Final Exam (Take Home)

spring – 2021

Subject: Introduction to Development Studies Submission Day: Wednesday

Instructor: Akhtar Hussain Submission Date: 02-06-2021
Program: BBA Max. Marks: 40
Time = 5 hours

Department of Business Administration

Please follow the instructions carefully:

1. Write your answers in a Word file and upload the file before the due date on BB.
2. Use 12 pt. font size and Times New Roman font style along with 1-inch page margins.
3. Follow the requirements of the word limit and the marking criteria while writing your
answers.
4. Provide relevant, original and conceptual answers, as this exam aims to test your ability
to examine, explain, modify or develop concepts discussed in class.
5. Do not copy answers from the internet or other sources. The plagiarism of your answers
will be checked through Turnitin software.
6. Recheck your answers before the submission on BB to correct any content or language
related errors.
Instructions:

 Attempt all questions from section A.

 Each question carries 7 marks.
 The words limit for each answer is 150 -200 words.

SECTION A

Q1. Do you agree with the statement that “Democracy is the best mode of Governance”? Provide
reasons and examples to justify your answer.

Q2. Describe any two challenges of urbanization to the Developing Countries which you foresee.
Explain how robust urban planning can help to counter the problems being faced by urban
population in Pakistan?

Q3. Pakistan has faced many challenges since its inception. Explain in detail any three
contemporary challenges being faced by Pakistan and state clearly its reasons and any solutions
you would suggest to mitigate the impact of these challenges.

Q4. Environmental Degradation is major policy issue for 21st century Social Scientists. Share
your experiences of any environmental catastrophe in your surroundings and what steps could be
taken to mitigate the risks of such calamities?

Section B

Instructions:

 Please read the following case study carefully and answer the questions being followed.
 The marks and word limit for each answer is mentioned against the question.

1- Human Development Index (HDI)

The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic
dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a
decent standard of living. A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy.
Knowledge level is measured by mean years of schooling among the adult population,
which is the average number of years of schooling received in a life-time by people aged
25 years and older; and access to learning and knowledge by expected years of
schooling for children of school-entry age, which is the total number of years of schooling
a child of school-entry age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific
enrolment rates stay the same throughout the child's life. Standard of living is measured
by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita expressed in constant 2017 international
dollars converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion rates.

To ensure as much cross-country comparability as possible, the HDI is based primarily on

international data from the United Nations Population Division (the life expectancy data),
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics
(the mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling data) and the World Bank
(the GNI per capita data). As stated in the introduction, the HDI values and ranks in this
year’s report are not comparable to those in past reports because of some revisions to
the component indicators. To allow for assessment of progress in HDIs, the 2020 Human
Development Report includes recalculated HDIs from 1990 to 2019 using consistent
series of data.
2- Pakistan’s HDI value and rank

Pakistan’s HDI value for 2019 is 0.557— which put the country in the medium human
development category—positioning it at 154 out of 189 countries and territories. Between
1990 and 2019, Pakistan’s HDI value increased from 0.402 to 0.557, an increase of 38.6
percent. Table A reviews Pakistan’s progress in each of the HDI indicators. Between
1990 and 2019, Pakistan’s life expectancy at birth increased by 7.2 years, mean years of
schooling increased by 2.9 years and expected years of schooling increased by 3.7 years.
Pakistan’s GNI per capita increased by about 64.1 percent between 1990 and 2019.

Table A: Pakistan’s HDI trends based on consistent time series data

Life Expected
Mean years GNI per
expectancy years of HDI value
of capita (2017
at birth schoolin
schooling PPP$)
g
1990 60.1 4.6 2.3 3,049 0.402
1995 61.5 5.0 2.8 3,206 0.426
2000 62.8 5.4 3.3 3,208 0.447
2005 64.0 5.7 4.5 3,780 0.486
2010 65.3 6.8 4.7 4,054 0.512
2015 66.6 7.3 5.1 4,534 0.536
2016 66.8 7.6 5.1 4,691 0.542
2017 66.9 8.0 5.1 4,821 0.550
2018 67.1 7.9 5.2 4,992 0.552
2019 67.3 8.3 5.2 5,005 0.557

Pakistan’s 2019 HDI of 0.557 is below the average of 0.631 for countries in the medium
human development group and below the average of 0.641 for countries in South Asia.
From South Asia, Pakistan is compared with Bangladesh and India, which have HDIs
ranked 133 and 131, respectively (see Table B).
Table B: Comparison of Pakistan with regional Countries
GNI per
Life Expected
Mean years capita
HDI value HDI rank expectanc years of
of schooling (2017 PPP
y at birth schoolin US$)
g

Pakistan 0.557 154 67.3 8.3 5.2 5,005

Bangladesh 0.632 133 72.6 11.6 6.2 4,976
India 0.645 131 69.7 12.2 6.5 6,681
South Asia 0.641 — 69.9 11.7 6.5 6,532
Medium HDI 0.631 — 69.3 11.5 6.3 6,153

Please answer following questions with reference to above case study:

Q5. Critically examine changes in HDI index of Pakistan from 1990 to 2019. Are these changes
significant? Why? Why not? Hint: With consideration of data in Table A. (5 Marks).

Q6. Explain and compare Pakistan’s HDI score with regional countries. Answer this question
with respect to the data mentioned in Table B (4 Marks).

Q7. Human Development is the cornerstone of Government Policymaking. Pakistan consistently

scores low on Human Development Indexes. Suppose you are in responsible position, what
particular policy steps would you take to ensure improved Human Development Index ranking of
Pakistan? (3 Marks)

!!!Good Luck!!!!