NCERT SOLUTIONS 9 Chapter 2 People as Resource
NCERT SOLUTIONS Class 9 Chapter 2 People as Resource
TEXTBOOK EXERCISES
1. What do you understand by ‘people as a resource’?
Ans. People as a resource is a way of referring to the country’s working population in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
2. How is human resource different from other resources like land and physical capital?
Ans. Human resource is different from other resources like land and physical capital. Human resource refers to human capital which can make use of land and capital. Land and capital cannot become useful on their own.
The population becomes a human resource when there is an investment made in the form of education, training and medical care. On the other hand, the land is a natural resource. And physical capital includes tools, machines, buildings, raw materials, etc. Land and physical capital, therefore, are tangible.
3. What is the role of education in human capital formation?
Ans. Education is the most important component of human resource development. The role of education in human capital formation can be judged from the following facts :
(i) Education increases labour productivity.
(ii) Education modifies /improves human behaviour.
(iii) It develops personality and sense of national consciousness among the people which are important for rapid economic growth.
(iv) It promotes science and technology.
4. What is the role of health in human capital formation?
Ans. Unhealthy persons become a liability and healthy persons prove an asset for the economy. Therefore, improvement in the health status of the population is regarded as very essential. Improved health contributes to economic growth in the following ways :
(i) It reduces production loss caused by the worker’s illness.
(ii) It increases the efficiency of workers.
(iii) It permits the use of natural and other resources.
(iv) It increases the enrolment of children in schools and makes them better able to learn.
5. What part does health play in an individual’s working life?
Ans. Health is a yardstick of one’s well-being. The efficiency of a person largely depends on his health. If a person falls sick quite often, he will not be able to do his job/work efficiently. Therefore, his income will below. Because of the low level of income, he will not be able to get proper food and proper education for his children. This will further reduce his efficiency of work and thereby income. In fact, good health improves the quality of life.
6. What are the various activities are undertaken in the primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector?
Ans. The economic activities of an economy can broadly be classified into three main producing sectors. These are :
Primary sector. The primary sector produces goods by exploiting natural resources. Therefore, the activities of this sector include agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry and mining.
Secondary sector. It converts raw materials into finished goods. It includes all manufacturing and construction activities.
Tertiary sector. This sector includes trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, insurance etc. This provides all types of services.
7. What is the difference between economic activities and non-economic activities?
Ans. Differences between Economic and Non-Economic Activities are as follows.
| Economic Activities | Non-Economic Activities |
| Economic activities bring income to their performers. | Non-economic activities do not bring income to their performers. |
| Income accruing from economic activities is included in the country’s national income. | These activities are not accounted for in the national income. |
| Example, doing farming for sale in the market. | Example, doing farming for self-consumption. |
8. Why are women employed in low-paid work?
Ans. Women in India are generally employed in low-paid work. This is because of the reason that most women have meagre education and low skill formation as compared to men. They work under insecure working conditions. Besides, Indian women prefer to work at nearby places only. Also, they have to go on frequent maternity leave. All these factors force them to work at low wages. However, women with higher education and skill formation are paid at par with men.
9. How will you explain the term unemployment?
Ans. Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the current prevailing wages cannot find work/job. If someone is not interested in doing work at the ongoing wage rate or outside his/her domestic domain, he/she will not be counted as unemployed.
10. What is the difference between disguised unemployment and seasonal unemployment?
Ans. Disguised Unemployment: When more persons are working in a job than actually required, the situation is termed as disguised unemployment. For example, if in an agricultural activity eight people are engaged but this work/activity actually requires the services of five people, then three persons are extra. If these three people out of eight are withdrawn, total production will remain unaffected.
Seasonal Unemployment: Seasonal unemployment occurs when people are able to find jobs only during some months of the year. This kind of unemployment is generally found in the agricultural sector.
11. Why is educated unemployment a peculiar problem of India?
Ans. The joblessness among the educated i.e. matriculates and above, is called educated unemployment. Unemployment problem signifies the wastage of human resources. If unemployment is high among the educated persons the quantum of wastage of resources will be greater. This is due to investments in education and skill formation. There is a feeling of hopelessness among the educated youth. In India, a lot of money is being spent on education every year. People who should have been assets for the economy have turned into liabilities. In this way, educated unemployment is one of the big problems for India.
12. In which field do you think India can build the maximum employment opportunity?
Ans. India can build maximum employment opportunity in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy. Multiple cropping may help a lot in this regard.
13. Can you suggest some measures in the education system to mitigate the problem of educated unemployed?
Ans. The education system in India is not employment oriented. There is too much emphasis on general education rather than vocational education. More employment exchange offices should be opened in the country. Though these employment exchanges will not directly provide employment, they will be of great assistance in directing the educated job seekers to the possible areas of employment.
14. Can you imagine some village which initially had no job opportunity but later came up with many?
Ans. We can imagine a village inhabited by several families. Initially, the village was self-reliant in the sense that each family produced all goods to meet the needs of its members. But later, it came up with many job opportunities. One of the families decided to send one of its sons to an agriculture college. After completing his education, he became an agro-engineer in the village. Inspired by this, all the families of the village requested the panchayat to open a school in the village. The panchayat opened a school with the help of the government and a teacher was recruited for the school. After some time, one of the families sent its daughter for training in tailoring. After getting the necessary training, she started stitching clothes for the villagers. Thus, there was another job – that of a tailor in the village. In this way, various job types were created in the village.
15. Which capital would you consider the best — land, labour, physical capital and human capital? Why?
Ans. The effective use of physical capital only depends upon human capital. Human capital makes use of the other resources like land, labour and physical capital to produce an output. The other resources cannot become useful on their own. Hence, human capital may well be considered the best among all the resources.