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NCERT Class 9 People as Resource
Chapter 2: People as Resource
Topic– 1: Overview-People as Resource
Very Short Answer Type Questions. [1 Mark]
1. What is the productive aspect of the population?
Ans. Productive aspect of population emphasises on its ability to contribute to the creation of the Gross National Product.
2. State the responsibility of the government towards its population.
Ans. Providing food, education and access to health facilities to the population.
3. What is meant by the term ‘human resource’?
Ans. Human resource refers to human beings. The population becomes human resource when there is an investment in human capital.
4. State the meaning of human capital.
Ans. Human capital is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in human beings.
5. How investment can be made in human capital?
Ans. Investment in human capital can be made through education, training, medical care etc.
6. Name an Asian country which has invested in human resource.
Ans. Japan has invested in human resource.
Short Answer Type Questions. [3 Marks]
1. Differentiate between physical capital and human capital. How can human capital be created?
Ans. The term physical capital refers to human beings who possess good and sound health. It helps in producing more for national prosperity.
Human capital can be defined as the knowledge, ability, skill and physical capacity of the people. When the existing human resource is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, it is called human capital formation.
Investment in human capital (through education, training, medical care) yields a return just like an investment in physical capital. This can be seen directly in the form of higher incomes earned because of the higher productivity of the more educated or the better-trained persons, as well as the higher productivity of healthier people.
2. Describe in brief the role of human resource in economic development.
Ans. Human resource refers to human beings. If their qualitative aspects are developed, they can contribute a lot in the process of economic development of the nation. From this standpoint, the population helps in economic development. The relationship between population and economic development is very complex. The population is an asset for the economy rather than a liability. The population becomes human capital when there is an investment made in the form of education, training and medical care. Investment in human capital yields a return just like an investment in physical capital. Educated, skilled and healthier people generate higher productivity and income.
3. Is a large population an asset or a liability? Explain.
Ans. We generally look only at the negative side of the population. In this regard, we consider only the problems related to the large size of the population that is problems of providing the population with food, education and health facilities. The rapidly growing population also lowers the land-man ratio. Population growth in India is considered as one of the major causes of unemployment. Contrary to it, however, there is also a positive side of a large population. It looks population from its productive aspect and emphasises on its ability to contribute to the creation of Gross National Product that is national income. The population becomes human capital when we make investments in health, education, training, etc. Thus human capital is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in human beings. Thus, the quality of the population depends upon education and health of a person. It ultimately decides the growth rate of the country. The illiterate and unhealthy population is a liability for the country. Literate and healthy people are an asset.
4. Define human resource. When does a human resource become human capital?
Ans. The population of a country available for the production activities is called human resource. A human resource becomes human capital when there is an investment made in the form of education, training and medical care. When the existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it ‘human capital formation’. Human capital adds to the productive power of the country. It is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in them.
5. How is human resource different from the other resources? Explain.
Ans. Resources of a country can broadly be grouped into three categories — natural resources, capital resources and human resources. Natural resources include all free gifts of nature like land, water, forest, minerals etc. Capital resources include buildings, tools, machines, raw materials etc. Human resource refers to human beings. It implies a country’s working population with its existing productive skills and abilities. Thus, human resource refers to the size and quality of people living in a country.
6. What is the positive aspect of the population?
Ans. We consider only the problems related to the large size of the population, which is a problem of providing the population with food, education and health facilities. The rapidly growing population also lowers the land-man ratio. Population growth in India is considered as one of the major causes of unemployment. Contrary to it, however, there is also a positive side of a large population. It looks population from its productive aspect and emphasises its ability to contribute to the creation of Gross National Product that is national income.
7. Suggest any three ways to transform population load into an asset.
Ans. The three ways to transform population load into an asset are :
(i) To improve literacy rate: Education provides new aspirations and developed values of life. Education helps in enhancing national income and cultural richness. It increases the efficiency of people.
(ii) Health: The health of a person helps him to realise his potential and the ability to fight illness. Increase in the longevity of life is an indicator of good quality of life marked by self-confidence. It involves the protection of children from infection, ensuring nutrition along with mother and childcare.
(iii) Formation of skills: Providing vocational and skill-based education helps the people to get employment and therefore they contribute to the national income later on. Long Answer Type Questions. [5 Marks]
1. ‘Population is an asset, rather than a liability.’ Explain.
Ans. ‘People as Resources’ is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities. Looking at the population from this productive aspect emphasises its ability to contribute to the creation of the Gross National Product. Like other resources population also is a resource — a ‘human resource’. This is the positive side of a large population that is often overlooked when we look only at the negative side, considering only the problems of providing the population with food, education and access to health facilities. When the existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it ‘human capital formation’ that adds to the productive power of the country just like ‘physical capital formation’.
When we look from the standpoint of economic development of nation then population explosion is an asset and not a liability. The population becomes human capital when there is an investment in the form of education, training and medical care. Investment in human capital yields a return just like an investment in physical capital. Education skilled and healthier people generate higher productivity and income.
2. Why is a human resource the most important resource? What steps can be taken to improve the quality of human resource? How does an improved quality of human resource help in establishing a virtuous cycle?
Ans. Existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, which adds to the productive power of the country just like ‘physical capital formation’. So human resource is the most important resource.
Steps to be taken to improve the quality of human resource:
Quality of human resource can be improved through better education, food and health facilities. The quality of the population depends upon the literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life expectancy and skill formation acquired by the people of the country.
Role of improved quality of human resource in establishing a virtuous cycle is as follows.
(i) Better contribution to the productive power of the country: an Existing human resource with good educational background can acquire specific skills in a better way and can contribute to national productivity more efficiently.
(ii) Higher earnings and greater contributions to society: Improved quality of human resources can give higher rates of return in future in the form of higher earnings and greater contributions to society.
3. “When the existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it ‘human capital formation’ that adds to the productive power of the country just like ‘physical capital formation’.”
(i) When the population becomes human capital?
(ii) State the role of human resource in economic development.
Ans. (i) The population becomes human capital when there is an investment made in the form of education, training and medical care.
(ii) Role of Human Resource in economic development is as follows :
(a) Higher Productivity. Investment in human capital yields a return just like an investment in physical capital. This can be seen directly in the form of higher incomes earned because of the higher productivity of the more educated or the better-trained persons as well as the higher productivity of healthier people. India’s Green Revolution and the IT Revolution are good examples of human resources development.
(b) Better Utilisation of Resources. Countries like Japan have invested in human resource. They did not have any natural resource. They could become rich/developed because of investments in people especially in the fields of education and health. These people have made efficient use of other resources like land and capital. Efficient technology developed by people has made these countries developed.
(c) Source of Demand. Human beings make a demand for the output of goods and services produced in the country. Expansion of the market for various types of foods and services further leads to an increase in production.
4. State the importance of human capital.
Ans. Human capital is the stock of skills and productive knowledge embodied in human beings. Human capital adds to the productive capacity of the country, just like physical capital.
This can be seen in the form of higher productivity of the more educated or the better-trained persons as well as the higher productivity of healthier people. In fact, the effective use of physical capital only depends upon human capital.
Importance of Human Capital
Human beings can be turned into resource only if their qualitative aspects are developed. Qualitative aspects of human beings cannot be developed automatically. This requires investments in them. Education and health are the major human resource inputs of a country. When we make adequate inputs of education and health for the people, the quality of human resource will definitely increase. They convert human beings into human capital. Human capital is the outcome of investments in education and health. Human capital is beneficial both individually as well as socially. It creates individual benefit as well as a social benefit. For example, an educated person is benefitted individually when he earns more than what he could earn without it. He creates social benefit when he contributes to the socio-economic progress of the country. Human capital can be updated through continuous investments in education and health.
5. Explain the difference between the vicious and virtuous cycle of life with reference to human resource.
Ans. Quality of present human resource affects the quality of human resource for the coming generation. For example, educated parents are found to invest more heavily on the education, health and nutrition of their child. They are more conscious of the quality upbringing of their child. Thus, they create a virtuous cycle of life. On the other hand, uneducated parents who are themselves lacking in education, health, nutrition and hygiene and are not conscious of the importance of these in the lives of their children. They are unable to provide quality upbringing of their children. Thus, they create a vicious cycle of life.
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