Ch04 Human Development - Test Papers
CBSE Test Paper 01
On what basis is health evaluated?
On which condition is Bhutan unwilling to get material happiness?
What do you mean by adult literacy rates?
Which country has proclaimed ‘Gross National Happiness’ as the measure of a country’s progress.
What are the three basic areas/aspects of human development? Why are they important?
What is meant by empowerment?
Name the ten countries of the world which have high HDI value.
Explain any three features of welfare approach of human development.
Define the term ‘human development’. Why is human development necessary? Explain any four reasons.
Which factors affect the human development of a country?
CBSE Test Paper 01
Ch-4 Human Development
Answer
- The health of people of a country is evaluated on the basis of life expectancy at birth. If it is high it means that people have opportunity to lead a longer and healthier life. It measures the on an average how many years a newly born child is expected to live.
Bhutan claims that Gross National Happiness is the only possible measure of human development. Material progress and technological development are approached more cautiously taking into consideration the possible harm they might bring to the environment or the other aspects of cultural and spiritual life of the Bhutanese. GNH forces us to think about spiritual, non-material and qualitative aspects of life.
Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above whocan both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. OR Adult Literacy Rates measures the number of adults who are able to read, write and do arithmetic calculation with understanding as a percentage of total population.
The country to proclaim Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the measure of a country's progress is Bhutan.
The three areas/aspects of human development are:
- Access to health: Leading a long and healthy life.
- Access to education: Being able to gain knowledge.
- Access to resources: Having enough means to be able to live a decent life.
They are important because: Building people's capabilities in these areas of health, education and resources is important in enlarging their choices. If people do not have capabilities in these areas, their choices also get limited.
For example, an uneducated child cannot make the choice to be a doctor because his choice has got limited by his lack of education. Similarly, very often poor people cannot choose to take medical treatment for disease because their choice is limited by their lack of resources (money).
The term empowerment. refers to measures designed to increase the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities in order to enable them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights. Empowerment as action refers both to the process of self-empowerment and to professional support of people, which enables them to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of influence, and to recognize and use their resources.
Ten countries of the world with high HDI value are: Norway, Iceland, Australia, Luxemburg, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium and the United States.
The characteristics of the welfare approach are as follows:
- The welfare approach of human development is an approach which looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities.
- According to this approach, the government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by increasing expenditure on welfare such as education, health, housing, sanitation, etc.
- In this approach, people are passive recipients of the beneficiaries of human development, while the government is the provider of those beneficiaries.
Human development refers to the process of widening and providing more choices to people, providing them more opportunities for education, healthcare, empowerment while covering all the choices from a physical environment to economic, social and political freedom.
Human development is necessary because of the following reasons:- The human development approach focusses on improving the lives of people rather than assuming that economic growth will lead automatically to greater opportunities for all.
- Human development is about giving people more freedom and opportunities to live lives they value, e.g. educating people, especially girls.
- Human Development creates the right conditions for all. For eg. create environmental sustainability or equality between men and women. Once, the basics of human development are achieved, they open up opportunities for progress in other aspects of life.
- It also helps to create awareness among people towards their responsibilities as a citizen and human being to build up an opinion for the reduction in the military expenditure, demobilization of armed forces, disarmament and all those activities which are responsible for civil disturbances.
The following are a list of factors which influence human growth and development:
- Heredity: Heredity and genes certainly play an important role in the transmission of physical and social characteristics from parents to off-springs. Different characteristics of growth and development like intelligence, aptitudes, body structure, height, weight, color of hair and eyes are highly influenced by heredity.
- Sex: Sex is a very important factor which influences human growth and development. There is lot of difference in growth and development between girls and boys. Physical growth of girls in teens is faster than boys. Overall the body structure and growth of girls are different from boys.
- Socioeconomic: Socioeconomic factors definitely have some affect. It has been seen that the children from different socioeconomic levels vary in average body size at all ages. The upper-level families being always more advanced. The most important reasons behind this are better nutrition, better facilities, regular meals, sleep, and exercise. Family size also influences growth rate as in big families with limited income sometimes have children that do not get the proper nutrition and hence the growth is affected.
- Nutritional: Growth is directly related with nutrition. The human body requires an adequate supply of calories for its normal growth and this need of requirements vary with the phase of development. As per studies, malnutrition is referred as a large-scale problem in many developing countries. They are more likely to be underweight, much shorter than average, and of low height for age, known as stunting.
If the children are malnourished, this slows their growth process. There are nine different amino acids which are necessary for growth and absence of any one will give rise to stunted growth. Other factors like zinc, Iodine, calcium, phosphorus and vitamins are also essential for proper growth and deficiency of anyone can affect the normal growth and development of the body. - Hormones: There are a large number of endocrine glands present inside our body. These glands secrete one or more hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones are capable of raising or lowering the activity level of the body or some organs of the body. Hormones are considered to be a growth-supporting substance. These hormones play an important role in regulating the process of growth and development.
- Pollution: According to studies, air pollution not only affects the respiratory organs but also have harmful effects on human growth.
Indoor pollution or the pollution from housing conditions can result in ill health which can negatively impact human growth and development. For example, lead exposure from deteriorated lead-based paint in older housing can be very harmful. Lead is very harmful for children as it simply gets immersed into the growing bodies of children and obstructs with the normal development of brain and other organs and systems. - Race: Racial factors also influence height, weight, color, features, and body constitution of a human being. The body growth and development differences show a relationship with varied cultural groups. For example a child of black race will be black, their height, their hair and eye color, facial structure are all governed by the same race.
