A fast revision cut of this chapter for the night before the exam: the definitions, the four pillars and four approaches as two tables, HDI vs HPI side by side, and the Human Development Report 2025 figures. Read the full notes separately for the complete explanation.
1 Three definitions to learn
Growth is a quantitative and value-neutral change; it may carry a positive (increase) or a negative (decrease) sign.
Development is a qualitative change that is always value positive. Development occurs only when growth is positive AND quality genuinely improves. The book’s own example: if a city’s population grows from one lakh to two lakhs, that is growth. But if housing and basic services stay exactly as they were, this growth has not been accompanied by development.
Human development (Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq) is development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives; its basic goal is to create conditions in which people can live meaningful lives.
2 Four Pillars vs Four Approaches: Two Different Lists
The four pillars (equity, sustainability, productivity, empowerment) and the four approaches (income, welfare, basic needs, capability) are two separate lists. “Welfare” is an approach, not a pillar: this is the single most common way students lose marks here.
| Pillar | Meaning in one line |
|---|---|
| Equity | Equal access to opportunities for everybody, regardless of gender, race, income or caste |
| Sustainability | Continuity in the availability of opportunities; each generation must have the same opportunities; example: a community that does not send its girls to school takes away many opportunities from these young women when they grow up |
| Productivity | Human labour productivity, constantly enriched by building people’s capabilities |
| Empowerment | The power to make one’s own choices, from increasing freedom and capability |
| Approach | Meaning in one line |
|---|---|
| (a) Income Approach | One of the oldest; higher income = higher level of human development |
| (b) Welfare Approach | People are beneficiaries/passive recipients; government’s welfare spending is what raises human development |
| (c) Basic Needs Approach | Proposed by the ILO; six needs: health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, housing |
| (d) Capability Approach | Associated with Prof. Amartya Sen; building capabilities is the key to raising human development |
3 HDI and HPI, side by side
| Human Development Index (HDI) | Human Poverty Index (HPI) |
|---|---|
| Measures attainment | Measures shortfall |
| Score 0 to 1; closer to 1 is better | A non-income measure |
| Dimensions: health, knowledge, resources (each weighted 1/3) | Factors: probability of not surviving to 40, adult illiteracy rate, no access to clean water, underweight small children |
| Silent on distribution; not the most reliable measure alone | Often more revealing than the HDI |
Health’s indicator is life expectancy at birth, knowledge’s indicator is adult literacy rate + gross enrolment ratio, resources’ indicator is purchasing power in US dollars: these are three separate indicators, so do not blur them together. The book’s own score examples: 0.983 = very high, 0.268 = very low.
4 Human Development Report 2025: classifying countries (Table 3.2)
| Category | Score range | Number of countries |
|---|---|---|
| Very High | Above 0.800 | 74 |
| High | 0.700-0.799 | 50 |
| Medium | 0.550-0.699 | 53 |
| Low | Below 0.550 | 26 |
Table 3.3 (Very High group, top 10, HDR 2025): Iceland (1), Norway (2), Switzerland (3), Denmark (4), Germany & Sweden (joint 5), Australia (7), Hongkong China (SAR) & Netherlands (joint 8), Belgium (10). The book itself prints two tied ranks and skips 6 and 9. That is not a misprint to “correct.”
India ranks 130th out of 193 countries, better than its 133rd rank in 2022. HDI value rose from 0.676 in 2022 to 0.685 in 2023. India’s recovery has been strong in the three fields HDI measures: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Report title: ‘A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI’.
5 Step by step: the old view to today
- The old view: for decades, development was measured only by economic growth: bigger economy meant “more developed.”
- Choices-get-limited examples: an uneducated child cannot become a doctor; a poor person cannot afford medical treatment. In India, a large share of school dropouts are women and persons from socially and economically backward groups, showing how a lack of access to knowledge limits choice.
- Late 1980s-early 1990s: the idea of human development is clearly spelt out for the first time, through the work of Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq and Amartya Sen.
- 1990: Dr Haq creates the Human Development Index; the UNDP begins publishing the annual Human Development Report the same year.
- Bhutan: the only country to officially adopt Gross National Happiness (GNH): “material progress cannot come at the cost of happiness.”
- International comparisons: territory size/income do not decide HDI. Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago rank above India; within India, Kerala ranks above Punjab and Gujarat (despite a lower per capita income).
- The real explanation: not culture or religion, but government spending on the social sector and political freedom. Low-HDI countries spend more on defence; high-HDI countries spend more on the social sector.
- Human development concept: Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq (Pakistani economist) · HDI created: 1990 · UNDP report: annually since 1990
- Prof. Amartya Sen (Nobel Laureate): capability approach, objective of development = increase in freedom
- Three key areas: health, education, access to resources · HDI dimension weightage: 1/3 each
- Four pillars: equity, sustainability, productivity, empowerment
- Four approaches: income, welfare, basic needs (ILO), capability (Amartya Sen)
- HDI groups (HDR 2025): Very High 74 · High 50 · Medium 53 · Low 26 (the book’s text calls Medium “the largest group”, but Table 3.2 shows Very High has the most countries)
- India: rank 130/193 (2025 report), HDI 0.685 (2023, up from 0.676 in 2022)
- Bhutan: GNH · Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Kerala: higher HDI despite smaller economy/lower income