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CBSE Class 10 Economics • Understanding Economic Development
Development Class 10 Questions and Answers
Complete NCERT-based revision with very short, short and long answers covering developmental goals, income, public facilities, human development and sustainability.
25Very Short Answers
25Short Answers
20Long Answers
10Important / NCERT
Complete Development Revision
Build written-answer preparation here, then test the same chapter with the companion 120 MCQs.
How to use this page: First answer the very short questions from memory. Then practise short answers in point form. Finally, write long answers without looking at the model answers.
Exam focus: Pay special attention to developmental goals, per capita income and its limitations, public facilities, health and education indicators, HDI and sustainable development.
Coverage note: Questions are aligned with the NCERT Class 10 Economics chapter and designed for CBSE-style revision.
REVISION SET
Questions 1–25Development Class 10: Very Short Answer Questions
1
What is development?
Answer: Development refers to progress towards goals and improvements in the way people live. The chapter stresses that development can mean different things to different people.
2
Why do different people have different developmental goals?
Answer: People have different situations, needs, aspirations and priorities, so the things they consider important for a better life can differ.
3
What is meant by a developmental goal?
Answer: A developmental goal is something a person or group seeks to achieve to improve their life or circumstances.
4
Why can developmental goals conflict?
Answer: Different groups may seek outcomes that cannot be achieved together; what benefits one group may harm or disadvantage another.
5
Give one example of conflicting developmental goals.
Answer: A dam may provide electricity and irrigation but can also submerge land and disrupt the lives of displaced people.
6
What is meant by income as a developmental goal?
Answer: People often seek regular work, better wages and better prices for the goods or crops they produce, all of which can increase income.
7
Name two non-material goals of development.
Answer: Equal treatment and freedom are examples of non-material goals.
8
Why is income alone not enough to judge quality of life?
Answer: Money cannot by itself provide all the goods and services needed for a good life, such as a pollution-free environment or community-wide disease prevention.
9
What is national development?
Answer: National development involves deciding which developmental goals are important for the country, considering conflicts among goals and asking what would benefit people fairly.
10
What is average income?
Answer: Average income is total income divided by the total population.
11
What is per capita income?
Answer: Per capita income is another name for average income: total income of a country divided by its total population.
12
Why is total income not useful for comparing countries?
Answer: Countries have different populations, so total income does not show what an average person is likely to earn.
13
Why is average income useful for comparison?
Answer: It provides a common measure that takes differences in population into account.
14
What is one limitation of average income?
Answer: It does not show how income is distributed among people.
15
Why can two countries with the same average income have different levels of well-being?
Answer: Their income distributions may differ greatly; one may have a more equitable distribution while the other may have extreme inequality.
16
What is infant mortality rate?
Answer: It is the number of children who die before completing one year of age per 1,000 live births.
17
What does literacy rate measure?
Answer: It measures the proportion of the population aged seven and above that is literate.
18
What is net attendance ratio?
Answer: It is the percentage of children aged 15–17 who are attending school out of the total number of children in that age group.
19
Why are public facilities important for development?
Answer: Many important goods and services, such as schooling and basic healthcare, can be provided more effectively and cheaply through collective or public provision.
20
Why can money not buy a pollution-free environment by itself?
Answer: A pollution-free environment often requires collective action by the wider community rather than individual spending alone.
21
What is human development?
Answer: Human development focuses on what is happening to people—their health, education, well-being and other important aspects of their lives.
22
What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?
Answer: HDI is a composite measure used by UNDP to compare countries using important dimensions of human development, including health, education and income.
23
What is life expectancy at birth?
Answer: It is the average expected length of life of a person at the time of birth.
24
What is Purchasing Power Parity in the context of the chapter?
Answer: It is a way of expressing income in comparable terms so that a dollar represents similar purchasing power across countries.
25
What is a renewable resource?
Answer: A renewable resource is replenished by nature, although it can still be overused if consumption exceeds its rate of replenishment.
REVISION SET
Questions 26–50Development Class 10: Short Answer Questions
26
Explain why different people can have different as well as conflicting developmental goals.
Answer: People live in different circumstances and therefore value different outcomes. Their goals can also conflict: for example, industrialists may want dams for electricity while displaced people may oppose them because their land and livelihoods are affected.
27
Why can a higher income be an important but incomplete indicator of development?
Answer: Higher income can increase access to goods and services, but it does not automatically provide equality, security, freedom, education, healthcare or a clean environment. Therefore income is useful but incomplete.
28
Explain why regular employment may be preferred to a higher but insecure salary.
Answer: A regular job can provide security and stability. A higher-paying job with no security may create uncertainty and may reduce time available for family life, so income is not the only consideration.
29
How can respect for women contribute to development?
Answer: Respect can increase women's dignity and encourage greater sharing of household work. A safe and supportive environment can also enable women to take up jobs or run businesses.
30
Why must national development consider fairness?
Answer: Development choices can benefit some groups while harming others. National development therefore requires considering who benefits, who bears the costs and whether the chosen path is fair and just.
31
Why is per capita income preferred to total income for country comparison?
Answer: Total income depends heavily on population size. Per capita income divides total income by population and therefore gives an average amount per person.
32
Why do averages hide disparities?
Answer: An average combines all values into one number. A very high income for one person can raise the average even when most people remain poor.
33
Explain the lesson from the comparison of Countries A and B.
Answer: Both countries can have the same average income but very different distributions. Country A is more equitable, while Country B has many poor citizens and one extremely rich citizen. Average income alone therefore cannot show distribution.
34
Why did the chapter compare Haryana, Kerala and Bihar using more than income?
Answer: Per capita income alone did not capture differences in literacy, infant mortality and school attendance. Other indicators provide a broader picture of people's well-being.
35
What does the Haryana-Kerala comparison show?
Answer: Haryana has higher per capita income in the chapter's data, but Kerala performs much better on infant mortality, literacy and attendance. This shows that income alone does not adequately measure development.
36
Why are public facilities important even for people with money?
Answer: Some services and conditions depend on collective provision. Individuals cannot buy community-wide disease prevention or a clean environment for themselves alone.
37
Explain how collective provision can be cheaper or more effective.
Answer: Services such as security, schools and healthcare can serve many people together. Collective provision can spread costs and create benefits that individual action cannot achieve alone.
38
Why is the quality of public services important?
Answer: Spending alone does not guarantee good outcomes. The effectiveness, accessibility and functioning of schools, health services and other facilities also matter.
39
How does the UNDP approach differ from a single income measure?
Answer: The UNDP approach looks at multiple human-development dimensions, including health, education and income, rather than relying only on per capita income.
40
Why is the word 'human' important in human development?
Answer: It makes clear that development is ultimately about people—their health, well-being, education and quality of life.
41
Why is sustainability a part of development?
Answer: A development path should meet present needs without destroying the resource base and environmental conditions needed by future generations.
42
Why can renewable resources still be exhausted or degraded?
Answer: Renewable resources replenish naturally, but they can be overused when extraction or consumption exceeds the rate at which nature replenishes them.
43
Why is groundwater overuse a development concern?
Answer: Groundwater is renewable but can decline when people use it faster than rainfall replenishes it. Continued overuse threatens future availability.
44
Why is crude oil a sustainability concern?
Answer: Crude oil is non-renewable and exists in a finite stock. Continued extraction eventually reduces the remaining stock, while dependence on imports can also create economic burdens.
45
Why does environmental degradation cross boundaries?
Answer: Air, water, climate and ecosystems are interconnected, so environmental damage in one region can affect people and places beyond that region.
46
How does the chapter use data to improve the idea of development?
Answer: It moves from income to comparisons involving distribution, health, education, human development and sustainability, showing that development has multiple dimensions.
47
Why should indicators such as literacy and infant mortality be used alongside income?
Answer: They reveal aspects of people's well-being that income alone may hide, such as access to education and survival during early childhood.
48
What is the limitation of using only one criterion for development?
Answer: A single criterion can overlook important dimensions of life and can give a misleading picture when countries or states perform differently across health, education, equality or other indicators.
49
How does the chapter connect development with future generations?
Answer: It argues that present development should not reduce the ability of future generations to meet their needs, especially through unsustainable resource use.
50
Why are public facilities important for development?
Answer: Public facilities such as schools, healthcare, sanitation and clean water improve quality of life and make essential services accessible beyond what individual incomes alone can provide.
REVISION SET
Questions 51–70Development Class 10: Long Answer Questions
51
Give a detailed account of why development means different things to different people.
Answer: Development is linked to people's aspirations and life situations. A landless worker may want more work, better wages and social equality, while a farmer, urban youth, woman or displaced tribal community may have different priorities. Some goals may even conflict. Therefore development cannot be defined by one universal material target; it requires attention to people's circumstances, aspirations and the effects of development choices on different groups.
52
Explain why income and other non-material goals must both be considered in development.
Answer: Income matters because it helps people obtain goods and services. However, people also value equal treatment, freedom, security, respect, dignity, a safe environment and opportunities for education. Some of these cannot simply be purchased by individuals. Thus development requires a mix of material and non-material goals.
53
Explain the importance and limitation of per capita income as a development indicator.
Answer: Per capita income is total income divided by population, so it is useful for comparing countries or states with different population sizes. However, it is an average and does not show how income is distributed. It also does not capture health, education, public facilities, equality or environmental quality. Hence it is useful but not sufficient.
54
Why is average income not enough to judge the well-being of people in a country?
Answer: An average can conceal large inequalities. Two countries can have the same average while one has relatively equal incomes and the other has many poor people and a very rich minority. Moreover, income does not directly measure literacy, health, school attendance, public facilities or environmental quality.
55
Compare the development indicators used in the chapter for Haryana, Kerala and Bihar.
Answer: The chapter compares per capita income with literacy, infant mortality and net attendance. Haryana has the highest per capita income among the three, but Kerala has much lower infant mortality and much higher literacy and attendance. Bihar has the lowest per capita income and weaker outcomes on several social indicators. The comparison shows that development is multidimensional.
56
Explain the role of public facilities in improving development outcomes.
Answer: Public facilities such as schools, healthcare and other services provide benefits that cannot always be secured individually. Community-wide preventive healthcare, education and a clean environment depend on collective provision and participation. Their availability and quality can therefore improve human well-being beyond what individual income alone can achieve.
57
What is human development and why is it broader than income-based development?
Answer: Human development focuses on people's health, education, well-being and living conditions. The chapter uses UNDP's Human Development Report to show that countries can differ in life expectancy, schooling and income. This broader approach recognises that development is about people rather than income alone.
58
Explain the main idea of HDI as presented in the chapter.
Answer: The Human Development Index is presented as a way of comparing countries using important human-development dimensions. The chapter's table includes gross national income per capita, life expectancy and schooling, along with an HDI rank. The approach therefore combines economic and social dimensions.
59
Why is sustainability essential for development?
Answer: A development path that exhausts resources or damages the environment cannot continue indefinitely. Groundwater may be overused even though it is renewable, while crude oil is non-renewable. Sustainable development therefore requires careful use of resources so that future generations are not deprived.
60
Discuss groundwater overuse as an example of unsustainable development.
Answer: Groundwater is replenished by nature, so it is renewable. But if extraction exceeds replenishment through rainfall, water levels fall. The chapter reports serious groundwater decline in many areas and warns that continued overuse can spread. This shows that even renewable resources require careful management.
61
Discuss crude oil as an example of a non-renewable resource.
Answer: Crude oil is drawn from a fixed natural stock and cannot be replenished on a human time scale. New discoveries may add to known reserves, but the overall resource remains finite. Continued extraction therefore raises sustainability concerns, while countries that depend on imports can also face higher costs when oil prices rise.
62
How should India balance development with environmental sustainability?
Answer: India needs development that improves people's income, health, education and living conditions while avoiding excessive resource depletion and environmental damage. This requires careful resource use, public action and attention to the needs of future generations.
63
Why can development involve debate and disagreement?
Answer: People and groups can have different goals and interests. A project may create jobs or electricity while displacing people or damaging resources. Development choices therefore require discussion about who benefits, who loses and what is fair.
64
Explain why development cannot be reduced to material consumption.
Answer: People value freedom, equality, security, respect, dignity and social relationships in addition to material goods. A higher level of consumption does not automatically provide these non-material conditions. A complete idea of development must therefore include both material and non-material aspects.
65
What lessons can be drawn from the chapter's use of averages?
Answer: Averages are useful because they simplify comparisons and account for population differences when calculating per capita income. But they can hide disparities. Therefore averages should be used with other indicators and information about distribution.
66
Explain why public provision can improve equality of opportunity.
Answer: If essential facilities such as schools and healthcare are available collectively, people do not have to rely entirely on private purchasing power. This can give more people access to opportunities and improve social outcomes.
67
Why should development be evaluated through multiple indicators?
Answer: Different indicators reveal different dimensions of life. Income measures an economic aspect; literacy and attendance show education; infant mortality reflects health; and sustainability addresses future resource availability. Together they provide a fuller assessment.
68
What is the central message of the chapter?
Answer: Development is a broad and continuing process. People have different and sometimes conflicting goals; income is important but incomplete; human development requires attention to health, education and well-being; and development must be sustainable so that future generations can also meet their needs.
69
Explain how the chapter links development with equity.
Answer: Development choices affect groups differently. Income averages may conceal inequality, while public facilities can improve access to essential services. A fair development process therefore considers distribution, equal treatment and who benefits from development.
70
How can a student apply the chapter's idea of development to their own locality?
Answer: The student can identify local goals such as education, healthcare, employment, safety and environmental quality, compare conditions across groups, examine who benefits from existing facilities and consider sustainable solutions that serve present and future residents.
NCERT • IMPORTANT
Questions 71–80Important & NCERT-Based Questions
71
What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying countries?
Answer: Per capita income is used as the main criterion. The chapter also discusses its limitations because it is an average and does not show income distribution or other dimensions of well-being.
72
What are the limitations of per capita income?
Answer: It hides income distribution and does not measure health, education, public facilities, freedom, security or environmental quality.
73
In what respects is the UNDP criterion different from the World Bank criterion?
Answer: The UNDP approach presented in the chapter combines income with health and education indicators, while the World Bank criterion discussed here relies on per capita income for country classification.
74
Why is Kerala's performance important in the chapter?
Answer: Kerala illustrates that a state with lower per capita income can have better outcomes in health, literacy and school attendance, demonstrating the limits of income as a complete development measure.
75
Why is sustainability important for development?
Answer: Because present development should not exhaust resources or damage environmental conditions needed by future generations.
76
Why are averages useful and limited?
Answer: They make comparison easier, but they can conceal differences among individuals or groups within the average.
77
What does the chapter say about environmental degradation?
Answer: Its consequences do not respect national or state boundaries, so environmental sustainability is a shared concern.
78
Why are public facilities often better provided collectively?
Answer: Some benefits, such as community health protection, education systems and a clean environment, depend on collective action and cannot be secured efficiently by individuals alone.
79
What is the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources?
Answer: Renewable resources can be replenished by nature, while non-renewable resources exist in a finite stock and are exhausted through continued use.
80
What is the key lesson from the crude-oil table?
Answer: Resource stocks are limited and their remaining life depends on extraction rates, so continued dependence on non-renewable resources raises sustainability concerns.
Last-minute checklist: Revise developmental goals, average income, income distribution, public facilities, health and education indicators, Human Development Index, resource use and sustainability.
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