Module 1 Questions

Questions for discussion and assignment

1. “Structural exploitation has led to the underdevelopment of the third world countries of the
world”. Elaborate and exemplify.

Third World countries were poor, had bad health conditions and little military power. They faced
starvation and their economies were mono-productive and agriculturally based. In short, third world
countries had less education, less wealth, poorer health, less military power, and were dominated
politically and economically by the First World. Dependency theorists blame the existence of such
inequalities on the developed nations. They saw developing countries as being stuck in their stage of
underdevelopment because of their structural exploitation by the industrialised countries. The relations
between First and Third World countries are asymmetrical. The flow of power and control is from the
First World (center or core) to the Third World (periphery). Developing countries provided the rich
countries with both raw materials and export markets at very favourable trade terms. Thus, Economic
trade caused a widening of the gap between developed and developing countries, rather than a
narrowing of that gap. Thus, it can be said that underdevelopment is not a natural state, but rather a
condition that is caused.

Furthermore, so long as capitalism remains the dominant world economic system, there is no reason for
the situation of developed and underdeveloped countries to change. Underdevelopment is not a
temporary condition, as had been thought in the past, but is a permanent condition. In fact, if the
present world system does not change, we can expect the core to become more powerful and the
periphery weaker in the future. Rather than "catching up" to the developed countries, most currently
underdeveloped countries will fall farther behind. (In a limited number of cases, where exceptional
circumstances exist, it may be possible for an underdeveloped country to move from the periphery to
the core.)

SOLUTION: Formation of common markets, trading blocs, or cartels. Third World countries share many
common economic and trading problems in their relations with the industrialized core. By joining
together and presenting a common front to the core they will gain leverage and be able to secure
greater advantages from their interactions with world core countries. By forming groups or cartels the
periphery nations will have more power than any individual Third World country has in its relations with
the core.

A second suggestion for improving the situation is to force Third World country elites to confront their
country's condition of dependency and take voluntary steps to alter it. The goal is for the elites to
suspend their selfish habits of conspicuous consumption, and to use their wealth for national
development. The elites would be encouraged to invest in their home countries, rather than abroad.

2. Describe development proposed by Prof. Amartya Sen. Give arguments to support the fact that
his definition is quite comprehensive in the present context.
Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom has been widely praised as a way forward for a more humane
society. Sen says that freedom is both the primary end, and the principal means of development
because first, the only acceptable evaluation of human progress is primarily and ultimately
enhancement of freedom and second, the achievement of development is dependent on the free
agency of people.  Freedom is a principal determinant of individual initiative and social effectiveness; it
is good primarily because it enhances the ability of individuals to help themselves.

He describes development in terms of human capabilities and sees it as a bundle of freedoms. He

distinguishes five types of freedoms: (i) political freedoms, (ii) economic facilities, (iii) social
opportunities, (iv) transparency guarantees, and (v) protective security.

Political freedom means free opportunities to citizens to determine who should govern them and on
what principles. It includes forums for free debate , ability to participate in public discussions, etc.
ECONOMIC FACILITIES means opportunities and freedom to use the economic resources of the city, its
hinterland and other territories for the purposes of consumption, production and exchange. SOCIAL
OPPORTUNITIES refers to the arrangements and choice of opportunities that the administration makes
for education, health care and other essential community facilities for its citizens is relevant to evaluate
the level of development. TRANSPARENCY GUARANTEES means that Citizens need to be provided the
guarantees for openness, necessary disclosures, rights to information and tangible evidence of trust so
that the clauses of the social contract between the administration and the citizens are always clearly
defined and enacted. For PROTECTIVE SECURITY, State institutions need to undertake measures to
provide the necessary freedom to access the protection of a social security net that prevents the
consequences of poverty and suffering from spreading amongst its inhabitants. Thus, the state needs to
provide support for the suffering caused by natural disasters, epidemics and war. 

Sen’s definition is quite comprehensive in the present context because at times, his idea of development
caters to the mainstream and at times ignores the main structural and institutional impediments
inherent in the contemporary world. Sen’s argument can both positively and negatively affect the
pursuit of human freedom.

There are constraints to all these freedoms. Constraints to Political Freedom include absence of
assessments required to inform policy makers about capabilities and potentials of development,
Constraints on access to law-and-order services, No Balance of power between central and local
governments. Constraints of Economic Security include No Financing of shelter and human settlements,
Individual disabilities, No access to credit, Constraints on women to seek employment, No improving of
urban economies, No attempts to enable markets to work, etc. Constraints of Social Opportunities
includes No Access to medicine and maybe alternative medicine of culture, Stability of dwelling,
Domestic injuries, pollution and constraints to access to water, Distance from primary school, Areas
considered as dangerous or inaccessible to the police. Constraints of Transparency Guarantees includes
Unpublished contracts and tenders, No regular independent auditing of municipal accounts, No Laws on
disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, No Facilities to report crime: unreported thefts or rapes.
Constraints of Protective Security include No Access to networks, No Access to emergency food,
Constraints to access of shelter, etc.
3. Describe the importance of empowerment as the key concept in development.

The difference between development and empowerment is that development is (uncountable) the

process of developing, growth and directed change while empowerment is the granting of political,
social, or economic power to an individual or group. These two concepts are different, but the term
“Empowerment” has been liberally applied by academics in social services, social psychology, public
health, adult literacy, community, and economic development.

Economic empowerment is the capacity of women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit
from growth processes in ways that recognise the value of their contributions, respect their dignity and
make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth. Economic empowerment
increases women’s access to economic resources and opportunities including jobs, financial services,
property and other productive assets, skills development, and market information.

Community empowerment refers to the process of enabling communities to increase control over their
lives. Community empowerment necessarily addresses the social, cultural, political, and economic
determinants that underpin health, and seeks to build partnerships with other sectors in finding
solutions. Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is one example of community empowerment
being in action is a trade union of nearly a million self-employed women in Gujarat, India. SEWA women
started their own bank, and solved the problem of access to credit, avoiding the huge interest rates
demanded by private loan agents. 

Empowering more women to work, results in better growth of third-world economies. This is because
women’s economic empowerment, increases economic diversification, boosts productivity and income
equality, resulting in other positive development outcomes. As a study from the IMF shows, policies that
improve access to educational opportunities and finance for women can contribute to a reduction in
inequality and an increase in economic growth for the developing country. Providing women and girls
with more educational opportunities contributes to: "reductions in fertility rates and increases in labour
force participation rates, and in which thereby better quality of human capital of the future economy
and generations."

For example, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa’s first female president, advocated the
safety of women, empowerment of women, and women’s rights to participation in peace-building work.
In countries such as Rwanda, an increase in the number of female politician and lawmakers has
furthered gender equality by implementing reproductive rights and equal land rights for women, which
has helped increase investments in land by 18 percentage points, twice the level observed for men. They
have also established gender desks at police stations to help women who face domestic violence and
other forms of violence.

4. How human development approach theory can be used for bringing social development in India?

Human development approach theory can be used for bringing social development in India because
both these concepts are related. Social development is about improving the well-being of every
individual in society so they can reach their full potential. The success of society is linked to the well-
being of each citizen. Social development means investing in people. Human development – or the
human development approach - is about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the
richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and
their opportunities and choices. The human development approach prioritizes the expansion of human
capabilities and focuses on empowering people through programs that focus on health and education
which would ultimately lead to development.

 The first Human Development Report introduced the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI index
measures countries' levels of social and economic development based on four criteria: life expectancy at
birth, average years of schooling, expected years of schooling and gross national income per capita.

India's governments have established an extensive social welfare system and programs to improve social
development and HDI can help in ensuring whether these programs have been useful or not to improve
the social development of India. Programs for children include supplementary nutrition for expectant
mothers and for children under seven years of age, immunization and health programs, vacation camps
for low-income families, and training for adolescents which can improve life expectancy at birth which is
one of the factors under HDI.

5. “The richest 10% Indians own around 80% of the country’s wealth while the less-privileged 60%
own less than 5%”. Is unorganised sector to be blamed? What suggestions do you give for
improving this condition?

6. “Unorganised firms are disadvantaged in comparison to the organised ones”. Explain with suitable
examples. Is protection the only option?

7. “Indian poverty persists not only due to insufficient economic activity but also due to the presence
of large unorganised sector”. Do you agree? Give reasons and remedies.

8. “In the real world the growth does not happen in a balanced way. It is something that is not
possible”. Taking examples from India explain.
9. “Efforts should be made to formalize the informal sector so that the employment is more uniform
and the conditions of employment are improved overtime” What are the present policies in this
regard? Also give four suggestions for government so that formalizing the informal employment
can be taken up to next level.

Reasons why informal employment is discouraged:

 Leads to seasonal unemployment

 Works have unregulated and lower wages
 Job insecurity
 Tax invasion and illegal activities
 Poor working condition

The growing level of informal employment in the formal sector is largely due to the growing use of
contract labour and outsourcing of production. This also suggests that encouraging the informal sector
to formalise with a mix of incentives and enforcement is no longer enough.

India has undertaken a number of initiatives to address informality, including targeted schemes for
promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises and legislative measures such as the Unorganized
Workers Social Security Act, Contract Labour (Abolition & Regulation) Act, and Workers’ Welfare Boards.

The Way out of Informality project seeks to facilitate policy dialogue through research, and, at local
level, identify best practices that can be replicated and scaled up. The Formalizing Employment in
Domestic Work project uses initiatives that are designed to progressively bring domestic workers within
labour and employment regulations and laws, and define the formal elements of employment
relationships.

Recommendations:

1. Promote the creation, preservation and sustainability of enterprises and decent jobs in the
formal economy and the coherence of macroeconomic, employment, social protection and
other social policies.
2. There is a need for the effective promotion and protection of the human rights of all those in the
informal economy, respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, in law and practice, in
addition to the promotion of gender equality and non-discrimination and the need to pay
special attention to those most vulnerable in the informal economy.
3. Most people enter the informal economy not by choice but as a consequence of a lack of
opportunities in the formal economy. Thus, there is a need to preserve and improve existing
livelihoods, as well as the entrepreneurial potential, skills and creativity of those operating in the
informal economy, in the process of transition to the formal economy.
4. In order to meet growing demands in this area of action and capitalize on the extraordinary
momentum created, extra-budgetary funding will be sought for the expansion of coverage of
country level support, capacity building and the development and dissemination of knowledge
on transition to the formal economy.