Plus Two Sociology Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 2 The Demographic Structure of Indian Society

Kerala Plus Two Sociology Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 2 The Demographic Structure of Indian Society

The Demographic Structure of Indian Society Questions and Answers

Question 1.
The subject which studies things about birth, death, emigration, marriage, divorce etc. is called
a) Demography
b) Formal demography
c) Social Demography
d) Census
Answer:
Formal Demography

Question 2.
The first census in the world is the American census of the year. ?
Answer:
1790

Question 3.
Who is the social scientist that found that there are personal reasons as well as societal reasons behind every suicide?
Answer:
Emile Durkheim

Question 4.
The function of ……….. is analyzing the features involved in changes in the population.
Answer:
Demography

Question 5.
………. is the scientific study of population.
Answer:
Demography

Question 6.
Who wrote “An Essay on the Principle of Popula¬tion”?.
Answer:
Thomas Malthus

Question 7.
According to the 2011 Census, what is the gender ratio in India?
a) 934
b) 927
c) 933
d) 940
Answer:
940

Question 8.
When did the new Population Policy of India come into force?
Answer:
1, February 2000

Question 9.
Match the following:

Answer:

Question 10.
Which State of India has the highest literacy rate?
Answer:
Kerala

Question 11.
What is the difference in the gender ratio in India according to the 2011 Census?
(i) 16.7 %
(ii) 21,7 %
(iii) 24.8 %
(iv) 26.7 %
Answer:
16.7%

Question 12.
Who was the person who found that increase in population is the cause for poverty?
Answer:
Malthus

Question 13.
Who introduced the Demography Mutation Theory?
Answer:
Kingsley Davis

Question 14.
What is demography?
Answer:
Demography is the scientific study of populations. This word comes from Greek. ‘Demos’ means people. ‘Graphein’ means to write or describe. By combining these two words we get demography. It means describing people. It studies the trends and processes that affect populations.

Question 15.
What is the difference between formal demography and social demography?
Answer:
Formal demography is mainly concerned with measurements. It is concerned with things like birth, death, emigration, marriage, divorce, etc. Social demography stresses the social, economic and political aspects of the population.

The main function of formal demography is measuring and analyzing the components of population change. It stresses evolutionary analysis. For this, it uses mathematical and statistical methods. It is a method that helps in foreseeing changes in population growth and its structure.

Social demography or population studies study the reasons for changes in population and its structures and their results (repercussions). Social demographers believe that demographic processes are controlled by social processes and structures. People like social scientists, demographers also try to find out the social causes for demographic tendencies.

Question 16.
What are the two processes that helped in the growth of demography?
Answer:
pThe two processes are the formation of national states and the growth of statistical science. With the advent of the modern age, national states came up in Europe as important political organizations. With this, the role and responsibility of the modern nations began to increase. For example, administering public health, economic policies related to manufacturing and industry, tax, its collection, increasing incomes, urban management – all these needed the attention of the nation.

The growth of numerical (statistical) science was also important. As the areas of activity of nations increased, there was a need to have precise statistical data. Statistical data were needed in the case of population and economic systems with regard to their number, size and measure.

Question 17.
Who were the people that came out with demographic theories?
Answer:
Different theories about demography have been proposed by different scholars. The theories of Malthus, the Liberals, Marx and Kingsley David have been extensively discussed.

Question 18.
Explain the demographic theory of Malthus.
Answer:
One of the most popular theories on demography is that of Thomas Robert Malthus. He was an economist from England. In 1798 he published a book titled “An Essay on the Principle of Population”. In this book, he explained his demographic theory. His theory is pessimistic. Here are the important ideas – of his theory.

Malthus argued that population is increasing on a much faster rate than the increase in the means of livelihood (food, clothes, agricultural products etc). He pointed out that there is tremendous growth in population but there is no proportional growth in food production. Therefore mankind id destined to live in permanent poverty. The increase in population always exceeds the increase in agricultural production.
Population increases geometrically (in the order 2, 4, 8, 16.. 32, 64, 128, etc.). But food production increase is only arithmetical or parallel.

In short, increase in population will always keep food production behind. So Malthus tried to show that mankind will be faced with serious food shortages and ultimate ruin.

Malthus argued that the only way to make progress is by controlling population growth. He said there were two ways of controlling it One is moral restraints like marrying late, celibacy etc. The other is natural controls which inside wars, famine and diseases. Unfortunately, the power of mankind to limit population growth by moral control is very limited. Therefore Malthus believed that only natural controls will help in limiting population growth. He explained that natural controls are Nature’s way of solving the problem created by the geometrical growth of population and the arithmetical growth of good production.

The Theory of Malthus remained influential for long. ’ But theoreticians who showed that economic growth will be greater than population growth proved Malthus wrong. The experiences of European countries showed that the theory of Malthus is not right By the 2nd half of the 19th century there were changes in. population growth. By the beginning of the 20th century, these changes were quite dramatic.

Birth rate reduced drastically. (The reason for this is the use of various means of birth control.) Contagious diseases were checked. (This was helped by progress in medical science.) There was tremendous increase in food production. (Improved technologies helped this.)

Although there was considerable increase in population, food production increased and the living standards became better. Thus the predictions of Malthus were proved wrong.

The theory of Malthus that the increase in population caused poverty was severely criticised by the Liberals and Marx. They argued that poverty and hunger are not the results of population growth, but the result of inequitable distribution of wealth and other resources. They showed that in an unjust society, the few wealthy live in great luxury whereas the majority of people live in, poverty.

Question 19.
What are the means of population control as suggested by Malthus?
Answer:

Question 20.
Explain the theory of Demographic Transition.
Answer:
Demographic Transition is another important theory in demography. This theory was presented in the 1940s by the American Social Scientist Kingsley Davis. His theory was an optimistic one. This theory argued that population growth is related to all-round economic development. He showed that each community or society follows its own development model in accordance with its population growth. The Theory of Demographic Transition says there are three basic stages in population growth.

In the first stage the society is not developed and the economic condition is backward. At this stage, both birth rate and death rate will be high. Therefore the growth in population will be small.

In the 2nd stage iff a transition stage. There is technological growth in society and there is a big jump in the growth of population. The birth rate is high and the death rate is low. The growth in population will be very high.

The 3rd and last sage start when there is extensive industrialization. At this stage, birth rate and death rate will below.

It is during the transition between the 1st and 3d stage there is high growth of population or population explosion: When disease control, public health care, and nutritious food bring down the death rate, the birth rate remains high. There is thus population, explosion. Society will take some time to get adjusted to the new situation. The nature of procreation that was in existence during the time of poverty and high death rate will take some time to get used to the new situation of technological progress and high longevity.

This kind of transition took place in Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. This kind of transition (changing the nature of procreation to suit the new circumstances) is also followed by the developing nations. These nations are trying hard to reduce the birth rate as deaths are getting reduced. The transition stage is not yet complete in India. Although death rate is drastically reduced, it has not been possible to reduce birth rate drastically.

Question 21.
What is birth rate and death rate?
Answer:
Birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 people per year in a place (a country, a State, a district or a geographical region).
Date rate is the number of deaths per 1000 of a population perversion a place.

Question 22.
What are the common indicators affecting population?
Answer:
There are many indicators that affect population.
a. Birth rate: Birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 people per year in a place (a country, a State, a district or a geographical region).
b. Death rate: Date rate is the number of deaths per 1000 of a population per year in a place.
c. The rate of growth in population: The growth in population is the difference between birth rate and death rate. When this becomes 0 or very low, we can say that the population is stable. In some societies, there is negative growth rate. This is when birth rate is less than the death rate in those societies.
d. Fertility rate: This is the number of live births per 1000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 years. The ages 15 to 49 show the period when women can conceive.
e. Total fertility rate: This is an imaginary rate. It represents the number of children that would be born alive to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years (5-49) and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.
f. Child death (mortality) rate: The under-5 mortality rate is the number of children who die by the age of five, per thousand live births per year.
g. Maternal mortality rate (MMR): This is the annual number of female deaths during delivery, per thousand deliveries. The high child and maternal death rates indicate poverty and backwardness.
h. Longevity: This is complex concept related to population. It shows the number of years an average person will live.
i. Gender Ratio: It shows how many females are there for thousand males in a region.
j. The Age Structure of the Population: It shows the number of persons in various age groups in proportion to the total population.
k. Dependency Ratio: Many persons cant-do any work either because they are children or they are too old. They have to depend on others. The dependency ratio is a measure showing the number of dependents (aged 0-14 and over the age of 65) to the total population (aged 15-64).

Question 23.
What are the common concepts and indicators of population?
Answer:
The common concepts and indicators of population are:

• Birthrate
• Death rate
• Growth rate
• Fertility rate
• Total fertility rate
• Maternal death rate
• Longevity
• Gender ratio
• Age Structure of the Population
• Dependency Ratio

Question 24.
Describe the size and growth of the Indian population
Answer:
After China, India has the largest population in the world. According to the 2011 Census, the population of India is 121 crores (1.21 billion). The growth rate in India is not always high. Between 1901 and 1951, the annual rate of growth never exceeded 1.33%. This is a moderate growth. In fact, the growth rate between 1911 and 1921 was drastically reduced to the negative growth of -0.03%. In short, the growth until 1921 was very slow. There are some reasons for it. In 1918-19 there was an epidemic which kept population under check. In the epidemic 12.5 lakh people, i.e. 5% of the total population, died. Killer diseases like plague and malaria and famine killed lakhs of people.

During the post-independent period, population growth increased considerably. In the period 1961-1981, it went up to 2.2%. After that, even though our growth rate was reduced, India still continues to be one of the most highly populated countries of the world. The , following table gives the population and the growth rate during the various census years.

Indian Population1901-2011

Question 25.
What are the reasons for the decreased death rate. after 1921?
Answer:
There were two reasons that were responsible for the reduced rate after 1921. One is the control over famines and the other i.sthe control of epidemics. Of these two, the second one is more important. The worst killers of the past were different kinds of fever, plague, smallpox, malaria and cholera. The plague in the 1918-19 period killed 12.5 lakh people, 5% of the total population. It was known as Spanish Plague and it was a global killer. Progress in the treatment of this kind of epidemics, preventive vaccinations, improved hygiene and so on helped in the prevention of these killer diseases.

However, even now diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, dysentery, bloody diarrhoea and so on are killing people. But the death rate is not as high as before. In 1994, there was a plague in Surat. In 2006, diseases like dengue fever and chikungunya were reported from different parts of the country. There were also different kinds of bird flu in the country not long ago. Death rate was reduced because of effective control of famines. Famines caused heavy loss of life in the past. With their control deaths are reduced.

Question 26.
Explain the Age Structure of the Indian population.
Answer:
The majority of Indians are young. Thus India has a youthful population. The average age of India is less compared to many other countries. In 1971 persons below 15 were 42%. From this, in 2001, it was reduced to 34%.

The percentage persons between 15 and 60 increased from 53 to 59. People above 60 increased from 5 to 7% during the period 1971-2001.
AGE STRUCTURE: Depending on age, people are divided into children, adults and senior citizens (old people). Children 0-14; Adults 15-60; Above 60 senior citizens.

Question 27.
There are regional variations in the age structure. Clarify.
Answer:
There are wide variations in regional age structures. States like Kerala have begun to achieve an age- structure that is similar to the one in developed countries. But in Uttar Pradesh, the picture is quite different. There the ratio of young people is more and that of the old people is less. When we look at India as a whole, the age ratio is in between these two extremes, because India has States like Kerala and also like Uttar Pradesh.

Question 28.
Describe the features of gender ratio in India,
Answer:
In the structure of population, gender ratio has an important place. It shows the gender equilibrium. Gender ratio means how many women are there for 1000 males. Historically gender ratio favoured women. It means there were more women than men. But for almost a century the gender ratio shows there are more men than women.

At the start of the 19th century, the gender ratio was 972: 1000. It means 972 women for 1000 men. In the 21^st century, the ratio is 933:1000.
The reduction in the number of women has been going on for the last 4 decades. This is a matter for great concern. In 1961 it was 941: 1000; in 2011, it is 940 : 1000.

Question 29.
Describe the apprehensive change in the gender ratio of children.
Answer:
A fact that shocked demographers, policymakers, social workers and even ordinary citizens is the drastic reduction in the gender ratio of children. It was from 1961 that gender ratio related to age was calculated. The ratio of children aged up to 6 is called child gender ratio. This used to be higher in the past, but unfortunately, it has been seriously decreasing. In the 1991-2001 period, the female-male ratio was 933:1000, which was the highest. It had increased by 6 points from the previous 927:1000. At the same time, child gender ratio went down to 927 from 945, showing a decrease of 18 points. Thus for the first time, the child gender ratio became lower than the common gender ratio.

The decrease in the child gender ratio in some States is cause for greater concern. In 6 States and in the Centrally Administered Regions, the child gender ratio is even lower than 90Q girls to 1000 boys. Punjab is the worst in this case. There it is 798:1000. It is the only state that is below 800 females for 1000 males. Just behind Punjab, there are Haryana, Chhatisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

In Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the ratio is less than 925. In Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Jammu-Kashmir, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa, the ratio is above the national average of 914, but it is below 950.

The best ratio is in Kerala. But even here things are not so fine, as the ratio is just 964. Mizoram has the highest ratio in India. There it is 971:1000. Demographers and social scientist point out many reasons for the decrease in the gender ratio, with less women and more men. The most important of them are reasons of health and the attitude of the society towards females.

Question 30.
What are the main reasons for the decrease in the female-male (gender) ratio in India?
Answer;
Demographers and social scientist point out many reasons for the decrease in the gender ratio, with less women and more men. The most important of them are reasons of health and the attitude of the society towards females.

Women have greater health problems than men because of conception and childbirth. In some cases, women die during delivery. The question whether this is the cause for the inequality in gender ratio has much relevance. In the past deaths during or after delivery were common. But with the progress in medical science, such deaths are reduced to a minimum. Maternal death rate has been seriously reduced because of nutritious food, education, awareness, improved medical facilities and transport and communication. So it would e difficult to support the argument that maternal deaths during delivery are a major cause for the unequal gender ratio.
The other reason is said to be the behaviour and attitude of the society to women.

In some societies, birth of females is considered a curse and a burden. In such societies, there are many female foeticides and female infanticides. During pregnancy, through scanning, it is determined whether the child is male or female. If the foetus is female, then abortion is done. This is female foeticide. Some times in some superstitious societies female children are killed (female infanticide) even after their births because of certain cultural and religious superstitions. This points to a serious social issue.

There are evidence that even now this kind of heinous acts are done in India. Using technology like sonograms (ultra-sound echo) the gender of the child is determined before birth, and if it is proved to be female, abortion is done. In all the hospitals we see notices against the determination of child sex using this technology. But unscrupulous gynaecologists take bribes and let the parents know the sex of the unborn child.

Question 31.
What are the uses of literacy?
Answer:

• It empowers people.
• It helps people to choose their jobs.
• It helps in the social and cultural prosperity of the society.

Question 32.
In a table, show the growth in India’s literacy rate.
Answer:
LITERACY RATE IN INDIA

Question 33.
Explain the inequality in literacy fate between male and female.
Answer:
Literacy rate gets different depending on the gender, region and social communities. Female literacy rate is far below male literacy rate. According to the 2011 census, male-female gap in literacy rate is 16.7. Depending on the social communities also, there will be difference in the female literacy rate. Among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, female literacy rate is very low.

Regional differences also cause disparity in the female literacy rate. States like Kerala are having 100% literacy rate or are very close to it. Kerala has the best literacy rate, both male and female. But States like Bihar are far behind in literacy rate, especially that of female.

The disparities in literacy are very significant. It will create generation gap very acute. Illiterate parents may not be very keen on giving their children higher education. They may not have the circumstances for it. Naturally, then, the present inequality will continue.

Question 34.
The majority of Indians live in villages. Comment.
Answer:
It is very true that the majority of Indians live in villages. According to the 2011 census, 69% of Indians live in villages. Only 31% live in cities and towns. But the urban population is steadily increasing. At the start of the 20th century, the urban population was 11%. By the beginning of the 2181 century, it went up to 28%. Thus in one century, the urban population increased 214 times. The urban population is increasing because of the modem development plans.

Question 35.
The main reason for the increase in urban population is the migration of people from villages to urban areas (cities and towns). How did urban life become more attractive? Why do the rural population migrate to urban centres?
Answer:
Mass media and television played a big role in making rural people migrate to urban centres. The glittering lifestyle and the luxuries that consumer culture has brought in are constantly shown on television and this captivates the rural people. Today even in the remotest villages, people know how the city people live and their high living standards with all sorts of amenities and luxuries. This has tempted the villagers to try their luck in cities.

The gap between urban and rural people is slowly getting bridged. Even in the past, villages were not inaccessible to market forces. They tried to establish and maintain trade relations with villages to sell their goods. With the growth of the media, especially the visual media, market forces and villages got closer. Now villages also have become part of the consumer culture. Villages are very active in market activities.

Villagers are tempted to move into cities and towns because of their familiarity with the glittery lifestyle available there. Media have been largely responsible for awakening this desire in rural people.

Greater employment opportunities in towns and cities also attracted people towards them. With urbanization in top gear, the villagers were attracted to the magnetic field of the cities and towns. People who were unemployed in the, villages or those who had only very little work moved into cities and towns

Question 36.
Describe the ill effects (disadvantages) of migration
Answer:
movement of rural people into urban centres quickened the destruction of common properties like ponds, forests and grasslands. These were the sources of the means of livelihood of poor villagers. Those who did not have much land managed to exist by fishing, collecting things from forests and grazing their cattle. With the mass movement of people to urban centres, there was a change everywhere.

Construction work destroyed the grassy plains and the ponds became dry. Forests were cleared either for cultivation or for some other kind of industrialization. Villagers were forced to buy many things which they used to get free. For example, from the public ponds, they could catch fish, from forests they could get firewood and other things, and from the grasslands, they got grass for their cattle. Now nothing was free and people were forced by buy things which were free until now. Thus villagers began to suffer more. Since cash income in hard to come by in villages, their problems got multiplied.

Question 37.
What were the reasons for the migration to cities by villagers?
Answer:

• Influence of the media, especially television.
• Love for consumerist culture.
• Finding better life with good amenities and luxuries.
• Opportunity to look for jobs.
• The unfamiliarity in the cities. Since people don’t know you much, you can do any job and get money. But in villages, one does not like to do jobs which are considered below one’s status.

Question 38.
Describe the population policy of India.
Answer:
Population policy is a very important matter in a country. It is related to the health, prosperity and development of the nation. Population and development are mutually related. For the development of a country, an energetic population is necessary. At the same time, overpopulation can do a lot of harm to development. This problem of overpopulation is felt by the developing nations. The problem of overpopulation was recognized by India at an early stage. In 1952 itself, India declared a population policy.

The population policy of the Indian Government stressed family planning. For this, a Family Planning Board and a Family Planning Department were established. Five Year Plans also gave due importance to family planning. The population policy of India was based on the National Family Planning Programme. The aims of this Programme were:

• Control the rate of growth of the population in a way desirable to society.
• Encourage various birth control methods and thus reduce the growth rate.
• Improve public health.
• Create awareness in people about the problems of overpopulation and matters related to health.

Question 39.
Describe the gains India made in population control.
Answer:
In the last 6 decades, India has made many gains in the field of population control. They can be summarised thus:

• Crude birth rate reduced to 24.1 in 2004 from 40.8 in 1951.
• Child mortality rate was reduced to 58 per thousand in 2004, from 146 in 1951.
• Welfare of partners increased 4 times from 10.4% in 1971 to 44% in 1998.
• Longevity increased from 37 years of age to 62.
• Awareness was created for the need and methods of family planning.
• Fertility rate became half, from 6.0 in 1951 to 3.0 in 2004.

Plus Two Sociology Chapter Wise Questions and Answers