AGRAGAMI PRE-UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (Powered by Parivarthana)

ANSWER SCRIPT ASSIGNMENT

SUBJECT – 1ST PUC COMMERCE (ECONOMICS)

Section –A 1 Mark Questions

WRITE ALL
1. Define statistics?
Statistics is a branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation,
and presentation of masses of numerical data

2. Who is known as the father of Indian Statistics?

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, considered the father of modern statistics in India, founded
the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) shaped the Planning Commission and pioneered
methodologies for large-scale surveys.

3. Define sample?
A sample refers to a group or section of the population from which information is to be
obtained which is generally smaller than the population & is capable of providing reasonably
accurate information.

4. What is National Income & Per capita Income?

National income is the total value a country’s final output of all new goods and services
produced in one year taking sum of all sectors personal, public or government, whereas Per
capita income = total income ÷ total population. Per capita consumption is calculated as
total consumption of a country total population over a given period say a year.

5. Name the economists who estimated India’s per capita income?

Dadabhai Navroji, V.K.R.V. Rao, Wiliam Digby, Findlay Shirras and R.C. Desai.

6. When was India’s first official census operation undertaken?

First official census was undertaken in the year 1881.

7. Write the different kinds of land tenure systems?

Land Tenure System. There were three forms of Land tenure system introduced by the
British rulers in India. These were:
(a) Zamindari system
(b) Mahalwari system
(c) Ryotwari system

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 8. Define Colonialism?
Colonialism is a policy where one country seeks to extend political or economic authority
over the people and physical territory of another country.

9. What are all the demographic factors that were affected during British rule?
a) High Birth Rate and Death Rate
b) High Infant Mortality Rate
c) Low Life Expectancy
d) Mass Illiteracy
e) Low Standard of Living

Section – B 2 marks questions

Answer all of them:
1. Which of the following methods give better results and why?
(a) Census (b) sample

In terms of accuracy of results, census is better as it studies all the units of population but
this method is very time consuming, expensive and sometimes not feasible to use. Hence,
sampling is better due to following reasons

 Cost involved in sampling is relatively low.

 Do not take that much time.
 Lesser effort
 Considerable Accuracy Results

2. Which of the following errors is more serious and why?

(a) Sampling error (b) Non sampling error

(b) Sampling error refers to the difference between the sample estimate and the actual
value of a population characteristic. This type of error occurs when one makes an
observation from the sample taken from the population. It is possible to reduce the
magnitude of sampling error by taking a larger sample.

Non-sampling errors are more serious than sampling errors because a sampling error can be
minimised by taking a larger sample but it is difficult to minimise non-sampling error, even
by taking a large sample. Even a Census can contain non-sampling errors. These include
errors in data acquisition, non-response errors and sampling bias.

3. List out the differences between Capital goods & Consumer Goods?

Consumer goods are defined as the goods that are used for final consumption, i.e. the
goods are not used for further processing. eg – Food products like fruits, Vegetables, eggs....

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Capital goods are those goods that are used for future production by the manufacturers,
rather than by the consumers for final use, Goods that are deployed to produce consumer
goods is called capital goods.eg - Machineries

4. List out the differences between Cash crops & Food crops?

Cash crops are crops grown with the intention of generating money. For instance coffee,
tea, cocoa, wheat and cotton are common cash crops. Most cash crops can either be
consumed directly or processed into other final products.

Food crops are plants mainly cultivated for human domestic consumption, whereby farmers
grow just what is enough for their own personal needs. They mainly consist of tubers,
legumes, fruits, vegetables cereals and fruits. In this kind of farming, planning decisions are
mainly made based on a family’s needs.

5. List some of the India’s most crucial economic challenges at the time of Independence?

Most crucial economic challenges at the time of independence were:

1. Little industrialisation and decline of handicrafts.

2. Low agricultural output and high imports of grains.
3. Low national income and per capita income which showed extreme poverty.
4. Very sluggish economic progress.’
5. Unemployment and underemployment.
6. Very high infant mortality rate, low life expectancy and low standard of living.

Section – C
Answer all of them:
1. Make a list of activities in a bus stand or a market place. Name all the economic
activities?

The following are the activities that constitute the ordinary business of life in a
market place:

 Buying of goods and services.

 Rendering services to a company by employees and workers.
 Selling of goods and services.
 Production process carried out by a firm.
 Promotion activities to sell a product
 Pay and use lavatories (Toilets)
 Restaurants to eat
 Rooms on rent

Yes, the above mentioned activities are regarded as economic activities. This is because;
these activities are undertaken for monetary gain and are thus economic activities.

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 2. How to frame the questionnaires?

The most common type of instrument used in surveys is Questionnaire / Interview schedule.
The questionnaire is either self-administered by the researcher at the respondent
 The questionnaire should not be too long
 Number of questions should be minimum as possible
 Series of questions should move from general to specific
 Questions should not use double negatives
 Avoid using “Would you” or “Don’t you” as it may lead to biased response
 Recognize the form and layout of the questionnaire
 Pre-test the questionnaire
 Finalize the questionnaire

3. What was the focus of the economic policies pursued by the colonial government
in India and what were the Impacts?

 The economic policies pursued by the colonial government in India were concerned
more with the protection and promotion of the economic interests of their home
country rather than with the development of the Indian economy.
 At the time of independence in 1947, India was a poor and underdeveloped country.
 At that time, agriculture was in a poor condition and mineral resources were not fully
used.
 There were only a few industries and many of the cottage and small-scale industries
had declined under the British rule.
 Millions of people were unemployed, not because they were unwilling to work but
because there were no jobs to be found.
 The per capita income of Indians was one of the lowest in the world, indicating that
the average Indian was extremely poor and could not afford even the basic
necessities of life. For instance, the staple food of average Indian consisted of rice,
wheat and millets (like jowar and bajra). Most Indians could not afford to buy
nutritious and balanced diet. The vast majority of people in India led a miserable life.

4. What were the main causes of India’s Agricultural stagnation during colonial rule?

Indian agriculture was primitive and stagnant. The main causes of stagnation of agriculture
sector were as follows:

1. Land Tenure System. There were three forms of Land tenure system introduced by the
British rulers in India. These were:
(a) Zamindari system
(b) Mahalwari system
(c) Ryotwari system

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  In the Zamindari system, Zamindars or landlords were the owners of land.
 The actual collections by Zamindars were much higher than what they had to pay to
the Government.
 Zamindari system led to multiplication of middlemen between cultivators and
Government, absentee landlordism, exploitation of peasants by unsympathetic
agents and enmity between landlords and tenants.
 Under the system, intermediaries benefited at the cost of both actual cultivators and
the state.

2. Commercialisation of Agriculture.

 Commercialisation of agriculture means production of crops for sale in the market

rather than for self consumption. Cash crops were grown in plenty.
 Farmers were forced to cultivate commercial crops like Indigo. Indigo was required
by the textile industry in Britain for dyeing of the textile. As a result, there was fall in
the production of food crops.
 The farmers had to suffer from frequent occurrence of famine.
 Indian agriculture was transformed into a raw material exporting sector for England.

3. Partition of the Country.

 Partition of the country in 1947 also adversely affected India’s agricultural

production. The rich food producing areas of West Punjab and Sindh went to
Pakistan. It created food crisis in the country.
 Also, the whole of fertile land under jute production went to East Pakistan. The jute
industry was most severely affected due to partition.

Thus, Indian agriculture became backward, stagnant and non-vibrant under the British
rule. Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence.

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 Section – D

Answer all:

1. Define data? What are the sources of data .Give an Example?

Data are individual pieces of tactical information recorded in numerical form and used for
the purpose of analysis.

Sources of Data:
The following are the two sources of data:

1. Internal sources

 When data is collected from reports and records within the organisation itself, they
are known as the internal sources. For example, a company publishes its annual
report’ on profit and loss, total sales, loans, wages, etc.

2. External sources

 When data is collected from sources outside the organisation, they are known as the
external sources. For example, if a tours and travel company obtains information on
Karnataka tourism from Karnataka Transport Corporation; it would be known as an
external source of data.

Types of Data:
A) Primary data

 Primary data means first-hand information collected by an investigator.

 It is collected for the first time.
 It is original and more reliable.

For example, the population census conducted by the government of India after every ten
years is primary data.

B) Secondary data

 Secondary data refers to second-hand information.

 It is not originally collected and rather obtained from already published or
unpublished sources.

For example, the address of a person taken from the telephone directory or the phone
number of a company taken from Just Dial is secondary data.

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2. Define Sampling? What are the types of the sampling? Give an Example

Sampling is a method used in statistical analysis in which a decided number of

considerations are taken from a comprehensive population or a sample survey.

There are 2 Types of Sampling, they are:

A. RANDOM SAMPLING
 Random sampling method refers to a method in which every item in the
universe has an equal chance of being selected.
 It is also known as probability sampling or representative sampling.
 There is no room for discrimination in random sampling.
Example: An example of a simple random sample would be the names of 25
employees being chosen out of a hat from a company of 250 employees.

B. NON RANDOM SAMPLING

 Non-random sampling is one in which all the items of the universe do not have
equal chances of being selected.
 The investigator selects samples on the basis of convenience or his judgment
rather than on the basis of probability.
Example: If we’re selecting our sample by stopping people on the street, attempting
to stop an equal number of men and women

3. Critically apprise some of the shortfalls of the industrial policy pursued by British
admin?
The state of Indian industrial sector on the eve of independence was as follows:

1. De-industrialisation—Decline of Indian Handicraft Industry. Britishers followed the

policy of systematically de-industrialising India. The primary motive behind the de-
industrialisation by the British government was two-fold.

 To get raw materials from India at cheap rates in order to reduce India to a mere
exporter of raw materials to the British industries.
 To sell British manufactured goods in Indian market at higher prices. It resulted in
decline of world famous traditional handicrafts.
 Britishers followed discriminatory tariff policy. It allowed free export of raw materials
from India and free import of British final goods to India, but placed heavy duty on the
export of Indian handicrafts.

In this way, Indian markets were full of manufactured goods from Britain which
were low priced. Indian handicrafts started losing both domestic market and
export market. Ultimately, the handicraft industry declined.

2. Lopsided Modem Industrial Structure. Unbalanced and lopsided structure of Indian

industries is again a legacy of the British rule in India. British rulers neither permitted
modernisation of industries nor did they encourage the growth of heavy industries in

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 India. The period 1850-55 saw the establishment of the first cotton mill, first jute mill
and the first coal mine. By the end of 19th century, there were 194 cotton mills and 36
jute mills. The cotton textile mills were located in the western parts of the country, in
the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Jute mills in Bengal were established mainly by British capitalists.

First iron and steel industry during British rule was Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO)
incorporated in August 1907 in Jamshedpur (Bihar).

Some other industries which had their modest beginning after Second World War were:
sugar, cement, chemical and paper industries.

3. Capital Goods Industries were Lacking. The policy of Britishers was simply to develop
those industries which would never be competitive to the British industry. They always
wanted Indians to be dependent on Britain for the supply of capital goods and heavy
equipments.

Thus, the development of a few consumer goods industries was witnessed during the
British rule. The heavy industries were, by and large, conspicuous by their absence.

This resulted in an unbalanced and lopsided growth of industries in India.

4. Limited Operation of the Public Sector. Public sector was confined to railways, power
generation, communication, ports and some other departmental under-takings.

4. Give quantitative appraisal of India’s demographic profile during the colonial period?

The demographic condition on the eve of independence was as follows:

1. High Birth Rate and Death Rate. High birth rate and high death rate are treated as
indices of backwardness of a country. Both birth rate and death rate were very high at
48 and 40 per thousand of persons respectively.
2. High Infant Mortality Rate. If refers to death rate of children below the age of one
year. It was about 18 per thousand live births.
3. Low Life Expectancy. Life expectancy means the number of years that a new born child
on an average is expected to live. It was as low as 32 years.
4. Mass Illiteracy. Mass illiteracy among the people of a country is taken as an indicator of
its poverty and backwardness. The population census of 1941 (which was the last
census under the British rule) estimated the literacy rate at 17 per cent. This means that
83 per cent of the total population was illiterate.
5. Low Standard of Living. At the time of independence, people used to spend between
80 to 90 percent of their income on basic necessities that is on food, clothing and
housing. Even then, people did not get adequate quantity of food or clothing or housing

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 and millions of people starved, went naked and lived in huts or in the open. Moreover,
some parts of India came under severe famine conditions. The famines were so severe
that millions died. One of the worst famines in India was the Bengal famine of 1943,
when three million people died.

Section – E

Answer:

1. “You have unlimited wants and limited resources to satisfy them.” Explain this
statement by giving two examples.
The problem of SCARCITY is the most basic economic problem. Human wants are unlimited
and resources to satisfy these wants are limited and these limited resources have
alternative uses. ‘Scarcity of resources’ implies that there are unlimited wants to be fulfilled
by limited resources which leads to lesser supply of resources as compared to demand for
them.

The basic concern of an economy is to allocate the scarce resources to the best possible use
in order to satisfy maximum wants. The limited resources have alternative uses which along
with problem of scarcity makes it necessary for an economy to make a choice among
various alternatives.

For example, an economy endowed with a given level of resources has to make a choice
between the production of capital goods and consumer goods. The choice of the economy
(i.e., what to produce and in what quantities) depends on the need of the economy. While
the production of consumer goods will hamper the capital formation in the country for
future production, the production of capital goods will not provide sufficient goods for
consumption to the present population.

The same problem of scarcity can be felt at an individual level, e.g., with a given amount of
money say? 10,000, one cannot buy a refrigerator and a washing machine simultaneously.
Thus, the individual needs to make a choice between the alternatives according to his/her
priority.

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