Development notes by Sanjay sir class 10

Development means progress, improvement and economic betterment in comparison to the previous state of situations and
conditions. Development also means fulfilment of one’s desires and aspirations.
Examples: A landless farmer would consider it a development if he gets to have his own land

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPMENT

Different people can have different developmental goals.

 Development does not have same meaning to all because of their different situations, desires and aspirations.

 A farmer, dependent on rain, would aspire for better irrigation facilities.

 An unemployed youth would have goals of getting employment of his choice.

 A girl would desire for more freedom and gender equality.

People can have conflicting goals … (Development of one may not be the development for the other)

It may also that the people can have conflicting goals and development of one may be destructive and
detrimental for other.

 An industrialist would prefer building of dams for regular supply of electricity for industries this goal would conflict
with the goals of the people who will be displaced (such as tribals) due to building of the dam. It will affect and
disrupt their lives.

 A girl would want or desire for same freedom as her brother. She would also like to see him work in kitchen
also. This goal of gender equality may not be liked by her brother.

 A labourer would desire for more wages and less working hours but his employer would have different goal of
paying less and taking more hours of work from his labourers.

People look at mix of goals… (Income and other goals)

 Better wages and more income are common goals but money and material goods (that money can buy) are not all
that we need to live well or lead a quality life. Besides income, people seek or want other non-material things that
they need to live well.

 Freedom, equal treatment, safety, respect of others, better working conditions, non- discriminatory atmosphere
are also important goals of life other than the goal of more income.
 Our parents, friends, relatives, co-staff, national development and the likes may be goals that mean a lot to us and
we would consider them important than the desire for more income.
People can have different as well as conflicting notions of national development

 Since people have different individual goals and so they can have different ideas, opinions and notions of
development.

 It is difficult to decide which opinions are right need to be followed. In this situation, it is a better way to adopt that
path which would benefit the maximum people and harming the least.

COMPARISON OF COUNTRIES

Countries can be compared on the basis of their total income but total income can be misleading criterion because countries
differ by size and population. So, Average Income can be a criterion to classify countries as developed or less
developed.

World Bank Report

 World Bank takes into account the P.C.I (per capita income) to prepare its annual report to classify economies
countries.

 Per capita Income is got by dividing the total income of the country by its total population.

 In year 2017, Countries with per capita income of US$ 12,056 per annum and above are called rich and those
with per capita income of US$ 955 or less are called low-income countries. India comes in the middle-income
country with just US$ 1820 per annum in 2017.

 But the income or wealth is an inadequate measure of development. There are other factors like education
and health that affect human development.

Human Development Report (HDR)

 This report is produced annually by United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP)

 The criteria of HDR are –

 Per capita Income (Avg. Income)- It shows the economic wealth and well to do condition of the
people in materialistic terms.

 Life Expectancy (Health) – It shows the availability of medical & health facilities like doctors, hospitals,
medicines etc. Japan and Hong Kong lead the Life expectancy index. It is rightly said, “A sound mind resides
in a healthy body”.
  Literacy Rate (Education) – It shows the availability of schools, teachers and other higher educational
institutions that are easily available to citizens. It is said that “Knowledge is power” and this power is
needed for intellectual wealth of a country.

 HDR removes the shortcomings of the Word Bank Report by including other criteria linked to human
development like – education and health status of the people of the country.

HDI (Human Development Index- established by UNO in 1990)

HDI is part of HDR (prepared by UNDP) and it ranks the countries on the basis of their achievements in socio-
economic fields liked to human development. It is prepared by using certain development criteria – Health (Life
expectancy at birth) Education (expected years of schooling and net enrolment ratio in schools) and Per capita
income (Standard of living)

Body Mass Index (BMI)

It shows the nourishment level of adults. It is calculated by dividing weight (in Kg) by the square of the height.

Different BMI categories:

Below 18.5 - undernourished 25 to 30 – over weight

18.5 to 25- normal weight Above 30 - obese

INCOME AND OTHER CRITERIA

 Individual aspirations and goals are a mix of better income and other goals like security, respect for others, equal
treatment, freedom etc.

 When we think of a nation or a region, we must consider equally important attributes like income, health and
education standard of people to assess development in human terms.

 A region with better income may lack in health and education of its people and a region with low income can
excel in health and education standard of its people like Kerala in India.

PUBLIC FACILITIES

The concept of public facilities refers to providing goods and services collectively with a view to make them available
such facilities to more and more people.

Why we need public facilities?

Because - “Money in your pocket cannot buy all the goods and services that you need to live well.”
  Examples: Money cannot buy us a pollution-free environment or unadulterated medicines, unless you can afford
to shift to a community already having all these things.

 Only money alone cannot protect us from infectious diseases unless the people living in our community take
preventive steps.

 Collective security, PDS, public schools, Hospitals etc. are meant for public as a whole.
SUSTAINABILITY OF DEVELOPMENT

Whatever resources we use today should be used in a way that they are available to the future generations also-the forest,
land the natural resources, all should be used in a preserving and not damaging manner so that they are able to sustain the
future generations also.

“We have not inherited the world from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children”
Example- Ground water is under serious threat of over use in many parts of the country. Overuse is common
in parts of country like Punjab and Western U.P which are agriculturally prosperous regions. We should use
only as much ground water as is replenished by rain. Rain water harvesting, putting reasonable restrictions on
drilling of wells, and restricting use of water for all and for all times to come
Consequences of environmental degradation do not respect national or state boundaries

The environmental degradation or damage- Global warming, dry seasons, excessive snow fall, melting of ice caps etc
affects are not region or nation specific. The polluted environment of India will have effects also, on its neighbouring
countries.

Sustainability is a new knowledge area which was the main part of Agenda 21.

 Scientists, economists, philosophers and other social activists are questioning the current development model
of countries.
 The anxiety today is – where we are heading, where we are leading the world today…what about the future
condition of the environment and natural resources.
 We can easily conclude that, sustainability is the need of the hour to sustain our future generations.

What is Per Capita Income? Why is “Per Capita Income” not an adequate indicator of economic development of a
country? Explain.
Per capita income is the total income of the country divided by its total population
It is not an adequate indicator because:
1. It does not tell us how this income is distributed. Per Capita Income might not be the income of every individual in the
state.
2. Life expectancy and Infant Mortality Rate are other important criteria for measuring development.
3. Education and literacy level are other indicators of development.
4. Pollution free environment, less corruption, gender equality etc. are also important.