Social Science — solved board-pattern questions

(c) Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of a unified Italy. (Cavour was the Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont who engineered unification through diplomacy; Mazzini founded the secret society Young Italy; Garibaldi led the volunteer Red Shirts in the south.)

(c) A is true but R is false.

The tertiary sector helps the primary and secondary sectors by providing services — transport, banking, trade, communication — so it is rightly called the service sector (A is true). Producing goods by directly using natural resources (farming, mining, fishing) is the primary sector, not the tertiary sector, so R is false.

(d) Biogas.

Biogas — along with solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and atomic energy — is a non-conventional (renewable) source. Coal, petroleum and natural gas are conventional fossil fuels.

• Corn Laws: Laws in Britain that restricted/prohibited the import of corn (food grains) so as to keep grain prices high in favour of the landed groups.

• Reason for abolition: Under pressure from industrialists and town dwellers who wanted cheaper food, the Corn Laws were abolished (1846). Cheaper grain was then imported, British agriculture could not compete, fields were left uncultivated, and people migrated to cities or overseas.

• Spread of enlightenment ideas: Print popularised the writings of thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau, who criticised tradition, despotism and the Church, encouraging people to question established authority.

• A new culture of debate: Print created a public sphere of dialogue and discussion; books, pamphlets and cartoons mocked the monarchy and aristocracy and spread the idea of reorganising society on reason — building a critical, rebellious mindset.

• Land reforms: Abolition of the zamindari system, consolidation of fragmented holdings and a ceiling on land holdings were carried out (1960s–70s).

• Credit and insurance: The Kissan Credit Card (KCC) and the Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) were introduced to free farmers from moneylenders and protect them against crop loss.

• Price and information support: The government announces Minimum Support Prices (MSP), procures grains, and broadcasts special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers.

• Horizontal distribution (among organs): Power is shared among the legislature, executive and judiciary as a system of checks and balances — e.g. courts can check the misuse of power by the executive in India.

• Vertical distribution (among levels): Power is shared between central, state and local governments — e.g. the federal division of powers in India.

• Power-sharing among social groups: e.g. the “community government” in Belgium, or reserved constituencies for weaker sections in India. (Also: power-sharing among political parties and pressure groups through coalitions.)

• Right to Safety: The right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services that are hazardous to life and property (e.g. faulty pressure cookers or electrical appliances).

• Right to be Informed: The right to full information about a product — ingredients, price, batch number, date of manufacture/expiry and directions for use.

• Right to Choose / Seek Redressal: The right to choose from a variety of goods at competitive prices, and to seek compensation/redressal against unfair trade practices through consumer courts.

9.1 Liberalisation: Removing the restrictions or barriers set by the government — such as high import taxes, licences and quotas — on foreign trade and investment, so that businesses are free to decide what to import/export and goods and capital can move more freely across borders. India began liberalising its economy around 1991.

9.2 Impact on small/local producers (any two):

• Increased competition from cheap imports and large MNCs hurt small manufacturers (toys, batteries, tyres, etc.), and some were forced to shut down, causing job losses.

• Producers who upgraded technology and quality benefited — supplying to MNCs and reaching wider markets — while consumers gained more choice and better quality at lower prices.

10.1 Quality of decision-making: Democracy is based on consultation and discussion. Decisions are taken by many persons and institutions after deliberation, which reduces the chance of rash or irresponsible decisions and makes the outcome more acceptable and more likely to be correct.

10.2 Handling differences/conflicts: A democracy offers peaceful, institutional ways — elections, negotiation and courts — to accommodate diverse social groups and settle conflicts instead of suppressing them. It develops respect for differences and the ability to manage them, reducing the risk of violent disintegration.

• Salt/Dandi March: On 12 March 1930 Mahatma Gandhi began the movement with a march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi (about 240 miles) with 78 volunteers; on 6 April 1930 he reached Dandi and broke the salt law by making salt from sea water, defying the British salt monopoly.

• Difference from NCM: In the Non-Cooperation Movement people only refused to cooperate (boycott of schools, offices, foreign goods); in the Civil Disobedience Movement people were asked to actively break colonial laws.

• Spread and forms: Across the country people broke salt laws, boycotted foreign cloth and liquor, peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, students and lawyers gave up studies and practice, and villagers defied colonial forest laws.

• Participation: Rich and poor peasants, women in large numbers, business classes and some workers joined, turning nationalism into a mass movement.

• Repression and pause: The British arrested leaders, lathi-charged and fired on crowds (over one lakh arrested). The movement was paused after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact (March 1931) when Gandhiji agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference; it was relaunched in 1932 and lost momentum by 1934.

• Tiers of government: India has government at the Union (central) and State levels, and since 1992 a third tier of local self-government (Panchayats and Municipalities).

• Division of powers: The Constitution divides subjects into the Union List, State List and Concurrent List, clearly demarcating the powers of the Centre and the States (residuary subjects rest with the Union).

• Written and supreme Constitution: The federal arrangement is laid down in a written Constitution that is supreme; both levels of government work within it.

• Rigid sharing of power: The basic power-sharing provisions cannot be changed unilaterally by one level — such changes need the consent of both the Union and the States.

• Independent judiciary: The Supreme Court and High Courts act as umpires, settling disputes between the Centre and the States and enforcing the Constitution.

A multipurpose river project is a dam built across a river to serve several purposes at the same time.

Advantages:

• Irrigation: Stored water irrigates agricultural fields and raises crop production.

• Hydroelectricity: Falling water generates cheap, pollution-free hydel power.

• Other uses: Dams help in flood control, water supply for homes and industry, inland navigation, fish breeding and recreation.

Disadvantages:

• Ecological harm: Dams obstruct the natural flow, cause sedimentation in the reservoir, fragment the river and damage aquatic life; excessive irrigation can cause water-logging and salinisation of land.

• Displacement and disputes: Large dams submerge land and forests and displace local people (sparking movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan), and they trigger inter-state water disputes over sharing.

(A) History identification (2 marks):

• A — Champaran (Bihar): the site of the indigo planters’ satyagraha of 1917.

• B — Dandi (Gujarat): the coastal place where Gandhiji broke the salt law on 6 April 1930.

(B) Geography locating & labelling (3 marks), any three:

• Iron and steel plant — Bhilai (Chhattisgarh).

• Major sea port on the east coast — Visakhapatnam (or Paradip / Chennai).

• Software-technology / IT centre — Bengaluru (Karnataka).