Comparative Development Experiences of India and its Neighbours Class 12 Important Questions and Answers Indian Economy Chapter 10

Important Questions of Comparative Development Experiences of India and its Neighbours Class 12 Indian Economy Chapter 10

Question 1.
State the common feature in the development strategy of India, China and Pakistan during 1950-1990?
Answer:
Five Year Plans, i.e. economic planning.

Question 2.
State two indicators of human development.
Answer:
Human Development Index (HDI) and life expectancy at birth.

Question 3.
Explain the meaning of Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign with reference to China.
Answer:
Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign was the policy aiming at the industrialisation on a massive scale in China.

Question 4.
In which year was the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution introduced in China? By whom was it started?
Answer:
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was introduced in 1966-67. It was started by Mao Tse Tung.

Question 5.
Name the programme that was introduced in China to control the growth of population.
Answer:
One child norm

Question 6.
By whom is the Human Development Index prepared every year?
Answer:
United Nations Development Programme

Question 7.
What is meant by commune system of farming?
Answer:
It is a collective system of farming practised in China.

Question 8.
What can you say about sex ratio of India, Pakistan and China?
Answer:
Sex ratio is based against females in all the three countries.

Question 9.
In context of India and Pakistan, which sector contributes the highest towards the GDP of the country?
Answer:
In India and Pakistan, service/tertiary sector contributes the highest towards the GDP of the country.

Question 10.
What change takes place in sectoral share of employment in normal course of employment?
Answer:
In the normal course of development, countries first shift their employment from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services.

Question 11.
Explain why China is able to lead in all the human development indicators?
Answer:
China is able to lead in almost all the human development indicators because of the establishment of infrastructure in the areas of education and health, land reforms, long existence of decentralised planning and existence of small enterprises which can be easily regulated.

Even before the reforms, basic health services were provided in villages and food was equitably distributed through the commune system. Each reform was implemented on a small scale initially and then spread out on a larger scale. Laws and policies, such as the one child norm, among others were strictly enforced.

Question 12.
What are Special Economic Zones? Why do they attract foreign investors?
Answer:
A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws different from a country’s typical economic laws. Usually, the goal is to increase foreign investment.

Special Economic Zones attract investors since they offer high quality infrastructure facilities and support services. Besides allowing duty free import of capital goods and raw materials, attractive fiscal incentives and simpler customs, banking and other procedures are offered in such zones.

Question 13.
Enumerate the areas in which India has an edge over Pakistan?
Answer:
In the area of skilled manpower and research and development institutions, India is better placed than Pakistan. Indian scientists excel in the areas of defence technology, space research, electronics and avionics, genetics, tele communications etc. The number of PhDs produced by India in science and engineering every year (about 5000) is higher than the entire stock of PhDs in Pakistan. Issues of health facilities in general and infant mortality in particular are better addressed in India.

Question 14.
Explain the Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign of China initiated in 1958. (NCERT)
Answer:
The Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign initiated in 1958 aimed at industrialising the country on a massive scale. People were encouraged to set up industries in their backyards. In rural areas, communes were started. Under the commune system, people collectively cultivated lands. Around 26,000 communes covered almost all the farm population in 1958.

Question 15.
People prefer to have a male child in many developing countries including India, China and Pakistan. Why is such a phenomenon, witnessed in these countries?
Answer:
Both rural and urban populations have economic and traditional incentives to prefer sons over daughters. Sons are preferred as they provide the primary financial support to the parents. A woman changes her surname to her husband’s surname after marriage. For some families, one’s daughter-in-law’s name instead of a daughter’s name would be added in the book of family tree. Therefore, if a family had no son, the fortune and name of the family would have no legal heirs. The choice of small families also affects the people’s views on the sex of their child.

Question 16.
Write a brief note on SAARC.
Answer:
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established on 8th December, 1985 to encourage cooperation among member countries in the fields of agriculture, health, population control, anti-terrorism measurs, rural development, science and technology and narcotics control Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are its members. It was formed on the proposal of Zia-Ur-Rehman, the then President of Bangladesh. Its headquarter is in Kathmandu.

Question 17.
Write a brief note on Human Development Index (HDI).
Answer:
HDI includes quantitative aspects of per capita GDP and the quality aspects of performance in health and education. It is an average of life expectancy index, education index and GDP index. It was created by a Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq and Indian economist . Amartya Sen in 1990. Every year, the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) computes this index for various countries and publishes it.

Question 18.
Explain the similarities in the development strategies of India, Pakistan and China.
Answer:
Development Strategies of India, China and Pakistan
India, China and Pakistan have many similarities in their development strategies which are as follows”

All the three countries had started planning their development strategies in similar ways.
India announced its Five Year Plan in 1951-56, while Pakistan announced its First Five Year Plan in 1956, which is called Medium Term Plan. China announced its First Five Year Plan in 1953.
India and Pakistan adopted similar strategies such as creating a large public sector and raising public expenditure on social development.
Till the 1980s, all the three countries had similar growth rates and per capita incomes.
Economic reforms took place in all the three countries. Reforms started in India in 1991, in China in 1978 and in Pakistan in 1988.

Question 19.
Enumerate the areas in which Pakistan has an edge over India.
Answer:
Pakistan has achieved better results with regard to

Migration of workforce from agriculture to industry.
Migration of people from rural to urban areas.
Access to improved water sources.
Number of people below poverty line.

Question 20.
What is the important implication of the ‘one child norm’ in China? (NCERT)
Answer:
The important implications of the ‘one child norm’ are

Low population growth.
Decline in the sex ratio.
After a few decades, there will be more elderly people in proportion to young people.
In the long run, China will have to provide more social security measures with fewer workers.

Question 21.
Evaluate the various factors that led to the rapid growth in economic development in China. (NCERT)
Answer:
Various factors that led to the rapid growth in economic development in China are given below

China initiated to implement the economic reforms in 1978 without any compulsion by the World Bank and IMF.
China established infrastructure in the field of health and education that helped effectively in improving the social and economic indicators.
China implemented land reforms that increased the productivity.
There was long existence of decentralised planning.
The size of individual enterprises was kept small.

All the factors mentioned above helped positively towards economic development.

Question 22.
Give reasons for the slow growth and re-emergence of poverty in Pakistan. (NCERT)
Answer:
The percentage of poor was 40% in Pakistan during 1960s that reduced to 25% in 1980s and started going up in 1990s. The causes for the slowdown of growth and re-emergence of poverty are as given below:

The agricultural growth was not the result of technology improvement. Rather, it was based on good climatic conditions. When the conditions were good, the economic growth showed positive trends and vice-versa.
In Pakistan, a considerable part of foreign exchange came from remittances from Pakistani workers in the middle East.
In Pakistan, there is more dependence on foreign borrowings and increasing difficulty in paying back the loAnswer:
Inadequate infrastructure for manufacturing sectors.

Question 23.
Write a short note on
(i) ASEAN
(ii) BRICS
Answer:
(i) ASEAN: Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) was created on 8th August, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand with objectives to accelerate economic growth, social progress, regional stability and to resolve their differences peacefully. Subs equently, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam also joined this association. It is headquartered at Jakarta.

(ii) BRICS: BRICS is the acronym representing association of five major emerging national economies, viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. All the member countries are leading developing or newly industrialised countries and are characterised by their fast growing economies and those who significantly influence their regional affairs. It was formed in 2011 and works on the principles of non-interference, equality and mutual benefit.

Question 24.
Why are regional and economic grouping formed? (NCERT)
Answer:
Regional and economic grouping is one of the major instruments of promoting international trade activities among countries. It focuses on creation of larger economic units from smaller national economies. Regional and economic groupings such as the SAARC, European Union, ASEAN, G-8, G-20 etc are formed to increase economic cooperation among nations in the neighbourhood or those sharing common economic interests.

This is particularly considered essential by developing countries as they are all facing competition not only from developed nations but also amongst themselves in the relatively limited economic space enjoyed by the developing world. Besides, cooperation with other economies in our neighbourhood is also required, as all major common economic activities in the region have an impact on overall human development in a shared environment.

Question 25.
Define liberty indicators. Give some examples of liberty indicators. (NCERT)
Answer:
‘Liberty indicators’ are those indicators which represent the degree of civil and political freedom to individuals in a country. They should also be considered alongwith indicators of income, health and education in the human development index. One such indicator has actually been added as a measure is ‘the extent of democratic participation in social and political decision-making’ but it has not been given anyextra weight.

Some other ‘liberty indicators’ are measures of ‘the extent of constitutional protection given to rights of citizens’ or ‘the extent of constitutional protection of the Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law’ which have not been introduced in HDI till now. Without including such indicators and giving them adequate weightage, the construction of a human development index remains incomplete and its usefulness remains limited.

Question 26.
What are the various means by which countries are trying to strengthen their own domestic economies? (NCERT)
Answer:
The following are the various means through which the nations are trying to strengthen their own domestic economies:

Nations are forming various regional and economic groupings like SAARC, European Union, G-8, G-20, ASEAN etc in order to strengthen their economies through economic cooperation among the countries in the group to safeguard their common interests.
They are also trying to know and analyse the developmental process adopted by their neighbouring nations, so as to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and formulate policies accordingly.
Nations have also resorted to liberalise their economies by minimising government interference in economic activities. The economy is governed by market forces which promote efficiency and strengthen the economy.
Nations have also adopted the process of globalisation to integrate their economies with other economies of the world in order to provide wide international market for their domestic producers and attract foreign investment.

Question 27.
What similar developmental strategies have India and Pakistan followed for their respective developmental paths? (NCERT)
Answer:
India and Pakistan have followed following similar strategies in their respective development plans

India and Pakistan both started their development process on the basis of economic planning after getting independence in 1947.
Both of them have adopted the mixed economic system involving the co-existence of both the public and the private sector.
Both the countries relied more on the public sector for initiating the process of growth and development.
Both of them introduced economic reforms around the same time to strengthen their economies. Pakistan initiated reforms in 1988 and India followed in 1991.
They both have announced Five Year Plans for growth and development.

Question 28.
Describe the path of developmental initiatives taken by Pakistan for its economic development. (NCERT)
Answer:
For economic development, Pakistan followed the mixed economy model in which public and private sectors co-exist.
The different policies adopted by Pakistan are stated below

A variety of regulated policy frameworks were introduced in late 1950s and 1960s.
Protection of consumer goods domestic industries through tariff barriers.
The introduction of green revolution and mechanisation in agriculture sector.
Public investment in infrastructure in selected areas.
Nationalisation of capital goods industries was introduced in 1970s.
In 1980s, the policy of denationalisation and encouragement to private sector was adopted-
In 1988, economic reforms were initiated in the economy.

Question 29.
Mention the salient demographic indicators of China, Pakistan and India. (NCERT)
Answer:
The salient demographic indicators of China, Pakistan and India are discussed below

The population of Pakistan is very small and accounts for roughly about one-tenth of China or India. China is the largest nation and geographically occupies the largest area among the three nations therefore, its density is the lowest.
One child norm was introduced in China in late 1970s to check population growth. This measure led to a decline in the sex ratio.
Sex ratio is biased against females in all three countries. In recent times, all three countries are trying to adopt various measures to improve the situation. Due to one child norm, after few decades there will be more elderly people in proportion to young people.
The fertility rate is low in China and very high in Pakistan.
Urbanisation is high in both Pakistan and China with India having only 32% of its people living in urban areas.

Question 30.
Compare and contrast the development of India, China and Pakistan with respect to some salient human development indicators. NCERT
Answer:
The development of India, China and Pakistan with respect to some salient human development indicators can be assessed and compared with the help of the following points:

China is ahead of India and Pakistan in human development indicators. China has better ranking in terms of income indicator such as GDP per capita, or proportion of population below poverty line or health indicators such as mortality rates, access to sanitation, literacy, life expectancy or malnourishment.
Pakistan is ahead of India in reducing proportion of people below the poverty line with 51% people below poverty line while the ratio being 61% for India.
Pakistan’s performance in education, sanitation and -cess to water is better than India.
Maternal mortality is very high in India and Pakistan as compared to China. In China, for one lakh births, only 32 women die whereas in India and Pakistan, more than 150 women die.
All the three countries provide improved water sources for most of their population.
Considering the international poverty rate of $ 2 a day, India has the largest share of poor among the three countries in absolute terms.

Question 31.
Enumerate the successes and failures of structural reforms in China.
Answer:
Success of Structural Reforms in China:

There was existence of infrastructure in the areas of education and health and land reforms.
There was decentralised planning and existence of small enterprise.
Through the commune system, there was more equitable distribution of foodgrains.
There was extension of basic health services in rural areas.

Failures of Structural Reforms in China:

There was slow pace of growth and lack of modernisation in the Chinese economy under the Maoist rule.
Maoist vision of economic development based on decentralisation, self-sufficiency and shunning of foreign technology had failed.
Despite extensive land reforms, collectivistion, the Great Leap Forward and other initiatives, the per capita gain in output in 1978 was the same as it was in the mid 1950s.

Question 32.
Enumerate the successes and failures of structural reforms in Pakistan.
Answer:
Success of Structural Reforms in Pakistan:

Pakistan has succeeded in more than doubling its per capita income inspite of high growth rate of population.
Pakistan has achieved self-sufficiency in the production of food.
Pakistan has succeeded in developing its service and industry sectors at a fast rate.
The use of modern technology is imprbving in Pakistan.

Failures of Structural Reforms in Pakistan: