CBSE Class 9 MCQs & Ques Ans of Economics Ch 3 -  Poverty as a Challenge

BY KRISHAN KUMAR

1. What is the most common measure used to identify the poor in India?

a) Income level

b) Educational background

c) Occupation

d) Age

2. What is the poverty line?

a) The line that separates the rich and the poor

b) The line that represents the average income of a country

c) The minimum level of income required to meet basic needs

d) The maximum level of income beyond which one is considered wealthy

3. Which of the following is NOT a cause of poverty?

a) Lack of education and skills

b) Unemployment

c) Unequal distribution of resources

d) Access to healthcare facilities

4. Which state in India has the highest poverty rate?

a) Maharashtra

b) Kerala

c) Bihar

d) Gujarat

5. What is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) aimed at?

a) Reducing poverty by providing employment opportunities in rural areas

b) Providing free education to children from poor families

c) Promoting industrial growth in urban areas

d) Ensuring equal distribution of land among the poor

6. What is the purpose of the Public Distribution System (PDS)?

a) Providing healthcare facilities to the poor

b) Promoting education among the poor

c) Distributing essential food items to the poor at subsidized rates

d) Creating employment opportunities for the poor

7. Which of the following is a direct measure of poverty?

a) Literacy rate

b) Unemployment rate

c) Infant mortality rate

d) Poverty ratio

8. What is the Human Development Index (HDI) used for?

a) Measuring the income level of individuals

b) Identifying the causes of poverty

c) Evaluating the overall development of a country

d) Assessing the quality of education in a region

9. Which of the following is an example of a poverty alleviation program in India?

a) Mid-day meal scheme

b) Aadhaar card registration

c) Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

d) Make in India campaign

10. What is the role of education in poverty alleviation?

a) It ensures equal distribution of resources

b) It provides employment opportunities for the poor

c) It increases the poverty rate

d) It helps in acquiring skills and improving income levels

11. What does the term "vulnerable groups" refer to?

a) Groups of people who are at risk of falling into poverty

b) Groups of people who are responsible for causing poverty

c) Groups of people who are unaffected by poverty

d) Groups of people who are wealthy and privileged

12. Which of the following is NOT a dimension of poverty?

a) Income poverty

b) Health poverty

c) Education poverty

d) Social poverty

13. Which state in India has the lowest poverty rate?

a) Uttar Pradesh

b) Maharashtra

c) Kerela

d) Odisha

14. What is the significance of self-help groups (SHGs) in poverty alleviation?

a) They provide financial assistance to the rich

b) They promote unity among the poor

c) They increase the dependency of the poor on others

d) They exploit the poor for their own benefit

15. What is the role of the government in poverty alleviation?

a) Providing direct cash transfers to the poor

b) Offering free healthcare to the poor

c) Implementing policies and programs to reduce poverty

d) Leaving poverty alleviation solely to non-governmental organizations

16. What is the average number of calories required per person per day in rural areas of India?

Answer: The average number of calories required per person per day in rural areas of India is 2400. 

17. When was the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) passed?

Answer:  The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was passed in September 2005.

18. Which state out of Bihar, Odisha, Punjab and Assam has the highest poverty ratio?

Answer: Odisha has the highest poverty ratio of 47.2%, as per Economic Survey of 2001-02.

19. Which state out of West Bengal Maharashtra, Assam and Uttar Pradesh has a poverty ratio below the national average?

Answer: The national average poverty ratio was 26.1%. Only Maharashtra, out of the given four states, with a poverty ratio of 25%, was better.

20. In what part of the world has poverty remained the same between 1981 to 2001?

Answer: Poverty has remained the same between 1981 to 2001 in Latin America and the Caribbean Nations.

21. Which section of the population is the target for REGP and AAY anti-poverty programmes?

Answer: The target group for REGP is unemployed rural youth and the target group for AAY is the rural and urban poor families. 

22. Which section of the population is the target for SGSY and NREGA programmes?

Answer: The target for SGSY is rural poor households and the target for NREGA is rural households. 

23. Is it correct that India has the largest concentration of poor in the world?

Answer: Yes, India has about 260 million people who live in poverty, as per an estimate made in the year 1999-2000. 

24. Can social exclusion cause poverty in rural areas?

Answer: Yes, social exclusion of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in rural areas is a major cause of their poverty.

25. What do we mean by the term ‘vulnerability to poverty?

Answer: ‘Vulnerability to poverty’ means the chances of some communities or persons to become poor or remain poor in the future.  

26. Which agency conducts the periodical sample surveys for estimating the poverty line in India?

Answer: The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducts these surveys,

27. Which indicators out of quantity of milk consumed, amount of pocket money received, illiteracy level and the number of shoes people have, are social indicators of poverty?

Answer: Only the illiteracy level. All the others are not social indicators.  

28. Which groups out of the categories of landless agricultural labourers, daily wage construction labourers or teachers in government schools are likely to face poverty in urban areas?

Answer: Only the daily wage construction labourers are likely to face poverty in urban areas. Landless agricultural labourers are in rural areas, not in urban. Teachers in government schools are regularly employed and so will not face poverty. 

29. Which major anti-poverty programme was launched in the year 2000?

Answer: The Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) programme was launched in 2000. 

30. In which year was the National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) launched?

Answer: The National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) was launched in the year 2004. 

31. Which method is used to estimate the poverty line in India?

Answer: The daily income and consumption method are used in India to estimate the poverty line. 

32. Which region of the world has witnessed an increase in poverty during the period 1981-2001?

Answer: The region of Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed an increase in poverty from about 41% in 1981 to about 46% in 2001. 

33. Which indicators out of illiteracy level, lack of access to healthcare, inadequate safe drinking water and ample job opportunities are not social indicators of poverty?

Answer: Lack of access to healthcare is the only indicator which is not considered as a social indicator of poverty. All other indicators mentioned are social indicators.

34. Which economic groups out of rural agricultural labour households. Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) households, urban casual labour households and female daily wagers are vulnerable to poverty?

Answer: Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) households are a social group, not an economic group. All the other groups mentioned are economic groups which are vulnerable to poverty. 

35. Is it true that the state of Kerala has reduced poverty by distribution of foodgrains at highly subsidised prices?

Answer: No, the state or Kerala has used human resource development as a means for reducing poverty.

36. By what method has the state of West Bengal reduced rural poverty?

Answer: Proper implementation of land reforms have helped to reduce rural poverty in West Bengal. 

37. Why is the calorie requirement of rural areas more than that in urban areas?

Answer: Since people living in rural areas engage themselves in more physical work, calorie requirements in rural areas are considered to be higher than in urban areas. 

38. How much amount is needed to fulfill minimum calorie requirement in rural and urban areas?

Answer: On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2000, the poverty line for a person was fixed at `328 per month for the rural areas and ` 54 for the urban areas. 

39.How is poverty line estimated periodically?

Answer: The poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every 5 year) by conducting sample surveys. These surveys are carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). 

40. Which social groups are most vulnerable to poverty?

Answer: The social groups most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. 

41. Among the economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty?

Answer: Among the economic groups the most vulnerable to poverty are the rural agricultural households and the urban casual labour households. 

42. How are women, children and old people the poorest of the poor?

Answer: Women, elderly people and female infants are systematically denied equal access to resources available to the family. Therefore, they are the poorest of the poor. 

43. Which states of India are the poorest?

Answer: Odisha and Bihar continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 47 and 43 per cent respectively. 

44. Which states of India have seen a significant decline in poverty?

Answer: There has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal.    

45. How have Kerala and West Bengal reduced their poverty?

Answer: Kerala has focused more on human resource development. In West Bengal land reform measures have helped in reducing poverty.

46. How has poverty reduced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu?

Answer: In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public distribution of food grains could have been responsible for the improvement in poverty. 

47. What kind of people in India are considered poor?

Answer: They could be landless labourers in villages or people living in overcrowded jhuggis in cities. They could be daily wage earners at construction sites or child workers in dhabas. They could also be beggars with children in tatters. 

48. What is one of the biggest challenges of independent India?

Answer: One of the biggest challenges of independent India has been to bring millions of its people out of abject poverty. Mahatma Gandhi always insisted that India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering. 

49. How is poverty line determined in India?

Answer: A minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc. are determined for subsistence. These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees.

50. Which are the two planks on which anti-poverty strategy of the government is based?

Answer: (i) Promotion of economic growth.
(ii) Targeted anti-poverty programmes.

51. What is the full form of MGNREGA?

Answer: MGNREGA is Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005

52. What is Rural Employment Generation Programme?

Answer: Launched in 1995, the aim of the programme is to create self employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns. 

53. What are the bigger challenges before India?  

Answer: Providing health care, education and job security for all and achieving gender equality and dignity for the poor are the bigger challenges before India. 

54. How did unemployment lead to poverty?

Answer: Unable to find proper jobs in cities, many people started working as rickshaw pullers, vendors, construction workers, domestic servants, etc. With irregular small incomes, these people could not afford proper housing and started living in slums leading to poverty. 

55. What are the conditions of MGNREGA?

Answer: (i) The Act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household in 200 districts.
(ii) Under the programme, if an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days, he/she will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.

56. What was the National Food for Work Programme?

Answer:  It was launched in 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country. It is a centrally sponsored scheme, in which food grains are provided free of cost to the states. The programme is open to all poor who are in need of wage employment and desire to do manual unskilled work.

57. What does PMRY stand for?

Answer:  It stands for Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana, started in 1993. The aim of the programme is to create self employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.

58. What were the targets of SGSY?

Answer: The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was launched in 1999. It aims at bringing up the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organizing them into self-help groups through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy. 

59. What was PMGY?

Answer: It was Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojna launched in 2000. Accordingly additional central assistance is given to the states for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification. 

60. How is poverty viewed by social scientists?

Answer: Since poverty has many facts, social scientists look at it through a variety of indicators. These social indicators are:
(i) Illiteracy level.
(ii) Lack of general resistance due to malnutrition.
(iii) Lack of access to health care.
(iv) Lack of job opportunity.
(v) Lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, etc. 

61. What does ‘social exclusion’ mean?

Answer: (i) According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor surrounding with other poor people, and excluded from enjoying social equality with better-off people in a better surrounding.
(ii) Social exclusion can be both a cause as well as a consequence of poverty in the rural sense.
(iii) It is a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy. An example is the prevalence of the caste system in India in which people belonging to certain castes are excluded from equal opportunities. 

62. What is the criteria for poverty measurement in India?

Answer: (i) Low level of nutrition
(ii) Minimum level of subsistence does not exist
(iii) Calorie intake is low
(iv) Per capita income is low
(v) Basic needs should be satisfied.

We prepared these questions  as per the latest NCERT book and CBSE syllabus. Practising these questions before the exam will ensure excellent marks in the exam.

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