Economic Development & Social Exclusion in India

Pulin Nayak
Economic Development & Social Exclusion in India

In the early writings on development economics in the postwar years, there was an inherent belief among the pioneers that the process of development would necessarily bring about an improvement in the wellbeing of all individuals. As the process of development proceeded, it became amply clear that the above belief was at best naïve, and that the process of development necessarily bypasses or excludes some individuals or groups.

The notion of entitlement refers to the actual or effective empowerment of a person to trade his original endowment of labour power and other factor incomes for food and other basic necessities. Thus it is not the total production of basic necessities that would make a material difference to the inherent health or strength of a community so much as the distribution of this total amongst the population.