What Development Asks
Big questions, shared hopes.
↳ Development is thinking about these and working towards them.
📚 Chapter Learning Kit
Development · Class 10 Economics
English 5 topics 225 leveled MCQs 100 flashcards 4 games Free
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Sep 2026
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Labourer and Farmer
Same village, different dreams.
↳ Life situations shape goals.
Life Situations Decide
Why goals differ.
People have different notions of development mainly because their life situations are different — not merely because people are different.
↳ Where you stand shapes what you want.
Questions of National Development
Whose development?
↳ National development is a debate about fairness.
Toxic Waste in Abidjan
Profit for some, poison for others.
500 tonnes of toxic waste were dumped in and around Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Seven died and twenty-six thousand were treated for poisoning.
↳ Development choices have winners and losers.
Choosing a Criterion
The purpose picks the yardstick.
We choose a sports team, a debate team and a picnic team by different criteria. For comparing countries, income is considered one of the most important attributes.
↳ Criterion depends on purpose.
📖 Smart notes
What you'll study, topic by topic
1
What Development Promises — Different People, Different Goals
Why different people have different, and sometimes conflicting, ideas of development; why income is a common goal but not the only one; and how non-material goals such as freedom, security, equal treatment and respect sh…
- Development involves thinking about what we need, how we should live together, whether life can be better for all and whether there can be m…
- Different persons have different developmental goals because their life situations are different
- What is development for one may not be development for another, and may even be destructive for them
~18 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
2
National Development and Comparing Countries by Income
What national development involves, why countries are compared by per capita (average) income rather than total income, how the World Bank classifies countries, and why averages — though useful — hide how income is distr…
- Different persons can have different and conflicting notions of a country's development; national development asks what a fair and just path…
- Choosing criteria depends on the purpose of comparison; for comparing countries, income is considered one of the most important attributes
- Countries with higher income are considered more developed, on the understanding that more income means more of what people need
~20 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
3
Income and Other Criteria — Public Facilities
Why per capita income alone is an inadequate measure of development, shown through the comparison of Haryana, Kerala and Bihar; why many goods and services are best provided collectively as public facilities; and what ed…
- Besides average income, a nation or region has other equally important attributes, much as individuals seek security, respect and freedom
- In 2023–24, per capita income was Rs 3,25,759 in Haryana, Rs 2,81,001 in Kerala and Rs 60,337 in Bihar; by income alone Haryana is most deve…
- Yet Haryana's infant mortality rate (28 per 1,000 in 2020) is far above Kerala's (6), and Kerala leads in literacy (94%) and secondary atten…
~22 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
4
The Human Development Report — India and Its Neighbours
How the UNDP's Human Development Report measures development using education, health and per capita income; what Table 1.6 shows about India and its neighbours; how to calculate and use the Body Mass Index; and how the U…
- Income is important but an inadequate measure of development, so a small number of the most important indicators — health and education — ar…
- The Human Development Report, published by UNDP, compares countries by the educational levels of people, their health status and per capita…
- Table 1.6 (Human Development Report 2025, data for 2023): Sri Lanka leads India's neighbours with GNI per capita of 12,616 PPP dollars, life…
~22 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
5
Sustainability of Development
Why present types and levels of development may not be sustainable; the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources; the chapter's examples of groundwater overuse in India and the exhaustion of crude oil res…
- We would like a country's level of development to rise, or at least be maintained, for future generations
- Scientists have been saying since the middle of the twentieth century that development of this kind, at this level, cannot be kept up
- Renewable resources, such as groundwater, crops and plants, are replenished by nature, but can still be overused if we use more than is repl…
~20 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
❓ Leveled MCQ practice
Try the smart MCQs from this kit
225 questions laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with an explanation. A taste:
A landless labourer and a prosperous farmer in the same Punjab village describe development very differently. Which explanation does the chapter treat as more important?
Intermediate
A People are simply born different
B One of them is always wrong
C Development means the same for everyone
D Their life situations are different
Show answer & explanation
Their life situations are different
Different life situations produce different aspirations.
A landless rural labourer in the chapter's table hopes for all of the following EXCEPT:
Beginner
A More days of work and better wages
B A local school that gives quality education
C No social discrimination in the village
D Settling his children abroad
Show answer & explanation
Settling his children abroad
Settling children abroad is the prosperous farmer's goal.
A prosperous farmer wants hardworking but cheap labourers, while a landless labourer wants better wages. What does this pair of goals show?
Intermediate
A Developmental goals can conflict
B Both want exactly the same thing
C Income is not a goal for either
D Only the farmer has developmental goals
Show answer & explanation
Developmental goals can conflict
Cheap labour for one means low wages for the other.
Industrialists want a large dam to generate electricity, but the tribal villages upstream would be submerged. According to the chapter, what might the displaced people prefer?
Intermediate
A Small check dams or tanks to irrigate their land
B An even larger dam further upstream
C No irrigation of any kind
D Moving the industries to their village
Show answer & explanation
Small check dams or tanks to irrigate their land
The chapter's example of conflicting goals.
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