The following table shows the proportion of adults (aged 15-49 years) whose BMI is below normal (BMI <18.5 kg/m2 ) in India. It is based on a survey of various states for the year 2015-16.

For each of the items given in Table 1.6, find out which country is at the top and which is at the bottom.

List a few examples of environmental degradation that you may have observed around you.

“The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person”.

Why is the issue of sustainability important for development?

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?

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.

Why do we use averages? Are there any limitations to their use? Illustrate with your own examples related to development.

In what respects is the criterion used by the UNDP for measuring development different from the one used by the World Bank?

What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries? What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?

Assume there are four families in a country. The average per capita income of these families is ` 5000. If the income of three families is Rs 4000, Rs 7000 and Rs 3000 respectively, what is the income of the fourth family?

Which of the following neighbouring countries has better performance in terms of human development than India?

Study Table given below carefully and fill in the blanks in the following paragraphs. For this, you may need to make calculations based on the table.

In Tamil Nadu, 90 percent of the people living in rural areas use a ration shop, whereas in West Bengal only 35 percent of rural people do so. Where would people be better off and why?

Does 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?

Think of other examples where collective provision of goods and services is cheaper than individual provision.

Look at data in Tables 1.3 and 1.4. Is Haryana ahead of Kerala in literacy rate etc., as it is in terms of per capita income?

Write a paragraph on your notion of what should India do, or achieve, to become a developed country.

From the text, find out the per capita income level of low-income countries as per World Development Reports.

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.

Besides size of per capita income, what other property of income is important in comparing two or more societies?

Why do you think average income is an important criterion for development? Explain.

Give three examples where an average is used for comparing situations.

If even the idea of what constitutes development can be varied and conflicting, then certainly there can be differences about ways of developing.

What can be some of the developmental goals for your village, town or locality?

Read this newspaper report and answer the questions that follow: A vessel dumped 500 tonnes of liquid toxic wastes into open-air dumps in a city and in the surrounding sea.

Discuss the following situations : Look at the picture on the right. What should be the developmental goals for such an area?

Explain some of the important ideas of the above section in your own words.

Give some examples where factors other than income are important aspects of our lives.

Do the following two statements mean the same? Justify your answer. (a) People have different developmental goals.

Why do different persons have different notions of development? Which of the following explanations is more important and why?