NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Economics (Indian Economic Development) Chapter 5 Rural Development

NCERT
SOLUTIONS
CLASS - 11th

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Book : Indian Economic Development Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 6 Economics

Class : 11th

Subject : Economics

Chapter : 6

Chapter Name : Rural Development

Q1 What do you mean by rural development? Bring out the key issues in rural development.

Answer. Rural development focuses on action for the development of areas that are lagging
behind in the overall development of the village economy.

Following are the key issues in rural development :

➔ Development of human resources including literacy, more specifically female literacy and
health, addressing both sanitation and public health.
➔ Land reforms : ensuring the land holdings in the hands of the actual owners and
protecting the poor farmers from the rich zamindars.
➔ Development of the productive resources of each locality, new shops and multi utility
store for catering the needs of the locals.
➔ Infrastructure development like electricity, irrigation facilities, credit marketing, transport
facilities, etc.
➔ Special measures for poverty alleviation and improvement in living conditions of the
weaker sections.

Page : 113 , Block Name : Exercises

Q2 Discuss the importance of credit in rural development.

Answer. Growth of rural economy depends primarily on infusion of capital, from time to time, to
realise higher productivity in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. As the time gestation
between crops sowing and realization of income is quite long, farmers borrow from various
sources to meet their initial investment on seeds, fertilisers, implements and other family
expenses of marriage, death, religious ceremonies, etc.

At the time of independence, moneylenders and traders exploited the small and marginal
farmers and caught them into debt trap. A major change occurred after 1969 when India

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adopted social banking and multi agency approach to meet the needs of rural credit. The
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was set up in 1982 as an apex
body to coordinate the activities of all institutions involved in rural financing system.

Page : 113 , Block Name : Exercises

Q3 Explain the role of micro-credit in meeting the credit requirements of the poor.

Answer. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged to fill the gap in the formal credit system
because the formal credit delivery mechanism proved to be inadequate and has not been fully
integrated into overall rural development. Since some kind of collateral was required, vast
proportion of poor rural households were automatically out of credit system. The SHGs promote
thrift in small proportions by a minimum contribution from each member. From the pooled
money, credit is given to the needy members to be repayable in small installments at
reasonable interest rates. Such credit provisions are referred to as micro-credit programmes. It
has helped in empowerment of women. It is alleged that the borrowings are mainly confined to
consumption purposes.

Page : 113 , Block Name : Exercises

Q4 Explain the steps taken by the government in developing rural markets.

Answer. Measures initiated to improve the marketing aspect are :

➔ Regulation of market to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions. This policy
benefited the farmers as well as the consumers.
➔ Provision of physical infrastructure facilities like road, railways, warehouses, godowns,
cold storages and processing units.
➔ Cooperative marketing was initiated for realizing fair prices for farmers’ products. The
success of milk cooperative in Gujarat is testimony to the role of cooperatives.
➔ Policy instruments like :
(i) assurance of minimum support prices for agricultural goods
(ii) maintenance of buffer stock of wheat and rice by Food Corporation of
India
(iii) distribution of food grains and sugar through PDS

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Page : 113 , Block Name : Exercises

Q5 Why is agricultural diversification essential for sustainable livelihoods?

Answer. Diversification includes two aspects- one relates to change in cropping pattern and
other relates to a shift of workforce from agriculture to other allied activities and non-agriculture
sector. The need for diversification arises from the fact that there is greater risk in depending
exclusively on farming for livelihood. Diversification towards new areas is necessary not only to
reduce the risk from agriculture sector but also to provide productive sustainable livelihood
options to rural people. There are many other options available for providing sustainable
livelihoods in rural areas such as focus on allied activities, non-farming employment and other
emerging alternatives of livelihood.

Page : 113 , Block Name : Exercises

Q6 Critically evaluate the role of the rural banking system in the process of rural development in
India.

Answer. Rapid expansion of the banking system had a positive effect on rural farm and
non-farm output, income and employment, especially after green revolution- it helped farmers to
avail services and credit facilities and a variety of loans for meeting their production needs.
Famines became events of the past, India has now achieved food security which is reflected in
the abundant buffer stock of grains.

At the time of independence, moneylenders and traders exploited the small and marginal
farmers, caught into debt trap. India adopted social banking and multi-agency approach to
adequately meet the needs of rural credit in 1969, NABARD was set up in 1982 as an apex
body to regulate the activities of all institutions involved in rural financing system. The
institutional structure of rural banking consists of a set of multi-agency institutions, namely,
commercial banks, cooperatives and land development banks and self-help groups.

Q7 What do you mean by agricultural marketing?

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Answer. Agricultural marketing is basically buying and selling of agricultural products, this was
easy earlier when the villages were self sufficient and the surplus was sold in the markets. It has
now become a complex process and needs to undergo a number of transfers before reaching
the final consumer. Agricultural marketing is a process that involves assembling, storage,
processing, transportation, packaging, grading and distribution of different agricultural
commodities across the country. In India there are several government organisations involved in
agricultural marketing like, Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices and Food Corporation
of India.

Q8 Mention some obstacles that hinder the mechanism of agricultural marketing.

Answer. Obstacles that hinder the mechanism of agricultural marketing are :

➔ Prior to independence, farmers while selling their products to traders, suffered from
faulty weighing and manipulation of accounts. A large number of middlemen meant
greater exploitation of the farmer and lesser price received by the farmers.
➔ Farmers who did not have the required information on prices prevailing in the markets
were often forced to sell at low prices.
➔ Farmers did not have proper storage facilities to keep back their produce for selling later
at a better price.
➔ There was a lack of transport facilities, under constructed roads, bad conditions of the
roads during the rainy seasons. Due to this, the farmers would not take their surplus to
the mandis.

Q9 What are the alternative channels available for agricultural marketing/ Give some examples.

Answer. It has been realised that if the farmers directly sell their produce to consumers, it
increases their incomes. Some examples of these channels are Apni Mandi, Hadaspur Mandi,
Rythu Bazars and Uzhavar sandies. Several national and multinational food fast food chains are
increasingly entering into contracts with farmers to encourage them to cultivate farm products of
desired quality by providing them with seeds and inputs and assured procurement of the

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produce at pre-decided prices. Such arrangements help in reducing the price risks of farmers
and would also expand the markets for farm products.

Q10 Distinguish between ‘Green Revolution’ and ‘Golden Revolution’.

Answer.

Green Revolution Golden Revolution

(i) Green revolution is the Golden revolution is the
introduction of production increase in production of
with the help of HYV seeds, horticulture crops such as
modern technology and fruits, vegetables, medicinal
irrigation facilities. plants, etc.

(ii) This led to the increase in Thus led to production of
production of food grains, fruits, vegetables, aromatic
especially wheat and rice. plant species.

(iii) It made India self-sufficient India has emerged as a
in the production of food world leader in producing
grains various fruits and
vegetables.

(iv) This provided food security It provided nutritional and
and raised agriculture sustainable livelihood
incomes. options.

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Q11 Do you think various measures taken by the government to improve agricultural marketing
are sufficient?

Answer. The government introduced the following measures to improve agricultural marketing :

➔ Regulation of markets to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions. This policy
benefited the farmers and the consumers. However, there is still a need to develop about
27,000 rural periodic markets as regulated market places to realise the full potential of
rural markets.
➔ Provision of physical infrastructure facilities like roads, railways, warehouses, godowns ,
cold storages and processing units. The current infrastructure facilities are quite
inadequate to meet the growing demand and need to be improved.
➔ Co-operative marketing was initiated to realise fair prices for farmers’ products.
Cooperatives have received a setback during the recent past due to inadequate
coverage of farmer members, lack of appropriate link between marketing and processing
cooperatives and inefficient financial management.

® Policy instruments aimed at protecting the income of the farmers and providing food grains
at a subsidized rate to the poor. However, despite government intervention, private trade
predominates agricultural markets.

Q12 Explain the role of non-farm employment in promoting rural diversification.

Answer. As agriculture is already overcrowded, a major proportion of the increasing labour force
needs to find alternate employment opportunities in other non-farm sectors. Non-farm economy
has several segments in it; some possess dynamic linkages that permit healthy growth while
others are in subsistence, low productivity propositions. The dynamic sub-sectors include
agro-processing industries, food-processing industries, leather industry, tourism, etc. Those
sectors which have potential but seriously lack infrastructure and other support include
traditional home-based industries like pottery, crafts, handlooms etc. Majority of rural women
find employment in agriculture while men generally look for non-farm employment.

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Q13 Bring out the importance of animal husbandry, fisheries, and horticulture as a source of
diversification.

Answer.

Animal husbandry - In India, the farming community uses mixed crop-livestock farming system-
cattle, goats, fowl are widely held species. Livestock production provides increases stability in
income, food security, transport, fuel and nutrition for the family without disrupting other. Today,
livestock sector alone provides alternate livelihood options to over 70 million small and marginal
farmers including landless labourers.

Fisheries – The fishing community regards the water bodies as ‘other’ or ‘provider’. In India,
after progressive increase in budgetary allocations and introduction of new technologies. Fish
production from inland sources contributes about 64% of the total value of fish production,
balance 36% comes from the marine sector. Total fish production accounts for 0.8% of the total
GDP.

Horticulture –India has adopted growing of diverse horticultural crops such as fruits, flowers,
vegetables, etc. These crops play a vital role in providing food and nutrition, besides addressing
employment concerns. Horticulture sector contributes nearly one-third of the value of
agricultural output and 6% of Gross Domestic products. Economic condition of many farmers
engaged in horticulture has improved and it is also means of improving livelihood for many
unprivileged.

Q14 ‘Information technology plays a very significant role in achieving sustainable development
and food security’ –comment.

Answer. Information technology (IT) has revolutionized many sectors in the Indian economy.
There is broad consensus that It can play a critical role in achieving sustainable development
and food security in the 21​st​ century.

➔ Government can easily predict areas of food insecurity and vulnerability using
appropriate information and software tools so that the action can be taken to prevent or
reduce the likelihood of an emergency.
➔ It also has a positive impact on the agriculture sector as it can disseminate information
regarding emerging technologies and its applications, prices, weather, and soil
conditions for growing different crops etc.

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➔ It can act as a tool for releasing the creative potential and knowledge embedded in the
society.
➔ It has the ability of employment generation in rural areas. Experiments with IT and its
applications to rural development are carried out in different parts of the country.

Q15 What is organic farming and how does it promote sustainable development?

Answer. Organic agriculture offers a means to substitute costlier agricultural inputs with locally
produced organic inputs that are cheaper and thereby generate good returns on investment.
Organic agriculture also generates income through exports as the demand for organically grown
crops is on the rise. Organically grown food has more nutritional value than chemical farming
thus providing healthy foods. Since organic farming requires more labour input than
conventional farming, it is an attractive proposition for India. The produce is pesticide free and
produced in an environmentally sustainable way. Organic farming helps in sustainable
development of agriculture and India has a clear advantage in producing organic products for
both domestic and international markets.

Q16 Identify the benefits and limitations of organic farming.

Answer. Benefits :

➔ Organic agriculture offers a means to substitute costlier agriculture inputs with locally
produced organic inputs that are cheaper and generate good returns.
➔ Organic agriculture generates income through exports as the demand for organically
grown crops is on the rise.
➔ Organically grown food has more nutritional value than chemical farming providing us
with healthy foods.
➔ It requires labour inputs which is an attractive proposition for India

Limitations :
➔ Inadequate infrastructure and the problem of marketing the products are major
concerns which needs to be addressed.

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➔ Yields from organic farming are less than modern agricultural farming, small and
marginal farmers find it difficult to adapt to large scale production.
➔ Organic produce may have blemishes and a shorter shelf life than sprayed
produce.
➔ Choice in production of off-season crops is quite limited in organic farming.

Q17 Enlist some problems faced by farmers during the initial years of organic farming.

Answer. Problems faced by farmers during the initial years of organic farming are :
➔ Inadequate infrastructure and the problem of marketing the products are major
concerns, the farmers did not have access to the markets and other facilities.
➔ Farmers did not have the knowledge about the use of bio fertilizers and use of
supplement nutrients that enrich the soil, and also application of composts and
organic manure.
➔ The government did not take much initiative to educate the farmers about the
process and promote organic farming.
➔ It had been observed that yield from organic farming is less than modern
agricultural farming in the initial years, due to which small and marginal farmers
found it difficult to adapt to large scale production.
➔ Organic produce have blemishes and a shorter shelf life than sprayed produce,
there were greater chances of the production getting destroyed before the
farmers make it available to the consumers.
➔ Choice in production of off-season crops is quite limited in organic farming. This
could not help the poor farmers as they would be left with nothing during the off
season, adding to their misery.

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