Development (Class X - Eco-1)

Development (Eco-1)

Definition:- It pertains to the growth of an individual, a society, a nation or the entire world. It involves thinking about the betterment of life and working towards progress.

Developmental goals of different categories of persons:

Landless rural labourers	More days of work and better wages, local school is able to provide quality education for their children, there is no social discrimination and they too can become leaders in the village.
Prosperous farmers from Punjab	Assured a high family income through higher support prices for their crops and through hardworking and cheap labourers, they should be able to settle their children abroad.
Farmers who depend only on rain for growing crops	Sufficient rainfall at regular intervals, help from the prosperous farmers, expectation from the govt. for loans at cheap rates.
A rural woman from a land owning family	More ornaments, good cloths and good education for children, prefer to marry their children in a good family.
Urban unemployed youth	Regular jobs, better wages, social security etc.
A boy from a rich urban family	More individuality form peers, high quality lifestyle, meaningful and royal lifestyle.
A girl from a rich urban family	She gets as much freedom as her brother and is able to decide what she wants to do in life. She is able to pursue her studies abroad.
An adivasi from Narmada valley	Better wages and living conditions, proper education, identity among public, should be able to enjoy Fundamental Rights.

Developmental goals are different for different people according to their needs. So different persons can have different developmental goals and what may be development for one may not be development for the other. It may even be destructive for the others.

Eg:- A girl expects as much freedom and opportunity as her brother, and that he also shares in the household 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.

Income and Other goals

From the above table, we can notice one common thing: What 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.

Besides seeking more income people also seek things like

  Increase in income   Equal treatment   Freedom   Security   End of discrimination   Decent standard of living (Most Common Developmental Goals)       All developmental goals are co-related.

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. Just think of the role of your friends in your life. Similarly, there are many things that are not easily measured but they mean a lot to our lives. These are often ignored.

Consider another eg:- If you get a job in a far off place, before accepting it, you would try to consider many factors, aprt from income, such as facilities for your family, working atmosphere, or opportunity to learn.

In another case, a 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.

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 increases.  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 sage and secure environment may allow more women to take up a variety of jobs or run a business.

National Development:- It refers to the progress of the nation as a whole. The policy decisions that benefit a large section of a country’s population lead to national development.

Attributes of National Development (Indicators)

National Income:-  It is the sum total of the incomes of all the residents of the country.   Countries with higher incomes are considered more developed than those with less income.

Per Capita Income:- It is the average income earned by each person of the country in a year.

It establishes a relationship between the income and population of a country.

  Countries with higher PCI are considered developed as it determines the amount of money at the disposal of each person of the country.

  World Bank uses PCI for classifying countries as developed and developing in its World Development Report.

Countries with PCI of US$12736 per annum and above in 2013 (rich countries), those with PCI of US$ 1045 or less (low income countries). India comes in the category of low middle income countries because its PCI is US$ 1570.

  However, PCI hides the inequalities in income in the society.

  As per the Central Statistics Office (CSO), India’s PCI for the year 2012-13 was approximately Rs. 68,747 (calculated on Advance Estimates of National Income).

The UNDP considers health, educational levels and PCI of the citizens as the indicator of development.

The other criteria of comparing two states or countries are their Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Literacy Rate, Net Attendance Ratio, Human Development Index, available facilities etc.

 In India, the PCI of Punjab is highest while that of Bihar is the lowest. In other aspects, Kerala has the low IMR and high literacy rate and Net attendance ratio because it has adequate provision of health care and educational facilities.

Public Facilities

The average person in Punjab has more income than the average person in Kerala. But lag behind in other aspects. Money in our pocket cannot buy all the goods and services that you may need to live well.

Eg:- Money cannot buy a pollution-free environment, or ensure that you get unadulterated medicines; Money may also not be able to protect you from infectious diseases.

May your parents could afford to send you to some private school, many other children also want to study and because many people believe that the government should open schools and provide other facilities so that all children have a chance to study. Even in many areas, children particularly girls, are not able to achieve secondary level schooling because government has not provided adequate facilities. Government has to provide certain essential facilities like healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport and educational institutions.

In some states, the PDS functions well. If some PDS shops ie. ration shop does not function properly in such places, the people they are able to get the problem rectified. Health and nutritional status of people of such states is certainly likely to be better.

Human Development Report published by UNDP compares countries based on the educational levels of the people, their health status and per capita income.

India stands 136 in the HDI rank in the world out of 187 countries.

HDI published by the UNDP indicates the level of development of a country, how far it has travelled and how far it has yet to travel to achieve high ranks in matters such as per capita income of the people, welfare elements such as life expectancy, literacy, educational level of people and health status.

IMR:- The number of children that die before the age of one year as a proportion of 1000 live births in that particular year.

Literacy Rate:- measures the proportion of literate population in the 7 and above age group.

Net Attendance Ratio:- 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.

BMI:- Weight in Kg/Height in meters²

HDI:- It is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable economic development means development should take place without damaging the environment and development in the present should not compromise with the needs of the future generation. The various measures of SD are:

Ø  Controlling over uses and creating an awareness to provide sustainable development.

Ø  Increased use of renewable resources.

Ø  Less use of fossil fuels.

Ø  Introduction of organic farming.

Ø  Adopting measures to reduce global warming.

Sustainable Development is all about judicious use of resources at present keeping in mind the future requirements of the coming generation. Eg: Ground water.

Ground water is over used for agriculture, since water is a renewable resource; we must help in replenishing water.

Sustainable development is important for economic growth because:

Environment must be conserved while development is taking place,

Resources must be used in such a way that something is conserved for future generations.

The standard of living of all people must be raised.

M. K Gandhi said, “The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person.”

Consequences of environmental degradation do not respect national or state boundaries.

Sustainability of development is comparatively a new area of knowledge in which scientists, economists, philosophers and other social scientists are working together.