Human Development

Human Development refers to the process of progressive, orderly, and predictable changes
that begin at conception and continue throughout an individual’s life. These changes are
influenced by biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional processes.

Human development is about expanding human capabilities and widening choices. The
concept and definition of human development was pioneered and popularised by the UNDP
global human development reports.The UNDP defines "human development as a process of
enlarging people's choices".

The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. Since the choices are
infinite, the major choices listed are:

(i) Access to resources,

(ii) Long and healthy life
(iii) Access to education.

The objective of human development is to create an enabling environment for people to

enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. Human development has two aspects. One is the
formation of human capabilities such as health, knowledge and skills. The other is the use
people make of their acquired capabilities -for productive purposes, for leisure or for being
active in cultural, social and political affairs. Human development brings together the
"production and distribution of commodities and the expansion and use of human capabilities
and analyses all issues in the society whether economic growth, trade, employment, political
freedom or cultural values from the perspective of people" (UNDP, 1995). So the human
development paradigm focuses on the entire society, not just the economy.

What differentiates the human development paradigm from other development paradigms is
its ultimate end i.e., people. People are not analysed merely as beneficiaries of economic
growth but as the real agents of every change in the society - whether economic, political,
social or cultural. Human development encompasses the creation of economic opportunities
for all. It is broad and comprehensive and it is guided by the idea-people come first (HDR,
1992 pp-13).

Conventionally, poverty is defined in terms of minimum current expenditure or income below

which people are considered poor (HDR 1996). From the human development perspective,
poverty means the denial of choices and opportunities to lead a long, healthy, and creative
life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity and self-esteem. The objective
of human development is the realisation of these choices and accessibility to these
opportunities.

Mahbub ul Haq (1995) puts forward four essential components of human development as:

1. Equity: It is considered as the heart of the human development paradigm. It denotes

equity in access to education, health, political rights, etc. It targets the transfer of income
from the rich to the poor, reformed credit system, political opportunities and removal of
socio-economic and legal exclusion faced by women and other marginal communities.

2. Sustainability: Access to opportunities must be ensured not only for the present
generation but for future generations as well. All forms of capital physical, human,
environmental should be replenished

3. Productivity: People must be enabled to increase their productivity and to participate fully
in the process of income generation and employment

4. Empowerment: Development must be by people, not only for them. People must
participate fully in the decisions and processes that shape their lives. Empowerment
depends on the expansion of people's capabilities- expansion that involves an enlargement
of choices and thus enhancement in freedom of choice.