Chapter 4
CHAPTER NO.4 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
Development literally means the gradual growth of
the society so that it becomes stronger and advanced. There are two basic
considerations of the development Le., economic development and social
development.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Economic development refers to rise in the per
capita income of the society. The activities responsible for economic
development are cultivation, manufacturing, fishing, food processing, min-ing
etc. Economic growth and development is necessary to bring about a change in
the economic and social needs of the people. Economic growth leads to higher
standards of living and improved
The economic development of a country/state depend
upon several factors like:
The total area of the country/state
The size and rate of growth of population
Availability of natural resources ot raw materials
Land- man ratio
The industrial and technological growth
The availability of employment
The level of per capita production
Educational background of its people
Racial composition of the people
Economic policies of the country/state
Though agricultural sector is quite viable, yet it
has limited scope for increasing the per capita income. It has limitations to
lower the unemployment rate. On the other hand, the industrial sector is more
diversified and generate a lot of employment opportunities. The service sectors
like telecom-munication, trade and commerce also provide a wide range of
employment opportunities.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Both the economic development and social development
are complementary to each other. The social development creates social needs
like longevity of life, good medical and health care, educa-
tion, status of women, absence of child marriage,
child labour, etc. Most of the developed nations like the USA have invested
their wealth to fulfill their social needs. But many developing coountries
including India are still struggling to provide basic amenities to their
people. They have not been able
to achieve acceptable living standard for their
people.
Among the social needs, education is of foremost
importance. It can help in reducing popula-tion, as evident from educated
people who generally limit their family size to one or two children.
Education also leads to late marriage that reduces
the span of fertility period leading to slower population. Education can
provide various vocational facilities that improve the chances of employ-ment.
In many countries, education level of women is very low and that is why they do
not enjoy
respectable status in the society. However, after
independence the status of the woman has greatly improved and there is hardly
any field which has not been occupied by women today. Yet a lot
remains to be done. For example, child labour and
child marriage are major problems in many Asian countries. It is both due to
lack of education and poor financial position of such families.
Longevity of life coupled with good medical and
health care is another basic social need of the people. The developed countries
spend a lot of money on projects involving public health, hygiene and health
care. The USA spends about $ 156 billion every year to ensure better health of
their people. The World Health Organisation (WHO) at the international level is
doing a yeoman's service to prevent the spread of many communicable diseases.
The Government of India is also doing its best to raise the health standard of
the people, especially, the women and the children. However, due to over
population, this facility does not reach the poor people.
AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY AS MAJOR
SECTORS OF DEVELOPMENT
Agriculture and Industry are two major components
meant for the development of a nation.Both are equally for an overall
development of a country.
Agriculture : Early human beings used to depend on
hunting and gathering food for their livelihood and survival. With the passage
of time, man's quest for stable source of living led to emergence of
agricultural societies about 10,000 years ago. The early agriculture without
use of any machinery was called as traditional agriculture. The farmers
ploughed the land and made simple tools
for tillage of their own. They raised livestock and
ventured for fish farms also. Their primary goal was to produce food and other
items for their own family. Yet, if they had surplus crops, the same were tried
for trade or commerce on a much smaller scale.
‘With an advancement in agricultural technology, new
developments like farm machinery became frequent and markets for agricultural
products started growing at a faster rate. There was an evident shift from
traditional agriculture to modern agriculture in the middle of 20* century. The
addition of
modern equipments, electric power, irrigation
gadgets, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and high
yielding varieties led to green revolution in
agriculture. The mass production of food and fibre led to
establishing of processing units followed by
distribution of food and creation of textile industry. Due
to urbanisation, the demand for agricultural
products started increasing with each passing day, Itled
to a new business called agribusiness. The following
ate the three aspects of agribusiness:
Tomannfacture farm equipment and other agricultural
appliance.
Farm grower-producer operations.
Storage, processing and distribution of farm
products.
The agribusiness has led to the development of new
industries like farm implement companies,meat processors, food canaries, cold
stores and freezers etc. No doubt, the modern agriculture has brought enormous
increase in production, yet it caused irreparable damage to the natural balance
of
ecosystem.
Industry : Industries are the means of conversion of
raw materials into finished products for human use. In England, in 1700 AD the
industry was mostly rural and decentralized. The manufac-turer was the man, who
worked with his own hands in his own cottage. For example, whole of the cloth
trade was organised in this system at the beginning of the 20° century.
In the middle of the 18th century, manufacturing was
increased and consolidated through mecha-nization operations and this led to an
emergence of the urban industry. The industrial revolution has brought about a
major change in the economic and social development. It provided more employ-
ment opportunities. As industries grew, the influx
of materials like fuel, food, minerals and timber rose sharply into the cities.
The new medicines, better control of infectious disease and improved sanitation
are success stories of industrial revolution. These new developments have made
the human
life comfortable with enhanced longevity.
Both these sectors of development have no
competition but are compliementary to each other.The agriculture output becomes
the raw material for industry. For example, cotton is a product of
agriculture and raw material of textile industry. It
can be concluded that both agriculture and industry are essential for the
development and prosperity of a nation.
SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT
The development of any nation depends upon economic,
political and social factors. Out of these, the social and economic factors are
interrelated. The economic development directly depends
human health, social, cultural and ethical values.
Poverty : It refers to the condition of an individual
or a family having insufficient financial res resoutces. Rather they are unable
to meet their basic needs in terms of food, cloth, shelter, clean drinking
water and required health facilites. The non availability of two square meals a
day is an extreme situation of poverty. Out of the six billion people living in
the world, one-fifth is below the poverty line. They live in Africa, Latin
America and Asia.
Poverty retards the development of a country, as the
people living there suffer from chronic malnutrition and most of them never
venture to a school. Quite a few of them hae access to clean
water and much needed medical facilities. They have
no security of employment. The people below poverty line are considered burden
on the society and government in the developing countries.
The main causes of poverty are factors such as
population explosion, unequal distribution of natural resources, non
availability of education facilities and employment opportunities. High cost of
living becomes another cause of poverty. The govemments of many developing
countries, including India are spending a sufficient percentage of their annual
budget to reduce the poverty and to improve the health of poor people.
Affinence : Affluence means, having lot of money and
wealth leading to good standard of living. Accordingly, affluence plays a
direct role in the development of a country, as every develop-mental project
require a lot of money. For example, an affluent country has no problem in
construct-ing a dam whereas the developing country cannot think of it due to
financial constraints. However,the World Bank comes to the rescue of such
nations by providing soft loans to raise the living
standard of their people.
Education : It is another social factor that helps
in the development of a nation. It increases the mental growth vis-a-vis
attitude of the people. They become rather more competent to develop
new resources, which definitely contribute towards
the economic growth of the nation.
Education makes the people more aware about their
personal and national problems. That is why in educated families, the size is
restricted to one or two children.
Vocational education and practical training in
different fields can be used to tap the vast poten-tial of the people for an
overall development and prosperity of a nation.
Education creates a scientific attitude amongst the
people. They become open minded with tational approach. It helps them to make
intelligent choices after studying the situation in depth.
Education also broadens people's tolerance towards
each other and they tend to live harmoni-ously inspite of different cultures
and religions.
Employment : It means to do a job for payment. It is
another parameter of judging the development of a nation. Employment is of two
types i.c., self employment and wage employment.
The employment provide means of livelihood to
support a person and his family. The employment not only enchances the
prosperity of the employed individual but also increases the prosperity of the
nation. Many developing countries are facing an acute problems of unemployment
due to increased population and lack of education.
Child labour : One of the main reasons of a bigger
family size amongst poor people is their notion that, more the hands to work
for the family, the more is their camming. On the ethical basis, the child
labour is highly objectionable because this is the age of leaming and play.
Industrialization has contributed a lot to child labour practices. Children are
generally employed on a meagre salary for longer duty hours. The affluent
families of the society also employ children in their homes. Many
countries now feel concerned about this malady and
they have banned child labour. The United Nations has formed an International
Labour Organisation (ILO) to monitor the child labour and
Child marriage: it refers to the marriage at the
young age. It was very common in India about 70 to 80 years back. Even today,
it is observed in some communities. In this practice, parents
of a young boy select a young girl and they are
wedded together. The girl continues to live with her patents. However, when she
attains sexual manurity, her in-laws take her to their home. The boy and the
girl now start living together to raise their family. Many thinkers like Raja
Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar thought it to be a curse in the
society. They raised their voice and edu-cated the people against such child
marriages. Our government has also banned the child marriage. It is now considered
as a crime and is punishable. The education has also played its role because
the
boys and girls themselves avoid the early marriage.
As per existing law, a girl can not marry before the age of 18 years.
Human health ; In totality, health is a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being. Out of these three parameters,
it is difficult to assess social well-being. However, health can-
not be delinked from social environment and cultural
background. A healthy person can perform his duties efficiently to raise the
living standard of his family and this ultimately adds to the prosperity of
anation. Many developed countries feel concerned about the health of their
people as they have
now realized that thousands of man hours are lost
due to bad health of the employers. It directly affects the development. They
are now spendig a lot for the good health of their people. On the other hand,
in developing countries, due to meagre financial resources, good medical
facilities are not available. Poor sanitation, shortage of food and supply of
contaminated water have led to the spread of many infections diseases. People
with poor health are unable to play a constructive role in the
economic development of their families and their
country.
HIV/AIDS : Two most dreadful disease of 20th century
are Cancer and AIDS (Acquired Immumo-deficiency Syndrome). Cancer can be
curable to some extent but there is no treatment for AIDS as yet. According to
an estimate by WHO, there are about 40 million people in the world
suffering from this fatal disease. More than three
million people die every year from AIDS
AIDS is a viral disease caused by HIV (Human
Immuno-deficiency Virus). The first case of AIDS as reported in USA in 1981. In
India, the first case was reported in Chennai in 1986. The
virus spreads from person to person through sexual
contacts, contaminated needles and blood to blood contact. The high risk groups
include homosexuals, drug users, recipients of blood and high
tisk sexual partners. A positive HIV women can pass
AIDS virus to her child through her milk or during the pregnancy.
The disease is characterised by reduction in the
number of Helper-T cells or CD4 cells which are actively associated with
immunity of the body. The body then looses its ability to fight against even
minor infections. As there is no cure for AIDS till today that is why most
individuals with full
blown AIDS die within three years or so, The experts
believe that at present prevention is the only mode of controlling AIDS. The
government and non-government agencies do educate the people regarding unsafe
sexual practice and needle sharing. In our country, government is also doing a
lot to
control this disease.
Social, culture and ethical values : With the dawn
of civlization, human beings settled in different parts of the world. They
developed several social, cultural and ethical values duly followed by all the
members of that region. These values affect the process of development.
In earlier times, the social values of man were to
live in harmony with the environment and his culture. These value were also
based on general human ethics. At that time, man considered himself
to be the caretaker of nature. He considered it to
be his ‘dharama’ not to disrupt the peace and degrade the environment. In the
present set up, man considers himself to be the ruler of the nature.The
degradation of the environment through various unethical practices is quite
evident now. Man is
hardly replenishing the natural environment.
The cultural values of man in oldest times were
based on living in accordance with natural world without disturbing and harming
the environment. The present society is purely consumer society. Man
has became materialistic that has changed many of
his cultural and ethical values. The westem culture has shadowed our own
cultural values and we have started overexploiting the natural resources.
According to Hindu mythology, “Brahma” created human
beings as the custodian of the natural wealth, It is upto man to use it
responsibly or irresponsibly. In this contest, the ethical values play a
crucial role. Itis the duty of every human beings to
keep the environment clean and safe not only for himslef but for future
generations also. We must consider ourselves as participants and deal with the
natural world with utmost responsibility. A society that is built on good
social, cultural and ethical values of sincerity, punctuality, gentleness and
self-control can provide us peace and contentment.
EXERCISE
(A) Very short answer type questions (1
mark each) :
1. ‘What do you mean by development?
2. Name two factors responsible for spread of
infectious disease.
3. Whatis the main cause of unemployment?
4, Name the international organization that monitors
child labour and other labour activities.
(B) Short answer type questions (2
marks each) :
1. What do you understand by health?
2. Whatis affluence?
3. What are the main causes of poverty?
4. How does the modern agriculture differ from the
traditional agriculture?
5. Whatis agribusiness?
6. How does economic development differ from social
development?
(C) Short answer type questions (4
marks each):
1. How does poverty influence the development of a
nation?
2. Write a note on role of education in development.
3. What has gone wrong with our cultural, social and
ethical values?
4, Write a short note on AIDS.
5. Give a brief account of the factors that led to
green revolution.
(D) Long answer type questions: (5
marks each):
1. Discuss child marriage and child labour as social
factors affecting development.
2. Explain how agriculture and industry are two
major sectors of development.
3. What do you understand by economic and social
development?
