IX_Eco_Ch-2_People as Resource_Extra Questions.

Class IX
Economics
Chapter - 2
People as a Resource
Notes Q-A

Q.1: What is human capital?

Answer: Human capital is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in human beings.

Q.2: What is 'People as Resource'?

Answer: 'People as Resource' is a way of referring a country’s working population in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.

Q.3: Which aspect of a large population has often been ignored or overlooked?

Answer: The positive aspect of large population i.e. it can be considered as resource, that is an asset instead of a liability, is often overlooked.

Q.4. Differentiate between Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sectors.

Answer. Primary Sector

1. This sector is related to all such activities which get raw material from the nature.

2. The products produced in this sector are natural.

3. For example - agriculture, poultry, animal husbandry, fishery, forestry, bee-keeping, mining etc.

4. This activities in this sector are also known as Agriculture and related activities.

Secondary Sector

1. This sector relates to all such activities which involve production or manufacturing of goods.

2. The raw material is obtained mainly from the primary sector and is converted to finished goods in this sector.

3. For example - manufacturing, construction etc.

4. This sector is also called Industrial sector.

Tertiary Sector

1. In this sector, services are produced rather than the goods.

2. This sector provides facilities and support to the Primary and Secondary sector.

3. For example - trade and commerce, transportation, communication, insurance, education and health facilities etc.

4. This sector is also called service sector.

Q.5: How human capital contributes to Gross National Product by citing two examples?

Answer. Green Revolution in India proved that with increase in human capital led to improvement in production technology. Due to this the productivity of scarce land resources increased considerably.

The tremendous growth of Information technology industry proved the importance of human capital for the development of IT services.

Q.6: How is the investment in human resource is similar to any other type of investment?

Answer: Investment in human resource is very similar to other type of investments like investing in shares or properties.

A person expects handsome profits when he/she invests in lands, stocks and bonds. Similarly human resource trained in skills will earn more than a unskilled person.
An investment made in a person in terms of health, education will bring higher returns or earnings in future.

Q.7: When does population become asset rather a liability?

Answer: Population becomes an asset instead of a  liability when investments are made in the form of education, training and medical care.

Q.8: How is human resource different from other resources like land and physical capital?

Answer: Human resource is different from other resources like land and physical capital in the following ways:

1. From economic development perspective, human resources act both as producers as well as consumers.

2. Human resource makes use of other resources like land and physical capital to produce an output.

Q.9: What is the role of education in human capital formation?

Answer: Education plays an important role in human capital formation as listed below:

1. Education provides better knowledge and skills.

2. A person with more knowledge and skills is generally more productive.

3. An educated population is an asset, a resource. 

4. Education enhances the quantity and quality of individual productivity, which in turn adds to the growth of the economy.

5. Education enhances the cultural richness of a country and the efficiency of governance.

Thus, education plays the role of a catalyst in transforming a human being into a positive asset and a precious national resource.

Q.10: Name the economic activities covered in the primary sector.

Answer: Agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry, poultry farming, mining etc. are included in the primary sector.

Q.11: Define economic activities.

Answer: The activities which result in the production of goods and services and value to the national income are called economic activities.

Q.12: Name the factors on which quality of population depends.

Answer: Quality of population relies on the following factors:
1. Skills set.

2  Literacy rate.

3. Life expectancy as health indicator.

Q.13: List the two parts of economic activities.

Answer: Two parts of economic activities are:
1. Market activities

2. Non-Market Activities (i.e. for self consumption).

Q.14: What do you mean by market activities?

Answer: Market activities are those economic activities that performed to earn income or profit. These include production of goods and services.

Q.15: Define infant mortality rate (IMR)

Answer: Infant mortality rate is the death rate of a child under one year of age.

Q.16: What are non-economic activities?

Answer: Non-economic activities are the ones that do not add to the national income; for example, an individual performing domestic chores.

Q.17: What do you mean by the term unemployment?

Answer: Unemployment is a situation when people who are willing to work at the going wages cannot find jobs. Unemployment measures involuntary idleness.

Q.18: What do you mean by disguised unemployment? State an example.

Answer: It is the situation in which an individual appears to be employed, but he does not add to the productivity. That is, the productivity would remain the same even in his absence. e.g. A family has a farming land where the work requires service of  four persons but all the nine members of the family work there. Even if five persons are withdraw, there is no reduction in output. Thus these five persons are said to be disguised or hidden employed.

Q.19: What is seasonal unemployment?

Answer: It is the situation in which an individual is not able to find a job during certain months of the year. This situation is called seasonal unemployment. e.g. Agricultural labourers find work only during the busy seasons, i.e., sowing, harvesting, weeding and threshing. This is because of the seasonal character of agriculture in India.

Q.20. What is educated unemployment?

Answer. When educated people who are willing to work are unable to find a gainful employment, this situation is known as educated unemployment. This problem is peculiar in urban areas because the awareness for acquiring education for quality of life and also the access to education is much better there than in rural areas.

Reasons for educated unemployment are as follows :-

1. Lack of job opportunities i.e. the supply of educated labour force is more than its demand.

2. Lack of skills, vocational education, training and practical experience due to which the educated youth go jobless as their skill level does not match the requirement of the companies or different fields of work.