BECE 145 key facts: June 2026
- Course code: BECE-145
- Subject: Indian Economy-I
- Programme: Bachelor of Arts (General), BAG, Economics
- Credits: 6 (three tutor-marked assignments)
- Blocks and units: 4 blocks, 14 units
- Maximum marks: 100 (term-end exam 70 per cent, assignments 30 per cent)
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the June 2026 paper: 12 (Q12 offers four short-note options); you attempt 8
- Expected length: about 500 words in Section A, 250 in Section B
- Samples solved on this page: 2 (Q3 and Q7); all 12 answers in the paid file
BECE 145 Solved Question Paper for the June 2026 term-end exam pairs the official IGNOU Indian Economy-I paper of the BA General programme with answers written by our economics team. Two answers are open below so you can check the standard first; the complete file, covering all 12 questions, is shared on WhatsApp.
1. Inside the June 2026 Solved Paper
BECE 145 Indian Economy-I is a six-credit Economics course of IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (General) programme, and this file solves every question of its June 2026 term-end paper.
The June 2026 paper has four long questions, seven medium questions and one short-note question with four options. It opens in colonial India with income growth from 1900 to 1947 and closes with the Poverty Gap Index, passing through water, governance, the balance of payments and private health spending on the way.
This session tilts towards money and finance more than earlier papers did. Savings and investment after 1991, financial integration, the current account deficit and the debt-GDP ratio together give four separate chances to score, and none of them had a full question in the five official papers we studied.
Q3 is worth noting for regular students. Its wording repeats the second descriptive question of the official 2024-25 BECE 145 assignment almost word for word, so anyone who wrote that TMA carefully already had a head start in the exam hall.
2. Two Answers Solved in Full, Ten Held Back
Q3 from Section A and Q7 from Section B are solved in full below, at the word length the June 2026 paper asks for.
One 20-mark and one 12-mark answer show you both styles used in the file. The question text is reproduced exactly as printed, so you can match it against your copy.
Absolute and relative poverty, and India's approaches to estimating it
Question 3: Distinguish between absolute and relative poverty. What are the major factors that have been taken into account in the approaches to estimate poverty in India? (20)
Poverty is the inability of a person or household to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living. Economists measure it in two ways, absolute and relative, and India's official estimates have so far rested on the absolute idea.
Absolute poverty
Absolute poverty is measured against a fixed minimum, the poverty line, which is the cost of buying basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. A person is poor if their income or consumption falls below this line, whatever others in society earn. Because the line is fixed in real terms, absolute poverty can fall steadily as an economy grows.
Relative poverty
Relative poverty compares a person with the living standard of their own society. The European Union, for example, counts people as at risk of poverty if their income is below 60 per cent of the national median. The line rises as average income rises, so relative poverty is really a measure of inequality and social exclusion, and growth alone cannot remove it.
In short, absolute poverty asks whether basic needs are met, while relative poverty asks how far a person is left behind. Developing countries such as India rely mainly on absolute lines, whereas richer countries give more weight to relative ones.
Factors taken into account in Indian approaches
- Minimum calorie intake. The Task Force led by Y.K. Alagh (1979) fixed the norm at 2,400 calories a person a day in rural areas and 2,100 in urban areas. Earlier, Dandekar and Rath (1971) had used 2,250 calories. The rural-urban gap reflected heavier physical work in villages.
- Consumption expenditure data. Poverty lines are stated as monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) and checked against NSSO household surveys. The 1962 Working Group set ₹20 a month for rural areas and ₹25 for urban areas at 1960-61 prices.
- Price changes and state differences. The Lakdawala Expert Group (1993) drew separate lines for each state and updated them with the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers in rural areas and for Industrial Workers in urban areas.
- Non-food needs and recall period. The Tendulkar Committee (2009) dropped the calorie anchor, added spending on health and education, and used the mixed reference period. Its method put poverty at 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 and 21.9 per cent in 2011-12.
- Separate rural and urban baskets with nutrition norms. The Rangarajan Committee (2014) combined calorie, protein and fat norms with a basket of essential non-food items. Its lines for 2011-12 were ₹972 a month in rural areas and ₹1,407 in urban areas, giving a poverty ratio of 29.5 per cent.
- Multidimensional deprivation. NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index looks beyond spending to health, education and living standards across 12 indicators. Its 2023 review found the share of multidimensionally poor people fell from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.96 per cent in 2019-21.
Conclusion. India's approach has widened from a simple calorie count to a basket that includes health, education, prices across states and finally non-income deprivation. Each change raised or lowered the measured poverty ratio, which is why the method matters as much as the number.
Urbanisation and its trend in India
Question 7: What is urbanisation? What has been the trend in India's urbanisation process? (12)
Urbanisation is the process by which a growing share of a country's population comes to live in towns and cities. It is measured as the urban population expressed as a percentage of the total, and it grows through rural to urban migration, natural increase in towns and the reclassification of villages as towns.
The Census of India treats two kinds of places as urban. Statutory towns have a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area. Census towns must have at least 5,000 people, a density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre and at least 75 per cent of male main workers outside agriculture.
Trend in India
- The urban share rose from about 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 19.9 per cent in 1971, 25.7 per cent in 1991 and 31.2 per cent in 2011, when 377 million people lived in urban areas.
- Between 2001 and 2011 the absolute increase in urban population exceeded the rural increase for the first time since independence.
- Census towns jumped from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,894 in 2011, showing that much new urbanisation came from large villages turning into towns.
- Growth is top-heavy. Most urban people live in Class I cities, and the number of million-plus cities reached 53 in 2011.
- The spread is uneven: Goa was about 62 per cent urban in 2011, while Bihar was only about 11 per cent.
India's urbanisation has been steady but slow by world standards, which explains why services and industry did not absorb rural workers quickly. The 2011 Census remains the latest completed count.
3. Questions Answered Only in the Full File
The other 10 questions of the June 2026 paper are listed below as printed. Their answers are kept for the full file.
Section A (any two, 20 marks each)
Question 1: At what rates did India's national income and per capita income grow over the 47-year period of 1900 to 1947? How would you characterise the performance of the Indian economy in the light of these growth rates?
Question 2: State the different types of natural resources, with an illustration of each one used to produce a man-made resource. Highlight the different issues related to water availability and its use in India.
Question 4: What does the term "economic governance" relate to? What are the essential things needed to ensure "good governance"?
Section B (any four, 12 marks each)
Question 5: What do you understand by the term "balance of payments"? Discuss its various accounts.
Question 6: Give the rationale for public funding of education in India. What suggestions would you make for quality improvement in the education system?
Question 8: What is the estimated share of private healthcare expenditure in India? What factors have contributed to such a huge share of private healthcare in India?
Question 9: What has been the trend in savings in the post-1991 period in India? What has been the corresponding trend in investment?
Question 10: What do you mean by the term "financial integration"? How is the financial integration of an economy measured?
Question 11: What is meant by "sustainable development"? What steps are essential for the sustainable development of an economy?
Section C (any two, 6 marks each)
Question 12: Write short notes on any two of the following.
(a) Informal sector
(b) Current account deficit (CAD)
(c) Debt-GDP ratio
(d) Poverty Gap Index (PGI)
4. Syllabus: 4 Blocks and 14 Units
BECE 145 is taught through 4 blocks, moving from the colonial economy to India's place among other countries.
The third column lists what official papers actually pull from each unit, so you can see where the marks come from. Keep your BECE 145 Study Material open beside this table when you plan revision unit by unit.
| Block | Unit | Topics examiners draw from this unit |
|---|---|---|
| Block 1: Economic Development since Independence | Unit 1: Economy at the Time of Independence | National and per capita income growth 1900 to 1947; state of infrastructure in 1947; dependence on agriculture |
| Block 1 | Unit 2: Development Paradigms | Growth versus development; state-led planning versus post-1991 reforms; capitalism, socialism and the mixed economy |
| Block 1 | Unit 3: Structural Changes | Sector shares of output and workforce; intersectoral transfer of workers; urbanisation trend |
| Block 1 | Unit 4: Resources and Constraints | Natural versus man-made resources; water availability; physical and social infrastructure |
| Block 2: Population and Human Development | Unit 5: Demographic Features | Population growth after 1950; ageing, dependency ratio and demographic dividend; National Population Policy 2000 |
| Block 2 | Unit 6: Education Sector | Human capital; gender and quality gaps; the case for public funding |
| Block 2 | Unit 7: Health and Nutrition | Structure of public healthcare; private and out-of-pocket spending; QALY and DALY |
| Block 3: Growth and Distribution | Unit 8: Poverty | Absolute and relative poverty; expert group poverty lines; PGI and squared PGI |
| Block 3 | Unit 9: Inequality | Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve; horizontal and vertical inequality; regional divergence |
| Block 3 | Unit 10: Employment and Unemployment | LFPR and WFPR; usual status and CDS measures; informal sector and social security |
| Block 4: International Comparisons | Unit 11: Growth and Structural Changes | Growth profiles of India, China and Sri Lanka; liberalisation of the capital account; factors behind the current account balance |
| Block 4 | Unit 12: Social and Economic Development | Framework for comparing countries; Social Progress Index; deficits of development |
| Block 4 | Unit 13: Trade and Balance of Payments | BoP accounts and settlement; trade-GDP ratio and mean tariff rate; debt-GDP ratio |
| Block 4 | Unit 14: Role of Governance and Institutions | Government versus governance; governance indicators; e-governance and Direct Benefit Transfer |
5. Question Paper Format and Marks
The June 2026 paper asks for 8 answers out of 12 questions, for 100 marks in 3 hours.
| Section | Questions offered | Attempt | Word limit | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Q1 to Q4 | Any 2 | About 500 words each | 2 × 20 = 40 |
| B | Q5 to Q11 | Any 4 | About 250 words each | 4 × 12 = 48 |
| C | Q12 (a) to (d) | Any 2 short notes | Not printed (100 to 150 words works well) | 2 × 6 = 12 |
| Total | 12 questions | 8 answers | About 2,300 words | 100 |
The format has changed twice in recent sessions, which is why older model answers can mislead you on length. The table below traces each official paper we could find.
| Session | Section A | Section B | Section C |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 500 words | Any 3 of 5, 10 marks, about 250 words | Q10 three distinctions and Q11 three notes, 5 marks each, both compulsory |
| June 2023 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 500 words | Any 3 of 5, 10 marks, about 250 words | Q10 three distinctions including QALY and DALY; Q11 three notes including the Democracy Index |
| December 2023 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 500 words | Any 3 of 5, 10 marks, about 250 words | Q10 two distinctions at 7.5 marks each; Q11 three notes at 5 marks |
| June 2024 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 500 words | Any 3 of 5, 10 marks, about 250 words | Q10 three distinctions including WFPR and LFPR; Q11 three notes including ICOR |
| December 2024 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 600 words | Any 4 of 7, 12 marks, about 350 words | Any 2 of 4 short notes, 6 marks, 100 to 150 words |
| June 2026 | Any 2 of 4, 20 marks, about 500 words | Any 4 of 7, 12 marks, about 250 words | Any 2 of 4 short notes, 6 marks, no word limit printed |
Timing practice on real papers is the quickest fix for the new four-answer Section B. Our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper collection lets you rehearse both the old and the new layouts.
6. Topics IGNOU Repeats
Poverty, health, growth paths and international comparisons appeared in all five official BECE 145 papers we found, from June 2022 to December 2024.
We used five official papers: June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024 and December 2024. We could not find official copies of December 2022, June 2025 or December 2025, so every count below is out of five sessions, not five years.
| Topic area | Unit | Sessions and questions | Count (of 5) | June 2026 link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poverty measurement and alleviation | Unit 8 | Jun 22 Q3, Q11(d); Jun 23 Q3, Q6; Dec 23 Q6; Jun 24 Q4; Dec 24 Q10 | 5 | Q3 (Sample 1), Q12(d) |
| Health spending, healthcare and health indicators | Unit 7 | Jun 22 Q6; Jun 23 Q10(d); Dec 23 Q4, Q10(b); Jun 24 Q10(c); Dec 24 Q9 | 5 | Q8 |
| Growth, development paths and economic systems | Units 1 and 2 | Jun 22 Q2; Jun 23 Q1; Dec 23 Q1; Jun 24 Q1; Dec 24 Q1, Q5 | 5 | Q1 |
| India against other economies and structural change | Units 3, 11 and 12 | Jun 22 Q9, Q11(b), Q11(c); Jun 23 Q9; Dec 23 Q7; Jun 24 Q7, Q8, Q11(e); Dec 24 Q11 | 5 | — |
| Natural and man-made resources | Unit 4 | Jun 22 Q10(c); Jun 23 Q10(c); Dec 23 Q10(a); Dec 24 Q6 | 4 | Q2 |
| Governance, DBT and e-governance | Unit 14 | Jun 22 Q10(a); Jun 23 Q10(a), Q11(c); Dec 23 Q11(d), Q11(e); Dec 24 Q4 | 4 | Q4 |
| Labour force, unemployment and the informal economy | Unit 10 | Jun 22 Q8, Q11(a); Jun 23 Q8, Q11(a); Dec 23 Q8, Q10(c); Jun 24 Q6, Q10(a), Q10(d), Q10(e) | 4 | Q12(a) |
| Inequality: Gini, horizontal, vertical, regional | Unit 9 | Jun 22 Q4, Q7, Q10(e); Jun 23 Q4, Q7, Q10(e); Dec 23 Q5; Jun 24 Q5 | 4 | — |
| Population, demographic dividend and NPP 2000 | Unit 5 | Jun 22 Q5, Q10(d); Dec 23 Q3; Jun 24 Q10(b), Q11(c); Dec 24 Q7 | 4 | — |
| BoP, CAD, trade and tariffs | Unit 13 | Jun 23 Q11(b); Dec 23 Q9, Q11(b); Jun 24 Q9, Q11(a); Dec 24 short note (b) | 4 | Q5, Q12(b) |
| Education, human capital and learning poverty | Unit 6 | Jun 23 Q5, Q11(e); Jun 24 Q3; Dec 24 Q8 | 3 | Q6 |
| Infrastructure in development | Unit 4 | Jun 22 Q1, Q10(b); Jun 24 Q2; Dec 24 Q2 | 3 | — |
| Sustainable development and inclusive growth | Units 2 and 4 | Jun 22 Q11(e); Dec 24 short note (a) | 2 | Q11 |
| Debt and fiscal deficit ratios | Unit 13 | Jun 23 Q11(d); Dec 23 Q10(d) | 2 | Q12(c) |
| Capital output ratio and ICOR | Unit 11 | Jun 23 Q10(b); Jun 24 Q11(b) | 2 | Q9 (related) |
| Urbanisation | Unit 3 | Dec 23 Q11(c) | 1 | Q7 (Sample 2) |
| Capital account and financial integration | Unit 11 | Dec 24 Q3 | 1 | Q10 |
The December 2024 paper numbers its short-note question as 13 in English and 12 in Hindi, so the table refers to its options by letter only.
Two gaps stand out. Inequality and population each appeared in four of the five earlier papers, yet June 2026 skipped both, so they are the first topics to revise for December 2026. For a ranked list built for the next exam, see our IGNOU Solved Guess Paper page.
7. How Our Answers Are Written and Checked
Each BECE 145 answer is written from the official June 2026 paper and the matching eGyanKosh unit, then checked for facts and word length before release.
Every answer is drafted against the unit it comes from, using the block structure on the official eGyanKosh BECE-145 course page. Figures such as the Census urban shares, the expert group poverty lines and NITI Aayog's MPI results are taken from Government of India reports.
The review then checks each answer for accuracy, IGNOU-style structure and the word limit printed on the paper. Long answers are trimmed, and any figure that cannot be traced to a public source is removed.
We also compare each question with the five earlier papers and the BECE 145 assignments. Where a question repeats, as Q3 repeats the 2024-25 TMA, the answer says so, so you know which themes the examiners keep returning to.
8. Question-by-Question Solved File Index
BECE 145 is a theory-only course with no practical or record work, so this index maps each of the 12 June 2026 questions to its unit and shows where its answer sits.
| Question | Section and marks | Topic | Unit | Where the answer is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | A, 20 | National and per capita income growth, 1900 to 1947 | Unit 1 | Full file |
| Q2 | A, 20 | Natural and man-made resources; water availability and use | Unit 4 | Full file |
| Q3 | A, 20 | Absolute versus relative poverty; factors in Indian estimates | Unit 8 | Sample 1 above |
| Q4 | A, 20 | Economic governance and the needs of good governance | Unit 14 | Full file |
| Q5 | B, 12 | Balance of payments and its accounts | Unit 13 | Full file |
| Q6 | B, 12 | Public funding of education; quality improvement | Unit 6 | Full file |
| Q7 | B, 12 | Urbanisation and its trend in India | Unit 3 | Sample 2 above |
| Q8 | B, 12 | Share of private healthcare spending and its causes | Unit 7 | Full file |
| Q9 | B, 12 | Savings and investment trends after 1991 | Unit 11 | Full file |
| Q10 | B, 12 | Financial integration and how it is measured | Unit 11 | Full file |
| Q11 | B, 12 | Sustainable development and the steps it needs | Unit 4 | Full file |
| Q12 | C, 2 × 6 | Short notes: informal sector, CAD, debt-GDP ratio, PGI | Units 8, 10 and 13 | Full file |
Two answers sit on this page and 10 sit in the full file only. If you are preparing other BA General papers in the same term, our BAG Question Paper section groups them in one place.
9. Programmes That Teach BECE 145
BECE 145 is studied by Economics learners of IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (General) programme, BAG.
Students of the IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (General) programme who pick Economics take BECE 145 alongside the BECC principles courses, and usually follow it with BECE 146 Indian Economy-II. IGNOU's own documents describe it both as an elective and as a core course for the Economics discipline.
BA (Honours) Economics students study a course with the same title under a different code, BECC 111. The two papers are set separately, although both June 2026 papers asked the same question on income growth from 1900 to 1947.
10. How to Get the Full Solved Question Paper
Message WhatsApp 9899436384 with the code BECE 145 and the session June 2026 to get the complete file with all 12 questions answered.
The full file contains the 2 answers shown above plus the 10 answers kept off this page. That includes the 20-mark answers on colonial income growth, water issues and economic governance, the post-1991 savings trend and all four Q12 short notes.
Ordering takes three steps: send the course code and session, confirm the details our team shares, and receive the PDF in the same WhatsApp chat.
11. BECE 145 Indian Economy-I FAQs
These are the questions BAG learners ask us most often about the June 2026 paper and the solved file.
What is inside the Solved Question Paper for June 2026?
It holds the official IGNOU June 2026 BECE 145 paper with complete answers to all 12 questions, including all four Q12 short notes. Section A answers run to about 500 words and Section B answers to about 250, the limits printed on the paper. Two of these answers, Q3 on poverty and Q7 on urbanisation, are shown in full on this page.
How can I get the full file on WhatsApp?
Send a WhatsApp message to 9899436384 with the code BECE 145 and the session June 2026. Our team confirms the details and shares the complete solved file, which answers all 12 questions in the paper. The 10 questions not answered on this page arrive together with Q3 and Q7 in one PDF that you can revise from before your term-end exam.
Which questions are fully answered on this page?
Only two questions are answered here: Q3 from Section A on absolute and relative poverty, and Q7 from Section B on urbanisation in India. The other 10 questions, from 1900 to 1947 income growth and economic governance to financial integration and the four short notes, are listed as printed and are answered only in the full file.
How many questions do I have to attempt in the exam?
You answer eight questions in the June 2026 paper: any two of the four Section A questions for 20 marks each, any four of the seven Section B questions for 12 marks each, and any two of the four Q12 short notes for 6 marks each. Together these make 100 marks in a three-hour exam.
Which BECE 145 topics have repeated most in past IGNOU papers?
Across the five official papers we checked, from June 2022 to December 2024, poverty, health spending, growth and development paths, and international comparisons appeared in every session. Resources, governance, employment, inequality, population and the BoP appeared in four of the five. Inequality and population were both skipped in June 2026, which makes them strong candidates for the next paper.
Is BECE 145 the same course as BECC 111 Indian Economy-I?
No. BECE 145 is the Indian Economy-I course of the BA General (BAG) programme, while BECC 111 is the course with the same title in BA (Honours) Economics. IGNOU sets a separate paper for each code, though in June 2026 both papers carried the same question on income growth from 1900 to 1947. This solved file is written for the BECE 145 paper.
Has the paper pattern changed recently?
Yes. Up to June 2024, BECE 145 papers asked three Section B questions of 10 marks each and two compulsory Section C questions worth 30 marks. From December 2024 the paper moved to four Section B answers of 12 marks and two short notes of 6 marks. June 2026 keeps that split but asks for about 500 and 250 words.
How many credits and blocks does BECE 145 have?
BECE 145 is a six-credit course, which is why its assignment booklet carries three tutor-marked assignments. Its eGyanKosh material is arranged in four blocks: Economic Development since Independence, Population and Human Development, Growth and Distribution, and International Comparisons. The term-end exam carries 100 marks, lasts three hours and follows the June 2026 layout shown above.
12. Who Wrote and Checked the BECE 145 Answers
The BECE 145 answers were written by Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola.
Prateek Talwar, founder of Unnati Educations, leads the IGNOU solved-paper series and prepares answers from the course blocks and the official term-end paper. Sheetal Kirola, Academic Head (M.Ed.), checks every figure, committee date and Census share against Government of India sources before release.