People as Resource – Summary & Notes

People as Resource Summary 2 – Easy Explanation

Core Idea: People as an Asset

• Population is seen as a productive resource when nurtured through education, skill training, and health.
• Such investment transforms people into human capital, similar to how tools and machines boost output.

Education, Health & Human Capital

• Education equips individuals for better jobs and fuels national development.
• Health enhances efficiency and work capacity.
• Investment in both leads to a “virtuous cycle” (upward mobility), while lack creates a “vicious cycle” (poverty trap).

Case Studies: Sakal vs. Vilas

Aspect	Sakal	Vilas
Education	Completed higher secondary + computers	Did not attend school
Health	Healthy and strong	Arthritis, lacked medical care
Outcome	Got a skilled job, promoted	Sold fish, earned meagre income
Lesson	Shows value of human capital	Highlights effects of no investment

Economic Activities

• Divided into three sectors:
  • Primary: Agriculture, fishing, mining
  • Secondary: Manufacturing and processing
  • Tertiary: Services like transport, banking, education
• Market activities: Paid work
• Non-market activities: Self-consumption or household chores

Women & Work

• Domestic work by women is not included in national income.
• Due to lower education and skills, many work in low-paying, insecure jobs.
• However, highly skilled women achieve parity in fields like medicine and administration.

Indicators of Human Capital Quality

• Literacy: Increased from 18% (1951) to 85% (2018); still a gender and rural-urban gap.
• Education Spending: ₹151 crore in 1951 to ₹99,300 crore in 2020–21.
• Health:
  • Life expectancy: 67.2 years (2021)
  • Infant Mortality Rate: Dropped from 147 (1951) to 28 (2020)
  • Government initiatives: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid-day meals, vocational education

Unemployment Issues

• Seasonal: No work in part of the year (e.g., agriculture)
• Disguised: Extra workers add no productivity
• Educated Unemployment: Degree-holders without jobs
• Impact: Wastage of human resource, increased dependency, reduced quality of life

Village Transformation Story

• A hypothetical village shows how investing in education and skill leads to new professions and local prosperity.
• Tailors, engineers, teachers emerged—transforming a stagnant village into a productive community.

Conclusion

• India can achieve sustainable growth by investing in education, health, and skills, especially for marginalized communities.
• Human capital is the most dynamic and transformative resource when nurtured well.