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| Development is about humans, not just incomes | | | by Jo Scheuer
IN the 70s and 80s, economists believed economic growth and its trickle down effect would reduce poverty. However, despite years of planned development, market-oriented policy measures and high growth rates in recent years in many developing countries including India, enormous development challenges continue to confront us.
In the 1990s Professor Mahbub ul-Haq and Amartya Sen, both from the South Asian region, greatly influenced the development debate. The late Mahbub ul -Haq cautioned against growth that is “jobless, rootless and ruthless”. They reminded us that development is about “human well-being” and not just about incomes. Indeed, this unique partnership of ideas around the concept and practice of “human development” that places people squarely at the centre of development is a seminal contribution to the way we think today.
The “human development” approach was articulated through UNDP’s Human Development Reports (HDRs) under the leadership of Mahbub-ul-Haq, and the first in an annual series of HDRs appeared in 1990. These Reports defined human development as a process of enlarging people’s choices, using the language of human capabilities.
The concept of human development has gradually evolved to encompass all areas of societal development -- income and livelihoods; provision of social infrastructure and services that are made available on an equal basis to all citizens; special emphasis on gender concerns; and stress on providing equal opportunity for political participation and respecting human rights. Emphasis has also been laid on the sustainability of environmental and natural resources. All of these concerns have been systematically addressed in global Human Development Reports over the past 16 years.
The Human Development Index (HDI), which combines three indicators -- education, health and income with equal weight to each — and in particular the ranking of countries has gripped the world’s imagination. Every year when the Global HDR is released politicians, journalists, and opinion leaders turn first to the HDI to see how their country has fared in the HDI ranking. The HDI has become the world’s Report Card.
Inspired by the global HDR, more than 500 national, sub-national and regional HDRs have been published. These have been instrumental in introducing the concept of human development into national and sub-national policy. India published its first national Human Development Report in 2001 and work on the next Report is underway in the Planning Commission.
India pioneered the sub-national HDR with the publication of the first Madhya Pradesh State Human Development Report in 1995. This had a ripple effect and till date 17 Indian states have prepared their state HDRs and five more are under preparation. In India, the State Human Development Reports (SHDRs) have been successful “tools” in promoting the concept of human development as a compelling basis for development planning.
Since the state governments own these Reports, they have accountability for action taken on the recommendations of the Reports. There have been some notable achievements in this regard. Following the preparation of the Madhya Pradesh HDR in 1995, the Government increased its investment in social services from 18% in the Eighth Plan Period to 42% in the Ninth Plan. This increased level of expenditure has also been sustained in the Tenth Plan.
The Government of Maharashtra declared its 2003 budget as a human development budget and has since then drafted a “Social Responsibility Legislation” to bridge the human development gap with regard to vulnerable and marginalized groups. Since many state HDRs highlighted issues related to livelihoods of the poor, several states have commissioned studies on developing and strengthening livelihood strategies. The Government of Rajasthan has constituted a state-wide Mission on Livelihoods to explore livelihood options for its people within a human development framework.
In order to operationalise human development, the first step is to influence and engender planning processes at all levels -- district, state and national. The formulation of the Eleventh Five Year Plan has opened up opportunities at the national and state levels for mainstreaming human development and gender concerns in the plans and budgets. With 17 State HDRs already published these Reports should be a useful resource for an analysis of the development challenges facing these states as the formulation process of the Eleventh Plan gets underway at the state level.
The Government of India has called for human development indicators to form the basis of preparing district plans. Many state governments are preparing district level HDRs as a precursor to district plans. This recognizes the fact that the district is the administrative level at which the success or failure of development initiatives is often determined. Development goals and targets – national or global – will be achieved with concerted action at this level.
It is not surprising therefore, that the common development framework for the UN in India, the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the period 2008-2012, will focus on capacity development at the local or district level to achieve social, economic and political inclusion especially for women and girls. One of the UN’s collective priorities will be to contribute to strengthening governance systems at the district level to make service delivery more efficient, effective and inclusive.
The State HDRs must now catalyse coalitions of activists and public-spirited citizens to act in the spirit of “here and now”. It is time now for all development players to join hands in building a human development movement in India. It is only when we are able to keep the promises made by successive governments in national plans and at global forums to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 can the dream behind the human development approach be realized.
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