Revision summary
Human development ranks education and health as ends, growth as means. Sen and Haq made this the policy language of capabilities. Liberalisation delivered growth and a private social market. The poor still face weak public school and clinic systems. India’s post-1991 record supports HD caution, not growth-alone.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
The human development approach, after Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, treats education and health as freedoms that growth may miss. Post-liberalised India grew fast in GDP and unevenly in those freedoms.
Body
The claim
- Income is a means. Literacy, longevity, and dignity are the ends. Kerala’s earlier path was the Indian exhibit.
- Growth without capability leaves informal workers, Adivasis, and women as Sen’s unfreedoms.
Post-1991 India
- Liberalisation expanded private hospitals and schools. This raised options for the middle class and raised exclusion for those without cash, a Beteille disharmony in social policy.
- Public health and government school quality often lagged even as software and malls grew.
- Nutrition, anaemia, and learning outcomes showed that growth was not automatically human development.
Balance
- Growth can fund teachers and clinics. The approach says sequence and public provision matter more than trickle.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD GDP[Post-1991 growth] --> MC[Private school hospital] HD[Education health capability] --> F[Freedom] GDP -.->|uneven| HD
Conclusion
- Post-liberal India confirms the HD claim: growth is not enough when education and health remain class goods. The republic still needs public capability, not only a larger GDP.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Write a brief note on the Freedom of the Press.
Next question on this syllabus topic (2015 · Q8(c)). View answer →
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Does HD reject growth?
No. It rejects growth as a sufficient substitute for public education and health.
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Is private schooling HD?
It can raise some scores. As a system it can deepen inequality of capability.
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