# **Summary of Chapter 2: People as Resource**
### 1. **Introduction**
* People are an important **resource** just like land, water, and capital.
* When investments are made in people through **education, training, and health**, they become **human capital**.
* Human capital contributes to economic growth, just like physical capital.
* Example: educated and healthy workers are more productive and can generate more income.
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### 2. **Human Capital Formation**
* Human capital is formed when **expenditure is made on education, training, and healthcare**.
* This improves skills, knowledge, and health → leading to higher productivity.
* Countries like **Japan** show how investment in human capital leads to rapid economic growth despite limited natural resources.
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### 3. **The Story of Sakal and Vilas**
* **Sakal**: A 12-year-old boy in Semapur village.
* Attended school, completed higher secondary, got technical education.
* Found a good job in a software company and contributed to his family's and nation's income.
* **Vilas**: Same-age boy in the same village.
* Could not go to school due to poverty.
* His mother sold milk, he looked after his younger siblings.
* Suffered from ill health (arthritis), worked as a farm labourer, earned little income.
* **Comparison**: Sakal's education and good health made him productive and prosperous, while Vilas remained poor due to lack of education and healthcare.
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### 4. **Economic Activities by Men and Women**
* People engage in different activities, classified into **three sectors**:
1. **Primary Sector** – agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, mining.
2. **Secondary Sector** – manufacturing, small industries, construction.
3. **Tertiary Sector** – trade, transport, communication, banking, education, healthcare, tourism, services.
* Economic activities are of two types:
* **Market activities**: Work done for pay or profit (production of goods/services).
* **Non-market activities**: Production for self-consumption (family labour, household work).
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### 5. **Quality of Population**
The **quality of population** depends on **education, health, and skill formation**.
* **Education**:
* Improves literacy, productivity, and national income.
* Literacy rate in India has risen from **18% in 1951 to 74% in 2011**.
* Still, disparities exist – male literacy is higher than female, and urban literacy is higher than rural.
* Government programs like **Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-day Meal Scheme, and RMSA** aim to improve education.
* **Health**:
* A healthy population contributes more to development.
* Improvement in healthcare has increased life expectancy to **69+ years (2016)** and reduced infant mortality.
* But challenges remain (malnutrition, lack of medical infrastructure, inequality).
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### 6. **Unemployment**
* **Unemployment** is a major issue in India.
* Types:
1. **Seasonal unemployment** – People have work only during certain seasons (common in agriculture).
2. **Disguised unemployment** – More people engaged in work than actually required (seen in agriculture).
3. **Educated unemployment** – Educated people without jobs (graduates, postgraduates, technically qualified).
* Rural areas face seasonal and disguised unemployment.
* Urban areas face educated unemployment.
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### 7. **Impact of Unemployment**
* Leads to wastage of human resources.
* Depresses standard of living.
* Increases poverty and economic burden.
* Social consequences like frustration and social unrest.
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### 8. **Key Message**
* Population should not be seen as a liability but as an **asset** if it is educated, skilled, and healthy.
* Investment in **education and healthcare** is necessary to convert people into **productive human capital**.
* Productive human capital contributes to the **growth and development of the economy**.
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✅ In conclusion, **"People as Resource"** explains how people, when provided with education, skills, and healthcare, become valuable assets for the nation, while lack of these turns them into a burden.
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