Notes

GEO

Q1.
Ans) (i): India lies in the Northern hemisphere, with the mainland extending between latitudes 8°4’N and 37°6’N and longitudes 68°7’E and 97°25’E. The Tropic of Cancer (23° 30’N) divides the country into almost two equal parts, where the Lakshadweep islands lie in the Arabian Sea to the south-west of the mainland, and Andman and Nicobar lies in the Bay of Bengal to the south-east of the mainland.

(ii): The countries which are larger than India are Russia, Canada, U.S.A, China, Brazil and Australia. Russia is the largest of all countries, with an area of 17.09 million sq.km, while India has an area of 3.28 million sq.km.

(iii): The Andaman and Nicobar islands lie to the south-east of India in the Bay Of Bengal. India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline, including the islands of the Andaman and Nicobar and the Lakshadweep, is 7,516.6 km.

(iv): The island countries that are our southern neighbours are Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Maldives Islands are situated to the south of the Lakshadweep Islands, whereas Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.

Q2
Ans) The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is about 30°. The east-west extent is smaller than the north-south extent. There is a time lag of two hours from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh. As Arunachal Pradesh lies to the eastern side of India, the sun rises here earlier when compared to Gujarat. The time along the Standard Meridian of India (82°30’E) passing through Mirzapur (in Uttar Pradesh) is taken as the standard time for the whole country. The latitudinal extent influences the duration of day and night, as one moves from south to north. Therefore, the watches show the same time in all the parts of the country.

Q3
Ans)India is a southward extension of the Asian continent and is located in a central position between the East and West Asia. The Indian Ocean provides a strategic central location to India, as it connects the East Asian countries with the country of Europe in the West. The Deccan Peninsula also protrudes into the Indian Ocean, thus helping India establish close contact with west Asia, Africa and Europe from the western coast and with Southeast and East Asia from the eastern coast. There is no other country like India in the world, which has a long coastline on the Indian Ocean and thus, justifying the naming of an ocean after it.




HISTORY

Q1)
Ans)When King Louis XVI was anointed as the new king, he found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. On top of this, there was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the Palace of Versailles. France had helped the thirteen American colonies gain their independence from their common enemy, Britain. The war added more than a billion lives to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion lives. Lenders who gave credit began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans. So the French Government had to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone. To meet its regular expenses, such as cost of maintaining an army, the court, governmental offices and Universities were increasingly becoming difficult. Raising taxes did not suffice, because the French society was divided into 3 estates and only the 3rd estate had to pay taxes. The 1st estate and the 2nd estate did not pay any taxes. The population of France was also growing massively. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with demand. So the price of bread, which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops, whose owner fixed their wages. But the wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the rich and the poor widened. All these factors led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Q2)
Ans)French society was divided into 3 estates. The third estate benefitted the most. The third estate consisted of Peasants, artisans, Small peasants, landless labour, servants, big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers etc. The groups that were forced to relinquish power were the people belonging to the 1st and 2nd estate. These people had enjoyed certain privileges by birth. With the revolution, the people in 1st and 2nd estate lost their privileges. Because inequality was one of the root causes of the revolution, the revolution tried to bring equality to society.

Q3)
Ans)The ideas of liberty and democratic rights are the most important legacies of the French revolution. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished. Colonised people reworked the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation-state. Tipu Sultan and Ram Mohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas originating from Revolutionary France.

Q4
Ans)The list of democratic rights are

1.Freedom of speech
2.Freedom of expression
3.Freedom of press
4.Abolition of censorship
5.Right to vote
6.Abolition of slavery
7.Right to liberty
8.Right to property
9.Right to education
10. Right to security
11. Devorce laws
Q5
Ans)Though it says ‘Universal Rights’, women were unfortunately left out from the basic rights that were promised. They did not have equal rights that men enjoyed. They did not have the right to liberty, property, security and above all, the resistance to oppression. In the formulation of laws, women did not have any representation. Women were not entitled to all the honours and public employment, according to their abilities.

Q6
Ans)Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He started conquering neighbouring countries by waging wars against them. He saw himself as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws, such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system. Many of his measures carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to the other parts of Europe. This had a positive impact on people long after he was dethroned as an emperor when he was finally defeated in the Battle of Waterloo.


ECONOMICS
Q1
Ans) Yes, it is correct to say that modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in the industry. It is because modern farming methods use a high-yielding variety of seeds. These seeds require both chemical fertilisers and pesticides, agricultural implementations like tractors and proper irrigation facilities like electric tube wells and all these elements are manufactured in industries. However, on the other hand, traditional farming methods use a relatively low-yielding variety of seeds and use cow dung and other natural manures as fertiliser, which is why they are less dependent on industrial outputs.

Q2
Ans)The spread of electricity helped the farmers of Palampur as it helped in the transformation of the irrigation system of the village. The farmers earlier used Persian wheels to draw water from wells and irrigate small fields. But after the spread of electricity, electric tube wells replaced these Persian wheels. The first tube well was installed by the Government, but later private tube wells were also settled by the farmers, resulting in the cultivation of the entire 200 hectares of irrigated land by the 1970s.

Q3
Ans) It is important to increase the land under irrigation because farming is the main source of income for the maximum part of the population in India and only less than 40 per cent of the land is cultivable in the country. Farmers are dependent on the erratic monsoon season, and if the rainfall is less, farmers are bound to suffer a major loss. So if the water is provided for irrigation to the farmers for a larger portion of land, it would give better output and make more land cultivable in India and also encourage farmers to take up newer farming methods without the fear of suffering loss.

Q4
Ans)