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Chapter1
Theconcept
ofdevelopment
Developmentisthecoreconceptofthisbookandthusshouldbediscussedat
theverybeginning.Therefore,itiscrucialtodefinetheterminordertobeprecise
whenwritingaboutdevelopingeconomy,country,world,developmentaid,
assistance,co-operationandsoon.Themeaningoftheterm‘development’hasgone
throughchangesoverthelastfewdecades,reflectingtheprogressintheoryof
developmenteconomicsandthepracticeofdevelopmentassistance.
Theconceptitselfwastransferredfrombiologytothesocialsphereinthelast
quarterof18thcentury.Inbiology‘todevelop’meanttoachievegeneticpotential
programmedinplantoranimalcells.OwingtotheworksofCharlesDarwin,the
meaningchangedfromachievinganappropriateformtotheprocessofeverlasting
improvement.Assuchthetermwastransferredfrombiologytosocialsciences,
meaningagradualprocessofsocialchange.Thetermsubstitutedbyevolutionor
growthbecomepartofordinarylanguageinthe19thcentury.Theword‘development’
accumulatedsomanyconnotations(social,economic,urban,education,health,
structural,infrastructural,parentingandsoon)thatitblurreditsexactmeaning.This
wasobservedalreadyin1878,whenRudolfEuckennoticedthatthewidespread
term“hasbecomealmostuselessforscience”(Esteva2010:5).
Since1949,onemoreconnotationhasbeenaddedtotheterm.Followingthe
speechoftheUSPresidentTruman,inwhichunderdevelopedareaswerementioned,
thewordgainedabrandnewmeaning(Truman1949).AlthoughthePresidentmight
havebeenunawareofthefact,thespeechwastheopeningofthenewdiscoursein
socialsciences,especiallyeconomics,sociology,geographyandanthropology.
Thediscourseofdevelopment,asunderstoodherefollowingPeetandHartwick’s
(2009:1)definition,referstothesystemofstatementsmadeabouttheprocessof
socio-economicdevelopment.Furthermore,withinthedevelopmentdiscourseitself,
themeaningofterm‘development’hasgonethroughseveralchangesdescribedin
thefollowingsections.WhereappropriatetheinfluenceofIndianeconomistswas