Bhagya

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 8 Human Environment Interactions: The Tropical and the Subtropical Regions

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 8 Human Environment Interactions: The Tropical and the Subtropical Regions

→ Life in the Amazon Basin:

  • The river Amazon flows through the equatorial region between 10°N and 10°S.
  • River’s mouth is the place where a river flows into another body of water.
  • Number of tributaries join the Amazon River to form the Amazon basin. The river basin drains portions of Brazil, parts of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia and a small part of Venezuela.

→ Climate

  • The Amazon Basin has been characterized by hot and wet climate throughout the year. Day and nights both are almost equally hot and humid. The skin feels sticky.
  • Rain occurs almost everyday. The temperatures of daytime are high with very high humidity. The temperature during night goes down but the humidity remains high.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 8 Human Environment Interactions: The Tropical and the Subtropical Regions

→ Rainforests:
In this region, heavy rainfalls happen. Hence, the forests are very thick that the dense ‘roof’ are created by the leaves and branches which does not allow the sunlight to reach the ground.

  • Orchids, bromeliads grow as plant parasites as only shade tolerant vegetation may Birds which are found are toucans, humming birds, bird of paradise with their brilliantly coloured plumage, oversized bills for eating make them different from birds we commonly see in India. These birds make loud sounds in the forests. These forests are very rich in fauna.
  • Monkeys, sloth and ant-eating tapirs are found in this forest. Different species of reptiles and snakes such as crocodiles, snakes, pythons are also found. Anaconda and boa constrictor are some of the species which are found here.
  • It is the home for various kinds of insects. Many species of fishes such as the flesh eating Piranha fish is also found in the river. Hence, this basin is exceptionally rich in the variety of life found there.

→ People of the Rainforests

  • Most of the food are grown in small places after clearing some trees in the forest. Men usually hunt and fish along the rivers and women take care of the crops.
  • They mainly grow tapioca, pineapple and sweet potato. The women take care of their families alive by growing vegetables as hunting and fishing are uncertain.
  • They practice ‘slash and bum agriculture’ which is a way of cultivating land where farmers clear a piece of land by slashing or cutting down trees and bushes and then they are burnt.
  • Manioc which is also known as cassava that grows under the ground like the potato is the staple food. They also eat queen ants and egg sacs. Coffee, maize and cocoa are also grown which are the cash crops.
  • Some people live in thatched houses shaped like beehives. Some live in large apartment like houses are known as ‘Maloca’ with a steeply slanting roof.
  • In the older days, only by navigating the river the core of the forest could be reached. In 1970, all parts of the rainforest was made accessible by the Trans Amazon highway. Aircrafts and helicopters are also used for reaching the remote places.
  • In the Amazon basin, it is evaluated that a large area of the rainforest has been disappearing annually.
  • Due to destruction of forest, the topsoil is washed away as the rains fall and the lush forest turns into a barren landscape.

→ Life in the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin

  • Ganga-Brahmaputra basin in the Indian subcontinent is formed by the tributaries of rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra together. This basin lies in the sub-tropical region which is situated between 10°N to 30°N latitudes.
  • The River Ganga has the tributaries such as the Ghaghra, the Son, the Chambal, the Gandak, the Kosi and the tributaries of Brahmaputra drain it.
  • The main features of this basin are the plains of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, the mountains and the foothills of the Himalayas and the Sundarbans delta.
  • The monsoon climate is the main climate of this region. The monsoon brings rains from mid-June to‘mid-September. Hence, the summers are hot and the winters cool.
  • The environment plays a major role in the distribution of the population. Inhospitable terrain is mostly found in the mountain areas with steep slopes. Hence, population is less who live in the mountain area of the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin.
  • Human habitation is present in the plain area which is the most suitable land as the soil is fertile. The main occupation of the people is agriculture where flat land is available to grow crops.
  • The density of population of the plains is very high. Paddy is the main crop as the cultivation of paddy requires sufficient water, so it is grown in the regions where there is high rainfall.
  • The other crops which are grown here are wheat, maize, sorghum, gram and millets. Sugarcane and jute are the cash crops which are also grown. In some areas of the plain, banana plantations are found.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 8 Human Environment Interactions: The Tropical and the Subtropical Regions

→ Tea is grown in West Bengal and Assam.
In some parts of Bihar and Assam, silk is produced through the cultivation of silk worms. Crops are grown on terraces in the mountains and hills, where the slopes are gentle.

  • In the Ganga and Brahmaputra plain tropical deciduous trees grows such as teak, sal and peepal. In the Brahmaputra plain, thick bamboo groves are very common. The delta region is covered with the mangrove forests.
  • In some parts of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, coniferous trees such as pine, deodar and fir can be found. The climate is cool and the slopes are steep.
  • Many animals are found in this basin. Elephants, tigers, deer and monkeys are found. In the Brahmaputra plain, the one-homed rhinoceros is found. In the delta region, Bengal tiger, crocodiles and alligator are found. Aquatic life are found in the fresh river waters, the lakes and the Bay of Bengal Sea. The most popular varieties of the fish are the rohu, catla and hilsa.

→ The staple diet of the people living in this region are fish and rice.

  • Several big towns and cities are present near the Ganga-Brahmaputra plain. The main cities are Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna and Kolkata with the dense population which are located along the River Ganga.
  • The wastewater and garbage from these cities and industries is discharged into the rivers which leads to the pollution of the rivers.
  • In the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin, all the means of transport are well developed. In the plain areas, the people use the roadways and railways transport to move from one place to another. The waterways, is an important means of transport particularly along the rivers. Kolkata is an important port on the River Hooghly. Large number of airports are present in the plain areas.
  • The other important activity of the basin is tourism. Taj Mahal on the banks of River Yamuna in Agra, Prayagraj on the confluence of the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna and invisible Saraswati river which is known as Triveni Sangam, Buddhist stupas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Lucknow with its Imambara, Kaziranga and Manas wild life sanctuaries in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh has a distinct tribal culture which are some of the places worth a visit.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 9 Life in the Deserts

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 9 Life in the Deserts

→ There are places in the world where people have learned to survive in extreme severe and harsh temperatures some regions are as hot as fire and some as cold as ice and these regions are known as the deserts of the world.

→ Low rainfall, scanty vegetation and extreme temperatures are the features and specifications of deserts.

→ The Hot Desert-Sahara:

  • Sahara desert is the world’s largest desert. It has an area of around 8.54 million sq km.
  • The Sahara desert covers eleven countries – Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara.
  • Sahara desert is covered not only with the enormous stretches of sands, but there are also gravel plains and elevated plateaus with bare rocky surface. At some regions, these surfaces may be more than 2500 m high.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 9 Life in the Deserts

→ Climate:

  • The climate of the Sahara desert is scorching and unbearably hot and parch dry.
  • Rainy season is very short. The sky is cloudless and clear.
  • During the day, the temperatures may soar as high as 50°C which heats up the sand and the bare rocks and which in turn radiates heat making everything around very hot.
  • During the nights temperatures reach near zero degrees with freezing cold.

→ Flora and Fauna:

  • In the Sahara desert, vegetation consists of cactus, date palms and acacia.
  • There are oasis in some regions – green islands with date palms surrounding them.
  • The animals which are found here include camels, hyenas, jackals, foxes, scorpions, many varieties of snakes and lizards.

→ People:

  • Despite rough and harsh climate, the desert has been inhabited by many groups of people who are engaged in different types of works and activities.
  • There are many nomadic tribes and among them are the Bedouins and Tuaregs who are mainly into rearing livestock like goats, sheep, camels and horses.
  • These animals provide them with numerous things such as milk, hides from which they make leather for belts, slippers, water bottles, hair is majorly used for mats, carpets, clothes and blankets. These people wear heavy robes as protection against dust storms and hot and fiery winds.
  • The oasis in the Sahara and the Nile Valley in Egypt holds up and supports the settled population. The people grow date palms because water is available.
  • Crops such as rice, wheat, barley and beans are also grown. In Egypt, Egyptian cotton is famous worldwide which is grown there. The detection and finding out oil which is required by the whole world in Algeria, Libya and Egypt is constantly transforming and changing the Sahara desert.
  • Other important minerals that are found here includes iron, phosphorus, manganese and uranium.
  • The cultural environment of the Sahara is undergoing a vast change. Highways are made which criss-cross the ancient camel paths. High rise glass cased buildings tower over mosques.
  • In the salt trade, trucks and vehicles are replacing camels.
    Tuaregs are working as guides to foreign tourists: Most of the nomadic herdsmen are heading to city life finding jobs in oil and gas operations.

→ The Cold Desert-Ladakh:

  • A cold desert lying in the Great Himalayas on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir is Ladakh.
  • In the north, the Karakoram Range and in the south, the Zanskar mountains enclose it. Through Ladakh, many rivers flow and the most important one is Indus river. The rivers form deep valleys and gorges. In Ladakh, many glaciers are found such as the Gangri glacier.
  • The altitude in Ladakh varies from about 3000 m in Kargil to more than 8,000 m in the Karakoram. The climate is extremely cold and dry due to its high altitude.
  • In summer, the day temperatures are just above zero degree and the night temperatures below 30°C.
  • In the winters, it is freezing cold where the temperatures remain below 40°C for most of the time.
  • There is very little rainfall as low as 10 cm every year as it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas. The region encounters freezing winds and burning hot sunlight.

→ Flora and Fauna:

  • Due to high deficiency of moisture and barrenness, the vegetation is sparse. There are scanty patches of grasses and shrubs for animals to graze. In the valleys, groves of willows and poplars are seen.
  • In the summers, apples, apricots and walnuts the fruit trees bloom.
  • In Ladakh, many species of birds are seen such as Robins, redstarts, Tibetan snowcock, raven and hoopoe. Some of these are migratory birds also.
  • Wild goats, wild sheep, yak and special kinds of dogs are the animals of Ladakh.
  • The animals are reared to provide the milk, meat and hides.
  • To make cheese and butter, Yak’s milk is used. The hair of the sheep and goat is used to make woollens.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 9 Life in the Deserts

→ People:

  • People here are either Muslims or Buddhists.
  • Many Buddhist monasteries dot the Ladakhi environment with their traditional ‘gompas’. Some of the famous monasteries are Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Lamayuru.
  • People involve themselves in cultivating barley, potatoes, peas, beans and turnip in the summers.
  • The climate in winter months is so harsh and unbearable that people keep themselves engaged in different festivities and ceremonies.
  • The women not only work in the house and fields but also manage small business and shops. They are very hardworking and laborious.
  • The capital of Ladakh is Leh which is well connected by both road and air. The National Highway 1A connects Leh to Kashmir Valley through the Zoji La Pass.
  • The major activity is the tourism as many tourists streaming in from within India and abroad. The major and important activities are visiting the gompas, treks to see the meadows and glaciers, witnessing ceremonies and festivities.
  • Due to modernization, life of people is undergoing change. Due to scarcity and lack of resources like water and fuel, they are used with reverence, appreciation and care. Nothing is discarded or wasted.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 New Kings and Kingdoms

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 New Kings and Kingdoms

→ Many new dynasties came into existence in the subcontinent between seventh and twelfth centuries.

→ The Emergence of New Dynasties:

  • There were big landlords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent in seventh century.
  • They were working under the existing kings as samantas or subordinates. As moderately they gained power and wealth and eventually they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, maha-mandaleshvara.
  • Some of them asserted their independence from their overlords. Rashtrakutas were the subordinates of Chalukyas in Karnataka. Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, overthrew his Chalukya overlord and performed a ritual called hiranyagarbha (means, the golden womb) in eighth century.
  • Some other lords were same as Rashtrakutas were Kadamba Mayurasharman and Gurjara-Pratihara Harichandra who successfully established their kingdoms.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 New Kings and Kingdoms

→ Administration in the Kingdoms:

  • Titles such as maharaja-adhiraja (great king, overlord of kings), tribhuvana- chakravartin (lord of the three worlds) were adopted by these new kings. They shared their power with their samantas as well as alliance with traders, brahmanas and peasants.
  • Peasants, cattle-keepers, artisans, were persuaded or compelled to surrender part of what they produced. They were the main producers of the states.
  • These products were used to finance the king’s establishment, as well as for the construction of temples and forts. They were also used to fight wars, which were in turn expected to lead to the acquisition of wealth and access to land as well as trade routes. Sometimes these were claimed as “rent” due to a lord who asserted that he owned the land. Revenue was also collected from traders.

→ Prashastis and Land Grants:

  • Learned Brahmanas composed the Prashastis who often helped the kings in the administration. They tell us how rulers wanted to characterize themselves as heroic, courageous and victorious warriors.
  • Long Sanskrit poem was composed by Kalhana, who described the history of kings who ruled over Kashmir. But he was different from the writers of Prashastis as he was very critical and analytical about the kings and their policies.

→ Warfare for Wealth

  • The city of Kanauj in the Ganga valley was a specific region, which every dynasty tried to control. For centuries, three main dynasties; Rashtrakuta, Gurjara-Pratihara and Pala dynasties fought over it. Because of this long conflict, historians describe it as the “tripartite struggle”.
  • Temples were often targeted when the kings attacked other kingdoms which were sometimes extremely rich. Usually, kings built those to show and exhibit their power and resources.
  • One such ruler was Sultan Mahmud Ghazni of Afghanistan, who ruled from 997 to 1030 CE. His main aim was to attack wealthy temples, which included the temple of Somnath, Gujarat. He continued to control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and north¬western part of the subcontinent.
  • The Arabic work, known as the Kitab-ul Hind, written by a scholar named Al-Biruni on appeal of Sultan remains an important source for historians. He also consulted Sanskrit scholars to prepare this.
  • Some other kings were also engaged in war, those were Chahamanas, later known as the Chauhans, who ruled around Delhi and Ajmer.
  • They tried to expand their territories but were opposed by Chalukyas and Gahadavalas in the west and east region.
  • The popular Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan king, Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year in 1192.

→ A Closer Look-The Cholas

  • From Uraiyur to Thanjavur
  • In the Kaveri delta, the subordinates to the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram Muttaraiyar rose to power.
  • Vijayalaya, who belonged to the family of the Cholas from Uraiyur, captured the delta in the middle of the ninth century. He also built the Thanjavur town and a temple for goddess Nishumbhasudini there.
  • The most powerful Chola ruler was Rajaraja I. He expanded his territory over most of. these areas and reorganised the administration of the empire. Rajendra I was Rajaraja’s son and he continued his legacies and policies. He was also very famous like his father.
  • Splendid Temples and Bronze Sculpture
  • Rajaraja and Rajendra built big temples in Thanjavur and Gangaikonda-cholapuram.
  • Temples were the core place of economic, social and cultural life apart from the place of worship.
  • Chola bronze images were very extraordinary and considered amongst the finest in the world. These were associated with the temples.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 New Kings and Kingdoms

→ Agriculture and Irrigation

  • Agriculture developed a lot and contributed to the achievements of the Cholas.
  • They made several water channels which provided the necessary moisture for agriculture especially cultivation of rice.
  • Different methods were used for irrigation such as huge tanks were constructed to collect rainwater, digging of wells. Irrigation works require planning – organising labour and resources, maintaining these works and deciding on how water is to be shared.

→ The Administratioir of the Empires

  • Ur means settlements of peasants, which became prosperous with the spread of irrigation agriculture. Villagers formed larger units in groups called nadu. The village council and the nadu had many administrative services including giving out justice and collecting taxes.
  • Some rich landowners got titles from Chola kings like muvendavelan (a velan or peasant serving three kings), araiyar (chief), etc., as markers of respect, and assigned them with important offices of the state at the centre.
  • Brahmanas also received land grants or brahmadeya. Hence, a large number of Brahmana settlements rose in the Kaveri valley. Each land was looked after by an assembly or sabha of major Brahmana landholders. These assemblies worked thoroughly and efficiently.
  • Nagarams which means associations of traders also occasionally performed administrative functions in towns.
  • Inscriptions show that the sabha had separate committees to look after irrigation works, gardens, temples, etc.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

→ In eighteenth century, the political conditions of India changed quite elaborately and within a relatively short span of time.

→ The Crisis of the Empire and the Later Mughals:

  • During the closing years of the seventeenth century, the Mughal Empire started facing a variety of crisis after having huge success period. There were number of reasons for this crisis. Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
  • It became very tough and difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check and hold on their powerful mansabdars.
  • They had exceptional political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the Mughal Empire. As the governors amalgamated their control over the provinces, the periodic remission of revenue to the capital declined.
  • In many parts of northern and w estern India, peasants and zamindari rebellions also created these problems.
  • In 1739, Nadir Shah, the ruler of Iran sacked and devastated the city of Delhi during the economic and political crisis, and took away huge amounts of wealth. Between 1748 and 1761, this invasion was followed by a series of ransacking raids by Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler w’ho invaded north India five times.
  • The different groups of nobles were divided into two major groups — the Iranis and Turanis means nobles of Turkish descent.
  • Mughal emperors w’ere humiliated a lot. Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) and Alamgir II (1754-1759) were assassinated and two others Ahmad Shah (1748-1754) and Shah Alam II (1759-1816) were blinded by their nobles.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

→ Emergence of New States:

  • The Mughal Empire gradually disintegrated into a number of independent, regional states in the eighteenth century. These can be divided into three overlapping groups:
  • The rulers of Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad states did not break their formal ties with the Mughal emperor though extremely powerful and quite independent. These w’ere the old Mughal provinces.
  • States such as several Rajput principalities that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals as watan jagirs.
  • The last group consists of states that were under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats. They had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn battle.

→ The Old Mughal Provinces:

  • Among all the states in the old Mughal provinces, the three stand out strikingly.
  • These were Hyderabad, Awadh and Bengal and founded by members of the high Mughal nobility who had been governors of these large provinces, Asaf Jah (Hyderabad), Sa‘adat Khan (Awadh) and Murshid Quli Khan (Bengal).
  • Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of 7,000 each while Sa’adat Khan’s zat was 6,000.

→ Hyderabad:

  • The founder of Hyderabad state, Nizam-ul- Mulk Asaf Jah (ruled 1724-1748), was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
  • He ruled independently without seeking any direction or order from Delhi or without facing any interference however he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor.
  • They were constantly engaged in war against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs, Nayakas of the plateau. The desire was to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east.

→ Awadh:

  • In 1722, Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa‘adat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh and founded the Awadh state.
  • Burhan-ul-Mulk also held the important offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari. It means he was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh.
  • He also tried to decrease Mughal influence in his region by reducing the number of officeholders i.e., jagirdars appointed by the Mughals and appointed his loyal servants to these vacant positions.
  • The state sold the right to collect taxes to the highest bidders. These are called as ‘revenue farmers’ or ijaradars who agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money.
  • New social groups like moneylenders, bankers influenced the management of the state’s revenue system.

→ Bengal:

  • Murshid Quli Khan was appointed as the naib means deputy to the governor of the province and was not a formal subedar. Bengal broke away from the Mughals under Murshid Quli Khan.
  • He also had the hold of the revenue system similar to the rulers of Hyderabad and Awadh.
  • He transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa (now Odisha) and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal to reduce Mughal influence there.
  • The contiguous connection between the state and bankers was noticeable in Hyderabad and Awadh as well as in Bengal under the rule of Alivardi Khan (ruled 1740-1756).
  • During his reign, Jagat Seth’s banking house became extremely prosperous.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

→ Three common features of these states were:

  • First, they were highly dubious of some of the administrative systems that they had inherited from the Mughals particularly in the jagirdari system.
  • Second, they followed the practice of ijaradari means contracted with revenue-farmers for the collection of revenue.
  • The third is very common feature in all these states was that their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants.

→ The Watan Jagirs of the Rajputs:

  • In the eighteenth century, many Rajput kings had served under the Mughals with variation. In return, they were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs. The ruler of Jodhpur, Ajit Singh was also involved in the sectional politics at the Mughal court.
  • Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur was the governor of Gujarat and Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber was governor of Malwa. In 1713, these offices were renewed by Emperor Jahandar Shah.
  • As they extended their watans or territories, Nagaur was conquered and annexed to the house of Jodhpur, whereas Amber seized large portions of Bundi. Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur and was given the subadari of Agra in 1722.

→ Seizing Indepedence: The Sikhs:

  • Sikh organisation helped in regional state building in Punjab during seventeenth century. Guru Gobind Singh fought many battles against the Rajput and Mughal rulers both before and after the establishment of the Khalsa. The Khalsa rose in revolt against the Mughal power under Banda Bahadur’s leadership after Guru Gobind Singh’s death in 1708 and declared their monarch by striking coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, between the Sutlej and the Jamuna. Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed in 1716.
  • The Sikhs organised themselves into a number of bands known as jathas and later on misls. Their combined forces were known as the dal khalsa means grand army.
  • Rakhi was introduced as a system which offered protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
  • In the late eighteenth centuiy, the Sikh territories extended their rule from the Indus to the Jamuna but they were separated under different rulers. One of the powerful rulers was Maharaja Ranjit Singh who reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799.

→ The Marathas:

  • Another powerful regional kingdom was the Maratha kingdom who opposed to Mughal rule. With the support of powerful warrior families of Deshmukhs, Shivaji (1627-1680) established a stable kingdom.
  • The backbone of the Maratha army was the groups of highly mobile, peasant pastoralists (kunbis).
  • After Shivaji’s death, a family of Chitpavan Brahmanas served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa or principal minister. The capital of the Maratha kingdom became Poona (now Pune).
  • The Marathas developed a very successful military organisation under the Peshwas.
  • The Maratha empire expanded in between 1720 and 1761. The Maratha king was acknowledged as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula by the 1730s and possessed the right to. levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.
  • The Maratha expanded their rule rapidly into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north, Bengal and Orissa in the east and Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu regions in the south, after attacking Delhi in 1737.
  • During the third battle of Panipat in 1761, the rulers became hostile and didn’t supported the Marathas.
  • Apart from strong military campaigns, the Marathas also developed an effective administrative system. Agriculture was uplifted and trade was also revived. This helped Maratha chiefs means sardars such as Sindhia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur to utilize the resources to raise powerful and strong armies.
  • New trade routes emerged within regions such as trade between Agra and Surat expanded to include Poona and Nagpur in the south and Lucknow and Allahabad in the east.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

→ The Jats:

  • During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Jats consolidated their power and their leader, Churaman, had captured territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi. By the 1680s they had begun to rule the region between the two royal cities of Delhi and Agra.
  • They were prosperous agriculturists and towns- such as Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres.
  • The kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state under the rule of Suraj Mai. Many of the city’s notables took refuge there when Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739.
  • Nadir Shah’s son Jawahir Shah had a strong troops of 30,000 people, hired another 20,000 Maratha and 15,000 Sikh troops to fight the Mughals.
  • The Bharatpur fort was built in a fairly traditional style but at Dig the Jats built an elaborate garden palace combining styles influenced by Amber and Agra.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

→ Equality is the main characteristics of democracy and affects all aspects of its functioning.

→ Equal Right to Vote:

  • In India which is a democratic country, all adults irrespective of what religion they belong to, how much education they have had, what caste they are, or whether they are rich or poor are allowed to vote is called Universal Adult Franchise.
  • The idea of universal adult franchise is based on the idea of equality because it states that every adult in a country, irrespective of their wealth and the communities she/he belongs to, has one vote.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

→ Other Kinds of Equality:

  • Many kinds of inequalities exist in our country till now. One of the most common form is the caste system which is alive from centuries in India which also creates division among human beings.
  • Another form of inequality exists is lower castes or Dalits.
  • Dalit means ‘broken’ and lower castes are pointing to how they were and continue to be seriously discriminated against and exploited most of the time.
  • Dalits belong to the unprivileged class.
  • Omprakash Valmiki is a famous Dalit writer who wrote his harsh experience and feelings in his autobiography, ‘Joothari. He mentioned that how he was tortured by the teachers. He had to clean and sweep the floors and playgrounds while the other children were in the class studying.
  • There is another form of inequality which exists. The religion is also a big factor. The Ansaris were not given apartments on rent by many landlords and landladies because of they were from different religion. So made different types of excuses.

→ Recognising Dignity:

  • The three things – the caste we are bom into, the religion we practice and the class background we come from whether we are male or female determines why some people are treated unequally.
  • The above things happened with Omprakash Valmiki and the Ansaris who were treated unequally on the basis of differences of caste and religion.
  • The dignity of a person is violated when the person is treated unequally.
  • In the case of Omprakash and the Ansaris, they do not deserve to be treated like this. They deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else.

→ Equality in Indian Democracy:

  • The Indian Constitution recognizes and acknowledges every person as equal. This means that every individual in the country including male and female persons from all castes, religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds are recognised as equal. This is not to say that inequality ceases to exist. It doesn’t.
  • Earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination, torture and ill-treatment but now there are many works to see that people are treated with dignity and as equals. This means that no one can be discriminated against on the basis of their caste, creed, place of birth, religion, race, etc.

→ The recognition of equality consists some of the following provisions in the Constitution:

  • First, that every person is equal before the law. This means that every person from the President of the country to a domestic worker has to obey the same laws. Everyone is equal in front of law.
  • Second, no person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race, caste, place of birth or whether they are female or male.
  • Third, every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use publicly available wells, roads and bathing ghats.
  • Fourth, untouchability has been abolished.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

→ The government has tried to implement the equality that is guaranteed in the Constitution by two ways.

  • First through laws
  • Second through government programmes or schemes to help disadvantaged communities.
  • Apart from the laws, the government has also set up several schemes to improve the lives of communities and individuals who have been treated unequally for several centuries.
  • The midday meal scheme is one of the steps taken by the government. This scheme was introduced in all government elementary schools to provide children with cooked lunch. The first state in India was Tamil Nadu to introduce this scheme, and in 2001, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this scheme.
  • This midday meal scheme has many positive results. This has helped to lessen the caste prejudices because both lower and upper caste children in the school eat this meal together. Apart from this, in few places, Dalit women have been employed to cook the meal.
  • The midday meal scheme also helped to reduce the hunger of poor students who often come to school and cannot concentrate because their stomachs are empty. Hence, there is increase in the enrollment and attendance of poor children in school.
  • Despite of all these efforts, there continues to be a huge differences in our country between schools that the. rich attend and those that the poor children attends.
  • One of the reasons for the discrimination is that the attitudes change is very slow.
  • Establishing equality in a democratic society is a continuous struggle and one in which individuals as well as various communities in India need to contribute.

→ Issues of Equality in Other Democracies:

  • There are many democratic countries in the world where the issue of inequality exists. India is not the only country where there is inequality.
  • In the United States of America, the African-Americans whose ancestors were brought over from Africa to work as slaves, continue to describe their lives today as largely unequal and discriminated.
  • A day came when a huge agitation against the unequal ways in which African- Americans were treated and which came to be known as the Civil Rights Movement. It was started by Rosa Parks, an African- American woman who changed the course of American history with one defiant act.
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited and banned discrimination on the basis of race, religion or national origin. It also stated that all schools would be open to African- American children and that they would no longer have to attend separate schools specially set up for them. In spite of this, a majority of African-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.

→ Challenge of Democracy:
The struggle for the recognition of all persons as equal and for their dignity should be maintained so that we can think of an equal people society. This issue of equality affects various aspects of our daily lives in democratic India.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

→ People expect the government to work tor their welfare in a democratic country and along with the provision of education, health, employment, housing or the development of roads, electricity, etc.

→ What is Health?

  • Health means our ability to remain free from illness and injuries. But health isn’t only about diseases, there are other factors as well that affect our health.
  • if people get clean drinking water or a pollution free environment they are likely to be healthy. While if people do not get adequate food to eat or have to live in cramped conditions, they will be prone to illness or unhealthy.
  • The various aspects of our lives which are a part of health are active positive not very anxious and without mental strain and stress.
  • Good health consists of both sound mind andbody.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

→ Healthcare in India:

  • Healthcare facilities consists of health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood banks, etc., which can provide the required care and services that patients need.
  • To run these facilities we need health workers, nurses, qualified doctors and other health professionals who can advice, diagnose and treat illnesses. Apart from these, we also need the medicines and equipment that are necessary and required for treating patients.
  • In India there are numerous experienced doctors and nurses present. Public healthcare system is a system of hospitals and health centres run by the government. It has the ability to look after the health of a large section of its population scattered over hundreds of thousands of villages.
  • Though we have most of the facilities and positive developments but then also we are not able to provide proper healthcare facilities to people.

→ Public and Private Healthcare Services:
Healthcare services .is divided into two services:

  • Public Health Services
  • Private Health Services

→ Public Health Services:

  • A series of health centres and hospitals run by the government is known as the public health service. They are linked together because they cover both rural and urban areas and can also provide treatment to all kinds of problems from common illnesses to special services.
  • Primary Health Care centres are available in villages which has a doctor and a nurse to assist and to deal with common illnesses. Such a centre covers many villages in a rural area. .
  • The District Hospital at the district level, supervises all the health centres. Large cities have many government hospitals.
  • For several reasons health service is called as ‘public’. To fulfil its promise and commitment of providing healthcare to all citizens, the government has established these hospitals and health centres. The resources needed to run these services are obtained from the money that we, the public, pay to the government as taxes.
  • The most important function of the public health system is that it is meant to provide quality healthcare services either free cfr at a low cost so that the poor can seek treatment.
  • Another important function of public health is to take action to prevent the spread of diseases such as TB, malaria, jaundice, cholera, diarrhoea, chikungunya, etc. This has to be organised by the government with the participation and support of people otherwise it is not effective.

→ Private Health Facilities:

  • There is a vast range of private health facilities that exist in our country. A large number of doctors run their own private clinics and hospitals. In the rural areas, Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) are available. Urban areas have large number of doctors, many of them providing specialised services.
  • There are many laboratories that do tests and offer special facilities such as X-ray, ultrasound, etc. There are shops as well from where we buy medicines.
  • In private facilities, patients have to pay a lot of money for every service that they use but this is not the case in public health facilities.
  • Now there are large companies that run hospitals and some are engaged in manufacturing and selling medicines.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

→ Healthcare and Equality:

  • Is adequate healthcare available to all?
  • In India, we face a situation where private services are increasing but public services are not. These private services are very expensive and it is difficult for poor people to afford the expenses. Apart from this, private facilities are available in urban areas only.
  • In order to earn more money and profit, these private services encourage practices which are incorrect. At times cheaper methods are available but not used.
  • The fact is that approximately 20 per cent of the population can afford all the medicines that they require during an illness. Hence, even for middle class people as well, medical expenses cause hardship.
  • In a study it was reported that nearly 40% of the people who are admitted in hospital had to borrow money or sell some of their possessions for their illness.
  • Poor people are undernourished and tend to fall ill frequently.
  • These poor families are not eating as much as they should. They are not provided basic necessities such as drinking water, adequate housing, clean surroundings, etc., and hence, are more likely to fall ill. The expenses on illness make their situation even worse and to sustain.
  • Many tribal areas have few health centres and they do not run properly and even private hospitals are also not present.
  • It is not only the deficiency of money that prevents people from getting proper medical treatment, it is also there lack of concerns as women’s health concerns are considered to be far less important than the health of men in the family.

→ What Can Be Done?

  • It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality healthcare services to all its citizens, especially to the poor and the disadvantaged.
  • Health is as much dependent on basic amenities and social conditions of the people, as it is on healthcare services.

→ The Kerala Experience:

  • Kerala government gave 40% of the budget to the panchayats in 1996 to provide better environment in terms of healthcare, education, living standards, etc. to the rural peoples.
  • Water supply schemes were checked, the working of schools and anganwadis was ensured and specific problems of the village were taken up to solve. Health centres were also improved. All of this helped to improve the situation. But then also, some problems such as shortage of medicines, insufficient hospital beds, not enough doctors stayed.

→ The Costa Rican Approach:

  • Costa Rica is considered to be one of the healthiest countries in Central America.
  • The Costa Rican government spend the money that the army would have used, on health, education and other basic needs of the people. They believed that a country has to be healthy for its development and pays a lot of attention to the health of its people.
  • It provides safe drinking water, sanitation, nutrition and housing. Health education is also considered very important and knowledge about health is an essential and important part of education at all levels.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 India After Independence

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JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 India After Independence

→ A New and Divided Nation:

  • When India became independent in August 1947, it faced a series of very great challenges with refugees to settle down with home and jobs.
  • Around 500 princely states were there, each of whom had to be persuaded to join the new nation.
  • The new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and expectations of its population.
  • At Independence, the vast majority of Indians lived in the villages.
  • In the cities, factory workers lived in crowded slums with little access to education or healthcare.
  • The new nation had to lift its masses out of poverty by increasing the productivity of agriculture and by promoting new, job-creating industries.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 India After Independence

→ A Constitution is Written

  • Between December 1946 and November 1949, some 300 Indians had a series of meetings on the country’s political future. The meetings of this “Constituent Assembly” were held in New Delhi.
  • These discussions resulted in the framing of the Indian Constitution, which came into effect on 26 January 1950.
  • One feature of the Constitution was its adoption of universal adult franchise.
  • All Indians above the age of 21 years would be allowed to vote in state and national elections. This was a revolutionary step for never before had Indians been allowed to choose their own leaders.
  • A second feature of the Constitution was that it guaranteed equality before the law to all citizens, regardless of their caste or religious affiliation.
  • Under the new Constitution, they would have the same rights as Hindus – the same opportunities when it came to seeking jobs in government or the private sector, the same rights before the law.
  • A third feature of the Constitution was that it offered special privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indians.
  • After a long debate, the Constituent Assembly also recommended that a certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government be reserved for members of the lowest castes.

→ Along with the former untouchables, the adivasis or Scheduled Tribes were also granted reservation in seats and jobs.

  • The Constituent Assembly spent many days discussing the powers of the central government versus those of the state governments.
  • Some members thought that the Centre’s interests should be foremost.
  • Other members felt that the provinces should have greater autonomy and freedom.

→ The Constitution sought to balance these competing claims by providing three lists of subjects:

  • A Union List, with subjects such as taxes, defence and foreign affairs, which would be the exclusive responsibility of the Centre;
  • A State List of subjects, such as education and health, which would be taken care of principally by the states;
  • A Concurrent List, under which would come subjects such as forests and agriculture, in which the Centre and the states would have joint responsibility.

→ Another major debate in the Constituent Assembly concerned language.

  • A compromise was finally arrived at: namely, that while Hindi would be the “official language” of India, English would be used in the courts, the services, and communications between one state and another.
  • The most important role was played by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who was Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and under whose supervision the document was finalised.
  • In his final speech to the Constituent Assembly, Dr Ambedkar pointed out that political democracy had to be accompanied by economic and social democracy.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 India After Independence

→ How were States to be Formed?

  • Back in the 1920s, the Indian National Congress, the main party of the freedom struggle had promised that once the country won independence, each major linguistic group would have its own province.
  • India had been divided on the basis of religion: despite the wishes and efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, freedom had come not to one nation but to two.
  • Both Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel were against the creation of linguistic states.
  • The Kannada speakers, Malayalam speakers, the Marathi speakers had all looked forward to having their own state. The strongest protests, however, came from the Telugu-speaking districts of what was the Madras Presidency.

→ In October 1952, a veteran Gandhian named Potti Sriramulu went on a hunger strike demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers. As the fast went on, it attracted much support. Hartals and bandhs were observed in many towns.

  • On 15 December 1952, fifty-eight days into his fast, Potti Sriramulu died.
  • On 1 October 1953, the new state of Andhra came into being, which subsequently became Andhra Pradesh.
  • A States Reorganisation Commission was set up which submitted its report in 1956 recommending the redrawing of district and provincial boundaries to form compact provinces of Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu speakers respectively.
  • In 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into separate states for Marathi and Gujarati speakers.
  • In 1966, the state of Punjab was also divided into Punjab and Haryana, the former for the Punjabi speakers (who were also mostly Sikhs), the latter for the rest (who spoke not Punjabi but versions of Haryanvi or Hindi).

→ Planning for Development

  • Lifting India and Indians out of poverty, and building a modem technical and industrial base were among the major objectives of the new nation.
  • In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development.
  • There was a broad agreement on what was called a “mixed economy” model. Here, both the State and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating jobs.
  • In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan was formulated. This focused strongly on the development of heavy industries such as steel, and on the building of large dams.
  • These sectors would be under the control of the State.
  • Some felt that it had put inadequate emphasis on agriculture. Others argued that it had neglected primary education. Still others believed that it had not taken account of the environmental implications of economic policies.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 10 India After Independence

→ The Nation, Sixty Years On

  • On 15 August 2007, India celebrated sixty years of its existence as a free nation.
  • That India is still united, and that it is still democratic, are achievements that we might justly be proud of.
  • As many as thirteen general elections have been held since Independence, as well as hundreds of state and local elections. There is a free press, as well as an independent judiciary. Finally, the fact that people speak different languages or practise different faiths has not come in the way of national unity.
  • On the other hand, deep divisions persist. Despite constitutional guarantees, the Untouchables or, as they are now referred to, the Dalits, face violence and discrimination.
  • As many observers have noted, the gulf between the rich and the poor has grown over the years.
  • The Constitution recognises equality before the law but in real life some Indians are more equal than others. Judged by the standards it set itself at Independence, the Republic of India has not been a great success. But it has not been a failure either.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

→ Government works at three levels, they,are local, state and national.

→ Who is an MLA?

  • Members of the Legislative Assembly or MLAs are elected by the people. They then become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government. Hence, the MLAs represent people.
  • In India, every state has a Legislative Assembly. And, each state is divided into different areas or constituencies.
  • For example, Himachal Pradesh is divided into 68 assembly constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). These people who stand for election are from different parties.
  • A political party whose MLAs have won mote than half the number of constituencies in a.state can be said to be in a majority. The political party that has the majority is known as the ruling party and all other members are known as opposition.
  • After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling or of majority party will elect their leader as who will become the chief minister.
  • The chief minister then selects other ministers for his government. After the elections, the Governor of the state appoints the chief minister and other ministers.
  • A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs, whether from the ruling party or from the opposition meet to discuss various things about their state. Hence, some MLAs have dual responsibilitie-one as an MLA and the other as a minister.

→ A Debate in the Legislative Assembly:

  • In a democracy, the members of the Legislative Assembly can ask questions, debate on important issue, decide where money should be spent, etc. They have the main authority.
  • The MLAs are together responsible for the work of the government. Here, the word ‘government’ refers to government departments and various ministers who head them. The overall head is the chief minister.
  • This is known as the executive part of the government. All the MLAs who assemble together in the legislative assembly are known as the Legislature. They are the ones who authorize and supervise their work.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

→ Working of the Government:

  • In a democracy, there are many ways through which people express their views and also take action.
  • Sometimes after the discussion in the assembly, press conference are organised by the minister.
  • Ministers also visit the areas where there are problems and meet the suffered people.
    The government announces compensations as well as solves the problems faced by the suffered families.
  • Enquiry committees are made to look into different problems such as water problem, sanitation, etc.
  • The people who are in power means the chief minister and the minister need to take actions. They do so through different departments such as the Public Works Department, the Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department.
  • The chief minister and other ministers also have to answer questions that are asked in the Legislative Assembly and convince people asking the questions that what proper steps are being taken.
  • The government can also decide to make new laws for the state regarding sanitation and health facilities.
  • Laws for the entire country are made in the Parliament.
  • In a democracy, it is the people who elect their representatives as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Hence, it is the people who have the main authority.

→ A Wallpaper Project:
A wallpaper is an interesting activity through which research can be done on particular topics of interest.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

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JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

→ The Emergence of Nationalism:

  • What is this country of India and for whom is it meant? The answer that gradually emerged was: India was the people of India – all the people irrespective of class, colour, caste, creed, language, or gender. And the country, its resources and systems were meant for all of them.
  • The awareness came that the British were exercising control over the resources of India and the lives of its people and until this control was ended India could not be for Indians.
  • The consciousness began by the political associations formed after 1850 especially in the 1870s and 1880s.
  • Most of these were led by English educated professionals such as lawyers. The more important ones were the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Indian Association, the Madras Mahajan Sabha, the Bombay Presidency Association, and of course the Indian National Congress.
  • They worked with the idea that the people should be sovereign means a modern consciousness and a key feature of nationalism.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

→ The Arms Act was passed in 1878 disallowing Indians from possessing arms.

  • The Act allowed the government to The Making of the National Movement: 1870s – 1947 confiscate the assets of newspapers including their printing presses if the newspapers published anything that was found objectionable.
  • In 1883, there was a furore over the attempt by the government to introduce the Ilbert Bill.
  • The bill provided for the trial of British or European persons by Indians and sought equality between British and Indian judges in the country. But when white opposition forced the government to withdraw the bill, Indians were enraged.
  • The Indian National Congress was established when 72 delegates from all over the country met at Bombay in December 1885.
  • The early leaders were Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt, S. Subramania Iyer and others was largely from Bombay and Calcutta.
  • Naoroji was a businessman and publicist settled in London and for a time member of the British Parliament had guided the younger nationalists.
  • A retired British official, A.O. Hume also played a part in bringing Indians from the various regions together.

→ A nation in the making

  • In the first twenty years, the Congress was moderate in its objectives and methods.
    During this period, it demanded a greater voice for Indians in the government and in administration.
  • The demand for Indianisation of the administration was part of a movement against racism since most important jobs at the time were monopolised by British officials and they generally assumed that Indians could not be given positions of responsibility.
  • Other demands included the separation of the judiciary from the executive, the repeal of the Arms Act and the freedom of speech and expression.
  • The early Congress also raised a number of economic issues.
  • The Congress demanded reduction of revenue, cut in military expenditure, and more funds for irrigation.
  • The Moderate leaders wanted to develop public awareness about the unjust nature of British rule.
  • They published newspapers, wrote articles and showed how British rule was leading to the economic ruin of the country.
  • They felt that the British had respect for the ideals of freedom and justice and so they would accept the just demands of Indians.

→ “Freedom is our birthright”

  • In Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab, leaders such as Bepin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai were beginning to explore more radical objectives and methods.
  • They criticised the Moderates for their ‘politics of prayers’ and emphasised the importance of self-reliance and constructive work.
  • Tilak raised the slogan, ‘Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it! ’

→ In 1905, Viceroy Curzon partitioned Bengal. At that time Bengal was the biggest province of British India and included Bihar and parts of Orissa.

  • The main British motives perhaps were to curtail the influence of Bengali politicians and to split the Bengali people.
  • All sections of the Congress, the Moderates and the Radicals as they may be called opposed the partition of Bengal.
  • The struggle that unfolded came to be known as the Swadeshi movement which was strongest in Bengal but with echoes elsewhere too. In deltaic Andhra for instance, it was known as the Vandemataram Movement.
  • To fight for swaraj, the radicals advocated mass mobilization and boycott of British institutions and goods.
  • Some individuals also began to suggest that ‘revolutionary violence’ would be necessary to overthrow British rule.
  • A group of Muslim landlords and nawabs formed the All India Muslim League at Dacca in 1906.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

→ The League supported the partition of Bengal.

  • Some seats in the councils were now reserved for Muslims who would be elected by Muslim voters.
  • The Congress split in 1907. After the split the Congress came to be dominated by the Moderates with Tilak’s followers functioning from outside. The two groups reunited in December 1915.
  • Next year the Congress and the Muslim League signed the historic Lucknow Pact and decided to work together for representative government in the country.

→ The Growth of Mass Nationalism

  • The First World War altered the economic and political situation in India.
  • It led to a huge rise in the defence expenditure of the Government of India.
  • On the other hand, business groups reaped fabulous profits from the war.
  • The war also led the British to expand their army.
  • Many returned after the war with a view in which imperialist powers were exploiting the peoples of Asia and Africa and with a desire to oppose colonial rule in India.
  • In 1917, there was a revolution in Russia. News about peasant’s and worker’s struggles and ideas of socialism circulated widely which inspired Indian nationalists.

→ The advent of Mahatma Gandhi

  • Gandhiji, aged 46, arrived in India in 1915 from South Africa.
  • His South African campaigns had brought him in contact with various types of Indians: Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians, Gujaratis, Tamils and north Indians and upper class merchants, lawyers and workers.
  • Mahatma Gandhi spent his first year in India travelling throughout the country, understanding the people, their needs and the overall situation.
  • His earliest interventions were in local movements in Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad where he came into contact with Rajendra Prasad and Vallabhbhai Patel. In Ahmedabad he led a successful millworkers’ strike in 1918.

→ The Rowlatt Satyagraha

  • In 1919, Gandhiji gave a call for a satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act that the British had just passed.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and others felt that the government had no right to restrict people’s basic freedoms.
  • Gandhiji asked the Indian people to observe 6 April 1919 as a day of non-violent opposition to this Act. Satyagraha Sabhas were set up to launch the movement.
  • The Jallianwala Bagh atrocities inflicted by General Dyer in Amritsar on Baisakhi day (13 April), were a part of this repression.
  • On learning about the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore expressed the pain and anger of the country by renouncing his knighthood.

→ Khilafat agitation and the Non-Cooperation Movement

  • In 1920, the British imposed a harsh treaty on the Turkish Sultan or Khalifa.
  • The leaders of the Khilafat agitation, Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali now wished to initiate a Non-Cooperation Movement.
  • Gandhiji supported their call and urged the Congress to campaign against ‘Punjab wrongs’ means Jallianwala massacre, the Khilafat wrong and demand swaraj.
  • The Non-Cooperation Movement gained momentum through 1921-22.
  • Many lawyers such as Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, C. Rajagopalachari and Asaf Ali gave up their practices.
  • British titles were surrendered and legislatures boycotted.
  • The imports of foreign cloth fell drastically between 1920 and 1922.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

→ People’s initiatives

  • Different classes and groups, interpreting Gandhiji’s call in their own manner, protested in ways that were not in accordance with his ideas.
  • In Kheda, Gujarat, Patidar peasants organised non-violent campaigns against the high land revenue demand of the British.
  • In coastal Andhra and interior Tamil Nadu, liquor shops were picketed.
  • In the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, tribals and poor peasants staged a number of ‘forest satyagrahas’.
  • In Sind now in Pakistan, Muslim traders and peasants were very enthusiastic about the Khilafat call.
  • In Bengal, the Khilafat-Non-Cooperation alliance gave enormous communal unity and strength to the national movement.
  • In Punjab, the Akali agitation of the Sikhs sought to remove corrupt mahants who were supported by the British from their gurudwaras.
  • In Assam, tea garden labourers, shouting ‘Gandhi Maharaj ki Jai’ demanded a big increase in their wages. In the Assamese Vaishnava songs of the period the reference to Krishna was substituted by ‘Gandhi Raja’.

→ The people’s Mahatma

  • Gandhiji wished to build class unity and not class conflict. Peasants could imagine that he would help them in their fight against zamindars and agricultural labourers believed he would provide them land.
  • At the end of a powerful movement, peasants of Pratapgarh in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) managed to stop illegal eviction of tenants. But they felt it was Gandhiji who had won this demand for them.

→ The happenings of 1922-1929

  • Gandhiji abruptly called off the Non-Cooperation Movement when in February 1922 as a crowd of peasants set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura. He was a follower of non-violence.
  • Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru argued that the party should fight elections to the councils and enter them in order to influence government policies.
  • Through sincere social work in villages in the mid-1920s, the Gandhians were able to extend their support base. This proved to be very useful in launching the Civil Disobedience movement in 1930.
  • Two important developments of the mid 1920s were the formation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu organisation and the Communist Party of India.
  • The decade closed with the Congress resolving to fight for Puma Swaraj means complete independence in 1929 under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru.
  • Consequently, ‘Independence Day’ was observed on 26 January 1930 all over the country.

→ The Marth to Dandi

  • In 1930, Gandhiji declared that he would lead a march to break the salt law.
  • According to this law, the state had a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt.
  • Gandhiji and his followers marched for over 240 miles from Sabarmati to the coastal town of Dandi where they broke the government law by gathering natural salt found on the seashore and boiling sea water to produce salt.
  • Peasants, tribals and women participated in large numbers.
  • The combined struggles of the Indian people bore fruit when the Government of India Act of 1935 prescribed provincial autonomy and the government announced elections to the provincial legislatures in 1937.
  • The Congress formed governments in 7 out of 11 provinces.
  • After 2 years of Congress rule in the provinces in September 1939, the Second World War broke out.

→ Quit India and Later

  • Mahatma Gandhi decided to initiate a new phase of movement against the British in the middle of the Second World War.
  • Gandhiji and other leaders were jailed at once but the movement spread. It specially attracted peasants and the youth who gave up their studies to join it.
  • By the end of 1943, over 90,000 people were arrested and around 1,000 killed in police firing. In many areas orders were given to machine-gun crowds from airplanes.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 9 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947

→ Towards Independence and Partition

  • In 1940, the Muslim League had moved a resolution demanding ‘Independent States’ for Muslims in the north-western and eastern areas of the country.
  • The provincial elections of 1937 seemed to have convinced the League that Muslims were a minority, and they would always have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure.
  • The Congress’s rejection of the League’s desire to form a joint Congress League government in the United Provinces in 1937 also annoyed the League.
  • At the end of the war in 1945, the British opened negotiations between the Congress, the League and themselves for the independence of India.
  • The talks failed because the League saw itself as the sole spokesperson of India’s Muslims. The Congress could not accept this claim since a large number of Muslims still supported it.
  • Elections to the provinces were again held in 1946. The Congress did well in the ‘General’ constituencies but the League’s success in the seats reserved for Muslims was spectacular.
  • In March 1946, the British cabinet sent a three-member mission to Delhi to examine

→ The Making of the National Movement: 1870s -1947 the demand and to suggest a suitable political framework for a free India.

  • After the failure of the Cabinet Mission, the Muslim League decided on mass agitation for winning its Pakistan demand. It announced 16 August 1946 as “Direct Action Day”.
  • By March 1947, violence spread to different parts of northern India.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

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JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

→ Being a boy or a girl is an important part of one’s identity. The roles women play and the work they do are usually valued less than the roles men play and the work they do.

→ Growing Up in Samoa in the 1920s:

  • In Samoan society, children did not go to school. Instead, they learnt many things such as how to take care of children or do household work from older children and from adults.
  • Young people learn fishing which was a very important activity on the islands. But they learnt these things at different points in their childhood.
  • Both boys and girls looked after their younger siblings.
  • The time when a boy was about nine years old, he joined the older boys in learning outdoor jobs such as fishing and planting coconuts.
  • Girls had to continue looking after small children or do tasks for adults till they were teenagers.
  • After attaining the age of fourteen or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the plantations and learnt how to weave baskets.
  • In special cooking-houses, cooking was done. Boys were supposed to do most of the work while girls helped with the preparations.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

→ Growing Up Male in Madhya Pradesh in the 1960s:

  • The following points are taken from a small town scenario in Madhya Pradesh.
  • From Class VI onwards, boys and girls went to separate schools.
  • The girls’ school was designed very differently from the boys’ school. They had a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the outside world. Whereas, the boys’ school had no such courtyard and the playground was just a big space attached, to the school.
  • The girls always went in groups because they also carried fears of being teased or attacked. But the boys who used the streets as a place to stand around idling, to play, to try out tricks with their bicycles.
  • We realise that societies make clear distinctions and differences between boys and girls. This begins from a very tender and young age. Boys are usually given cars to play with and girls dolls.
  • All the ways of telling children that they have specific roles to play when they grow up to be men and women. Hence, how girls must dress, what games boys should play, how girls need to talk softly or boys need to be tough, etc.
  • In most societies which includes our own as well, the roles men and women play or the work they do are not valued equally. Men and women do not have the same status.

→ Valuing Housework:
All over the world, the main responsibility for housework and care-giving tasks, such as looking after the family especially children, the elderly and sick members lies with women. Although, the work that women do within the home is not recognised as work and assumed that this is something that comes naturally to women. Hence, they does not have to be paid for and society devalues this work.

→ Lives of Domestic Workers:

  • The domestic workers are employed particularly in towns and cities. They do a lot of work such as sweeping and cleaning, washing clothes and dishes, cooking, looking after young children or the elderly people.
  • Most domestic workers are women and sometimes even young boys or girls are employed to do this work.
  • Wages are low as domestic work does not have much value. They work very hard as well from early morning till night but employers doesn’t give much respect to them.
  • In fact, housework actually involves many different tasks and works. Heavy physical work also required to do a number of these tasks. In both rural and urban areas women and girls have to fetch water. In rural areas women and girls carry heavy headloads of firewood as well.
  • The work women do is strenuous and physically demanding, these words are actually associate with men normally.
  • Another characteristics of housework and care-giving is that we do not recognise that it is very time consuming and have much less time for leisure.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

→ Women’s Work and Equality:

  • We all know equality is an important principle of our Constitution. The Constitution says that being male or female should not become a reason for discrimination. In reality, inequality between the sexes exists.
  • Hence, the Constitution recognises that burden of child-care and housework falls on women and girls and it has an impact on whether girls can attend school or not.
  • In many villages in the country, the government has set up anganwadis or child-care centres. The government has passed laws that make it mandatory for organisations that have more than 30 women employees to provide creche facilities. The provision of creches helps many women to take up employment outside the home. It also makes it possible for more girls to attend schools.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

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JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

→ Two hundred years ago things were very different. Most children were married off at an early age.

  • In some parts of the country, widows were praised if they chose death by burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
  • Women who died in this manner whether willingly or otherwise, were called ‘sati’ which means virtuous women.
  • In many parts of the country people believed that if a woman was educated, she would become a widow.
  • In most regions, people were divided along lines of caste. Brahmans and Kshatriyas considered themselves as ‘upper castes’.
  • Traders and moneylender were referred as ‘Vaishyas’ were placed after them.
  • Then came peasants and artisans such as weavers and potters who were referred as ‘Shudras’.
  • At the lowest rung were those who laboured to keep cities and villages clean or worked at jobs that upper castes considered polluting, that is, it could lead to the loss of caste status. They were untouchables.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

→ Working Towards Change

  • The development of new forms of communication started. For the first time, books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets and pamphlets were printed.
  • All kinds of issues such as social, political, economic and religious could now be debated and discussed by men and sometimes by women as well in the new cities.
  • The discussions could reach out to a wider public and could become linked to movements for social change.
  • Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Sabha (later known as the Brahmo Samaj) in Calcutta.
  • People such as Rammohun Roy are described as reformers because they felt that changes were necessary in society, and unjust practices needed to be done away with.
  • Rammohun Roy was keen to spread the knowledge of Western education in the country and bring about greater freedom and equality for women.

→ Changing the lives of widows

  • Rammohun Roy began a campaign against the practice of sati.
  • Rammohun Roy was well versed in Sanskrit, Persian and several other Indian and Europeon languages.
  • He tried to show through his writings that the practice of widow burning had no sanction in ancient texts.
  • In 1829, sati was banned.
  • Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, used the ancient texts to suggest that widows could remarry.
  • A law was passed in 1856 permitting widow remarriage.
  • By the second half of the nineteenth century, the movement in favour of widow remarriage spread to other parts of the country.
  • In the Telugu-speaking areas of the Madras Presidency, Veerasalingam Pantulu fonned an association for widow remarriage.
  • In the north, Swami Dayanand Saraswati who founded the reform association called Arya Samaj also supported widow remarriage.

→ Girls begin going to school

  • Vidyasagar in Calcutta and many other reformers in Bombay set up schools for girls.
  • Throughout the nineteenth century, most educated women were taught at home by liberal fathers or husbands. Sometimes women taught themselves.
  • In the latter part of the century, schools for girls were established by the Arya Samaj in Punjab and Jyotirao Phule in Maharashtra.
  • In aristocratic Muslim households in North India, women leamt to read the Koran in Arabic.
  • Reformers such as Mumtaz Ali reinterpreted verses from the Koran to argue for women’s education.

→ Women write about women

  • From the early twentieth century, Muslim women like the Begums of Bhopal played a notable role in promoting education among women. They founded a primary school for girls at Aligarh.
  • Another remarkable woman, Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta.
  • By the 1880s, Indian women began to enter universities.
  • Tarabai Shinde, a woman educated at home at Poona published a book Stripurushtulna (A Comparison between Women and Men) criticising the social differences between men and women.
  • Pandita Ramabai, a great scholar of Sanskrit felt that Hinduism was oppressive towards women and wrote a book about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women.
  • By the end of the nineteenth century, women themselves were actively working for reform.
  • From the early twentieth century, they formed political pressure groups to push through laws for female suffrage (the right to vote) and better health care and education for women.
  • In the twentieth century, leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose lent their support to demands for greater equality and freedom for women.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

→ Caste and Social Reform

  • In Bombay, the Paramhans Mandali was founded in 1840 to work for the abolition of caste.
    During the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries began setting up schools for tribal groups and lower caste children.
  • The poor from the villages and small towns many of them from low castes began moving to the cities where there was a new demand for labour.
  • Some also went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia.
  • The army also offered opportunities to lower caste people. A number of Mahar people who were regarded as untouchable, found jobs in the Mahar Regiment.
  • The father of B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalit movement taught at an army school.

→ Demands for equality and justice

  • By the second half of the nineteenth century, people from within the Non-Brahman castes began organising movements against caste discrimination and demanded social equality and justice.
  • The Satnami movement in Central India was founded by Ghasidas who worked among the leather workers and organised a movement to improve their social status.
  • In eastern Bengal, Haridas Thakur’s Matua sect worked among Chandala cultivators.
  • In what is present-day Kerala, a guru from Ezhava caste, Shri Narayana Guru, proclaimed the ideals of unity for his people.
  • According to him, all humankind belonged to the same caste. One of his famous statements was one caste, one religion, one god for humankind.

→ Gulamgiri

  • One of the most vocal amongst the low- caste leaders was Jyotirao Phule. He was bom in 1827 and studied in schools set up by Christian missionaries.
  • As the Aryans established their dominance, they began looking at the defeated population as inferior as low caste people.
  • According to Phule, the upper castes had no right to their land and power. In reality, the land belonged to indigenous people, the so- called low castes.
  • He proposed that Shudras means labouring castes and Ati Shudras means
    untouchables should unite to challenge caste discrimination.
  • The Satyashodhak Samaj which is an association Phule founded propagated caste equality.
  • In 1873, Phule wrote a book named Gulamgiri meaning slavery.
  • He was concerned about the plight of upper caste women, the miseries of the labourer, and the humiliation of the low castes.
  • This movement for caste reform was continued in the twentieth century by other great dalit leaders such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in western India and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in the south.

→ Who could enter temples?

  • Ambedkar was bom into a Mahar family. In school he was forced to sit outside the classroom on the ground and was not allowed to drink water from taps that upper caste children used.
  • On his return to India from US in 1919, he wrote extensively about upper caste power in contemporary society.
  • In 1927, Ambedkar started a temple entry movement, in which his Mahar caste followers participated.
  • Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935.
  • His aim was to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

→ The Non-Brahman movement

  • In the early twentieth century, the non-Brahman movement started.
  • The initiative came from those non-Brahman castes that had acquired access to education, wealth and influence.
  • E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker or Periyar as he was called came from a middle-class family.
  • He had been an ascetic in his early life and had studied Sanskrit scriptures carefully.
  • Convinced that untouchables had to fight for their dignity, Periyar founded the Self Respect Movement.
  • He became a member of the Congress but left it in disgust when he found that at a feast organised by nationalists, seating arrangements followed caste distinctions.
  • He argued that untouchables were the true upholders of an original Tamil and Dravidian culture which had been subjugated by Brahmans.
  • Periyar was an outspoken critic of Hindu scriptures especially the Codes of Manu, the ancient lawgiver and the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana.
  • Orthodox Hindu society also reacted by founding Sanatan Dharma Sabhas and the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal in the north and associations such as the Brahman Sabha in Bengal.
  • The object of these associations was to uphold caste distinctions as a cornerstone of Hinduism, and show how this was sanctified by scriptures.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes