NCERT Solutions Class 9 Social Science Chapter 2 People as Resource

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science Economics for Chapter 2 People as Resource

Contribution to society. He works efficiently and helps other in realizing their potential like teacher helps students in realizing their potential. By working efficiently, teachers make good engineers who further contribute in the human capital formation. An educated and unhealthy population cannot realize its potential. An unhealthy person becomes liability because he/she is dependent on working age group for their survival. Thus,

Question. Why is educated unemployed, a peculiar problem of India?
Answer: In urban areas educated unemployment has become a common phenomenon. Many youths with proper schooling, graduation and post-graduation degrees are not able to find jobs.

3. Education should encourage people to become self-reliant and enterprising. It should open new avenues for them. Education needs to be planned properly and executed with great sensitivity.

Question. Can you imagine some village which initially had no job opportunities but later came up with many?
Answer: Noida and Gurgaon, near Delhi are regions which initially had not job opportunities but later came up with many. Now people are moving to these places in search of better job opportunity.

Question. Which capital would you consider the best — land, labour, physical capital and human capital? Why?
Answer: Amongst land, labour, physical capital and human capital, I consider human capital is the best capital. Human capital is superior from other resources because it can make use of other resources to produce an output. Human capital processes and develops other capital. Human equipped with education and better health care facilities convert resources or make things which have usability. The other capital resources cannot become useful on their own.

People as Resource Class 9 Social Science NCERT Notes

Meaning:

1. People as Resource' is an effort to explain population as an asset for the economy rather than a liability.
2. People as Resource' is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
3. Looking at the population from this productive aspect emphasises its ability to contribute to the creation of the Gross National Product.

Human Capital Formation:

1. 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'.
2. Population becomes human capital when there is investment made in the form of education, training and medical care.
3. Human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied in them.
4. 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.
5. Human capital is in one way superior to other resources like land and physical capital: human resource can make use of land and capital. Land and capital cannot become useful on its own!

Importance of Human Capital Formation:

1. Investment in human capital (through education, training, medical care) yields a return just like investment in physical capital. This can be seen directly in the form of higher incomes earned because of higher productivity of the more educated or the better trained persons, as well as the higher productivity of healthier people.
2. More educated and the healthier people gain through higher incomes. Society also gains in other indirect ways because the advantages of a more educated or a healthier population spreads to those also who themselves were not directly educated or given health care.
3. India’s Green Revolution is a dramatic example of how the input of greater knowledge in the form of improved production technologies can rapidly increase the productivity of scarce land resources.
4. India’s IT revolution is a striking instance of how the importance of human capital has come to acquire a higher position than that of material, plant and machinery.

How to convert population into an asset:

1. A large population need not be a burden for the economy. It can be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital (for example, by spending resources on education and health for all, training of industrial and agricultural workers in the use of modern technology, useful scientific researches and so on).
2. Several years of education can add to the quality of labour. This enhance total productivity. Total productivity adds to the growth of the economy. This in turn pays an individual through salary or in some other form of his choice.
3. Investment in human resource (via education and medical care) can give high rates of return in future. This investment on people is the same as investment in land and capital.
4. Educated parents are found to invest more heavily on the education of their child, because they have realised the importance of education for themselves.
5. They are also conscious of proper nutrition and hygiene. They accordingly look after their children’s needs for education at school and good health.
6. A virtuous cycle is, thus, created in this case.
7. In contrast, a vicious cycle may be created by disadvantaged parents, who themselves uneducated and lacking in hygiene, keep their children in a similarly disadvantaged state.
8. Countries, like Japan, have invested in human resource. They did not have any natural resource.
9. These countries are developed/rich. They import the natural resource needed in their country.
10. They become rich/developed as they have invested on people, especially in the field of education and health. These people have made efficient use of other resources, like land and capital. Efficiency and the technology evolved by people have made these countries rich/developed.

Economic Activities by Men and Women:

1. The various activities have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary.
2. Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, mining and quarrying.
3. Manufacturing is included in the secondary sector, i.e.: sugarcane into sugar, wood pulp into paper.
4. Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance, etc. are included in the tertiary sector.
5. The activities in this sector result in the production of goods and services.
6. These activities add value to the national income.
7. These activities are called economic activities. Economic activities have two parts — market activities and non-market activities.
8. Market activities involve remuneration to anyone who performs i.e., activity performed for pay or profit. These include production of goods or services, including government service. Non-market activities are the production for self-consumption. These can be consumption and processing of primary product and own account production of fixed assets. 

Division of Labour:

1. Due to historical and cultural reasons there is a division of labour between men and women in the family.
2. Women generally look after domestic chores and men work in the fields.
3. Women are not paid for their service delivered in the family.
4. The household work done by women is not recognised in the National Income.
5. Women are paid for their work when they enter the labour market.
6. Their earning like that of their male counterpart is determined on the basis of education and skill.
7. Education helps individual to make better use of the economic opportunities available before him.
8. Education and skill are the major determinants of the earning of any individual in the market.
9. A majority of women have meagre education and low skill formation.
10. Due to gender discrimination women are paid low compared to men.
11. Most women work where job security is not there(unorganised) and various activities relating to legal protection is meagre.
12. Employment in this sector is characterised by irregular and low income.
13. In this sector there is an absence of basic facilities like maternity leave, childcare and other social security systems.
14. However, women with high education and skill formation are paid at par with the men. Among the organised sector, teaching and medicine attract them the most.
15. Some women have entered administrative and other services including job, that need high levels of scientific and technological competence.

Quality of Population:

1. The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life expectancy and skill formation acquired by the people of the country.
2. The quality of the population ultimately decides the growth rate of the country. Literate and healthy population are an asset.
Education: Education is an important input for the growth of an individual.
1. It opens new horizon, provide new aspiration and develop values of life.
2. Education contributes towards the growth of society also.
3. It enhances the national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of governance.
4. A child, too, with investments made on her education and health, can yield a high return in future in the form of higher earnings and greater contribution to the society.
5. Literacy is not only a right, it is also needed if the citizens are to perform their duties and enjoy their rights properly

Steps taken by government for education:

1. There is a provision made for providing universal access, retention and quality in elementary education with a special emphasis on girls.
2. There is also an establishment of pace setting of schools like Navodaya Vidyalaya in each district.
3. Vocational streams have been developed to equip large number of high school students with occupations related to knowledge and skills.
4. The plan outlay on education has increased from Rs 151 crore in the first plan to Rs 3766.90 crore in the eleventh plan.
5. The primary school system has expanded to over 8.41 lakh in 2015–16. (Unfortunately, this huge expansion of schools has been diluted by the poor quality of schooling and high dropout rates.)
6. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan:
a. “Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6–14 years by 2010...
b. It is a time-bound initiative of the Central government, in partnership with the States, the local government and the community for achieving the goal of universalisation of elementary education.”
c. Along with it, bridge courses and back- to-school camps have been initiated to increase the enrolment in elementary education.
d. Mid-day meal scheme has been implemented to encourage attendance and retention of children and improve their nutritional status. These policies could add to the literate population of India.

Steps toward higher education in India:

1. The 12th plan endeavoured to raise the country's Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in the age group of 18 to 23 years to 25.2% by 2017–18 and to reach the target of 30% by 2020–21, which would be broadly in line with world average.
2. The strategy focuses on increasing access, quality, adoption of state-specific curriculum modification, vocationalisation and networking on the use of information technology.
3. The plan also focuses on distance education, convergence of formal, non-formal, distance and IT education institutions.
4. Over the past 50 years, there has been a significant growth in the number of university and institutions of higher learning in specialised areas.

Education scenario in India:

1. The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.64% in 1951–52 to 3.0% in 2015–16 (B.E.) and has remained stagnant around 3% from past few years.
2. The Budgetary Estimate as stated in the Budget Documents of Union State Governments, Reserve Bank of India, the expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP has declined to 2.7% in 2017–18 (B.E.)
3. The literacy rates have increased from 18% in 1951 to 74% in 2010-11.
4. However, a vast difference is noticed across different sections of the population. Literacy among males is nearly 16.6% higher than females and it is about 16.1% higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas. In 2011, literacy rates varied from 94% in Kerala to 62% in Bihar.
Importance of Health;
1. The health of a person helps him to realise his/her potential and the ability to fight illness.
2. Health is an indispensable basis for realising one’s well-being. Henceforth, improvement in the health status of the population has been the priority of the country.
3. It increases the efficiency of a worker.
4. It also increases the earning capacity of a worker.
5. He or she has a regular attendance and does not take leave often.

Health Structure:

1. Our national policy, too, aims at improving the accessibility of healthcare, family welfare and nutritional service with a special focus on the underprivileged segment of the population.
2. Over the last five decades, India has built a vast health infrastructure and has also developed the manpower required at primary, secondary and tertiary sector in government, as well as, in the private sector.
3. There are 381 medical colleges in the country and 301 dental colleges. States, like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have the maximum number of colleges.

Outcomes/ Results;

1. These measures, which have been adopted, have increased the life expectancy to over 68.3 years in 2014.
2. Infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down from 147 in 1951 to 34 in 2016.
3. Crude birth rates have dropped to 20.4 and death rates to 6.4 within the same duration of time.
4. Increase in life expectancy and improvement in childcare are useful in assessing the future progress of the country.
5. Increase in longevity of life is an indicator of good quality of life marked by self-confidence.
6. Reduction in infant mortality involves the protection of children from infection, ensuring the nutrition of both the mother and the child, and childcare.

Definitions :

1. Infant mortality rate: is the number of children die before the age of one year as per 1000 live births during a year.
2. Birth rate: is the number of babies born for every 1,000 people during a year.
3. Death rate; is the number of people per 1,000 who die during a year.
4. Unemployment; is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the going wages cannot find jobs. The workforce population includes people from 15 years to 59 years.

Types of unemployment: In case of India we have unemployment in rural and urban areas. However, the nature of unemployment differs in rural and urban areas. In case of rural areas, there is a) seasonal and b) disguised unemployment. Urban areas have mostly c) educated unemployment.

1. Seasonal unemployment happens when a) people are not able to find jobs during some months of the year. b) People dependent upon agriculture usually face such kind of problem. c) There are certain busy seasons when sowing, harvesting, weeding and threshing is done. d) Certain months do not provide much work to the people dependant on agriculture.
2. In disguised unemployment a) people appear to be employed but they are not working to their full potential. b)This usually happens among family members engaged in agricultural activity. c) The work requires the service of five people but engages eight people. Three people are extra. These three people also work in the same plot as the others. d) The contribution made by the three extra people does not add to the contribution made by the five people. e) If three people are removed the productivity of the field will not decline. The field requires the service of five people and the three extra people are disguised unemployed.
3. In urban areas educated unemployment has become a common phenomenon. a)Many youth with matriculation, graduation and post-graduation degrees are not able to find job. b)Unemployment of graduate and post-graduate has increased faster than among matriculates. c)A paradoxical manpower situation is witnessed as surplus of manpower in certain categories coexist with shortage of manpower in others. d)There is unemployment among technically qualified person on one hand, while there is a dearth of technical skills required for economic growth.

Effects of unemployment:

A) Effects on an individual and society:
1. Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource. People who are an asset for the economy turn into a liability.
2. There is a feeling of hopelessness and despair among the youth. People do not have enough money to support their family.
3. Inability of educated people who are willing to work to find gainful employment implies a great social waste.
4. The quality of life of an individual as well as of society is adversely affected.
5. When a family has to live on a bare subsistence level there is a general decline in its health status and rising withdrawal from the school system.

B) Effects on economy of the country:

1. Unemployment tends to increase economic overload.
2. The dependence of the unemployed on the working population increases.
3. Unemployment has detrimental impact on the overall growth of an economy.
4. Increase in unemployment is an indicator of a depressed economy.
5. It also wastes the resource, which could have been gainfully employed.
6. If people cannot be used as a resource they naturally appear as a liability to the economy.

In case of India, statistically, the unemployment rate is low;

1. A large number of people represented with low income and productivity are counted as employed.
2. They appear to work throughout the year but in terms of their potential and income, it is not adequate for them.
3. The work that they are pursuing seems forced upon them. They may therefore want other work of their choice.
4. Poor people cannot afford to sit idle. They tend to engage in any activity irrespective of its earning potential. Their earning keeps them on a bare subsistence level.
5. Moreover, the employment structure is characterised by self-employment in the primary sector.
6. The whole family contributes in the field even though not everybody is really needed.
7. So there is disguised unemployment in the agriculture sector. But the entire family shares what has been produced.
8. This concept of sharing of work in the field and the produce raised reduces the hardship of unemployment in the rural sector. But this does not reduce the poverty of the family, gradually surplus labour from every household tends to migrate from the village in search of jobs.

Employment scenario in the three sectors in India:

1. In primary sector, agriculture is the most labour absorbing sector of the economy.
2. In recent years, there has been a decline in the dependence of population on agriculture partly because of disguised unemployment discussed earlier.
3. Some of the surplus labour in agriculture has moved to either the secondary or the tertiary sector.
4. In the secondary sector, small scale manufacturing is the most labour- absorbing.
5. In case of the tertiary sector, various new services are now appearing like biotechnology, information technology and so on.

Question. Can you suggest some measures in the education system to mitigate the problem of the educated unemployed?
Answer: i) Certain vocational courses can be introduced in schools and colleges to enhance skills and technical knowledge. ii) Loans can be provided to the educated people at low rates of interest for starting self-employment. iii) More and more industrial training institute can be developed. iv) Vocational courses can also be reconstructed and reoriented according to the needs of the day.

Question. The employment structure is characterised by self-employment in the primary sector. Justify the statement.
Answer: i) The whole family contributes in the field even though not everybody is really needed. So there is disguised unemployment in the agriculture sector. But the entire family shares what has been produced. ii) This concept of sharing of work in the field and the produce raised reduces the hardship of unemployment in the rural sector. But this does not reduce the poverty of the family, gradually surplus labour from every household tends to migrate from the village in search of jobs.

Question. In India, statistically the unemployment rate is low. Justify.
Answer: i) A large number of people represented with low income and productivity are counted as employed.
They appear to work throughout the year but in terms of their potential and income, it is not adequate for them. ii) The work that they are pursuing seems forced upon them. They may therefore want other work of their choice. Poor people cannot afford to sit idle. They tend to engage in any activity irrespective of its earning potential. Their earning keeps them on a bare subsistence level.