Ques 1: Why had Congress party in India ignored the Dalit for long?
Ans: The Congress party had ignored the Dalits in India, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.
Ques 2: Who developed the first printing press?
Ans: The first printing press was developed by Johann Guternberg (a German) in the 1430s.
Ques 3: In Trinidad, what was referred to as Hosay?
Ans: In Trinidad, Hosay refers an annual Muharram procession marking a carnival.
Ques 4: Where is rooftop rainwater harvesting most common?
Ans: Rooftop rainwater harvesting is the most common practice in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Ques 5: What is the other name for tertiary sector?
Ans: The other name for tertiary sector is service sector.
Ques 6: Name the state which enjoys special status in Indian territory.
Ans: Jammu and Kashmir enjoys special status in Indian territory.
Ques 7: Article 17 of Indian Constitution is very important?why?
Ans: Untouchability has been abolished in India by the Article 17 of the Indian Constitution.
Ques 8: Which division?caste or economic is unique to India?
Ans: Caste division is unique to India.
Ques 9: What do you mean by tertiary sector? Give some example.
Ans: Tertiary sector is also known as service sector or service industry. It is one of the three economic sectors, the others being the secondary sector or industrial sector (the same as manufacturing) and the primary sector (agriculture, fishing and extraction such as mining).
The tertiary sector helps the development of primary and secondary sectors. The activities of this sector do not produce a good but they are support for the production process. Transport, storage, communication, banking, trade are some examples of tertiary activities.
Ques 10: What is the importance of land as a resource? Which factors determine the land use pattern?
Ans: Land is a natural resource of great importance because of the following reasons
(i) We live on land and we perform our various economic activities on land and use it in different ways.
(ii) It supports natural vegetation and wildlife.
(iii) Land also supports human life and economic activities, transport and communication systems.
(iv) It provides food, fuel and fodder.
Factors determining the land use pattern are
(i) Physical factors such as topography, climate, soil types.
(ii) Human factors such as population density, technological capability, culture and traditions, etc.
Ques 11: How are resources classified?
Ans: The resources can be classified in the following ways
(i) On the basis of origin?biotic and abiotic.
(ii) On the basis of exhaustibility? renewable and non-renewable.
(iii) On the basis of ownership?individual, community-towned, national and international. (iv) On the basis of status of development?potential, developed, stock and reserves.
Ques 12: What do you mean by women's suffrage?
Ans: Women suffrage means giving women the right to cast their votes. Right to vote was denied to women in the beginning. It was argued that women would not exercise this right independently and would cast their votes by the dictates of their husband, father or other male relatives. But with political awakening among women and its demand by them, they got the Right to Vote for the first time in England in 1918, in USA in 1920 and in India in 1950. Now, in almost all the democratic countries of the world, women have been given the Right to Vote.
Ques 13: Give two reasons why the population of London expanded from the middle of the 18th century.
Ans: Two reasons why the population of London expanded from the middle of the 18th century are (i) The city of London attracted the migrant populations due to the job opportunities provided by its dockyards and industries. People from the regions around London migrated to the city for employment in the dockyards and the industries. So, the population of London kept expanding through the 18th and 19th centuries. (ii) During the First World War, London began manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods. This increased the number of large factories, which in turn increased the number of people coming to the city in search of work.
Ques 14: Differentiate between unitary and federal form of government.
Ans: The differences between unitary and federal government are
S. No.
| Unitary Government
| Federal Government
|
(i)
| Under the unitary system, there is only one level of government.
| Under the federal system, there are two levels of government.
|
(ii)
| The Centre Government can pass on orders to the sub-units.
| In a system, the Central Government cannot pass on orders to the State Government to do something.
|
(iii)
| The sub-units are subordinate to the Central Government.
| The State Government has power of its own for which it is not answerable to the Central Government.
|
Ques 15: Describe the geographical conditions for the cultivation of cotton in India.
Ans: The geographical conditions for the cultivation of cotton are
(i) Cotton grows well in drier parts of the black cotton soil of the Deccan plateau.
(ii) It requires high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation.
(iii) It requires 210 frost free days and bright sunshine for its growth.
(iv) It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
Ques 16: Differentiate between developed and developing countries.
Ans: The differences between developed and developing countries
S. No.
| Developed Countries
| Developing Countries
|
(i)
| These have high per capita income.
| These have low per capita income.
|
(ii)
| These have high standard of living
| These have low standard of living.
|
(iii)
| These have low levels of unemployment.
| These have high levels of unemployment.
|
(iv)
| Literacy rates are high.
| Literacy rates are low.
|
(v)
| Life expectancy is higher.
| Life expectancy is lower.
|
Ques 17: What may be development for one, may not be development for the other. Explain.
Ans: It is true that what may be development for one, may not be development for another because at times, two persons or group of persons may seek things, which are conflicting, for example a girl expects as much freedom and opportunity as her brother and that he also shares in the household work. Her brother may not like this. Similarly, to get more electricity, industrialists may want more dams. But, this may submerge the land and disrupt the lives of people who are displaced, such as tribals. They might resent this and may prefer small check dams or tanks to irrigate their land. Thus, different persons can have different developmental goals and the development for one may be destructive for the other.
Ques 18: Critically examine how the British companies gradually asserted monopoly rights in India.
Ans: After establishing political power in Bengal and Carnatic by the middle of the 18th century, the East India Company began to assert its monopoly right to trade. British cotton industries were not developed, but the India fine textiles were in great demand in Europe. So, the East India Company was keen on expanding textile exports from India. The company developed a system of management and control that would eliminate competition, control costs and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk goods. They appointed paid gomasthas to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
Ques 19: Describe any three origins of social differences.
Ans: There are many origins of social differences
(i) Social difference means difference in a set of people due to difference in their race, religion, language or culture. But these differences are more an accident of nature. A person does not choose his community where he would be born. He just happens to be born in a particular community. People are tall or short, dark or fair, male or female, more by accident and not by their own choice.
(ii) However, some choices can be made by us. People choose to follow or not to follow a particular religion. They can choose their field of study and the career path games and cultural activities.
(iii) Social differences are also created by economic inequalities existing in the society. For example, rich and poor persons from the same family often do not keep close relation with each other for they feel they are very different.
Ques 20: To what extent do government regulations and new laws solve problems of pollution? Discuss one example each of the success of legislation to change the guality of (a) Public life (b) Private life
Ans: Government laws can be effective to control the pollution in a city, provided they can be properly enforced. People find ways of getting around laws. So, apart from legislations, government also needs to carry out intensive public awareness programmes aimed at educating the public about the need and ways of controlling pollution and how they also have a stake in environmental governance. Examples to show the success of legislation to change the quality of
(i) Public Life The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Commission was successful in controlling industrial smoke in colonial Calcutta.
(ii) Private Life The British Government passed the Clean Air Act in 1956. This law was aimed at controlling domestic sources of smoke pollution by introducing the concept of smokeless zones. In these areas, smokeless fuels had to be burnt. As a result, air pollution in British cities was substantially reduced.
Ques 21: What are the key features of federalism?
Ans: The key features of federalism are
(i) There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
(ii) Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own jurisdiction in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
(iii) The jurisdiction of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So, the authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
Ques 22: Write a note on
(a) The Oriya Novel
(b) Jane Austen's portrayal of women
(c) The picture of the new middle class which the novel Pariksha-Guru portrays.
Ans: (a) The Oriya Novel In 1877-78, Ramashankar Ray, a dramatist, began serialising the first Oriya novel Saudamani. But he could not complete it. Within 30 years, however, Orissa produced a major novelist in Fakir Mohan Senapati (1843-1918).
The title of his novel Chaa Mana Atha Guntha announces a new kind of novel that will deal with the question of land and its possession. This pathbreaking work showed that the novel could make rural issues an important part of urban pre-occupations. In writing this, Fakir Mohan anticipated a host of writers in Bengal and elsewhere.
(b) Jane Austen's Portrayal of Women The novels of Jane Austen give us a glimpse of the world of women in genteel rural society in mid 19th century Britain. Women at that time were encouraged to look for a good marriage and find a wealthy and propertied husband.
Her famous novel Pride and Prejudice depicts this well. The main characters are shown to be pre-occupied with marriage and money.
(c) Srinivas Das's novel Pariksha-Guru reflects the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle class in India. It shows how the characters of this novel are caught in the difficulty of adapting themselves to colonised society and at the same time preserving their own cultural identity.
Modernity appeared to be frightening and at the same time irresistible. The novel tries to teach the readers to be rooted to their own tradition and culture and to live in dignity and honour. It also teaches one to be worldly wise and practical to survive in this material world.
Ques 23: What was the impact of the 'Fordist industrial' practices on industrial production?
Ans: Henry Ford revolutionised industrial production by adopting the assembly line system to his car plant in Detroit. Assembly line was a method of faster and cheaper production of vehicles, as it forced workers to repeat a single task mechanically and continuously.
The pace of work was dictated by the conveyor belt, leading to increase in output per worker by speeding up the pace of work. His practices soon spread in the US and were largely copied in Europe. Mass production lowered costs of engineered goods while higher wages increased the purchasing power of people.
This created a boom in the consumer goods and housing sector. In this way, 'Fordist industrial practice' revolutionised industrial production.
Ques 24: Why the Frankfurt Parliament is famous in history?
Ans: The German middle class decided to vote for an all German National Assembly in 1848 and 831 persons were elected. They comprised the National Assembly. The assembly decided to organise the Parliament at Frankfurt in the church of St Paul.
Thus, on 18th May, 1846, the famous Frankfurt Parliament was convened. The assembly decided that the German nation would be a constitutional monarchy controlled by the Parliament and offered the crown to the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. But he rejected it and joined other monacrhs to oppose the elected assembly.
The Parliament also faced strong opposition from the aristocracy and military as it was dominated by the middle class who resisted the demands of workers and artisans. As a result of this, the middle class lost their mass support.
Ultimately, the monarchy and military combined together with the aristocracy and won over the liberal nationalist middle class. This forced the assembly to disband. Therefore, the Frankfurt Parliament is famous in history as failure of liberalism and a victory of the monarchy.
Ques 25: Write a note on good practices towards conserving forests and wildlife.
Ans: Conservation of forests and wildlife was prevalent as 'nature worship' among tribal communities and in villages. Examples are tulsi plants, banana leaves and sanctity of the cow. Such cultural beliefs helped preserve the plant and animal species without creating harm to the ecosystem.
Large scale people's movement like the Chipko Movement in Uttarakhand and the Narmada Bachao Andolan in Madhya Pradesh indicate involvement of local communities in conserving forests and wildlife.
Thus, all conservation practices and programmes should be eco-friendly peoply friendly and economically acceptable. Developmental projects under taken by the government should not be at the cost of destruction of forests and loss of people's livelihoods.
