INDICATORS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT — Economics STD 12 Commerce — Question
Gujarat BoardEnglish MediumSTD 12 CommerceEconomicsINDICATORS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT5 Marks
Question
Write short note on Physical Quality of Life Index.
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Answer
$1.$ Introduction:
National Income and per capita income does not say anything about distribution of income.
The increasing income of a country is limited in some hands and if standard of living is not changed among all then it does not show economic development.
So for measuring standard of living Davis Morris gave the concept of $\text{PQLI.}$
For preparing this index following calculation are taken into consideration:
Literacy rate $(ii)$ Life expectancy $(iii)$ Child mortality rate
$2.$ Elements of Physical Quality of Life Index:
$(i)$ Literacy rate:
Any country's literacy rate shows education condition of a country.
Through percentage of literate people in the country we find literacy rate.
The higher education increases working capacity of people.
So people become more powerful for generating income and high standard of living is achieved.
$(ii)$ Life expectancy:
The life span of a new born baby is called life expectancy.
It is a average of life of people, environment, nutrition and doctor's facilities that shows the average life in society. Higher this service, shows the high life expectancy.
Life expectancy shows social condition and happiness of a society.
$(iii)$ Infant Mortality Rate:
The number of new born baby who die out of every $1000$ infants before completing their first year is known as infant mortality rate.
If infant mortality rate falls, it can be said that health care services of the country is good.
Pure drinking water, environment, awareness of ladies etc. affect on Infant Mortality Rate.
$3.$ Why Three Elements are required?
$(1)$ Through education, life expectancy, and child mortality rate we get perfect figure.
$(2)$ These indicators shows direct result of development. Through development education increases, life expectancy increases and child mortality rate decreases.
$(3)$ Through these elements we compare country wise development.
$\text{4. PQLI}$ construction:
For construction of $\text{PQLI,}$ Life expectancy, Infant Mortality rate, literacy rate is considered. Through this factor $1$ to $100$ rank is given to a country.
In all over the world whose life expectancy is higher, gets $100$ index and whose is lower gets $0.$
Between these two, the average countries get average index.
Same way infant mortality rate and education are also considered.
For preparing $\text{PQLI}$ following points are to be considered.
$(1)$ Give $100\%$ weightage to all three elements.
$(2)$ The ratio is between $0$ to $100.$
$(3)$ The total of these three can be divided by three and Average should be considered.
$(4)$ This ratio is called $\text{PQLI.}$
$(5)$ Here current year and base year are considered.
$5.$ Improtant Aspects:
$(1)$ Closer to $100$ better is the performance of all $3$ indices of $\text{PQLI}$ of a country.
$(2)$ Closer to $0,$ bad performance of $\text{PQLI}$ of the country.
$\text{(3) PQLI}$ is always between $0$ to $100.$
$(4)$ Higher the $\text{PQLI}$ more is the economic development.
$(5)$ Lower the $\text{PQLl,}$ lesser is the economic development.
$6.$ Positive Aspects:
$\text{(1) PQLI}$ is better index compared to the per capita income index.
$\text{(2) PQLI}$ is more related with use of money and not the level of money.
$\text{(3)}$ Education and health is considered for standard of human life.
$\text{(4) PQLI}$ is an indicator for lesser drawbacks as compared to national income and per capita income.
$\text{(5)}$ Through $\text{PQLI}$ comparisons can be made between different countries, different groups of countries or different states of the same country.
$(6)$ We can create $\text{PQLI}$ for Urban areas, females males and in this way a comparison can be done.
$7.$ Limitations of $\text{PQLI:}$
$(1)$ Only $3$ aspects are included and on that basis it cannot be categorically stated, whether a country has actually developed or not. To get a correct picture we need to include other factor also to the existing ones.
$(2)$ Only averages are depicted. Only average of three aspects of a country does not show the prominence or backwardness of each indicator.
$(3)$ If a country's present $\text{PQLI}$ is high, it cannot be generalized that the economic development is high against other countries.
$(4)$ All three aspects do not have equal importance in human life.
$(5)$ It is not right to give equal weightage $(100)$ to all indicators.
$(6)$ Growth of income has high importance in physical quality of life index and ignoring that is not possible.
$(7)$ The $\text{PQLI}$ of rich countries rise at a slower rate because average life cannot increase beyond a particular limit.
$(8)$ It is not a final indicator because it ignores poverty, unemployment of backward area and many more.
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