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This article provides information about the economic notions of evolution and progress:
The economic notions of development as predominantly understood by growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the Capitalist, Socialist and the developing world models of development are also widely explained.
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Developmental perspectives have experienced a paradigm shift since the late 1970s. The notions of human and social development have required a central place in the emerging perspective on development. New strategies have also emerged to integrate the marginalised people and women in the development process and to redefine the role of the state in development.
The notion of evolution is derived from the Latin word evolver. It means ‘to develop’ or to ‘unfold’ which is closely related to the Sanskrit world vikas. The concept of evolution is specifically applied to mean the internal growth of a living organism the plant, animals, etc. Moreover, internal growth has also seen through various stages of gradual transition. For example, a seed evolve to seedlings, then to plants, to trees and then starts the maturity and aging process of the trees.
The notion of progress, on the other hand, is used to mean ‘to step forward’ that coincides with the Sanskrit word ‘pra-gat’. The fundamental meaning of progress, therefore, is the forward march or advancement towards a desirable end. There may be as many types of progress as there are desirable ends, for instance, progress in the acquisition of learning in health, in our march towards a place, etc.
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Moreover, historically progress has an ethical connotation and is taken to mean advance towards the ultimate moral values which human kind had been striving all down the ages to attain. However, the human moral values and the standard of judgments are as diverse as human societies. All these diversities do affect the process of attainment of different indicators of progress.