India's Development Compared for UPSC: China, Pakistan and Global Indices (HDI, GHI, GII, Rule of Law, B-READY)

Three Neighbours, Three Strategies: Plans, Reforms and Models

🎯 Exam priority: Tier-3, but the 'who publishes it' questions are the easiest marks in the paper. UPSC's questions on this theme are mostly about indices: in 2016 the indicators of the Global Hunger Index and the publisher of the Global Financial Stability Report, in 2018 the Rule of Law Index, in 2016 and 2019 the Ease of Doing Business index, in 2019 the Global Competitiveness Report. The 2025 Mains asked HDI versus the Inequality-adjusted HDI. The NCERT chapter on India, China and Pakistan feeds Mains and Statement-I/II questions on development strategy. This note does both: the comparison, then a table of every index worth knowing.

Three neighbours, three strategies

• Same start, different paths. All three began planned development together: India's first Five Year Plan ran 1951-56, China's first plan came in 1953, and Pakistan's first plan (now called the Medium Term Development Plan) in 1956. India followed the Five Year Plan model until March 2017; Pakistan works on its 12th plan (2018-23) and China on its 14th (2021-25). Until the 1980s the three had similar growth rates and per-capita incomes. Reforms came at different dates: China 1978, Pakistan 1988, India 1991 — and China's were its own choice, while India and Pakistan reformed under pressure from the IMF and World Bank.

• China. After 1949 all critical sectors came under State control. The Great Leap Forward (1958) pushed backyard industrialisation and organised farming into communes (26,000 of them covering nearly the whole farm population) and ended in a famine that killed about 30 million people; the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) sent students and professionals to the countryside. The 1978 reforms came in phases: first agriculture, foreign trade and investment — commune land was divided into plots handed to households for use, who kept income after paying stipulated taxes — and then industry, where private firms and township and village enterprises were allowed, State-owned enterprises faced competition, dual pricing (fixed quantities at State prices, the rest at market prices) was used, and special economic zones attracted foreign investors.

• Pakistan. Like India it follows a mixed economy. It used import-substitution-based industrialisation in the late 1950s-60s (tariff protection plus import controls), saw the Green Revolution raise foodgrain output, nationalised capital-goods industries in the 1970s, and turned to denationalisation and private-sector incentives in the late 1970s and 1980s, with support from western aid and remittances from the Middle East. Reforms began in 1988.

• India. A large public sector and a mixed economy until the 1991 reforms (see Articles 16-17), and since then growth led by services — the 2025-26 Survey calls India the fastest-growing major economy for the fourth consecutive year.

Demography, Growth and Sector Structure: India, China and Pakistan

NCERT gives three tables that carry most of the exam value: demography, growth and sector shares, and human development. Note the vintage — the data are for 2017-2019 — so they show the pattern, not today's level.

Demography (2017-18)

• China's one-child norm (late 1970s) arrested population growth but also lowered the sex ratio and left it with an ageing population, which is why China later allowed two children. Son preference lowers the sex ratio in all three countries. Pakistan's population is about one-tenth of India's or China's but grows fastest and has the highest fertility.

Growth and the structure of the economy

• Size. China's GDP (PPP) was about USD 22.5 trillion, India's USD 9.03 trillion and Pakistan's USD 0.94 trillion — Pakistan roughly 11% of India's, India about 41% of China's.

• Growth. In the 1980s China grew at 10.3% a year, Pakistan at 6.3% and India at 5.7% — India was at the bottom. By 2015-17 India led at 7.3%, against China's 6.8% and Pakistan's 5.3%.

• The pattern. China followed the classical path — agriculture to industry to services — and its growth rests on manufacturing and services. India and Pakistan moved directly from agriculture to services, so output has shifted faster than workers: the share of workforce still in agriculture is 43% in India and 41% in Pakistan. Sector growth in 1980-90 versus 2014-18: India services 6.9 to 7.6, industry 7.4 to 6.9; China industry 10.8 to 5.3, services 13.5 to 7.1; Pakistan industry 7.7 to 4.8. China's industry slowed from near double-digit rates; India's growth came from services.

• Trade with the neighbours. India's exports to China grew from ₹25,232 crore (2004-05) to ₹1,17,289 crore (2018-19), but imports from China rose from ₹31,892 crore to ₹4,92,079 crore — a deficit of about four to one. Trade with Pakistan is small: exports ₹14,426 crore and imports ₹3,476 crore in 2018-19 (from ₹2,341 crore and ₹427 crore in 2004-05).

Human Development, Liberty Indicators and the East Asian Lesson

Growth is only half the picture. NCERT's human-development table is where China pulls clearly ahead — and where India's problem lies.

Human development: the NCERT table (2017-2019)

• Reading the table. China leads on every indicator and has the smallest share of poor; India and Pakistan are close on most, but Pakistan's infant mortality is nearly double India's. All three report improved drinking-water access for most people (India 93%, China 96%, Pakistan 91%).

• Why China is ahead. NCERT argues the gains came less from the reform process itself than from pre-reform investments: land reforms, the commune system's more equal distribution of food grains, rural health services, education, decentralised planning and small enterprises. Reforms were also experimental — tried at a small scale, then extended. China kept collective ownership of land while giving households cultivation rights, which provided rural social security.

• The post-reform record. China's land reform of 1978 — handing out plots for cultivation — is credited with the leap in rural prosperity: before it, per-capita grain output was no higher than in the mid-1950s despite land reforms, collectivisation and the Great Leap Forward. Only about 10% of China's land is cultivable, and its cultivable area is 40% of India's, so the shift out of farming (the 80% dependence of the 1980s is now 26%) was the engine. NCERT's phrase for the Chinese path is a market system used 'without losing political commitment'.

• Why Pakistan slowed. Scholars cite political instability, over-dependence on remittances and foreign aid, volatile agriculture and rising foreign debt; poverty fell from over 40% in the 1960s to about 25% in the 1980s and then rose again.

• Liberty indicators. NCERT notes that human-development indices leave out 'liberty indicators' — the extent of democratic participation and of constitutional protection of rights, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. China's lack of political freedom is its weak point; India, a democracy, still has most people dependent on agriculture.

• Update to remember. The latest Human Development Report (2025) ranks India 130th of 193 countries with an HDI of 0.685 — in the 'medium human development' group, up from 133rd. Pakistan, at 168th, is lower; China is in the 'high human development' group above India.

What the comparison teaches: the East Asian lesson

• The 2025-26 Survey's Box on East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) finds that strong growth in manufacturing exports preceded improvements in the current account, reserve build-up and currency credibility. Industrial support was selective, time-bound and linked to performance — firms that failed to compete were not sheltered — and policymakers were cautious about heavily protecting upstream inputs like steel, since "decisions about what not to protect can be as important as decisions about what to support".

• It adds that services exports "rarely generate the same degree of scale, employment linkages, or counter-cyclical support" as broad-based manufacturing exports. On innovation, India has improved its WIPO Global Innovation Index standing and performs above expectation for its income, but its improvement has been slower than China's on high-technology manufacturing and private R&D.

Who Publishes Which Index: HDI, GHI, GII, B-READY, Rule of Law and More

This is the table to memorise: who publishes the index, what it measures, and India's latest rank. Ranks are the latest editions (2024-2025) and change each year — learn the publisher and the method first.

Indices: publisher, method and India's latest position

Other indices: just the publisher

(These ranks come from the publishers' latest reports as summarised in news and index pages, not from the Economic Survey, and should be rechecked for each new edition.)

How UPSC Could Ask This Next

How UPSC could ask this next

• The 'who publishes it' stem. GHI — Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, four indicators; HDI — UNDP; Rule of Law — World Justice Project; GFSR — IMF; Global Competitiveness — WEF; Doing Business — World Bank (now ended). Expect a new index in the stem each year; the answer is nearly always one of five institutions.

• The 'indicators of the index' stem. HDI uses three dimensions, the GHI four indicators, the global MPI ten indicators, the national MPI twelve. A trap is to add child wasting to a list that omits it, or to treat poverty line as an HDI input.

• The comparison statements. 'India and Pakistan moved directly from agriculture to services; China followed the classical path.' 'China introduced reforms in 1978, Pakistan in 1988, India in 1991.' 'China's reforms were forced upon it by the IMF' (false — India's and Pakistan's were). 'The one-child norm raised the sex ratio' (false — it lowered it).

• The near-miss institutions. WEF's Global Competitiveness Report versus IMD's World Competitiveness Ranking; SDSN's Sustainable Development Report versus NITI Aayog's SDG India Index; UNDP's HDI versus the World Bank's Human Capital Index; World Bank's Doing Business versus its B-READY.

• Mains angles. (1) HDI versus IHDI: why is the inequality-adjusted index a better measure of inclusive growth? (2) India's growth is high but human-development indicators are low — why? (3) Compare India's and China's development strategies and what India can learn. (4) Poverty-hunger divergence in India.

Further Reading

• NCERT Economics textbooks (Class 11–12), the Economic Survey, the Union Budget documents and RBI publications cited in this note — the primary sources behind every figure above.

Test Yourself: Practice Questions and PYQs

Twelve practice questions on India's comparative development and global indices, followed by real UPSC questions and exact Mains questions.

Practice Questions

Q1. Consider the following statements about the development strategies of India, China and Pakistan:
1. China introduced economic reforms in 1978, Pakistan in 1988 and India in 1991.
2. China moved in the classical sequence from agriculture to industry to services, while India and Pakistan shifted directly from agriculture to services.
3. India's and Pakistan's reforms were forced upon them by international agencies, whereas China's were its own initiative.
Which of the statements given above are correct?

• (a) 1, 2 and 3

• (b) 2 and 3 only

• (c) 1 and 3 only

• (d) 1 and 2 only

Q2. In the 1980s which of the three countries had the highest GDP growth rate, and which had the lowest, according to NCERT?

• (a) Pakistan highest, China lowest

• (b) China highest, India lowest

• (c) India highest, Pakistan lowest

• (d) China highest, Pakistan lowest

Q3. According to NCERT's 2018-19 data, in which country is the share of the workforce engaged in agriculture the highest?

• (a) All three have the same share

• (b) India (43 per cent)

• (c) China (26 per cent)

• (d) Pakistan (41 per cent)

Q4. China's Great Leap Forward campaign, launched in 1958, involved

• (a) the introduction of the one-child norm

• (b) the creation of special economic zones to attract foreign investors

• (c) industrialisation on a massive scale including backyard industries, and the setting up of communes in rural areas

• (d) the handing over of commune land to households for use

Q5. Which of the following is NOT one of the indicators used to compute the Global Hunger Index?

• (a) Undernourishment

• (b) Child mortality

• (c) Literacy rate

• (d) Child stunting

Q6. Consider the following pairs:
Index — Publisher
1. Global Competitiveness Report — World Economic Forum
2. Rule of Law Index — World Justice Project
3. Global Financial Stability Report — International Monetary Fund
4. Global Innovation Index — World Bank
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

• (a) Only three

• (b) All four

• (c) Only two

• (d) Only one

Q7. The Human Development Index published by UNDP combines which three dimensions?

• (a) Infant mortality, sanitation and per-capita GDP growth

• (b) Poverty rate, literacy rate and employment

• (c) Life expectancy, inflation and unemployment

• (d) Life expectancy, education (years of schooling) and income per capita

Q8. The World Bank's 'Doing Business' report, which ranked India 63rd in its 2020 edition,

• (a) was replaced by the Global Competitiveness Report

• (b) is still published every year and ranks all 190 economies

• (c) is published by the World Economic Forum

• (d) was discontinued in 2021 after data irregularities and succeeded by the B-READY project

Q9. According to the latest Human Development Report (2025), India's rank in the Human Development Index is

• (a) 130th of 193

• (b) 117th of 193

• (c) 103rd of 193

• (d) 142nd of 193

Q10. Consider the following statements about the Economic Survey 2025-26's lessons from East Asia:
1. Strong growth in manufacturing exports preceded stronger current accounts and currency credibility in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
2. Industrial support was selective, time-bound and linked to performance.
3. Services exports by themselves generate the same scale and employment as broad-based manufacturing exports.
Which of the statements given above are correct?

• (a) 2 and 3 only

• (b) 1, 2 and 3

• (c) 1 and 3 only

• (d) 1 and 2 only

Q11. In the India-China-Pakistan comparison in NCERT, the one-child norm in China is associated with all of the following EXCEPT

• (a) a growing proportion of elderly in the population in later decades

• (b) a rise in the proportion of females per 1,000 males

• (c) the later decision to allow couples two children

• (d) arrest in the growth of population

Q12. Which one of the following is published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and ranked India 99th of 167 countries in 2025?

• (a) The Global Hunger Index

• (b) The Sustainable Development Report

• (c) The Human Development Report

• (d) The SDG India Index

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Real UPSC Prelims questions, checked against the official paper and answer key.

Q1. (2016) Which of the following is/are the indicator/indicators used by IFPRI to compute the Global Hunger Index Report?
1. Undernourishment
2. Child stunting
3. Child mortality
Select the correct answer using the code given below.

• (a) 1, 2 and 3

• (b) 1 only

• (c) 1 and 3 only

• (d) 2 and 3 only

Q2. (2016) 'Global Financial Stability Report' is prepared by the

• (a) International Monetary Fund

• (b) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

• (c) European Central Bank

• (d) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Q3. (2018) "Rule of Law Index" is released by which of the following?

• (a) International Court of Justice

• (b) Amnesty International

• (c) World Justice Project

• (d) The Office of UN Commissioner for Human Rights

Q4. (2016) India's ranking in the 'Ease of Doing Business Index' is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?

• (a) World Economic Forum

• (b) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

• (c) World Trade Organization (WTO)

• (d) World Bank

Q5. (2019) Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business Index'?

• (a) Paying taxes

• (b) Dealing with construction permits

• (c) Maintenance of law and order

• (d) Registering property

Q6. (2019) The Global Competitiveness Report is published by the

• (a) World Bank

• (b) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

• (c) World Economic Forum

• (d) International Monetary Fund

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• Distinguish between the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) with special reference to India. Why is the IHDI considered a better indicator of inclusive growth?

• Despite consistent experience of high growth, India still has low indicators of human development. Examine the issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive.

• Compare the development strategies of India and China since 1978 and 1991. What can India learn from China's pre-reform investment in human capital and from East Asia's export-led manufacturing?

• Why have India and Pakistan shifted from agriculture directly to services? Discuss the consequences for employment and inclusive growth.

• Analyse the latest multidimensional poverty and hunger indices on India. Why do income-based and multidimensional measures give different pictures?

UPSC Mains — Previous Years’ Questions on this topic (last 10 years)

These are the actual GS Mains questions UPSC has asked on this theme — real proof of how, and when, it is tested. Try to write a full answer to each.

• 2025 (GS-III): Distinguish between the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) with special reference to India. Why is the IHDI considered a better indicator of inclusive growth?

• 2020 (GS-II): "The incidence and intensity of poverty are more important in determining poverty based on income alone". In this context, analyse the latest United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.

• 2019 (GS-II): Despite consistent experience of high growth, India still goes with the lowest indicators of human development. Examine the issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive.

• 2019 (GS-II): There is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. The shrinking of social expenditure by the government is forcing the poor to spend more on non-food essential items squeezing their food-budget. - Elucidate.

• 2018 (GS-II): How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the attention away from ineffective human development policies in India?