Extra Questions 9th Economics Chapter 2 : People as Resource

Question.1. Is begging an economic activity?
Ans. No. Begging is a non-economic activity. Two reasons can be given in support of it. One, the beggar receives money without doing anything. Second, begging is an unlawful activity and cannot become an economic activity.

Question.2. Why are domestic services performed by women not treated as economic activities?
Ans. In India, most women generally look after domestic affairs like cooking of food, washing of clothes, cleaning of utensils, looking after children, etc. They are not treated as economic / productive activities. This is mainly because of two reasons :
(i) Such activities are performed out of love and affection and hence their valuation is not possible.
(ii) They do not add to the flow of goods and services in the economy.

Question.3. Are the following activities economic or non-economic activities? Give reasons.
(a) Vilas sells fish in the village market.
(b) Vilas cooks food for his family.
(c) Sakal works in a private firm.
(d) Sakal looks after his younger brother and sister.
Ans. (a) It is an economic activity, as it involves remuneration.
(b) It is a non-economic activity, as it is a domestic service.
(c) It is an economic activity, as it is done in expectation of monetary reward.
(d) It is a non-economic activity, as it is done out of love and affection.

Question.4. Differentiate between Market Activities and Non-Market Activities.
Ans. Economic activities can be classified into market activities and non-market activities. Market activities involve remuneration to anyone who performs the activity. These include production of goods and services for sale in the market. On the other hand, non-market activities are the production activities performed for self-consumption. These include consumption and processing of primary products and own account production of fixed assets.

Question.5. Differentiate between voluntary and involuntary unemployment. Give an example.
Ans. A person is said to be unemployed when he is able and willing to work at the prevailing wage rate but does not find work. This is involuntary unemployment. If some persons are voluntarily unemployed (i.e., they prefer to remain out of work at prevailing wage rates) they will not be treated as unemployed. This is voluntary unemployment.

Question.6. Distinguish between labour force and work force.
Ans. Labour force of a country includes all those persons in the age group of 15-60, who are actually working or willing to work. Workforce, on the other hand, consists of persons who are actually engaged in some kind of work and excludes those who are willing to work but do not find work. Thus, the difference between the two (i.e. labour force and workforce) is the number
of persons unemployed.

Question.7. What is the nature of unemployment as found in India?
Ans. In India, unemployment is widespread. Unemployment is found both in its rural and urban areas. There is seasonal and disguised unemployment in its rural areas. People here are dependent on agriculture. Certain months do not provide much work to the people depending upon agriculture.
In urban areas, educated unemployment has become a serious problem. Many educated youths are not able to find jobs. Unemployment among graduates and post-graduates has increased faster than among the matriculates.

Question.8. ‘Unemployment is an economic as well as a social evil.’ Explain the statement.
Ans. Unemployment — A Serious Problem

• Today, unemployment is considered one of the most threatening problems before the country.
• The society is deprived of the goods and services that the unemployed people could have produced. Unemployment among the educated persons is more serious. This is due to investments made in them.
• Unemployment is not only an economic evil, it is a social problem too. Unemployment spreads social unrest and tension as unemployed people are a frustrated class of the society.

Question.9. Discuss the factors responsible for the distribution of population in India.
Ans. Physical factors like shape and height of land, resources, climate etc. that affect distribution of population in India like;

• Resources : Areas rich in resources (e.g., coal, oil, wood etc.) tend to be densely populated like western Europe.
• Shape and height of land : Low land which is flat, e.g., Ganges valley in India.
• Climate : Areas with moderate temperature climates tend to be densely populated as there is enough rain and heat to grow crops like U.K.
• Human factors : Political, social and economic factors also affect distribution of population in India like good job opportunities encourage high population densities, particularly in large cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad having dense population.
  Countries with stable governments tend to have high population density.

Question.10. Why is human resource the most important resource? What steps can be taken to improve the quality of human resource? How does an improved quality of human resource help in establishing a virtuous cycle?
Ans. Existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, which adds to the productive power of the country just like ‘physical capital formation’. So human resource is the most important resource.
Steps to be taken to improve quality of human resource : Quality of human resource can be improved through better education, food and health facilities. The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life expectancy and skill formation acquired by the people of the country.
Role of improved quality of human resource in establishing a virtuous cycle : Better contribution to productive power of country : Existing human resource with good educational background can acquire specific skills in a better way and can contribute to national productivity more efficiently.
Higher earnings and greater contributions to society : Improved quality of human resources can give higher rates of return in future in the form of higher earnings and greater contributions to society.

Question.11. How does unemployment have a detrimental impact on the overall growth of an economy?
Ans.

• Wastage of manpower resource : In case of unemployment, manpower who is an asset for an economy turns into liability because utilisation of manpower becomes nil.
• Economic overload : Unemployment tends to increase economic overload because dependence of unemployed on the working population increases. So the quality of life is adversely affected.
• Unemployment leads to social waste : Inability of educated people who are willing to work to find gainful employment implies a great social waste. Increase in employment in an indicator of a depressed economy.

Question.12. What is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan? What are its objectives? OR
Write a short note on sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Ans. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all the children of the age group 6-14 years by the year 2010. It is a time bound initiative of central government, in partnership with the states, the local government and the community for achieving the goal of universalisation of elementary education. They also took an initiative to increase the enrollment of students in elementary education by introducing the schemes like mid-day meal.

Question.13. Define human resource. When does a human resource become human capital?
Ans. The population of a country available for the production activities is called human resource. Human resource becomes human capital when there is investment made in the form of education, training and medical care. When the existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it ‘human capital formation’. Human capital adds to the productive power of the country. It is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in them.

Question.14. What is unemployment? How many types it is? Explain. OR
How will you explain the term unemployment? OR
What is meant by unemployment? Name the types of unemployment that exist in rural as well as urban areas. OR
Define unemployment and explain its any two types.
Ans. Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the prevailing wages rates cannot find jobs. When we talk of unemployed people, we refer to those in the age group of 15-59 years. Children below 15 years of age and the old people above 60 are not considered while counting the number of unemployed. In India, unemployment is found both in rural and urban areas. In rural areas there is seasonal and disguised unemployment. In urban areas there is educated unemployment.
Unemployment in rural areas :
(i) Disguised unemployment : When more persons are working in a job than actually required, the situation is termed as disguised unemployment. For example, if in an agricultural activity eight people are engaged but this work activity actually requires the services of five people, then three persons are extra. It these three people out of eight are withdrawn, total production will remain unaffected.
(ii) Seasonal Unemployment : Seasonal unemployment occurs when people are able to find jobs only during some months of the year. This kind of unemployment is generally found in agricultural sector.
Umemployment in urban sector :
Educated unemployment : Many people who are unable to get employment even after having academic and professional qualification are called educated unemployed.

Question.15. What is Infant Mortality Rate? Why infant mortality rate is decreasing?
Ans. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the total number of children dying under one year of age in a particular period of time. Infant Mortality Rate is decreasing due to following reasons :
(i) Increase in life expectancy due to improved medical facilities.
(ii) Better protection of children from infection, ensuring nutrition along with mother and child care.

Question.16. Why is human capital significant? Mention three points. OR
Why is the human resource important for development? OR
People are the greatest resource that a country has. Explain.
Ans. Human resource is a positive asset and a precious national resource which needs to be cherished, nurtured and developed with tenderness and care, coupled with dynamism.
Contribution to national income : Skilled, educated and healthy population work for contribution in production activities. Better specialised labour can be easily adapted.
Therefore, investment in human capital yields a return just like investment in physical capital.
Investment in human resource can give high rates of return in the future. This investment on people is the same as investment in land and capital. A child with proper education and health can yield a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and greater contribution to society.

Question.17. What does IMR stand for? Write its functions.
Ans. Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of children who die under one year of age in a year. IMR has come down form 147 in 1951 to 75 in 2000.
Functions of IMR is that it indicates the increase in life expectancy and improvement in child care which is useful in assessing the future progress of the country. Reduction in infant mortality involves the protection of children from infection, ensuring nutrition along with mother and child care.

Question.18. Explain in detail the disadvantages of unemployment.
Ans. Disadvantages of unemployment are :
(i) It leads to wastage of man power resources. It turns the population into liability for economy instead of asset. It even fills the country’s youth with the feeling of hopelessness and despair.
(ii) It increases the economic load. The dependence of unemployed on the working population increases. Due to unemployment which adversely affects the quality of life of an individual as well as society.
(iii) It affects the overall growth of an economy. It indicates a depressed economy and wastage of resources which could have been gainfaully employed.

Question.19. Give three measures taken by government to improve literacy condition in India.
Ans. (i) Opening of Navodaya Vidyalayas : Government has started to estabish Navodaya Vidyalayas in each district vocational streams have been developed to equip large number of high school students with occupations related to knowledge and skills.
(ii) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan : It is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all the children of age group 6-14 years. It is an initiative of the central government in partnership with states, local government and the community for achieving the goal of universalisation of elementary education.
(iii) Mid-day Meal Scheme : It is a programme aimed to encourage attendance and retention of children in schools and improve their nutritional status.

Question.20. Suggest any three ways to transform population load into an asset.
Ans. The three ways to transform population load into an asset are :
(i) To improve literacy rate : Education provides new aspirations and developed values of life. Education helps in enhancing the national income, cultural richness nad increases the efficiency of governance.
(ii) Health : The health of a person helps him to realise his potential and the ability to fight illness. Increase in longevity of life in an indicator of good quality of life marked by self confidence. It involves protection of children from infection, ensuring nutrition and along with mother and child care.
(iii) Formation of skills : Providing vocational and skilled based education helps the people to get employment and therefore they contribute to the national income later on.

Question.21. What are the two types of economic activity? State two characteristics of each.
Ans. Economic activities are those activities which add value to the national income. Economic activities have two parts :
(i) Market activities.
(ii) Non-market activities.
Market activities :
(i) These are the activities performed for payment or profit.
(ii) They include production of goods and services.
Non-market activities :
(i) These involve production for self-consumption.
(ii) It includes consumption of primary production and production of fixed assets.

Question.22. How are children of educated parents different from those of uneducated parents? Give three points of difference.
Ans. (i) Children of educated parents get better opportunity and support in their education.
(ii) Their nutritional values are taken more care by the educated parents in comparison to uneducated parents.
(iii) They do not lack in hygiene as the educated parents are conscious about it.