Explain how investment in education stimulates economic growth.
An increase in the level of production of goods and services (national income) of a country over a certain period of time is referred to as economic growth. Higher level of investment in education sector would lead to higher proportion of educated people working with higher participation in economic activities and, therefore, would lead to higher economic growth. The following are the various ways in which investment in education stimulates economic growth:
i. Imparts Quality Skills and Knowledge: Education endows people with quality skills and, thereby, enhances their productivity. Consequently, it enhances the income earning capacities of and opportunities for the people. Moreover, it also enables the human capital to utilise the available physical capital optimally.
ii. Develops Mental Abilities: Education develops the mental abilities of people and helps them to make their choice rationally and intellectually. Education churns out good citizens by inculcating values in them.
iii. Acceptability of Modernisation: An educated public of a nation has greater acceptability of modernisation and modern techniques. This not only helps the economy to grow but also facilitates a primitive economy to break the shackles of tradition and backwardness.
iv. Eradicates Skewed Income Distribution: Education not only increases the income earning capacity but also reduces the skewed distribution of income, thereby, forms an egalitarian society.
v. Raises Standard and Quality of Living: Education enhances the income earning capacity of t people, thereby; it raises the standard of living and also improves the quality of living.
vi. Increases the Participation Rate: It fosters economic development by increasing the participation of people in the process of growth and development.
vii. One Solution for Other Economic Problems: The importance of education is not only limited to making people educated But also in facilitating an underdeveloped economy to solve different but interrelated macro economic problems like poverty, income inequality, population, investments, under utilisation of resources.
Discuss the need for promoting women’s education in India.
Trace the relationship between human capital and economic growth.
Discuss the following as a source of human capital formation
(i) Health infrastructure
(ii) Expenditure on migration.
‘There is a downward trend in inequality world-wide with a rise in the average education levels’. Comment.
Education is considered to be an important input for the development of a nation. How?
What are the main problems of human capital formation in India?
How is human development a broader term as compared to human capital?
What factors contribute to human capital formation?
Argue in favour of the need for different forms of government intervention in education and health sectors.
How government organisations facilitate the functioning of schools and hospitals in India?
What was the focus of the economic policies pursued by the colonial government in India? What were the impacts of these policies?
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’.
What is meant by environment?
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?
What are the various non-commercial sources of energy?
What are the functions of the environment?
Is there any relationship between unemployment and poverty? Explain.
What is the sectoral composition of an economy? Is it necessary that the service sector should contribute maximum to the GDP of an economy? Comment.
Is environmental crisis a recent phenomenon? If so, why?
Explain ‘growth with equity’ as a planning objective.
Analyse the recent trends in sectoral distribution of workforce in India.
Describe the meaning of public health. Discuss the major public health measures undertaken by the state in recent years to control diseases.
What do you understand by devaluation of rupee?
Illustrate the difference between rural and urban poverty. Is it correct to say that poverty has shifted from rural to urban areas? Use the trends in poverty ratio to support your answer.