Read the following carefully with reference to Human Development in India:
A. Kerala is at the top in human development index.
B. States showing higher total literacy rates have huge gaps between male-female literacy.
C. Odisha is among the top five states in human development category.
D. India has been among the medium HDI category.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A and D Only
(A) Kerala is at the top in human development index. — Correct. Kerala, with an index value of 0.790, holds the top rank among the states. Its near hundred per cent literacy is the main reason.
(B) States showing higher total literacy rates have huge gaps between male-female literacy. — Incorrect. Such states have less gaps between male and female literacy, not huge gaps. The paper changed one word of the book, and a true line became false. Read every word before you mark the answer.
(C) Odisha is among the top five states in human development category. — Incorrect. The top five are Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Punjab. Odisha is at the bottom, with Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
(D) India has been among the medium HDI category. — Correct. India is placed among the countries showing medium human development.
Note: This question is taken from the pre-rationalised NCERT book. The latest edition (2026-27) does not have this part. An extract of the pre-rationalised NCERT book is given below for the benefit of students.
Pre-rationalised NCERT: “Human Development Index in India … India has been placed among the countries showing medium human development. … As indicated in Table 3.4 Kerala with the composite index value of 0.790 is placed at the top rank followed by Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Punjab. As expected, states like Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are at the bottom among the 23 major states in India.” “There are several socio-political, economic and historical reasons for such a state of affairs. Kerala is able to record the highest value in the HDI largely due to its impressive performance in achieving near hundred per cent literacy. In a different scenario the states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh have very low literacy. States showing higher total literacy rates have less gaps between the male and female literacy rates.” |