Development
Income and public facilities
Explain why income alone does not show how well people live.
Three states compared. Table 1.3 gives per capita income for 2023-24:
- Haryana: Rs 3,25,759 (highest);
- Kerala: Rs 2,81,001;
- Bihar: Rs 60,337 (lowest).
If income were the only measure, Haryana would be the most developed and Bihar the least.
But look at health and schooling (Table 1.4).
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): how many babies out of 1,000 born die before their first birthday. In Kerala, 6 die; in Haryana, 28: far more, even though Haryana's people earn more.
- Literacy rate: the share of people aged 7 and above who can read and write.
- Net Attendance Ratio: the share of children aged 15-17 actually attending school. In Bihar, about one-third of them are not in secondary school: if you studied there, a third of your classmates would be missing.
On these measures, Kerala does better than Haryana.
Money cannot buy everything. Why does Haryana, with more income, lag behind Kerala? Because money in your pocket cannot buy all you need to live well. On your own, you usually cannot buy:
- a pollution-free environment;
- pure, unadulterated medicines;
- protection from infectious diseases, unless the whole community takes steps to prevent them.
So income alone is not enough to measure development.
Public facilities: cheaper together. For many important things, the best and cheapest way is to provide them collectively. Is it cheaper for a whole locality to share security, or for every house to hire its own guard? You can study because many children want to study, and the government opens schools for all. In many places, especially for girls, children cannot reach high school because those facilities are missing.
- Kerala has a low IMR because it provides good basic health and education.
- Where the Public Distribution System (PDS) (ration shops) works well, people's health and nutrition are better. A study found 90 per cent of rural people in Tamil Nadu used a ration shop, against 35 per cent in West Bengal.
Rural Uttar Pradesh (Table 1.5). Literacy among the rural population: 76 per cent for men, 54 per cent for women. Among children aged 10-14, 85 per cent of boys and 82 per cent of girls attend school. So even after more than 75 years of independence, many children are not in school, though the Constitution set the goal that every child up to 14 should get free, compulsory schooling.
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