Q1.List the factors which might have caused India’s poor showing/ranking in HDI ranking.
Answer:
India with a population of 1.2 billion is ranked 134th out of 172 countries as per the UNDP HDI report 2011, with a value of 0.547. There are various historical factors which are responsible for India’s poor ranking in HDI like colonialisation, social-cultural factors like Human Right violation, social discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender and caste, social problems like crime, terrorism and lower level of empowerment among marginal members of society has special significance in this regard.
Q2.List three interesting features of India’s literacy as per 2001 census report
Answer:
The three interesting features of India’s literacy as per 2001 census report are:
Q3.Which factors are responsible for the variation in Human Development among the states of India?
Answer:
There are several socio-political, economic and historical reasons for such a state of affairs. Kerala is able to record the highest value in the HDI largely due to its impressive performance in achieving near hundred per cent literacy. States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh have very low literacy. States showing higher total literacy rates have less gaps between the male and female literacy rates.
Apart from the educational attainment, the levels of economic development too play significant impacts on HDI. Economically developed states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Punjab and Haryana have higher value of HDI as compared to
states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, etc.
Regional distortions and social disparities play an important role in the Indian economy, polity and society. The Government of India has made concerted efforts to institutionalize the balanced development with its main focus on social distributive justice through planned development.
Q4.What are the direct bearings of development on deteriorating human conditions?
Answer:
Developmental activities causes environmental pollution and ecological crises. It leads to air, soil, water and .noise pollution’s and threaten the existence of a society. The poor are subjected to three interrelated processes of declining capabilities; i.e.
This, in turn, has adverse effects on their quality of life and human development. So, developmental activities are considered as a main source of social distributive injustice, deterioration in the quality of life, ecological crises and social unrest.
Q5.Mention the important measures of a healthy and long life.
Answer:
Q6.Mention the major issues which UNDP considered important in achieving Human development.
Answer:
Q7.Explain the level of literacy in India.
Answer:
Overall literacy in India is approx. 5.4% while female literacy is 54.16%.
Q8.Explain thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in context of development.
Answer:
Indian culture and civilization have been very sensitive to the issues of population resource and development for a long time.
Q1.Write a report on the Human Development in India from the point of economic, health & social empowerment.
Answer:
It is believed that “Development is freedom” which is often associated with modernization leisure, comfort and affluence. In the present context computerization, industrialization, efficient transport and communication network, large education system, advanced and modern medical facilities, safety and security of individuals, etc. are considered as the symbols of development.
Indicators of Economic Attainments: A rich resource base and access to these resources by all, particularly the poor, downtrodden and the marginalized is the key to productivity, well-being and human development. Gross National Product (GNP) and its per capita availability are taken as measures to assess the resource base/endowment of any country. Prevalence of poverty, illiteracy, deprivation and injustice in social distribution system and regional disparities belie all the economic achievements in India. Developed states like Maharasthra, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat have high per capita income. The poorer states of U.P., Bihar, Odisha, M.P., Assam have less per capita income. In states like Odisha and Bihar more than 40% population live below poverty line.
Indicators of Healthy Life: A disease free and a relatively long life is indicator of healthy life. Some of the measures of healthy life are availability of pre and post natal healthcare system facilities, old age health care, adequate nutrition and safety of individuals. Over the years the death rate has come down from 25.1 per thousand in 1951 to 8.1 per thousand in 1999. Birth rate has gone down from 40.8 to 26.1 during the same time period. The life expectancy has increased from 37.1 years to 62.3 years for males and 36.2 to 65.3 years for females from 1951 to 1999. India has recorded a declining sex ratio except in the state of Kerala.
Social Empowerment: Freedom in real sense of the term is possible only with the empowerment and participation of the people in the exercise of their capabilities and choices in the society. Access to knowledge about the society and environment are fundamental to freedom. Literacy is the beginning of access to such a world of knowledge and freedom. In India the overall literacy rate is 65.4% (2001) and female literacy is 54.1%, ranging from 47% in Bihar to 91% in Kerala. It has been observed that literacy rate is more in southern states than the national average. Apart from the spatial variation, literacy rate is lower in rural areas and marginalized sections of the society. Though the literacy rate has increased among the marginalized section, yet the gap has increased between them and the rich.
Q2.With example show how population, development and environment are inter related?
Answer:
There is a general notion that if development is achieved then it will solve all the social-cultural and environmental problems of the society. Development, along with it has increased regional disparities, social inequality, displacement of people, discrimination, deprivation, abuse of human rights and human values and has led to environmental degradation.
UNDP in its human development report 1993 laid emphasis on progressive democratization and increasing empowerment of people. It recognized the constructive role of civil society in bringing peace and human development for reduction in military expenditure, demobilization of armed forces and transition from defence to production of basic goods and services.
The neo-Malthusian environmentalists believe that proper balance between population and resources is necessary for happy and peaceful social life. Developmental activities have increased the multiple uses of the limited available resources in order to cater to the growing demand, but since resources are unevenly distributed so there is injustice in social distribution. The richer countries have more access while the resources are shrinking in poorer countries, thereby leading to conflict as well as apparent contradiction between population, resource and development.
Indian culture is concerned about the balance and harmony among the elements of nature. According to Gandhiji austerity for individual, trusteeship of social wealth and non- violence are the key to attain higher goals in the life of an individual as well as that of a nation.
Q3.“Development is a mix bag of opportunities as well as neglect and deprivation”. Explain.
Answer:
There are a few areas like the metropolitan centers and other developed enclaves that have all the modern facilities available to a small section of its population. At the other extreme of it, there are large rural areas and the slums in the urban areas that do not have basic amenities like potable water, education and health infrastructure available to majority of this population. The situation is more alarming if one looks at the distribution of the development opportunities among different sections of our society.
It is a well established fact that majority of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, landless agricultural labourers, poor farmers and slums dwellers, etc. are the most marginalized lot. A large segment of female population is the worst sufferers among all. It is also equally true that the relative as well as absolute conditions of the majority of these marginalized sections have worsened with the development happening over the years. Consequently, vast majority of people are compelled to live under abject poverty and subhuman conditions. There is yet another inter-related aspect of development that has direct bearings on the deteriorating human conditions. It pertains to the environmental pollution leading to ecological crisis.
Q4.Describe the level of economic achievements in India.
Answer:
The level of economic achievements in India can be understood from the following: