Human Development Index- An Essay on Methodology and Implications

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Debasish Mondal is Reader in the Department of Economics with Rural Development, Vidyasagar University. Born in Birsingha of Paschim Medinipur district he completed his graduation with honours in Economics from Ramkrishna Mission Mahavidyalaya, Narendrapur in 1979. He obtained his Master's Degree in Economics in 1981 from the University of Calcutta with a first class. He got the M. Phil. degree in Economics in 1985 from the University of Calcutta and secured the highest marks. He was a lecturer of Economics in Kharagpur College from 1983 and joined Vidyasagar University in 1987. His areas of work include economic and econometric analysis with focus on methodologies. He has written a book titled "Rural Development: Theory and experience". He has published several articles on game theory, consumption behaviour, decentralised planning and poverty, and has communicated some articles on econometric techniques with foreign journals.

Human Development Index (HDI)as a measure and as a strategy enlists a lot of attention, adds significance and ensues debate in recent years, particularly in the context of planning for development of human capabilities to face the challenges as well as to exploit opportunities in the era of globalisation. HDI as constructed by the UNDP and those by several countries of the world including India based on the UNDP methodology are not, however, flawless. What are the limitations of the HDI so far constructed? How to remedy the inadequacies? What differences are there between the HDI based on the UNDP methodology and that founded on the modified methodology for countries of the world and states of India? What does the HDI reconstructed for the districts of West Bengal based on the modified methodology present and what make the differences between it and that based on the UNDP methodology? The present work seeks in a modest way to address these diverse questions and issues with reference to macro and micro regions and to have policy implications in the context of planning for development.

I would like to express my thanks to Professor P.N.Roy, former Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), University of Calcutta, who has kindly gone through the previous draft of the work. I want to express my feelings of immense debt to Professor Asis Kumar Banerjee, Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta, Professor Hiron Kumar Banerjee, former Pro-Vice Chancellor (Finance), University of Calcatta, and Professor Pradip Maity and Professor Dipankar Coondoo of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

Human beings are the real ends of all activities, and development must be centered on enhancing their achievements, freedoms and capabilities. It is the lives they lead that are of intrinsic importance, not the commodities or income that they happen to possess. Income, commodities ('basic' or otherwise), and wealth do of course have instrumental importance but they do not constitute a direct measure of the living standard itself [Anand and Sen (1994)]. Development does not mean an increase in income per capita, it means enhancements of capabilities, freedoms and ultimately achievements of different ends of human lives. On the other hand, an increase in income per capita may lead to development as it enhances capabilities, freedoms and many economic ends of human lives. Moreover, economic development is only a part of human development. Human development is the ultimate objective of any society; economic development in terms of growth of per capita income is not unnecessary but that should be directed towards human development. This, in fact, constitutes the basic agenda of Human Development Report of 1996.

Human development involves a composite measure. It tries to measure average attainment of different ends of human lives. The appeal of such a measure of human development is appreciable but the problem lies in the measurement of the achievements, freedoms and capabilities of human beings. A society is said to be developed more than another if the human beings of that society are more capable of enjoying a decent and long life, liberty, freedom, etc.