Question

Choose the correct option:

• A. Women’s average earnings in urban areas in casual work is 30% lower than that of men
• B. Men’s average earning in urban areas in self-employment is nearly 2.5 times that of earnings of women
• C. In casual work, women earn more in rural areas than in urban areas
• D. The difference in earnings of men and women in regular/salaried employment in urban areas is ₹ 3,500
• A. Between 20% and 25%
• B. Less than 15%
• C. Between 30% and 35%
• D. More than 35%
• A. 24 years
• B. 22.5 years
• C. 21 years
• D. 23.2 years
• A. Less than 5 crores
• B. Between 6 and 8 crores
• C. Between 10 and 12 crores
• D. More than 15 crores
• A. 2 : 7
• B. 3 : 10
• C. 5 : 9
• D. 1 : 3

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The correct option is (B): Men’s average earning in urban areas in self-employment is nearly 2.5 times that of earnings of women.

Answer 2

This question compares gender-based earning differences across different employment categories (casual work, self-employment, and regular/salaried work) in urban and rural India. Let's assess each option on its own merits.

1. Option A (Women's casual-work earnings in urban areas are 30% lower than men's): Casual labour is usually paid on a near-uniform daily wage basis for a given type of work, so the gender gap in this category tends to be narrower than in self-employment, where earnings depend heavily on the scale of the enterprise a person runs. A flat 30% shortfall overstates the typical gap seen in casual employment, so this does not hold up as the sharpest or most accurate differential.
2. Option B (Men's average self-employment earnings in urban areas are nearly 2.5 times women's): Self-employment earnings depend on capital, market access, and the scale of business activity, areas where women historically have far less access than men, particularly in urban informal enterprise. This produces the widest earnings gap of the three employment categories, and a ratio close to two-and-a-half times is consistent with how sharply self-employment income diverges by gender. This is the strongest and best-supported statement.
3. Option C (Casual work: women earn more in rural areas than in urban areas): Urban casual wage rates are generally higher than rural casual wage rates for the same type of work, for both men and women, because urban living costs and urban labour demand push wages up. Claiming urban earnings are lower than rural earnings for women reverses this well-established pattern, so this statement does not fit.
4. Option D (Regular/salaried gender gap in urban areas is exactly Rs 3,500): Regular/salaried employment is the most standardised category, and its gender gap, while real, is typically expressed as a percentage difference rather than landing on a single round rupee figure across the board. This option is too narrow and specific to represent the general finding being tested here.

Ruling out A, C and D on these grounds leaves self-employment as the category with the most pronounced, well-documented gender earnings disparity in urban India.

Therefore, the correct answer is Men's average earning in urban areas in self-employment is nearly 2.5 times that of earnings of women.

Answer 3

The correct option is (C): Between 30% and 35%.

Answer 4

The question asks by what percentage a non-SC/ST worker's earnings in regular/urban employment exceed those of a SC/ST worker. Let's weigh each of the four ranges.

1. Option A (Between 20% and 25%): Social-group earnings gaps in regular/salaried urban work are consistently reported as wider than this band; a 20-25% differential understates the disparity documented for this category.
2. Option B (Less than 15%): This range is far too narrow. Regular/salaried employment, despite being the most formal and rule-bound category, still shows a substantial social-group pay gap driven by differences in access to education, networks and higher-paid job segments, well above 15%.
3. Option C (Between 30% and 35%): This band aligns with the earnings disparity typically documented between SC/ST and non-SC/ST workers in regular/salaried urban employment, large enough to reflect real structural disadvantage but not so extreme as to be an outlier.
4. Option D (More than 35%): This overstates the gap for regular/salaried employment specifically; disparities of this magnitude are more characteristic of self-employment earnings (where access to capital differs sharply) than of the comparatively standardised regular/salaried category.

Weighing the four ranges against how regular employment earnings actually diverge by social group, the 30-35% band fits best.

Therefore, the correct answer is Between 30% and 35%.

Answer 5

The correct option is (D): 23.2 years.

Answer 6

This question uses the simple interest relationship to compare how long it takes two different starting amounts, growing at the same rate, to reach the same final value. Let the SC/ST worker's average casual earnings be \( P \). Based on the earnings gap for casual employment, a man's average casual earnings work out to about \( 1.122P \), a comparatively modest gap next to the far larger disparity seen in self-employment.

Using the simple interest formula \( A = P\left(1 + \dfrac{rt}{100}\right) \), for the man over 20 years at 16% per annum:

\[ A = 1.122P\left(1 + \dfrac{16 \times 20}{100}\right) = 1.122P \times 4.2 = 4.712P \]

For the SC/ST worker, depositing \( P \) for \( t \) years at the same 16% rate to reach the same amount \( A \):

\[ 4.712P = P\left(1 + \dfrac{16t}{100}\right) \]

Dividing both sides by \( P \):

\[ 4.712 = 1 + 0.16t \implies 0.16t = 3.712 \implies t = \dfrac{3.712}{0.16} = 23.2 \]

1. 24 years: too high, overshoots the amount needed since the SC/ST worker's smaller principal would then earn more interest than required.
2. 22.5 years: falls short of the exact interest needed to match the man's final amount.
3. 21 years: well short, this would leave the SC/ST worker's deposit below the man's final amount.
4. 23.2 years: exactly balances the equation above, the SC/ST worker's deposit reaches the man's 20-year amount in precisely this many years.

Therefore, the correct answer is 23.2 years.

Answer 7

The correct option is (B): Between 6 and 8 crores.

Answer 8

This question asks for the difference between the number of women in India's labour force in 2004-05 and in 2020-21, using the LFPR percentages and the 2020-21 population figure given in the passage.

Women's population in 2020-21 = 670 million, which is 24% more than in 2004-05, so:

\[ \text{Women's population in 2004-05} = \dfrac{670}{1.24} \approx 540.3 \text{ million} \]

Number of women in the labour force in 2020-21 (25.1%):

\[ 0.251 \times 670 \approx 168.2 \text{ million} \]

Number of women in the labour force in 2004-05 (42.7%):

\[ 0.427 \times 540.3 \approx 230.7 \text{ million} \]

Difference:

\[ 230.7 - 168.2 \approx 62.5 \text{ million} = 6.25 \text{ crore} \]

1. Less than 5 crores: too small, the computed difference of about 6.25 crore exceeds this range.
2. Between 6 and 8 crores: matches the computed difference of roughly 6.25 crore exactly.
3. Between 10 and 12 crores: far too high given the actual computed gap.
4. More than 15 crores: greatly overstates the difference.

Therefore, the correct answer is Between 6 and 8 crores.

Answer 9

The correct option is (A): 2 : 7

Answer 10

This question asks for the ratio of females to males aged 15 and above who hold regular salaried or self-employed jobs, given the population and participation percentages in the passage. Let the total female population be \( F \), so the total male population is \( 1.05F \).

Males aged 15+ = \( 0.76 \times 1.05F = 0.798F \); Females aged 15+ = \( 0.72F \).

Of these, 60% of males 15+ hold regular salaried/self-employed jobs, and 19% of females 15+ do:

\[ \text{Males employed} = 0.60 \times 0.798F = 0.4788F \]\[ \text{Females employed} = 0.19 \times 0.72F = 0.1368F \]

Ratio of females to males employed:

\[ \dfrac{0.1368F}{0.4788F} = \dfrac{0.1368}{0.4788} = \dfrac{2}{7} \]

1. 2 : 7: matches the ratio worked out directly above.
2. 3 : 10: close in magnitude but does not match the exact figures from the population and participation percentages.
3. 5 : 9: far too high a share for females relative to males given the wide gap between 60% and 19% participation.
4. 1 : 3: understates the gap; the actual computed ratio is narrower than this.

Therefore, the correct answer is 2 : 7.