The definition of sustainable development as meeting present needs "without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" comes from:

The Brundtland Commission's report *Our Common Future* (1987)

*The Development Dictionary* (1992)

The first *Human Development Report* (1990)

Under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, a qualifying company must spend on CSR at least:

One per cent of its gross revenue in the current year

Five per cent of its annual turnover

Assertion (A): Riggs described the relation between administrative development and development administration as a "chicken-and-egg" problem. Reason (R): Weak administration cannot deliver development, while underdevelopment keeps administration weak, so each depends on the other. Choose the correct option.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Gunnar Myrdal's concept of the "soft state" describes a state that:

Uses only market instruments rather than regulation

Has fully devolved all powers to local governments

Relies on persuasion because it has no army

Which of the following statements about social audit are correct? Select all that apply.

It is mandatory for MGNREGA works under Section 17 of the Act

It is concerned only with financial accounts, not outcomes

It is conducted exclusively by the Comptroller and Auditor General

In a BOT model of public–private partnership, the private partner:

Builds the asset, operates it for a concession period and then transfers it to government

Donates the asset to government at the start

Owns the asset permanently with no transfer

Builds the asset, operates it for a concession period and then transfers it to government

Only manages an existing public asset for a fee

Which pair correctly matches a critic of bureaucratic dominance in development with his work?

Joseph LaPalombara — *Bureaucracy and Political Development* (1963)

Gunnar Myrdal — *The Stages of Economic Growth*

W. W. Rostow — *Encountering Development*

Arturo Escobar — *Asian Drama*

Joseph LaPalombara — *Bureaucracy and Political Development* (1963)

Development Administration: Development and Modernization; Sustainable Development, Anti-Development and the SDGs; Concept, Features and Ecology of Development Administration; Riggs, Waldo and Weidner; Bureaucracy, Globalization, Non-State Actors, PPPs, CSR, Human Development Indicators and Social Audit

The second half of Unit V reads: "Development Administration: Development and its Dimensions. Development and Modernization; Approaches to Development - Sustainable Development and Anti- Development; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Development Administration: Concept, Nature, Scope, Objectives, Features and Significance; Ecology of Development Administration, Contribution of Fred Riggs, Dwight Waldo and Edward Widener; Role of Bureaucracy in Development. Globalization and Development Administration; Emergence of Non-State actors in Development Administration; Public-Private Partnerships; Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Development Indicators and Social Audit." The document's "Edward Widener" is Edward W. Weidner, the American scholar who gave development administration its classic definition. The chapter traces the idea from the optimism of the 1950s through its critics to its present form, in which the state develops in partnership with markets and civil society.

1. Development, its dimensions and modernization

Development began as a synonym for economic growth — rising per capita income and industrialisation — and widened over time into a multi-dimensional idea: economic (growth with distribution and employment), social (health, education, equity), political (participation, institutionalisation, rule of law), cultural, environmental and human development. Dudley Seers asked three questions of any development — what has happened to poverty, to unemployment and to inequality? — and Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom (1999) redefined it as the expansion of people's capabilities and substantive freedoms.

Modernization theory in the 1950s and 1960s held that societies move from tradition to modernity along a common path — W. W. Rostow's The Stages of Economic Growth (1960) named five stages from traditional society through the "take-off" to high mass consumption — and that Western institutions, technology and values could be diffused to the new nations. It was attacked by dependency theory (Andre Gunder Frank's "development of underdevelopment", the core–periphery analysis), which argued that underdevelopment was produced by the periphery's incorporation into the world capitalist system, and by the evidence that "modern" and "traditional" coexist rather than replace one another — which is exactly Riggs's prismatic insight.

Two approaches named in the syllabus
Approach	Core claim	Key sources
Sustainable development	"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" — integrating economic, social and environmental goals	Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future (1987); the Rio Earth Summit (1992)
Anti-development (post-development)	Development is a Western discourse that devalues local knowledge, justifies intervention and produces the "underdevelopment" it claims to cure; alternatives should come from local communities and grassroots movements	Wolfgang Sachs (ed.), The Development Dictionary (1992); Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development (1995); Gustavo Esteva; with roots in Gandhi's critique of industrial civilisation

The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 as the 2030 Agenda, comprise 17 goals and 169 targets, succeeding the eight Millennium Development Goals (2000–2015). They are universal (applying to rich and poor countries alike), integrated across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and guided by the principle of "leave no one behind". In India, NITI Aayog coordinates the SDGs and publishes the SDG India Index (first in 2018), ranking states and union territories — itself an instrument of competitive federalism.

2. Development administration: concept, features and ecology

Development administration is administration geared to bringing about planned change in the economic, social and political conditions of a society — as distinct from traditional or maintenance administration, which keeps law and order and collects revenue. The phrase is usually traced to the Indian scholar U. L. Goswami, who used it in 1955; Edward W. Weidner (misprinted "Widener" in the syllabus) gave it its classic definition and is often credited with establishing the term: development administration is "the process of guiding an organisation toward the achievement of progressive political, economic and social objectives that are authoritatively determined in one manner or another". Weidner insisted that development administration is goal-oriented and action-oriented — it studies administration in relation to the achievement of development goals, with "modernity" and "nation-building" as its values.

Development administration and traditional administration
Feature	Development administration	Traditional (maintenance) administration
Orientation	Change, innovation, goals	Stability, routine, rules
Citizen seen as	Client and participant	Subject of regulation
Structure	Flexible, decentralised, project-based	Hierarchical, centralised
Measure of success	Results and effectiveness in time	Procedural correctness
Time dimension	Urgency; targets within deadlines	Continuity

Objectives: planned socio-economic change, nation-building, the reduction of poverty and inequality, the building of institutions and capacity.
Features: change-orientation, goal-orientation, innovativeness, client-orientation, citizen participation, ecological sensitivity, commitment of officials, integration and coordination across agencies, and a time dimension.
Scope: planning, programme and project management, rural and urban development, public enterprises, administrative reform, and the building of local institutions.

The ecology of development administration is the two-way relationship between administration and its environment. Administrative development — building the capacity of the administrative system itself — and development administration — using administration to develop society — depend on each other: Riggs described this as a "chicken-and-egg" problem, since weak administration cannot deliver development and underdevelopment keeps administration weak. The social structure, political culture, economic base and external dependence of a country all condition what its administration can achieve.

3. The contributions of Riggs, Waldo and Weidner; the role of bureaucracy

The three contributors named in the syllabus
Thinker	Contribution to development administration
Edward W. Weidner	The classic goal-oriented definition; argued that the discipline should study administration as an instrument for achieving development goals rather than for efficiency alone; Technical Assistance in Public Administration Overseas (1964) and the edited Development Administration in Asia (1970)
Fred W. Riggs	The ecological and prismatic analysis of developing societies; the reciprocity of administrative development and development administration; development defined as increasing discretion — the capacity of a society to make choices about its future; edited Frontiers of Development Administration (1970); leader of the Comparative Administration Group
Dwight Waldo	Treated development as a set of values rather than a technique and warned against assuming Western models apply everywhere; edited Temporal Dimensions of Development Administration (1970), which stressed time, history and sequence in development

The role of bureaucracy in development has been argued both ways. The optimistic view saw the civil service as the main instrument of development in new nations — often the most educated, organised and national institution available — and planned development in India relied on it. The critical view came from Joseph LaPalombara, whose edited Bureaucracy and Political Development (1963) warned that a bureaucracy that dominates weak political institutions may block rather than promote political development; from Riggs's imbalance thesis; and from Gunnar Myrdal's Asian Drama (1968), which described the "soft state" — one that makes policies but lacks the will or discipline to enforce them against powerful interests. The answer of later practice has been to combine a professional bureaucracy with decentralisation, participation and accountability.

4. Globalization, non-state actors, PPPs and CSR

Globalization changed development administration from a state-centred enterprise into a shared one. Structural adjustment and liberalisation narrowed the state's direct role in production; donors tied aid to "good governance"; and non-state actors — NGOs and community-based organisations, self-help groups, cooperatives, private firms, philanthropic foundations and international agencies — became partners in delivering services, from microfinance to primary health. The state's role shifted toward enabling, regulating and coordinating.

Public–private partnership models
PPP model	What the private partner does
BOT (Build–Operate–Transfer)	Finances and builds the asset, operates it for a concession period collecting user charges (for example tolls), then transfers it to government
BOOT (Build–Own–Operate–Transfer)	As BOT, but owns the asset during the concession
BOO (Build–Own–Operate)	Builds and owns the asset permanently; no transfer
Annuity and hybrid annuity	Builds the asset and is paid fixed annual amounts by government rather than collecting user charges; in the hybrid annuity model (introduced for highways in 2016) government pays part of the cost during construction
Management or service contract	Operates or maintains a public service for a fee, without investment

Public–private partnerships share risk and reward between government and private firms over a long contract, bringing private finance and efficiency to infrastructure. Their administrative challenges are allocating risk sensibly, renegotiation and contract disputes, and protecting the public interest; the Kelkar Committee on revisiting and revitalising the PPP model (2015) recommended an independent regulator and a mechanism for renegotiation. Corporate social responsibility became mandatory in India under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, in force from 1 April 2014 — India being the first country to mandate CSR spending by law. A company with a net worth of ₹500 crore or more, turnover of ₹1,000 crore or more, or net profit of ₹5 crore or more must constitute a CSR committee and spend at least two per cent of its average net profits of the preceding three years on activities listed in Schedule VII (hunger and poverty, education, health, gender equality, environment, and others).

5. Human development indicators and social audit

The Human Development Index, introduced in the UNDP's first Human Development Report (1990), was devised by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen's capability approach as its basis. It measures three dimensions — a long and healthy life (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling) and a decent standard of living (gross national income per capita in purchasing-power-parity terms). Each dimension is converted into an index between 0 and 1, and since the 2010 report the HDI is the geometric mean of the three — so a very low score in one dimension cannot be fully offset by a high score in another. Companion indices include the inequality-adjusted HDI, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, from 2010).

Social audit is the examination of a public programme by the people it is meant to serve, who compare official records with what actually happened on the ground. It grew out of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan's public hearings (jan sunwai) in Rajasthan in the 1990s, where muster rolls and bills were read aloud in villages and fraud exposed — the same movement that pressed for the Right to Information. Social audit was made mandatory for MGNREGA works by Section 17 of the Act, carried out by the Gram Sabha with the help of independent social audit units, and Meghalaya passed the first state law on social audit of public services in 2017. It differs from financial audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General in being participatory, concerned with outcomes as well as accounts, and conducted in public.

🧠 Why the geometric mean matters

With dimension indices of 0.9, 0.6 and 0.4, the arithmetic mean is 0.633, but the geometric mean is the cube root of 0.9 × 0.6 × 0.4 = 0.216, which is exactly 0.6. The geometric mean is always at or below the arithmetic mean, and it penalises uneven development: a country cannot score well on the HDI by excelling in income while neglecting health or education.

Key takeaways

Development widened from growth to capabilities (Sen); modernization theory (Rostow, 1960) was challenged by dependency theory and by post-development critics (Sachs, Escobar).
Sustainable development comes from Brundtland (1987); the SDGs (2015) have 17 goals and 169 targets, coordinated in India by NITI Aayog.
Edward W. Weidner (misprinted "Widener") gave development administration its goal-oriented definition; the phrase appears earlier in U. L. Goswami (1955).
Riggs linked administrative development and development administration as a chicken-and-egg problem; LaPalombara and Myrdal's "soft state" set out the critical view of bureaucracy.
CSR is mandatory under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (two per cent of average net profits); the HDI (1990) is a geometric mean since 2010; social audit is mandatory under Section 17 of MGNREGA.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

A country's HDI dimension indices are 0.9 for health, 0.6 for education and 0.4 for income. What is its HDI, computed as the geometric mean? Type a number to one decimal place.
Numerical answer — type the value.
Show answer
Answer: 0.6
HDI = (0.9 × 0.6 × 0.4)^(1/3) = (0.216)^(1/3) = 0.6. The arithmetic mean would be 0.633; the geometric mean is lower because it penalises the weak income dimension.
The syllabus's "Edward Widener" refers to the scholar who gave development administration its classic definition. His correct name is:
1. Ferrel Heady
2. Edward Banfield
3. Joseph LaPalombara
4. Edward W. Weidner
Show answer
Answer: D — Edward W. Weidner
Edward W. Weidner defined development administration as guiding an organisation toward progressive, authoritatively determined objectives. LaPalombara and Heady wrote on bureaucracy and comparative administration but did not give that definition.
The definition of sustainable development as meeting present needs "without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" comes from:
1. The Brundtland Commission's report Our Common Future (1987)
2. The Development Dictionary (1992)
3. The first Human Development Report (1990)
4. Rostow's The Stages of Economic Growth (1960)
Show answer
Answer: A — The Brundtland Commission's report *Our Common Future* (1987)
The World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, gave the definition in 1987. The Development Dictionary is a post-development critique; Rostow's is modernization theory.
Which of the following are dimensions measured by the Human Development Index? Select all that apply.
1. A decent standard of living
2. Knowledge
3. A long and healthy life
4. Military strength
Show answer
Answer: A — A decent standard of living; B — Knowledge; C — A long and healthy life
The HDI measures health (life expectancy), knowledge (schooling) and standard of living (GNI per capita, PPP). Military strength is not part of it.
Under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, a qualifying company must spend on CSR at least:
1. One per cent of its gross revenue in the current year
2. Two per cent of its average net profits of the preceding three years
3. Five per cent of its annual turnover
4. Ten per cent of its net worth
Show answer
Answer: B — Two per cent of its average net profits of the preceding three years
The CSR obligation is two per cent of average net profits over the three preceding financial years, on Schedule VII activities; the thresholds (net worth ₹500 crore, turnover ₹1,000 crore or net profit ₹5 crore) decide which companies it applies to.
Assertion (A): Riggs described the relation between administrative development and development administration as a "chicken-and-egg" problem. Reason (R): Weak administration cannot deliver development, while underdevelopment keeps administration weak, so each depends on the other. Choose the correct option.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: A — Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
Both are true and R explains A: the reciprocity — each being a condition of the other — is exactly what the chicken-and-egg image expresses.
Gunnar Myrdal's concept of the "soft state" describes a state that:
1. Uses only market instruments rather than regulation
2. Has fully devolved all powers to local governments
3. Makes policies but lacks the will or discipline to enforce them against powerful interests
4. Relies on persuasion because it has no army
Show answer
Answer: C — Makes policies but lacks the will or discipline to enforce them against powerful interests
In Asian Drama (1968) Myrdal described South Asian states as "soft": laws and plans were made but not enforced, and social discipline was weak — a key obstacle to development.
Which of the following statements about social audit are correct? Select all that apply.
1. It is mandatory for MGNREGA works under Section 17 of the Act
2. It grew out of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan's public hearings
3. It is concerned only with financial accounts, not outcomes
4. It is conducted exclusively by the Comptroller and Auditor General
Show answer
Answer: A — It is mandatory for MGNREGA works under Section 17 of the Act; B — It grew out of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan's public hearings
Social audit began with the MKSS's jan sunwai and is mandatory under Section 17 of MGNREGA. It is participatory and carried out by the Gram Sabha and social audit units, not the CAG, and it looks at outcomes on the ground as well as accounts.
In a BOT model of public–private partnership, the private partner:
1. Donates the asset to government at the start
2. Owns the asset permanently with no transfer
3. Builds the asset, operates it for a concession period and then transfers it to government
4. Only manages an existing public asset for a fee
Show answer
Answer: C — Builds the asset, operates it for a concession period and then transfers it to government
Build–Operate–Transfer: the private partner recovers its investment through user charges during the concession, then hands the asset over. Permanent ownership is BOO; managing for a fee is a management contract.
Which pair correctly matches a critic of bureaucratic dominance in development with his work?
1. Gunnar Myrdal — The Stages of Economic Growth
2. W. W. Rostow — Encountering Development
3. Arturo Escobar — Asian Drama
4. Joseph LaPalombara — Bureaucracy and Political Development (1963)
Show answer
Answer: D — Joseph LaPalombara — *Bureaucracy and Political Development* (1963)
LaPalombara edited Bureaucracy and Political Development. Asian Drama is Myrdal's, The Stages of Economic Growth Rostow's and Encountering Development Escobar's.