SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

“ Social Development is equality of social

opportunities”- Amartya Sen

“Social Development is the promotion of a sustainable

society that is worthy of human dignity by empowering

marginalised groups, women and men, to undertake their

own development, to improve their social and economic

position and to acquire their rightful place in society…..”- Bilance, 1997

Social development is an all-inclusive concept connoting the well-being of the people, the community, and the society. The term gained popularity in the 1920s

when it began as a mass literacy campaign under British rule in Africa; it

was later called community development.

In 1954, the British government officially adopted the term social

development to include community development and remedial social

services. With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the United Nations assumed the role

of promoting social development globally.

Social development is a processwhich results in the transformation ofsocial institutions in a manner whichimproves the capacity of the societyto fulfill its aspirations. It implies a

qualitative change in the way the societyshapes itself and carries out itsactivities, such as through more

progressive attitudes and behavior by the population, the adoption of more effectiveprocesses or more advanced technology.

Four Stragies of Social Development

1. Enterprise strategies emphasize individual entrepreneurship in maximizing the welfare of the

people. This approach calls for minimum government involvement in developmental

activities and maximum involvement of informal sectors, including small business development, to

promote healthy income generation and rising standards of living.

2. Statist strategies call for a total control of social development activities

by the government, including planning, financing, and

implementing. This requires a vast bureaucracy to plan, deliver, and

administer the programs.

3. Communitarian strategies" grew out of severe criticism of the statist regimes for

their unbridled corruption, wasting of scarce resources, bureaucratic red-tapism,

and a lack of involvement of the local people in the development process. This

strategy requires grass-roots participation of the local community in planning,

designing, and implementing all social development programs.

4. In institutional approach, the positive sides of all three approaches are underscored and a synthesis of all three is proposed as a coherent and integrated whole. It promotes maximum participation of the community, the market, and the people. The institutional approach requires the government to play an active role in the management and coordination of development activities called as “managed pluralism.

Process of Social Development

Outcome of Social Development

There are various aspects of social development………1.Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries orregions for the well-being of their inhabitants. Economic growth is often assumed toindicate the level of economic development. The term “economic growth” refers tothe increase (or growth) of a specific measures such as real national income, grossdomestic product, or per capita income.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The gross domestic product or gross

domestic income (GDI) is one of the measures of national income and output

fora given country’s economy. It is the

total value of all final goods and services

produced in a particular economy within a country’s borders in a given

year.

The term economic development on theother hand, implies much more. It is the process by which a nation improves theeconomic, political, and social wellbeing of its people.

National Income: The income earned by a country’s people, including labour

and capital investment. It is the total value of all income in a nation (wages and

profits, interests, rents and pension payments) during a given period, (usually one year).Per Capita Income: The total national income divided by the number of people

in the nation. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income

is divided equally among all.

2. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The concept of human development was introduced by Dr. Mahbub ul Haq, a

Pakistani economist who described it as development that enlarges people’s

choices and improves their lives. The Indian Noble Laureate Professor Amartya

Sen has also made contributions to the evolution of this concept and defined it

as development that increases freedoms.

The Human Development Index (HDI) was developed in 1990 by a group ofeconomists including Dr. Mahbub ul

Haq and Professor Amartya Sen. It has been

used since then by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its

annualHuman Development Report.

It coversalmost all aspects of human life and

people’s choices like economic, social, political,

cultural, educational, physical, biological, mental and emotional. Income is only oneof the many components of development. Human development places people at the

centre of development and emphasizes that the purpose of development is to enlargeall human choices, and not just income.

It regards economic growth as essential butemphasizes the need to pay attention to its

quality and distribution.We may appreciate

it in a better manner when we try to understand the Human Development Index

(HDI)developed as a means of measuring human

development. The basic use of HDI isto measure a country’s level of development.

3.SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

As we all observe and feel, we are using natural resources almost carelessly to meet

our needs. It is said that a number of minerals like, coal, petrol and many more will

last only for a few decades, if we go on using them at the present rate. Future generations will not have the facility of using these resources. Is

it fair for ourgeneration to deprive the future generations of

these resources?

It is a broad concept that isdefined as ‘development that meets the

needs of the present withoutcompromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs’.Although many think that it is relevant only

in the environmental context, it actuallydoes not focus solely on environmental issues. As shown in the figure below,

it includeseconomic development, social development, individual development and environmentaldevelopment. It is a pattern of social and

economic transformation, i.e. developmentthat optimizes the economic and societal benefits available in the present, withoutadversely affecting the likely potential for

similar benefits in the future.

A primary goalof sustainable development is to

achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level

of economic and social wellbeing that can be perpetuated continually for

many humangenerations. It takes care of the needs and requirements of all sections of the

societyincluding the disadvantaged groups.

Social Development Indicator1. Population

2. Standard of Living- Food

- Water and Sanitation- Healthcare and Disease

- Education and Employment - Environment

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