ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL, DEVLALI

SUBJECT: ECONOMICS

L 1 Development

Q1: Development of a country can generally be determined by

(i) its per capita income
(ii) its average literacy levels
(iii) health status of its people
(iv) all the above
Answer: All of the above.

Q2: Which of the following neighboring countries has better performance in terms of
human development than India?
(i) Bangladesh
(ii) Sri Lanka
(iii) Nepal
(iv) Pakistan
Answer: (ii) Sri Lanka

Q3. Assume there are four families in a country. The average per capita income
of these families is Rs 5000. If the income of three families is Rs 4000, Rs 7000
and Rs 3000 respectively, what is the income of the fourth family?
(i) Rs 7500
(ii) Rs 3000
(iii) Rs2000
(iv) Rs 6000

Answer :(iv) Rs 6000

Q4: What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries?
What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?
Answer: The main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries is the
per capita income or average income of a person in a country.
Limitations of this criterion:
1.It does not tell us about how this average income is distributed among the people in the
individual countries.
 2.Two countries with the same per capita income might be very different with regard to
income distribution.
3.One might have equitable distribution of income while the other might have great disparities
between the rich and the poor.

Q5: In what respects is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development
different from the one used by the World Bank?
Answer:
1. The criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development is different from the one used
by the World Bank in the sense that it uses a combination of factors such as health, education
and income as indicators of development.
2.It does not rely solely on per capita income, as is the case with the World Bank.

Q6: Why do we use averages? Are there any limitations to their use? Illustrate with your
own examples related to development.
Answer:
1. We use averages because they are useful for comparing differing quantities of the same
category.
2.For example, to compute the per capita income of a country, averages have to be used
because there are differences in the incomes of diverse people. However, there are limitations
to the use of averages.
3.Even though they are useful for comparison, they may also hide disparities.
4, For example, the infant mortality rate of a country does not differentiate between the male
and female infants born in that country.
5.Such an average tells us nothing about whether the number of children dying before the age
of one are mostly boys or girls.

Q7: Kerala, with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking than
Punjab. Hence, per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should not be used
to compare states. Do you agree? Discuss.
Answer
1.Kerala, with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking than Punjab.
However, it would be wrong to say that per capita income is not a useful criterion at all.
2.Per capita income is certainly not the only criterion and it has its limitations. But this does
not imply that it is not useful at all.
3.To counter the inadequacy of this average, the human development index is used.
4.The human development index uses a combination of development factors (such as health,
education, income) for comparison.
Thus, per capita income is one of the development factors, and cannot be done away with.
Also, per capita income is useful for comparing the money index of states.

Q8: Find out the present sources of energy that are used by the people in India. What
could be the other possibilities fifty years from now?
Answer:
1.The present sources of energy that are used by the people of India are electricity, coal, crude
oil, cow dung and solar energy.
2.Other possibilities fifty years from now, could include ethanol, bio-diesel, nuclear energy
and a better utilization of wind energy, especially with the imminent danger of oil resources
running out.

Q9: Why is the issue of sustainability important for development?

Answer:
1.The issue of sustainability is important for development because development must be in
tandem with the future.
2.If natural resources are not sustained, then development will stagnate after a point of time.
3.Exploiting resources unethically will ultimately undo the development that a country may
have achieved.
4.This is because in the future, those resources will not be available for further progress.

Q10:"The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy
the greed of even one person". How is this statement relevant to the discussion of
development? Discuss.
Answer: “The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the
greed of even one person".
1.This statement is relevant to the discussion of development since both resources and
development go hand in hand.
2.For the sustainability of development, the maintenance of resources is also crucial.
As the statement claims, the Earth has enough resources” renewable and nonrenewable to
satisfy everyone's needs; however, these need to be used with a view to keeping the
environment protected and clean so that a balance of production and use is maintained, and
shortages are avoided.

Q11: List a few examples of environmental degradation that you may have observed
around you.
Answer: Environmental degradation manifests itself in different ways.
Deforestation, falling levels of ground water, soil erosion, water pollution, burning of fossil
fuels, the hole in the ozone layer and combustion from automobiles causing extreme air
pollution especially in urban areas are some of the examples of environmental degradation.

Q12: For each of the items given in Table 1.6, find out which country is at the top and
which is at the bottom.

Answer: Refer to table 1.6 from your textbook.

Table 1.6
(i) Per Capita Income in US$: Top country - Sri Lanka; Bottom country - Myanmar
(ii) Life Expectancy at birth: Top country - Sri Lanka; Bottom country - Myanmar
(iii) Literacy Rate for 15+ yrs population: Top country - Sri Lanka; Bottom country -
Bangladesh
(iv) Gross Enrolment Ratio for three levels: Top country - Sri Lanka; Bottom country -
Pakistan
 (v) HDI Rank in the world: Top country - Sri Lanka; Bottom country - Nepal

Q13: The following table shows the proportion of undernourished adults in India. It is
based on a survey of various states for the year 2001. Look at the table and answer the
following questions.

State Male (%) Female (%)

Kerala 22 19
Karnatak 36 38
a Madhya 43 42
Pradesh
All Sates 37 46

(i) Compare the nutritional level of people in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
(ii) Can you guess why around 40 per cent of people in the country
are undernourished even though it is argued that there is enough
food in the country? Describe in your own words.

Answer:
(i) The nutritional levels of people in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh are different.
While 22% and 19% men and women respectively are undernourished in Kerala, the
respective percentages of male and female undernourishment in Madhya Pradesh are 43%
and 42%.
This implies that Kerala has more well-nourished people than Madhya Pradesh.
Also, the undernourishment average for Madhya Pradesh is greater than that for the entire
country, while that for Kerala is lower than the national average.
(ii)Despite the presence of adequate food in the country, around 40% of Indians
are undernourished.
states in the country ensure smooth running of ration shops and other forms of
Public Distribution System (PDS).
This ensures that no one has to go without food, especially the poor for whom ration
shops provide food grains at subsidized rates.
However, on account of excess exports and inconsistent food supply to the masses,
nearly 40% of the Indian people are undernourished.