Contouring Human Development: Methods and Applications Using an Indian District as Case Study

387 Pages·2020·14.408 MB·English

by  Mukunda Mishra, Soumendu Chatterjee

Mukunda Mishra
Soumendu Chatterjee
Contouring
Human
Development
Methods and Applications Using an
Indian District as Case Study
Contouring Human Development
Mukunda Mishra Soumendu Chatterjee
(cid:129)
Contouring Human
Development
Methods and Applications Using an Indian
District as Case Study
123
MukundaMishra SoumenduChatterjee
Department ofGeography Department ofGeography
Dr. MeghnadSaha College Presidency University
Itahar, West Bengal,India Kolkata, West Bengal, India
ISBN978-981-15-4082-0 ISBN978-981-15-4083-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4083-7
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Foreword
It is my extreme pleasure to know that Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. is
publishing a book entitled Contouring Human Development: Methods and
Applications Using an Indian District as Case Study authored by Dr. Mukunda
Mishra and Prof. Soumendu Chatterjee. I do appreciate the sincere efforts of the
authors for bringing out a book with such useful content.
The theoretical understandings of Human Development is a relevant academic
discourse; however, parallelly, the academic world is worried about the matter of
unequal development. The socio-economic researchers should have to find out the
suitabletechniquestorecord,analyze,andreportthepatternofdifferentdimensions
of human development in a refined way. It is obvious to identify precisely the
spatialpatternofhumandevelopmentbecausetheadministrativecontrolsofhuman
development planning have spatial limits.
‘Planning’ requires ‘prediction.’ The success of a development plan largely
depends on the matter of how efficiently the planners could visualize the ‘future’
of the socio-economic landscape. In this book, the authors have discussed those
techniques which are capable of effectively generating and reading the ‘predictive
landscape of human development.’
The multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning algorithms do help
largely to understand the spatial pattern of human development. The major con-
tributionofthebook isthatit disseminates theknowledge regarding thesmartand
scientificmethodstothereaders,whicharenewerinthefieldsofsocialsciences,to
support HD planning.
v
vi Foreword
I extend my heartfelt greetings to the authors, publishing editors, and all those
associated with the publication process. Moreover, I do congratulate the Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. for their endeavor to launch this book.
January 2020 Prof. R. B. Singh
Head of the Department (Chair),
Department of Geography
Delhi School of Economics
Secretary General, International Geographical Union (IGU)
Member, International
Science Council (ISC)—Scientific
Committee (UHW), New Delhi, India
Preface
Ouracademicresearchworks,forthelasttwelveyears,aremajorlyconcernedwith
theinequality,underdevelopment,poverty,hunger,andotherchallengestohuman
development,whicharerooteddeeplyinthegovernance,developmentpolicies,and
publicplanningmechanisminIndia.Throughourfirst-handexperiencesduringthe
socio-economic survey at the poverty, malnutrition, hunger, and illiteracy-stricken
distant hamlets, we come to believe that the centralized planning for nearly five
decades in India has created islands of affluence, resulting in widespread impov-
erishments at the major part of the country. We agreed, along with many learned
scholars working in the same channel, that the theoretical ‘trickle-down’ has not
trickled down in reality. Now, the alternative action should be the adoption of
redistributive planning policies.
Whatisthealternative?Tosatisfythebasicneedsthroughmassparticipationin
the development process and to bridge the gap between rich and poor regions by
making the planning process coming down to the grassroots level. It necessitates
the scientific allocation of funds and resources. We have experienced at different
parts of the country that the villages having a good number of ponds are funded
repeatedly for digging up more ponds when there is no funding for setting up
primaryschools,thoughthosevillageswitnesshighdrop-outrateofgirlstudentsas
they have to walk or cycle a few miles to reach their nearest primary schools. The
decentralized planning process lacks the attitude in redistributing the resources.
In most cases, the allocation offunds and resources is highly influenced by the
external factors like the Government’s attitude toward economic policymaking,
Center–State or State–Local Government political relationships, voting behaviors
ofthepeople ofthetargetedarea, andmany such things.Moreover,funds arealso
attracted by emergency factors like the outbreak of natural calamities or social
unrest. However, the causative factors influencing the long-term socio-economic
betterment are still the neglected parameters.
‘Geography’ matters for development. The uneven spatial distribution of
resources, economic activities, literacy, and health condition are the shreds of
evidence in favor of this statement. We have extended our efforts to address the
prevalence of underdevelopment based on the set of spatially linked causative
vii
viii Preface
factors. These factors interact in a highly complex manner with each other as well
aswithseveralotherfactorslinkedwithsociety,culture,politics,andenvironment.
Such complex interactions shape the complex pattern of development. When a
spatialunit(letussayitadistrict,aprovince,oracountryasawhole)isconsidered,
the complex interaction of all these factors makes a degree of variation of the
magnitudeofdevelopment(or underdevelopment aswell)atdifferent pointsofthe
particular spatial domain.
Planners and policymakers, at the era post ‘trickle-down economy,’ show their
faiths on the decentralized planning processes. However, its success does mostly
depend on the matter of how efficiently its mechanism could identify the
underdeveloped micro-spatial units in terms of targeted parameters. Drawing the
‘contours’ of the susceptibility of underdevelopment or suitability of development
on the spatial domain will help to understand the spatial variations, the spatial
differences in the responses of contributing or constraining driving forces and will
serve as an initial step of the orientation of planning and policy formulation. The
statistical models,userperception-basedmodels,andthemodernmachinelearning
algorithms—all these are widely used in natural sciences to predict the different
phenomena. However, in the socio-economic sciences or more specifically, in the
study of human development, they are rare. This book encouragestheuse ofthese
techniquesinsocio-economicresearchestoenhance thepowerofthepredictionof
socio-economic phenomena.
Thisbookdemonstratesabunchofmoderntechniqueswithinitsfoldsandgives
a hands-on experience of their applicability in socio-economic researches through
case studies. It offers the readings with utmost interests to different modern tools
andtechniquesliketheanalytichierarchyprocess(AHP),fuzzylogic,classification
and regression tree (CART) model, multiple adaptive regression splines (MARS)
andpartial least square (PLS)path model. All thesemodelsefficiently analyzeand
predict the complex socio-economic phenomena
Thebookexclusivelyorganizesalltechniquesformappinghumandevelopment
byhandlingthemicro-spatialdatasets.Besidesdescribingthetechniques,thebooks
have cited the case studies for better understanding the application of those tech-
niques with real datasets. The hands-on training of utilizing the techniques would
bebeneficialfortheresearchersandpractitionerstoutilizethesetechniquesfortheir
own purposes.
Theuniquenessofthisvolumeisitsstyleofpresentingtheideasofthemapping
ofhumandevelopmenttothereaders.Theapplicabilityofhighlyefficientmodelsis
presentedinalucidwritingstylealongwithcitingcasestudieswhichwillgrowthe
interestsofthereaders’communitytofollowthetechniquesintheirownstudyand
enablethemtounderstandthetechniquesclearlysothattheycouldcustomizethem
as per their choices. We have tried to use graphical presentations of all the model
algorithmsforbettercomprehensiontothereadersandresearchers.Itwillcertainly
make a better impression of the book to the readers.
The outputs of the techniques can be interpreted and analyzed and they are
capableofbeingusedasdecisionsupporttotheplanningprocesses.Moreover,the
output of these techniques can be used further as input datasets to develop
Preface ix
secondary models relating to human development. Ranking geographical entities
based on HD—this is the principal objective of this book. We will elucidate the
methodsanddemonstrateitinacasestudy.Wewilldiscusshowthevariableswill
beselected.Moreover,thereaderswillcreatetheirmodelsaccordingtotheirspatial
scale of preferences and targets of output. The flexibility of the models is the best
parttoanalyzeandinterprettheHDasperchoice.Ifitworks,itwillbethesource
of our heartfelt satisfaction.
Itahar, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, India Mukunda Mishra
January 2020 Soumendu Chatterjee
Acknowledgements
We have written in this book what we have seen through our researches. The
researchisacollectiveeffort.So,ourheartfeltrecognitiongoescollectivelytoallof
our teachers, students, friends, colleagues, respondents, and all others without
whoseactivesupportindifferentaspectsthisbookwouldnothaveseenthelightof
day. Yes, they all have made it possible with their respective roles.
We do express our real sense of indebtedness to Prof. R. B. Singh for his kind
bitsofadviceandprovidinghisvaluabletimetowritethe‘Foreword’forthisbook.
We are thankful to Prof. R. N. Chatterjee and Prof. Anup Saikia for their useful
suggestions. We are grateful to the administrative authorities of our respective
institutions for their administrative supports. We also thank the anonymous
reviewers for their constructive comments and advice that led to substantial
improvements to the content and quality of this book.
ConstructiveeditorialadviceandconstantsupportfromMs.NupoorSinghofthe
Springer Nature Pte. Ltd., the Publishing Editor of this book, remain unparalleled.
We do acknowledge the help of the entire team of the Springer Nature associated
with the publishing process, disseminating their respective roles with utmost per-
fection. We should particularly mention the part of Ms. Sharmila Mary Panner
Selvam, who took the responsibility of the project coordination and monitored the
production process.
Aboveall,theroleofourfamiliesremainedanimportantpartofthisventure.It
takes a long time to complete the book. It would not be possible without the
blessings of our parents and the patience and the supports of the members of our
families.
Authors
xi