Development
Development means progress in a desirable field, people desire for change and development, which can only
be achieved through a democratic, political process.
Different People Different Goals
Development means differently to everyone. For example, the landless labour would want better
wages, farmers want rains. Different people can have different developmental goals but what could be
development for one could be destruction for another. For example: If we are building a dam then it is good
for a certain group of people but those who are living in the nearby the region will need ti immigrate to
somewhere else.
Income & Other Goals
People mostly seek better income but apart from that they also seek equal treatment, freedom,
respect and security. Money in one factors on which our life depends. But things like friendship, family etc
cannot be measured but are very important in life.
For development people look at a mix of goals,
like a job may offer high pay but don’t give any security and time for family but another job might pay less
but offer you security and limited work-time. The second job might pay less but it will be better. A woman
seeks a safe and respectable environment more than better pay. SO, development is not only about better
income but also other important things.
National Development
It is very important to keep in mind that different person could have different as well as conflicting
notions of country’s development. National development means thinking about how the country could
progress in a particular field.
How to Compare different Countries and States
When we compare different things we should see that they could have similarities as well as
differences. The criteria of comparing things depends on the purpose of comparison.
Usually we take
one or more important characteristics of a person and compare them on the basis of those characteristics.
For comparing countries, their income is considered to be the most important attribute. Countries with
higher income are considered more developed. The total income of the country is the total income of all its
citizens. But as countries vary in population so we take the average income into account while comparing
countries. It is calculated by dividing the total income by the total population. It is also called per capita
income.
This criteria is used by world bank to compare different countries. In 2004, countries with per capita
income of 45,300 are considered rich and less than 37,000 are considered low income countries.
Income and Other Criteria
People not only look for better income but also equal treatment, respect and security. Similarly,
incase of a country there are many important attributes apart from income.
In 2002-03 if we compare Punjab, Kerala
and Bihar, we can see that Punjab has the highest per capita income whereas Bihar has the lowest. SO, by
this method Punjab should be considered as the most developed state. But if we look at other aspects like
literacy rate and infant mortality rate, then we can see that Kerala is the most developed state. So, we can see
that only income doesn’t determine that a country is developed or not, but also the standard of education and
healthcare facilities are also necessary.
(The number of children that die before the age of 1 year as a proportion to 1000 children born in one year
is called infant mortality rate)
Public Facilities
So, we can see that even the states with highest income are regarded as less developed, because
money cannot buy all the goals and services that we need in life. For example – money cannot buy you a
pollution free environment, money also cannot protect you from infectious diseases.
The fact is that the
important things in life can be achieved collectively. For ex – Security for the whole locality will be cheaper
if everyone pays for it equally. You are also able to study because the other students are eager to learn as
government won’t open a school for a single child. Basic health care facilities and educational institutes are
other examples of public facilities available to us.
On the large scale we can see that even if Sri Lanka is a
much smaller country than ours, it is much ahead of India in every aspect. This is due to better education,
health facilities and proper utilization of resources. So, to imp[rove the country the public facilities must be
improved.
Sustainability of Development
We have been often warned that our present resources would deplete in the near future. In order to
maintain this level of development we need to conserve what we have and try to improve it. For Ex- Ground
water and natural resources are being used at a very high rate and if we don’t find a way to conserve them
then our future generations will suffer a lot.
This issues regarding environmental degradation is not limited
to one country. Sustainability of development is new field on which social scientists are working on. The
members of society should be active to contribute in the development of the country.