Social Science [Economics]

Question Bank
Chapter 1 Development
1. Give some examples where factors other than income are important aspects of our
lives.
2. What can be some of the developmental goals for your village, town or locality?
3. Give three examples where an average is used for comparing situations.
4. Why do you think average income is an important criterion for development? Explain.
5. Besides the size of per capita income, what other property of income is important in
comparing two or more societies?
6. 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.
7. From the text, find out the per capita income level of low-income countries as per
World Development Reports.
8. Write a paragraph on your notion of what should India do, or achieve, to become a
developed country.
9. Define the Public Distribution System.
10.What are the examples where the collective provision of goods and services is cheaper
than individual provision?
11.Does the availability of good health and educational facilities depend only on the
amount of money spent by the government on these facilities? What other factors
could be relevant?
12.Is crude oil essential for the development process in a country? Discuss.
13.Explain the Human Development Report.
14.What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries?
What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?
15.In what respects is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development
different from the one used by the World Bank?
16.Why do we use averages? Are there any limitations to their use? Illustrate with your
own examples related to development.
17.Kerala, with lower per capita income, has a better human development ranking than
Haryana. Hence, per capita income is not a useful criterion at all and should not be
used to compare states. Do you agree? Discuss.
18.Find out the present sources of energy that are used by the people in India. What could
be the other possibilities fifty years from now?
19.“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
20.Explain the main criterion for comparing the development of different countries.
21.Describe any three possible development goals of landless rural labourers.
22.Mention any one limitation of per capita income as an indicator of development.
23.“Though the level of income is important, it is an inadequate measure of the level of
development.” Justify the statement.
Chapter 2 Sectors of Indian Economy
24.Explain the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors using
examples.
25.Students in a school are often classified into primary and secondary or junior and
senior. What is the criterion that is used? Do you think this is a useful classification?
Discuss.
26.Define the Organized Sector and explain the working conditions.
27.Explain the definition of the Service Sector.
28.What is called the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country?
29.What does the history of developed countries indicate about the shifts that have taken
place between sectors?
30.Compare and contrast the changes in India with the pattern that was observed for
developed countries. What kind of changes between sectors were desired but did not
happen in India?
31.Why should we be worried about underemployment? In what ways can one increase
employment for people?
32.Why do you think MGNREGA 2005 is referred to as ‘Right to work’?
33.How would income and employment increase if farmers were provided with irrigation
and marketing facilities?
34.Explain the working procedure of the Unorganized Sector.
35.State a reason why intermediate goods are not considered in the value of final goods.
36.For each of the sectors that we came across in this chapter why should one focus on
employment and GDP? Could there be other issues which should be examined?
Discuss.
37.What do you understand by disguised unemployment? Explain with an example each
from the urban and rural areas.
38.Distinguish between open unemployment and disguised unemployment.
39.“Tertiary sector is not playing any significant role in the development of the Indian
economy.” Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer.
40.Justify the statement that “Income and employment will increase if farmers are
provided irrigation and marketing facilities”.
41.Workers are exploited in the unorganized sector. Do you agree with this view? Give
reasons in support of your answer.
42.Give a few examples of public sector activities and explain why the government has
taken them up.
43.Explain how public sector contributes to the economic development of a nation.
44.Name the sector in which the government owns most of the assets and provides all the
services.
45.“The problem of underemployment is not confined only to agriculture”. Support the
statement with examples.
46.Explain any three ways to solve the problem of underemployment.
Chapter 3 Money and Credit
47.Why is the modern currency used as a medium of exchange?
48.What are the four advantages of ‘Self Help Groups’ for the poor? Explain.
49.Why are demand deposits considered as money?
50.Define the terms of Credit. What are the four terms of credits? Give Examples.
51.What do you think would happen if all the depositors went to ask for their money at
the same time?
52.Explain the meaning of “collateral.” Why do lenders ask for collateral while lending?
53.Mention the reasons why rural poor people still generally take loans from informal
credit sources that charge a very high rate of interest.
54.What is called the terms of credit?
55.Given that a large number of people in our country are poor, does it in any way affect
their capacity to borrow?
56.Give two reasons why cheap and affordable credit is important for the country’s
development.
57.What are the differences between formal and informal sources of credit?
58.How do banks mediate between those who have surplus money and those who need
money?
59.Why the deposits in the bank are called the demand deposits? Explain the advantages
of deposits with the banks.
60.Analyze the role of credit for development.
61.Manav needs a loan to set up a small business. On what basis will Manav decide
whether to borrow from the bank or the moneylender? Discuss.
62.Give examples of how money is used as a medium of exchange. Explain.
63.What is the basic idea behind the SHGs for the poor? Explain in your own words.
64.What is the main informal source of credit for rural households in India?
65.What is the meaning of ‘barter system’?
66.Explain with examples, how people are involved with the banks.
Chapter 4 Globalization and the Indian Economy
67.Explain the concept of Multinational Corporation.
68.What is a foreign investment? How much did Ford Motors invest in India?
69.By setting up their production plants in India, MNCs such as Ford Motors tap the
advantage not only of the large markets that countries such as India provide but also
the lower costs of production. Explain the statement.
70.Explain what will happen if the Government of India puts a heavy tax on the import of
Chinese toys. Give three points.
71.Nearly all major multinationals are American, Japanese or European, such as Nike,
Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Honda, and Nokia. Can you guess why?
72.What was the main channel connecting countries in the past? How is it different now?
73.Foreign trade v/s foreign investments. Give the differences.
74.How will the import of steel from India into the Chinese markets lead to the
integration of markets for steel in the two countries? Explain.
75.Explain how the import of steel from India into the Chinese markets will lead to the
integration of markets for steel in the two countries. Give examples.
76.What is the role of MNCs in the globalization process?
77.What are the benefits of Globalization?
78.How is information technology connected with globalization? Would globalization
have been possible without expansion of IT?
79.What do you understand by the liberalization of foreign trade?
80.Tax on imports is one type of trade barrier. The government could also place a limit on
the number of goods that can be imported. This is known as quotas. Can you explain,
using the example of Chinese toys, how quotas can be used as trade barriers? Do you
think this should be used? Discuss.
81.What do you think can be done so that trade between countries is fairer?
82.In the last twenty years, the globalization of the Indian economy has come a long way.
What has been its effect on the lives of people?
83.How has competition benefited people in India?
84.Should more Indian companies emerge as MNCs? How would it benefit the people in
the country?
85.How would flexibility in labour laws help companies?
86.‘Information and communication technology has played a major role in spreading out
products and services across countries’. Justify the statement.
87.Why do developed countries want developing countries to liberalize their trade and
investment? What do you think should the developing countries demand in return?
88.Define the World Trade Organization.
89.“The impact of globalization has not been uniform.” Explain this statement.
90.How does foreign trade lead to the integration of markets across countries? Explain
with an example other than those given here.
91.Describe the major problems created by the globalization for a large number of small
producers and workers.
92.Which organization lays stress on liberalization of foreign trade and foreign
investment?
93.‘Barriers on foreign trade and foreign investment were removed to a large extent in
India since 1991.’ Justify the statement.
94.Give one characteristic feature of a ‘Special Economic Zone’?