Here we are providing Class 12 Geography Important Extra Questions and Answers Chapter 4 Human Development. Geography Class 12 Important Questions are the best resource for students which helps in class 12 board exams.

Class 12 Geography Chapter 4 Important Extra Questions Human Development

Human Development Important Extra Questions Very Short Answer Type

Question 1.
Name the two South-Asian economists who first put forward the idea of human development.
Answer:
Mahabub-Ul-Haq and Amartya sen.

Question 2.
Who created Human Development index ?
Answer:
A Pakistani economist Dr. Mahabub-ul-Haq in 1990.

Question 3.
What criterion was used to measure development ? (C.B.S.E. 2013)
Answer:
Economic growth and Education.

Question 4.
Name four pillars of Human development. (C.B.S.E. 2014)
Answer:
(i) Equity
(ii) Sustainability
(iii) Productivity
(iv) Empowerment.

Question 5.
What are two requirements for empowerment ?
Answer:
Good governance and people oriented policies.

Question 6.
What is the measure of access to resources ?
Answer:
Purchasing power.

Question 7.
Expand ILO.
Answer:
International Labour Organisation.

Question 8.
Expand UNDP.
Answer:
United Nation Development Programme.

Question 9.
Expand GNH.
Answer:
Gross National Happiness.

Question 10.
Which country introduced Gross National Happiness ?
Answer:
Bhutan.

Human Development Important Extra Questions Short Answer Type

Question 1.
What is development ? State its three aspects.
Answer:
Development means a qualitative change. It includes three aspects :
(а) Quality of life of people
(b) Opportunities
(c) Freedom of people.

Question 2.
Describe the concept of Human development as described by Dr. Haq.
Answer:
Dr. Haq described that Human development enlarges peopl’s choices and improves their lives. People are central to all development. The choices keep on changing. It is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives. People must be healthy, be able to develop their talents, and be free to achieve their goals.

Question 3.
What was the main objective of development according to Prof. Amartya Sen ?
Answer:
He saw an increase in freedom as the main objective of development. It is the most effective way of bringing about development. Social and political institutions increase freedom.

Question 4.
Distinguish between growth and development. (C.B.S.E. 2013, Delhi 2019)
Answer:
Growth and development refers to changes that take place over a period of the growth; quantitative and value neutral. It is positive or negative. It shows increase or decrease.

Development means a qualitative change. It always has a positive value. Development means increase in the existing conditions. Development occurs when positive growth takes place.

Question 5.
What are the attributes of a meaningful life ?
Answer:
A meaningful life is not just a long one. It must be a life with some purpose such as :
(а) People must be healthy
(b) People must be able to develop their talents
(c) They must participate in society activities
(d) People must be free to achieve their goals.

Question 6.
What does the term Equity mean ? What are the problems for it ?
Answer:
Equity means making equal access to opportunities available to every body. The opportunities available to people must be equal. But there are some problems, such as :
(a) Gender discrimination
(b) Race discrimination
(c) Variable income
(d) Caste

Question 7.
What is sustainability ? Name three types of resources which must be used for sustainability.
Answer:
Sustainability means continuity in the availability of opportunities. Each generation must have
the same opportunities. For this, the resources should not be miused. The following resources must be used :
(a) Environmental
(b) Financial
(c) Human

Question 8.
What is productivity ? How can it be enriched ?
Answer:
Productivity means human labour productivity in terms of human work. It can be enriched by :
(i) By building capabilities in people
(ii) By increasing their knowledge
(ii) By providing better health facilities
(iv) By increasing effciency.

Question 9.
What is empowerment ? How can people be empowered ?
Answer:
Empowerment means to have power to make choices. People can be empowered by :
(i) By increasing freedom
(ii) By increasing capabilities
(iii) By good governance
(iv) By people oriented policies

Question 10.
Name the four important approaches for studying human development.
Answer:
(i) The Income approach
(ii) The Welfare approach
(iii) Minimum Needs approach
(iv) Capabilities approach.

Question 11.
On which key areas is HDI based ? What is the range of HDI Score ?
Answer:
HDI is based on following key areas :
(a) Health
(b) Education
(c) Access to Resources. HDI score ranks 0 to 1.

Question 12.
What is Gross National Happiness ? What are its important aspects ? (C.B.S.E. 2014)
Or
“The Gross National Happiness is the measure of the country is Progress.”Evaluate the statement. (Out Side Delhi 2019)
Answer:
Bhutan is the only country in the world to proclaim GNH as the measure of human development. It means material progress cannot come at the cost of happiness. GNH encourages us to think of the spiritual, non-material and qualitative aspects of the development.

Human Development Important Extra Questions Long Answer Type

Question 1.
What do you mean by ‘Human Development’ ? Explain its concept.
Or
“The size of a territory and per capital” income are not directly related to human development.” Support the statement with examples.
Answer:
Human Development. Development is a dynamic concept. It is a process of growth and realisation of potential utilising resources into full use. Its main purpose is to raise the economic growth. The purpose of development is to create an environment in which no child goes without education, where no human being is denied health care and where all people can develop their potential capacities.

Human Development Indicators.
The World Bank provides every year the world development report. It provides data of production, consumption, demand, energy, capital trade, population growth, health, education of some 186 countries. This report is based on some indicators. The three basic components of human development are

  • Longevity
  • Knowledge
  • Standard of living.

India ranks 134th in the world while Norway ranks First.

The following are the main indicators of human development:
(i) Life expectancy at Birth
(ii) Literacy
(iii) Per capita income
(iv) Demographic characteristics such as infant mortality rate, natural increase rate, the age structure.

(i) Life expectancy at Birth.
Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years that a newborn baby is expected to live. The average life expectancy of the world is 65 years. North America with an average age of 77 years has the highest life expectancy; while Africa has the lowest life expectancy rate of 54 years. The developed countries with high level of nutrition, education, medical care and standard of living have high life expectancy rate.

(ii) Literacy. The literacy is an important and reliable indicator of socio-cultural, economic and cultural development of a country. Literacy is essential for eradicating poverty. The ability to read and write influences demographic features such as fertility, mortality, occupations etc. In developed countries, the literacy rate is above 90 percent. While in developing countries it is less than 60 percent.

(iii) Per Capita Income. GDP and GNP showing the per capita income of a country is an important indicator of human resource development. The higher the per capita income, the more developed the country is. Workers in developed countries earn more than that in developing countries. In many countries of Europe the GDP is over 20,000 $ per year as compared to $ 100 of many countries of Africa and Asia. The GDP of developing countries indicates the low out-put of goods and services.

(iv) Demographic Characteristics. The demographic characteristics of a country are influenced by the economy of a country. These differ in developed and developing countries.

(a) The infant mortality rate is high in developing countries. People are not able to provide food and medicines.

(b) Natural increase rate (The difference between crude birth rate and death rate) is high in developing countries. It places a pressure on economy. In countries of Africa, the crude birth rate is as high as 40 per 1000 while in developed countries it is as low as 10.

(c) The age structure is also different in developed and developing countries. Developing countries have a high percentage of dependent population (i.e. children). But the over all percentage of dependent population is lower in developed countries.

Question 2.
Name the four pillars of development. Describe impact of each giving examples. (C.B.S.E. 2011)
Or
What is human development? Analyse the four pillars of human development? (C.B.S.E. Delhi 2017 Set-I) (C.B.S.E.Delhi 2017)
Answer:
The four Pillars of Human Development:
Just as any building is supported by pillars, the idea of human development is supported by the concepts of
(i) equity
(ii) sustainability
(iii) productivity and
(iv) empowerment.

1. Equity : Equity refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody. Tire opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income and in the Indian case, caste. Example. In India, a large number of women and persons belonging to socially and economically backward groups drop out of school. They do not have access to knowledge.

2. Sustainability means continuity in the availability of opportunities. To have sustainable human development, each generation must have the same opportunities. All environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future. Misuse of any of these resources will lead to fewer opportunities for future generations. Example : To sustain future, the importance of sending girls to school be realised.

3. Productivity : Productivity here means human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human work. Such productivity must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people. Ultimately, it is people who are the real wealth of nations. Therefore, efforts to increase their knowledge, or provide better health facilities ultimately leads to better work efficiency.

4. Empowerment : Empowerment means to have the power to make choices. Such power comes from increasing freedom and capability. Good governance and people-oriented policies are required to empower people. The empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged groups is of special importance.

Question 3.
Name the different approaches to Human Development. Describe each.
Or
Explain three characteristics of welfare approach of human development. (Sample Paper 2018-19)
Answer:
Approaches to Human Development
There are many ways of looking at the problem of human development.
Some of the important approaches are:
(a) The income approach
(b) The welfare approach
(c) Minimum needs approach; and
(d) Capabilities apprroach.

Measuring Human Development

The human development index (HDI) ranks the countries based on their performance in the key areas of health, education and access to resources. These ranking are based on a score between 0 to 1 that a country earns from its record in the key areas of human development

Indicators of HDI

  • Life expectancy at Birth to assess health
  • Adult literacy rate to access to knowledge
  • Access to Resources to assess purchasing power

Each of these dimensions is given a weightage of 1/3. The human development index is a sum total of the weights assigned to all these dimensions. The closer a score is to one, the greater is the level of human development. Therefore, a score of 0.983 would be considered very high while 0.268 would mean a very low level of human development.

(a) Income Approach : This is one of the oldest approaches to human development. Human development is seen as being linked to income. The idea is that the level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys. Higher the level of income, the higher is the level of human development.

(b) Welfare approach : This approach looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities. The approach argues for higher government expenditure on edcuation, health, social and secondary amenities. People are not participants in development but only passive recipients. The government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by maximising expenditure on welfare.

(c) Basic needs approach : This appraoch was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Six basic needs i.e. health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, and housing were identified. The questions of human choices is ignored and the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs of defined sections.

(d) Capability approach : This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen. Building human capabilities in the areas of health, education and access to resources is the key to increasing human development.

Question 4.
Describe the distribution of HDI countries with High index value, Medium Index value and Low index value.
Or
What is meant by human development? Classify countries into four groups on the basis of the human development scores earned by them. Explan one feature of each group. (C.B.S.E Outside Delhi Set-II 2017)
Answer:
Size of a country and per capita income are not directly related to human development. Often smaller countries and poorer countries have been ranked higher. For example Sri Lanka (92) has a higher rank than India (136). Countries can be grouped into three categories :

Level Score in development
Index
Number of
countries
High above 0.8 47
Medium 0 5 to 0.799 100
Low Below 0.6 37

(A) Countries with High index value Countries with high HDI are those which have a score of 0.8. According to the Human Development Report of 2014, this group includes 47 countries.

Top Ten Countries with High Value Index, 2014

SI. No. Country SI. No. Country
1. Norway 6. Germany
2. Australia 7. New Zealand
3. Switzerland 8. Canada
4. Netherlands 9. Singapore
5. United States 10. Denmark

Reasons :
(i) Education and healthcare is an important government priority
(ii) Countries with higher human development are those where a lot of investment in the social sector has taken place.
(iii) Good governance
(iv) The degree of social diversity in these countries is not very high
(v) Many of the countries with a high human development score are located in Europe and represent the industrialised western world.

(B) Countries with Medium Index Value : Countries with medium levels of human development form the largest group. There are a total of 100 countries in this group.

Reasons
(1) Most of these are countries which have emerged as developing countries.
(2) Some countries from this group were former colonies.
(3) Many others have emerged after the break up of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1990.
(4) Many of these countries have been rapidly improving their human development score by adopting more people-oriented policies and reducing social discrimination.
(5) Most of these countries have a much higher social diversity than the countries with higher human development scores.
(6) Many in this group have faced political instability and social uprisings at some points of time in their recent history.

(C) Countries with Low Index Value : As many as 37 countries record low levels of human development.

Reasons.
(1) A large proportion of these are small countries.
(2) These have been going through political turmoil and social instability in the form of civil war, famine or a high incidence of diseases. There is an urgent need to address the human development requirements of this group through well thought out policies.
(3) Some Statements are misleading that low level is due to culture or religion or community.
(4) Places with low levels of human development tend to spend more on defence rather than social sectors. This shows that these countries tend to be located in areas of political instability and have not been able to initiate accelerated economic development.

Human Development Important Extra Questions HOTS

Question 1.
‘Equity is one of the most important pillers of human development’. Explain any three human values that are required to give equal access to opportunities to every body.
Answer:
The idea of human development is supported by the pile of equity, sustainability, Productivity and empowerment. Equity refers to making equal access to opportunities available to the people. The human values provide equal access to the opportunity to everybody, irrespective of the following:

  • Gender of the people
  • Race of the people
  • Income of the people

Sustainability means continuity in the availability of opportunities. Productivity means human labour productivity. People are the real wealth of the nation. Empowerment means to have the power to make choices.