What do you understand by under-development? Discuss any one society that falls within your identification of under-development.

The world we live in is bipolar in nature. This characteristic can be seen not only in relation to geographical entity but also in relation to our social pattern, on one hand we can see affluent and well to do class and on the other hand we can see deprived and discriminated class. In our world eight hundred and eighty million are malnourished and millions go without schooling. On the other hand, three richest people in the world have assets that would surpass the sum total of the GDP’S of 48 least developed countries. People who are deprived are excluded from full participation in the society in which the live, lack of options, entitlement to resources and lack of social capital are the main reasons behind it. Economic development is a process by which an underdeveloped society can be economically competitive. It is the way in which a traditional society is transformed into a modern, high technology, high income economy. Such a developed economy uses capital, skilled labour and scientific knowledge to produce wide variety of products for the market. Capital goods and human capital plays an important role in such a society. The World Bank has put forward the following development goals: a) Reduction of poverty b)Low mortality rates c) Universal primary education d)Access to reproductive health services e) Gender equality. There are a number of underdeveloped countries which are unable to attain these development goals due to lack of resources. They share wide spread and chronic absolute poverty, high and rising burden of unemployment and underemployment, growing disparities in income distribution, low and stagnant agricultural productivity sizeable gap between urban and rural levels of living. Underdeveloped countries are also suffering from lack of education, health and housing facilities dependence on foreign and often in appropriate technologies and more or less stagnant occupational structure. In many respects underdeveloped countries are common. At the same time there are significant differences also. These differences can be seen in respect of the size of the country, their historical evolution, their natural and human resources and the difference in structure regarding industry, institutions etc. one of the most important problem of an under developed country is the presence of a large section of low income group. Ghana and India with per capita income below $785 are low income countries; china between ($785-3125) is a lower middle income country. Brazil is a country where per capita is between ($3125-9655). It falls in the upper middle income category. Per capita income is an evaluation of average income based on market evaluations. The proper assessment of a country’s economy can be made on the basis of some extra dimensions. They are life expectancy, health facilities, condition of employment, distributing of assets and the social structure. The under developed countries of different continents have certain common features.  These are low standards of living, low level of productivity, high rate of population growth, Greater importance on agricultural production and primary product exports. Dominance and vulnerability in international relations, a low standard of living reflects through in adequate housing, poor health, limited education, high infant mortality. The same can be seen in case of India and Ghana, Lack of distribution of wealth in an even manner. As a result chronic poverty’s can be seen. Slow GDP growth rates and higher under-5 mortality can be seen. Besides these countries have high population pressures on their resources. This is due to high birth rates and maternal fertility rates. Some countries like china and Brazil have succeeded to a large extent in controlling population growth. Under utilization of labour is also an important feature of the underdeveloped. Disguised unemployment has low productivity level. In an underdeveloped economy people is large or primarily dependent on agricultural production. Due to primitive techniques, poor organization, lack of capital etc the output is low. Such underdeveloped economies are not blessed with wide scale industrialization and these resources are also limited. Under developed countries Like India and Ghana have to depend on rich countries or advanced nations in terms of technology, foreign aid and private capital transfers.