Chapter 4 – Human Development Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Geography: (Fundamentals of Human Geography)

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below:
(i)
Which one of the following best describes development?
(a) an increase in size
(b) a constant in size
(c) a positive change in quality
(d) a simple change in the quality

Answer:
(c) a positive change in quality

(ii)
Which one of the following scholars introduced the concept of Human Development?
(a) Prof. Amartya Sen
(b) Ellen C Semple
(c) Dr. Mahabub-ul-Haq
(d) Ratzel

Answer:
(c) Dr. Mahabub-ul-Haq

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words:
(i)
What are the three basic areas of Human development?

Answer:
Access to resources: It is taken as an indicator of economic condition and ability of individuals to purchase goods of their demands. The indicator used to determine this is per capital income, which shows purchasing power of individuals in terms of dollars.
Health: Longevity of people of the country indicates the availability of health care services and facilities in the country. Country with higher life expectancy tends to have higher HDI.
Education: The adult literacy rate and gross enrollment ratio represents access to knowledge.

(ii)
Name the four main components of human development.

Answer:
The four main pillars of human development are the concepts of equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment.

(iii)
How are countries classified on the basis of human development index?

Answer:
Countries can be classified into four categories on the basis of human development index as:

HDI	Number of countries	Score in Development
		Index
Very High Human Development	49	> 0.808
High Human Development	53	0.700 up to 0.807
Medium human development	42	0.556 up to 0.699
Low human development	43	< 0.555

3. Answer the following questions in not more than 150 words:
(i)
What do you understand by the term Human development?

Answer:
Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq introduced the concept of human development. He described human development as a development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives. People are central to all development under this concept. These choices are not fixed but keep on changing. The basic goal of human development is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives.
A meaningful life is not just a long one. It must be a life with some purpose. This means that people must be healthy, be able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals by full access to resources, education and health facilities. There should be no hindrance to a person’s progress due to deprivation of life chances. Leading a long and healthy life, being able to gain knowledge and having enough means to be able to live a decent life are the most important aspects of human development. Building people’s capabilities in areas of health, education and access to resources is therefore, important in enlarging their choices. If people do not have capabilities in these areas, their choices also get limited.

(ii)
What do equity and sustainability refer to within the concept of human development?

Answer:
Equity refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody. The opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income and in the Indian case, caste. It aims at providing equal opportunities to all with no special privileges or restriction to any person or group of persons. It is essential for human development to ensure access to resources in order to fulfill choices and lead a meaningful life.
For example, in any country, it is interesting to see which group the most of the school dropouts belong to. This should then lead to an understanding of the reasons for such behavior. In India, a large number of women and persons belonging to socially and economically backward groups drop out of school. This shows how the choices of these groups get limited by not having access to knowledge. Sustainability can be defined as “using resources in a way that fulfill the needs of present generation without compromising on their availability for future generations.” Sustainability refers to continuity in the availability of opportunities. To have sustainable human development, each generation must have the same opportunities. All environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future. Misuse of any of these resources will lead to fewer opportunities for future generations.
Example; If the key resource of coal is being overused by the present generation, it will lead to its paucity in future. When adequate coal will not be available to future generation, the power generation capability wifi be hindered which in turn will affect several infrastructural, industrial and other activities, which in turn will negatively affect the available choices and quality of life of future generations.
Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Who introduced the concept of Human development?

Answer:
Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq introduced the concept of Human development.

Question 2.
Define human development.

Answer:
Human development is the development that enlarges people’s choice and improves their lives so that they can lead a healthy, meaningful, purposeful life with dignity.

Question 3.
Which agency brings out the Human Development report?

Answer:
United Nations Development Programme publishes human development report annually since 1990.

Question 4.
What are the approaches to human development?

Answer:
Income approach, welfare approach, basic needs approach and capability approach are the approaches to human development.

Question 5.
What does human poverty index measures?

Answer:
Human poverty index measures the shortfall in human development. It is a non-income measure.

Question 6.
What are the two important indices used by UNDP to measure human development?

Answer:
The human development index and human poverty index are the two important indices used by the UNDP to measure human development.

Question 7.
Which country is ranked no. 1 in HDI?

Answer:
Norway is ranked no. 1 in HDI.

Question 8.
Which countries fall in the score of 0.700 to 0.807?

Answer:
The high development countries fall in the above criteria.

Question 9.
What do you mean by growth?

Answer:
Growth is quantitative and value neutral. It may be positive or negative. It shows change with reference to time.

Question 10.
What are the criteria to measure level of human development?

Answer:
The criteria to measure level of human development claims that people must be healthy and educated, be able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals.

Question 11.
What is meant by sustainability?

Answer:
Sustainability refers to continuity in the availability of opportunities. In other words, all generations must have the same opportunities and for this all environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future.

Question 12.
What is meant by empowerment?

Answer:
It refers to having power to make better decisions and choices in life. This power comes from freedom and capability. Good governance and people oriented policies are required for empowerment of people. The empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged people is of special importance.

Question 13.
What do you mean by Human Development Index?

Answer:
Human Development Index measures attainments in human development. It reflects what has been attained in key areas of human development like education, health and standard of living. Its value lies between 0 and 1, 0 shows the lowest level of human.

Question 14.
What do you mean by Human Poverty Index?

Answer:
Human Poverty Index complements Human Development Index and measures the shortfall in human development. It is a non-income measure.

Question 15.
How is Bhutan different and special?

Answer:
Bhutan is different and special because it is the only country in the world which has officially proclaimed the Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the measure of the country’s progress. It is not willing to bring material growth and technological progress at the cost of happiness of the people.

Question 16.
Differentiate between growth and development.

Answer:
The difference between growth and development: Growth is quantitative, whereas development is qualitative. Growth is value neutral, whereas development is value positive.Growth may be positive or negative, whereas development will always
be positive.