The idea of development or progress

has always been with us. We have

aspirations or desires about what we
would like to do and how we would
like to live. Similarly, we have ideas
about what a country should be lilce.
What are the essential things that we
require? Can life be better for all? How
should people live together? Can there
be more equality? Development
involves thinking about these
questions and about the ways in
which we can work towards achieving
these goals. This is a complex
task and in this chapter we shall
make a beginning at understanding
development. You will learn more
about these issues in greater depth
in higher classes. Also, you will fmd
answers to many of these questions
not just in economics but also in your
course in history and political science.
This is because the way we live today
is influenced by the past. We can't
desire for change without being aware
of this. In the same way, it is only
through a democratic political
process that these hopes and "Wi1houl me they cannot develop...
possibilities can be achieved in in this system I camwt [Link]/"
real life.
0EVELOPME.N
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Dev / Offn~n~ n-)~ar)S proj~ o~ l ~ ~ [Link].)en t

>-rXrzt' 'c
Reprint 2025-26
in -the Jncorrx:.
n )

(,

J
 -. ' _.....,.,,,

·o~LS\:
YOU WANT A CM(l 1HE WM Ol.,P. COUUTPY S
Let u~ try lo ima~ln c wh at 5ETIJPALLYOUC .MHOFUO"SMMl 3ETO
OIIE 01,Y OM/ iHE PICKSHAW \"OI.I Pl
development or progress ls likely to - - -..... ~ - - - - - - - - - - -
mean to different persons U~ted In
Table I .1. What [Link]' their aspirations?
You will find thal some columns are
partially filled . Try to complete the
table. You can also add any other
category of persons.

Category of Person Developmental Goals/ Aspirations

More days of work and better wages; local school is able to

Landless rural labourers provide quality education for their children; there is no social
discrimination and they too can become leaders in the village.

Assured a high family income through higher support prices for

Prosperous farmers from Punjab 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

A rural woman from a land

owning family

Urban unemployed youth

A boy from a rich urban family

dis able to
A girl from a rich urban family decide what she wants to do in life. She is able to pursue her
studies abroad.
[Link]
An adivasi from Narmada valley
be. ih~e

Having filled Table 1.1, let us now They seek things that are most
examine it. Do all of these persons important for them, i.e., that which A nS; i
have the same notion of development can fulfil their aspirations or desires.
or progress? Most likely not. Each ln fact, at times, E._o persons or (D
one of them seeks different thtngs. groups of persons may seek things

.
tt:)

Reprint 2025-26
 -
.3 et
Joa.L~ c
f) s" .1-t
which arc conflicting. A girl expects ,Jtso. two U1lngs arc quite clear: one, ~
as much freedom and opporlunity as ~ fferent persons can have
her brother, and that he also shares different developmental go~ and
in the househo,W,w~. Her brother two. ~ at may be development for r;;-,.,
may not like~ Similarly, to get one may not be development for 0
more electricity, industrialists may the other. It may even be ~ - - - - - -
want more dams. But this may destructive for the oth3 Cordti
T~~~~:;,~~j~E
f;\ submerge the land and disrupt the ___ l
~ rJ DEVF!OPI
\C,) lives of people who are displaced- such ~~~
as tribals. They might resent this and - - - : - ; - __ _ _ _ _ _:· ~
may prefer small check dams or tanks ;, :¾ , .• ~ 0--0
to irrigate their Jani ] '

If you go over Table 1. 1 again, you more income or more consumption

will notice one common thing: whatsr, because material goods are not all
wople desire are regular work, belte~ that you need to live. A~~
wages, and decent price for their crops /'I\~ f1 ~~
l!.J Money, or material fhings1tt at one
. §J
oro th erpro duct s th a t th eypro duc .
can uy with it, is one factor on which
In
. other words, they want more our 111e .i:: d
epends. Bu ti;:;::
e.:_e qu allty of our
mcome. ~ 11e
~-i:: al so d epends on non-material'c./ ~
Besides seeking more income, one~ things] mentioned above. If it is not
way or the other, people also seek obvfou'stoyou, thenjustthinkofthe
things like§_ual treatment, freedom, role of your friends in your life. You
security, and respect of olh~ They may desire their friendship. Similarly, A demonstration
meeting
resent discrimination. All ffie'se are there are many things that are not raising theagainst height
important goals. In fact, in some cases, easily measured but they mean a lot ofSardar
these may be more important than to our lives. These are often ignored. Sarovar Dam on
Narrnada River
 Howt'ver. It wlll be wrong to rnndude
R9 Similarly,
~
[f';
develo~ent,
L
lhal what cannot be measured is not people look at a mu: of goall It ls
Important. true that if women are engaged in paid
work, their dignity In the household
Consider another example. If you
and society Increases. However, It ls
get a job in a far off place. before
also the case that if there ts respect
accepting it you would try to consider
for women there would be more
¥-, many factors, EPart from income. sharing of housework and a
such as facilities for your family,
greater acceptance of women
working atmosphere. or opportunity
working outside. A safe and secure
lo learn} In another case, a job may
environment may allow more women
give yoiTiess pay but may offer regular
to take up a variety of Jobs or run
employment that enhances your
a business.
sense of security. Another job ,
however, may offer high pay but no Hence, the developmental goals
[J§_b securJty)and also leave no time for that people have are not only about
your fam1fy. This will reduce your better income but also about other
sense of security and freedom. important things in life.

1. Why do different persons have different notions of development? Which of the following
explanations is more important and why?
(a) Because people are different.
(t>(" Because life situations of persons are different.
2. Do the following two statements mean the same? Justify your answer.
(a) People have different developmental goals.
~ (b) People have conflicting developmental goals.
3. Give some examples where factors other than income are important aspects of our lives.
4. Explain some of the important ideas of the above section in your own words.

If, as we have seen above, individuals different persons could have

seek different goals, then their notion different as well as conflicting
of national development is also likely notions of a country's development.
to be different. Discuss among
yourselves on what India should do However, can all the ideas be
for development. considered equally important? Or, if
there are conflicts how does one
Most likely, you would find that decide? What would be a fair and just
different students in the class have given path for all? We also have to think
different answers lo the above question. whether there is a better way of doing
In fact, you might yourself think of things. Would the idea benefit a large
many different answers and not be too number of people or only a small
sure of any of these. It is very group? National development means
important to keep in mind that thinking about these questions.

S ANDING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Reprint 2025-26
 tur@\'1Illira 'ullliffl.3@Eir ________________..,.
Discuss the following situations:
1. Look at the picture on the right. What should
be the developmental goals for such an area?
2. Read this newspaper report and answer the
questions that follow:

A vessel dumped 500 tonnes

of liquid toxic wast~s inlo
open-air dumps in a c1ty ~d
in the surrounding sea. This
happened in a city called
Abidjan in Ivory Coast. a
country in Africa. The fumes
from the highly toxic waste
caused nausea, skin rashes,
fainting, diarrhoea etc. After a
month seven persons were
dead, twenty in hospital and
twenty siX thousand treated
for symptoms of poisoning.
A multinational company
dealing in petroleum and
metals had contracted a local
company of the Ivory Coast to
dispose the toxic waste from
its ship.

(i) Who are the J::)eople who benefited

and who did not?
(ii) What should be the developmental
goal for this, country?
3. What can be some of the developmerital goals for your village, town or locality?

If even the idea of what constitutes

development can be varied and
conflicting, then certainly there can be
differences about ways of developing. If
you know of any such
controversy, try to find out
arguments advanced by different
people. You may do so by talking to
different persons or you may find it from
newspapers and television.

DEVELOPMEN

Reprint 2025-26
 - • - T =-·~~ , .- - •' - < ~ -

HOW TO COMPARE DIF,FERENif COUNTRIES 1

OR STATES?

You might ask if development can more developed lhan olhcr-; with less
mean different things, how come some income . Thi8 iii ba &cd on lhc
countries are generally called understanding that more Income
developed and others under- means more of all thing:; that human
developed? Before we come to this, beings need. Whatever people like,
let us consider another question. and should have, they will be able to
get with greater income. So, greater
When we compare different things,
income itself is considered to be one
they could have similarities as well as important goal.
differences. Which aspects do we use
to compare them? Let us look at Now, what is the income of a
students in the class itself. How do .
country? Intuitively, the inc'Ome of the
we compare different students? They country is the income of all the
differ in their height, health, talentsresidents of the country. This gives
and interests. The healthiest student us the total income of the country.
may not be the most studious one. However, for comparison between
The most intelligent student may not countries, total income is not s uch an
/ be the friendliest one. So, how do we useful measure. Since, countrtes have
~ b : k) ba.,t l .S compare students? The criterion we different populations, comparing total
. may use depends on the purpose of income will not tell us what an average
QV(½..Q q...e Il)Con::llomparison. We use different criterion person is likely to earn. Are people in
0 to choose a sports team, a debate one country better off than others in a
team, a music team or a team to djfferentcount:ry? Hence, we compare
organise a picnic. Still, if for some ~tIYE rage income which is the total
purpose, we have to choose the' income of the country divided by its
criterion for the all-round progress oftotal population. The average income
children in the class, how shall we i is also called per capita incom""e:}
Un
~ World Development Reports, 'it_
P0t. car
do it?
Usually we take one or more br5ught out by the World Bank, ~
important characteristics of e-rit~r ien is used in classifying _jQco-rr:,e
persons and compare them based countn~ ~ untries with per capita(v
on these characteristics. Of income of'tJS$ 63,400 per annum'¢'
course, there can be differences about and above in 2023, are called high
what are important characteristics income or rich counti3 and ffiose
that should form the basis of with per capita income of ~ut
comparison: friendliness and spirit of US$ 2400 or less are called
low-income countries. India comest?;\
cooperation, creativity or marks in the category oflow middle income@)
secured?
countries because its per capita
This is true of development too. income in 2023 waLI.\1 st about
For comparing counlries, their US$ 10030 per annu~ The rich
income is considered lo be one of countries, excludin~ countries of
the most imporlanl atlributes. Middle East and certain other small
Countries with higher income are countries, arc generally called
developed countries.
I G ECONOMIC DEVELOF t11 r

!_eJ ~ CJ'0 -fh e_ ba,.s /~ 01 p C 1.

OR._
 A\IPK~ I Y\.CC#tel
Whit& 'tw•ragea' are usefu l for comparfson, they also hide dlsparltle,
M11 1•\m111i/1•, 1,·t 11 <11•011 11(rll'1 /1110 co1111l/i1"1, /I anrJ rni1ured qf belrt(.J 11.s Jl/llt dl/.um
1r. /•'p1 /111' ,,,1/\t' o/ Yittl/Jl/l'//11, 111,· tu~!)(.• am,1 unwd /Jul If II L-1 a //JltenJ Lha.t decf£ks
t/11I/ /111'1/ /111111 · £1/l/lJ /IP1 ' ,•flti,·11•, ,•adi. Based on ottr <'l lfzenshlp number lhen
tl'4ta qt1,,•n tn 'l'ablP. 1,2, [Link] the average perhaps rrwsl q/ uB wlU prefer Lo
/1wo1111• for both [Link] [Link].8. llue In [Link] A. Even lhough

-~(!];I-
oJ1ill ..
•[Link]':J
both lh.e [Link] have ldenllcal
average income, country A ts
preferred because ii has more
Monlhly Incomes of citizens cqullabl.e dislrfbutlon. In this
(In Rupooo)

i
Country country people are netlher tJery
,.... ~

Ill IV V Average rich nor extremely poor. On the

Country A I 1osoo
suoo II -
9800 10000 10200
- other hand mosl clllz ens in
coun lry B [Link] p oor and one
C.:ounlry B 500 500 500 500 48000 person is extremely rlch. Hence,
whlle average income is usefulfor
WI/I po11 IJ<• N/11nllu happy to live In both these comparison ii does not tell us how
t·m111il'l<'s'r /\r<' /Jolh eq11aHy developed.? Perhaps thL'> income i.s [Link] among
.-..onu• qf 11s tllfl!J like lo lttJe in [Link] B If we are people.

COUNTRY WITH RICH AND POOR

IV/
l,/A./11 rt/I
(HAW.Y
'-.NPW/
l/,•I
1111 M.

.,.,m
1. G•e throe examples where an averagtir!"S,Jmi(4~lf!.nsl:t., .
2. Why do you think average income is an important criterion for developmin . xp .
3. Besides size of per capita income, what other property o~ir9S-m~ fs lr;nportan.t in
comparing two or more societies? ...... e-)_u . .fr- 6)( M
\.v,bt;\.,[Link] °2
tn W:~
Suppose records show that the average income in a country has been increasing
over a penod of time. From this, can we conclude that all sections of the economy
have become better? Illustrate your answer with an example.
5. From the text, find out the per capita income level of about 10-15 low-income ~
countries as per World Development Reports . .&t 1.,1,eeh
L:.S -s t. t, c(., p ~'l. onnu rr)
6 Wnte a paragraph on your notion of what should India do, or achieve, to ~come a
developed country.
+
US ~ 2 CO fl'}. C\ r-n:.1m
 Wh en we looked a l
Individual aspirations and
gouls, we found that people
not only think of b e tter
income but ulso huve goals State Per Capita Income
such us sccutily. rtspcct for for 2021-22 (In Rs)
olhers, equal treatment,
freedom, etc. in mind . Haryana 2.,_6.iJ29-
Kerala 2,34,405
Similarly. when we think of a
nation or a region, we may,
Bihar 4'7A98
besides average income ,
lhlnk of other equally Source : Economic Sw,rey 2020-21, P.A 29.
important altrtbutes.
What could these attributes be? Let income and Bihar is at the bottom.
us examine this through an example. This means that, on an average,
Tuble 1.3 gives the per capita income a person in Haryana earned
of Haryana , Kerala and Bihar. Rs 2,64,729 in one year whereas, on
Actually, these figures are of Per an average, a person in Bihar earned
Capita Net Slate Domestic Product at only around Rs 47,500. So, if per
Current Prices for 2021-22. Let us capita income were to be used as the
measure of development, Hruyana will
ignore what this complicated term be considered the most cleveloped
exactly means. Roughly; we can take and Bihar the least developed state of
it to be the per capita income of the the three. Now, let us look at certain
stale. We find that of the three, other data pertaining to these states
Haryana has the highest per capita given in '!able 1.4.

State Infant Mortality Literacy Rate % Net Attendance Ratio (per

Rate per 1,000 100 persons) secondary stage
live births (2020) 2017-18 (aged 15-17 years) 2017-18
Haryana 28 82 73
Kerala 6 94 94
Bihar 27 62 69
Sources : Economic SuNey 2023-24. National Sample SUJVe_y Organisation (Report No. 585),
NaUonal Statistical Offlce, Government of India; National Family Health Survey {NFHS-5)
2019-21 UPS, Mumbai.

Explanation of some of the tenns used in this table:

Infant [Link] Rate (or IMR) indicates the number of children that die beiore the age of one
year ~ a proportion of /000 live children born in that partimlar yea 1:
Uteracy Rate measures the proportion of literate population in ll1e 7-and-above age group.
Net Attendance RaUo Is the total number of childrcJ1 of a!(e {froup of J5-17 years attendin,4
school as a perccnt8{!C of total number of children in the same age group.

111111 EcoNo IC O VELOPMENT

CL 8 . [Link] Ja .> ke.\-a..{Q hctvt:. '' hlg~ J-f DI ·-lb,t0

H ~'j~r)" t~pde. r1, ~·LL.~ 'l,

Reprint 2025-26

An
 eL Cf : Ca..n h':lon./L~
t>[Link].s "2
~ 10 : Cr/ve 2 .eq 5 _ ·h 11-x.-,w if..,ai Co{~cLv~ p~l'Jv1suJY:> ~ Jl cxl <t ,,/
J
\Vhul dnt>~ this table show? The
8ei\.vtl.~) t~ C' her •
'11w probl<:m doc:,; not end with 11,''.i< ► (1 cl1vi<lt11:J
f o,,, X.t. '"> J
first column of Uw table shows lha l Infa nl Mortullly Rule. The last f>AID 111.J 1 {f"f',}.!,, •

in [Link], oul of 1000 children born. column C>f lable 1.4 s hows lha t
6 died before completing one year of about one-third of the children aged
age but in llaryanu the proportion of 15- 1 7 ye ar s in Bih a r urc not
childrcndyingwithinoncyearofbirth attending school in second a ry
wus 28, which is nearly three limes classes. This means that If you went
more than that of Kcrola. On the olhcr to school in Bihar n early one- third
hand. lhe per capita income of of your class fri end s would be
I laryana ls more lhan tbal of Kerala missing. Those who could have been
as shown in Table 1.3. Just think of in school arc not there! If this had
how dear you are lo your parents, happened to you, you would not be
think of how every one is so happy able to read what you are reading now:
when a child ls born. Now, try lo think
of parents whose children die before
they even celebrate their first birthday.
How painful it musl be to these
parents? Next. note the year to which
lhis dala pertains. This was durtng
2018. So we are not talking of old
[Link]; it is 70 years after independence
when our metro cities are full of high
rise buildings and shopping malls!
Most babies require basic healthcare

I low is it that the average person in Actually for many of the important
Haryana has more income than the things in life the best way. also the , 1'0
average person in Kerala but lags cheapest way, is to provide these~
5·•1behind in these crucial areas? The goods and services collectively. Just Pl'"I
~reason is ~ney in your pocket think - will g}e cheaper to have \.!-I • I e
CD canno~y mTu.e goods and services collectivt~e~ rity for the whole ti' / frS h~ b, r:>ct.~
that~ may need lo live v§} So. locality o?rrffeach house to have its \c.J ,.._ .
income by itself is not a completely own security st;:j!!J What if no one, C\ ~c_l:,ooJ 1,o t an e ~
adequate indicator ofmaterial goods and other than you, in your village or locality . ~ J D ·fb rh'lg, a.
sen-ires that citizens are able to use. is interested in studying? \\buld you be V WOtf
'2 Of'J ~- -
For example. nol&ally; your[m~ney able to study? Not unless your parents &t0 [Link]. q
r1 ......., ; / , ; •

(3 cannol buy ¥0-U a pollution- re~ could afford to send you lo some prtvate '<fL '-'-' , U
emironrnent or ens~~j )~get school elsewhere. So you are acblally
unadulleraled medicm unless you able lo study because many other
can afford to shlft: to a corhmunity that children also want to study and because
alrrady has all these thingj~~eymay many people believe that the government
Q)uso not be able to prot . u from should open schools and provide other lt. I I ;
infectious dise-a~ess the whole of fucilities so thataD. children have achanOO----
)'Our ronrrnunity takes preventive steps. to study. Even nov.f. <ln many areas, vV hd G.
~ tve.. A.12..aSOUS .
~dren. particularly gir)J, are not able
to go to high school because the Q) p to
I
government~~et.y has not provided
adequate facilities.
~e.J...£bCe
edu..
C ;d;:~'J th e.. ~e..
a cJu_' / d.M_t) .
h..

OEVEL0PMEN I I
® I0b._~C,(_oll!.- q ~ ~01i.. [Jaj_
chll~i'J ,~ ticcbL c .[Link].
• A!J- 's . .
ea~
Reprint 2025-26t() c..te_ t
·A t ,./
'{ ~
~ Cr ofs lU-e.. ~{ CJ-t ha,-oc. fc,
J.J.p t0 J aree..sti c h5a-.J< •
 UJ - f ' ~ Sy..,11·111 (PD@ , snctlom, w:i~ 11<:aH h
~-ralu hos a low Infant Morta111y
Hutl' bcc1rn:-i 1· It hab adcqual{' and nutritional i,,talu~ nrleoplc• of
provision of busic• h cu lth and bll<'h Hllltcs I~ <·<·rtainly likely fo he
cducuUonal faclllltc;} Sfmllarly. In better. OJ H~ h .IP ,.,d ~ [Link]:tlt.e~
some slatcse!:_(· Ptibllc J)[Link]
cLw lti • ~l ~ , c ~ .

,
\ilUM3~
look at data in Tables 1 3 and 1 4 Is Haryana ahead of Kera la
In literacy rate etc as 1t 1s in terms of per capita income?
2. Think of other examples where collective provis\(ln of ~ood~
and services Is cheaper than individual Pf~isipi. l )~ P:1~}( ~-
i
3. Does availability of good health and educaftorr~fa2uiti~p~
only on amount of money spent by the government on these J
f) faciltties ~,~ther fa~~~f?~ld ~ r ~ ?
1
'4:r ,W1' ~udy. ifwa; fo'Jiici Wat 'int~in Nadu. 90 ?J
a.~,..t-;),5
cent of the
people living in rural areas used a ration shop, whereas in West
Bengal only 35 per cent of rural people did so. Where would
people did bett~r off and why? L, cf../
~ 0 ~~~ ~/i ' [), I .~•~~fil:X~;,;; .;..,
{-.5,--..-,.~ - - - - . : - . . - - - - - - '
•
study Table 1.5 carefully an_d fill in the blanks in the following paragraphs. For this,
you may need to make calculations based on the table.

Category Male Female

Literacy rate for rural population 76% 54%
Literacy rate for rural children in age group 10-14 years 90% 87%
Percentage of rural children aged 10-14 attending school 85% 82%
e.
(a) The literacy te zr all age groups, including young and old, is '1..12._jfor rural
5
males and '7 for rural females. However, it is not just that these many
adults could not attend school but that there are _ _ who are currently not in
school.
(b) It is clear from the table thatJ11 % of rural girls and _f_!2_% of rural boys are
not attending schof~ Therefore, illiteracy among <;hildren in the age group 10-
14 Is as high as % for rural females and :...J.Q_% for rural males.
(c) This high level of illiteracy among Ir I ( ':/ijage group, even after more than
75 years of our independence, is most disturbing. In many other states also we
are nowhere near realisation of the constitutional goal of free and compulsory
education for all children up to the age of 14, which was expected to be achieved
by 1960 .

._,_ • .,.,.. ,MC DEVELOPMENT

Reprint 2025-26
~ I'!, · 4Io h ) lo c.n./ cJafi!.J 811 I -?

llUMAN 'DfV£LOPMfN
One \\'!\) tt, find out 11 we are properly nourished Is to 'R'fPO'RT
c 1k·utate- -,..hat nutllllon scli.'ntists call Body Mass Index Once' it is re,uised that even though
\8Ml). 1 his is oas\ to c-Jlculate let each student In
the /el'(•/ oflncomc is Important, yet ft
thl' r.1,,ss find out his or her weight and height. Take the
\\~1ght ot c-,1ch student 1n kilograms {kg). Then, take is an inadequate measun> of the level
tho ht'1ght bv dr~1wlng up a scale on the wall and ofdeirdopment. we begt11 to think of
11~•.1su1mg ,1ccur,1tely with the heed straight. vert other [Link] erion. Ther<• could be a long
tht' hl'IOht rt'corded 111 renumeters into meters Divide list ofsuch criterion but then it would
~ 0 ~ \;(he \H'ight in f..g bv t~sgi1are of the height. The n n er not be so useful. What we need is a
~ VDU gt"! IS ulled Bt-.11 Then. look at the BMl-for-Age
smnll n umbe1· of the most Important
t,1bles g1\ en on ages
90 91. ,\ student's BMI
things. Health and cducalfon
could be within the normal indicators, such as the ones we used
rnngc or less than that 111 romparlson ofl(erola and Hmyana,
\Underweight) or more are among t11e.m. Over the past decade
(obesity). For example, if or so. health and education indicators
a girl student Is 14 years have come to be widely used along
and 8 month old and the
BMI IS 15.2, then she is
with income as a measure of
undernourished Similarly, de11elopment. For l.11stance, Human
,t the BMI of a boy aged Development Report published by
15 years and 6 months is UNDP compares countries based on
28. then he is overweight. lhc educational kTels or tlie people.
Discuss the lite situation, fh{'ir health status and per rapita
food and exercise habits
income. It would be interesting to look
of students , in general,
without body shaming at certain relevant data regarding
India ru1d it's neighbours from Human
Development Report 2023-24.

. . • 1Ji131~1:1tc}:1:t1Illil§l
Gross National life Mean Years of HDI Rank in
Income (GNI) Expectancy Schooling of the world
per capita at birth People aged 25 {2021-22)
(2017 PPP $) and above
Sri Lanka 11,899 76.6 11.2 78
India 6,951 67.7 6.5 134
Myanmar 4,038 67.3 6.5 144
Paldstan 5,374 66.4 4.4 164
Nepal 4,026 70.5 4.5 146
Ban ladesh 6,511 73.7 7.4 129
Source . Human Development Report, 2023-24. United Nations Development Programme, New York.
NOTES
HD/ stands hr Human lJe'I-elopment Index. HD! ranks 1n abo~-e [Link] are out of 193 rountries in all.
.:!.. Ufe F ,7>ecta11c_1 at l>irth denott'S. as the name s11gf.;ests. an"ragc e,pected length oflife ofa person
al lhe lime at birth.
3. Pt-r Capita IIlrome- is calrt1lated in doflars for all countries so thai it can be compared. It is [Link]
done in a W<t1· so that e,-ery· dollnr 1nmld bu_,, the same timounl of goods and sen'ices in any
rountry'.

DEVELOPMEN fc
h l::oL.<-~~ )4 [Link].17-Ad qz frxlzcL L0~~ I) ha.s ct.
a. )k ,· Sn: b. h le I · 0
Reprint 2025-26

I
 t dJvcl,r►,.., f"Lt i l ~fla
1,un'1-hle. ( k)t
~ /Jh (;( lcu. ~J,I n ,~c L 'f'h J
rr-x.n:I: ~ tW\ plet!R, ~,,, u..i la.•, '?Jl' 7 lht
J- • Isn' t It ~urprl"lln ~ th111 • !11111111 111, 111y rir" 1·1 1f ll JJlllll'fll8 11,tVt hc'C II
,1drkd l<J 01r I hm1.111 l>rvrl11pllll"t11
~1-ou nt,y In ou r Ill IR}1l1rnJJhr1od. Sri
'f Lanka, ls mud1 tl1cailuflndl,d11l'\ UY Hq)OJ1 11111. hv pn U,ctni,i ll111110 11 tn
J)(ov, lr1pmrrit. II h,1 mnclr It \ 1 ry c I• :1r
~-pc,cl wKI ll utg OOllfllty like ouns h,1-;
rh,11 wh,11 I~ lrnport1111f lr1 rl, '\ 1 lopnll nl
uch o low rank In the world? Tublf' l!I wh:11 l!!I h:ir,rwnlnJ,t 1,, d llzr n"I ,,f n
l 6 also shows tJun though Ni pal and cou11try. II 1!4 peopl! . thrfr henllh. 111• Ir
Bangladesh have low per capita wrll bring. that Is mri,t lmpor1nnt,
mcome 1han that of India. yet they are Do you think therl' .,re r rr1 rtln
bclll'T than lnd1a In life cxpcctancy.
oth e r a '>p<'cl .!1 that s hn111rl br
'\I; ..J: Many improvements have been con s ldt•red In tr11' Hs11rl11g h11111111
sugge!:tled in calcuJaUng HDI and developml'nl?

Suppose for the present that a

particular country is quite developed. ·we hw·c tlOI fJlfltrllcd
We would certainly like this level of the world j,om ow
development to go up further or at Jorefnthcr1,; u·a 1t,11·c
least be maintained for future borrowed it Jrom our
generations. This is obviously children."
desirable. However. since the second
halfofthe t\\c-mt:ieth century, a number
of scientists have been warning that
the present type. and levels, of
development are not sustainable.

E,uwq,le-1 : Groundwater lfv [Link],

·Recent evidence suggests that the groundwater is under serious
rhreoJ. ofoveruse in many parts of lhe cowury. :About 300 districts
ltiiiie repo,ted a water level decline of over .f metres during the
past 20years. Nearly one-third ofrhe country ts overusing [Link]
growu:1 aler reserves. In another 25 years,
60 per cem of lhe [Link] u>ould be doing the same if the present
way of using this resource conLinues. Groundwater OL-eruse is
particulartgJour'A tn the agriculturally prosperous regtons 6fl
l1l,Jlab mw1 Western U.P.• hard rock plateau areas ofcentral and
Jndld. $Of11e ooastal areas and tne rapldly growing urban
settle.1lents. •
y grou!ldwa!er s overused?
Can there be development without overuse?

t Eco OMIC DEVELOPMENT

Repmt 2025-26
~
{j tili'oundwalC'r ls an example of Non n·n<'wahk n ·si111n·1"~,arc· Uio~·
rcnewc1blt- n·Rmn:~ . [Link] [Link] WhiC'h will get cxhau:sted after a fl'W
urt> replenished by n1irure as itll the years of use. We have a fixed s tock on
(2 case of crops and plan]§. ~owever. earth which cannol be replenished. We
eve n these resources may be do discover new resources thal we did
overused. For example, in the case of not know of earlier. New sources in
groundwater, if we use more than this way add to the stock. I lowever,
rG\ what is being replenished by rain then over time, even this will get exhausted.
\.:!) we would be overusing this resour§:::·:!.----- --:=:-::-:~-;;
FOR EXAMPLE, CRUDE OIL rHAf Wf.
7
EXfRACf FROM fHE EARTH IS A NON-
RENEWABLE RESOURCE. HOIA/EYER Wf.
MAY FIND A SOURCE OF OIL fHAf Wf. DID
NOf KNOW OF EARLIER. EXPLORATIONS
ARE BEING UNDERfAKEN ALL fHE TIME.

Look at the following data for crude oil.

Region/Country Reserves (2017) Number of Years

(Thousand Million Barrels) Reserves will last
Middle East 836 70
United States of America 69 10.5
World 1732 47
Source : Energy lnstitute's Statistical Review of World Energy, 2024.
The table gives an eslimale of reserves of crude oil (column l}. More
important, it also tells us for how manyyears the stock of crude oil will
last if people continue to extract it at the present rate. The reserves
would last only 50 years more. This ls for the world as a whole. However,
different countries face different situations. Countries like India depend
on importing oil from abroad because they do not have enough stocks
oftheir own. lfprices ofoil increase this becomes a burden for [Link].
There are countries like USA which have low reserves and hence want to
secure oil through rnilita..cy or economic power.
The question ofsusfEinability ofdevelopment raises many fundamentally
newissues about the nature andprocess ofdevelopment.
(a) ls cmde oil essential for the development process in a country?
Discuss.
(b) India has lo import crude oil. What problems do you anticipate
for lhe country looking at the above situation?

OEVEL0PMEN

Reprint 2025-26
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<Jlc, lo~ ,.J wi Jh L--iiolo ngc•r 1·(:g@11 or 1111 11011 1-1 pc·cl f'l0 dcwlop11w11t or 111·ngn•:-;o,; IM p<"n 11111:tl .
(llitr f'1tt11 rc Is lt11 ke cl toget her. J\l nll tlnH·!-i Win 11w11ilwr of 'int·lt'ly
<!-A.P.11 le~ . 8 u s1ol n ol>lltt y ol cl evclop11 1<·n l IH rtt tcl n1-1 l1 1dlvtdu;IIH we· 111 •1·<1 t,1 n:-il<
co mp nrn lt vc.;ly n n ew nrc·n o l w lH'r<"wuwnn t logo. whnt W<'Wh-,ll to
frn owkd ge In whic h ~c'l(' Jll lHIH, bcco111c' a11d wlwt 011r gon li; 11re. So
rrouoml sts. phllosopl a•rs nnd ot lw r t ll<' dc·bnt(• on d(•vcloprnc11I <'<>111 lm 11·H.
1 1-:c<)e d~s,, Lt lJ a 1-0~ ~ ~c...uJS , ~ o~1 J»{lwnl <1o)wl;:,,u~v
~ fc:;:. IA)OM ~ • f1t) ~,aw /N()AMtY>_} ,1 ([Link] Aru i) el:z:;· [Link] r;C, ~ fo'tc::
[Link].. h~ CTYl.12 r:,[Link], r) • G) tl (S (.ll ,,1tol('(I rr.)cJTJ..>i tlj -u.._, nlk (r )J \
- [Link]/ tli' )t.L h J / h.a, So M.t r~·
~ :(;)
t. Development of a country can generally be determined by
(i) Its per capita Income
(ii) its average literacy lovol
(Ill) health status of Its people
W all the above
2. Which of the following neighbouring countries has better performance in terms of
human development than India?
(i) Bangladesh
(ii( Sri Lanka
(Iii) Nepal
(iv) Pakistan
3. Assume there are four families in a country. The average per capita income of
these families is As 5000. If the income of three families is As 4000, As 7000
and Rs 3000 respectively, what is the income of the fourth family?
(i) As 7500
(ii) As 3000
(iii) As 2000
U As 6000
4. What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different
countries? What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?
5. In what respects is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development
different from the one used by the World Bank?
6. Why do we use averages? Are there any limitations to their use? Illustrate with
your own examples related to development.
7. Kerala, with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking
than Haryana. Hence, per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should
not be used to compare states. Do you agree? Discuss.
8. Find out the present sources of energy that are used by the people In India. What
could be the other possibilities fifty years from now?
9. Why is the issue of sustainability important for development?

A,prlnt 2025-26