Page 13 - Understanding Economics for Class 10

As the Infant Mortality Rate, Literacy Rate (%) and Net Attendance Ratio of Kerala are better
then Haryana. Due to these advantages, Kerala has a better human development ranking than
Haryana, in spite of lower per capita income.

8. Find out the present sources of energy that are used by the people in India. What could be
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
the other possibilities fifty years from now?
Ans. Present sources of energy used by people in India are- coal, lignite, petroleum, natural gas,
LPG, electricity, etc. Fifty years from now there is a possibility that people will be making
more use of non-conventional sources of energy, nuclear energy, energy from motion, etc.

9. Why is the issue of sustainability important for development?

Ans. (i) Suppose presently a particular country is quite developed. We would certainly like this
level of development to go up further or at least be maintained future generations.
(ii) Since the second half of the 20th century, a number of scientists have been warning that

the type and levels of development are not sustainable.
(iii) Groundwater is an example of renewable resource. But if we use more than what is

replenished by nature, then we would be overusing this resource.
Once the non-renewable resources would be exhausted we won’t be able to use them in future.
So, using the resources judiciously will help in maintaining the sustainability of the development
of our eco-system.

10. “The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed
of even one person”. How is this statement relevant to the discussion of development? Discuss.
Ans. This statement implies that human beings are overusing the natural resources of the Earth in the
name of development. Earth provides enough resources to meet the needs of all but today’s man has
become so greedy that for his progress and development he resorts to activities like deforestation,
unsustainable fuel wood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation encroachment into forest lands,
indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals, extraction of groundwater in excess of recharge capacity, etc.

11. List a few examples of environmental degradation that you may have observed around you.
Ans. (i) Deforestation
(ii) Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
(iii) Burning of coal and mineral oil.

12. For each of the items given in Table 1.6, find out which country is at the top and which is at
the bottom.

Gross National Life Mean years of HDI Rank
Country Income (GNI) per Expectancy at Schooling of People in the world
Capita(2011 PPP $) birth aged 25 and above (2018)

Sri Lanka 12,707 77 10.6 73
India 6,681 69.7 6.5 130

Myanmar 4,961 67.1 5.0 148

Pakistan 5,005 67.3 5.2 154
Nepal 3,457 70.8 5.0 143

Bangladesh 4,976 72.6 6.2 134

Source: Human Development Report, 2020, Untied Nations Development Programme, New York.

Economics Class X E-11