What are the functions of the environment?
The environment performs the following four dynamic functions:
1. Offer Production Resources: Environment provides us with wide tangible resources like minerals, water and soil. These are the gifts of nature. These resources act as an input for converting natural resources into productive and useful things. In other words, the environment provides input for production that enhances human life qualitatively.
2. Sustains Life: Environment provides us with vital ingredients like sun, soil, water and air that are necessary for the survival of life. Absence of these essential elements implies absence of life. It supports biodiversity.
3. Assimilates Waste: The activities of production and consumption generate waste. This waste in the form of garbage is absorbed by the environment automatically.
4. Enhances Quality of Life: Environment includes surroundings such as rivers, oceans, mountains and deserts. It provides scenic beauty that man admires in life and adds to the quality of human life.
Highlight any two serious adverse environmental consequences of development in India. India’s environmental problems pose a dichotomy — they are poverty induced and, at the same time, due to affluence in living standards — is this true?
Explain the supply-demand reversal of environmental resources.
What happens when the rate of resource extraction exceeds that of their regeneration?
India has abundant natural resources —substantiate the statement.
Give two instances of
(a) Overuse of environmental resources
(b) Misuse of environmental resources.
Is environmental crisis a recent phenomenon? If so, why?
Identify six factors contributing to land degradation in India.
Explain how the opportunity costs of negative environmental impact are high.
How do the following factors contribute to the environmental crisis in India? What problem do they pose for the government?
(i) Rising population
(ii) Air pollution
(iii) Water contamination
(iv) Affluent consumption standards
(v) Illiteracy
(vi) Industrialisation
(vii) Urbanisation
(viii) Reduction of forest coverage
(ix) Poaching
(x) Global warming
Explain the relevance of intergenerational equity in the definition of sustainable development.
What was the focus of the economic policies pursued by the colonial government in India? What were the impacts of these policies?
What are the two major sources of human capital in a country?
What do you mean by rural development? Bring out the key issues in rural development.
Define a plan?
Who is a worker?
Explain the term ‘infrastructure’.
Why are regional and economic groupings formed?
Why were reforms introduced in India?
Why calorie-based norm is not adequate to identify the poor?
Name some notable economists who estimated India’s per capita income during the colonial period?
Define the liberty indicator. Give some examples of liberty indicators.
Bring out the need for on-the-job-training for a person.
How has the consumption pattern of energy changed over the years?
Discuss the importance of credit in rural development.
How will you know whether a worker is working in the informal sector?
Who is a casual wage labourer?
How can we increase the effectiveness of health care programmes?
Differentiate the six systems of Indian medicine.
Fill in the blanks
(a) First Five Year Plan of ________________ commenced in the year 1956. (Pakistan/China)
(b) Maternal mortality rate is high in _____________. (China/Pakistan)
(c) Proportion of people below poverty line is more in __________. (India/Pakistan)
(d) Reforms in ______________ were introduced in 1978. (China/Pakistan)
In your view, is it essential for the government to regulate the fee structure in education and health care institutions? If so, why?