GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
- Both growth and development refer to changes over a period of time.
- Growth is quantitative and value neutral.
- It may have a positive or a negative sign.
- This means that the change may be either positive (showing an increase) or negative (indicating a decrease).
- Development means a qualitative change which is always value positive.
- This means that development cannot take place unless there is an increment or addition to the existing conditions.
- Development occurs when positive growth takes place. Yet, positive growth does not always lead to development. Development occurs when there is a positive change in quality.
For example-
- If the population of a city grows from one lakh to two lakhs over a period of time, we say the city has grown.
- However, if a facilities like housing, provision of basic services and other characteristics remain the same, then this growth has not been accompanied by development.
- For many decades, a country’s level of development was measured only in terms of its economic growth.
- bigger the economy of the country, the more developed
- Not really mean much change in the lives of most people.
Important aspects of development
- The quality of life people enjoy in a country,
- The opportunities they have
- Freedoms they enjoy
- These ideas were clearly spelt out for the first time in the late eighties and early nineties.
- The works of two South Asian economists, Mahbub-ul-Haq and Amartya Sen are important in this regard.
- The concept of human development was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq.
- Dr Haq has described human development as development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives.
- People are central to all development under this concept.
- These choices are not fixed but keep on changing.
- The basic goal of development is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives.
- A meaningful life is not just a long one.
- It must be a life with some purpose.
- This means that people must be healthy, be able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals.
- Building people’s capabilities in the areas of health, education and access to resources is therefore, important in enlarging their choices.
- If people do not have capabilities in these areas, their choices also get limited.
- For example an uneducated child cannot make the choice to be a doctor because her choice has got limited by her lack of education.
- Similarly, very often poor people cannot choose to take medical treatment for disease because their choice is limited by their lack of resources.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
THE FOUR PILLARS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
- equity
- sustainability
- productivity
- empowerment
equity
- Equity refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody.
- The opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income and in the Indian case, caste.
sustainability
- Sustainability means continuity in the availability of opportunities.
- To have sustainable human development, each generation must have the same opportunities.
- All environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future.
productivity
- Productivity here means human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human work.
- Such productivity must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people.
- Efforts to increase their knowledge, or provide better health facilities ultimately leads to better work efficiency.
empowerment
- Empowerment means to have the power to make choices.
- Such power comes from increasing freedom and capability.
- Good governance and people-oriented policies are required to empower people.
- The empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged groups is of special importance.
APPROACHES TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
- Income Approach
- Welfare Approach
- Basic Needs Approach
- Capability Approach
Income Approach
- This is one of the oldest approaches to human development.
- Human development is seen as being linked to income.
- The idea is that the level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys.
- Higher the level of income, the higher is the level of human development.
Welfare Approach
- This approach looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities.
- The approach argues for higher government expenditure on education, health, social secondary and amenities.
- The government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by maximising expenditure on welfare.
Basic Needs Approach
- This approach was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
- It focuses on six basic needs: health, education, food, clean water, sanitation, and housing.
- The question of human choices is ignored and the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs of defined sections.
Capability Approach
- This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen.
- Building human capabilities in the areas of health, education and access to resources is the key to increasing human development.
MEASURING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Human Development Index
- The human development index (HDI) ranks the countries based on their performance in the key areas of health, education and access to resources.
- These rankings are based on a score between 0 to 1.
Health
- The indicator chosen to assess health is the life expectancy at birth.
- A higher life expectancy means that people have a greater chance of living longer and healthier lives.
Education
- The adult literacy rate and the gross enrolment ratio represent access to knowledge.
- The number of adults who are able to read and write and the number of children enrolled in schools show how easy or difficult it is to access knowledge in a particular country.
Access to resources
Access to resources is measured in terms of purchasing power (in U.S. dollars).
"Since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been publishing the Human Development Report every year. This report provides a rank-wise list of all member countries according to the level of human development. The Human Development index and the Human Poverty index are two important indices to measure human development used by the UNDP."
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
- Size of the territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development.
- Often smaller countries have done better than larger ones in human development. Similarly, relatively poorer nations have been ranked higher than richer neighbours in terms of human development.
- For example, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago have a higher rank than India in the human development index despite having smaller economies.
- Countries can be classified into four groups on the basis of the human development scores earned by them.
High
Providing education and health facilities is the main role of the government.
Medium
- Most countries were colonies.
- Many countries developed after 1991
- People-friendly policies
Low
- Political disturbance
- Civil war, famine, disease
