Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 23.02.22

Q1. Which of the following key metrics are used for the calculation of the Human Development Index (HDI)?

1. Life expectancy at birth
2. Expected years of schooling
3. Average years of schooling
4. Gross national income (GNI) per capita

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

a. 1 and 2 only
b. 1, 2 and 3 only
c. 2, 3 and 4 only
d. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

The Human Development Index (HDI) provides a single index measure to capture three key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
The HDI utilises four key metrics:
1. life expectancy at birth – to assess a long and healthy life 

2. expected years of schooling – to assess access to knowledge of the young generation
3. average years of schooling – to assess access to knowledge of the older generation
4. gross national income (GNI) per capita – to assess the standard of living

Q2. Which of the following are collected by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour?

1. CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
2. CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
3. CPI for Rural Labourers (RL)

Select the correct answer using the codes given below

a. 1 and 2 only
b. 2 and 3 only
c. 1 and 3 only
d. 1, 2 and 3

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Who maintains the Consumer Price Index in India?
In India, there are four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated, and these are as follows:
CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
CPI for Rural Labourers (RL) and
CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
While the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation collects CPI (UNME) data and compiles it, the remaining three are collected by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour.

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. Factor cost is the price of the commodity from the producers' side
2. Market price includes the net of taxes and subsidies

Which of the above is/are correct?

a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer : c

Why is the Question ?

Factor Price is the total cost of all factors of production (such as labour, capital, land etc) used in producing goods or services. It is the price of the commodity from the producers' side. When a commodity is produced, it is sold in the market
Market Price – It is the price at which a product is sold in the market. It includes the cost of production in the form of wages, rent, interest, input prices, profit etc. It also includes the taxes imposed by the government. It excludes Government subsidies. Thus the relationship between Factor price and the Market price is Market Price = Factor Price + Indirect Taxes – Subsidies.

Q4. Consider the following statements about the Planetary pressureadjusted Human Development Index (HDI)

1. The purpose of the planetary pressure adjusted HDI is to communicate to the larger society the risk involved in continuing with existing practises in our resource use and environmental management, and
2. It will highlight the retarding effect that environmental stress can perpetuate on development
3. It involves carbon emission per capita and material footprint per capita in the calculation of adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a. 1 and 2 only
b. 2 and 3 only
c. 1 and 3 only
d. 1, 2 and 3

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Planetary pressure-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)
1. The 2020 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), titled “The Next Frontier – Human Development and the Anthropocene” proposed a planetary pressure-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI).
2. Ever since the UNDP took up the computation of the HDI driven by the vision of Mahbub ul Haq and articulated by Amartya Sen in 1990, there have been adjustments such as inequalityadjusted HDI.
3. Besides, there was the computation of several other indices such as the Gender Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, and Multidimensional Poverty Index to flag the issues that warranted the attention of policymakers.

Human-induced change
1. The environment is one such issue now considered to be an essential component to be factored in to measure human development.
2. The concept of the planetary boundary was to highlight that human-induced environmental change can irrevocably destabilise the long-term dynamics of the earth system, thereby disrupting the life-supporting system of the planet.
3. Both global and local evidence indicate that biodiversity loss, climate change, land system/land-use change, disruption of biogeochemical cycles, and scarcity of freshwater availability are a threat and increase the vulnerability of society.
4. The purpose of the planetary pressure adjusted HDI, or PHDI, is to communicate to the larger society the risk involved in continuing with existing practises in our resource use and environmental management, and the retarding effect that environmental stress can perpetuate on development.

Impact on country rankings
1. When planetary pressure is adjusted, the world average of HDI in 2019 came down from 0.737 to 0.683. This adjustment has been worked out by factoring in per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emission (production), and per capita material footprint.
2. The average per capita global CO2 emission (production) is 4.6 tonnes and the per capita material footprint is 12.3 tonnes. The global ranking of several countries was altered, in a positive and negative sense, with adjustment of planetary pressure.
3. Among 66 very high human development countries, 30 countries recorded a fall in rank values ranging from minus 1 for Germany and Montenegro to minus 131 for Luxembourg.
4. It succinctly brings out the nature of planetary pressure generated by the developed countries and indirectly indicates their responsibility in combating the situation.

Indian Case:
1. In the case of India, the PHDI is 0.626 against an HDI of 0.645 with an average per capita CO2 emission (production) and material footprints of 2.0 tonnes and 4.6 tonnes, respectively.
2. India gained in global rankings by eight points (131st rank under HDI and 123rd rank under PHDI), and its per capita carbon emission (production) and material footprint are well below the global average.

Q5. Consider the following statements

1. The highest percentage of multidimensionally poor people live in Bihar
2. Kerala has an exemplary achievement in human development well above the all-India average

Which of the above is/are incorrect?

a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Challenges in India, SDGs
1. Nevertheless, India’s natural resource use is far from efficient, environmental problems are growing, and the onslaught on nature goes on unabated with little concern about its fallout — as evident from a number of ongoing and proposed projects.
2. At the same time, India has 27.9% people under the Multidimensional Poverty Index ranging from 1.10% in Kerala to 52.50% in Bihar, and a sizable section of them directly depend on natural resources for their sustenance.
3. Kerala has an exemplary achievement in human development with an HDI value of 0.775, well above the all-India average. However, on the environmental front, there are several challenges that warrant concrete actions; otherwise, the gains of human development may not be sustained.
4. The twin challenges of poverty alleviation and environmental safeguarding that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi first articulated in her lecture during the Stockholm conference on the human environment in 1972 still remain unattended. Fifty years have passed.