NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Economics Chapter 1 Development Economics

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 Social Science NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals.

Page No: 16

Exercises

1. Development of a country can generally be determined by
(i) its per capita income
(ii) its average literacy level
(iii) health status of its people
(iv) all the above
► (iv) all the above

2. Which of the following neighbouring countries has better performance in terms of human development than India?
(i) Bangladesh
(ii) Sri Lanka
(iii) Nepal
(iv) Pakistan
► (ii) Sri Lanka

3. 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) Rs 2000
(iv) Rs 6000
► (iv) Rs 6000

4. What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries? What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?

Answer

Per Capita Income is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries.The limitation of this criterion are:
→ It doesn’t show distribution of income.
→ It also ignores other factors such as infant mortality rate, literacy level, healthcare, etc.

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

Answer

World bank only uses per capita income for measuring development while UNDP uses many other factors like infant mortality, healthcare facility education level which help in improving the quality of life and helps in making the citizens more productive.

6. Why do we use averages? Are there any limitations to their use? Illustrate with your own examples related to development.

Answer

We use averages because they are useful for comparing differing quantities of the same category. 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. This does not show distribution of thing between people. For an example, if a country has very high per capita income then we can’t say that citizen living in that country are very rich because we are not knowing about the distribution of wealth in that country. Some people might be richer while other people are very poorer in that country.

7. 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

No, I do not agree with the statement that per capita income is not a useful criterion at all. Kerala, with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking than Punjab because, human development ranking is determined using a combination of factors such as health, education, and income. So, this does not imply that per capita income is not useful. Rather, per capita income is one of the development factors and can not be neglected. The World Bank uses per capita income as the criterion for measuring development and comparing states. But this criterion has certain limitations because of which determination of Human Development Index (HDI) is done using this criterion along with some other development factors like health, education etc.

8. 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

The present sources of energy that are used by the people of India are electricity, coal, crude oil, cowdung and solar energy. Other possibilities fifty years from now, could include ethanol, bio-diesel, nuclear energy and a better utilisation of wind energy, especially with the imminent danger of oil resources running out.

9. Why is the issue of sustainability important for development?

Answer

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

Page No: 17

10. “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”. This statement is relevant to the discussion of development since both resources and development go hand in hand. For the sustainability of development, the maintenance of resources is also crucial. As the statement claims, the Earth has enough resources- renewable and non-renewable to satisfy everyone’s needs; however, these need to be used with a view to keep the environment protected and clean so that a balance of production and use is maintained, and shortages are avoided.

11. List a few examples of environmental degradation that you may have observed around you.

Answer
Few examples of environmental degradation:
→ Deforestation
→ Soil erosion
→ Falling levels of ground water
→ Depletion of the ozone layer and combustion from automobiles causing extreme air pollution
→ Water Pollution

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

TABLE 1.6 SOME DATA REGARDING INDIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURS FOR 2017
Country	Gross National income (GNI) per capita (2011 PPP US$)	Life Expectancy at birth (2017)	Mean Years of Schooling of People aged 25 and above (2017)	HDI Rank in the World (2018)
Sri LankaIndiaMyanmarPakistanNepal Bangladesh	11,3266,3535,5675,3312,4713,677	75.568.866.766.670.672.8	10.96.44.95.24.95.8	76130148150149136

Answer

(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
13. 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 (%)
KeralaKarnatakaMadhya Pradesh	8.51728	102128
All Sates	20	23

(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 level of people of Kerala is quite higher than the people – both males and females of Madhya Pradesh. Their ratio of the under-nourished is less than that of Madhya Pradesh.

(ii) There is enough food in the country, even then 40% of the people in the country are undernourished because:
→ A large number of people are so poor that they cannot afford nutritious food.
→ In most of the states, the Public Distribution System (PDS) does not function properly and the poor people cannot get cheap food items.
→ There is lack of educational and health facilities in many parts of the country. So many people remain backward and poor. As such, they are unable to get nutritious food.

Important Link

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Most Important Question- Development Economics

Important MCQs- Development Economics