Development

Why do different persons have different notions of development? Which of the following explanations is more important and why? (a) Because people are different. (b) Because life situations of persons are different.

Do the following two statements mean the same? Justify your answer. (a) People have different developmental goals. (b) People have conflicting developmental goals.

Give some examples where factors other than income are important aspects of our lives.

Explain some of the important ideas of the above section in your own words.

Read this newspaper report and answer the questions that follow: A vessel dumped 500 tonnes of liquid toxic wastes into open-air dumps in a city and in the surrounding sea. This happened in a city called Abidjan in Ivory Coast, a country in Africa. The fumes from the highly toxic waste caused nausea, skin rashes, fainting, diarrhoea etc. After a month seven persons were dead, twenty in hospital and twenty six thousand treated for symptoms of poisoning. A multinational company dealing in petroleum and metals had contracted a local company of the Ivory Coast to dispose the toxic waste from its ship.

What can be some of the developmental goals for your village, town or locality?

Give three examples where an average is used for comparing situations.

Why do you think average income is an important criterion for development? Explain.

Besides size of per capita income, what other property of income is important in comparing two or more societies?

Suppose records show that the average income in a country has been increasing over a period of time. From this, can we conclude that all sections of the economy have become better? Illustrate your answer with an example.

From the text, find out the per capita income level of about 10-15 low-income countries as per World Development Reports.

Write a paragraph on your notion of what should India do, or achieve, to become a developed country.

Look at data in Tables 1.3 and 1.4. Is Haryana ahead of Kerala in literacy rate etc., as it is in terms of per capita income?

Think of other examples where collective provision of goods and services is cheaper than individual provision.

Does availability of good health and educational facilities depend only on amount of money spent by the government on these facilities? What other factors could be relevant?

In a study, it was found that in Tamil Nadu, 90 per cent of the people living in rural areas used a ration shop, whereas in West Bengal only 35 per cent of rural people did so. Where would people did better off and why?

Why groundwater is overused?

Can there be development without overuse?

Is crude oil essential for the development process in a country? Discuss.

India has to import crude oil. What problems do you anticipate for the country looking at the above situation?