MEASURING SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN INDIA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

One of the challenges to the National Statistical Systems worldwide is to capturethe indicators of socio-economic progress from the current available framework. The limitsof traditional indicators provide little insights about the extent of well being realised in thesociety, since there is no automatic link between growth and development which aims atimproving human and social welfare. Therefore, different countries had tried variousapproaches to measure their progress of the society. India’s experience with measuringprogress in the society ranges from computation of composite index to adoption of adevelopment strategy that emphasises human welfare and well-being of the society ascentral to all development planning. In this connection, this paper limits its scope to some ofthe challenges and possibilities in the Indian system for developing the indicators of socialprogress.