Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 Question Answers - Economics

Q1: What is food security?
Ans: Food security means availability, accessibility, and affordability of food to all people at all times.

Q2: Name any two factors on which food security depends.
Ans: The proper functioning of the Public Distribution System or PDS, and Government vigilance and action at times when this security is threatened.

Q3: What is essential to improve access to food?
Ans: Removal of poverty is essential to improve access to food.

Q4: What is famine?
Ans: A famine is characterized by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation.

Q5: Which was the most devastating famine in India?
Ans: The famine of Bengal was the most devastating one. It occurred in 1943 and killed thirty lakh people in the province of Bengal.

Q6: Who were affected the most by the Bengal famine?
Ans: The agricultural laborers, fishermen, transport workers, and other casual laborers were the worst affected.

Q7: What was the main cause of large-scale death in the Bengal famine?
Ans: The price of rice in Bengal increased dramatically. This was the main cause of large-scale death.

Q8: Why is food security needed in a country?
Ans: Food security is needed in a country to ensure food at all times so that starvation deaths do not take place.

Q9: Name two places in Odisha where starvation deaths have been reported.
Ans: Kalahandi and Kashipur.

Q10: Name the regions of India where the food insecure people are disproportionately large.
Ans: Economically backward states with a high incidence of poverty, tribal and remote areas, regions more prone to natural disasters.

Q11: Hunger has two dimensions. Name them.
Ans: Chronic hunger and seasonal hunger.

Q12: What is the cause of chronic hunger?
Ans: Chronic hunger is caused due to persistently inadequate diets in terms of quantity and/or quality.

Q13: Who suffers from chronic hunger? Why?
Ans: Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and inability to buy food even for survival.

Q14: What is seasonal hunger related to?
Ans: Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting.

Q15: Why is seasonal hunger prevalent in rural areas?
Ans: Seasonal hunger is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities.

Q16: Who are the worst affected by seasonal hunger in urban areas?
Ans: In urban areas, casual laborers are the worst affected by seasonal hunger.

Q17: Mention one positive impact of the Green Revolution.
Ans: Since the advent of the Green Revolution in the early 1970s, the country has avoided famine even during adverse weather conditions.

Q18: What is buffer stock?
Ans: Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice, procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Q19: What is the Public Distribution System?
Ans: The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government-regulated ration shops among the poorer section of society. This is called the public distribution system or PDS.

Q20: Name the three kinds of ration cards.
Ans: Antyodaya cards for the poorest of the poor, BPL cards for those below the poverty line, and APL cards for all others.

Q21: How do employment programs contribute to food security?
Ans: Employment programs greatly contribute to food security by increasing the income of the poor.

Q22: Name any two programs initiated by the government which have a food component.
Ans: Mid-day Meal in schools, Food-For-Work program.

Q23: What is the National Food Security Act, 2013?
Ans: This Act provides for food and nutritional security at affordable prices and enables people to live a life with dignity. Under this Act, 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population have been categorized as eligible households for food security.

Q24: Mention the names of any two cooperative societies working in different parts of India.
Ans: Mother Dairy – Delhi, AMUL – Gujarat.

Q25: What is the Green Revolution?
Ans: The Green Revolution implies a large increase in agricultural production due to the use of HYV (High-Yielding Variety) seeds and other inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, etc.