CBSE Class 12 Geography Revision Notes for Human Development of Chapter 4

Class 12 Geography – Fundamentals of Human Geography Quick Revision notes Chapter 4 Human Development

Growth and Development
Both refer to changes over a period of time
Development means a qualitative change which always values positive
Development takes place due to an increment or addition to the existing conditions
Development occurs when there is a positive change in quality
A country’s development level measured by its economic growth
Aspects of development are quality of life people enjoy in a country, opportunities they have and freedom they enjoy
Two social economies Mahbub-Ul-Haq and Amartya Sen works in Human development ideas
Concept of human development introduced by Mahabub-ul-Haq
According to him, development that enlarges people’s choices and improve their lives
Basic goal of development is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives
Key areas in human development are access to resources, health and education

Four pillars of human development

1 Equity- refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody The
opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income and
in the Indian case, caste
2 Sustainability- Sustainability means continuity in the availability of opportunities All environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future Misuse of any of these resources will lead to fewer opportunities for future generations
3 Productivity- It means human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human
work Such productivity must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people Efforts to increase their knowledge, or provide better health facilities ultimately leads to better work efficiency
4 Empowerment means to have the power to make choices Such power comes from increasing freedom and capability Good governance and people-oriented policies are
required to empower people

Approaches to human development

Important approaches are-
1 Income approach- This is one of the oldest approaches to human development It is
linked to income The idea is that the level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys Higher the level of income, the higher is the level of human development
2 Welfare approach- This approach looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities The approach argues for higher government expenditure on education, health, social secondary and amenities
3 Minimum needs approach- This approach was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Six basic needs i e : health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, and housing were identified
4 Capabilities approach- This approach is associated with Prof Amartya Sen Building human capabilities in the areas of health,education and access to resources is the key to increasing human development

Measuring human development

Human development index (HDI) based on their performance in the area of health, education and access to resources
Rankings are based on a score between 0-1 that a country earns in the field of human development
Important indicator of human development index are-(i) Access health is the life expectancy at birth Higher life expectancy means people have a greater chance of living longer and healthy life
(ii) Access to Knowledge- The adult literacy rate and the gross enrolment ratio The number of adults who are able to read and write and the number of children enrolled in school
(iii) Access to resources- It is measured in terms of purchasing power (in U S dollars)
HDI is a sum total of the weight assigned to all these dimensions
Dimensions give a weightage of 1/3
Score 1 means greater level of human development
Score of 0 985 means very high level of human development
Score of 0 268 means very low level of human development
HDI measures attainments in human development
Human poverty index is related to the HDI
It measures the shortfall in human development
Shortfall in human development in any region is measured on the basis of
– adult illiteracy rate
– unable to access clean water
– number of children who are underweight
– low life expectancy (till 40 age)

International comparison

Smaller countries have done better than larger areas in human development
Poorest nations ranked higher than richer neighbours
Example Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago score high rank in HDI than India
In India, Kerela has the highest HDI than Punjab and Gujarat
Countries classified into 4 groups on the basis of the human development score
– Very high (more than 0 808)-49 countries
– High (between 0 700-0 807)- 53 countries
Reason-(i) providing education and health care is an important government priority
(ii) a lot of investment in the social sector Eg Europe
– Medium(between 0 556-0 699)- 42 countries
Reason-(i) Most of the countries emerged in the period of World War II
(ii) Countries are former colonies
(iii) Many emerged after the breakup of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1990
– Low(below 0 555)- 43 countries
Reason-(i) Political turmoil
(ii) social instability in the form of civil war
(iii) famines or high incidence of diseases
To understand the low or high levels of human development it is important to look at the pattern of government expenditure on the social sector, the political environment, the amount of freedom people have
Important steps taken by countries to achieve high level of human development are
(i) they invest more in the social sectors
(ii) free from political turmoil and instability
Countries with low level of human development is mainly due to-do
(i)spend more on defence rather than social sector
(ii) political instability