Throughout this early period, the concept of development treated income and its growth as a means, and directed attention towards a real concern for people-in their individuality and collectivity, in their commonality and diversity. The central concern of development became the quality of people's lives-what they were capable of doing and what they actually did, the discrimination they faced, the struggles they waged and the expanding choices they enjoyed. And this covered not just economic choices but choices in every field in whic hthey could extend control over their lives. The pursuit of material well-being was one of these choices-but it had not yet become the exclusive obsession