Chapter 1 – Development Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science – Economics

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

Answer: (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

Answer: (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

Answer: (iv) Rs 6000
Explanation:
Let x be the income of the fourth family.
So, according to the question,
(4000 + 7000 + 3000 + x) ÷ 4 = 5000
14000 + x = 5000 × 4
x = 20000 – 14000
x = 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: World Bank classifies different countries on the basis of the per capita income or the average income of a person in the country. It is calculated by dividing the total income of the country by the population of the country.
The limitations of the criterion are:
• It does not give any information about the distribution of the average income among the people in a country.
• It ignores important factors like literacy rate, infant mortality rate, healthcare, etc. which play a crucial role in the development of a country.

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

Answer: The criterion used by UNDP is different from the one used by the World Bank because World bank only uses per capita income for measuring the development of a country while UNDP besides considering per capita incomes, compares countries on the basis of the educational level of the people, healthcare facilities and infant mortality rate which are important in improving the quality of life and 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 as they are useful for comparing differing quantities of the same category. This does not show the distribution of things between people. There are limitations of calculating averages because this does not give any information about the distribution of a thing between people. For example, the per capita income does not show the distribution of income. It does not show the percentage of the poor in the population.

7. 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.

Answer: No, I do not agree with the statement that per capita income is not a useful criterion at all. Though per capita income is not the only criterion and it has limitations, we cannot say that it is not useful at all. because human development ranking is determined using a combination of factors such as health status, education level, and income. However, per capita income is one of the factors used to calculate development and cannot be neglected.

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 used by people in India include firewood, coal, petroleum, crude oil and natural gas. The other possibilities fifty years from now could be using solar energy, wind energy, nuclear energy, geothermal energy, hydrogen energy, tidal energy, wave energy, hydroelectric energy, biomass energy, etc., as source of energy for varied purposes. This is because the current usage of sources of energy may result in loss of these resources for future generations.

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

Answer: Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The issue of sustainability is important for development because if the natural resources are not used carefully, they may not be available for future generations. The depleting resources of a country may ultimately result in a lack of development of the country.

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 statement, “The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person” is completely relevant in terms of the development of a country because both resources and development go hand in hand. For the sustainability of development, the maintenance of resources is very crucial. All the natural resources are non-renewable and will exhaust if not used cautiously. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the people to use them only to meet their needs and not to satisfy their greed. If natural resources are not used wisely now, the future generations may not be able to use them to meet their needs that will ultimately result in the downfall of the development of a country.

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

Answer: A few examples of environmental degradation that we can observe around us are:
• Decreased level of air quality
• Water pollution
• Deforestation
• Soil Erosion
• Falling level of ground water