fulfil their daily requirements.
Money is required to buy materialistic things
But there are certain things that money cannot buy such as freedom, security,
treatment, respect etc.
A particular 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.
Hence, developmental goals are not only based on money.
National Development
National development refers to ability of a nation to improve the standard of living of its
citizens.
Improvement in people’s living standards can be achieved by providing basic things
to citizens like food, education, medical aid, etc. Increase in per capita income, Gross
Domestic Product, literacy rate and life expectancy indicates National development.
These factors are considered as measure of improvement.
Income as a factor
Income is a key feature to compare countries.
Countries that have higher income are called developed countries and vice versa.
The income of a country is about the income of the citizens of that country.
GDP: it is the sum of the total value of the country’s goods and services produced in a
year. As every country has a different population, GDP alone cannot be considered to
compare different countries.
Per capita income: Per capita income is calculated by dividing total income of a
country by the total population of that particular country. It shows the living standard
of the citizens of the country.
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.
Average income hides disparities in income
For example, let us consider two countries, A and B. They both have same per capita income.
But in country A, the distribution of income among its citizens is equal whereas in country B,
the distribution of income is unequal. Inspite of identical average income, country A is
considered more developed as its people are neither very rich nor extremely poor. On the
other hand since most citizens in country B are poor and only few citizens are extremely rich
and so it is not considered as developed. Hence, average income does not tell us how this
income is distributed among people.
Comparison of states- HARYANA, KERALA AND BIHAR
S.NO State Per Capita Infant Literacy Rate Net Attendance Ratio (per
Income for Mortality % (2017-18) 100 persons) secondary
2018–19 (in Rate per stage (age 14 and 15 years)
Rs) 1,000 live 2017–18
births
(2018)
1 Haryana 2,36,147 30 82 61
2 Kerala 2,04,105 7 94 83
3 Bihar 40,982 32 62 43
If per capita income is only used as the measure of development, Haryana will be considered
the most developed. If we consider other data pertaining to these states, then Kerala is the
most developed of the three.
Net attendance ratio: defined as the total number of children in the age group 14 and 15 years
attending the school(x) as a percentage of total children in the same age group.(y)
Net attendance ratio=(x/y)*100
Literacy rate: it is the percentage of people above 7 years who can write, read and understand
any language.
Population aged 7 and above in a place=y ; No. of people aged 7 and above who knows to
read and write one language=x
Literacy rate=(x/y)*100
Infant mortality rate: it is the total number of children that die before one year of age as a
proportion of 1000 live births in a year.
Live births in a place in a year=x; No.of infants who die before 1 year of age=y
IMR=(1000/x)*y
Public Facilities
Facilities which are provided by the government considered as public facility like schools,
hospitals, community halls, transport, electricity etc.
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 Index
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) prepares this index, in which
an annual report of human development is published every year.
The major parameters which measure the countries’ development include per capita
income, life expectancy, Mean years of schooling of people aged 25 and above.
Life Expectancy at birth denotes average expected length of life of a person at the
time of birth.
Body mass index (BMI) is measured to measure the adults who are undernourished
by calculating the weight of the person (kg) divided by the square of the height. If the
value is less than 18.5, the person is undernourished and if it is more than 25, then the
person is highly obese.
Sustainable Development
It is the development that meets all needs of today’s generation without hampering the
development of future generation.
It is the development of a nation without affecting the environment.
To achieve sustainable development, we should use non-renewable resources such as
carbon-based fuel wisely.
