Chapter 1: Development — Class 10
Economics
Detailed Notes
1. Meaning of Development
The idea of development or progress has always existed
with human beings — we all have aspirations/desires about
how we want to live, and ideas about what a country should
be like.
Key questions development involves:
What are the essential things we require?
Can life be better for all?
How should people live together?
Can there be more equality?
Development = thinking about these questions and the
ways to work towards achieving these goals.
It is a complex task, connected not just to economics but
also history and political science, since the way we live
today is shaped by the past.
Development can only be achieved in real life through a
democratic political process — hopes and possibilities are
realised collectively, not by one group alone.
2. Different People, Different Goals
Developmental goals vary based on a person's life situation
— what one group considers "development" depends on
what they aspire to.
Examples of different aspirations (from Table 1.1 in the
textbook):
Landless rural labourers: More days of work and better
wages; local schools providing quality education; no
social discrimination; opportunity to become leaders in
the village.
Prosperous farmers (Punjab): High family income via
higher support prices for crops and cheap labour; ability
to settle children abroad.
A girl from a rich urban family: As much freedom as her
brother; ability to decide her own life choices;
opportunity to study abroad.
Other categories to think about: farmers dependent only
on rain, rural women from landowning families, urban
unemployed youth, boys from rich urban families,
adivasis from the Narmada valley.
Conflicting goals example: A girl may want as much
freedom/opportunity as her brother and expect him to share
housework — but her brother may not like this.
Conflicting goals example (dams): Industrialists may want
more dams for electricity, but this submerges land and
disrupts the lives of displaced people (e.g., tribals), who
may prefer small check dams/tanks instead.
Two important conclusions:
1. Different persons can have different developmental
goals.
2. What may be development for one may not be
development for the other — it may even be destructive
for the other.
3. Income and Other Goals
Looking across Table 1.1, one common thread emerges:
people desire regular work, better wages, and decent
prices for what they produce — in short, more income.
But besides income, people also seek:
Equal treatment
Freedom
Security
Respect from others
Freedom from discrimination
These non-material goals are sometimes more important
than more income/consumption, because material goods
alone are not everything one needs to live well.
Money is only one factor on which quality of life depends.
Non-material things — like friendship — matter greatly but
are not easily measured, and are often ignored because they
can't be measured. However, what cannot be measured is
not necessarily unimportant.
Job example: When choosing a job in a far-off place, people
consider more than income — facilities for family, working
atmosphere, opportunity to learn. A lower-paying job with
job security may be preferred over a high-paying job with no
security and no family time, since the latter reduces one's
sense of security and freedom.
Women's work example: Development goals are usually a
mix of goals:
If women engage in paid work, their dignity in household
and society increases.
Conversely, if there is respect for women, there is more
sharing of housework and greater acceptance of women
working outside.
A safe, secure environment allows more women to take
up jobs or run businesses.
Conclusion: Developmental goals people have are not only
about better income but also about other important things
in life.
4. National Development
Just as individuals have different goals, their notions of
national development are also likely to differ.
Different students/citizens discussing "what India should
do for development" would likely give different, sometimes
conflicting, answers — this is normal and expected.
Key point to remember: Different persons could have
different as well as conflicting notions of a country's
development.
Important questions for evaluating national development:
Can all ideas be considered equally important?
If there are conflicts, how does one decide?
What would be a fair and just path for all?
Is there a better way of doing things?
Would an idea benefit a large number of people, or only
a small group?
National development means thinking about these
questions.
Illustrative case (toxic waste dumping): A vessel dumped
500 tonnes of toxic waste in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, causing
deaths and illness among locals, while a multinational
company (and the local company it hired) profited from
cheaply disposing of the waste — showing how
"development"/profit for one party can severely harm
another.
5. How to Compare Different Countries or
States?
When comparing anything (e.g., students in a class), we
must choose which characteristics/criteria to use — the
choice of criteria depends on the purpose of comparison
(e.g., different criteria for a sports team vs. a debate team).
For comparing countries, income is considered one of the
most important attributes.
Underlying belief: More income → more of all things
human beings need; greater income lets people get
whatever they like/need.
What is the "income" of a country?
Intuitively, it is the income of all residents added
together = total income of the country.
However, total income alone is not a useful measure for
comparison between countries, since countries have
different population sizes — it doesn't tell us what an
average person earns.
World Bank Classification (World Development
Reports)
Uses per capita income (average income) as the criterion to
classify countries:
High-income / rich countries: per capita income of US$
66,500 or above (2024)
Low-income countries: per capita income of about US$
2,300 or less
India: classified as a low-middle income country — per
capita income was about US$ 11,000 in 2024.
"Developed countries" generally refers to rich countries,
excluding Middle-East countries and certain other small
nations (since their wealth may come mainly from natural
resources like oil rather than broad-based development).
6. Average Income (Per Capita Income)
Definition — Average/Per Capita Income: The total income
of the country divided by its total population.
Also called average income; used because total income
doesn't account for differing population sizes.
Illustration (Table 1.2 — Comparison of Two Countries, 5
citizens each):
Country I II III IV V Average
Country
9,500 10,500 9,800 10,000 10,200 10,000
A
Country
500 500 500 500 48,000 10,000
B
Both countries have the identical average income (Rs
10,000), yet:
Country A has an equitable distribution — people are
neither very rich nor very poor.
Country B has most citizens poor and one person
extremely rich.
Most people, if given a random ("lottery") citizenship, would
prefer to live in Country A, even though average income is
the same.
Key limitation: While average income is useful for
comparison between countries/regions, it does not tell us
how income is distributed among people — it hides
inequality/disparity.
7. Income and Other Criteria — Haryana,
Kerala, Bihar Example
Table 1.3 — Per Capita Income of Select States (2023–24,
in Rs):
State Per Capita Income
Haryana 3,25,759
State Per Capita Income
Kerala 2,81,001
Bihar 60,337
Technically, this data is Per Capita Net State Domestic
Product at Current Prices, but can roughly be understood
as per capita income of the state.
By this measure alone, Haryana would be considered the
most developed and Bihar the least developed of the three.
However, examining other data (Table 1.4) tells a different
story:
Table 1.4 — Some Comparative Data on Haryana, Kerala and
Bihar
Infant Net Attendance
Literacy
Mortality Rate Ratio, secondary
State Rate %
(per 1,000 live stage (15–17 yrs),
(2017–18)
births, 2020) 2017–18
Haryana 28 82 73
Kerala 6 94 94
Bihar 27 62 69
Definitions of terms used in Table 1.4 (as given in the
textbook):
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Indicates the number of
children that die before the age of one year, as a
proportion of 1,000 live children born in that particular
year.
Literacy Rate: Measures the proportion of literate
population in the 7-and-above age group.
Net Attendance Ratio: The total number of children of
the 15–17 years age group attending school, as a
percentage of the total number of children in that same
age group.
Key observations:
In Kerala, out of 1,000 children born, only 6 died before
age one; in Haryana it was 28 — nearly three times
more, despite Haryana having higher per capita income.
About one-third of children aged 15–17 in Bihar are not
attending school in secondary classes — meaning
nearly a third of potential classmates are missing from
school.
Conclusion: Per capita income alone doesn't reveal the full
picture — money in your pocket cannot buy all the goods
and services you need to live well (e.g., pollution-free
environment, unadulterated medicine, protection from
infectious disease require collective community action, not
just individual income).
8. Public Facilities
Key idea: For many important things in life, the best way —
and also the cheapest way — is to provide goods and
services collectively (rather than individually).
Examples of collective provision being more efficient:
Collective security for a locality is cheaper than each
household hiring its own security.
A child can only really "study" properly if many other
children in the community also study and if the
government/society provides schools.
Why Kerala performs better than Haryana:
Kerala has adequate provision of basic health and
educational facilities.
In some states, the Public Distribution System (PDS)
functions well, improving health and nutritional status.
Even now, in many areas, children — particularly girls —
cannot attend high school because the government/society
has not provided adequate facilities.
Related activity (Table 1.5 — Uttar Pradesh, rural
education):
Category Male Female
Literacy rate for rural population 76% 54%
Literacy rate for rural children (10–14 yrs) 90% 87%
% of rural children (10–14 yrs) attending
85% 82%
school
This shows a gender gap in literacy and school attendance
persists, especially among adults, even decades after
independence — highlighting that free & compulsory
education for children up to age 14 (a constitutional goal
meant to be achieved by 1960) is still not fully realised in
many states.
Activity: Body Mass Index (BMI) — Nutritional status is
another important "quality of life" indicator, calculated as:
weight (kg) ÷ height² (in metres). Comparing BMI-for-age
helps identify undernourishment or overweight, though this
should be discussed sensitively (without body-shaming).
9. Human Development Report (HDR) and
HDI
Since income alone is an inadequate measure of
development, other criteria are needed — but too long a list
of criteria becomes less useful, so a small number of the
most important indicators is preferred.
Health and education indicators (like those used comparing
Kerala and Haryana) are among the most important, and
have come to be widely used alongside income.
Definition — Human Development Report (HDR): Published
by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), it
compares countries based on: (1) educational levels of
people, (2) their health status, and (3) per capita income.
Table 1.6 — India and Neighbours (HDR 2025 data, for year
2023):
HDI
GNI Per Mean
Life Rank
Capita Years of
Country Expectancy (out
(2021 Schooling
at Birth of
PPP $) (25+ yrs)
193)
Sri Lanka 12,616 77.5 10.8 89
India 9,047 72 6.9 130
Myanmar 4,919 66.9 6.4 150
HDI
GNI Per Mean
Life Rank
Capita Years of
Country Expectancy (out
(2021 Schooling
at Birth of
PPP $) (25+ yrs)
193)
Pakistan 5,501 67.6 4.3 168
Nepal 4,726 70.4 4.5 145
Bangladesh 8,498 74.7 6.8 130
Definitions/notes given for Table 1.6:
HDI (Human Development Index): Stands for Human
Development Index; ranks in the table are out of 193
countries in total.
Life Expectancy at Birth: The average expected length of
life of a person at the time of their birth.
Per Capita Income (PPP): Calculated in dollars for all
countries so it can be compared; done in a way so that
every dollar buys the same amount of goods and
services in any country — this is called Purchasing Power
Parity (PPP).
Key observations:
Sri Lanka, a much smaller country, ranks far ahead of
India in every respect (income, life expectancy,
schooling, HDI rank).
Nepal and Bangladesh have lower per capita income
than India, yet better life expectancy than India — again
proving income is not the full picture.
By pre-fixing "Human" to "Development," the HDR makes
clear that what matters most in development is what is
happening to the citizens of a country — their health,
education, and well-being — not just economic growth.
10. Sustainability of Development
Definition — Sustainability of Development: Ensuring that a
country's current level of development is maintained, or
improved, without compromising resources for future
generations.
Quote to remember: "We have not inherited the world from
our forefathers — we have borrowed it from our children."
Since the second half of the 20th century, scientists have
warned that present types and levels of development are
not sustainable.
Example 1: Groundwater in India (a Renewable
Resource)
Definition — Renewable Resources: Resources that are
replenished by nature (e.g., groundwater, crops, plants).
However, even renewable resources can be overused if
extraction exceeds the rate of natural replenishment (e.g.,
overusing groundwater beyond what rain replenishes).
About 300 districts have reported groundwater level decline
of over 4 metres over the past 20 years.
Nearly one-third of the country is already overusing its
groundwater reserves; in another 25 years, 60% of the
country could be doing so if current usage patterns
continue.
Groundwater overuse is concentrated in: agriculturally
prosperous regions (Punjab, Western U.P.), hard rock
plateau areas of central/south India, some coastal areas,
and rapidly growing urban settlements.
Example 2: Exhaustion of Natural Resources — Crude
Oil (a Non-Renewable Resource)
Definition — Non-Renewable Resources: Resources with a
fixed stock on Earth that cannot be replenished and will get
exhausted after a few years of use. New discoveries
(through exploration) can temporarily add to known stock,
but eventually even these get exhausted.
Table 1.7 — Crude Oil Reserves:
Reserves (2017, Years
Region/Country thousand million Reserves Will
barrels) Last
Middle East 836 70
United States of
69 10.5
America
World 1,732 47
World crude oil reserves would last only about 47 more
years at current extraction rates.
Different countries face different situations:
Countries like India, lacking sufficient reserves, depend
on imports — rising oil prices become a burden.
Countries like the USA, with low reserves, may seek to
secure oil through military or economic power.
Sustainability raises fundamental new questions about the
nature and process of development — e.g., whether crude
oil is essential to development, and what problems arise for
import-dependent countries like India.
Broader Point on Sustainability
Consequences of environmental degradation cross
national/state boundaries — it is a global, not merely
regional or national, issue; our futures are linked together.
Sustainability of development is a relatively new area of
knowledge, requiring scientists, economists, philosophers,
and other social scientists to work together.
The question of development/progress is perennial — at all
times, as individuals and members of society, we must keep
asking: where do we want to go, what do we wish to
become, and what are our goals? The debate on
development continues.
Overall Chapter Summary
Development means different things to different people
depending on their life situations, and what benefits one group
may harm another — so national development requires
weighing whose interests are served. While per capita
(average) income is the most common and convenient
measure of development (used by the World Bank to classify
countries as high/low income), it has major limitations: it hides
inequality in distribution and ignores important non-material
goals like security, freedom, and respect. The Haryana–Kerala–
Bihar comparison shows that higher income does not
guarantee better health or education outcomes — these often
depend on public facilities provided collectively rather than
individual income. The UNDP's Human Development Index
(HDI) improves on income-based measures by combining
income, health (life expectancy), and education (schooling),
showing that real development is about people's well-being.
Finally, development must also be sustainable — both
renewable resources (like groundwater) and non-renewable
resources (like crude oil) can be exhausted through overuse,
and since environmental effects cross borders, sustainability is
now a shared global concern for the future of all generations.