National Human Development Report 2001

The process of development, in any society, should ideally be viewed and assessed in terms of what it does for an average individual.For any approach or development framework to be meaningful and effective in directing public policies and programmes it has to be anchored in a social context. More importantly, it should reflect the values and development priorities of the society where it is applied. It is therefore necessary for countries like India to develop a contextually relevant approach to human development, identify and devise appropriate indicators to help formulate and monitor public policy. This is more so keeping in view many unique concerns and development priorities — in some sense tied with India’s stage of development — as well as her social and economic diversity. Planning Commission has taken a lead in doing this. [National Human Development Report 2001, India].