ECONOMICS X

Chapter 1 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Terms and concepts
National Income: Total value of all goods and services produced within a country plus
income coming from abroad.
Percapita Income: It is the total income of the country divided by its total population.
Infant Mortality Rate(IMR); It indicates the number of children who die before the age of
one year as a proportion of 1000 live children born in an year.
Net Attendance Ratio; It is the total number of children in the age group 6-10 attending
school as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.
Life Expectancy Ratio: Average expected length of life span of a person.
Gross Enrolment Ratio; Enrolment ratio for primary school, secondary school and higher
education beyond secondary school.
1. Define Human Development Index (HDI).
Human Development Index (HDI) is the index developed by UNDP to compare the level of
human development based on indicators such as infant mortality rate, life expectancy ratio
and gross enrolment ratio.
2. What is sustainable development? Give its main feature.
Sustainable development is development of a country or world not only at present, but
which is to be continued and maintained for future generations also. The development in
the present should not compromise with the needs of future generations. This concept
stresses the role of the environment as capital that, if exhausted, cannot be replaced. It
requires preservation of human capital physical capital.
3. Explain briefly four steps taken by the Indian government for raising the status of
women.
The government of India has declared dowry as illegal.
To impart education to girls various schools and colleges have been opened.
National commission for women was set up in January 1992.
Reservation for seats I local self government.
4. What is mean by economic development? Write the two bases of measuring economic
development of a country.
Economic development means that sustained increase in real per capita income that
promotes economic welfare by reducing poverty, unemployment and inequalities in
distribution of income.
Two bases of measuring economic development of a country are:-
National Income and Percapita income.
5. What is the limitation of Per Capita Income as an indicator of development?
Or
What is the main criterion used by World Bank in classifying different countries?
What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?
World bank has used Per Capita Income in classifying different countries. The limitation is
that Per Capita Income does not indicate whether income levels of all individuals have
increased or not and whether everyone’s quality of life is improving or not. Do people have
access to drinking water, regular power supply, access to education and health facilities is
not indicated by Per Capita Income. Increase in Per Capita Income is not an indicator of
development process.
6. Development goal of one may not benefit others. Comment.
Yes, Development goal may be conflicting. Development for one may not be development
for another or may cause arm to another, eg; some industrialists purchase big fishing nets
and use new techniques and big trawlers to catch fish. This may increase the fish catch for
them or for the country. It will increase their earnings but the smaller fishermen who live
on the coastline may lose their livelihood.
7. State the basis on which the Human Development Report published by UNDP
compares countries.
The Human Development Report compares countries on the basis of educational levels of
people, their health status and per capita income.
8. Explain how Human Development Index is calculated?
Human Development Index is a composite indeed prepared by the United Nations
Development Programme on a scale 0-1 measured on the basis of three indicators.
(1)Longevity- It implies how long a newborn is expected to live.
(ii) Knowledge or Educational Attainment- It implies the status of education of the people it
includes
Adult Literacy Rate- It refers to percentage of people above 15 years of age who can read
and write.
Gross Enrolment Ratio- It refers to estimation of number of students enrolled for different
levels of education such as primary, secondary and tertiary levels is estimated.
(iii) Income (per capita real GDP). It implies purchasing power of people or their capacity t o
buy goods and services.
9. Kerala, with lower Percapita 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.
Per capita income in itself is not a sufficient criterion for comparison of development. It can
judge economic in itself is not a sufficient criteria for comparison of development. It can
judge economic growth in terms of increase in income levels but not development.
Development includes health status of people, electricity consumption and availability,
access to clean drinking water, provision of basic health and education facilities, enrolment
ratio, literacy rates and many more parameters. Hence kerala which ranks better on other
parameters like literacy, birthrate, provision of basic facilities is better placed than Punjab
which has a higher per capita.
10.List a few examples of environmental degradation that you may have observed around
you.
Environment degradation is visible in so many forms. Forest tracts are cleared for
cultivation. Trees on hill slopes are being cut for wood or other purposes. Large green
areas on hills and seaside are being converted to houses or buildings for commercial
purposes. Dams with large height are being built after clearing tracts of land, lakes are
getting polluted and are shrinking , ice glaciers are melting because of increased
construction activity and CO2 emission, in urban areas trees are being fell recklessly to
construct roads and flyovers and pavements, rivers are getting polluted and their oxygen
content is going down
11. ‘The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all not but not enough to
satisfy the greed of even one person”. How is this statement relevant to the discussion of
development? Discuss.
Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all if they are used judiciously and not
over exploited by a few, depriving the others who need them. Over exploitations of
recourse has led to their depletion, some resources are non-renewable, cannot be
replenished and will soon get exhausted. Therefore with the greed of a few developed and
rich countries, the other countries are bound to suffer a shortage of resources.
12. What can be development goals of-
(a) A village- proper irrigation facilities, proper cowsheds, availability of new technology for
agriculture, a small industry which uses rural labor and local raw material, a school, a health
centre, supply of clean drinking water, availability of electricity are some development
goals of a village.
(b)- A Town- good roads, uninterrupted power supply , proper sanitation, good schools,
access of health facilities for all, green spaces, safety and enough jobs are the development
goals In a town.
(C). A Locality- A locality requires cleanliness, water supply, power supply, safety shopping
stores, a playground as a few development goals.
13.How do world bank classify countries.
The world bank classify countries on basis of per capita income
Countries with per capita income of US$ 49,300 per annum and above in 2019, are called high
income or rich countries and those with per capita income of US$ 2500 or less are called low-
income countries. India comes in the category of low middle income countries because its per
capita income in 2019 was just US$ 6700 per annum.