Development Class 10 Social Science Exam Questions

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question. Which criterion is used in World Development Report in classifying countries? 
Answer : Per Capita Income.

Question. What are the factors important for development other than income? 
Answer : Per Capita Income along with reduction in Infant Mortality Rate, improved literacy rate etc. are other factors important for development

Question. Who publishes the Human Development Report?
Answer : Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Question. List the problems which resulted due to indiscriminate use of resources by man.
Answer : Problems as we know are causing great environmental problems.

Question. Mention any one limitation of Per Capita Income as an indicator of development.
Answer : Merely money cannot buy everything in the world, other aspects are also important to lead a life.

Question. What is Human Development Index? Which organization measures the HDI? Explain the three major indicators of the HDI.
Answer : Report published by UNDP related to level of development in a country In every aspects.

Question. Differentiate between Human Development Report and World Development
Answer : Human development – good quality life, life expectancy, infant mortality Rate etc. World Development Report-Per Capita Income, economic Growth, GDP etc.

Question. State two points about the developmental goals that are observed in day today life.
Answer : i) Goals vary from person to person;
ii) Development for one many not for another

Question. What is WDR?
Answer : World Development Report.

Question. An indicator of human development is _________ .
OR
The main cause behind environment degradation is _________ .
Answer : Life expectancy.
OR
Deforestation and increase in population.

Question. International bank for reconstruction and development is also called as _________ .
Answer : World Bank.

Question. What is the total income of a country ?
Answer : The total income of the country refers to the income of all the residents of the country.

Question. What is Net Attendance Ratio ?
Answer : Net Attendance Ratio is the total number of children of age group 14 and 15 years attending school as a percentage of total number of children in the same age group.

Question. The future generation may not have sufficient resources as compared to the present generation”. Justify the statement by giving suitable examples.
Answer : How to conserve and use, related to sustainable development.

Question. Write four institutional efforts made at global level for ‘resource conservation’.
Answer : At National and international level too lots of organizations and clubs are working. Important conferences are being organized where world community has shown the concern.

Question. Write the main factors responsible for soil formation.
Answer : Parent rock, other physical factors are responsible for soil formation.

Question. Write the major features of the Earth Summit, 1992.
Answer : It was for environment protection and socio-economic development.

Question. Why is literacy essential for economic development? Explain.
Answer : Literacy develops as person – personally, socially, economically.

Question. Define the term per capita income.
OR
What is per capita income ?
Answer : The per capita income is calculated by dividing the total income of the country by the population of the country.

Question. If there are four members in a family and their total income is ` 20,000/- what would be the average income of each person ? 
Answer : Average income = Total Income / No. of members
= 20000 / 4
= ` 5000
Average income of each person will be ` 5000.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. ‘Sustainable Development is a crucial step for the development of a country’. Explain with suitable examples.
Answer : Sustainable development is crucial for development of a country as it: (i) Promotes use of renewable resources like solar energy, tidal energy, etc
(ii) Puts a check on over usage of resources. (iii) Promotes protection and conservation of resources for future generation.

Question. What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries ? What are the limitations of this criterion, if any ?
Answer : The main criterion used by World Bank to classify different countries is the per capita income of the countries. The countries above a certain level of per capita income are considered as rich countries while the countries below that level are considered poor countries. There are two limitations with this criterion. The first limitation is that this criterion is very much influenced by the extreme upper and lower values and fails to represent the level of equality of income. Secondly, it does not represent the other indicators of quality of life like level of health and education.

Question. What is the basis for determining for developmental goals of different people ? Give one example to prove that development for some may cause harm to others.
Answer : (i) Goals of each person or group are determined according to their aspirations. Everyone seeks to achieve the goal that are most important to him/her and which can fulfill their desires and aspirations.
(ii) The goals of a landless labourer and a rich farmer, or the goal of a boy or a girl are bound to be different.
(iii) Sometimes, goals of development of a person or groups may be disastrous for others : e.g., Industrialists may want more dams to generate electricity, but the same dam may submerge the land, disrupting the life of people whose habitat has been submerged.

Question. What are the general desires of normal people ?
Answer : The normal people desires for regular employment, better wages, reasonable price for their crops and various products that raise their standard of living. Apart from monetary benefits, people also desires for non-material and sometimes more important things like freedom, security, equal treatment, and respect etc.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. Is income a sufficient factor for development ? What other factors do you think are significant for development ?
Answer : Income is generally considered to be an important factor on which the development of a country’s people depends. It is a general thought that countries with higher income are more developed than those with less income. This is based on the understanding that more income results into more of all those things that the human beings need. But income is not the only factor on which the development and welfare of the people depends. Apart from money there are many other things which are equally desired by the human being for their development. Following are some of the factors : (i) Equality of Income : An important factor which is must for development is the equality of income. A country cannot be considered developed if only a section of the society enjoys all the benefits while the other section suffers from poverty.
(ii) Health Facilities : A person can contribute towards any development only when he is healthy. A person’s health is dependent upon the quality of food and the medical facilities available in the country. So the country’s medical system and food distribution need to be very strong and effective so that the benefits of these facilities must reach to the last person.
(iii) Education : Education enhances the understanding of the world around a person. Knowledge makes the discovery of new ideas, items and technology possible which makes the lives of the people easier. Discovery and use of fire, wheel and iron was made possible by knowledge.
(iv) Clean Environment : Clean environment is equally important for people as health is. The absence of clean environment results into poor health which again is worse for the people of any country.
(v) Security : A person can feel or sense development only when he has the sense of security, internal as well as external.

Question. “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 disscusion of development ? Discuss.
Answer : The above statement is absolutely true. We have enough resources to fulfill our needs. Nature has given us sufficient resources to meet all our requirements. But when we start the overexploitation of resources in the name of more profits, more demand, lavish life style or anything else, they start depleting very fast, no matter whether they are renewable or non-renewable resources. For example, now most of people having cars like to go anywhere by car only, no matter the passenger is only a single person in the car. So he likes to use a carrier which is consuming fuel that was sufficient to carry five persons together. It is wastage of a resource. The same is with electricity, water etc. whose wastage we can see in our families, streets and industries etc. Similarly we can see the wastage of fuels on the crossings and in the jams. All this is resulting into the fast depletion of the fossil fuels. The depletion is so fast that at its present rate, the crude oil reserves would last only 53 years more. In the name of development and expanding agriculture, we can see deforestation taking place in all parts of the country. This deforestation has disturbed the ecological balance. That is why we see and hear the news of elephants roaming on the rail tracks and roads while lions entering the modern multistory societies. The same overexploitation and wastage is happening with other natural resources which is absolutely nonsustainable in the future.

Question. What is development ? What goals can be included in development ?
Answer : Development is defined as a situation in which all the aspirations of people get fulfilled. Such kind of development can be attained only when right kind of resources are mobilised in the right manner. It depends on the attitude of the people and right policies of the government. There are many goals which can be included in development:
(i) High per capita income of the country.
(ii) Equitable distribution of income among the people of the country.
(iii) Regular employment for all the persons of the country.
(iv) Availability of quality education for all.
(v) Availability of quality health facilities for all.
(vi) Social security facilities for all the specially abled and old aged people of the country.
(vii) World class infrastructural facilities like safe roads and rail tracks, transportation facilities, communication facilities and availability of electricity for all. (viii) Balanced regional development so that the backward regions of the country may also participate in the development of the country.
(ix) Safe and secure environment in which people may grow and enjoy the benefits of development.

Question. Kerala, with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking than Maharashtra. Hence, per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should not be used to compare states. Do you agree ? Discuss.
Answer : The Per Capita Income is a simple criterion which is easy to calculate and understand. So it is useful but it is not a comprehensive measure of human development. It only reflects the average income per person of the country but there are two limitations with this criterion. The first limitation is that this criterion is very much influenced by the extreme upper and lower values and fails to represent the level of equality of income. Secondly, it does not represent the other indicators of quality of life like level of health and education which are equally or rather more important objectives for human development on which the magnitude of income depends. Kerala has low Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and better level of education than those of Maharashtra that is why Kerala, though with lower per capita income has a better human development ranking than Maharashtra.