Geography Class 12 Important Questions Chapter 4 Human Development

1 Mark Questions

Questions 1. “Leading a long and healthy life is an important aspect of human development.” Give an argument to support this statement. (HOTS, Delhi 2ois)

Answer: Life is meaningful when people are healthy, able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals.

This kind of life is an important aspect of human development.

Questions 2. Define the concept of human development? (All India 201B)

Answer: Human development is defined as the type of development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives.

Questions 3. Which country has proclaimed ‘Gross National Happiness’ as the measure of a country’s progress? (All India 2014)

Answer: The country to proclaim Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the measure of a country’s progress is Bhutan.

Questions 4. Name the country which has the highest rank in the Human Development Index. (All India 2014)

Answer: The country standing highest in the human development index is Norway.

Questions 5. Which state of India has the highest rank in the Human Development Index (HDI) value? (All India 2014)

Answer: Kerala state has the highest rank in HDI.

Questions 6. Mention any two key areas of measuring human development? (Delhi 2013)

Answer: The two key areas are:

• Health
• Education

Questions 7. Which is the most significant aspect of human development? (Delhi 2012)

Answer: Education, healthy life and resources are the most significant aspects of human development.

Also Check: Class 12 Geography Notes Chapter 4 Human Development

3 Marks Questions

Questions 8. Explain any three human values which are required to empower socially and economically disadvantaged people. (HOTS, Delhi 2013)

OR

“Equity i§ one of the most important pillars of human development.” Explain any three human values that are required to give equal access to opportunities to everybody. (HOTS. All India 2013)

Answer: Equity means the availability of equal opportunities to everyone. If everybody has equal access to available opportunities, then a quality life is possible. The three human values required to give equal access to everybody are as follows:

• Providing equal opportunities without any discrimination of caste or race.
• Equal opportunities should be available irrespective of gender.
• Equal opportunities without any discrimination of income or class.

Questions 9. “Development is a qualitative change, which is always value positive.” Support this statement with any three suitable arguments. (HOTS, Delhi 2012)

Answer: Development means a qualitative change which is always value positive. This means that development cannot take place unless there is an increment or addition to the existing conditions. Development occurs when positive growth takes place.

The given statement can be supported by the following three arguments:

1. The term ‘development’ refers to a qualitative shift that is always value positive. It occurs when there is a positive change in quality over a time frame. Although development is always influenced by growth but only in the case of positive and qualitative growth, e.g. if a child grows by height but is not mentally able, then growth is not accompanied with development.
2. Countries with better economic conditions are more developed while poor nations a^e less developed. But in many cases, the benefit of economic growth does not reach the common man. Quality of life of the people of a country, the opportunities they have, freedom of living, etc are important aspects of development.
3. Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq described human development as development that enlarges people’s choice and improves their lives. He believed that people are central to all development and the main aim of development is to create a situation and environment where people get meaningful lives. The meaningful life means a life that must be full of objectivity, that includes health, participation in the societal helm of affairs and focuses on people’s goals.

Questions 10. Explain the key areas of human development. (Delhi 2012)

OR

Explain the three main areas of measuring human development. (All Indio 2008)

Answer: The key areas of human development are health, housing and access to resources.

They are explained as follows:

1. Health Indicator Indicator of health is measured through life expectancy at birth, that shows if people have longer and healthier lives.
2. Education Indicator Level of education is seen through gross enrollment ratio and an adult literacy rate that represents access to knowledge.
3. Access to Resources The indicator of access to resources is purchasing power in terms of US dollars. These are the key areas or the indicators through which human development is measured.

Questions 11. Differentiate between ‘growth and development’ with an example. (All India 2012)

Answer: Growth refers to quantitative changes. Its value can be neutral, positive or negative. Development refers to qualitative changes and its value is always positive. This is because development cannot take place unless there is an increase or a rise in existing conditions thus leading to positive changes. For e.g. the population of a city increases from 1 lakh to 2 lakh over a period of time. This is growing as the number has increased.

However, if the basic necessities like food, housing, education and sanitation facilities remain constant, then the growth is not accompanied by development.

Questions 12. Explain any three features of welfare approach of human development, (AH Indio 2012)

OR

Explain any three characteristics of ‘welfare approach’ of human development in the world. (Delhi 2010)

Answer: The characteristics of the welfare approach are as follows:

1. The welfare approach of human development is an approach which looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities.
2. According to this approach, the government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by increasing expenditure on welfare such as on education, health, housing, sanitation etc.
3. In this approach, people are passive recipients of the beneficiaries of human development, while the government is the provider of those beneficiaries.

Questions 13. Explain the concept of ‘Equity’ and ‘Sustainability’ as the pillars of human development. (Delhi 2011)

Answer: Just as any building is supported by pillars, the idea of human development is supported by the concepts of equity and sustainability. Both are explained below:

Equity It means availability of equal opportunities to an individual. The available opportunities have equal access without any discrimination on the ground of gender, race, income and caste. A quality life is possible if access to resources is provided on the basis of being a human.

Sustainability It refers to continuity in the availability of opportunities. Human development is possible when opportunities are available to the present and future of a country. It must be ensured that equal access to a resource should be available to the next generation.

Questions 14. Explain the ‘basic needs approach’ to human development in the world. (Delhi 2010)

Answer: The basic needs approach to human development in the world was initially proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In this approach, the question of human choices is ignored as the main emphasis is laid on the provision of basic needs. These basic needs are the necessity that enables a person to survive and fulfil the essential requirements. There are six basic needs identified in this approach.

They are as follows:

1. Health Proper health required to maintain a healthy weight.
2. Education Provision of schools and colleges.
3. Food Nutritious food to fulfil daily requirements.
4. Water Supply Provision of clean drinking water.
5. Sanitation Proper sanitation facility to maintain hygiene.
6. Housing Proper dwelling place with basic facilities.

5 Marks Questions

Questions 15. “The size of a territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development.” Support the statement with examples, HOTS? (AH India 2017)

Answer: Human Development is the process of widening people’s choices and the level of well being they achieve. According to the United National Development Programme, long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of life are the most important elements of human development. The indicators of human development are:

1. Health Indicators Health is a major component of human development. It is measured in terms of birth rate and death rate.
2. Economic Indicators: An essential part of human development is economic productivity. Growth in an economy and economic productivity can be assessed with the help of gross national product and per capita income.
3. Life Expectancy: With the declining vital rates life expectancy of birth has gone up as it was only 37.1 for male and 36.2 years for a female in 1951. It wants up to 62.30 years and 65.27% years respectively during 1996.
4. Social Indicators: Education is universally recognised as a major component of human development. As such a minimum level of literacy sums to be essential for a population to break out of the unit circle of poverty.

The Economic structure of a country is the most important indicator of human development. The size of a territory does not play any role in it. The advanced countries have a higher level of economic prosperity while the less developed and backward countries are at a lower level of economic growth.

The developed countries per capita income is indirectly related to economic structure and overall all these indicators make the Human Development Index of a country. The size of a territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development but it does play some role.

Questions 16. What is human development? Analyse the four pillars of human development. All India 2017

OR

What is ‘human development’? Explain the four pillars of human development. Delhi 2015

Answer: For the definition of human development, Human development is defined as the type of development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives.

Human development has four concepts such as equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment. These concepts are based on human development and are called pillars of human development such as:

1. Equity It means availability of equal opportunities to an individual. The available opportunities have equal access without any discrimination on the ground of gender, race, income and caste. A quality life is possible if access to resources is provided on the basis of being a human.
2. Sustainability It refers to continuity in the availability of opportunities. Human development is possible when opportunities are available to the present and future of a country. It must be ensured that equal access to a resource should be available to the next generation.
3. Productivity Human labour productivity or productivity in the context of human work refers to productivity regarding human development. A nation should invest in its productive labour by providing them with better healthcare facilities, education and training. Healthy and educated people can contribute more than unhealthy and illiterate people in development.
   
   Empowerment It refers to having the power of making choices. Freedom and capabilities can enhance the power and capacity to make a choice. The government can enhance empowerment through good governance and people-oriented policies.

3 Map-Based Question

Questions 17. In the given political map of the world, identify these features with the help of the information given below and write their correct names on the lines drawn near them.

(i) A country having the lowest rank in the Human Development Index 2003. (All India 2015)

(ii) A country having the highest rank in the Human Development Index 2003. (Delhi 2015, All Indio 2012)

Answer:

3 Value Based Questions

Questions 18. The concept of human development was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq. Dr Haq has described human development as development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives. People are central to all development under this concept. These choices are not fixed but keep on changing. The basic goal of development is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives.

(i) Who introduced the concept of human development?

(ii) Which value is focused while calculating human development?

Answer:

(i) Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq introduced the concept of human development.

(ii) Following values are focused while calculating human development:

• National Pride
• Organisational Skill

Questions 19. Equity is one of the most important pillars of human development. Give any three human values that are required to give equal success to the opportunity to everybody.

Answer: Following values are required to give equal success to an opportunity to everybody:

• Equality
• Sustainability
• Empowerment