● Development refers to the all round development of a country such as freedom, participative involvement, economic equality, security, life with dignity and good standard of living.
● Development involves desires or aspirations about what would we like to do or how would like to live.
Different People and Different Goals
● Different persons can have different developmental goals which may not be similar or may even be conflicting.
● Development for one may not be development
for another. It may be destructive to other.
Income and Other Goals
● Income is considered as the most important component of development as it can be material
goods and services.
● Earning high income is a goal for development.
But it is not the only goal. Apart from income, people also consider other goals for development like equal treatment, freedom, security and respect of others. Thus, for development they look at a mix of goals.
National Development
● It refers to the ability of a nation to improve standard of
living of its citizens.
● The individuals have different goals and their motive of
national development is also likely to different. Their goals
can also be conflicting.
Comparison of Countries or States
Countries are compared on the basis of income earned.
Comparison Through National Income
● Simple method for comparing development of different
nations is total income or national income.
● However it does not provide clear idea about the
development of a country because the population of each
country is different. So, we use average income or per
capita income to compare different countries.
Comparison Through Per Capita Income
● Average or per capita income is obtained by dividing the
total income by the population of the country to compare
different countries.
● World Bank Publishes World Development Report (WDR)
every year to compare the nations and the basis of per
capita income.
● World Bank classifies countries on the basis of per capita
income.
— Rich countries except middle East countries are
called developed countries.
— India is in category of low middle income country.
Income and Other Criteria
● Human Development Index (HDI) is considered as
the best criteria to compare the level of development
in different countries.
● Various aspects of developments are per capita
income, infant mortality rate, literacy rate, net
attendance ratio of students in schools.
Public Facilities
● States where adequate public facilities are provided
have more progress. Public facilities include good
basic health and educational facilities, good Public Distribution System (PDS).
● Body Mass Index (BMI) is an international standard
used to determine whether an adult person is
undernourished or not.
● Human Development Report (HDR) compares
countries based on three criterias, viz, Living Standard
(per capita income), Health Status (life expectancy)
and Educational levels of people (Literary rate and
years of schooling).
Sustainability of Development
● Overuse and excessive exploitation of natural
resources for development has created the
degradation of environment and forced us to think
about sustainable development. This means careful
use of resources so that they are available for the
future generation also.
● Some region of Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh,
Central and South India overuse ground water which
will create problem in future.
● Scientists, economists, philosophers and social
scientists are working together to find ways of
sustainable development.
