Development

Why this chapter matters for UPSC: The Mains debate on growth versus human development starts here. NCERT shows that income is one goal among several, that an average can hide inequality, that a richer State can do worse on infant survival than a poorer one, and that development has to last. Questions on human development, malnutrition, inclusive growth and groundwater in GS1, GS2 and GS3 all rest on these ideas.

Contemporary hook: In UNDP's Human Development Report 2025 (data for 2023), India ranks 130 of 193 countries, tied with Bangladesh at an HDI of 0.685. The World Bank classes India as a lower-middle-income economy for its 2027 fiscal year: India's GNI per capita on the Bank's Atlas method was $2,760 in 2025, against an upper-middle threshold of $4,636. India's infant mortality rate was 24 per 1,000 live births in 2024 (SRS Statistical Report 2024), and Kerala's was 8.

🧠 First Principles — Read This First

Development means different things to different people. NCERT asks what development would mean to a landless labourer, a prosperous Punjab farmer, an urban unemployed youth or an adivasi of the Narmada valley. Their goals differ and can clash: "what may be development for one may not be development for the other. It may even be destructive for the other."

Income matters, but it is not the only goal. People also seek "equal treatment, freedom, security, and respect of others". NCERT warns that "it will be wrong to conclude that what cannot be measured is not important."

An average hides how income is shared. Two countries with the same average income can be very differently placed (Table 3). Per capita income tells you the average, not who gets it.

Some things money cannot buy for one person alone. A pollution-free environment, unadulterated medicines, protection from infectious disease, a school that other children also attend: for many such things, NCERT argues, "the best way, also the cheapest way, is to provide these goods and services collectively". This is why Kerala, with a lower per capita income than Haryana, has a far lower infant mortality rate.

Development has to last. Groundwater and crude oil show how today's way of growing can use up what the next generation will need.

PART 1 — Quick Reference

Table 1: What development means to different people (NCERT Table 1.1)

Source: NCERT, Understanding Economic Development, Class X, ch. 1 "Development", Reprint 2026-27, p. 4. The table carries its own conflict: the prosperous farmer wants "cheap labourers", the labourer wants "better wages".

Table 2: How the World Bank groups countries by income: NCERT's line and the World Bank's own figures

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 8. World Bank, "World Bank Country and Lending Groups", Data Help Desk (fiscal year 2027 classification, read 6 October 2026). World Bank, World Development Indicators: GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$), and GNI per capita, PPP (current international $), last updated 13 July 2026. NCERT's three dollar figures are much closer to the World Bank's PPP averages than to the Atlas thresholds the Bank actually uses to classify countries (see the explainer under "Comparing countries"). NCERT's conclusion, that India is lower-middle income, is right.

Table 3: Averages hide distribution (NCERT Table 1.2)

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 9 (monthly incomes in rupees). NCERT leaves the average for the student to calculate; it is worked out here. Both countries total ₹50,000 a month across five citizens.

Table 4: Haryana, Kerala and Bihar: NCERT's figures and the latest official data

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 10 (Tables 1.3 and 1.4; NCERT's sources: Economic Survey 2024-25, Statistical Appendix, p. 32; National Statistical Office, Report No. 585; NFHS-5, 2019-21). Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2025-26, Statistical Appendix, Table 1.11A (as on 1 August 2025). Office of the Registrar General, India, SRS Statistical Report 2024, Statement 46. On income the order is unchanged: Haryana first, Bihar last. In 2024 Haryana (24) and Bihar (23) are nearly level on infant mortality, and Kerala (8) is still the lowest among the bigger States.

Table 5: Educational achievement of the rural population of Uttar Pradesh (NCERT Table 1.5)

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 12. NCERT gives no year or source for this table. Answers to Activity 2: 18% of rural girls and 15% of rural boys aged 10-14 are not attending school; illiteracy at ages 10-14 is 13% for girls and 10% for boys.

Table 6: India and its neighbours (NCERT Table 1.6, data for 2023)

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 13 (NCERT's source: UNDP, Human Development Report 2025). HDI values and groups: UNDP, HDR 2025 composite indices time series and Technical Notes (very high 0.800 and above; high 0.700-0.799; medium 0.550-0.699; low below 0.550). Income groups: World Bank Country and Lending Groups, fiscal year 2027. Rows are ordered here by HDI rank; NCERT lists Myanmar and Pakistan before Nepal and Bangladesh and does not print HDI values. NCERT heads its rank column "(2021-22)", but the ranks it prints are HDR 2025's, for 2023.

Table 7: Crude oil reserves (NCERT Table 1.7)

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 15 (NCERT's source: Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy, 2024). The table does not agree with itself in three places: the heading still says "(2017)" though the source is the 2024 Review; the reserves were raised from the old edition's 808, 50 and 1,697, but the years for the Middle East (70) and the USA (10.5) were left unchanged; and the text below says the world's reserves "would last only 50 years more", against 47 in the table.

Table 8: Groundwater: NCERT's quotation and the 2025 assessment

Source: NCERT, ch. 1, Reprint 2026-27, p. 14 (NCERT names no source or date for the quotation). Central Ground Water Board, National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India, 2025, "At a Glance" table and foreword. The foreword gives slightly different totals (recharge 448.68 bcm, extractable 407.88 bcm, extraction 247.18 bcm, stage 60.6%). The Board counts assessment units ("blocks, districts, mandals, taluks, etc."), not area, so NCERT's "one-third of the country" and the Board's quarter of units are different measures.

PART 2 — Concepts & Narrative

Different people, different goals

NCERT opens with questions rather than definitions: "What are the essential things that we require? Can life be better for all? How should people live together? Can there be more equality?" Table 1 shows that each group seeks what is "most important for them", and that two groups may seek things "which are conflicting". A girl expects "as much freedom and opportunity as her brother, and that he also shares in the household work", and her brother may not like it. Industrialists may want more dams for electricity, but dams "may submerge the land and disrupt the lives of people who are displaced – such as tribals", who "may prefer small check dams or tanks to irrigate their land". NCERT illustrates this with a photograph of a demonstration against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada.

Its two conclusions: "different persons can have different developmental goals" and "what may be development for one may not be development for the other".

Income and other goals

Look across Table 1 and one thing is common: people want "regular work, better wages, and decent price for their crops", that is, more income. But they also want equal treatment, freedom, security and respect, and they "resent discrimination". In some cases these "may be more important than more income or more consumption because material goods are not all that you need to live."

NCERT's job example makes the point concrete. Before taking a job in a distant place you would weigh "facilities for your family, working atmosphere, or opportunity to learn"; a lower-paid job with regular employment may give more security than a high-paid one with none. On women's work, NCERT argues both ways round: paid work raises women's dignity in the household, and respect for women brings "more sharing of housework and a greater acceptance of women working outside"; a safe environment lets more women take jobs or run a business.

National development

If individuals seek different goals, their ideas of national development will differ too. NCERT asks how to decide between conflicting ideas: "What would be a fair and just path for all?" and "Would the idea benefit a large number of people or only a small group?"

Comparing countries: average income

To compare students, we choose the characteristics that suit the purpose; to compare countries, "income is considered to be one of the most important attributes". Total income is not useful because populations differ, so we use average income, "the total income of the country divided by its total population", also called per capita income.

NCERT says the World Bank uses this criterion in its World Development Reports: high-income or rich countries are those with per capita income of "US$ 66,500 per annum and above in 2024", low-income countries those with "about US$ 2,300 or less", and India is "low middle income" with about US$ 11,000. "The rich countries, excluding countries of Middle East and certain other small countries, are generally called developed countries."

Averages hide disparities

Table 3 gives two countries of five citizens each, both with an average monthly income of ₹10,000. In Country A, incomes range from ₹9,500 to ₹10,500; in Country B, four citizens earn ₹500 and one earns ₹48,000. If a lottery decided our citizenship number, "perhaps most of us will prefer to live in country A", because it "has more equitable distribution". NCERT's conclusion: "while average income is useful for comparison it does not tell us how this income is distributed among people."

Income and other criteria: Haryana, Kerala and Bihar

NCERT compares three States (Table 4). Haryana has the highest per capita income (₹3,25,759 in 2023-24 in NCERT's table) and Bihar the lowest (about ₹60,337), so on income alone Haryana would be the most developed of the three and Bihar the least. But in Kerala, out of 1,000 children born, 6 died before their first birthday; in Haryana, 28. And "about one-third of the children aged 15–17 years in Bihar are not attending school in secondary classes" (Bihar's net attendance ratio is 69).

Why does the richer State lag? Because "money in your pocket cannot buy all the goods and services that you may need to live well." Normally, money cannot buy "a pollution-free environment or ensure that you get unadulterated medicines", unless you can move to a community that already has these; nor can it protect you from infectious diseases "unless the whole of your community takes preventive steps".

Public facilities

For many important things, "the best way, also the cheapest way, is to provide these goods and services collectively." NCERT's examples: security for a whole locality is cheaper than a guard for each house, and you can study only because "many other children also want to study" and the government opens schools. Even now, it notes, in many areas children, "particularly girls, are not able to go to high school because the government/society has not provided adequate facilities."

"Kerala has a low Infant Mortality Rate because it has adequate provision of basic health and educational facilities." Similarly, in States where the Public Distribution System (PDS) works well, health and nutrition are likely to be better. NCERT cites a study: in Tamil Nadu, 90 per cent of rural people used a ration shop; in West Bengal, only 35 per cent.

Activity 2 (Table 5) uses rural Uttar Pradesh to show that the gap is not only among adults: 15% of rural boys and 18% of rural girls aged 10-14 are not in school. NCERT calls this "most disturbing" "even after more than 75 years of our independence", given the constitutional goal of "free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, which was expected to be achieved by 1960".

The Human Development Report

Income is important but "an inadequate measure of the level of development". Health and education indicators "have come to be widely used along with income as a measure of development". The Human Development Report published by UNDP "compares countries based on the educational levels of the people, their health status and per capita income". By prefixing "Human" to development, NCERT says, the report makes clear that "what is important in development is what is happening to citizens of a country."

Table 6 holds the comparison. Sri Lanka is ahead of India on every indicator, and NCERT asks: "Isn't it surprising that a small country in our neighbourhood, Sri Lanka, is much ahead of India in every respect and a big country like ours has such a low rank in the world?" Bangladesh has a lower income than India but a longer life expectancy (74.7 years against 72), and the two share rank 130 with the same HDI value, 0.685.

Sustainability of development

Even a developed country would want its level of development to rise, or at least be kept, "for future generations". But "since the second half of the twentieth century, a number of scientists have been warning that the present type, and levels, of development are not sustainable." NCERT gives two examples.

Groundwater (Example 1). NCERT quotes a passage, without naming its source, that groundwater is "under serious threat of overuse": about 300 districts with a water-level decline of over 4 metres in 20 years, nearly one-third of the country overusing its reserves, and, "In another 25 years, 60 per cent of the country would be doing the same if the present way of using this resource continues." Table 8 sets this beside the Central Ground Water Board's 2025 assessment.

Crude oil (Example 2). Table 7 gives reserves and the number of years they would last "if people continue to extract it at the present rate". Countries like India "depend on importing oil from abroad because they do not have enough stocks of their own", so a rise in oil prices "becomes a burden for everyone"; countries like the USA, with low reserves, "want to secure oil through military or economic power".

NCERT sums up the idea with the line "We have not inherited the world from our forefathers — we have borrowed it from our children." It closes the chapter by noting that the "Consequences of environmental degradation do not respect national or state boundaries", that "Our future is linked together", and that "the debate on development continues."

What the pre-2023 edition said

The chapter's argument has not changed. The 2020-21 edition used older data:

• World Bank line. "Countries with per capita income of US$ 12,056 per annum and above in 2017, are called rich countries and those with per capita income of US$ 955 or less are called low-income countries." India's per capita income "in 2017 was just US$ 1820 per annum".
• Table 1.3 (no year in the heading; source Economic Survey 2018-19, p. A29): Haryana ₹1,80,174, Kerala ₹1,63,475, Bihar ₹34,409.
• Table 1.4: infant mortality rate (2017) Haryana 30, Kerala 10, Bihar 35; literacy rate (2011) 82, 94, 62; net attendance ratio for children aged 14 and 15 (2013-14) 61, 83, 43. The text read "It is 2017".
• Table 1.6: data for 2017 in 2011 PPP dollars, ranks out of 189 countries: Sri Lanka 76, India 130, Bangladesh 136, Myanmar 148, Nepal 149, Pakistan 150. Life expectancy: Nepal 70.6 and Bangladesh 72.8, both above India's 68.8. The text named the "Human Development Report 2019"; the table's source line gave the Human Development Report, 2018.
• Table 1.7: source BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2018: Middle East 808 thousand million barrels (70 years), USA 50 (10.5 years), world 1,697 (50.2 years).
• Exercise 13: the BMI table came from NFHS-4 (2015-16).
• Bihar sentence: "around half of the children aged 14-15 in Bihar are not attending school beyond Class 8". The reprint has "about one-third of the children aged 15–17 years ... in secondary classes".
• Activity 2: illiteracy "even after more than seven decades of our independence" (reprint: "75 years").
• PDS question: present tense, with no study mentioned: "In Tamil Nadu, 90 per cent of the people living in rural areas use a ration shop". The reprint begins "In a study, it was found that" and uses the past tense.
• Photo caption: "Most babies do not get basic healthcare" (reprint: "Most babies require basic healthcare").
• Exercise 5 asked for "the per capita income level of low-income countries"; the reprint asks for "about 10-15" of them.

Source: NCERT, Understanding Economic Development, Class X, ch. 1, 2020-21 edition (as archived by the Wayback Machine, 9 October 2021).

PART 3 — UPSC Integration

Frames for Mains Answers

1. "Why has human development not kept pace with growth?" NCERT's Haryana-Kerala contrast (higher income, higher infant mortality); collective provision of health, schooling and the PDS; India tied with Bangladesh at HDI rank 130 (HDR 2025) while Sri Lanka, a smaller economy, ranks 89. Close on public provision, not income alone.

2. "Is per capita income a good measure of development?" It is a useful starting point and the basis of the World Bank's classification, but it hides distribution (Table 3) and leaves out what money cannot buy one person at a time. The HDI adds health and education; PPP and Atlas measures give very different dollar figures for the same country.

3. "Sustainability and equity between generations." Groundwater (CGWB 2025: 60.63% stage of extraction, a quarter of units over-exploited, critical or semi-critical), crude oil, and NCERT's line about borrowing the world from our children; the Brundtland definition.

4. "Hunger amid enough food." NCERT's Exercise 13 (about one-fifth of adults underweight in NFHS-5), the PDS contrast between Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and NFHS-6's fall in stunting (35.5% to 29.3%) set against a nearly unchanged underweight rate (32.1% to 31.8%).

Exam Strategy

Prelims fact-traps:

• The World Bank groups countries by GNI per capita on the Atlas method. FY2027 thresholds (2025 income): low $1,175 or less; lower-middle $1,176-4,635; upper-middle $4,636-14,375; high more than $14,375. India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan are lower-middle; Sri Lanka is upper-middle.
• The HDI is UNDP's, not the World Bank's: three dimensions, four indicators (life expectancy; mean and expected years of schooling; GNI per capita at PPP).
• HDR 2025: India and Bangladesh share rank 130 (HDI 0.685); Pakistan (168) is in the low group.
• Infant mortality rate: deaths before age one per 1,000 live births. NCERT's literacy rate counts ages 7 and above.
• Groundwater is renewable but can be overused; crude oil is non-renewable.
• The Central Ground Water Board grades assessment units (blocks, districts, mandals, taluks and so on) and counts units, not area.

Practice Questions

Questions 1-3 are the NCERT exercise MCQs. Practice (UPSC-pattern, not past papers): questions 4-8.

1. Development of a country can generally be determined by
(i) its per capita income
(ii) its average literacy level
(iii) health status of its people
(iv) all the above

Answer: (iv). Income, education and health are all measures of development; the HDI combines them.

2. Which of the following neighbouring countries has better performance in terms of human development than India?
(i) Bangladesh
(ii) Sri Lanka
(iii) Nepal
(iv) Pakistan

Answer: (ii). Sri Lanka ranks 89 against India's 130 (HDR 2025). Bangladesh shares India's rank, so it is not ahead.

3. Assume there are four families in a country. The average per capita income of these families is Rs 5000. If the income of three families is Rs 4000, Rs 7000 and Rs 3000 respectively, what is the income of the fourth family?
(i) Rs 7500
(ii) Rs 3000
(iii) Rs 2000
(iv) Rs 6000

Answer: (iv). Total income = 4 × 5,000 = 20,000; the three families earn 14,000, so the fourth earns 6,000.

4. Consider the following statements about the World Bank's classification of economies for its fiscal year 2027:
1. It is based on GNI per capita calculated by the Atlas method.
2. India is classified as an upper-middle-income economy.
3. Sri Lanka is classified as an upper-middle-income economy.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b). India is lower-middle income (GNI per capita $2,760 in 2025, below the $4,636 upper-middle threshold).

5. With reference to the Human Development Index, consider the following statements:
1. It is published by the World Bank.
2. Expected years of schooling is one of its indicators.
3. In the Human Development Report 2025, India and Bangladesh have the same HDI rank.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b). UNDP publishes the HDI. India and Bangladesh share rank 130.

6. The infant mortality rate of a region is expressed as the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per
(a) 1,000 population
(b) 1,000 live births in the year
(c) 1,000 children under five
(d) 1,000 women aged 15-49

Answer: (b). NCERT: deaths before the age of one "as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year".

7. The Central Ground Water Board classes assessment units as safe, semi-critical, critical or over-exploited on the basis of
(a) the depth to the water table
(b) the ratio of annual groundwater extraction to annual replenishment
(c) the salinity of groundwater
(d) the annual rainfall of the unit

Answer: (b). Saline units are counted separately; the four categories depend on extraction against replenishment.

8. "Kerala, with a lower per capita income than Haryana, has a far lower infant mortality rate." What does this tell us about how development should be measured? Illustrate with the latest data. (250 words)

NCERT exercise (descriptive): the World Bank's criterion and its limits (Q4); how the UNDP's criterion differs (Q5); uses and limits of averages (Q6); whether per capita income is useless because Kerala outranks Haryana (Q7: no, it is useful but incomplete); sources of energy now and in fifty years (Q8); why sustainability matters (Q9); "The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person" (Q10); environmental degradation around you (Q11).

Exercise 12 (top and bottom in Table 1.6): GNI per capita: Sri Lanka top (12,616), Nepal bottom (4,726). Life expectancy: Sri Lanka top (77.5), Myanmar bottom (66.9). Mean years of schooling: Sri Lanka top (10.8), Pakistan bottom (4.3). HDI rank: Sri Lanka top (89), Pakistan bottom (168).

Exercise 13: In Madhya Pradesh 28% of men and 28% of women aged 15-49 were underweight in NFHS-5, against 8.5% and 10% in Kerala, about three times as many. "Around one-fifth" undernourished despite enough food points to access rather than availability: income, the working of the PDS, and health.

📦 Revision Capsule

Sources

• NCERT, Understanding Economic Development, Textbook in Economics for Class X, ch. 1 "Development", Reprint 2026-27 — ncert.nic.in PDF.
• NCERT, Understanding Economic Development, ch. 1, 2020-21 edition (file jess201.pdf in the whole-book zip), as archived on 9 October 2021 — Wayback Machine.
• World Bank, World Bank Country and Lending Groups (fiscal year 2027) — datahelpdesk.worldbank.org.
• World Bank, World Development Indicators: GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) — data.worldbank.org; GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) — data.worldbank.org.
• UNDP, Human Development Report 2025 — hdr.undp.org; composite indices time series and Technical Notes — hdr.undp.org data.
• UNDP, Human Development Report 1990 — hdr.undp.org.
• Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2025-26, Statistical Appendix (Table 1.11A) — indiabudget.gov.in PDF.
• Office of the Registrar General, India, SRS Statistical Report 2024 — censusindia.gov.in PDF.
• Central Ground Water Board, National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India, 2025 — cgwb.gov.in PDF.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NFHS-6 national results, 29 May 2026 — PIB 2266600.
• World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987), ch. 2 "Towards Sustainable Development"; UN document A/42/427 (4 August 1987) — un-documents.net.