DEVELOPMENT

(ECONOMICS – CHAPTER 1)

NCERT - Economics
Class 10
 INTRODUCTION

 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.
 In this chapter, we shall make a beginning for understanding
development.
 You will also find answers to many questions such as; what should a
country be like? What are the essential things that we require? Can life
be better for all? Can there be more equality? Development is thinking
about all of these.
 It is only through a democratic political process that these hopes and
possibilities can be achieved in real life.
WHAT IS
DEVELOPMENT &
WHAT
IT PROMISES?
 Development is the sum total of income plus quality of life like equal treatment, freedom,
security, respect of others, etc.
 Development is also known as progress. Its idea has always been with us.

 Each person has his own aspirations and desires about what he would like to do and how he
would like to spend his life.
 People want regular work, better wages and decent price for their crops or other products. In
other words, they want more income.
 Besides seeking more income, people also want equal treatment, freedom, security, respect of
other, they resent discrimination.
 Different kinds of people can have different developmental goals.

For example, an urban unemployed youth would aspire for a good salaried job, promotions, etc., and
on the other hand, a rural unemployed would want better job opportunities in the village, job
security and dignity of labour.
 Different persons could have conflicting notions of development. What may be development for
one may not be development for the other person. It may even be destructive for the other.
Ex: An industrialist may want dams to generate electricity but the dams may displace the locals or
tribals and disrupt their lives.
 INCOME AND OTHER GOALS:
 Income is the most important component of development. Money, or
material things that one can buy with it, is one factor on which our life
depends.
 But the quality of life depends on non-material things too such as
friendship, security, sense of equality, freedom, facilities for the family etc.
 National development refers to the ability of a nation to improve the lives
of its citizens in terms of income, health care, education etc. Individuals
seek different goals and thus their notion of national development is also
likely to be different.
 To make a comparison among various countries, their national income and
per capita income is considered as a base point.
 The World Bank considers only the per capita income as the indicator of
the development.
 The UNDP considers health, educational levels and the per capita income
of the citizens as the indicator of development.
 According to the World Bank criterion, countries with the per capita
income of US $ 49,300 per annum and above in 2019 are called rich or
developed countries and those with the per capita income of US $ 25,000
or less are called low-income or developing countries.
 India comes in the category of low-income countries because its per capita
income in 2019 was just US $ 6700 per annum.
 Average income may be useful for comparison but it hides disparities when
it comes to equitable distribution.
 The adjoining table shows that both countries A and B are equally
developed but the distribution is not equal.
 Other Goals:
 Income may be one of the important criteria for development but by itself is not an adequate
indicator of material goods and services that the people are able to use.
 For example, income cannot buy a pollution-free environment. A person taking up job may
also look out for job security, working conditions etc.
 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.
 Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): It indicates the number of children who die before the age of
one year, as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year.
 Literacy Rate: It measures the proportion of literate population in the 7 and above age
group.
 Kerala has a low Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and high literacy rate because it has adequate
provision of health care and educational facilities.
 Net Attendance Ratio: It is 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.
Let’s consider the tables given below:
 The Per Capita Income of Haryana is more than that of
Kerala. However if you consider the Infant Mortality
Rate, In Haryana the proportion of children dying before
the age of one year is more than double that of Kerala.
 More over the last column of table 2 shows that around
57% students do not attend school in Bihar and in Kerala
it is only 17%.
 All this suggests that Income is not an enough or the
correct criteria of development.
 Development also includes education level and the health
status too.
 Human Development Report published by UNDP
compares countries based on the educational levels of the
people, their health status and per capita income.
 Through Human Development Index (HDI), which is a
composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per
capita income indicators, are used to rank countries into
four tiers of human development.
 Human development index is the quality of life-index
prepared by UNDP. It has mainly three indicators.
 Life Expectancy at Birth: It denotes average expected
length of life of a person at the time of birth.
 Gross Enrolment Ratio: It shows enrolment ratio in
primary schools, secondary schools and in higher
education.
 Per Capita Income: It is calculated in dollars for all
countries so that it can be compared.
 Adding all the three indicators and dividing by 3, gives the
human development index:
 HDI LE index +GER index +Per capita income index
3
 India stands 131 in the HDI rank in the world. Sri Lanka our southern neighbor
lies much ahead in this respect at 72.
 Besides having better income equal treatment, freedom, education, security and
peace are included in the developmental goal.
 Through the democratic political process, these developmental goals of
different sections of society can be achieved.
 Human Development Index 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.
 To find out if human beings are undernourished the scientists calculate what is
called Body Mass Index (BMI).
 BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) = Weight in Kg/(Height in meters)
 PUBLIC FACILITIES
 Public facilities are the facilities that are provided to the people by
the government.
 The provision of public services and facilities in the urban
environment has a significant impact on the quality of life that
residents and others enjoy.
 Public facilities play an essential role in providing support services
to create viable, sustainable, healthy and cohesive communities,
overcoming social barriers and raising achievement.
 Money alone cannot buy all the goods and services that one may
need to live well.
 Income by itself is not a completely adequate indicator of material
goods and services that citizens are able to use.
 Government has the responsibility to provide certain essential
facilities like healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport and
educational institutions.
 Kerala has a low Infant Mortality Rate because it has adequate
provision of basic health and educational facilities.
 In some states, the Public Distribution System (PDS) functions
well. If some PDS shop, i.e., ration shop, does not function
properly in such places, the people there are able to get the problem
rectified. Health and nutritional status of people of such states is
certainly likely to be better.
 SUSTAINABILITY OF 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 for sustainable
development are :
 Controlling over uses and creating an
awareness to provide sustainable
development.
 Increased use of renewable resources.
 Less use of fossil fuels.
 Introduction of organic farming.
 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
e.g. , Ground water, crude oil etc..
 Ground water is over used for agriculture; since
water is a renewable resource, we must help in
 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.
 Mahatma 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.
DEFINE THE GIVEN TERMS:
 Per capita income
 Infant Mortality Rate

 Literacy Rate

 Net Attendance Ratio

 Life expectancy

 Gross Enrolment Ratio

 Body Mass Index

 Sustainable Economic Development

 SOLVE THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN YOUR FAIR COPIES

 “What may be development for one person may not be

development for the other.” Justify the statement giving any two
examples.
 What is the main criteria used by World Bank in classifying
different countries? What are its limitations?
 What are public facilities? Why are they significant?

 What is Human Development Index? What are its components?

 “Money cannot buy all the goods and services one needs to live
well.” Explain.
 Distinguish between developed countries and developing
countries.
 Why do you think Kerala ranks higher compared to other states?