Describe the regional variation in the level of human development in india
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Please refer to this article as appearing in Indian Journal of Applied Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2005
Biographical Details: The author has done his doctoral thesis from Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He presently teaches Economics at University of Burdwan, West Bengal. His areas of interest are Regional Disparity, Infrastructure, Human Resource, and Energy.
Acknowledgement is due to Prof. Ashok Mathur and Dr. Dipa Mukherjee for their valuable comments on the first draft. I am grateful to the participants of a seminar at Vidyasagar Univesity, Midnapore, WB for their comments during a presentation of this topic. Comments to the author are welcome at [email protected] Development in India: Regional Pattern and Policy Issues
Abstract
Development literature in the past decade has become more people centric with human
development being projected as one of the ‘ends’ of development planning. The present
paper tries to explore the trends, patterns and regional dimension of human development
(HD) in India through construction of alternate HD indices. The association between HD
indices and conventional measures like per capita income has been explored. Substantial
inter-regional disparity in HD is observed. Probable reasons for such disparity have been
inquired. Suggested policies to enhance HD include greater role of the State in
provisioning of social infrastructure, especially to the hitherto marginalized groups.
1. Introduction
Development economics in recent years have become more people centric than before. It has
rediscovered that human beings are both the means and the end of economic development
process, and without Human Development (HD) that process becomes a hollow rhetoric. The
maze of technical concepts and growth centric approach to development ruled the roost for
the most of post war period. Only from the eighties onwards, we started to recognize that
human needs and capabilities are necessary ingredients for success of any growth strategy.
The pioneering work of Mahbub ul Haq and Paul Streeten under the aegis of UNDP finally
institutionalised the importance of HD and the Human Development Reports brought out
annually by UNDP reflects the condition of human being in different parts of the world. It
It is well known that there exist wide regional variations in Indian agriculture in terms of agroclimatic conditions, persistence of rainfall, resource base, irrigation facility and infrastructural development. The history of agriculture in India after independence can be divided into four specific periods