Social Development in Independent India

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Human Development: Meanings, Mechanisms and Measurement

Rajiv Balakrishnan

 

 

 

Human development (HD), a concept of relatively recent vintage, is, as is well known, understood to refer to the development or expansion of ‘choice’ or opportunity, not only in spheres such as the standard of living, education, health but also in less tangible domains such as women's empowerment and political freedom.¹ HD is an idea whose time has come; one which gained currency as the realization grew that deprivation and lack of opportunity could be extensive even when economic indicators are robust. The rationale for planned efforts to promote HD does not however derive merely from its desirability as an end in itself; it stems also from the fact that the ...