Sixty years ago, Rekha was born in a family of

Unit I small farmer in Uttarakhand. She helped her

Chapter 3 mother in household chores. While her brothers
went to school, she did not receive any
education. She was dependent on her in-laws
after she was widowed immediately after
marriage. She could not be economically
independent and faced neglect. Her brother
helped her to migrate to Delhi.
For the first time, she travelled by bus and
train and was exposed to a large city like Delhi.
After a while, the same city which attracted her
with its buildings, roads, avenues and facilities
and amenities disillusioned her.
HUMAN With greater familiarity of the city, she
could comprehend the paradoxes. The jhuggi
DEVELOPMENT and slum clusters, traffic jams, congestion,
crimes, poverty, small children begging on
traffic lights, people sleeping on footpaths,
polluted water and air revealed another face of
development. She used to think whether
development and underdevelopment coexist?
Whether development help some segments of
population more than the other? Does
development create haves and have nots? Let
us examine these paradoxes and try to
understand the phenomena.
Of all the paradoxes of our times
mentioned in the story, development is the most
significant one. Development of a few regions,
individuals brought about in a short span of
time leads to poverty and malnutrition for many
along with large scale ecological degradation.
Is development class biased?
Apparently, it is believed that
“Development is freedom” which is often
associated with modernisation, leisure, comfort
and affluence. In the present context,
computerisation, industrialisation, efficient
transport and communication network, large
education system, advanced and modern
medical facilities, safety and security of
individuals, etc. are considered as the symbols
of development. Every individual, community
and government measures its performance or
levels of development in relation to the
availability and access to some of these things.
But, this may be partial and one-sided view of
development. It is often called the western or
euro-centric view of development. For a

2019-20
postcolonial country like India, colonisation, existence of our society. Consequently, the poor
marginalisation, social discrimination and are being subjected to three inter-related
regional disparity, etc. show the other face of processes of declining capabilities; i.e. (1) social
development. capabilities – due to displacement and
Thus, for India, development is a mixed weakening social ties (social capital),
bag of opportunities as well as neglect and (2) environmental capabilities – due to pollution
deprivations. There are a few areas like the and, (3) personal capabilities – due to
metropolitan centres and other developed increasing incidence of diseases and accidents.
enclaves that have all the modern facilities This, in turn, has adverse effects on their quality
available to a small section of its population. At of life and human development.
the other extreme of it, there are large rural Based on the above experiences, it can be
areas and the slums in the urban areas that do said that the present development has not been
not have basic amenities like potable water, able to address the issues of social injustice,
education and health infrastructure available regional imbalances and environmental
to majority of this population. The situation is degradation. On the contrary, it is being widely
more alarming if one looks at the distribution considered as the prime cause of the social
of the development opportunities among distributive injustices, deterioration in the
different sections of our society. It is a well- quality of life and human development,
established fact that majority of the scheduled ecological crisis and social unrest. Does
castes, scheduled tribes, landless agricultural development create, reinforce and perpetuate
labourers, poor farmers and slums dwellers, etc. these crises? Thus, it was thought to take up
are the most marginalised lot. A large segment human development as a separate issue against
of female population is the worst sufferers the prevalent western views of development
among all. It is also equally true that the relative which considers development as the remedy to
as well as absolute conditions of the majority all the ills including human development,
of these marginalised sections have worsened regional disparities and environmental crisis.
with the development happening over the years. Concerted efforts were made to look at
Consequently, vast majority of people are development critically at various times in the
compelled to live under abject poverty and sub- past. But, most systematic effort towards this
human conditions. was the publication of the First Human
There is yet another inter-related aspect Development Report by United Nations
of development that has direct bearings on the Development Programme (UNDP) in 1990.
deteriorating human conditions. It pertains to Since then, this organisation has been bringing
the environmental pollution leading to out World Human Development Report every
ecological crisis. Air, soil, water and noise year. This report does not only define human
pollutions have not only led to the ‘tragedy of development, make amendments and changes
commons’ but these have also threatened the its indicators but also ranks all the countries

What is Human Development?

“Human development is a process of enlarging the range of people’s choices, increasing their
opportunities for education, health care, income and empowerment and covering the full range of
human choices from a sound physical environment to economic, social and political freedom.”
Thus, enlarging the range of people’s choices is the most significant aspect of human development.
People’s choices may involve a host of other issues, but, living a long and healthy life, to be educated
and have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living including political freedom,
guaranteed human rights and personal self-respect, etc. are considered some of the non-negotiable
aspects of the human development.

24 India : People and Economy

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of the world based on the calculated scores. Low scores in the HDI is a matter of serious
According to the Human Development Report concern but, some reservations have been
1993, “progressive democratisation and expressed about the approach as well as
increasing empowerment of people are seen as indicators selected to calculate the index values
the minimum conditions for human and ranking of the states/countries. Lack of
development”. Moreover, it also mentions that sensitivity to the historical factors like
“development must be woven around people, colonisation, imperialism and neo-imperialism,
not the people around development” as was the socio-cultural factors like human rights
case previously. violation, social discrimination on the basis of
You have already studied the concepts, race, religion, gender and caste, social problems
indicators and approaches to human like crimes, terrorism, and war and political
development and methods of calculating the factors like nature of the state, forms of the
index in your book, “Fundamentals of Human government (democracy or dictatorship) level
Geography.” In this chapter, let us try to of empowerment are some factors that are very
understand the applicability of these concepts crucial in determining the nature of human
and indicators to India. development. These aspects have special
significance in case of India and many other
developing countries.
Human Development in India
Using the indicators selected by the UNDP,
India with a population of over 1.20 billion is the Planning Commission of India also
ranked 131 among 188 countries of the world prepared the Human Development Report for
in terms of the Human Development Index India. It used states and the Union Territories
(HDI). With the composite HDI value of 0.624 as the units of analysis. Subsequently, each
India finds herself grouped with countries state government also started preparing the
showing medium human development state level Human Development Reports, using
(UNDP 2016). districts as the units of analysis. Although, the
final HDI by the Planning Commission of India
Table 3.1 : Human Development Index has been calculated by taking the three
Values of India and some other Countries indicators as discussed in the book entitled,
Country HDI value Rank
“Fundamentals of Human Geography”, yet,
this report also discussed other indicators like
Norway 0.949 1 economic attainment, social empowerment,
Germany 0.926 4 social distributive justice, accessibility, hygiene
USA 0.920 10 and various welfare measures undertaken by
UK 0.909 16 the state. Some of the important indicators have
Russian Fed. 0.804 49 been discussed in the following pages.
Malaysia 0.789 59 Indicators of Economic Attainments
Sri Lanka 0.766 73
Rich resource base and access to these
Brazil 0.754 79 resources by all, particularly the poor, down
China 0.738 90 trodden and the marginalised is the key to
Egypt 0.691 111 productivity, well-being and human
Indonesia 0.689 113 development. Gross National Product (GNP)
South Africa 0.666 119 and its per capita availability are taken as
India 0.624 131
measures to assess the resource base/
endowment of any country. Economic
Bangladesh 0.579 139
attainment and the well-being of individuals
Pakistan 0.550 147
depend on economic growth, employment
Source: UNDP Human Development Report -2016, opportunities and access to assets. Over the
Economic survey 2016-17 years the per capita income and consumption

Human Development 25

2019-20
expenditure in India has increased. As a result Table 3.2 : Poverty in India, 2011-12
there has been a consistent decline in the
State % of Population
proportion of population living below the below
poverty line. The percentage of persons below poverty line
the poverty line in 2011-12 has been estimated Andhra Pradesh 9.20
as 25.7% in rural areas, 13.7% in urban areas Arunachal Pradesh 34.67
and 21.9% for the country as a whole. Assam 31.98
Bihar 33.74
The data of poverty for the states show that
Chhattisgarh 39.93
there are States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Delhi 9.91
Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa 5.09
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Gujarat 16.63
Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli which have Haryana 11.16
recorded more than 30 per cent of their Himachal Pradesh 8.06
Jammu & Kashmir 10.35
population living below the poverty line. Other
Jharkhand 36.96
states like Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Karnataka 20.91
Kashmir, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland Kerala 7.05
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand Madhya Pradesh 31.65
and West-Bengal have recorded between Maharashtra 17.35
10 to 20 per cent of their population below Manipur 36.89
Meghalaya 11.87
poverty line. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa,
Mizoram 20.40
Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Sikkim, Nagaland 18.88
Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Odisha 32.59
Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep have below 10 Punjab 8.26
per cent of their population living below poverty Rajasthan 14.71
line. “Poverty is a state of deprivation. In absolute Sikkim 8.19
Tamil Nadu 11.28
terms it reflects the inability of an individual to
Tripura 14.05
satisfy certain basic needs for a sustained, Uttarakhand 11.26
healthy and reasonably productive living. Uttar Pradesh 29.43
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a West Bengal 19.98
country does not fully reflect the quality of life Puducherry 9.69
of a country. There are other factors like Andaman & Nicobar Islands 1.00
Chandigarh 21.81
housing, access to public transport, air, quality
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 39.31
and access to drinking water which also Daman & Diu 9.86
determine the standard of living. Jobless growth Lakshadweep 2.77
and rampant unemployment are some of the All India 21.92
important reasons for higher incidences of Source: Press Note on Poverty Estimate, 2011-12,
poverty in India. Government of India, Planning Commission, July 2013

Which one of the states in India has the highest proportion of population below poverty line?

Arrange the states on the basis of their percentage of population below poverty line in ascending order.

Select 10 states which have the high proportion of population below poverty line and represent the data by bar
diagram.

26 India : People and Economy

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Indicators of a Healthy Life Table 3.3 : India Literacy Rates, 2011

Life free from illness and ailment and living a State Total Female
literacy literacy
reasonably long life span are indicative of a
healthy life. Availability of pre and post natal India 74.04% 65.46%
healthcare facilities in order to reduce infant
Jammu and Kashmir 68.74 58.01
mortality and post delivery deaths among
Himachal Pradesh 83.78 76.60
mothers, old age health care, adequate nutrition
Punjab 76.68 71.34
and safety of individual are some important
Chandigarh 86.43 81.38
measures of a healthy and reasonably long life.
Uttarakhand 79.63 70.70
Haryana 76.64 66.77
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
NCT of Delhi 86.34 80.93
The release of toxic and non-biodegradable Rajasthan 67.06 52.66
wastes from industries and urban sewerages,
Uttar Pradesh 69.72 59.26
and open defecation, etc, have created many
health hazards. The Government of India has Bihar 63.82 53.33
initiated many steps to address these problems Sikkim 82.20 76.43
and the Swachh Bharat Mission is one of these. Arunachal Pradesh 66.95 59.57
A healthy mind lives in a healthy body and for a Nagaland 80.11 76.69
healthy body, clean environment, particularly, Manipur 79.85 73.17
clean air, water, noise-free ambience and Mizoram 91.58 89.40
hygienic surrounding are pre-requisites.
Tripura 87.75 83.15
Municipal waste, industrial effluents and Meghalaya 75.48 73.78
pollutants generated by transport, etc., are Assam 73.18 67.27
major sources of pollution in urban India. Open
West Bengal 77.08 71.16
defecation in rural areas and in urban slums
are a major source of pollution. The Government Jharkhand 67.63 56.21
of India with its flagship programme Swachh Orissa 73.45 64.36
Bharat Mission (SBM) aims at a pollution-free Chhattisgarh 71.04 60.59
environment. Its objectives are : Madhya Pradesh 70.63 60.02
• making India open defecation-free and Gujarat 79.31 70.73
achieving 100 per cent scientific Daman & Diu 87.07 79.59
management of municipal solid waste,
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 77.65 65.93
construction of individual household latrines
(IHHL), community toilet (CT) seats and Maharashtra 82.91 75.48
public toilet (PT) seats; Andhra Pradesh 67.66 59.74
Karnataka 75.60 68.13
• making provisions for the supply of clean
energy fuel LPG to all households in rural Goa 87.40 81.84
India to reduce domestic pollution; Lakshadweep Is. 92.28 88.25

• providing potable drinking water to every Kerala 93.91 91.98

household to control the spread of Tamil Nadu 80.33 73.86
water-borne diseases; and Puduchhery 86.55 81.22
• promoting the use of non-convention energy Andaman & Nicobar Is. 86.27 81.84
resources, like wind and solar energy.
Source: Census of India – 2011 (Provisional)
[Link]

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 India has done reasonably well in some of Why is the total literacy rates in Kerala, Mizoram,
the health indicators like decline in death rate Lakshadweep and Goa are higher than other states?
from 25.1 per thousand in 1951 to 6.5 per
thousand in 2015 and infant mortality from Can literacy reflect the status of Human Developments?
148 per thousand to 37 during the same period. Debate.
Similarly, it also succeeded in increasing life Table 3.3 showing the percentage of literates
expectancy at birth from 37.1 years to 66.9 in India reveals some interesting features:
years for males and 36.2 to 70 years for females • Overall literacy in India is
from 1951 to 2015. Though, these are great approximately 74.04 per cent (2011).
achievements, a lot needs to be done. Similarly,
while female literacy is 65.46 per cent.
it has also done reasonably well in bringing
• Total literacy as well as female literacy
down birth rate from 40.8 to 20.8 during the
is higher than the national average in
same years, but it still is much higher than
most of the states from south India.
many developed countries.
The situation is more alarming when seen • There are wide regional disparities in
in the context of gender specific and rural and literacy rate across the states of India.
urban health indicators. India has recorded There is a state like Bihar which has
declining female sex ratio. The findings of 2011 very low (63.82 per cent) literacy and
Census of India are very disturbing particularly there are states like Kerala and
in case of child sex ratio in the age group of Mizoram which have literacy rates of
0-6 years. The other significant features of the 93.91 and 91.58 per cent respectively.
report are, with the exception of Kerala, the Apart from the spatial variations,
child sex ratio has declined in all the states percentage of literates in the rural areas and
and it is the most alarming in the developed among the marginalised sections of our society
state of Haryana and Punjab where it is such as females, scheduled castes, scheduled
below 850 female children per thousand tribes, agricultural labourers, etc. is very low.
male children. What factors are responsible for It is worth mentioning here that though, there
it? Is it the social attitude or scientific methods has been improvement in the percentage of
of sex determination? literates among the marginalised section yet the
Indicators of Social Empowerment gap between the richer and the marginalised
sections of the population has increased over
“Development is freedom”. Freedom from the years.
hunger, poverty, servitude, bondage,
ignorance, illiteracy and any other forms of Human Development Index in India
domination is the key to human development.
Freedom in real sense of the term is possible In the backdrop of the above-mentioned
only with the empowerment and participation important indicators the Planning Commission
of the people in the exercise of their capabilities calculated the human development index by
and choices in the society. Access to knowledge taking states and union territories as the unit
about the society and environment are of analysis.
fundamental to freedom. Literacy is the India has been placed among the countries
beginning of access to such a world of showing medium human development. What
knowledge and freedom. is the rank of India among the 188 countries of
the world? As indicated in Table 3.4 Kerala with
the composite index value of 0.790 is placed at
the top rank followed by Delhi, Himachal
Represent the literacy rates for states having more than Pradesh, Goa and Punjab. As expected, states
the national average by bar diagram after arranging the like Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are at the
data in descending order. bottom among the 23 major states in India.

28 India : People and Economy

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Can you find out the
causes of the above
problems?

Table 3.4 : India – Human Development There are several socio-political, economic
Index
and historical reasons for such a state of affairs.
State HDI Value Rank
Kerala is able to record the highest value in the
2007-08 2007-08
Kerala 0.790 1 HDI largely due to its impressive performance
Delhi 0.750 2 in achieving near hundred per cent literacy. In
Himachal Pradesh 0.652 3 a different scenario the states like Bihar, Madhya
Goa 0.617 4 Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh
Punjab 0.605 5
NE (excluding Assam) 0.573 6
have very low literacy. States showing higher
Maharashtra 0.572 7 total literacy rates have less gaps between the
Tamil Nadu 0.570 8 male and female literacy rates.
Haryana 0.552 9 Apart from the educational attainment, the
Jammu and Kashmir 0.529 10
Gujarat 0.527 11
levels of economic development too play
Karnataka 0.519 12 significant impacts on HDI. Economically
West Bengal 0.492 13 developed states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu
Uttarakhand 0.490 14 and Punjab and Haryana have higher value of
Andhra Pradesh 0.473 15
HDI as compared to states like Chhattisgarh,
Assam 0.444 16
Rajasthan 0.434 17 Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, etc.
Uttar Pradesh 0.380 18 Regional distortions and social disparities
Jharkhand 0.376 19 which developed during the colonial period
Madhya Pradesh 0.375 20
continue to play an important role in the Indian
Bihar 0.367 21
Orissa 0.362 22 economy, polity and society. The Government
Chhattisgarh 0.358 23 of India has made concerted efforts to
institutionalise the balanced development with
Source: Planning Commission of India : India National
Human Development Report, 2011 its main focus on social distributive justice

Human Development 29

2019-20
through planned development. It has made in the resources of the world in the last three
significant achievements in most of the fields hundred years but there has been phenomenal
but, these are still below the desired level. growth in the human population. Development
has only contributed in increasing the multiple
Population, Envir
opulation, onment and
vironment uses of the limited resources of the world while
Development there has been enormous increase in the demand
for these resources. Therefore, the prime task
Development in general and human
before any development activity is to maintain
development in particular is a complex concept
parity between population and resources.
used in social sciences. It is complex because
Scholar like Sir Robert Malthus was the first
for ages it was thought that development is a
one to voice his concern about the growing
substantive concept and once it is achieved it
scarcity of resources as compared to the human
will address all the socio-cultural and
population. Apparently this argument looks
environmental ills of the society. Though,
logical and convincing, but a critical look will
development has brought in significant
reveal certain intrinsic flaws such as resources
improvement in the quality of life in more than
are not a neutral category. It is not the
one way but increasing regional disparities,
availability of resources that is as important as
social inequalities, discriminations, deprivations,
their social distribution. Resources everywhere
displacement of people, abuse of human rights
are unevenly distributed. Rich countries and
and undermining human values and
people have access to large resource baskets
environmental degradation have also increased.
while the poor find their resources shrinking.
Considering the gravity and sensitivity of
Moreover, unending pursuit for the control of
the issues involved, the UNDP in its Human
more and more resources by the powerful and
Development Report 1993, tried to amend some
use of the same for exhibiting ones prowess is
of the implicit biases and prejudices which were
the prime cause of conflicts as well as the
entrenched in the concept of development.
apparent contradictions between population-
People’s participation and their security were the
resource and development.
major issues in the Human Development Report
of 1993. It also emphasised on progressive Indian culture and civilisation have been
democratisation and increasing empowerment very sensitive to the issues of population, resource
of people as minimum conditions for human and development for a long time. It would not be
development. The report recognised greater incorrect to say that the ancient scriptures were
constructive role of ‘Civil Societies’ in bringing essentially concerned about the balance and
about peace and human development. The civil harmony among the elements of nature.
society should work for building up opinion for Mahatma Gandhi in the recent times advocated
reduction in the military expenditure, de- the reinforcement of the harmony and balance
mobilisation of armed forces, transition from between the two. He was quite apprehensive
defence to production of basic goods and services about the on-going development particularly the
and particularly disarmament and reduction in way industrialisation has institutionalised the
the nuclear warheads by the developed loss of morality, spirituality, self-reliance, non-
countries. In a nuclearised world, peace and violence and mutual co-operation and
well-being are major global concerns. environment. In his opinion, austerity for
At the other extreme of this approach lie individual, trusteeship of social wealth and non-
the views expressed by the Neo-Malthusians, violence are the key to attain higher goals in the
environmentalists and radical ecologists. They life of an individual as well as that of a nation.
believe that for a happy and peaceful social life His views were also re-echoed in the Club of Rome
proper balance between population and Report “Limits to Growth” (1972), Schumacher’s
resources is a necessary condition. According book “Small is Beautiful” (1974), Brundtland
to these thinkers, the gap between the resources Commission’s Report “Our Common Future”
and population has widened after eighteenth (1987) and finally in the “Agenda-21 Report of
century. There have been marginal expansion the Rio Conference” (1993).

30 India : People and Economy

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 EXERCISES
1. Choose the right answers of the following from the given options.
(i) Which one of the following is India’s rank in terms of Human Development
Index among the countries of the world in 2016?
(a) 126 (c) 128
(b) 134 (d) 131
(ii) Which one of the following states of India has the highest rank in the
Human Development Index?
(a) Tamil Nadu (c) Kerala
(b) Punjab (d) Haryana
(iii) Which one of the following states of India has the lowest female literacy?
(a) Jammu and Kashmir (c) Jharkhand
(b) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Bihar
(iv) Which one of the following states of India has the lowest female child sex
ratio 0-6 years?
(a) Gujarat (c) Punjab
(b) Haryana (d) Himachal Pradesh
(v) Which one of the following Union Territories of India has the highest
literacy rate?
(a) Lakshadweep (c) Daman and Diu
(b) Chandigarh (d) Andaman and Nicobar Islands
2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.
(i) Define Human Development.
(ii) Give two reasons for low levels of Human Development in most of the
Northern States of India.
(iii) Give two reasons for declining child sex ratio in India.
3. Answer the following questions in about 150 words.
(i) Discuss the spatial patterns of female literacy in India in 2011 and bring
out the reasons responsible for it.
(ii) Which factors have caused spatial variations in the levels of Human
Development among the states in India?

Human Development 31

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