Comprehending and Measuring Development

Professor Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Gauhati University, in his session discussed at length about the concepts of development and the different methods that are being used while measuring development. Professor Bezbaruah stated that the concept of development can be explained in two ways- a) development as a state or static condition and b) development as a process or course of change. The concept of development as static phenomena was explained by the traditional thinkers. But soon it was realized that development entails much more than mere expansion of volume of production of goods and services. While explaining the concept of development, Professor Bezbaruah mentioned the concept of Development by M.P Todaro. He further added that according to Todaro, development is not purely an economic phenomenon rather a multidimensional process involving reorganization and reorientation of entire economic and social system. Subsequently, the concept of development has been extended to substantial and sustainable improvement in the quality of life of the people. Along with this, Professor Bezbaruah spoke about the physical versus spiritual quality of life. However, the economists have tended to limit to physical quality and Professor Bezbaruah rightfully justified that the spiritual perspective of development is an inconclusive debate and it differs among generations. While discussing about the measurement of development, he stated that in earlier version of development, per capita income (PCI) had been taken into account to measure development, but soon was criticized on the ground that it is merely an average and does not represent the standard of living among people. To meet the limitations of PCI, in the mid- 1970s, Morris David Morris developed Physical Quality Life Index (PQLI) as a measure of economic development. Health and education had been taken as main components of PQLI. Professor Bezbaruah further stated that PQLI was also criticized for ignoring some other factors which influence the quality of life such as employment, social security etc. Consequently, the Human Development Index (HDI) was developed by the Pakistani economist Mehbub Ul Haq and the Indian economist Amartya Sen in 1990 and was published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). HDI makes it clear that income cannot be considered as a yardstick for measuring human development because well-being depends on the use of income and not on the level of income. The three dimensions that have been take into account in HDI are- a) living a long and healthy life, b) acquiring knowledge and c) having a decent standard of living. Health indicator is measured by life expectancy at birth and it leads to a decent standard of living. Gross National Income Per capita in Purchasing Power Parity in dollar is taken into account. He further explained the concept of Purchasing Power Parity as an exchange rate which reflects the prices and is used as proxy of income so that it can be compared across nations.

Professor Bezbaruah mentioned that since UNDP report, 2010, expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling have been used as indicators of measuring knowledge dimension. The idea of sustainable development has also been discussed in the session. In this context, Professor Bezbaruah spoke of a committee known as Club of Rome formed in 1970’s by many countries together and which is also known as ‘limit to growth’ where the future of human life due to increasing pollution, consumerism etc. had been discussed for the first time. However, it was criticized that the dynamic nature of development had been ignored in the discussions. While explaining the concept of sustainable development, he even mentioned about the energy crisis of 1973. Moreover, he added that the limit to growth theory is not same across the countries of the world. The rich countries can cut down the growth process for conservation of energy and natural resources. However, this is not the same for the underdeveloped countries as these countries were still at their first stage of development. Hence, combining these two issues, Brundtland Report of the World Council on Economic Development, 1987 articulated the whole concept of sustainable development. Adding to the concept of sustainable development, he stated that the intergenerational equity has to be maintained. While giving light to sustainability, the concepts of weak sustainability and strong sustainability had also been taken into account. While school of weak sustainability believes that manufactured commodities and natural resources can be used as substitutes; the thinkers of strong sustainability strongly opposes it. He, further rightfully argued that the weak sustainability is not always unacceptable. While discussing the arguments of interrelationship among growth- inequality and development; he cited that some earlier economists like Kuznet argued that to increase growth and development, there should be more inequality between rich and poor. However, the idea has been countered by the other studies. Finally, Professor Bezbaruah pointed out the rising problem of inequality of income in developing and developed countries, the causes and the fallouts of inequality. 

Report prepared by Reema Rabha on the second session, October 31, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam