Human Resource
• ‘People as Resource’ is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities.
• Like other resources, population is a resource—a ‘human resource’.
• Human capital is stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied in them.
• When existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated and healthy, we call it ‘human capital formation.’ It adds to productive power of country just like ‘physical capital formation.’
• Investment in human capital [through education, training & medical care] yields a return just like an investment in physical capital.
• Human capital is in one way superior to other resources like land and physical capital: human resources can make use of land and capital. Land and capital cannot become useful on its own.
• A large population in India has been considered a liability rather than an asset. But a large population need not be a liability for economy. It can be turned into a productive asset by investing in human capital.
• A child can yield a high return in future with investments made in her education and health, in form of higher earnings and a greater contribution to society.
• Countries, like Japan, have invested in human resources. They did not have any natural resources. These countries are developed/rich. They import natural resources needed in their country. Efficiency and technology evolved by people have made these countries rich/developed.
Economic Activities
• various activities done by people have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary & tertiary.
• primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, mining & quarrying.
• Manufacturing is included in secondary sector.
• Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance. are included in tertiary sector.
• These economic activities add value to national income.
• Economic activities have two parts — market activities and non-market activities.
• Market activities involve remuneration to anyone who performs i.e., activity performed for pay or profit. These include production of goods or services, including government services.
• Non-market activities are production for selfconsumption. These can be consumption and processing of primary products and own-account production of fixed assets.
• Due to historical and cultural reasons, there is a division of labour between men and women.
• A majority of women have meager education and low skill formation; that’s why women are paid lower compared to men.
Quality of Population
• quality of population depends upon literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life expectancy and skill formation acquired by people of country.
• quality of population decides growth rate of country.
• literate and healthy population is an asset.
Health
• health of a person helps him to realise his/her potential and ability to fight illness.
• Health is an indispensable basis for realising one’s well-being.
• Our national policy aims at improving accessibility of healthcare, family welfare and nutritional services with a special focus on underprivileged segment of population.
• Only four states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, have maximum number of medical colleges.
Education
• Education contributes to growth of society. It enhances national income, cultural richness and increases efficiency of governance.
• There is a provision made for providing universal access, retention & quality in elementary education with a special emphasis on girls.
• Literacy is not only a right. This is needed if citizens are to perform their duties and enjoy their rights properly.
Unemployment
• Unemployment exists when people who are willing to work cannot find jobs.
• workforce population includes people from 15 years to 59 years.
• In case of India, we have unemployment in rural and urban areas. nature of unemployment differs in rural and urban areas. In case of rural areas, there is seasonal and disguised unemployment. Urban areas have mostly educated unemployment.
• Seasonal unemployment happens when people are not able to find jobs during some months of year. People dependent upon agriculture generally face such a kind of problem.
• In “Disguised Unemployment,” people act as if they have a job. They have plots of land where they grow crops and work. This usually happens when people in same family work in agriculture. work needs help of five people, but it takes time of eight. These three people do not make field work better.
• In case of urban areas, educated unemployment has become a common phenomenon. Many youths with matriculation, graduation and post-graduation degrees are not able to find a job.
• Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resources. People who are an asset for economy turn into a liability.
• Unemployment tends to increase economic overload. dependence of unemployed on working population increases. quality of life of an individual as well as of society is adversely affected.
• Unemployment hurts overall growth of an economy. An increase in unemployment is an indicator of a depressed economy. It wastes resources, which could have been gainfully employed.
• Agriculture is most labour absorbing sector of economy.
• In secondary sector, small-scale manufacturing is most labour absorbing.
• In tertiary sector, various new services are now appearing like biotechnology, information technology and so on.
Terms
• infant mortality rate is death of a child below one year of age.
• birth rate is number of babies born for every 1,000 people during a particular period.
• death rate is number of people per 1,000 who die during a particular period.
• An increase in life expectancy and improvement in child care are helpful in assessing future progress of country.
• An increase in longevity is an indicator of good quality of life marked by self-confidence.
• Reduction in infant mortality involves protection of children from infection, ensuring nutrition of both mother and child, and child care.