Which one of the following approaches of human development was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and emphasised on health, education, food, water supply, sanitation and housing?
- (a)Welfare approach
- (b)Basic needs approach
- (c)Income approach
- (d)Capability approach
Correct — B, Basic needs approach. The stem is lifted almost word for word from the NCERT table of approaches to human development, which says: 'This approach was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Six basic needs i.e.: health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, and housing were identified. The question of human choices is ignored and the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs of defined sections.' Two markers in the stem therefore point only one way — the ILO as the proposing body, and the count of six needs listed in that exact order. The philosophical signature of the approach is in the last clause of the NCERT line: it asks what people must be supplied with, and does not ask what they would choose. That is the distinction the syllabus wants candidates to feel, because it is what separates the basic needs approach from Amartya Sen's.
- (a)Welfare approach — The welfare approach sees human beings as beneficiaries or targets of development activities — 'not participants in development but only passive recipients' — and argues for higher government spending on education, health and amenities. It is about who acts, not about a listed set of needs, and no ILO proposal is attached to it.
- (c)Income approach — The oldest of the four, and the narrowest. It equates human development with income on the reasoning that the level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys — a single money measure, not a list of six services.
- (d)Capability approach — The strongest distractor, because health, education and access to resources appear here too. But this approach is associated with Amartya Sen and its logic is the reverse — building people's capabilities so that they can choose the lives they value, where the basic needs approach sets choice aside.
Human development is the enlargement of people's choices and the improvement of their well-being. Four approaches to promoting it are set out in the school syllabus: the income approach, the welfare approach, the basic needs approach and the capability approach. The Human Development Index that UNDP has published since 1990, built by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen's collaboration, belongs to the capability tradition, measuring a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living rather than income alone.
The four approaches are best held by their one-word signature: income for money, welfare for spending on passive recipients, basic needs for a supplied list, capability for choice. The stem hands over two of these signatures at once, so the question is really a recall check on which body proposed which idea. The historical anchor behind the NCERT line is the ILO's World Employment Conference of 1976, at which the basic-needs strategy was adopted as an approach to development; the syllabus does not require the date, but it explains why the ILO — a labour and employment body — ended up naming a list of household services. The honest limitation to carry forward is the one NCERT itself states: by defining needs for people rather than with them, the approach treats the poor as recipients, which is exactly the objection Sen's capability framework was built to answer.
- The basic needs approach was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation.
- The six basic needs identified are health, education, food, water supply, sanitation and housing.
- In the basic needs approach the question of human choices is set aside; the emphasis is on providing for defined sections.
- The capability approach is associated with Amartya Sen and rests on building capabilities in health, education and access to resources.
- The welfare approach treats people as passive recipients and calls for higher government expenditure, while the income approach measures development by income alone.
- Choosing the capability approach because health and education appear in the stem; the tell is the ILO and the fixed list of six.
- Confusing the welfare approach with the basic needs approach — both involve state provision, but only one carries a named list from a named body.
- Assuming the income approach is obsolete; it survives inside the HDI as gross national income per capita, one indicator among four.
Asked as an approach-to-description match, most often by naming the proposing body or the person associated with the approach.
According to UNDP's Human Development Report – 2020, in which of the HDI components has India improved in recent years? 1. Life expectancy at birth 2. Expected years of schooling 3. GNI per capita 4. Mean years of schooling Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only
The same syllabus block six months later, moved from theory to measurement. Where this item asks which approach named six services, the second paper asks which components the index actually tracks — the theory in the first paper is what the indicators in the second are trying to capture.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The capability approach to human development is most closely associated with
- (a)Mahbub ul Haq
- (b)Amartya Sen
- (c)Gunnar Myrdal
- (d)Simon Kuznets
Answer(b) Amartya Sen — the approach holds that building capabilities in health, education and access to resources is the key to human development.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is not a dimension of the Human Development Index as published by the UNDP?
- (a)A long and healthy life
- (b)Access to knowledge
- (c)A decent standard of living
- (d)Political participation
Answer(d) Political participation — the HDI is built on the other three dimensions, measured through life expectancy, schooling and gross national income per capita.