EXERCISE

Give Very Short Answer

Q1. Define –
(a) Poverty
Answer: Poverty is a situation where an individual is unable to acquire the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, education, and health services.

(b) Unemployment
Answer: In economics, a person is termed as unemployed if they have the ability and desire to work but are unable to find any job opportunity.

(c) Density of population
Answer: Density of population is the population per square kilometer of a region.

(d) Sex ratio
Answer: Sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males.

(e) Absolute poverty
Answer: The document does not provide a definition for absolute poverty. The user has to be told this.

(f) Relative poverty
Answer: The document does not provide a definition for relative poverty. The user has to be told this.

(g) Sustainable development
Answer: Sustainable development is a development process that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

(h) Green economy
Answer: A Green Economy is an economy whose main aim is to remove the threats to the environment and ecological systems while achieving sustainable development.

Q2. What is poverty line? What is the poverty line in rural and urban areas?
Answer: The poverty line is a minimum point in the distribution line that divides a country’s population into ‘poor’ and ‘non-poor’. According to the Planning Commission of India, the minimum calorie consumption should be 2400 calories in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. An individual who fails to consume this minimum amount of calories is defined as ‘poor’.

Q3. What is the population of India and Assam according to the 2011 census?
Answer: According to the 2011 census:
The population of India is 121 crores.
The population of Assam is almost 3 crores and 12 lakh.

Q4. What percentage of the total land area of the world is in India?
Answer: India has 2.4% of the world’s total land area.

Q5. Which state of India has the highest sex ratio and how much is it?
Answer: According to the 2011 census, Kerala has the highest sex ratio in India, with 1084 females per 1000 males.

Q6. What is the density of population of Assam?
Answer: The density of population of Assam is 397 people per square kilometer, according to the 2011 census.

Q7. What is disguised unemployment?
Answer: Disguised or hidden unemployment is a situation where people appear to be employed but their presence does not contribute to the total production. For example, if a job can be done by two people, but five people are employed, the extra three people are considered disguised unemployed.

Q8. What is inflation?
Answer: In economics, inflation is a continuous rise in the general price level. During inflation, the prices of goods and services go up, and the value of money declines.

Q9. What are the causes of inflation?
Answer: The two main causes of inflation are:

1. Demand-pull Inflation: It occurs when demand for goods and services rises faster than supply, leading to higher prices.
2. Cost-push Inflation: It happens when production costs increase due to higher wages, profits, or taxes, causing producers to raise prices.

Q10. What is known as suppressed inflation?
Answer: Suppressed inflation is a situation where the government controls the rise in prices through direct methods like a public distribution system and price fixation. This keeps the price level below what it would be in open inflation.

Q11. How many workers are there in an unregulated sector?
Answer: The document refers to the ‘unorganized or unregulated sector’. It states that if the number of workers is less than 10, it is called an unorganized or unregulated sector.

Q12. Complete the following:

Worker−population ratio =

$$\frac{\text{Total working population}}{\text{Total population}} \times 100$$
Answer: Worker−population ratio =

$$\frac{\text{Total working population}}{\text{Total population}} \times 100$$

Q13. Which committee put forward the definition of Sustainable Development and in which year did it do so?
Answer: The Brundtland Commission (also known as the World Commission on Environment and Development) put forward the concept of Sustainable Development in 1987.

Q14. What is the motto of environmental thinkers?
Answer: The motto of environmentally conscious individuals and institutions is “Think globally; act locally.”

Give Very Long Answer

Q1. Discuss the main causes for the problem of rapid growth of population in India.
Answer: The rapid growth of population is one of the most significant problems facing India. The main causes for this problem are:

1. High birth rate: India has a high birth rate, which contributes significantly to the population problem.
2. Illiteracy: A high rate of illiteracy, particularly in rural areas, leads to a lack of awareness about family planning and the benefits of a smaller family size.
3. Poverty: Poverty is both a cause and an effect of population growth. Poor families often have more children, believing that more hands can help earn more income, which further perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
4. Lack of social consciousness and population education: The lack of social consciousness and proper population education among the people is a major contributing factor to the rapid population growth.

Q2. What is poverty? Explain how the poverty line determines poverty.
Answer: Poverty is a situation where a person is unable to secure the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, education, and health services. This leads to an economic imbalance in a country and widens the gap between the rich and the poor.

The poverty line is a conceptual minimum point in the distribution line that is used to determine poverty. It divides a country’s population into ‘poor’ and ‘non-poor’. In India, the most widely accepted definition of the poverty line is based on calorie consumption. According to the Planning Commission, an individual is considered ‘poor’ if their minimum calorie consumption is less than 2400 calories per day in rural areas and 2100 calories per day in urban areas. This is because people in rural areas generally do more physical labor and thus require more calories. The monthly per capita expenditure required to meet this calorie consumption is used to determine the poverty line at different price levels.

Q3. What is inflation? Discuss the main methods of controlling inflation.
Answer: Inflation is a continuous rise in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. During inflation, the purchasing power or value of money declines.

The main methods of controlling inflation are:

1. Monetary Measures: The central bank increases the Bank Rate, which raises interest rates, discourages borrowing, and reduces the money supply.
2. Fiscal Measures: The government can reduce spending, levy taxes, or borrow from the public to lower aggregate demand and control inflation.
3. Non-monetary Measures (Increase in Production): The government can increase the production of goods and services by efficiently using resources, which increases supply and helps stabilize prices.

Q4. What is unemployment? What are its different types? Mention the main causes of this problem.
Answer: In economics, a person is said to be unemployed if they have both the ability and the desire to work but cannot find a job. If a person has the ability to work but is not willing to do so at the prevailing wage rate, they are not considered unemployed.

Types of Unemployment:
● Rural Unemployment:
○ Seasonal Unemployment: People who are unemployed during a specific season but are employed for the rest of the year (e.g., agricultural workers).
○ Disguised Unemployment: People who are seemingly employed but their presence does not add to the total production (e.g., extra workers on a farm who are not needed).

● Urban Unemployment:
○ Industrial Unemployment: People who are unable to find employment in the industrial sector.
○ Educated Unemployment: People who have the required educational qualifications but are unable to find job opportunities.

Causes of Unemployment:

1. High population growth: The rapid increase in population is not matched by an equal increase in job opportunities.
2. Jobless growth: The gap between the rate of growth of national income and the rate of employment is increasing, creating a situation of jobless growth.
3. Slow industrialization: A slow rate of industrialization leads to industrial unemployment.
4. Faulty educational system: The current education system often fails to provide vocational and technical skills, making people unfit for self-employment.

Q5. Write short notes:

(a) Seasonal unemployment
Answer: Seasonal unemployment is a type of rural unemployment where people are unemployed during certain seasons of the year and are employed for the rest of the year. This is commonly seen in the agricultural sector, where work is dependent on specific seasons for planting, harvesting, etc.

(b) Demand-pull and cost-push inflation
Answer:
Demand-pull Inflation: This type of inflation is caused by an increase in the aggregate demand for goods and services in the economy. It occurs when people have more money to spend, but the supply of goods is limited. The increased purchasing power “pulls” the prices up.

Cost-push Inflation: This type of inflation is caused by an increase in the cost of production. Factors such as a rise in wages, higher profits, or the burden of taxes on commodities lead to an increase in production costs, which in turn causes producers to increase the prices of goods.

(c) Sustainable development
Answer: Sustainable development is a concept that emphasizes meeting the needs of the present generation without harming the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It aims to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection. This concept was put forward by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 as a way to protect the environment from the adverse effects of rapid economic growth.

(d) Green Economy
Answer: A Green Economy is an economy that aims to address environmental threats and ecological problems while achieving sustainable development. The goal is to build a green world by promoting policies and practices that are environmentally responsible and economically viable. The motto of environmental thinkers, “Think globally; act locally,” is central to the concept of a green economy.

(e) Open and suppressed inflation
Answer:
Open Inflation: This is a situation where there are no government controls on prices, and they are allowed to rise freely. This leads to an unrestricted rise in the price level.

Suppressed Inflation: This is a situation where the government directly intervenes to control price increases through measures like a public distribution system and price fixation. This keeps prices artificially low and prevents them from reaching the level they would be at in an open inflation scenario.