What do you understand by 'development' - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... health care, employment opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, and so on (What Is Development?, 2004, p.7). From the above description, it is evident that income distribution is detrimental in the income distribution in developed countries are even. Therefore, it is quite possible that a substantial portion of people in such countries may face poverty. According to Usborne (2008), “28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries in the fiscal year 2008, the highest level since the food assistance program was introduced in the 1960s” (Usborne, 2008). External world may surprise to read these statistics. People in poor and developing countries are of the view that all Americans are richer and their living standards are higher. However, such claims are far from reality. Plenty of Americans are still struggling to get food and education even though the government is trying hard to raise the living standards of poor people. The case of India is not an exception. “Poverty in India is reducing but it is still a major issue. Rural Indians depend on unpredictable agriculture incomes, while urban Indians rely on jobs that are, at best, scarce” (Poverty in India, 2010). India is believed to be one of the rapidly emerging economies in the world. Many people believe that India may become a superpower in near future itself. The living standards of Indians have increased a lot in the last couple of decades. India is believed to be one of the rapidly emerging economies in the world at present. “According to UN agency, “the Indian economy is likely to expand by 8.1 per cent in 2011, the fastest growth rate in the world after China” (India's GDP to grow 8.1% in 2011, second only to...
On the other hand development is much more complicated term than poverty. It is difficult to define development in few words because of the complex parameters associated with it. Development is highly subjective. It is easy to say which countries are richer and which are poorer. However, it is difficult to say whether a rich country is developed in the true sense or not. It should be noted that the richest country in the world America has a substantial portion of people living below the “In 2009, 14.3 percent of all persons lived in poverty” (Poverty in the United States, 2010). Nobody can say that America is not at all a developed country from the above figures. If America is not a developed country, no other country in the world can be labeled as developed. Poverty and development are two of the most popular topics in the current world. It is often said that poverty and development travel in opposite directions of they are inversely proportional. In other words, development takes place when poverty decreases or poverty increases when development decreases.
Somalia and Ethiopia like countries are struggling from poverty. The people in these countries are looking for food and not for computers or mobile phones. They do not have education or proper infrastructure to exploit the possibilities offered by globalization. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More