Development Q and Ans

 Question and Answers

Q.What is the meaning of development? Explain the aspects of development? 

 

Answer:

Development refers to progress or improvement in lifestyle. 

Important aspects of development are: 

• Different persons can have different developmental goals. 

• What may be development for one may not be development for the other. It may even be destructive for others.

• For development, people look at a mix of goals.

 

 

Q.What may be development for one may not be development for the other.’ Explain by giving examples.

Answer:

•    Industrialists may want more dams to get more electricity. But this may submerge the land and disrupt the lives of people who are displaced – such as tribals.

• A farmers wants to sell foodgrains at a higher price but a low earning person wants to purchase it at low prices.

• More wages means development for a worker, but it affect negatively a businessman.

 

Q. For development people look at mix of goals. Explain

Answer:

It is true that for development, people look at a mix of goals, e.g. :

(i) If women are engaged in paid work, their dignity in the household and society increases. So dignity is an important goal.

(ii) However, it is also the case that if there is respect for women there would be more sharing of housework and greater acceptance of women working outside.

(iii) A safe and secure environment may allow more women to take up a variety of jobs or run a business. 

These are goals other than income. Hence development goal is not only for better income but for other important things in life.

Q. Define:

1. Infant mortality rate

2. Literacy rate

3. Net attendance ratio

4. Per Capita Income

Answer:

1. Infant mortality rate- It indicates the number of children that die before the age of 1 year as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year.

2. Literacy rate-  It measures the proportion of literate population in the age of 7 who can read and write.

3. Net Attendance ratio-  It is the total number of children of age group 14 - 15 attending school as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.

4. The total income of a country divided by its total population gives the Per Capita Income.

Q. On what basis the rich and low income countries have been categorized in the world? What are the limitations of this approach? According to the World Development Report, India comes in which category? 

Answer:

The World Bank uses average income or per capita income as a criterion for classifying different countries. 

Limitations of this criterion.

1. While averages are useful for comparison, they also hide disparities. Two countries may have identical average income, but one country may have equitable distribution where people are neither very rich nor very poor, while in the other country most citizens are very poor and very few are extremely rich,

2. Better income cannot ensure a good quality life. Criterion set by the World Bank has ignored certain attributes of a good life which do not depend on income or cannot be . bought with money.

Example, freedom, equal treatment, equal opportunities, free atmosphere, provision of unadulterated medicines, etc.

India comes under low middle income countries.

Q. Difference Between Human Development Report and World Development Report.

Ans Human Development Report

A) It is an annual report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

B) It compares countries on the basis of the educational level of the people, per capita income and their health status.

 C) It includes literacy rate, infant mortality rate etc, to determine the status of development of a particular area or country.

D) It provides us with the qualitative aspect of development.

World Development Report

A) It is an annual report published by the World Bank.

B) It compares countries by in-depth analysis of a specific aspect of economic development.

C) It includes only per capita income.

D) It provides us with the quantitative aspect of development.

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

Ans. Sustainable development means that a development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

  *Importance* -

(i)Sustainable development aims at fulfilling the needs of today without compromising the needs of the future generation.

 (ii) Sustainability is the capability to use the resources judiciously and maintain the ecological balance. 

(iii) It lays emphasis on environmental protection and check environmental degradation. 

(iv) To stop over exploitation and over use of resources.

(v) It is felt that the economic growth and industrialization have led to reckless exploitation of natural resources. Sustainability promotes a rational use of natural resources.  

(vi) Groundwater is an example of renewable resource. But if we use more than what is replenished by nature, then we would be overusing this resource.  

(vii) Once the non-renewable resources would be exhausted we won’t be able to use them in future. So, using the resources judiciously will help in maintaining the sustainability of development of our ecosystem.

Q. Describe any three possible development goals of landless rural labourers.

Answer:

The following can be the developmental goals of landless rural labourers.

• More days of work with better wages.

• Social and economic equality.

• Low price food grains.

• Better education facilities for their children

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

Answer:

1. Total income is not a useful measure for comparison between countries. Since countries have different populations, comparing total income does not tell what an average person is likely to earn. Hence, we use average income which is total income of the country divided by total population.

2. The defect of average as a measure is that it does not show the distribution (dispersion) of income between the rich and the poor.

3. Two countries may have the same average income but in one country almost every family may enjoy more or less the same kind of income, whereas in the other, some may be very rich and others very poor. The disparity between rich and poor is an important feature that the average measure (per capita income) does not consider.

Example: In terms of development, we can take the example of India, where the metro towns are full of high-rise buildings and shopping malls while some villages have not yet been provided with a basic necessity like electricity.

Q. What does HDI stand for? Explain the main criteria of measuring HDI according to UNDP Report of 1990. 

Answer:

HDI Stand for Human Development Index.

Main criteria of measuring HDI:

1. HDI published by UNDP compares countries based on the educational levels of the people, their health status and per capita income.

2. HDI determines the rank of a country by its overall achievement in three areas, i.e., life expectancy, educational level and per capita income.

3. Many improvements have been suggested in calculating HDI and many new components have been added to Human Development Report.

4. Pre-fixing Human to Development, it has made it clear that what is important in development is what is happening to citizens of a country, i.e., the health and well being of the people is most important.

Q. “Money cannot buy all the goods and services that one needs to live well” Do you agree with this statement? Justify your answer with any three suitable arguments. 

Answer:

Yes, I agree with the statement because material goods alone are not an adequate indicator of a good quality of life. Money cannot buy all the goods and services one needs to live well.

• Money cannot buy a pollution free and dean environment with fresh air.

• It cannot protect us from infectious diseases and guarantee good health for us.

• Money cannot assure that medicines available in the market are not adulterated.

• To live well one needs non-material factors such as equal treatment, freedom, security, equal opportunity to learn, a pollution free environment, good and safe working conditions etc that also cannot buy with money.

• Money cannot buy true friends that are needed for quality life.

Q. Define [1] BMI [2] Life Expectancy

Ans. 

[1] BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is calculated by dividing the weight of a person in kilograms (kgs) by the square of his/her height in metres. It is an indicator of the level of nourishment in adults.

[2] It is the average number of years a person is expected to live at birth.

Q. What is Human Development Index? Which organization measures the HDI? Explain the three major indicators of the HDI.

Answer:

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.

• Health: Without proper health facilities, no matter how much a country earns, it will not be able to provide basic facilities to its people.

• 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.

• Per Capita Income: It is main criteria to compare countries. It is calculated in dollars so that equality remains in camparasion.

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

Answer:

The criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development is different from the criterion used by the World Bank in the following ways.

• 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:

1. Rich or developed or high-income countries

2. Middle-income or developing countries

3. 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