People as Resource Important Questions Class 9 Social Science Economics
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What does ‘People as a Resource’ mean?
Answer
‘People as a Resource’ is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
Question 2. Which person out of a farm labourer, a construction worker and a miner is having seasonal employment?
Answer
Miners and construction workers normally work in all seasons. Only a farm labourer will work for some part of the year and thus is having seasonal employment.
Question 3. What is human capital?
Answer
When investment is made in the form of education, training and medical care, the quality of population improves and becomes a great asset. It is known as human capital.
Question 4. What is the age group of population which is treated as the workforce?
Answer
The workforce population in India includes people from the age of 15 to 59 years. In other countries, this may be slightly different. For instance, it is 16 to 65 years in USA.
Question 5. What do you know about Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?
Answer
It is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010.
Question 6. Begging is which category of activity?
Answer
Begging does not involve production of any goods or services and also does not add to national income. So, it is a non-economic activity.
Question 7. Why do educated parents invest heavily in the education of their children?
Answer
Educated parents invest more in the health and education of their children because they are aware of the benefits of higher education.
Question 8. What is the major reason for education having an important role in human capital formation?
Answer
Education broadens the knowledge of people and provides them training, thus having an important role in human capital formation.
Question 9. Mention two consequences of unemployment.
Answer
The two consequences of unemployment are:
- It leads to wastage of manpower resources.
- It tends to increase in economic overload.
Question 10. What is infant mortality rate?
Answer
The infant mortality rate (IMR) refers to the number of deaths of infants per thousand live births before completing one year.
Question 11. Which sector of the Indian economy absorbs the maximum labour?
Answer
Agriculture is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy.
Question 12. ‘Unemployment rate is low in India.’ Why?
Answer
In India, the unemployment rate is low because large number of people with low income and productivity are counted as employed.
Question 13. What are Navodaya Vidyalayas?
Answer
Navodaya Vidyalayas are the schools started for the talented children in the rural areas.
Question 14. What is the full form of GNP?
Answer
The full form of GNP is Gross National Product.
Question 15. What are tertiary activities?
Answer
Tertiary activities include services like education, health, communication, banking, trade, transport, tourism, insurance etc. These services help in the smooth functioning of primary and secondary activities.
Question 16. Classify various activities on the basis of its economic benefit?
Answer
Various Activities have been classified into three main sectors.
- Primary Sector
- Secondary Sector
- Tertiary Sector
Question 17. Mention two things necessary for good health.
Answer
The two things which are necessary for good health are:
- Balanced and nutritious diet
- Health care facilities
Question 18. What is the positive side of a large population?
Answer
A large population, from productive aspect, contributes to Gross National Product.
Question 19. What are Non-Market Activities?
Answer
Non-Market activities are the production for self consumption. These can be consumption and processing of primary product and own account production of fixed assets.
Question 20. How does the society benefit from investment in humans?
Answer
The benefit of society from investment in humans is an indirect way that is the benefits of educated and healthier population spreads to those who are not educated or healthy.
Question 21. How can population be a liability and how can it be made an asset?
Answer
Illiterate and unhealthy population are a liability for the economy whereas literate and healthy population is an asset.
Question 22. What differences have been noted in literacy among different sections of the society and states?
Answer
The differences are higher between males and females, more in urban areas than rural areas and higher in Kerala than Bihar.
Question 23. What is meant by seasonal unemployment?
Answer
It is a situation when people are not able to find jobs during the particular months of a year especially in agriculture.
Question 24. What are the major determinants of earnings?
Answer
Education and skill are the two major determinants of earnings.
Question 25. What is the result of this eleventh plan?
Answer
Over the past fifty years, there has been a significant growth in the number of universities and institutions of higher learning in specialised areas.
Question 26. What are different types of primary activities?
Answer
Primary activities include agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, mining, quarrying and poultry farming etc.
Question 27. What is an unorganised sector?
Answer
It is a sector where the income of people is low and irregular. The basic facilities such as maternity leave, childcare and other social security systems are also absent in an unorganised sector.
Question 28. What happens in disguised unemployment?
Answer
In case of disguised unemployment people appear to be employed. The work requires the service of five people but engages eight people. Three people are extra. These three are disguisedly unemployed.
Question 29. When population does becomes human capital?
Answer
Population becomes human capital when investment is made in the form of education, training and medical care. It adds up to the productive power of a country.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What are Tertiary Activities?
Answer
Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance etc. are included in the tertiary activities. The activities in this sector result in the production of goods and services.
Question 2. Mention three sectors of economic activities with examples.
Answer
The three sectors of economic activities are:
- Primary sector. It produces goods by exploiting natural resources. It includes agriculture, forestry, mining, animal husbandry and fishing.
- Secondary sector. It converts all raw materials into finished goods such as manufacturing industries and construction activities.
- Tertiary sector. It includes trade, transportation, communication, education, health, tourism and insurance etc. It helps in the smooth functioning of primary and secondary sectors.
Question 3. What is an economic activity? What are the different types of economic activities?
Answer
Economic activities are those activities which add value to the national income. The two types of economic activities are:
- Market activities. These are those activities which involve remuneration to those who perform the activities for wages or profit.
- Non-market activities. These activities refer to production activities which are performed for self-consumption and processing of primary products and own account production of fixed assets.
Question 4. What is the strategy of eleventh plan for education and literacy?
Answer
The strategy focuses on increasing access, quality, adoption of states-specific curriculum modification, vocationalisation and networking on the use of information technology. The eleventh plan also focuses on distant education convergence of formal, non-formal, distant and IT education institutions.
Question 5. Describe any three steps taken by government in the field of education.
Answer
- A child, too with investment made on his/her education can yield a higher return in future in the form of higher earning and greater contribution to society.
- Educated parents realise the importance of education.
- They are conscious of proper nutrition and hygiene.
Question 6. Why is human capital the most important factor of production? Give three reasons.
Answer
Human capital is the most important factor of production for the following reasons:
- Human capital refers to the people who possess the knowledge and enterprise to put together the other factors of production.
- Investment in human capital yields a return just like investment in physical capital.
- It is essential, as physical capital cannot produce goods and services on its own.
Question 7. Distinguish between market and non-market activities with three points of distinction.
Answer
|
Market Activities |
Non-market Activities |
|
(a) Market activities are those activities which include the production and consumption of goods. |
(a) Non-market activities include things which are not economic and comprise of exchange system. |
|
(b) These activities are performed for pay or profits. |
(b) These activities are performed for self-consumption. |
|
(c) Example: A teacher teaching in a school and a man working in a bank. |
(c) Example: Subsistence farming and processing of primary products. |
Question 8. Mention any three features of National Health Policy.
Answer
The three features of National Health Policy are:
- It aims at improving the accessibility of healthcare and family welfare.
- It aims at improving nutritional services with a special focus on underprivileged segment of the population.
- It has improved the ratio of nurses, doctors and beds in the country.
Question 9. What do you understand by ‘people as resource’?
Answer
‘People as resource’ includes the following factors:
- The people should be an asset and not a liability for the country.
- They must contribute towards the betterment of the economy.
- They must provide the economy with their skills and abilities so that they become a resource. Thus, people as resource means ‘human resource’.
Question 10. Explain why Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and literacy rate are considered to be indicators of human resource development.
Answer
Infant Mortality Rate is a factor that can be associated with the well-being of a population. High infant mortality rates could reflect improper childcare owing to poverty, lack of education and other factors. Similarly, the literacy rate reflects the quality of a population. An illiterate and unhealthy population shows poor human development, whereas a literate and healthy population shows proper human development. Thus, infant mortality rate and literacy rate are considered to be indicators of human resource development.
Question 11. Why is the health of people a matter of major concern for the Indian government?
Answer
Health is an important determinant of the quality of production and in turn affects the overall growth and development of a country. In spite of improvements in health, medical facilities, decline in infant mortality rate etc. it continues to remain a matter of concern because:
- Safe drinking water and basic amenities are still only available to one-third of the rural population.
- The per capita calorie consumption is still much below the recommended levels.
Question 12. What part does health play in the individual’s working life?
Answer
Health plays an important part in the individual’s working life because:
- An unhealthy person cannot work efficiently.
- If the body is healthy then only the mind can perform well.
- A healthy person is able to work harder and better, thus earning more and living a better life.
Question 13. What is the difference between disguised unemployment and seasonal unemployment?
Answer
Women are less educated than men because more preference is given to the boys or sons in the family for education because they are considered as the future of the family. Traditionally, the girls were expected to stay at home and look after domestic chores. So, education among girls was not encouraged. Because of the above reasons, women are less educated than men.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What are the objectives of India’s national policy on health? Suggest two ways in which the policy objectives can be met.
Answer
The objectives of the national health policy (2002) are as follow:
- Enhancing the contribution of Private sector in providing health services for people who can afford to pay.
- Giving primacy for prevention and first line curative initiative.
- Emphasising rational use of drugs.
- Increasing access to tried systems of traditional medicine.
Some of the policy objectives can be met through the following methods:
- Increasing the number of trained nurses or midwives to one per village.
- Making available generic medicines (instead of branded medicines) at all government dispensaries. There are many other methods for fulfilling the other policy objectives.
Question 2. Analyse the role of education in the formation of human capital formation.
Answer
The role of education in human capital formation is as follows:
- Educated people earn more than the uneducated people.
- Literate population is an asset to an economy.
- It leads to higher productivity.
- It opens new avenues for a person.
- It provides new aspirations and develops values of life.
- It contributes to the growth of society.
- It enhances the national income, cultural richness and the efficiency of the governance
Question 3. Mention any three features of National health policy.
Answer
‘People as Resource’ is a way of referring to a country’s working people in term of their existing production skills and abilities. Human resource is different other resources for following reasons:
- Human resource is different from land and physical capital because only they can use other resources.
- Only human resource is living, active and sensitive factor of production.
- Only human resource can think, analyse and take decisions.
- Human resources add to productive power of country whereas land and physical capital cannot be useful on their own.
Question 4. Describe five main features of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Answer
The five main features of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are:
- It is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years.
- It is a time-bound initiative of the central government, in partnership with the states, the local government and the community for attaining the goal of universalisation of elementary education.
- In this, bridge courses and back-to-school camps have been introduced to increase the enrolment in elementary education.
- Mid-day meal scheme has been introduced to encourage attendance in schools and increase their nutritional status.
- These type of polices of the government could add to the literate minds and further the economic development.
Question 5. Why will a firm not like to employ a worker with ill-health? How does it affect the working environment?
Answer
A firm will not like to employ an ill-healthy worker because:
- An unhealthy worker would not be able to contribute to the overall productivity of an organisation.
- An unhealthy worker is a liability rather than an asset for an organisation.
- An unhealthy worker cannot contribute to the growth of the organisation.
- An unhealthy worker does not work regularly and remains on leaves due to sickness.
- It creates a gloomy atmosphere in the surroundings.
Question 6. What are the two types of unemployment found in rural areas? How does unemployment affect the overall growth of an economy? Explain by giving four points.
Answer
Two types of unemployment found in rural areas are:
- Seasonal Unemployment: Agriculture being a seasonal activity, most of the labour is required during sowing and harvesting. At other times the labour is unemployed.
- Disguised Unemployment: This occurs when all the members of a family of a small farmer are working in the fields, but all may not be required. For instance, the farmer may require only five labourers for the work, but because eight are available, all are working. Actually they are working at less than full productivity.
Unemployment affects the overall growth of an economy as:
- It is a wastage of manpower resource.
- It increases the economic overload.
- It tends to increase the number of dependent population.
- Increase in unemployment is an indicator of a depressed economy.
Question 7. How does unemployment affect the overall growth of an economy?
Answer
The five effects of unemployment on the overall growth of an economy are:
- It leads to wastage of manpower resource.
- The people who are an asset become a liability.
- It creates a feeling of hopelessness and despair among the young people. ‘
- It increases economic overload, i.e., the dependence of unemployed on the working population.
- The quality of life of an individual gets affected.
Question 7. Can you imagine some village which initially had no job opportunities but later came up with many?
Answer
Health plays an important role in human capital formation for the following reasons:
- Only a healthy person can perform to his full potential.
- A healthy person can do the work in a more effective manner.
- A healthy person can contribute to the growth and development of the economy by doing productive work.
- An unhealthy person becomes a liability for an organisation. Indeed, health is an indispensable basis for realising one’s well-being.
- Realising the importance of health, improvement in the health status of the population has been the priority of the government.