Human Development in India: A Macro Perspective

During the 1950s and 60s the concept of development ignored the social dimension. However, during the last three decades several new concepts have emerged concerning “development” at the national and the global levels. Today the human factor is a central concern in “development”. This paper discusses some key aspects of the process of Human Factor Development (HFD) in India with a focus on the post independence period and identifies important influencing factors. We have analyzed HFD in the paper on the basis of four dimensions; (a) standards of living, (b) skill formation and knowledge acquisition, (c) utilization of skill and knowledge, (d) human values and ethics. Our analysis suggests that HFD in India has two disturbing trends. Firstly, it seems that actions by professionals and political leaders of the country are not governed by ethical and moral considerations. Secondly, a very small proportion of the country’s population possesses sophisticated knowledge and skills. Moreover, these people are trained at the country’s premier institutions at high cost to the society. But, their knowledge and skills are not being properly utilised and the country continues to have a high incidence of poverty, child labour, and illiteracy. Synchronised efforts are required from the academia, policy planners, political and religious leaders of the country to achieve the desired economic growth and development by concentrating on HFD.