People As Resource

Q1. Distinguish between physical and human capital.

Ans: The followings are the important differences between physical and human capital:
1. Physical capital is tangible and can be sold in the market like any other good. Human
capital is intangible. It cannot be seen or touched.
2. Physical capital is separable from its owner whereas human capital is inseparable from its
owner.
3. Physical capital is more mobile than human capital.
Q2. What is an economic activity? What cue various activities undertaken in the
primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector?
Ans: Economic activities: All the activities which give us some incomes are called economic
activities. Pulling cycle-rickshaw, cleaning houses, selling vegetables and working in schools,
factories, banks, etc. are economic activities.
Activities undertaken in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sectors are:

 Primary Sector: Activities concerned with collecting or making available material

provided by nature are included in primary sector like agriculture, poultry farming,
mining, fishing, etc.
 Secondary Sector: The activities which are associated with transforming raw material
or primary products into commodities useful to man such as manufacturing, etc.
 Tertiary Sector: The activities which are essential for running modern factories in a
big way are termed as tertiary sector. Activities like trading, banking, health,
education, insurance, etc. are included in tertiary sector and all there providing
services.

Q3. What are the different types of unemployment found in India?

Ans: The different types of unemployment found in India are:

 Disguised unemployment: In disguised unemployment, people appear to be employed.

They have agricultural plot where they find work. This usually happens among family
members engaged in agricultural activity.
 Seasonal unemployment: Seasonal unemployment happens when people are not able
to find jobs during some months of the year. People dependent upon agriculture
usually face such kind of problem. There are certain busy seasons when sowing,
harvesting, weeding and threshing is done. Certain months do not provide much work
to the people dependent on agriculture.
 Educated unemployment: Educated unemployment has become a common
phenomenon in urban areas. Many youths with matriculation, graduation and post-
graduation degrees are not able to find job. A study showed that unemployment of
graduate and post-graduate has increased faster than among matriculates.

Q4. What is being done to increase educational facilities in our country? Explain.
Ans:
 Our constitution has a provision that states would provide universal, free education up
to the age of 14 years.” Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” is a central government project to
provide elementary education to all children between the age group of 6 to 14 years,
by 2010.
 There is a special emphasis on girl’s education.
 Special schools like Navodaya Vidyalaya are established for bright children in each
district.
 Vocational streams have been developed to equip high school students with
occupational skills.
 The plan outlay on education has increased from 151 crores in the first plan to 43,825
crores in the tenth plan.
 The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.64% in 1951-52 to
3.3% in 2013-14.
 The literacy rate has increased from 18% in 1951 to 74% in 2010-11.
Q5. What is called economic activity? Distinguish between market and non-market
activities.
Ans:
The activities that add value to the national income are called economic activities. Economic
activities are also called market activities. Market activities differ from non-market activities
in the following ways:

Market activities Non-market activities

1. Market activities involve remuneration to

1. Non-market activities are the production of
any one who performs i.e., activity performed
goods for self-consumption.
for pay or profit.

2. These include production of goods or 2. These can be consumption and processing of

services including government service. primary product and own account production of
Example: Man working in a private firm or a fixed assets.
government sector. Example: Subsistence farming.

Q6. Suggest any three ways to transform population load into an asset.
Ans: The three ways to transform population load into an asset are:

 To improve literacy rate: Education provides new aspiration and develops values of
life. Education helps in enhancing the national income, cultural richness and increases
the efficiency of governance.
 Health: The health of a person helps him to realise his potential and the ability to fight
illness. Increase in longevity of life in an indicator of good quality of life marked by
 self-confidence. It involves the protection of children from infection, ensuring
nutrition and along with mother and the child and child care.

Formation of skills: Providing vocational and skill-based education helps the people
to get employment and therefore, they contribute to the national income later.

Q7. What is the nature of unemployment in India?

Ans: In India, unemployment is widespread. Unemployment is found both in its rural and
urban areas. There is seasonal and disguised unemployment in its rural areas. People here are
dependent on agriculture. Certain months do not provide much work to the people dependent
upon agriculture.

In urban areas, educated unemployment has become a serious problem. Many educated
youths are not able to find jobs. Unemployment among graduates and post-graduates has
increased faster than among the matriculates.

Q8. Define the following terms:

(i) Gross National Product
(ii) Gross Domestic Product
(iii) Virtuous Cycle
(iv) Vicious Cycle
(v) Economic Overload
Answer:
(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.

Q9. ‘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:
(i) 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.

(ii) 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.

(iii) 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.

(iv) 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.

(v) 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.

Q10. “Education is an important input of human capital formation.” Do you agree?

Ans: Yes,I do agree. Several years of education add to the quality of labour. Education
enhances total productivity. Total productivity adds to the growth of society.

A child, with the investment made in her education and training, can yield a high return in the
future in the form of higher-earning and greater contribution to society. Just as a country can
turn physical resources like land into physical capital like factories, similarly it can turn
human resources like students into human capital like engineers and doctors or teachers.
Spending on education by parents is the same as spending on capital goods by the companies.

Education opens the doors of a good job and salary. It opens new horizons provides new
aspirations and develops new values of life. Education contributes towards the growth of
society also. Educated persons are found to invest more heavily in the education of their
child. This is because they have realized the importance of education for themselves.

Moreover, the availability of an educated labour force facilitates the adaptation of new
technologies and the invention of new technologies.

It also encourages social changes.