Gist of daily article/The Hindu/Indian express : 10 March 2026

Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach:

Core Meaning of Capabilities:

• Standard Definition: Traditionally, capabilities refer to skills or physical abilities.
• Sen’s Definition: Capabilities are substantive freedoms that enable people to lead the life they have reason to value.
• Metric of Development: Development is the expansion of human freedoms and choices, not merely the increase in per capita income.

Development as Freedom:

Sen argues that development equals the expansion of human freedom, categorized into five distinct types:

1. Political Freedoms: Freedom of expression and democratic participation.
2. Social Opportunities: Access to healthcare and education.
3. Economic Facilities: Opportunities for consumption, production, or exchange.
4. Transparency Guarantees: Freedom to deal with others under guarantees of disclosure and lucidity.
5. Protective Security: Social safety nets (unemployment benefits, famine relief).

Contribution to Human Development Thinking:

• Paradigm Shift: Influenced the transition from income-based metrics to the Human Development paradigm.
• Collaboration: Developed with Mahbub ul Haq.
• HDI Foundation: Led to the creation of the Human Development Index (HDI) by the UNDP, focusing on:

• • Health (Life Expectancy)
  • Education
  • Standard of Living

• Impact: Challenged the dominance of GDP as the sole indicator of progress.

Comparative Analysis: Sen vs. Martha Nussbaum

Feature	Amartya Sen	Martha Nussbaum
List of Capabilities	No fixed/prescribed list.	Proposed a universal list of 10 capabilities.
Approach	Societies should debate freedoms (Democratic).	State should guarantee these as fundamental rights.
Philosophy	Avoids paternalism; focuses on Agency.	Provides a normative/legal framework.

Capabilities Approach in Public Policy:

• Human Agency: Focuses on people as active participants in their own development, not passive beneficiaries.
• Policy Goal: Policies must expand real freedoms (e.g., quality education, healthcare, and political participation).

Challenges in the Indian Context:

1. Weak Education Quality: Decline in critical thinking; education is reduced to mere “job preparation.”
2. Reductionism: Capabilities are often narrowed down to basic “skill training” or “employability.”
3. Post-Truth Politics: Misinformation and a decline in factual, reasoned debate.
4. Governance Issues: Shrinking political freedoms and weakening democratic standards.
5. Theory-Practice Gap: Disconnect between high-level academic theory and actual ground-level implementation.

Education & Autonomy:

• Sen’s Framework for Education: It should promote reasoning abilities and democratic participation, rather than just serving labor market needs.
• Equality of Autonomy: Focuses on the real opportunities available to people to make life choices (Equal freedom of choice).

The Idea of Justice: Niti vs. Nyaya

From Sen’s work, The Idea of Justice:

| Niti | Organizational/Institutional rules, procedures, and behavioral correctness.

| Nyaya | Realized justice; the actual lives that people are able to lead.

• Key takeaway: Justice should be judged by actual outcomes, not just institutional design.

Emerging Concerns in Modern Development:

• Plutocratic Populism: Alliance between state power and concentrated market interests.
• Civil Society: Weakening of independent voices and institutions.
• Narrative Control: Rise of simplistic narratives and “Post-truth” misinformation.

Way Forward & Conclusion:

• Action Plan: Strengthen democratic institutions, focus on Human-Centered policies (Health/Education), and encourage Public Debate.
• Conclusion: True development lies in expanding human agency. Reducing it to economic growth alone undermines Human Dignity. Inclusive and sustainable development requires a people-centered approach.

Article based  Mains Qn : UPSC/PCS-250/200 words

” “The transition from ‘Niti’ (Institutional Rules) to ‘Nyaya’ (Realized Justice) is the quintessential requirement for achieving true human development.” Discuss with suitable examples.