Class X Economics Chapter 1 Development | Important Questions

Here are important questions from NCERT Class X chapter 1 Development.

1. Name some factors which can determine the development of a country.

Development of a country can be determined by a number of factors. Chief among them are the per capita income, health and educational status of its people and their living standards.

2. What is the main criterion used by the World Bank for classifying different countries? What are the limitations of this criterion?

World Bank mainly uses per capita income to classify different countries. The main limitation of this approach is that it does not consider the distribution of income. Also, this method does not consider other factors affecting living standards of people such as their literacy level, health status, infant mortality rate etc.

3. In what way is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development different from the one used by the World Bank?

The only factor that World Bank considers for measuring development is the per capita income. UNDP, on the other hand, considers many factors such as the infant mortality rate, access to education and healthcare and other such factors which help in improving the productivity and living standards of people.

4. Why do we use averages? What are the limitations of using averages?

We use averages because they give a broad understanding. For example, the incomes of different people are different. In this case, finding the average income of all people is essential to find the per capita income of the country. However, there are several limitations to using averages. For example, the average does not show the actual distribution of a certain thing among people. For example, in any country, some people are very rich and some are very poor. The average, however, will always be a number between these extremes and using the average we cannot figure out how rich or poor the richest and the poorest are.

5. Although Kerala has a lower per capita income, its human development ranking index is higher than that of Punjab. Hence, the per capita income is not a useful criterion for comparing states. Do you agree?

No. I do not agree with this argument. While I do admit that per capita income is not the only yardstick for measuring development, in my opinion, it is still an important development factor that cannot be neglected. Kerala has higher human development ranking index because human development ranking is calculated by taking into account factors like education, health, infant mortality rate and income among others. Since the people of Kerala enjoy greater access to health and educational facilities and lower infant mortality rate, its human development ranking is higher. However, the average income of its people is lower than the average income of the people of Punjab.

6. What are the main sources of energy that are currently used by the people of India? What other sources could be used in future?

The energy sources that are currently used in India are electricity, coal, crude oil, solar, firewood and cow dung. In future other sources like ethanol, nuclear energy, bio-diesel and wind energy may become even more significant.

7. Why is sustainability important for development?

Sustainability is important because development must be able to continue in future as well. If natural resources are not conserved, they will not be available for use a few years or decades from now and then development will stagnate. Hence, if resources are exploited unethically, it will annul all the development a country has achieved. This is because of the non-availability of those resources for future development.

8. 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

For development to be sustainable, it is important to use the resources wisely. We need to think about the future generations and conserve some resources for them. If we are exploiting all the resources available to us just to satisfy our greed, development will soon come to a standstill because many resources that we use heavily today cannot be replenished. The earth has enough resources for all the creatures living here. However, if need gives way to greed, it will not be possible to sustain development.

9. Give some examples of environmental degradation that we see around us.

Some common examples of environmental degradation are:

deforestation

soil erosion

falling ground water levels

land and water pollution

ozone layer depletion

rise in atmospheric temperature

10. There is enough food in the country and yet 40% of the population are malnourished. Explain why?

While it is true that India produces enough food for all of its people, a lot of them still do not have adequate access to it because of poverty and other reasons. Although the government has made provisions to distribute food grains for free or subsidized prices under the public distribution system (PDS), in many states PDS does not work properly and hence many people do not get cheap food items.

There is a lack of educational and healthcare facilities in many parts of the country. Hence, poor people remain unhealthy and uneducated for life. Because of lack of education, they cannot find a good job or improve their financial situation and as such they cannot afford to buy food.

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