Human development is based on the idea that ________________ are integral to human well being.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Education and health
Only when people can read and write and lead a long and healthy life are they able to make the other choices they value. Human development is built on this idea: education and health are integral to human well-being, ends in themselves, worth investing in even when they do not raise labour productivity.
Human capital looks at the same two things differently: it treats education and health as a means to raise labour productivity.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (2) Health and migration — Incorrect. Migration is one of the sources of human capital: people move to jobs that pay more. Human development rests on education and health together, not on migration.
Option (3) On-job training — Incorrect. On-the-job training is another source of human capital, raising the skills and productivity of workers. It is a means to higher productivity, not the idea on which human development is based.
Option (4) Migration and information — Incorrect. Migration and the acquisition of information about jobs and markets are also sources of human capital. Neither is what human development treats as integral to well-being.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.4 Human Capital and Human Development … The two terms sound similar but there is a clear distinction between them. Human capital considers education and health as a means to increase labour productivity. Human development is based on the idea that education and health are integral to human well-being because only when people have the ability to read and write and the ability to lead a long and healthy life, they will be able to make other choices which they value. Human capital treats human beings as a means to an end; the end being the increase in productivity. In this view, any investment in education and health is unproductive if it does not enhance output of goods and services. In the human development perspective, human beings are ends in themselves. Human welfare should be increased through investments in education and health even if such investments do not result in higher labour productivity.…” |