DEVELOPMENT

Chapter One: Fundamentals Of Development

1. Meanings & Views Of Development

1.1. What is Development?

Development implies an overall positive change in the physical quality of life. This positive change
for the better encompasses economic as well as social aspects. Therefore, development not only
calls for economic but also the equitable distribution of the gains made from economic growth. In
other words, development implies growth with justice. It means an improvement in the quality of
life through better health, education, housing and overall material and social welfare.

Development in human society is a many-sided process. At the level of the individual, it implies
increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material
well-being. Some of these are virtually moral categories and are difficult to evaluate – depending as
they do on the age in which one lives, one’s class origins, and one’s personal code of what is right
and what is wrong. However, what is indisputable is that the achievement of any of those aspects of
personal development is very much tied in with the state of the society as a whole. From earliest
times, man found it convenient and necessary to come together in groups to hunt and for the sake of
survival. The relations which develop within any given social group are crucial to an understanding
of the society as a whole: Freedom, responsibility, skill, etc. have real meaning only in terms of the
relations of men in society.

The simplest definition of development by Chambers is ‘good change’.

 It may be impossible of achieving ‘good change’ without destroying something previously
held dear such that traditional values (disruption of established patterns of living)
 Development is the achievement of whatever is regarded as a general good for society at
large.
 Also development is ‘the idea of creating the conditions for ‘the realization of the
potential of human personality’ (Seers, 1969)
Development is not simply good change; it is highly an ambiguous concept. E.g.:
1. First, development generally implies an all-encompassing change, not just an
improvement in one aspect.
2. Development is not a one-off (happening only once) process of change, but a process
which builds on itself, where change is continuous and where improvements build on
previous improvements.
3. Development is a matter of changes occurring at the level of social change and of the
individual human being at on and the same time.
4. Development is not always seen positively…that previous ways of life may be swept
away, with the loss of positive as well as negative features. (Development may have
losers as well as winners)

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According to Rogers and Shoemaker defined development as: “A type of social change in which
new ideas are introduced into a social system in order to produce higher per capita income and
levels of living through more modern production methods and improved social organization.
Development is modernization at the social systems level (1971). Todar and Smith (2003) stresses
that development involves both the quality and quantity of life. This means:

a. Quality of life refers to opportunities and availability of social, health and educational
concerns.
b. Quantity of life involves the amount of economic and political participation of the people.
This definition shifts the attention and aim of development away from an economic to a more
humanizing conceptualised one.

1.1.2. Various Perspectives of Development

I. Social Development- Social development may be conceived in terms of progressive social
integration.

 Society is fragmented into different warring groups

 Social discrimination against minority groups
 One section of society dominates another
 One social group has privileges while another has social disabilities, development cannot
take place in a smooth and harmonious manner.

Social homogenization is integral to development. Without it there cannot be unity and social
solidarity and without them no society can develop. That is why it has to be affirmed that
development is not only economic but also social and political development. Without one of the
three, the other two cannot survive.

II.Economical Development- The living quality or standard of life of the people have to increase.
Having a high per capita income or a growth in the Gross Domestic Product need not mean
necessarily a growth in the living standard of people.
III. Spiritual Development- The growth and development should be integral. Spiritual
development among people is a must for a peaceful nation. If peace does not prevail in a
country, however wealth that nation has no value.
IV. Human Development- The nation alone shouldn’t develop. The people should develop. This
human factor in development is very important.
V. Political Development- Political development could be assessed in terms of the stabilization and
consolidation of participatory political institutions.

Where such development takes place, the political authority is responsive to the people; and
conversely people have faith in the political authority and indeed have opportunities to participate in
the political process.

1.2. The basic elements of development?

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The basic elements of development are the following:

 Removal of inequality and poverty
 Increase in material welfare of the people
 Increase in social well-being (education, health, housing, etc)
 An equitable distribution of the gains of development among different groups of people
in a region or country
 An enhancement in technology and the capacity to produce a wider range of goods and
services in the economy leading to a better quality of life.
 Building institutional structures which permit participation in decision-making at all
levels, equalization of opportunities for development and removal of disparities.
Development is a value-laden and subjective concept with different definitions as given by different
professionals. Development means basically unfolding or opening-up something, which is latent
and with people it means opening up or unfolding their potential powers. It just refers to a change
that is desirable. But since what is desirable at a particular time, place and in a particular culture or
context may not be desirable at other places, or at other times in the same place and in the same
cultural setting, it is impossible to think of a universally acceptable definition of development.
However, at best one can define development in the given societal context as a set of desirable
societal objectives which society seeks to achieve.

For a long time, it was assumed that development depends primarily on economic growth and
would automatically occur if economic growth took place. This view of development has, however
been criticized on the ground that it ignores the distribution of the gains from growth, and also how
the growth has been achieved and at what costs. An increase in production in a country doesn’t
automatically mean that there has been better distribution of what has been produced. This has
meant that the question of distributive justice has assumed greater importance.

? Dear students, what is the difference between growth and development?

It is necessary to understand the difference between the concept of economic growth and
development. Economic growth means an increase in the value of all goods and services produced
in an economy. The sum total of all goods and services in an economy is termed as the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Growth is, therefore a sustained expansion in the productive capacity of
an economy leading to sustained rise in its GDP. Development, on the other hand is a sustained
improvement in material welfare, particularly for those who are poor and afflicted by poverty,
illiteracy and poor health conditions. Development is therefore, a qualitative concept involving a
qualitative improvement in the general standard of living in a country or economy.

1.3. DEVELOPMENT AS AN HISTORICAL PROCESS:

‘There are two distinct views of the historical development of capitalism and its relationship to
development as an historical process. The first emphasizes the internal dynamics of capitalist
economic growth as the engine of development but has room for intentional development, while the

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second sees a political struggle between the promotion of a self-regulating market society and its
regulation from outside. Let us consider each of these in turn in a little more derail.

a) The dynamics of capitalist growth: …self-regulating market, profit maximization,

reinvestment. Here market competition is seen as the main force towards economic progress.
Successful capitalists are able to enter a positively reinforcing cycle: Profit-accumulation-
reinvestment-growth-innovation-increased productivity-increased profits; and then can use
those increased profits to continue the cycle.
Adam Smith’s ‘hidden hand of the market’ converts individual interests into ‘the wealth of
nations’.

More recently it has been suggested (e.g. Fukuyama, 1995) that another crucial cultural factor is
a propensity to associate or social capital (the ability of people to work together for common
purposes in a groups and organizations). Thus without a combination of social capital and
individual profit motive the reinforcing cycle of reinvestment and increasing productivity will
not get going to create economic development.

Growth & development: … ‘Where as growth means more of the same type of output,
development implies more thoroughgoing changes, changes in the social and technical relations
of production. Thus the productive capacity of a society as a whole has to increase, rather than
just increasing productivity within its productive enterprises’. However, growth is almost
always achieved at the cost of inequity.

b) A struggle between pro-market and protectionist movements... ‘Polanyi interpreted the

history of the nineteenth century as a struggle between two movements: on the one hand, pro-
market forces; on the other, protectionism. It was not a question of the natural working of the
market against government, but two competing movements, representing capitalist and those
adversely affected by capitalism respectively, struggling for influence within government’.
Protectionists were quite successful up to the 1960s & 1970s, but in the early 1980s pro-market
interests have made headway. Many LDCs compete to attract investment from TNCs by making a
virtue of their tough anti-union legislation. (SAPs or Washington Consensus).

1.4. Economics and Development Studies

The study of economic development is one of the newest, most exciting, and most challenging
branches of the broader disciplines of economics and political economy. Although one could claim
that Adam Smith was the first “development economist” and that his Wealth of Nations, published
in 1776, was the first treatise on economic development, the systematic study of the problems and
processes of economic development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America has emerged only over the
past five decades or so. Although development economics often draws on relevant principles and
concepts from other branches of economics in either a standard or modified form, for the most part
it is a field of study that is rapidly evolving its own distinctive analytical and methodological
identity.

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Traditional economics is concerned primarily with the efficient, least-cost allocation of scarce
productive resources and with the optimal growth of these resources over time so as to produce an
ever-expanding range of goods and services. Traditional neoclassical economics deals with an
advanced capitalist world of perfect markets; consumer sovereignty; automatic price adjustments;
decisions made on the basis of marginal, private-profit, and utility calculations;
and equilibrium outcomes in all product and resource markets. It assumes economic “rationality”
and a purely materialistic, individualistic, self-interested orientation toward economic decision
making.
Because of the heterogeneity of the developing world and the complexity of the development
process, development economics must be eclectic, attempting to combine relevant concepts and
theories from traditional economic analysis with new models and broader multidisciplinary
approaches derived from studying the historical and contemporary development experience of
Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Development economics is a field on the crest of a breaking wave,
with new theories and new data constantly emerging. These theories and statistics sometimes
confirm and sometimes challenge traditional ways of viewing the world. The ultimate purpose of
development economics, however, remains unchanged: to help us understand developing
economies in order to help improve the material lives of the majority of the global population.

1.4.1. Economies as Social Systems: The Need to Go Beyond Simple Economics

• Social Systems
– Interdependent relationships between economic and non-economic factors
• Success or failure of development policy
– Importance of taking account of institutional and structural variables along with
more traditional economic variables
Economics and economic systems, especially in the developing world, must be viewed in a broader
perspective than that postulated by traditional economics. They must be analyzed within the context
of the overall social system of a country and, indeed, within an international, global context as well.
By “social system,” we mean the interdependent relationships between economic
and noneconomic factors. The latter include attitudes toward life, work, and authority; public and
private bureaucratic, legal, and administrative structures; patterns of kinship and religion; cultural
traditions; systems of land tenure; the authority and integrity of government agencies; the degree of
popular participation in development decisions and activities; and the flexibility
or rigidity of economic and social classes. Clearly, these factors vary widely from one region of the
world to another and from one culture and social setting to another. At the international level, we
must also consider the organization and rules of conduct of the global economy—how they were
formulated, who controls them, and who benefits most from them. This is especially true today with
the spread of market economies and the rapid globalization of trade, finance, corporate boundaries,
technology, intellectual property, and labor migration.
Resolving problems to achieve development is a complicated task. Increasing national production,
raising levels of living, and promoting widespread employment opportunities are all as much a
function of the local history, expectations, values, incentives, attitudes and beliefs, and institutional
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and power structure of both the domestic and the global society as they are the direct outcomes of
the manipulation of strategic economic variables such as savings, investment, product and factor
prices, and foreign-exchange rates.

1.5. Values and Objectives of Development

1.5.1. Core Values of Development

The core values of development After Goulet (1971) in Todaro and Smith (2006)

Values are desired conditions in a society (e.g. health, fame, long life, high income, etc). There are
at least three basic and practical guidelines for understanding the inner meaning of development.
These core values are , sustenance, self-esteem, and freedom-represent common goals sought by all
individuals and societies. They related to fundamental human needs that find their expression in
almost all societies and cultures at all times. Three basic components or core values serve as a
conceptual basis and practical guideline for understanding the inner meaning of development –
sustenance, self esteem, and freedom.

1. Sustenance: The ability to meet basic needs i.e. food, shelter, health, and protection.
Absolute underdevelopment exists where these are unavailable. A basic function of all
economic activity is to make these available to the people.
Without sustained and continuous economic progress at the individual as well as the societal
level, the realization of the human potential wouldn’t be possible. One clearly has to “have
enough in order to be more.” Raising per capita income, elimination of absolute poverty,
greater employment opportunities and lessening income inequalities therefore constitute the
necessary but not the sufficient conditions for development.
Without improving the levels of living (life sustenance) the prospect for development is non-
existent. The first priority of moving from a chronic state of underdevelopment to one of
development must be raising people’s level of living in terms of food, shelter, clothing,
footwear, education, health, employment and social services.
2. Self-Esteem: To be a person – a sense of worth and self respect, of not being used as a tool
by others for their own needs.Due to the significance attached to material values in developed
countries, worthiness and esteem are now increasingly conferred on countries that possess
economic wealth and technological power i.e. Those that have developed. Development has
become an important and indispensable way of gaining esteem.
Nowadays the Third World seeks development in order to gain the esteem which is denied to
societies living in a state of disgraceful “underdevelopment.” Development is legitimized as a
goal because it is an important perhaps even an indispensable, way of gaining esteem.

3. Freedom from servitude- To be Able to Choose

Emancipation from alienating material conditions of life and from social servitude to nature,
ignorance, other people, misery, institutions, and dogmatic beliefs, especially that poverty is
predestination.

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Freedom involves an expanded range of choices for societies......the advantage of economic

growth is not that wealth increases happiness, but that it increases the range of human
choice.

W. Arthur Lewis stressed the relationship between economic growth and freedom from servitude
when he concluded that “the advantage of economic growth is not that wealth increases happiness,
but that it increases the range of human choice.” Wealth can enable people to gain greater control
over nature and the physical environment (e.g. through the production of food, clothing and shelter)
than they would if they remained poor. It also gives them freedom to choose greater leisure, to have
more goods and services, or to deny the importance of this material wants and live a life of spiritual
contemplation. The concept of human freedom should also encompass various components of
political freedom including, but not limited to personal security, the rule of law, freedom of
expression, political participation, and equality of opportunity

1.5.2. Objectives of development

Todar and Smith (2003) identify three objectives of development as follows:

• To increase the availability and widen the distribution of basic life sustaining goods
such as food, shelter, health and protection.

• To raise levels of living in addition to higher incomes, the provision of more jobs,
better education, and greater attention to cultural and human values, all of which will
serve not only enhance material well-being but also to generate greater individual and
national self-esteem.

• To expand the range of economic and social choices available to individuals and nations
by freeing them from servitude and dependence, not only in relation to other people and
nation- states but also to the forces of ignorance and human misery.

1.6. The New Economic View of Development

 Traditional Economic Measures
– Gross National Income (GNI)
– Income per capita
– Utility of that income?
• The New Economic View of Development
-Leads to improvement in wellbeing, more broadly understood

In strictly economic terms, development has traditionally meant achieving sustained rates of growth
of income per capita to enable a nation to expand its output at a rate faster than the growth rate of
its population. Levels and rates of growth of “real” per capita gross national income (GNI)
(monetary growth of GNI per capita minus the rate of inflation) are then used to measure the overall
economic well-being of a population—how much of real goods and services is available to the

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average citizen for consumption and investment. Economic development in the past has also been
typically seen in terms of the planned alteration of the structure of production and employment so
that agriculture’s share of both declines and that of the manufacturing and service industries
increases. Development strategies have therefore usually focused on rapid industrialization, often at
the expense of agriculture and rural development. With few exceptions, such as in development
policy circles in the 1970s, development was until recently nearly always seen as an economic
phenomenon in which rapid gains in overall and per capita GNI growth would either “trickle down”
to the masses in the form of jobs and other economic opportunities
or create the necessary conditions for the wider distribution of the economic and social benefits of
growth. Problems of poverty, discrimination, unemployment, and income distribution were of
secondary importance to “getting the growth job done.” Indeed, the emphasis is often on increased
output, measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
In the 1950s and 1960s many developing countries reached their economic growth targets but the
standards of living for their people were not changing.This showed that something was very wrong
with the economic definition of development. In the 1970s, economic development came to be
defined in terms of the elimination or reduction of poverty, inequality and unemployment in the
context of a growing economy. ‘Redistribution from Growth’ became the common slogan.

A number of developing countries experienced relativelyhigh rates of growth of per capita income
during the 1960s and 1970s but showed little or no improvement or even an actual decline in
employment, equality, and the real incomes of the bottom 40% of their populations. By the earlier
growth definition, these countries were developing; by the newer poverty, equality, and
employment criteria, they were not. The situation in the 1980s and 1990s worsened further as GNI
growth rates turned negative for many developing countries, and governments, facing mounting
foreign-debt problems, were forced to cut back on their already limited social and economic
programs. Nor can we count on high rates of growth in the developed world to trickle down to the
poor in developing countries. Growth was rapid in much of the developing world in the 2000s,
while many wondered if it was fueled by the bubbles in the West and could be derailed by the
financial crisis and later aftershocks. But the phenomenon of development or the existence of a
chronic state of underdevelopment is not merely a question of economics or even one of
quantitative measurement of incomes, employment, and inequality. Underdevelopment
is a real fact of life for more than 3 billion people in the world—a state of mind as much as a state
of national poverty. As Denis Goulet has forcefully portrayed it:

Underdevelopment is shocking: the squalor, disease, unnecessary deaths, and hopelessness of it

all! . . . The most empathetic observer can speak objectively about underdevelopment only after
undergoing, personally or vicariously, the “shock of underdevelopment.” This unique culture shock
comes to one as he is initiated to the emotions which prevail in the “culture of poverty.” The reverse
shock is felt by those living in destitution when a new self-understanding reveals to them that their
life is neither human nor inevitable. . . . The prevalent emotion of underdevelopment is a sense of
personal and societal impotence in the face of disease and death, of confusion and ignorance as one
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gropes to understand change, of servility toward men whose decisions govern the course of events,
of hopelessness before hunger and natural catastrophe. Chronic poverty is a cruel kind of hell, and
one cannot understand how cruel that hell is merely by gazing upon poverty as an object.
Thus, Development must therefore be conceived of as a multidimensional process involving major
changes in social structures, popular attitudes, and national institutions, as well as the acceleration
of economic growth, the reduction of inequality, and the eradication of poverty. Development, in its
essence, must represent the whole gamut of change by which an entire social system, tuned to the
diverse basic needs and evolving aspirations of individuals and social groups within that system,
moves away from a condition of life widely perceived as unsatisfactory toward a situation or
condition of life regarded as materially and spiritually better. No one has identified the human goals
of economic development as well as Amartya Sen, perhaps the leading thinker on the meaning of
development.
1.6.1. Amartya Sen’s “Capability” Approach

The view that income and wealth are not ends in themselves but instruments for other purposes
goes back at least as far as Aristotle. Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel laureate in economics, argues
that the “capability to function” is what really matters for status as a poor or nonpoor person. As
Sen put it, “Economic growth cannot be sensibly treated as an end in itself. Development has to be
more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we enjoy.”
In effect, Sen argues that poverty cannot be properly measured by income or even by utility as
conventionally understood; what matters fundamentally is not the things a person has—or the
feelings these provide—but what a person is, or can be, and does, or can do. What matters for well-
being is not just the characteristics of commodities consumed, as in the utility approach, but what
use the consumer can and does make of commodities. For example, a book is of little value to an
illiterate person (except perhaps as cooking fuel or as a status symbol). Or as Sen noted, a person
with parasitic diseases will be less able to extract nourishment from a given quantity of food than
someone without parasites.
To make any sense of the concept of human well-being in general, and poverty in particular, we
need to think beyond the availability of commodities and consider their use: to address what Sen
calls functionings, that is, what a person does (or can do) with the commodities of given
characteristics that they come to possess or control. Freedom of choice, or control of one’s own life,
is itself a central aspect of most understandings of well-being.
As Sen explains: The concept of “functionings” . . . reflects the various things a person may value
doing or being. The valued functionings may vary from elementary ones, such as being adequately
nourished and being free from avoidable disease, to very complex activities or personal states, such
as being able to take part in the life of the community and having self-respect. In addition:

 Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel laureate in Economics, argues that the ‘‘capability to
function’’ is what really matters for status as a poor or non-poor person.

 Economic growth cannot be treated as an end in itself.

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 Sen argues that poverty cannot be properly measured by income or even by utility as
conventionally understood; what matters is not the things a person has – or the feelings
these provide – but what a person is, or can be, and does, or can do.

 To make sense of the concept of well-being, and poverty, we need to think beyond the
availability of commodities and consider their use: to address what Sen calls functionings,
that is, what a person does (or can do) with the commodities of given characteristics that
they come to possess or control.

 Sen identifies five sources of disparity between (measured) real incomes and actual
advantages

i. Personal heterogeneities e.g gender, disabilities, age etc.

ii. environmental diversities e.g heating and clothing requirements in the cold,
infectious diseases in the tropics
iii. Variations in social climate e.g. The prevalence of violence and crime
iv. Differences in relational perspectives. Required behaviors may vary between
communities. Ex. being poor in rich country can prevent good education. 
v. Distribution within the family: Economics stats measure incomes received in a family
because it’s the basic unit of shared consumption but it may be distributed in unevenly.
Thus looking at even real income levels, or even the levels of consumption of specific
commodities, cannot suffice a measure of well-being.

The above factors mean that the commodity requirements of established patterns of behaviour may
vary between communities, depending on conventions and customs. For example, being relatively
poor in a rich community can prevent a person from achieving some elementary ‘functionings’
(such as taking part in the life of the community) even though her income, in absolute terms may be
much higher than the level of income at which members of poorer communities can function with
great ease and success.

Sen defines capabilities as ‘‘the freedom that a person has in terms of the choice of functionings,
given his personal features, and his command over commodities.’’ It is clear that income or
consumption however framed cannot in any adequate sense define well-being. Sen’s analysis is part
of what has given the United Nations’ Human Development Index which accounts for health,
education as well as income. Generally:

• Amartya Sen’s “Capability” Approach

– Functionings as an achievement
– Capabilities as freedoms enjoyed in terms of functionings
– Development and happiness
– Well being in terms of being well and having freedoms of choice
– “Beings and Doings”:
Some Important “Beings” and “Doings” in Capability to Function:
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– Being able to live long

– Being well-nourished
– Being healthy
– Being literate
– Being well-clothed
– Being mobile
– Being able to take part in the life of the community
– Being happy – as a state of being - may be valued as a functioning
1.7. Measurement Of Development

There are various methods used to measure development. Each one has its merits and
demerits .These are some of the common ones:

 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

 Gross National Product (GNP)

 Income per capita

 Human Development Index (HDI)

 Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW)

 Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

 Gross National Happiness (GNH)

1.7.1. Scope of Development

Basically development is nothing but human development which involves social, political,
economic and environmental dimensions, It means development encompasses socially, politically,
economically, and environmentally sustainable development of the societies and the nation.
According to the classical definition given by the United Nations World Commission on
Environment and Development in 1987, development is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It is
usually understood that this "intergenerational equity" would be ilnpossible to achieve in the
absence of present-day social equity, if the economic activities of some groups of people continue
to jeopardize the wellbeing of people belonging to other groups or those living in other parts of the
world. Conversely, slow human development can put an end to fast economic growth. According to
the Human Development Report 1996, "during 1960-1992 not a single country succeeded in
moving from lopsided development with slow human development and rapid growth to a virtuous
circle in which human development and growth can become mutually reinforcing." Since slower
human development has invariably been followed by slower economic growth, this growth pattern
was labeled a "dead end" .

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1.7.2. Dimensions of Development

As the links between economic growth and social and environmental issues are better understood,
experts including economists tend to agree that this kind of growth is inevitably unsustainable - that
is, it cannot continue along the same lines for long.
 First, if environmental and sacial/human losses resulting from economic growth turn out to
be higher than economic benefits (additional incomes earned by the majority of the
population), the overall result for people's wellbeing becomes negative. Thus, such
economic growth becomes difficult to.sustain politically.
 Second, economic growth itself inevitably depends on its natural and social/human
conditions.
To be sustainable, it must rely on a certain amount of natural resources and services provided by
nature, such as pollution absorption and resource regeneration. Moreover, economic growth must
be constantly nourished by the fruits of human development, such as higher qualified workers
capable of technological and managerial innovations along with opportunities for their efficient use:
more and better jobs, better conditions for new businesses to grow, and greater democracy at all
levels of decision-making .
However, governments have to make appropriate kinds of decisions on a regular basis. If such
decisions are to reflect the interests of the majority, they must be taken in the most democratic and
participatory way possible. But, even in this case, there is a high risk that long-term interests of our
children and grandchildren end up unaccounted for, because future generations cannot vote for
themselves. Thus, to ensure that future generations inherit the necessary conditions to provide for
their own welfare, our present-day values must be educated enough to reflect their interests as well.
The challenge is further complicated by the fact that in today's interdependent world many aspects
of sustainable development are in fact international or even global. On the one hand, many
decisions taken at the national or even local level actually have international consequences -
economic, social, environmental.
When these consequences are negative, the situation is sometimes referred to as "exporting un
sustainability." On the other hand, national policies are often inadequate to effectively deal with
many challenges of sustainability. Thus, international cooperation on the wide range of so-called
trans-boundary and global problems of sustainable development becomes indispensable. Arguably,
the most critical problem of sustainable development - in each country as well as globally - is
eradicating extreme poverty. That is because poverty is not only an evil in itself but also stands in
the way of achieving most other goals of development. Another, closely related, global problem is
establishing and preserving peace in all regions and all countries. War, as well as poverty, is
inherently destructive of all economic as well as social and environmental goals of development.
1.7.3. Indicators of Development
Different countries have different priorities in their development policies. But, to compare their
development levels, it is essential to make up ones mind as to what really constitutes development
or what is supposed to be achieved and whether the same has been achieved. Indicators measuring
this achievement could then be used to judge countries' relative progress in development such as:

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Increasing national wealth; Improving the well-being (nutrition, education, health and wealth) of
the majority of the population; Ensuring people's freedom; Increasing their social and economic
security.
But, indicators of only wealth, which reflect the quantity of resources available to a society, do not
provide sufficient information about the allocation and consumption of the resources - whether
equitable or not in terms of their distribution among different social groups; the shares of resources
used to provide free health and educational services to them; and the effects of production and
consumption on people's environment; and so on. Thus, it is no wonder that countries with similar
average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people's quality of life; access to
education and health care, employment opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking
water, the threat of crime, and so on. There are mainly seven indicators of development. The7
development indicators are :
i) GDP (gross domestic product) per capita.
ii) Life expectancy.
iii) Number of doctors per 100,000 population.
iv) Percent of population that are undernourished.
v) Percent of population that have access to clean safe drinking water.
vi) Under 5 mortality rate.
vii) Adult literacy rate.
1.8. Human Development

In a broader sense the notion of human development incorporates all aspects of individuals' well-
being, from their health status to their economic and political freedom. According to the Human
Development Report 1996, published by the United Nations Development Program, "human
development is the end - economic growth a means." It is true that economic growth, by increasing
a nation's total wealth, also enhances its potential for reducing poverty and solving
other social problems. But, history offers a number of examples where economic growth was not
followed by similar progress in human development. Instead, growth was achieved at the cost of
greater inequality, higher unemployment, weakened democracy, loss of cultural identity, or
overconsumption of natural resources needed by future generations.
What then is human development? Is it something like "maximizing people's happiness? Here, we
can think of the different factors that usually make peoplefeel happy or unhappy. It is an established
fact that the average level of happiness in a country does not grow along with the increase in
average income, at least after a certain rather modest income level is achieved. At the same time, in
each country richer people usually reported slightly higher levels of happiness than poorer people,
and people in countries with more equal distribution of wealth appeared to be generally happier
than those in countries with rampant inequalities.
According to Ranis, et al. (2000) economic growth and human development is a two way
relationship. Moreover, the first chain consists of economic growth benefiting human development
with GNP. Specifically, GNP increases human development by expenditure from families,
government and organizations such as NGOs. With the rise in economic growth, families and

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individuals are likely to increase expenditures with their heightened incomes, which in turn leads to
growth in human development. 'Further, with the increased consumption, health and education
grow, also contributing to economic growth. Concisely, the relationship between human
development and economic development can be explained in three ways. First, increase in average
income leads to improvement in health and nutrition (known as Capability Expansion through
Economic Growth). Second, it is believed that social outcomes can only be improved by reducing
income poverty (known as Capability expansion through Poverty Reduction). Lastly, social
outcomes can also be improved with essential services such as education, healthcare, and clean
drinking water (known as Capability Expansion through Social Services)

1.7. Millennium Development goals (MDGs)

– Eight goals adopted by the United Nations in 2000

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development
1.9. Development and Happiness
Clearly, happiness is part of human well-being, and greater happiness may in itself expand an
individual’s capability to function. As Amartya Sen argued, “Utility in the sense of happiness may
well be included in the list of some important functionings relevant to a person’s well-being.”14 In
recent years, economists have explored the empirical relationship across countries and over time
between subjectively reported satisfaction and happiness and factors such as income. One of the
findings is that the average level of happiness or satisfaction increases with a country’s average
income. For example, roughly four times the percentage of people report that they are not happy or
satisfied in Tanzania, Bangladesh, India, and Azerbaijan as in the United States and Sweden. But
the relationship is seen only up to an average income of roughly $10,000 to $20,000 per capita, At
these levels, despite substantial variations across countries, if inequality is not extreme, a majority
of citizens are usually relatively well nourished, healthy, and educated. The “happiness science”
findings call into question the centrality of economic growth as an objective for high-income
countries. But they also reaffirm the importance of economic development in the developing world,
whether the objective is solely happiness or, more inclusively and persuasively, expanded human
capabilities. Not surprisingly, studies show that financial security is only one factor affecting
happiness. Richard Layard identifies seven factors that surveys show affect average national
happiness: family relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, health, personal
freedom, and personal values.

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In particular, aside from not being poor, the evidence says people are happier when they are not
unemployed, not divorced or separated, and have high trust of others in society, as well as enjoy
high government quality with democratic freedoms and have religious faith. The importance of
these factors may shed light on why the percentage of people reporting that they are not happy or
satisfied varies so widely among developing countries with similar incomes. For example, the
fraction not happy and satisfied on average is 41/2 times as great in Zimbabwe as in Indonesia,
despite somewhat higher incomes in Zimbabwe, and over 3 times as great in Turkey as in
Colombia, despite somewhat higher incomes in Turkey at the time of the study. Many opinion
leaders in developing nations hope that their societies can gain the benefits of development without
losing traditional strengths such as moral values, and trust in others—sometimes called social
capital.
Although the happiness and human development approaches share much in common, a key
difference between them is that while human development is first and foremost a conceptual
approach, subjective wellbeing is an empirical one. And so while an increase in human
development must be – by definition – desirable, it is not so simple to tell whether such increases
have happened. Instead human development is recognized as an open-ended concept which can be
measured only partially using indices like the HDI. It is an approach that uses multiple dimensions
and nonmonetary measures of wellbeing to assess development; stresses the importance of freedom
and opportunity; and recognizes that people convert their capabilities into wellbeing at different
rates.

1.10. Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in
2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into
the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call
for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that
ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and
education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and
working to preserve our oceans and forests.
The sustainable development goals are a ‘to do list for the planet that will transform the world’.
( Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations )
What are the 17 SDGs?

1. No Poverty 

 With a projected global poverty rate of 7% in 2030, the equivalent of 598,394,116 people, this UN
goal aims to end poverty of all kinds.  

SDG Goal 1 objectives include but are not limited to: end extreme poverty (those living on 1.25
dollars per day), reduce half the population living in poverty, implement protection systems, ensure
equal rights to economic resources and basic services, reduce poverty-related vulnerability to

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climate change-induced extreme weather events, mobilize resources in developing countries, and
create pro-poor and gender-sensitive policy frameworks by 2030.  

The COVID-19 conflict set back poverty reduction progress. 

2. Zero Hunger  

As of 2020, 2.37 billion people are without food or unable to eat a healthy balanced diet, hence the
goal of zero hunger.  

“Zero Hunger” sets out to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture. The global pandemic has only worsened global hunger, seeing as many as
161 million additional people will experience hunger as a result. Regarding women, 1/3 of those at
a reproductive age experience Anaemia due to nutritional deficiencies.  

SDG Goal 2 objectives include but are not limited to: end hunger, end all forms of malnutrition,
double agricultural productivity and the income of small-scale food producers, bring resilience to
agricultural practices and found sustainable food production systems, and maintain genetic food
diversity.  

3. Good Health and Well-Being 

With a focus on increasing life expectancy and reducing common child and maternal diseases and
killers, this goal targets ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages. The global
pandemic has only made health disparities more apparent, halting and even reducing life-
expectancy progress.  

SDG Goal 3 objectives include but are not limited to: reduce maternal mortality, end preventable
newborn and child death, end multiple disease epidemics, reduce premature mortality, prevent and
treat substance abuse, halt traffic-related deaths and injuries, ensure universal health coverage and
access, reduce pollution and contamination deaths.  

4. Quality Education  

This goal ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning for all.
Sadly, COVID-19 reversed years of education gains, and many countries lack basic
school infrastructure.  

SDG Goal 4 objectives include but are not limited to: ensure free and quality primary and
secondary education, give children access to early childhood development, ensure equal access for
men and women to afford higher education choices, increase skills in youth, ensure gender
equality, and promote sustainable development in education.  

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5. Gender Equality  

SDG 5 targets to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The percentage of
women who work in national parliaments, local governments, and in managerial positions is still
significantly less than that of men. Not to mention 1 in 3 women are subject to violence at least
once since the age of 15, and child marriage is still highly present.  

SDG Goal 5 objectives include but are not limited to: end discrimination against women, eliminate
all forms of violence against women, eliminate harmful practices, value unpaid care and domestic
work, ensure equal opportunities for leadership, ensure access to feminine health care, and ensure
equal rights. 

6. Clean Water and Sanitation  

The availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation ensures safe water for
drinking, sanitation, and hygiene, yet 2.3 billion people live in water-stressed countries.  

SDG Goal 6 objectives include but are not limited to: provide equal universal access to safe
drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, reduce water pollution, increase water-use efficiency,
integrate water-resource management, and protect ecosystems dependent on water. 

7. Affordable and Clean Energy  

Almost 800 million people lack access to electricity and 1/3 of the population uses dangerous
cooking systems. This puts into perspective why this goal aims to ensure affordable, reliable,
sustainable, and modern energy.  

SDG Goal 7 objectives include but are not limited to: increase renewable energy use, improve
energy use efficiency, enhance international cooperation regarding clean energy access, research,
and technology, and to upgrade technology in developing countries for sustainable energy
services.  

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth  

Especially after the global pandemic, joblessness and unemployment is extremely prevalent,

making this goal of promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth and
productive employment and decent work ever more important.  

SDG Goal 8 objectives include but are not limited to: sustain economic growth, increase economic
productivity, improve resource efficiency, achieve full and productive employment, increase
working youth population, end forced labor, protect labor rights, promote tourism, and grant
access to financial institution access for all. 

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9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure 

Resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and innovation is the objective

of this sustainable development goal. Enhancing rural road connectivity, increasing
research and development investment, and manufacturing high tech products helps
stabilize infrastructure. 

SDG Goal 9 objectives include but are not limited to: reliable infrastructure for all, sustainable
industrialization, increased access of small-scale industries and enterprises in developing
countries, rendering industries sustainable, and improving technology in all industries. 

10. Reduced Inequalities  

This sustainable development goal focuses on reducing inequalities within and among countries.
Income inequality, the refugee crises, and inequality indexes all show that certain areas and
countries are highly more beneficial to live in than others. Living standards between countries are
very unbalanced. 

SDG Goal 10 objectives include but are not limited to: income growth for the bottom 40 percent of
the population at a higher than national average rate, social, economic, and political inclusion,
appropriate legislation policies to reduce inequality, wage and fiscal equality, better financial
market and institution regulation, legitimate institutions that represent developing countries in
global decisions, and safe migration.   

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 

This goal promotes making cities and human settlements safer, resilient, and
sustainable through use of national urban policies, more access to public spaces, convenient public
transportation, and the reduction of slums.  

SDG Goal 11 objectives include but are not limited to: safe and affordable housing for all, safe and
affordable transport for all, sustainable urbanization and human settlement planning, protect
cultures around the world, protecting the poor and vulnerable from death by natural disasters,
monitoring air quality and waste management to reduce negative city impact, and to provide green
public space. 

12. Responsible Consumption and Production  

Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, as a goal, aims to reduce climate change
and negative environmental impacts.  

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SDG Goal 12 objectives include but are not limited to: implementing a 10-year framework program
for sustainable development and consumption, achieving sustainable management, having food
waste, managing chemicals and waste in an environmentally responsible way, reduce waste,
encourage company sustainable practices, sustainable public procurement practices, and providing
access to relevant sustainable development and harmony with nature information.  

13. Climate Action  

Climate action is a goal involving the fight against climate change and its impacts. Rising
greenhouse gas emissions, an average global temperature increase, and increased spending due to
climate change are all negative results of climate change.  

SDG Goal 13 objectives include but are not limited to: being prepared for climate related disasters,
integrating climate policies into national policies, and raising climate awareness. 

14. Life Below Water  

The Life Below Water goal focuses on conserving and sustainably using our oceans, seas and
marine resources for sustainable development. We, as a population, rely heavily on our oceans for
food, tourism, recreational activities, and global trade. In fact, 3 billion people rely on the ocean for
their livelihood. However, our oceans are under severe threat. Over half of key marine biodiversity
areas are unprotected, and dead zones, zones lacking oxygen to support marine life, are rising. It is
thus imperative we protect our oceans better.  

SDG Goal 14 objectives include but are not limited to: preventing marine pollution, protecting
marine and coastal ecosystems, minimizing ocean acidification through impact reduction,
protecting the fishing market, conserving marine and coastal areas, and overfishing control.   

15. Life on Land 

This goal overall promotes the health of land life. It includes protecting, restoring, and promoting
land ecosystems, managing forests sustainably. Combatting desertification and halting and
reversing land degradation and biodiversity loss. With many species under threat and ever-
increasing biodiversity loss, it is essential we take better care of land ecosystems.  

SDG Goal 15 objectives include but are not limited to: ensuring freshwater ecosystem health,
sustainable management of forests, ensuring mountain ecosystem health, preserving natural
habitats, shared benefits of genetic resource use, ending poaching and protected species trafficking,
and integrating biodiversity values into national planning.  

16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions  

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This goal involves reducing conflict, insecurity, and weak institutions by means of promoting peace
and inclusivity for sustainable development and justice for all.  

SDG Goal 16 objectives include but are not limited to: reduce violence and death rates, end all
forms of violence against children, promote law at national and international levels, reduce
financial crime, reduce corruption, develop transparent institutions, developing country
participation in global governance institutions, legal identity for all, and ensuring public access to
information and freedom rights.  

17. Partnership for the Goals 

This last goal aims to help realize strong partnership and global cooperation for the SDGs.  

SDG Goal 17 objectives include but are not limited to: enhance developing country international
support, enhancing international cooperation, promote environmentally sound technologies, rule-
based and equitable multilateral trading system, increase developing country exports, enhance
global economic stability, and coherent sustainable development policy.  

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