The countries of the world continue to be divided into two major categories, namely developed and developing. The latter class of countries, including India, earlier were wearing the uncomplimentary identity as underdeveloped. This seemingly honourable portrayal of these countries from under-developed to developing owes it to the patronising outlook of the functionaries in  high posts in the United Nations and its different arms such as World Health Organisation, Food and Agricultural Organisation (to lead international efforts to defeat hunger), United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (established in 1964 as a permanent inter-governmental body dealing with trade, investment and development issues). As if to mimic the world body, the government has adopted the practice of classifying the States of the country into three classes, namely class A, class B and class C for administrative reasons, more than any other. One such purpose is to fix the rates of allowances that are paid to employees in different Departments of the government along with their basic monthly salary, a feature that leaves the rest of the population red-faced. That is one dimension of development, as perceived in circles of the government employees.

The message of global well-being in the lines drawn from Mangala Mantra (Swasthi prajaabhyah paripaalayantaam nyaayenamaargena…) meaning: May the well-being of all people be protected by the powerful and mighty leaders with law and justice… To what extent this ancient prescription has been realised by which section of India’s people is the question that is begging for an answer.

Going by the regularly published data and information by government sources, no matter who are at the helm, one cannot help conceding that India is steadily inching towards earning the developed-country tag, the latest disclosure being that India is currently the world’s third biggest economy. But there are many other parameters that have to be reckoned with which mocks at the exalted image of the land, namely (a) unemployment, (b) disease burden, (c) unviable income of the major sections in the population, (d) crime rates that are not showing signs of abating and so on. The Central team that surveyed the country’s cities for rating their level of cleanliness is said to have noted the features under 36 parameters. Parameters to be reckoned for determining the status of development in respect of the country in general and its constituent States in particular have per force to include the parameter of well-being of the last citizen of the land.

Glitz and glamour of urban spaces are only one face of development. The slums that host a substantial portion of every city’s space, reckoned at 20 percent of the total headcount in each city, marked by the insanitary living spaces stoking diseases mock at the development ignoring the dimensions yet to be addressed.