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Good but not true

Good but not   true   the Human Development Index ( hdi) developed by the United Nations Development Program ( undp ) has been widely accepted as a powerful analytical tool by planners, economists, and policy-makers to assess the progress of nations. hdi enables a comparative assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of development strategies among nations.

Considered a major landmark in the sphere of development economics, the hdi helps in monitoring the status of human development and identifying problem areas where remedial action can be directed.

However, before accepting hdi as an universal tool, it is essential to ascertain whether it is capable of representing human development in its real sense without missing out on any important factor. Human development is viewed both as means as well as an end. When defined as the extent of opportunities to develop people's capabilities, human development is viewed as means. And when defined as the extent of development of human capabilities, it can be viewed as an end in itself.

An analysis of the indicators used to compute the hdi reveals that environment related aspects, primarily its sustainability, have been missed out. The indicators currently used to compute hdi are longevity, education and income. Among these indicators, income is a pure

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