Characteristics of Human Development

This chapter proposes a framework for characterising human development in a population in the three-dimensional space of individual capacity, individual knowledge and individual standard of living that constitutes the core of human development and to measure the inequality or the disparity in progress in the three core dimensions of human development. The framework helps in understanding the dynamics of human development and for setting priorities for investment in human development to maximise the impact of the investment on human progress. Application of the framework to characterise human development in the districts of India highlights the variation in the dynamics of human development within the country in terms of both profiles of human development and human development inequality. The variation in the dynamics of human development within the country calls for a decentralised approach for planning and programming human development activities and for prioritising investment in human development.