SOCIAL INDICES OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Meaning of National Development:
The term national development is very comprehensive. It includes all aspects of the life of an individual and the nation.It is holistic in approach. It is a process of reconstruction and development in various dimensions of a nation and development of individuals.It includes full-growth and expansion of our industries, agriculture, education, social, religious and cultural institutions. Moreover, national development implies development of a nation as a whole. It can be best defined as the all-round and balanced development of different aspects and facets of the nation like: political, economic, social, cultural, scientific and material.John Vaizey, noted economist defines:“National development is the total effect of all citizen forces and addition to the stock of physical, human resources, knowledge and skill.”
As teachers we need to deal with the social indicators of national development. The main social indicators of national development are mentioned below.1.      Education
2.      Health
3.      Gender equality
4.      Peacefulness
5.      Democracy
6.      Corruption
7.      Consumption
8.      Pollution
9.      Leisure/ Media
10.  Civil Rights
11.  Crime/ social unrest
EducationEducation has been recognized as the most powerful and vital tool for India’s development. Various researches both at national and international levels have proved that education significantly contributes in social and economic advancement of a nation.The Indian Government has done commendable job by launching programs like free and compulsory education till the age of fourteen years , Sarva Siksha Abhiyan , Adult Education, Vocationalisation of Education, Teacher Education , Science Education , Educational Planning, Administration and Supervision, Physical Education, Games and Sports, Scholarship , Language Development , Book Promotion, Libraries , Youth Service Schemes , Cultural Institutions and activities, special initiatives to encourage education of girls, reservation for children belonging to economic weaker sections (EWS) in private schools. Gradually opening up more and more schools throughout the country has worked out in favour of the national development strategy. The investment in education has brought positive returns like better skill set among people leading to grater employment.It has been very well said that no nation rises above the level of its education. As the literacy rate in India improves, so does the living standard of its people and also moral fundamentalism. Today the world looks at India as an emerging giant due to its knowledge centric approach. Aggressive investment in education has brought about a high degree of economic transformation.
It is not surprising that our country has been applauded at a lot of international platforms for encouraging education among masses and supporting educational institutions by fulfilling all their needs to safeguard the delivery of quality education. It is due to this commitment that the best educational institutions in the world are opening their centers in India. This is also building great industrial linkages.
However, all is not as promising as it may seem. Lack of accountability, corruption and political instability are hampering the best that can be derived from this sector.
We need better facilitators who realize that education is the central component for India’s developmental process. The education implementation plan needs to be clearly defined. We need to adopt modern techniques of teaching. In all educators must create awareness that being literate is a way of being liberated, it is a mode of touching new horizons and encompassing difficulties to realize one’s complete potential.
HealthBetter health is central to human happiness and well-being. It also makes an important contribution to economic progress, as healthy populations live longer, are more productive, and save more. Many factors influence health status and a country's ability to provide quality health services for its people. Ministries of health are important actors, but so are other government departments, donor organizations, civil society groups and communities themselves.
The challenges faced in the field of health can be broadly summarized in the following headings:
a)      Old problems not yet solved
b)      Health transition
c)      Equity related issues and deprivation
d)     Globalization
e)      Economic and financial problems
f)       Public health ethics
g)      Environmental issues including climate change
a)      Old problems not yet solved
This heading brings into light some issues which have remained as major public health concerns for centuries. The absolute and relative magnitude of these issues in various communities may have changed, but they still stay back as serious public health concerns especially in the under developed countries.In India we need to think seriously about the tribal people in this matter.The following areas need attention.
v  Maternal Health Issues
v  Mal nutrition
v  Poverty
v  Mortality rate
v  Fertility rate
v  Lack of Vaccination
b) Health transitionHealth transition means the changes in health that follow an identifiable pattern that occur over a relatively long period of time. It includes changes in the pattern of disease, disabilities, death as well as changes in the type of organized social response to health conditions.
c)  Equity related issues and deprivationGlobalization and neo liberalization has definitely improved the average health indicators. However, it has also led to widening of the existing health gap across countries, adding on to the health inequities existing worldwide. These inequities are linked to economic deprivation, gender status, cultural alienations, and ethnicity. The needy are often kept away in terms of access and provision of heath related services both in quantity and quality. Equity related issues exist even in basic amenities of human life such as food and water. For some individuals and communities, there is no food or resources that can be translated to food grains, for some the available food is not nutritious.
d) GlobalizationAll over the world, social and economic integration has accelerated in the past decade. The World health report 2008 observes that, “globalization is putting the social cohesion of many countries under stress”. This has had direct and indirect consequences on health both in terms of communicable and non-communicable diseases.[43] One such effect is on the epidemiology of communicable diseases, opening of travel and trade routes between countries has been accompanied by the spread of diseases and their vectors.
e)      Economic and financial problems
Financing in health sector is getting more and more complex now. External donors support the type of activities directed to achieve their vested interests. This process leads to a prioritization of health services which are different from the local needs.f)       Public health ethics
The ethical dimension of public health is largely based on the ‘Utilitarian principles’—‘Greatest good for greatest number’. But the voice of the third world, where almost 80% of the world population is residing, is often neglected during planning. The concerns of the marginalized people are often neglected in the planning at local level also. The science and technology has added different issues of ethical conflicts. A few of these have been mentioned below.
1.      Organ and tissue transplant
2.      Genetic engineering and cloning
3.      Medical decisions against evidences – often driven by the market
4.      Issues related to clinical trials – people from the third world countries are often subjected to clinical trials
 g)      Environment related issues
‘Protecting health from climatic change’ was the theme of world health day 2008. WHO has listed down impact of climate change in health.[47]
1.      Extreme air temperatures and air pollution.
2.      Floods, droughts and contaminated water raise disease risk.
3.      Climatic effects on agriculture threaten increasing malnutrition.
4.      A more extreme and variable climate can destroy houses, communities, and lives.
The growing problems related to urbanization, pollution of air, water and land, and exploitation of non-replenishable resources also add to the burden.
Gender equalityGender is an important aspect of social and economic stratification. Regardless of one‘s socioeconomic class, there are systematic gender differences in material well-being, although the degree of inequality varies across countries and over time. The importance of gender equality, women‘s empowerment and the realization of women‘s rights in achieving development has been increasingly recognized in recent decades and it has also been realized in India. Women play an important role in every section of the society. A woman equally contributes to development of a nation as a man does.Some points related to gender discrimination are:Ø  Gender inequality is a major problem in India and it acts as a hindrance in the pace of development.
Ø  Gender inequality against women exists everywhere.
Ø  It varies from time to time and place to place in type, frequency, intensity and control.
Ø  Women, who constitute one half of the nation in the present India, are still in the social bondage and have suffered a lot.  The girl child is facing discrimination right from their birth.
Ø  Health problems such as infant mortality, maternal mortality are very high.
Ø  Female foeticide and infanticide are a major problem that shows gender inequality.
Ø  Many girls are still deprived of education.
Ø  Violence in the form of wife battering, dowry, rape, sexual harassment can be widely seen in India.
Ø  Biasness can be seen in the field of employment both in the organized and unorganized sector.
Ø  Women lack the power of decision making in the country.
Ø  Women have contributed a lot towards economic growth.
 Other social indicators are
·         The Birth Rate and Fertility Rate

• Suicide rates

• Peacefulness

·         (Subjective Indicators)

• Life satisfaction (‘happiness’ indicators)

• Trust

• confidence

• well-being

• perceived security

 
12.  Composite indicators of all of the above!!!
 13.  Peacefulness
14.  Democracy
15.  Corruption
16.  Consumption
17.  Pollution
18.  Leisure/ Media
19.  Civil Rights
20.  Crime/ social unrest
     
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