Class 9 Economics Chapter 2 Extra Question Answers - People as Resource

Q1. For better economic growth, which investments in human resources should be done, either in modern technology, in healthcare and education, in food and drink or in transportation?

Only healthcare and education relate completely to human resources and so investment in this should be done for better economic growth.

Q2. Construction is an activity of which sector?

Construction is an activity of the Secondary sector.

Q3. Sprinkling crops with insecticide is an activity of which sector?

Since this is an activity that is a part of agriculture, it is an activity of the Primary sector. 

Q4. Navodaya Vidyalayas have been started for which kind of school children?

Navodaya Vidyalayas have been started for talented school children residing in rural areas.

Q5. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is meant to provide what kind of education?

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is meant to provide elementary education (up to class VIII) to children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

Q6. What is the age group of the population which is treated as the workforce?

The workforce population in India includes people from the age of 15 to 59 years. In other countries, this may be slightly different. For instance, it is 16 to 65 years in the USA.

Q7. Unemployment wastes what resources?

Unemployment refers to human beings and thus it washes human resources,

Q8. In which category of activity will you place a social worker educating poor children for free?

Since the social worker is not earning any money, his activity will be classified as a non-market activity.

Q9. Why do educated parents invest more in their children's education and health?

Educated parents invest more in their children's education and health because they realise that poor education and indifferent health is detrimental to their children's well-being and future.

Q10. Is it correct that disguised unemployment is very common in urban areas?

No, it is incorrect, as disguised unemployment is very common in rural areas, particularly in agriculture.

Q11. Why are rural women employed at very low wages?

In rural areas, girls are not given a proper education or given skill training for doing jobs due to being involved in household duties and the view that they should not go out of the home to work. Due to these factors, when they need a job, they are not able to demand as high wages as men can

Q12. When we refer to a woman as a 'resource', we are referring to which of her skills?

When a person is referred to as a resource, it refers to that person's productive skills and abilities.

Q13. Begging is which category of activity?

Begging does not involve the production of any goods or services and also does not add to national income. So, it is a non-economic activity.

Q14. In which area of India is the literacy rate the lowest?

The literacy rate in some areas of Madhya Pradesh is below 30 per cent, the lowest in India.

Q15. Which sector of the Indian economy absorbs the maximum labour?

Agriculture is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy. 

Q16. Can finished goods produced by industry be treated as fixed capital?

Finished goods will be sold and replaced by other finished goods in the future and thus cannot be treated as fixed capital,

Q17. How will you define the life expectancy of a newborn baby?

Life expectancy is defined as the average length of life a newborn baby will live. 

Q18. What is the major reason for education having an important role in human capital formation?

Education broadens the knowledge of people and provides them training, thus having an important role in human capital formation.

Q19. Is it true that the literacy rate of a population is the population multiplied by 100 divided by the number of literate people?

The literacy rate of a population is the number of literate people multiplied by 100 divided by the total population. So, the definition given in the question is incorrect.

Q20. Is drinking tea from a tea stall in the market a non-economic activity?

No, because when we drink tea from a tea stall, we pay for the tea and thus this is an economic activity.

Q21. Which person out of a farm labourer, a construction worker and a miner is having seasonal employment?

Miners and construction workers normally work in all seasons. Only a farm labourer will work for some part of the year and thus is having seasonal employment.

Q22. What is the meaning of vocational education?

'Vocational education' means 'training for a specific vocation' i.e. training for being employed in a particular job. It is education catering to the requirements of the economy.

Q23. What do you understand by the term 'human resource'?

Human resource is the term used for people who constitute work force for an organisation or country by their existing productive skills and abilities.

Q24. What is human capital?

When investment is made in form of education and medical care, the quality of population improves and it became a great asset it is called human capital.

Q25. A person is making envelops with the help of papers. In which sector should his activity be included?

If a person makes envelops with the help of paper his activities will be included in the Secondary sector.

Q26. Which state in India has the highest literacy rate?

Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India.

Q27. What do you understand by the term "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan"?

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a flagship programme of the Government of India that aims to provide elementary education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

Q28. What is the name of the school set in each district by the government for talented students of the rural area?

Navodaya Vidyalaya.

Q29. Which is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy?

Primary sector is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy.

Q30. Name the two types of unemployment that exist in rural India.

Two types of unemployment exist in rural India are "seasonal" and disguised unemployment.

Q31. Name the phenomenon of shifting of labourers from rural area to urban area in search of work.

Shifting of labourers from rural area to urban area in search of work is known as 'migration'.

Q32. What is the full form of GNP?

The full form of GNP is Gross National Product.

Q33. What is the current literacy rate of India according to the Census of 2011?

According to the Census of 2011, the literacy rate of India is 74 per cent.

Q34. Why is human capital the most important factor of production? Give three reasons.

Human capital is the most important factor of production for the following reasons
(i) Human capital refers to the people who possess the knowledge and enterprise to put together the other factors of production.
(ii) Investment in human capital yields a return just like an investment in physical capital.
(iii) It is essential, as physical capital cannot produce goods and services on its own

Q35. What are various activities which are classified into the three main sectors? Name each sector with suitable examples.

The three sectors of economic activities are
(a)Primary Sector which harvests or extracts natural products from the Earth; it involves the production of raw materials and food products. Examples include agriculture, dairy farming, mining and quarrying.
(b) Secondary Sector which involves the manufacture of finished goods. Examples include manufacturing and construction.
(c) Tertiary Sector include activities which support the Primary and Secondary sectors with services. Examples are transportation, banking, trade, insurance, legal services, administration and government.

Q36.  What is the difference between economic activities and non-economic activities?

Economic Activities Activities which result in the production of goods and services which add to the national income are called economic activities. The activities classified in the three sectors are economic activities. Non-Economic Activities Those activities which are not performed for pay or profit, e.g., parents looking after their children or a mother cooking food for her family is a non-economic activity, as it is neither performed for pay or profit and nor does it add to the national income.

Q37. What role does education play in the growth of society?

Investment in educating children is similar to investment in land and capital, as it results in higher earnings for them and a greater contribution to society. Educated people make better use of resources like land and capital, leading to the development of society. Even in employment, better-educated people perform better in their jobs, leading to more efficient working of the organisation where they work.

Q38. Why does unemployment have a detrimental effect on the overall growth of an economy?

Unemployment tends to increases economic overload, i.e., the dependence of the unemployed persons on the people who are working goes up. This adversely affects the quality of life of people, as they have to live at subsistence level, which leads to poor health and even an increase in school dropouts. Ultimately this has a detrimental effect on the growth of the economy if it continues, as it wastes resources who can be gainfully employed.

Q39. Explain why Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and literacy rate are considered

to be indicators of human resource development.

Infant Mortality Rate is a factor that can be associated with the well-being of a population. High infant mortality rates could reflect improper childcare owing to poverty, lack of education and other factors. Similarly, the literacy rate reflects the quality of a population. An illiterate and unhealthy population shows poor human development, whereas a literate and healthy population shows proper human development. Thus, infant mortality rate and literacy rate are considered to be indicators of human resource development.

Q40. Do you notice any difference between the two friends Vilas and Sakal? What are those?

The differences between the two friends Sakal and Vilas were:- 

(i) Vilas's father died when Vilas was two years old whereas Sakal was living with his parents. 

(ii) Sakal went to school, but Vilas did not go to school. 

(iii) Sakal was interested in studies whereas Vilas was not interested in studies. 

(iv) Sakal did a - course in computers and became employed whereas Vilas remained illiterate and was not employed. 

(v) The condition of Sakal and his family became better whereas Vilas and his family lived in poverty.

Q41. Visit a nearby village or a slum area and write down a case study of a boy or girl of your age facing the same condition as Vilas or Sakal.

A typical case study can be written as follows. I visited my ancestral village and found some families in a similar plight to Vikas. One boy, Puran, who is 15 years old, works as a farm labourer. In fact, all his family members are farm labourers, as they are landless and uneducated. Since there is no secondary school in the village, Puran did not study beyond class five. He does not have enough clothes and whatever clothes he is wearing are also torn and worn out with use. He and his family members are undernourished. His father has already become a patient of tuberculosis and may not live long. He feels he will forever remain a poor person.

Q42. Based on the picture can you classify these activities into three sectors?

Activities into three sectors:
(i) The photo at the top is depicting agriculture, which is a Primary sector activity.
(ii) The photo in the middle is depicting manufacturing, which is a Secondary sector activity.
(iii) The photo at the bottom is depicting shipping, which is a Tertiary sector activity.

Q43.  Say whether these activities are economic or non-economic activities.
(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.

(a) Economic activity.

(b) Non-economic activity.

(c) Economic activity.

(d) Non-economic activity. 

Q44. What is the role of health in human capital formation?

Role of health in human capital formation are as follow:

• Only a healthy person can work efficiently and with full potential.
• A healthy person can work in a more effective manner.
• A healthy person can work in a productive way and in this way it can contribute better in the development of the economy of the country.
• The unhealthy person becomes a liability for the organization and country.

Thus for the development of human capital and country the health is the most important component.

Q45. In which field do you think India can build the maximum employment opportunity?

India can build the maximum employment opportunities in the agricultural sector and its based industries. Agriculture is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy. When the efficient and quality packaging happen with agricultural products then it can generate a lot of employment opportunities.

Q46. Can you suggest some measures in the education system to mitigate the problem of the educated unemployed?

Measures in the education system to mitigate the problem of the educated unemployed:

• Make education at the secondary level more career-oriented, which would endow individuals with not only education but also the requisite skills for gaining successful employment.
• Create a sort of screening process whereby each individual chooses subjects that suit his or her abilities.
• The introduction of newer subjects and fields of study at the school level should be accompanied by a growth of job opportunities in the sectors that would employ the students electing to study such subjects.

Q47. Can you imagine some village which initially had no job opportunities but later came up with many?

Rampur was a small village which initially depended on agriculture which was also dependent on rainfall:
(i) Then electricity reached the village and people could irrigate their fields and could grow 2 to 3 crops in a year and get work.
(ii) Some people set up small scale industries which could be run by electricity and provided employment to people.
(iii) A school was established and now the population started to become educated and as a result they could seek employment in and outside the village. The village became prosperous and soon had better health, education, transport and job facilities.

Q48. Which capital would you consider the best - land, labour, physical capital and human capital? Why?

• Human Capital is the best resource. 
• Physical Capital and land resources need human capital to become useful, those resources cannot become useful on their own. 
• Human capital utilises the land, labour and physical capital to achieve higher growth of the economy.
• The Green Revolution in India is an example of human capital having better knowledge which led to increased production and thereby helping to achieve self-sufficiency in the domain of agriculture in India.
• The IT revolution in India was led by the human capital. This goes on to prove the superiority of human capital resources over other types of resources.
• A country like Japan has very little resources, yet they are a very developed country, this is the result of investment on its people by Japan, through healthcare and education.
• These educated citizens of Japan made efficient utilization of other resources like capital and land.
• The investment in human capital is through healthcare, training and education.
• A healthier and educated person not only helps himself by earning higher incomes, but society also gains indirectly.

Q49. Why is human resource considered to be the best resource? Explain. Or Why is human resource superior to any other resource? Explain with the help of three arguments.

Human resource is considered to the best resource because
(i) It is a way of referring to country's working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
(ii) Looking at the population in form of human resource emphasises its ability to contribute to the creation of the Gross National Product.
(iii) When existing human resource is developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it 'human capital formation' that adds to the productive power of country just like 'physical capital' formation.

Q50. Why do educated parents invest more heavily in their children's education? Give three reasons.

Educated parents invest more heavily in their children's education because
(i) They know the value of education and understands that education is important for the development of children.
(ii) They usually plan their children’s education more efficiently as they are experienced and understand the process of development.
(iii) Educated parents know that intellectual and mental level of uneducated children is very low and they do not know anything about the world.
(iv) Analytical thinking of uneducated children is also very low.

Q51. What is meant by 'People as Resource'? Explain how is human resource different from other resources like land and physical capitals?

People as Resource is a way of referring to a country's working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
Human resource is different from other resources in many senses. Human resources need education, training and healthcare to develop. On the other hand, land and physical capital need money and physical inputs to develop. Land and physical capital are useless without human resources.

Q52. What is meant by economic activities and how are these classified? Give one example of each. Or Distinguish between market and non-market activities with three points of distinction, Or What are the two types of economic activities? State two characteristics of each.

An economic activity is an activity of providing, making, buying, or selling of commodities or services by people to satisfy their day-to-day needs of life. Economic activities include any activity that deals with the manufacturing, distributing, or utilising of products or services.
Activities that involve money, or the exchange of products or services, are economic activities.
The three types of economic activities are as follows:

• Business: This economic activity provides goods and services to satisfy human needs on a daily basis with the aim of earning profits.
• Profession: It can also be defined as an occupation or a professional job that offers specialised services in return for professional charges.
• Employment:This activity is based on a contract between the company and the employee. Here, the employee performs duties for the company, and is paid (with wages or a salary) in return.

Or
The activities which focus on the production of goods and services and add value to the national income are referred to as economic activities. It has two parts - the market and non-market activities.

Or
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.