Chapter 1 Population Distribution Density Growth and Composition Solutions
Question - 1 : - Choose the right answers of the followings from the given options:
1.(i) India’s population as per 2001 census is:
Answer - 1 : -
(a) 1028 million
(b) 3182 million
(c) 3287 million
(d) 20 million
Answer
(a) 1028 million
Question - 2 : - Choose the right answers of the followings from the given options:
1.(ii) Which one of the following states has the highest density of population in India?
Answer - 2 : -
(a) Bihar
(b) Kerala
(c) Uttar Pradesh
(d) Punjab
Answer
(a) Bihar
Question - 3 : - Choose the right answers of the followings from the given options:
1.(iii) Which one of the following states has the highest proportion of urban population in India according to 2001 Census?
Answer - 3 : -
(a) Tamil Nadu
(b) Maharashtra
(c) Kerala
(d) Gujarat
Answer
(b) Maharashtra
Question - 4 : - Choose the right answers of the followings from the given options:
1.(iv) Which one of the following is the largest linguistic group of India?
Answer - 4 : -
(a) Sino – Tibetan
(b) Indo – Aryan
(c) Austric
(d) Dravidian
Answer
(b) Indo – Aryan
Question - 5 : - Very hot and dry and very cold and wet regions of India have low density of population. In this light, explain the role of climate on the distribution of population.
Answer - 5 : -
People tend to concentrate in areas with moderate climatic conditions, that is areas that are neither too hot nor too dry and also with adequate precipitation to support life activities. The extremities of climate tend to push people away from the region and make the region less attractive for human inhabitation. In India western Rajasthan, which is characterized by high temperatures and dry conditions, is one of the least inhabited regions. The population density tends to be high in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar etc. because these regions have moderate temperature conditions with adequate precipitation therefore making the region conducive for population concentration.
Question - 6 : - Why do some states of India have higher rates of work participation than others?
Answer - 6 : -
Work participation rate is the number of people engaged in economic activities. Some states of India like Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh etc. tend to have higher work participation rate. The work participation rate tends to be higher in the areas of lower levels of economic development since number of manual workers are needed to perform the subsistence or near subsistence economic activities in the absence of other opportunities.
Question - 7 : - Which states have large rural population in India? Give one reason for such large rural population.
Answer - 7 : -
States of Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, U.P., Bihar and Sikkim have very high percentage of rural population. The reason for high rural population is that these areas are the ones with low level of economic, social development and hence low level of infrastructural development, which tend to inhibit the process of urbanization. Also with sluggish growth people tend to be concentrated in the field of primary activities therefore.
Question - 8 : - The agricultural sector has the largest share of Indian workers.’ – Explain.
Answer - 8 : -
The occupational composition of India’s population shows a large proportion of primary sector workers compared to secondary and tertiary sectors. In India about 58.2 per cent of total working population are cultivators and agricultural labourers, whereas only 4.2% of workers are engaged in household industries and 37.6 % are other workers including non-household industries, trade, commerce, construction and repair and other services. India is an agricultural country with maximum population engaged in it as job opportunities in the other sectors are limited due to low rate of infrastructural development. Workers are declining over the last few decades from 66.85% in 1991 to 58% in 2001 leading to rise in share of tertiary sector.
Question - 9 : - Discuss the spatial pattern of density of population in India.
Answer - 9 : -
India has a highly uneven pattern of population distribution. U.P., Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh along with Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat, together account for about 76 per cent of the total population of the country. On the other hand, share of population is very small in the states like Jammu & Kashmir (0.98%), Arunachai Pradesh (0.11%) and Uttaranchal (0.83%) inspite of these states having fairly large geographical area. The density of population in India (2011) is 382 persons per sq km and ranks third among the most densely populated countries of Asia.
Such an uneven spatial distribution of population in India suggests a close relationship between population and physical, socio-economic and historical factors. As far as the physical factors are concerned, it is clear that climate along with terrain and availability of water largely determines the pattern of the population distribution. Consequently, we observe that the North Indian Plains, deltas and Coastal Plains have higher proportion of population than the interior districts of southern and central Indian States, Himalayas, some of the north eastern and the western states. However, development of irrigation (Rajasthan), availability of mineral and energy resources (Jharkhand) and development of transport network (Peninsular States) have resulted in moderate to high concentration of population in are.as which were previously very thinly populated.
Among the socio-economic and historical factors of distribution of population, important ones are evolution of settled agriculture and agricultural development; pattern of human settlement; development of transport network, industrialisation and urbanisation. It is observed that the regions falling in the river plains and coastal areas of India have remained the regions of larger population concentration. Even though the uses of natural resources like land and water in these regions have shown the sign of degradation, the concentration of population remains high because of an early history of human settlement and development of transport network. On the other hand, the urban regions of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Jaipur have high concentration of population due to industrial development and urbanisation drawing a large numbers of rural-urban migrants.
Question - 10 : - Give an account of the occupational structure of India’s population.
Answer - 10 : -
The population of India according to their economic status is divided into three groups, namely; main workers, marginal workers and non-workers. It is observed that in India, the proportion of workers (both main and marginal) is only 39 per cent (2001) leaving a vast majority of 61 per cent as non-workers. This indicates an economic status in which there is a larger proportion of dependent population, further indicating possible existence of large number of unemployed or under employed people.
The occupational composition of India’s population (which actually means engagement of an individual in farming, manufacturing trade, services or any kind of professional activities) shows a large proportion of primary sector workers compared to secondary and tertiary sectors. About 58.2 per cent of total working population are cultivators and agricultural labourers, whereas only 4.2% of workers are engaged in household industries and 37.6% are other workers including non household industries, trade, commerce, construction and repair and other . services. As far as the occupation of country’s male and female population is concerned, male workers out-number female workers in all the three sectors. The number of female workers is relatively high in primary sector, though in recent years there has been some improvement in work participation of women in secondary and tertiary sectors.
The participation rate in secondary and tertiary sectors has registered an increase. This indicates a shift of dependence of workers from farm-based occupations to non-farm based ones, indicating a sectoral shift in the economy of the country. The spatial variation of work participation rate in different sectors in the country is very wide. For instance, the states like Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland have very large shares of cultivators. On the other hand states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have higher proportion of agricultural labourers. The highly urbanised areas like Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry have a very large proportion of workers being engaged in other services.