Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Re-examining human development in West Bengal, India

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Social and Economic Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

For more than 20 years, Human Development Index (HDI) is most popular composite measures of well-being. To review economic and social performance across sub-state (i.e. district), most of the states in India have published State Human Development Report. The government has a constant need to estimate levels of well-being across various dimensions to inform resource allocation and to formulate appropriate development programmes. HDI is widely known measure of well-being which synthesizes three dimensions in a linear scale ranging in between 0 and 1. The limitations of such exercise are often overlooked in rush for unidimensional quantitative indicators of well-being. This present paper highlights the methodological drawback of the West Bengal Human Development Report, 2004 and proposes an alternative standard variant of HDI at sub-state (i.e. district) level of West Bengal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alkire S (2002) Dimensions of human development. World Dev 30(2):181–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury OH (1991) Human development index: a critique. Bangladesh Dev Stud 19(3):125–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta P (1993) An inquiry into well-being and destitution. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Desai M (1993) Income and alternative measures of well-being. In: Westendorff DG, Ghau D (eds) Monitoring social progress in the 1990s. Avebury, Aldershot

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins Michael (1991) Human development revisited: a new UNDP report. World Dev 19(10):1469–1473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahbub ul Haq (1995) Reflections on human development. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen A (1985) Commodities and capabilities. North Holland, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen A (1989) Development as capabilities expansion. J Dev Plan 19:41–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen A, Anand S (2000) The income component of the human development index. J Hum Dev 1(1):83–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen A (2002) "Foreword". In: Fukuda-Parr S, Shiva Kumar AK (eds) Human development, essential readings. Oxford University Press, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme (1990) Human development report 1990. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme (1994) Human development report 1994. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme (1995) Human development report 1995. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme (2000) Human development report 2000. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme (2004) Human development report 2004. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Gour Banga, Malda, 732102, India

    Arijit Das

Authors
  1. Arijit Das
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arijit Das.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Das, A. Re-examining human development in West Bengal, India. J. Soc. Econ. Dev. 19, 341–364 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-018-0054-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-018-0054-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation