Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 Question Answers - Economics

Q1: How did countries like Japan become rich/developed?

Ans: Countries like Japan do not have any natural resources. In spite of that they are developed countries. They import the natural resources needed in their country. They became rich because they invested on people especially in the field of education and health. These people have made efficient use of other resources like land and capital. Efficiency and the technology evolved by people have made these countries rich.

Q2: How can the large population of India be turned into a productive asset?
Ans:  India is a vast country with a large population. But it (large population) need not be a liability. It can be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital by spending resources on education and health for all. 

• Training of industrial and agricultural workers in the use of modern technology and scientific researches, etc can contribute a lot in turning the population into an asset. 
• Investment in human resource via education and medical care can give high return in future. 
• Education adds to the quality of labour which ultimately enhances the total productivity. Total productivity adds to the growth of the economy.
  
  

Q3: Why do educated parents invest more heavily on their children’s education?
Ans: Educated parents are found to invest more heavily on the education of their child. This is because they have realised the importance of education for themselves. They are also conscious of proper nutrition and hygiene. Look after their children’s needs for education at school and good health. They know that education adds to the quality of labour which ultimately enhances their children’s total productivity.

Concerned with their children’s health and do their best for it. Health is basis for realising one’s well-being. Needless to say that a child with investment made on her education and health can yield a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and greater contribution to society.

Q4: What are the main objectives of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan?
Ans: Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is a time bound initiative of the central government, in partnership with the states, local government and the community for achieving the goal of elementary education.
Its main objectives of are given below:

• To provide elementary education to all children in age group of six to fourteen years by 2010.
• To increase the enrollment in elementary education by establishing back-to-school camps.
• To encourage attendance and retention of children and improve nutritional status.

Q5: What is the National Health Policy of India?
Ans: Improvement in the health status of the population has been the priority of the country. Our national policy, too, aims at improving the accessibility of health care, family welfare and nutritional service with a special focus on the underprivileged segment of population. Over the last five decades India has built up a vast health infrastructure and has developed man power required at primary, secondary and tertiary sector in Government as well as in the private sector. 

Adopotation of these measures have increased the life expectancy to over 67.2 years in 2020. Infant mortality rate has also come down from 147 in 1951 to 28 in 2020. Increase in longevity of life is an indicator of good quality of life marked by self-confidence.

Q6: ‘Statistically, the unemployment rate is low in India.’ Explain.
Ans: A large number of people represented with low income and productivity are counted as employed. They appear to work throughout the year but in terms of their potential and income, it is not adequate for them. The work they are pursuing seems forced upon them. They may, therefore, want other work of their choice. Poor people cannot afford to sit idle. They tend to engage in any activity irrespective of its earning potential. Their earning keeps them on a bare subsistence level.

Q7: What are the objectives of the eleventh five-year plan with regard to education?
Ans: The objectives of the eleventh five-year plan with regard to education are given below:

• The eleventh five-year plan endeavoured to increase the enrolment in higher education of the 18 to 23 years age group to 15% by 2011—12 and to 21% by twelfth plan.
• The strategy focuses on increasing access, quality adoption of states-specific curriculum modification, vocationalisation and networking on the use of information technology.
• The plan also focuses on distant education, convergence of formal, non-formal, distant and IT education institutions. Over the past fifty years, there has been a significant growth in the number of universities and institutions of higher learning in specialised areas.

Q8: How does investment in human resource give higher return in future?
Ans: Investment in human resource (through education, training, medical care) yields higher return just like investment in land and capital. This can be seen directly in the form of higher incomes earned because of higher productivity of the more educated or the better trained persons, as well as the higher productivity of healthier people.

Not only do the more educated and the healthier people gain through higher incomes, society also gains in other indirect ways because the advantages of a more educated or a healthier population spreads to those also who themselves were not directly educated or given health care. Countries like Japan have become rich and developed without any natural resources because they have invested in human resource.

Q9: Why will a firm not like to employ a worker with ill-health? How does it affect the working environment?
Ans: Health is an important factor that affects the productivity of an individual. If health is good, it improves the productive power of the individual but if it is bad then the individual will become a liability to the family and the society. Obviously no firm will like to employ a worker with ill-health. Such a worker will miserably fail to add to the productivity of the organisation. 

The organisation will be at great loss if it overlooks the health of its employees at the time of their appointment. No one can deny the fact that the health of a person helps him to realise his potential and the ability to fight illness. Healthy people can do hard work. They avoid to take leaves as they are hale and hearty.

Q10: ‘The employment structure is characterised by self-employment in the primary sector.’ Explain.

Ans: Primary sector means agricultural sector where the whole family contributes in the field even though not everyone is really needed. Thus, we find hidden unemployment in this sector. But the entire family shares what has been produced. This concept of sharing of work in the field and the produce raised reduces the hardship of unemployment in the rural sector. But this does not reduce the poverty of the family as a result of which surplus labour from every household tends to migrate to cities in search of jobs.

Q11: How have the various activities been classified into sectors? Give one example from each sector.
Ans: The various activities have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary.

• Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, mining and quarrying.
• Manufacturing is included in the secondary sector.
• Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance, etc. are included in the tertiary sector.

Q12: Define the term unemployment. What are the major types of unemployment prevailing in India?
Ans: Unemployment is a situation in which a person is willing to work at the going wages cannot find jobs. Four types of unemployment are prevailing in our country. These are:

• Seasonal unemployment
• Disguised unemployment
• Educated unemployment
• Structural unemployment

Q13: Enlist the factors on which the quality of population depends. Also highlight the role of education in enhancing the quality of population.
Ans: The two factors upon which the quality of population depends are – literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life expectancy and skill formation acquired by the people of the country.

• Education plays a very significant role in human capital formation. It is an important input for the growth of an individual. It enables humans to realise their full potential and achieve success in life in the form of higher incomes through better jobs and higher productivity. Education helps individual to make better use of the economic opportunities available before him.
• Education and skill are the major determinants of the earning of any individual in the market. We have seen that a majority of women are paid low compared to men because they have meagre education and skill formation. But women with high education and skill formation are paid at par with the men. So, education is important and it should be imparted to children with great care.

Q14: Mention some of the factors responsible for seasonal unemployment.
Ans: Seasonal unemployment is found in rural areas. People dependant upon agriculture usually face such kind of problem. The factors responsible for this are:

• Most of India’s rural areas are victims of extreme poverty. Farmers are too poor to practise multiple cropping which requires labour all the time. So, there will be no chance of seasonal unemployment.
• Lack of small scale industries in rural areas is also a prime factor for seasonal unemployment. These industries will play a valuable role in providing employment to those villagers who are out of work during off season.
• Commercial agriculture in India is practised on a limited scale. Its expansion will end the scope of seasonal unemployment.

Q15: What is Mid-day Meal scheme? What was the purpose behind launching this scheme?
Ans: The Mid-day Meal scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India. It was launched in 1995. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government-aided, local body, madarsa etc. It was launched to encourage attendance and retention of children in schools. Improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide.

Q16: Give the initiatives taken by the Government to improve elementary education in India.
Ans: In order to literate the population of the country, the Government of India has taken several measures. Some of them are given below:

• There is Sarva Siksha Abhiyan to provide elementary education to all children in the age group of six to fourteen years. It is a time-bound initiative of the central government, in partnership with the state, the local government and the community for achieving the goal of universalisation of elementary education.
• Bridge courses and back-to-school camps have been initiated to increase the enrolment in elementary education.
• Mid-day Meel Scheme has been implemented to encourage attendance and retention of children and improve their nutritional status.
• Navodaya Vidyalayas have been opened in each district as ideal schools, whose facilities and methods can be followed by other schools. Importance is also given to vocationalisation and networking on the use of information technology.

Q17: Describe how the nature of unemployment differs in rural and urban areas.
Ans:  The nature of unemployment differs in rural and urban areas due to following reason:

• In rural areas of India, there is seasonal and disguised unemployment. Urban areas have mostly educated unemployment.
• Seasonal unemployment happens when people are not able to find jobs during some months of the year. People dependant on agriculture usually face this type of unemployment.
• In case of disguised unemployment, people appear to be employed. They have agricultural plots where they find work. This usually happens among family members engaged in agricultural activity. The work requires the service of five people but engages eight people. Three people are extra and are disguisedly unemployed.
• In urban areas, educated unemployment has become a common phenomenon. Many youth with matriculation, graduation and post-graduation are not able to find job.
• Unemployment is also found among technically qualified persons. These persons in spite of having technical degrees fail to find suitable jobs. This leads to frustration among them.

Q18: Mention some harmful effects of unemployment.
Ans: Unemployment is a serious problem which needs to be removed. There are several harmful effects of this problem. Some of them are given below:
(i) Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resources. People who are an asset for the economy turn into a liability.
(ii) There is a feeling of hopelessness and despair among youth. People do not have enough money to support their family. Inability of the educated people who are willing to work to find gainful employment implies a great social waste.
(iii) Unemployment tends to increase economic overload. The dependence of the unemployed on the working population increases which is very depressing for a country.
(iv) The quality of life of an individual as well as of society is adversely affected. When a family has to live on a bare subsistence level there is a general decline in its health status and rising withdrawal from the school system.
(v) Increase in  unemployment is an indicator of a depressed economy. It also wastes the resource, which could have been gainfully employed.

Q19: Define the following terms:
(i) Gross National Product
(ii) Gross Domestic Product
(iii) Virtuous Cycle
(iv) Vicious Cycle
(v) Economic Overload
Ans:
(i) Gross National Product: GNP is a measure to value what the country’s citizens produce in a given year.
(ii) Gross Domestic Product: GDP is a measure to value the total final production in a country in a given year.
(iii) Virtuous Cycle: A virtuous cycle has favorable results. Some educated parents invest heavily on the education of their child. They are also conscious of their proper nutrition and hygiene. Several years of education enables their child to earn more. A virtuous cycle is thus created in this case.
(iv) Vicious Cycle: A vicious cycle has detrimental results. Such a cycle may be created by disadvantaged parents who, themselves uneducated lacking in hygiene, keep their children in a similar disadvantaged state.
(v) Economic Overload: Unemployment tends to increase economic overload. When dependence of the unemployed on the working population increases, it increases economic overload.

Q20: ‘Illiterate and unhealthy population are a liability for the economy.’ Justify the statement with suitable examples.
Ans: Illiterate and unhealthy population are a great liability for a country’s economy. Several reasons can be given in this regard:

• Since the population is illiterate and physically weak, it is unable to use land and capital efficiently. This will retard the growth of the country. Such a population miserably fail to contribute positively.
• People sans education and health earn meagre income. No organisation is ready to give them work because it is fully aware of their incapability of doing work.
• Wherever they are, they have to depend on others for this purpose or that. Since they can do only menial work, they lead a very hard life. They have no aspirations and spend all their life in struggles for keeping their body and soul together.
• We have seen that uneducated parents lack in hygiene and keep their children in similar disadvantaged state. They do not send their children to school as a result of which they become a liability. Like their parents they too do not add to the growth of the economy.
• Uneducated and unhealthy population make their country poor because of their low productivity. They are really a great burden on the society and the nation. Such a population need to be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital.

Q21:  Describe unfavourable effects of population growth in a country like India.
Ans: India is a large country with a huge population. This population can be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital through education, training and medical care but in a country like India it is a little bit difficult task. And therefore, this huge population is not considered good for the country’s economic development. Some of the unfavourable effects of population growth are given below:

• Since India is not a developed country, it is difficult to turn the huge population into a productive asset. It means a large segment of the population is a liability which is a big hindrance in the country’s development.
• A fast growth in population means a large number of persons coming to the labour market for whom it may not be possible to provide employment. This will create a problem of unemployment which retards the development of the nation.
• The large size of population also reduces per capita availability of capital in less developed countries like India. A rapidly growing population leads to a progressive decline in the availability of capital per worker. This further leads to lower productivity and diminishing returns.
• Population growth if not checked creates food problem. Food scarcity affects economic develop-ment in two respects— firstly, it leads to undernourishment of the people which lowers their productivity and secondly, it paves the way for importing food grains which is not a good sign for a country’s economy.
• Population growth also leads to illiteracy and poverty. Uneducated and poor parents keep their children in a similarly disadvantaged state. When they grow up, they too become a liability to the family and the nation.

Q22: How can we tackle the problem of unemployment? Give some suggestions.
Ans: Unemployment is a serious issue for all of us. This problem needs to be tackled wisely. Some of the suggestions given in this regard are:
(i) Our population is increasing rapidly. But employment opportunities have not increased accordingly. So the rise in population must be controlled in order to end this problem.
(ii) India is predominantly an agriculture country. There is no dearth of raw materials here. We must make our country an industrial country if we wish to control the mounting pressure of unemployment.
(iii) Over-dependence on agriculture should be stopped by establishing more and more cottage and small scale industries in our villages. These not only help in creating employment opportunities but also check the rate of migration from rural to urban areas.
(iv) Vocational and skill-based education should be encouraged in every part of the country. This will prove a significant step in removing the problem of unemployment.
(v) Educated youth should be encouraged to set up their own enterprises. It can also generate employment for many others. Our present Government is giving much importance to this.