Chapter 1 Development Important Questions Class 10 Economics
Chapter 1 Development Important Questions Class 10 Economics helps you to avoid panicking when you get stuck on a difficult question during the exam. Practising extra questions helps you become more comfortable with the exam format and the types of questions you can expect.
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Chapter 1 Development Important Questions and Answers Class 10 Economics
Chapter 1 Development Very Short Answer Questions (1 Mark)
1. What does Infant Mortality Rate indicate?
Solution
The number of children that die before the age of one year as a proportion of 1000 live children.
2. Why is the total income of countries not used to make comparisons between them?
Solution
The total income of the countries is not used to make comparisons between them because the population of different countries is different.
3. What are the common developmental goals of a person?
Solution
Common developmental goals are regular work, better wages and better standards of living.
4. Why Kerala has a low infant mortality rate?
Solution
It has adequate provisions of basic health and educational facilities.
5. What is per Capita income?
Solution
When the total income of the country is divided by its population, we get per capita income.
6. What is literacy rate measure?
Solution
Literacy rate measures the proportion of literate population in the seven and above age group.
7. What is Life Expectancy at birth?
Solution
Life expectancy at birth denotes average expected length of life of a person at the time of birth.
8. What is Net Attendance Ratio?
Solution
It is the total number of children of the age group 14-15 years attending school as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.
9. What is National income?
Solution
The sum total of all goods and services produced within a country or nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) plus net income received from overseas during a period of one year.
10. Why is the total income of countries not used to make comparisons between them?
Solution
The total income of the countries is not used to make comparisons between them because the population of different countries is different.
11. Besides the size of per capita income, which other property of income is important in comparing two or more societies?
Solution
Per capita income is an important but not the only criterion for development. Along with average income, equitable distribution of income in a country should also be considered.
12. Why is per capita income of different countries calculated in dollars & not in their own currencies by the World Bank?
Solution
It is done in order to make comparisons of per capita income of different countries possible.
Chapter 1 Development Short Answer Questions (3 Marks)
1. ‘While average income is useful for comparison but it may hide disparities’. Discuss.
Solution
Per capita income is an important criterion for development is considered to be one of the most important attributes for comparing countries but is suffers from the following limitations:
(i) Per capita income doesn’t tell us anything about the distribution of income. A poor country with a more equal distribution of income would be better off than a richer country with unequal distribution of income.
(ii) Per capita income doesn’t measure various facilities & services that influence quality of life e.g. health facilities, education facilities, equal treatment etc.
(iii) It is effected by size of population. Even with a large national income, per capita income will be low if a country has large population.
2. Kerala, with lower per capita income, has a better human development ranking than Haryana. Hence, per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should not be used to compare states. Do you agree? Discuss.
Solution
It is correct to say that per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should not be used to compare states due to reasons as mentioned below:
(i) Money cannot buy all the goods and services that you need to live well. Income by itself is not a completely adequate indicator of material goods and services that citizens are able to use.
(ii) There cannot be a pollution-free environment in a colony of rich people unless the whole community takes preventive steps.
(iii) Sometimes, it is better to have collective services like security for the whole locality than to have individual security for one’s own house. Again a school may be opened for the children of the whole community than for one or two children of a rich person.
3. “Do the two terms -economic growth and economic development mean the same thing”. Discuss.
Solution
No, they are different. Economic growth can be defined as a process whereby a country’s real national income increases over a period of time. On the other hand economic development is a process of long-term increase in income as well as with achieving a more equitable income distribution and poverty alleviation. Thus economic development is a wider concept than economic growth.
4. What are the two basic criteria used for comparing an underdeveloped countries with developed one?
Solution
(i) On the basis of per capita income: In World Development Reports, brought out by the World Bank, this criterion is used for classifying countries. Countries with per capita income of US$ 49,300 per annum and above in 2019, are called rich countries and those with per capita income of US$ 2500 or less are called low-income countries.
(ii) On the basis of Human Development Index: According to this criteria the countries are ranked on the basis of life expectancy, literacy rate and health status etc.
5. Why is sustainability important for development? Give two suggestions to achieve the sustainability of development.
Solution
Sustainability is very important for development because if all development activities are carried out without paying attention to environment and other natural factors then development itself will become a danger for mankind. For example, if forests are cut relentlessly then global warming will destroy everything on the Earth. In that scenario what would be the use of development.
To achieve sustainability:
(i) we must be less dependent on non-renewable resources.
(ii) we must live according to natural conditions and use natural produce as far as possible.
6. “The Earth has enough resources to meet the need of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person.” How is this statement relevant to the discussion of development? Discuss.
Solution
This statement is relevant to the discussion of development because resources and development go hand in hand. As the statement says, our planet has enough resources, both renewable and non-renewable, to meet everyone’s needs as long as we use them wisely. Consuming and keeping resources in good shape is also important for development to last. We have to use our resources in a way that protects and cleans up the environment so that there is a balance between development and the way we use our resources. As otherwise, development will stop after a certain point in the future.
7. What may be the development for one may be the destruction for the other.” Explain the statement with appropriate examples.
Solution
(i) Yes, it is true that what may be called development for some may turn out to be destruction for the others.
(ii) The Sardar Sarovar dam built over the Narmada river led to a major evacuation of the tribes near the Narmada river and as a result the tribes lost their land and homes. This development of Sardar Sarovar dam turned out to be a destruction for the tribes.
(iii) Multinational companies take away the land of the farmers for the construction of industries. It may be beneficial for boosting production but at the same time it causes loss of cultivable land and livelihood of the farmers. Various movements have been launched against the acquisition of land from the farmers.
8. Why are countries of the Middle East not called ‘developed’ inspite of high per capita income?
Solution
Even though the Middle Eastern countries are very rich because they have oil reserves and produce oil, money is not the only sign of development. Along with money, there are other things that these countries lack, like education and social things like freedom, democracy, and equal rights for men and women.
Chapter 1 Development Long Answer Questions (5 Marks)
1. What is Human Development Index? Which organization measures the HDI? Explain the three major indicators of the HDI.
Solution
Human Development Index is a tool developed by the United Nations to measure and rank countries based on the level of social and economic development. The HDI makes it possible to track changes in development levels from time to time and to compare development levels in different countries. The concept of HDI goes beyond income and growth to cover overall development with the object of improving the conditions of people from all angles. The organization that measures the HDI is the United Nations.
Three major indicators of the HDI are as follows.
(i) Health: Without proper health facilities, no matter how much a country earns, it will not be able to provide basic facilities to its people.
(ii) Education: Over the past few decades, education has become an important factor in leading a quality life. So, if the country has high income but the literacy rate is low, it cannot be considered developed.
(iii) Security: More than income, people want to have a secured life. A country should be able to provide a sense of security to its citizens.
2. Distinguish between economic development and human development.
Solution
| Human Development | Economics Development |
| It refers to human centered approach towards development. It focuses on people & qualitative improvement in human life. | It refers to sustained increase in real per capita income that promotes economic welfare by reducing poverty, unemployment & inequalities in distribution of income. |
| It is indicated by human development index. | It can be indicated by national income and per capita income. |
| It is a under term and includes economic development also. | It is narrower term as compared to economic development. |
| It considers human welfare. Should be increased through investments in education and health. | It considers people can be made better off by increasing their command over goods and services. |
3. What is the main criterion used by the World Bank is classifying different countries? What are the limitations of this criterion, if any? In what respects is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development different from the one used by the World Bank?
Solution
The UNDP compares the development of the countries on the basis of literacy rate, gross enrolment ratio and health status of their people. On the their hand, the World Bank compares the development of the countries on the basis of per capita income or average income.
On the basis of the comparison done by the UNDP, the countries are ranked as first, second, third whereas on the basis of the comparison done by the World Bank the countries are divided into three categories:
(i) Rich or developed or high-income countries
(ii) Middle-income or developing countries
(iii) Poor or underdeveloped or low-income countries
The UNDP has a broader concept of development and the World Bank has a narrow concept of development.
Limitation: Limitation of this criterion is that average or per capita income is not the only factor important for development. This factor hides the other important factor-distribution of income, which also affects development. Higher average income, along with equitable distribution of income is considered favourable for development.