Development — Notes

Development is about people's aspirations for a better life. Because people live in different situations, they have different development goals: a daily-wage worker wants regular work and fair wages; a rain-fed farmer wants irrigation and fair prices; a young woman may most value the freedom to choose her career; a family in a valley may want above all to keep its land.

Goals can also conflict: a dam may bring electricity and irrigation to towns and plains while submerging the homes and land of valley families; a factory may bring jobs but pollute a river that fishing families use. One group's progress can be another group's loss.

Most people want more income, because it buys material things. But people also seek non-material goals: equal treatment, freedom, security and respect. For example, a person may choose a secure job near home over a higher-paid insecure job far away; women can gain from paid work only if the workplace and the journey are safe. Many things that improve life, such as a pollution-free environment or freedom from discrimination, cannot be bought by one family's income. Development is about the quality of life, not just income.

To compare countries, we choose characteristics most people value. Income is one: more income generally means more of the things people need. Because countries have different populations, we use average income, also called per capita income: total income divided by total population.

The World Bank classifies countries mainly by income per person (gross national income per capita, in US dollars) into high, upper-middle, lower-middle and low-income groups; the thresholds are revised every year. India is a lower-middle-income country.

Limitation: an average hides the distribution of income. Two places with the same average can be very different: in one everyone earns about the same; in another a few are rich and most are poor.

Income alone does not show whether people are healthy and educated. Other indicators:

• Infant mortality rate (IMR): children who die before the age of one, per 1,000 live births in a year (lower is better).
• Literacy rate: literate people as a proportion of the population aged 7 and above.
• Net attendance ratio: children of an age group (e.g. 14–15 years) attending school, as a percentage of all children of that age group.

A state with lower income can do better on these if it has good public facilities: health centres, clean water, schools, midday meals and a well-functioning public distribution system (PDS), whose ration shops supply foodgrains at fair prices. Kerala is a well-known example: its income is not the highest, but its infant mortality rate is among the lowest, largely because good basic health care and schooling reach most people.

Some goods and services are best provided collectively: security, a pollution-free environment, protection from infectious diseases, schools.

The Human Development Report of the UNDP ranks countries by the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines:

• Health: life expectancy at birth (the number of years a newborn is expected to live, on average);
• Education: years of schooling (mean years for adults; expected years for children);
• Income: per capita income, adjusted for comparison across countries (US dollars).

The HDI runs from 0 to 1. Because it includes health and education, a country with a lower income but longer lives and more schooling can rank higher than a richer one. It is a broader measure than income alone.

Sustainable development meets present needs without reducing the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

• Groundwater is renewable, but when it is pumped out faster than rain recharges it, the water table falls and wells run dry: overuse of a renewable resource.
• Crude oil is non-renewable: reserves are fixed and will be exhausted at the present rate of use unless new reserves are found. Years the reserves will last = reserves ÷ annual production.
• Environmental degradation does not stop at national or state borders, so it is everyone's concern.

Scientists, economists and citizens therefore argue that development must conserve resources and protect the environment.