Indicators of development and data availability: The case of the PQLI

The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) has received considerable attention in recent years as a readily available composite indicator of development. While the discussion of the merits of the PQLI has thus far focused primarily on its methodology, this paper shows that potentially an equally serious problem is a lack of comparability across countries of the underlying data, since the literacy rates used in the calculation of the PQLI were drawn from years ranging from 1946 to 1973. As a result, in a number of cases differences in reported PQLIs reflect not a fundamental disparity in level of development but only a lack of comparability of the data.     

Planning in the smaller city: Major problems and a possible solution

The study is based on interviews with 29 mayors, 26 planning commission chairmen and 23 professional planners in an Eastern state. It presents the four major problems confronting planning in these communities: (1) a lack of official commitment to planning, (2) the “gap” between professional planners and municipal officials, (3) an underdeveloped advocacy for planning and (4) several indigenous community hindrances. Each problem is examined in detail and a framework for dealing with resistance to planning is proposed.