JAC Class 8 Social Women – Page 2 – Jharkhand Board Solution

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 4 Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age

June 4, 2022May 25, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 4 Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age

→ In 1895, a man named Birsa was seen roaming the forests and villages of Chottanagpur in Jharkhand.

Birsa himself declared that God had appointed him to save his people from trouble, free them from the slavery of dikus (outsiders).
Birsa was bom in a family of Mundas , a tribal group that lived in Chottanagpur. But his followers included other tribals of the region – Santhals and Oraons.

→ How Did Tribal Groups Live?
By the nineteenth century, tribal people in different parts of India were involved in a variety of activities.

→ Some were jhum cultivators

Jhum cultivation means shifting cultivation. This was done on small patches of land mostly in forests.
The cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the ground and burnt the vegetation on the land to clear it for cultivation. They spread the ash from the firing which contained potash to fertilise the soil.
Once the crop was ready and harvested, they moved to another field. A field that had been cultivated once was left fallow for several years.
Shifting cultivators were found in the hilly and forested tracts of north-east and central India. The lives of these tribal people depended on free movement within forests and on being able to use the land and forests for growing their crops.

→ Some were hunters and gatherers

In many regions tribal groups lived by hunting animals and gathering forest produce.
The Khonds were such a community living in the forests of Odisha. They regularly went out on collective hunts and then divided the meat amongst themselves.
They ate fruits and roots collected from the forest and cooked food with the oil they extracted from the seeds of the sal and mahua.
The local weavers and leather workers turned to the Khonds when they needed supplies of kusum and palash flowers to colour their clothes and leather.
At times they exchanged goods, getting what they needed in return for their valuable forest produce. At other times they bought goods with the small amount of earnings they had.
• When supplies of forest produce shrank, tribal people had to increasingly wander around in search of work as labourers. But many of them such as the Baigas of central India were reluctant to do work for others.
for the tribals, market and commerce often meant debt and poverty. They therefore came to see the moneylender and trader as evil outsiders and the cause of their misery.

→ Some herded animals

Many tribal groups lived by herding and rearing animals. They were pastoralists who moved with their herds of cattle or sheep according to the seasons.
The Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadis of Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders, the Gaddis of Kulu were shepherds, and the Bakarwals of Kashmir reared goats.

→ Some took to settled cultivation

Even before the nineteenth century, many from within the tribal groups had begun settling down and cultivating their fields in one place year after year.
Most of the tribes had rights on the land • such as the Mundas of Chottanagpur had the
land which belonged to the clan as a whole. All members of the clan were regarded as descendants of the original settlers, who had first cleared the land.
Powerful men often rented out their land instead of cultivating it themselves.
British officials saw settled tribal groups such as the Gonds and Santhals as more civilised than hunter gatherers or shifting cultivators. Those who lived in the forests were considered to be wild and savage, they needed to be settled and civilised.

→ How Did Colonial Rule Affect Tribal Lives?
The lives of tribal groups changed during British rule.

→ What happened to tribal chiefs?

Before the arrival of the British, in many areas the tribal chiefs were important people. They enjoyed a certain amount of economic power and had the right to administer and control their territories.
Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age of the tribal chiefs changed considerably.
They also had to pay tribute to the British and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British. They lost the authority they had earlier enjoyed amongst their people and were unable to fulfil their traditional functions.

→ What happened to the shifting cultivators?

The British were uncomfortable with groups who moved about and did not have a fixed home. They wanted tribal groups to settle down and become peasant cultivators.
The British wanted a regular revenue source for the state. So, they introduced land settlements which means they measured the land, defined the rights of each individual to that land and fixed the revenue demand for the state.
The British effort to settle jhum cultivators was not very successful.
Jhum cultivators who took to plough cultivation often suffered since their fields did not produce good yields. So, the jhum cultivators in north-east India insisted on continuing with their traditional practice.

→ Forest laws and their impacts

Changes in forest laws had a considerable effect on tribal lives.
The British extended their control over all forests and declared that forests were state property.
Some forests were classified as Reserved Forests for they produced timber which the British wanted. In these forests people were not allowed to move freely, practice jhum cultivation.
Once the British stopped the tribal people from living inside forests, they faced a problem.
In many regions the Forest Department established forest villages to ensure a regular supply of cheap labour.
The Colonial Officials decided that they would give jhum cultivators small patches of land in the forests and allow them to cultivate these on the condition that those who lived in the villages would have to provide labour to the Forest Department and look after the forests.
Many tribal groups reacted against the colonial forest laws. The revolt of Songram Sangma in 1906 in Assam and the forest satyagraha of the 1930s in the Central Provinces took place.

→ The problem with trade

During the nineteenth century, tribal groups found that traders and moneylenders were coming into the forests more often wanting to buy forest produce offering cash loans and asking them to work for wages.
It took tribal groups some time to understand the consequences of what was happening.
Many tribal groups saw the market and the traders as their main enemies.

→ The search for work

The plight of the tribals who had to go far away from their homes in search of work was even worse.
Tribals were recruited in large numbers to work the tea plantations of Assam and the coal mines of Jharkhand.
They were recruited through contractors who paid them miserably low wages and prevented them from returning home.

→ A Closer Look

Through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, tribal groups in different parts of the country rebelled against the changes in laws, the restrictions on their practices, the new taxes they had to pay and the exploitation by traders and moneylenders.
The Kols rebelled in 1831-32, Santhals rose in revolt in 1855, the Bastar Rebellion in central India broke out in 1910 and the Warli Revolt in Maharashtra in 1940.

→ Birsa Munda

Birsa was bom in the mid-1870s. The son of a poor father, he grew up around the forests of Bohonda, grazing sheep, playing the flute, and dancing in the local akhara.
Birsa heard tales of the Munda uprisings of the past and saw the sirdars (leaders) of the community urging the people to revolt.
Birsa went to the local missionary school and listened to the sermons of missionaries. There too he heard it said that it was possible for the Mundas to attain the Kingdom of Heaven and regain their lost rights.
Birsa also spent some time in the company of a prominent Vaishnav preacher. He wore the sacred thread and began to value the importance of purity and piety.
His movement was aimed at reforming tribal society. He urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery. He also turned against missionaries and Hindu landlords.
In 1895, Birsa urged his followers to recover their glorious past. He talked of a golden age in the past, a satyug (the age of truth) where Mundas lived a good life, constructed embankments, tapped natural springs, planted trees and orchards, practised cultivation to earn their living.
British officials were worried most about the political aim of the Birsa movement. The movement identified all these forces as the cause of the misery the Mundas were suffering.
British arrested Birsa in 1895, convicted him on charges of rioting and jailed him for two years.
When Birsa was released in 1897 he began touring the villages to gather support. He used traditional symbols and language to rouse people, urging them to destroy “Ravana” (dikus and the Europeans) and establish a kingdom under his leadership.
Birsa’s followers raised the white flag as a symbol of Birsa Raj.
In 1900 Birsa died of cholera and the movement faded out.
The movement was significant in at least two ways. First – it forced the colonial government to introduce laws so that the land of the tribals could not be easily taken over by dikus. Second – it showed once again that the tribal people had the capacity to protest against injustice and express their anger against colonial rule.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

June 4, 2022May 25, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

→ The Company Becomes the Diwan

On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East India Company as the Diwan of Bengal.
As Diwan, the Company became the chief financial administrator of the territory under its control. Now, it had to think of administering the land and organising its revenue resources.
Being an alien power, it needed to pacify those who in the past had ruled the countryside, and enjoyed authority and prestige.

→ Revenue for the Company

The Company had become the Diwan. but it still saw itself primarily as a trader.
Before 1865, the Company had purchased goods in India by importing gold and silver from Britain. Now the revenue collected in Bengal could finance the purchase of goods for export.
Artisans were deserting villages since they were being forced to sell their goods to the Company at low prices. Peasants were unable to pay the dues that were being demanded from them.
In 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal. About one-third of the population was wiped out.

→ The need to improve agriculture

Most Company officials began to feel that investment in land had to be encouraged and agriculture had to be improved.
In 1793, the Company introduced the Permanent Settlement.
By the terms of the settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars. They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company.
The amount to be paid was fixed permanently. It was felt that this would ensure a regular flow of revenue into the Company’s coffers and at the same time encourage the zamindars to invest in improving the land.

→ The problem

The Permanent Settlement created problems. Company officials soon discovered that the zamindars were in fact not investing in the improvement of land. The revenue that had been fixed was so high that the zamindars found it difficult to pay. Anyone who failed to pay the revenue lost his zamindari.
The prices in the market rose and cultivation slowly expanded. Hence, there is an increment in the income of the zamindars but no gain for the Company since it could not increase a revenue demand that had been fixed permanently.
As long as the zamindars could give out the land to tenants and get rent, they were not interested in improving the land.
On the other hand, in the villages, the cultivator found the system extremely oppressive. The rent he paid to the zamindar was high and his right on the land was insecure.

→ A new system is devised

By the early nineteenth century many of the Company officials were convinced that the system of revenue had to be changed again.
An Englishman called Holt Mackenzie devised the new system which came into effect in 1822, in the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh).
The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay. This demand was to be revised periodically, not permanently fixed.
The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company was given to the village headman, rather than the zamindar. This system came to be known as the mahalwari settlement.

→ The Munro system

Down in south, the similar idea of permanent settlement moved away. The new system that was devised came to be known as the ryotwar or ryotwari.
It was tried on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read in some of the areas that were taken over by the Company after the wars with Tipu Sultan. Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, this system was gradually extended all over south India.
Munro thought that the British should act as paternal father figures protecting the lyots under their charge.

→ All was not well
Driven by the desire to increase the income from land, revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demands. Peasants were unable to pay, ryots fled the countryside, and villages became deserted in many regions.

→ Crops for Europe

The British also realised that the countryside could not only yield revenue, it could also grow the crops that Europe required.
The British persuaded or forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce other crops: jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, sugarcane in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), wheat in Punjab, cotton in Maharashtra and Punjab, rice in Madras.

→ Does colour have a history?

A kalamkari print was created by weavers of Andhra Pradesh in India. On the other hand, a floral cotton print was designed and produced by William Morris, a famous poet and artist of nineteenth-century Britain.
There is one thing common in the two prints: both used a rich blue colour commonly called indigo.
The blue prints was produced from a plant called indigo.

→ Why the demand for Indian indigo?

The indigo plant grows primarily in the tropics. By the thirteenth century, Indian indigo was being used by cloth manufacturers in Italy, France and Britain to dye cloth.
Only small amounts of Indian indigo reached the European market and its price was very high. European cloth manufacturers therefore had to depend on another plant called woad to make violet and blue dyes.
However, cloth dyers preferred indigo as a dye. Indigo produced a rich blue colour, whereas the dye from woad was pale and dull.
By the seventeenth century, European cloth producers persuaded their governments to relax the ban on indigo import.
Indigo plantations also came up in many parts of North America.
The French began cultivating indigo in St Domingue in the Caribbean Islands, the Portuguese in Brazil, the English in Jamaica, and the Spanish in Venezuela.
By the end of the eighteenth century, the demand for Indian indigo grew further.
While the demand for indigo increased, its existing supplies from the West Indies and America collapsed for a variety of reasons.
Between 1783 and 1789 the production of indigo in the world fell by half.

→ Britain turns to India

From the last decades of the eighteenth-century indigo cultivation in Bengal expanded rapidly and Bengal indigo came to dominate the world market.
As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the Company began investing in indigo production.

→ How was indigo cultivated?

There were two main systems of indigo cultivation nij and ryoti.
Within the system of nij cultivation, the planter produced indigo in lands that he directly controlled.

→ The problem with nij cultivation

The planters found it difficult to expand the area under nij cultivation.
Indigo could be cultivated only on fertile lands and these were all already densely populated.
They attempted to lease in the land around the indigo factory, and evict the peasants
from the area. But this always led to conflicts and tension.
Nor was labour easy to mobilise and large numbers of labours required. And labour was needed precisely at a time when peasants were usually busy with their rice cultivation.
Nij cultivation on a large scale also required many ploughs and bullocks.
One bigha of indigo cultivation required two ploughs.
Till the late nineteenth century, planters were therefore reluctant to expand the area under nij cultivation.
Less than 25 per cent of the land producing indigo was under this system.
The rest was under an alternative mode of cultivation i.e.; the ryoti system.

→ Indigo on the land of ryots

Under the ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots to sign a contract, an agreement (satta).
At times they pressurised the village headmen to sign the contract on behalf of the ryots.
The planter provided the seed and the drill, while the cultivators prepared the soil, sowed the seed and looked after the crop.
When the crop was delivered to the planter after the harvest, a new loan was given to the ryot, and the cycle started all over again.
The price peasants got for the indigo they produced was very low and the cycle of loans never ended.
The planters usually insisted that indigo be cultivated on the best soils in which peasants preferred to cultivate rice because indigo had deep roots and it exhausted the soil rapidly. After an indigo harvest the land could not be sown with rice.

→ The “Blue Rebellion” and After

In March 1859, thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow indigo.
As the rebellion spread, ryots refused to pay rents to the planters and attacked indigo factories armed with swords and spears, bows and arrows. Women turned up to fight with pots, pans and kitchen implements.
In many villages, headmen who had been forced to sign indigo contracts, mobilised the indigo peasants and fought pitched battles with the lathiyals.
In other places even the zamindars went around villages urging the ryots to resist the planters.
After the Revolt of 1857 the British government was particularly worried about the possibility of another popular rebellion.
When in Barasat, the magistrate Ashley Eden issued a notice stating that ryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contracts, word went around that Queen Victoria had declared that indigo need not be sown.
The intellectuals from Calcutta wrote about the misery of the ryots, the tyranny of the planters, and the horrors of the indigo system.
Worried by the rebellion, the government brought in the military to protect the planters from assault, and set up the Indigo Commission to enquire into the system of indigo production.
After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal. But the planters now shifted their operation to Bihar.
Mahatma Gandhi’s visit in 1917 marked the beginning of the Champaran movement against the indigo planters.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 From Trade to Territory: The Company Establishes Power

June 4, 2022May 25, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 From Trade to Territory: The Company Establishes Power

→ Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He established control over a very large part of the territory that is now known as India.

After his death in 1707, many Mughal subadars (governors) and big zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional kingdoms.
By the second half of the eighteenth century, however, a new power was emerging on the political horizon – the British.

→ East India Company Comes East

The East India Company in 1600, acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East.
Mercantile trading companies in those days made profit primarily by excluding competition, so that they could buy cheap and sell dear.
The royal charter, however, could not prevent other European powers from entering the Eastern markets.
The Portuguese had already established their presence in the western coast of India and had their base in Goa. It was Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, who had discovered this sea route to India in 1498.
In the early, seventeenth century, the Dutch arrived and soon after them the French came.
The problem was that all the companies were interested in buying the same things. The fine qualities of cotton and silk produced in India had a big market in Europe. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon too were in great demand.
The only way the trading companies could flourish was by eliminating rival competitors. The urge to secure markets led to fierce battles between the trading companies.

→ East India Company begins trade in Bengal

The first English factory was set up on the banks of the river Hugh in 1651.
This was the base from which the Company’s traders known at that time as “factors” operated.
By 1696 it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later it bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three villages.
It also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade duty free.
One of the cities were Kalikata, presently known as Kolkata or Calcutta)earlier).

→ How trade led to battles

Through the early eighteenth century the conflict between the Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified.
Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler. They refused to grant the Company concessions, demanded large tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins and stopped it from extending its fortifications.
The Company on its part declared that the unjust demands of the local officials were ruining the trade of the Company, and trade could flourish only if the duties were removed.
The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in the famous Battle of Plassey.

→ The Battle of Plassey

The Company was worried about the power of Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges.
After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials, locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships. Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the Company’s fort there.
In 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey.
One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir
Jafar who was one of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle.
Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing Sirajuddaulah.
The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major victory the Company won in India.
After the defeat at Plassey, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated and Mir Jafar made the nawab. The Company was still unwilling to take over the responsibility of administration. Its prime objective was the expansion of trade.
When Mir Jafar protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he in turn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar in 1764 and driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstalled.
They wanted more territories and more revenue. By the time Mir Jafar died in 1765, the mood of the Company had changed. Having failed to work with puppet nawabs, Clive declared: “We must indeed become nawabs ourselves.”
Finally, in 1765 the Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal.
From the early eighteenth century its trade with India had expanded. But it had to buy most of the goods in India with gold and silver imported from Britain.
Revenues from India could finance Company expenses. These revenues could be used to purchase cotton and silk textiles in India, maintain Company troops, and meet the cost of building the Company fort and offices at Calcutta.

→ Company officials become ‘nabobs’

Each company servant began to have visions of living like nawabs.
After the Battle of Plassey the actual nawabs of Bengal were forced to give land and vast sums of money as personal gifts to Company officials.
Robert Clive was appointed Governor of Bengal in 1764, he was asked to remove corruption in Company administration but he was himself cross-examined in 1772 by the British Parliament.
The Company officials who managed to return with wealth led flashy lives and flaunted their riches. They were called “nabobs” means an anglicised version of the Indian word nawab.

→ Company Rule Expands

The Company used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic methods to extend its influence before annexing an Indian kingdom.
After the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Company appointed Residents in Indian states. They were political or commercial agents and their job was to serve and Anther the interests of the Company.
When Richard Wellesley was Governor-General (1798-1805), the Nawab of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the Company in 1801 as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”.
Hyderabad was also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.

→ Tipu Sultan – ‘The Tiger of Mysore’

Mysore had grown in strength under the leadership of powerful rulers like Haidar Ali (ruled from 1761 to 1782) and his famous son Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782 to 1799).
In 1785, Tipu Sultan stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom, and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company.
He also established a close relationship with the French in India, and modernized his army with their help.
Four wars were fought with Mysore (1767¬69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799). Only in the last, the Battle of Seringapatam did the Company ultimately win a victory.

→ War with the Marathas

With the defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered.
They were divided into many states under different chiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle.
These chiefs were held together in a confederacy under a Peshwa (Principal Minister) who became its effective military and administrative head based in Pune.
Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late eighteenth century.
In the first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra and Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-19 crushed Maratha power.

→ The claim to paramountcy

Under Lord Hastings (Governor-General from 1813 to 1823), a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated. Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme, hence its power was greater than that of Indian states.
When the British tried to annex the small state of Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma took to arms and led an anti- British resistance movement. She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829.
But Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor, carried on the resistance. With popular support he destroyed many British camps and records. He was caught and hanged by the British in 1830.
British fought a prolonged war with Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842 and established indirect Company rule there. Sind was taken over in 1843.
But the presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held back the Company. After his death in 1839, two prolonged wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom. Ultimately, in 1849, Punjab was annexed.

→ The Doctrine of Lapse

Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. He devised a policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse.
The doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his kingdom would “lapse”, and become part of Company territory. One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this doctrine – Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854).
Enraged by the humiliating way in which the Nawab of Awadh was deposed, the people of Awadh joined the great revolt that broke out in 1857.

→ Setting up a New Administration

Warren Hastings (Governor-General from 1773 to 1785) was one of the many important figures who played a significant role in the expansion of Company power.
British territories were broadly divided into administrative units called Presidencies. There were three Presidencies: Bengal, Madras and Bombay.
Each was ruled by a Governor. The supreme head of the administration was the Governor-General.
Each district was to have two courts – a criminal court (faujdari adalat) and a civil court (diwani adalat).
The criminal courts were still under a qazi and a mufti but under the supervision of the collectors.
A major problem was that the Brahman pandits gave different interpretations of local laws based on different schools of the dharmashastra.
In 1775, eleven pandits were asked to compile a digest of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated this digest into English.
By 1778, a code of Muslim laws was also compiled for the benefit of European judges.
The principal figure in an Indian district was the Collector. As the title suggests, his main job was to collect revenue and taxes and maintain law and order in his district with the help of judges, police officers and darogas.

→ The Company army

The Mughal army was mainly composed of cavalry (sawars – trained soldiers on horseback) and infantry, paidal (foot) soldiers. They were given training in archery (teer-andazi) and the use of the sword.
The East India Company adopted the method of recruiting peasants when it began recruitment for its own army, which came to be known as the sepoy army.
As warfare technology changed from the 1820s, the cavalry requirements of the Company’s army declined because the British empire was fighting in Burma, Afghanistan and Egypt where soldiers were armed with muskets and matchlocks.
In the early nineteenth century the British began to develop a uniform military culture.

→ Conclusion

Thus, the East India Company was transformed from a trading company to a territorial colonial power.
Steamships reduced the journey time to three weeks enabling more Britishers and their families to come to a far-off country like India.
By 1857, the Company came to exercise direct rule over about 63 per cent of the territory and 78 per cent of the population of the Indian subcontinent.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 6 Human Resource

June 4, 2022May 25, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 6 Human Resource

→ Human resource is the ultimate resource. Healthy, educated and motivated people develop resources as per their requirements.

→ Distribution of Population:

The pattern of population distribution is the way in which people are spread across the earth surface.
The distribution of population in the world is extremely uneven.
Almost three-quarters of the world’s people live in two continents Asia and Africa.
In just 10 countries, sixty per cent of the world’s people stay. All of them have more than a 100 million people.

→ Density of Population:
The number of people living in a unit area of the earth’s surface is called population density. It is normally expressed as per square km.

→ Factors Affecting Distribution of Population Geographical factors:

Topography: People always prefer to live on plains rather than mountains and plateaus because these areas are suitable for farming, manufacturing and service activities.
Climate: People usually avoid extreme climates that are very hot or very cold such as Sahara desert, polar regions of Russia, Canada and Antarctica.
Soil: Fertile soils provide suitable land for agriculture. Fertile plains are densely populated.
Water: The river valleys of the world are densely populated while deserts have spare population.
Minerals: Areas with mineral deposits are more populated.
Social Cultural and Economic Factors
Social: Areas of better housing, education and health facilities are more densely populated.
Cultural: Places with religion or cultural significance attract people.
Economic: Industrial areas provide employment opportunities.

→ Population Change:

Population change refers to change in the number of people during a specific time.
The world population has not been stable. This is actually due to changes in the number of births and deaths.
The main reason for the growth of population was that with better food supplies and medicine, deaths were reducing, while the number of births still remained fairly high.
Births are usually measured using the birth rate, i.e., the number of live births per 1,000 people.
Deaths are usually measured using the death rate, i.e., the number of deaths per 1,000 people.
Migrations is the movement of people in and out of an area.
The difference between the birth rate and the death rate of a country is called the natural growth rate. It is one of the reasons for population increase.
Migration is another way by which population size changes.
The general trend of international migrations is from the less developed nations to the more developed nations in search of better employment opportunities.

→ Patterns of Population Change:
Rates of population growth vary across the world. Although, the world’s total population is rising rapidly, not all countries are experiencing this growth.

→ Population Composition:

Population composition refers to the structure of the population.
The composition of population helps us to know how many are males or females, which age group they belong to, how educated they are and what type of occupations they are employed in, what their income levels and health conditions are and many more things.
The shape of the population pyramid tells the story of the people living in that particular country.
The population pyramid also tells us how many dependents there are in a country.
Skilled, spirited and hopeful young people endowed with a positive outlook are the future of any nation.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 5 Industries

June 4, 2022May 25, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 5 Industries

→ Secondary activities or manufacturing change raw materials into products of more value to people. Industry is an economic activity that is concerned with production of goods, extraction of minerals or the provision of services.

→ Classification of Industries:
On the basis of raw materials, size and ownership, industries are classified.

→ Raw Materials:

Depending upon the type of raw materials used, they are classified accordingly. Industries may be agro-based, mineral based, marine based and forest based.
Plant and animal based products are used as their raw materials in Agro-based industries.
The primary industries that use mineral ores as their raw materials in Mineral based industries.
Marine based industries use products from the sea and oceans as raw materials.
Forest based industries utilise forest produce as raw materials.

→ Size:

Size depicts the amount of capital invested, number of people employed and the volume of production.
Industries can be classified into small scale and large scale industries based on its size.
In a small scale industry, the products are manufactured by hand, by the artisans.
In large scale industries, investment of capital is higher and the technology used is superior.

→ Ownership:

Industries can be classified into private sector, public sector or state owned, joint sector and cooperative sector.
Private-sector industries are owned and operated by individuals or a group of individuals.
The public sector industries are owned and operated by the government.
Joint sector industries are owned and operated by the state and individuals or a group of individuals.
Co-operative sector industries are owned and operated by the producers or suppliers of raw materials, workers or both.

→ Factors Affecting Location of Industries:

The factors affecting the location of industries are the availability of raw material, land, water, labour, power, capital, transport and market.
Industrialisation often leads to development and growth of towns and cities.

→ Industrial System:

An industrial system consists of inputs, processes and outputs.
The inputs are the raw materials, labour and costs of land, transport, power and other infrastructure.
The processes include a wide range of activities that convert the raw material into finished products.
The outputs are the end product and the income earned from it.

→ Industrial Regions:

Industrial regions emerge when a number of industries locate close to each other and share the benefits of their closeness.
Major industrial regions of the world are eastern North America, western and central Europe, eastern Europe and eastern Asia.
India has several industrial regions such as Mumbai-Pune cluster, Bangalore-Tamil Nadu region, Hugh region, Ahmedabad- Baroda region, Chhota Nagpur industrial belt, Vishakhapatnam-Guntur belt, Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut region and the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram industrial cluster.

→ Distribution of Major Industries:

The world’s major industries are the iron and steel industry, the textile industry and the information technology industry.
The countries in which iron and steel industry is located are Germany, USA, China, Japan and Russia.
Textile industry is mainly concentrated in India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
The major hubs of information technology industry is the Silicon Valley of Central California and the Bangalore region of India.

→ Iron and Steel Industry:

Iron and steel industry is a feeder industry whose products are used as raw material for other industries.
Steel is tough and it can easily be shaped, cut, or made into wire.
Alloys give steel unusual hardness, toughness, or ability to resist rust.
Steel is often called the backbone of modem industry.
Most of the things we use is either made of iron or steel or has been made with tools and machinery of these metals.
Before 1800 A.D. iron and steel industry was located where raw materials, power supply and running water were easily available. Later the ideal location for the industry was near coal fields and close to canals and railways. After 1950, iron and steel industry began to be located on large areas of flat land near sea ports.
In India, iron and steel industry has developed taking advantage of raw materials, cheap labour, transport and market.
All the important steel producing centres such as Bhilai, Durgapur, Bumpur, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bokaro are situated in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Bhadravati and Vijay Nagar in Karnataka, Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Salem in Tamil Nadu.

→ Jamshedpur:

Before 1947, there was only one iron and steel plant in the country – Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO) and it was privately owned.
After independence, the government took the initiative and set up several iron and steel plants.
Jamshedpur is the most conveniently situated iron and steel centre in the country.
In Jamshedpur, several other industrial plants were set up after TISCO. They produce chemicals, locomotive parts, agricultural equipment, machinery, tinplate, cable and wire.
Almost all sectors of the Indian industry depend heavily on the iron and steel industry for their basic infrastructure. It opened the doors to rapid industrial development in India.

→ Pittsburgh:

It is an important steel city of the United States of America. The steel industry at Pittsburgh enjoys locational advantages.
The Pittsburgh area has many factories other than steel mills. These use steel as their raw material to make many different products such as railroad equipment, heavy machinery and rails.
Today, very few of the large steel mills are in Pittsburgh itself.

→ Cotton Textile Industry:

Cotton, wool, silk, jute, flax have been used for making cloth and weaving cloth from yam is an ancient art.
Fibres are the raw material of textile industry. Fibres can be natural or man-made.
Natural fibres are obtained from wool, silk, cotton, linen and jute. Man-made fibres include nylon, polyester, acrylic and rayon.
The cotton textile industry is one of the oldest industries in the world.
In 18th century power looms facilitated the development of cotton textile industry, first in Britain and later in other parts of the world.
The important producers of cotton textiles are India, China, Japan and the USA.
Before the British rule, Indian hand-spun and handwoven cloth already had a wide market.
The Muslins of Dhaka, Chintzes of Masulipatnam, Calicos of Calicut and Gold-wrought cotton of
Burhanpur, Surat and Vadodara were known worldwide for their quality and design.
The production of handwoven cotton textile was expensive and time consuming.
The first successful mechanised textile mill was established in Mumbai in 1854.
Initially this industry flourished in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat because of favourable humid climate.
Nowadays, it can be created artificially, and some of the other important centres are Coimbatore, Kanpur, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Puducherry and Panipat.

→ Ahmedabad:

The first mill was established in 1859.
It soon became the second largest textile city of India, after Mumbai.
Ahmedabad was often referred to as the ‘Manchester of India’.
Ahmedabad is situated very close to cotton growing area.
The densely populated states of Gujarat and Maharashtra provide both skilled and semi-skilled labour.
In the recent years, Ahmedabad textile mills have been having facing some problems. This is due to the emergence of new textile centres in the country as well as non- upgradation of machines and technology in the mills of Ahmedabad.

→ Osaka:

It is an important textile centre of Japan and also known as the ‘Manchester of Japan’.
The textile industry at Osaka depends completely upon imported raw materials.
Cotton is imported from Egypt, India, China and USA.
The finished product is mostly exported and has a good market due to good quality and low price.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions Geography Chapter 1 Resources

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Prasanna

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Solutions Geography Chapter 1 Resources

JAC Class 8th Geography Resources InText Questions and Answers

Question 1.
List out five resources you use in your home and five you use in your classroom.
Answer:
Five resources we use in our home are:
Question 2.
Circle those resources from Amnia’s list that are regarded as having no commercial value.

Five resources we use in our classroom are:

Amma’s List

Cotton cloth
Iron ore
Intelligence
Medicinal plants
Medical knowledge
Coal deposits
Beautiful scenery
Agricultural land
Clean environment
Old folk songs
Good weather
Resourcefulness
A good singing voice
Grandmother’s home remedies
Affection from friends and family

Answer:
Student need to do it on their own.

Question 3.
Think of a few renewable resources and mention how their stock may get affected by overuse.
Answer:
Some of the renewable resources that regenerate over-time such as trees, crops, wind, solar energy and water. Their stock may get affected by overuse or over utilisation because of certain reasons such as land degradation, deforestations, pollution, etc. Rivers are drying up, air becomes more polluted due to smoke from vehicles and industries. Trees are cut down to make more buildings, etc.

Question 4.
Make a list of five human made resources that you can observe around you.
Answer:
A list of five human made resources that we observe around are:

Phones
Buildings
Vehicles
Aeroplanes
Roads

JAC Class 8th Geography Resources Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Answer the following questions.
(i) Why are resources distributed unequally over the earth?
Answer:
The resources are distributed unequally over the earth because it is controlled by different factors. One of the factors is physical nature which includes climate, altitude, terrain which vary from place to place.

(ii) What is resource conservation?
Answer:
Resource conservation is to use the resources efficiently, carefully and properly and giving time to get renewed and to regenerate the resource so that it will be available for the coming generations.

(iii) Why are human resources important?
Answer:
Human resources are important because they can utilise the natural resources in a best possible way to generate more resources as they have an intelligent mind. Human resources also include technology and skills to find the suitable resource. Advantage and usefulness of resources can be best judged by human beings only.

(iv) What is sustainable development?
Answer:
Sustainable development is to use the resources in a balanced way so that we conserve it for the future generation and utilise it efficiently for our needs.

Tick the correct answer.

Question 2.
(i) Which one of the following does NOT make substance a resource?
(a) utility
(b) value
(c) quantity
Answer:
(c) quantity

(ii) Which one of the following is a human made resource?
(a) medicines to treat cancer
(b) spring water
(c) tropical forests
Answer:
(a) medicines to treat cancer

(iii) Complete the statement. Non-renewable resources are
(a) those which have limited stock
(b) made by human beings
(c) derived from non-living things
Answer:
(a) those which have limited stock

Question 3.
Activity:
“Rahiman paani raakhiye, Bin paani sab soon. Paani gaye na ubere Mod, manus, choon…” [Says Rahim, keep water, as without water there is nothing. Without water pearl, swan and dough cannot exist.] These lines were written by the poet Abdur Rahim Khankhana, one of the nine gems of Akbar’s court. What kind of resource is the poet referring to? Write in 100 words what would happen if this resource disappeared?
Answer:
The poet is referring to the water. If this resource disappear then we will face serious difficulties as water is one of the most invaluable and irreplaceable resource of life. Without water, we cannot survive and sustain. It serves many purposes such as to drink, to clean clothes and utensils and bath. For irrigation and farming, water is required very much. It is also used for cooking food. Water helps in generating electricity, industries and factories. Apart from human beings, animals, plants and trees also require water to sustain. Without water, the earth will become desert and no life will sustain. For Fun

Question 1.
Pretend that you live in the prehistoric times on a high windy plateau. What are the uses you and your friends could put the fast winds to? Can you call the wind a resource? Now imagine that you are living in the same place in the year 2138. Can you put the winds to any use? How? Can you explain why the wind is an important resource now?
Answer:
Wind has long been in use, since ancient time. It has been used for sailing boats, for navigation. Gradually wind mills were built to grind crops also to pump out water. Wind was regarded as a potential resource. However due to lack of technology it could not be harnessed completely. In 2138, we can surely see wind being used to the fullest as an actual resource. We have built wind turbines to generate electricity. We can see more and more wind turbines brings used in industrial areas, in agricultural farms to meet irrigation and electricity needs.

Question 2.
Pick up a stone, a leaf, a paper straw and a twig. Think of how you can use these as resources. See the example given below and get creative!

Answer:
Students can do the other two on their

JAC Class 8th Geography Resources Important Questions and Answers

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
A substance is made a resource when it has………
(a) Value
(b) usability
(c) utility
(d) all of these
Answer:
(d) all of these

Question 2.
Value means
(a) worth
(b) deserves
(c) both ka’ and ‘b’
(d) neither ‘a’ nor ‘b’
Answer:
(c) both ka’ and ‘b’

Question 3.
Time and technology are two important factors that can change substances into .
(a) stock
(b) resource
(c) patent
(d)value
Answer:
(b) resource

Question 4.
Natural resources contains
(a) air
(b) wind
(c) water
(d) all of these
Answer:
(d) all of these

Question 5.
The distribution of natural resources depends on…….
(a) terrain
(b) altitude
(c) both ka’ and kb’
d. none of these
Answer:
(c) both ka’ and kb’

Question 6.
Non-renewable resource is…….
(a) natural gas
(b) solar energy
c. wind energy
d. soil
Answer:
a. natural gas

Question 7.
Water is a………
(a) non-renewable resource.
(b) renewable resource.
(c) either ‘a’ or ‘b’
(d) none of these
Answer:
(b) renewable resource.

Question 8.
Resources to conserved for…..
(a) future generations.
(b) present generations.
(c) not required to conserve.
(d) both ‘a’ and kb’
Answer:
(d) both ‘a’ and kb’

Question 9.
Human resource refers to the
(a) quantity
(c) mental ability
(b) physical ability
(d) all of these
Answer:
(d) all of these

Question 10.
Buildings, bridges are
(a) human-made.
(b) non-renewable.
(c) renewable resource.
(d) resource conservation.
Answer:
(a) human-made.

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Which value is associated with resources?
Answer:
Economic value is associated withresources.

Question 2.
What do you mean by patent?
Answer:
Patent means the full and unshared right over any idea or invention of any particular thing.

Question 3.
What are the different types of resource?
Answer:
The different types of resources are:

Natural resources
Human made resources
Human resources

Question 4.
What do mean by natural resource?
Answer:
Natural resources are the resources which are drawn from nature, environment and used without much alterations and moderations.

Question 5.
Name the two natural resources.
Answer:
The two natural resources are:

Renewable resource
Non-renewable resource

Question 6.
Which resource has a limited stock? Answer: Non-renewable resource has a limited stock.

Question 7.
What do mean by human made resource?
Answer:
Human made resources are the resources which are generated and made by human beings.

Question 8.
Define human resource development.
Answer:
Human resource development means to improve the caliber, standard and quality of human expertise in order to make them more efficient and useful.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Mention few concepts of Sustainable Development.
Answer:
Few concepts of Sustainable Development are:

Respect and care for all forms of life.
Improve the quality of human life.
Conserve the earth’s vitality and diversity.
Minimise the depletion of natural resources.
Change personal attitude and practices toward the environment.
Enable communities to care for their own environment.

Question 2.
What is the importance of time and technology in making a substance a resource?
Answer:
Two major and important factors are time and technology that can change substances into resources. Each invention opens new routes to many others. The invention of fire led to the practice of cooking and other processes while the invention of the wheel resulted in development of newer modes of transport. The technology to create electricity from water i.e., hydroelectricity has turned energy in fast flowing water into an important resource.

Question 3.
Our duty is to maintain and preserve the life support system that nature provides us. What are they?
Answer:
Our duty is to maintain and preserve the life support system that nature provides us. They are:

All uses of renewable resources are maintained at a certain level.
The varied range of life on the earth is conserved.
The damage to natural environmental system is lessened and reduced.

Question 4.
Stock of certain renewable resources may get affected by overuse. How?
Answer:
If we don’t use certain renewable resources efficiently such as water, soil and forest, these can affect their stock. Though water seems to be an unlimited renewable resource but shortage and drying up of natural water sources is a major issue in many parts of the world nowadays.

Question 5.
Describe the term resource and how they are classified.
Answer:
Any object, substance or material that has utility or usability makes a resource. The substances which have certain values become a resource.
Resources are classified into three parts:
Natural Resources These resources are those which are taken from nature.

Human made Resources:
These resources are those which are made by the humans and used their skill and knowledge to make the things for their own use.

Human Resources:
These resources includes human beings who serves in many ways such as teachers, doctors, etc.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Distinguish between natural resources and human made resources.
Answer:

Natural Resources	Human Made Resources
Natural resources are the resources that are used from nature and used without much alteration and changes.	When humans use natural things to make something new that provides utility and value to our lives, it is called human-made resources. For instance, when we use metals, wood, cement, sand, and solar energy to make buildings, machinery,
Most of these resources can be used directly as they are free gifts of nature.	vehicles, bridges, roads, etc. they become man-made resources.
Natural resources are the air we breathe, the water in our rivers and lakes, the soils minerals.	Natural substances become resources only when their original form has been changed or modified to use such as iron is extracted from iron ore.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 4 Agriculture

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 4 Agriculture

→ Three types of economic activities are involved in transformation from a plant to a finished product. These are primary, secondary and tertiary activities.

Agriculture, fishing and gathering are examples of primary activities. It includes all those connected with extraction and production of natural resources.
Manufacturing of steel, baking of bread and weaving of cloth are examples of secondary activity. It is concerned with the processing of the primary resources.
Transport, trade, banking, insurance and advertising are examples of tertiary activities. These provide support to the primary and secondary sectors through services.
In the world, 50 per cent of persons are engaged in agricultural activity. Two-thirds of India’s population is still dependent on agriculture.
The land on which the crops are grown is known as arable land. Favourable topography of soil and climate are vital for agricultural activity.

→ Farm System:

The important inputs in agriculture or farming are seeds, fertilisers, machinery and labour.
Ploughing, sowing, irrigation, weeding and harvesting are other operations involved.
The outputs from the system include crops, wool, dairy and poultry products.

→ Types of Farming:
Farming is categorised into two main types. These are subsistence farming and commercial farming.

→ Subsistence Farming:

This type of farming is practised to meet the needs of the farmer’s family.
Subsistence farming can be categorised as intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence farming.

→ Intensive Subsistence Farming:

In this type, the farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour.
Rice is the main crop. Other crops include wheat, maize, pulses and oilseeds.
It is prevalent in the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of south, southeast and east Asia.

→ Primitive Subsistence Farming:

It can be categorised in shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.
Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and bum’ agriculture.
It is practised in the thickly forested areas of Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of south-east Asia and north-east India.
These are the areas of heavy rainfall and quick regeneration of vegetation.
Crops like maize, yam, potatoes and cassava are grown.
Once the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot.

→ Nomadic herding is the type of farming where herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water, along defined routes. Due to climatic constraints and terrain, this type of movement arises.

Commonly reared animals are sheep, camel, yak and goats.
They provide milk, meat, wool, hides and other products to the herders and their families.
It is practised in the semi-arid and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

→ Commercial Farming:

In this type of farming, crops are grown and animals are reared for sale in market.
Commercial farming is categorised in three types: commercial grain farming, mixed farming and plantation agriculture.

→ Commercial grain farming crops are grown for commercial purpose.

Commercially grown grains are wheat and maize.
Major areas are temperate grasslands of North America, Europe and Asia.

→ Mixed farming:

In this type of farming, the land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock,
Major areas are in Europe, eastern USA, Argentina, south-east
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

→ Plantation agriculture:

In this type of farming, single crop of tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana or cotton are grown.
Large amount of labour and capital are required. Transport network is essential for such farming.
Majorly they are found in the tropical regions of the world. Some of the examples are rubber in Malaysia, coffee in Brazil, tea in India and Sri Lanka.

→ Major Crops:

Major food crops are wheat, rice, maize and millets. Jute and cotton are fibre crops. Important beverage crops are tea and coffee.
Crops are grown to meet the requirements of the growing population.

→ Rice:

It is the major food crop of the world.
It is the staple diet of the tropical and sub¬tropical regions.
China, India, Japan, Sri Lanka and Egypt are the major producers of rice.
It needs high temperature, high humidity and rainfall. It grows best in alluvial clayey soil.

→ Wheat:

It requires moderate temperature and rainfall during growing season and bright sunshine at the time of harvest.
USA, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and India are the leading producers of wheat. In India it is grown in winter.

→ Millets:

Millets are also known as coarse grains. It includes jowar, bajra and ragi.
It can be grown on less fertile and sandy soils. It needs low rainfall and high to moderate temperature and adequate rainfall.
Leading producers are India, Nigeria, China and Niger.

→ Maize:

It requires moderate temperature, rainfall and lots of sunshine and fertile soil.
North America, Brazil, China, Russia, Canada, India, and Mexico are the producers of maize.

→ Cotton:

It requires high temperature, light rainfall, 210 frost-free days and bright sunshine for its growth.
It grows best on black and alluvial soils.
The leading producers of cotton are China, USA, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Egypt.

→ Jute:

It is also known as the ‘Golden Fibre’.
It requires high temperature, heavy rainfall and humid climate and grows well on alluvial soil.
The leading producers of jute are India and Bangladesh.

→ Coffee:

It requires warm and wet climate and well drained loamy soil.
The leading producer is Brazil followed by Columbia and India.

→ Tea:

It requires cool climate and well-distributed high rainfall throughout the year for the growth of its tender leaves.
Kenya, India, China, Sri Lanka produce the best quality tea in the world.

→ Agricultural Development:

It refers to efforts made to increase farm production in order to meet the growing demand of increasing population.
Another aspect of agricultural development is mechanisation of agriculture.
The major aim of agricultural development is to increase food security.
Developing countries which has large populations usually practice intensive agriculture.
Larger holdings are more suitable for commercial agriculture as in USA, Canada and Australia.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 2 Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resources

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 2 Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resources

→ Mamba and Peter stay in two different parts of the world and lead very different lives. This difference is because of the differences in the quality of land, soil, water, natural vegetation, animals and the usage of technology. The availability of such resources is the main reason places differ from each other.

→ Land:

One of the most important natural resources is Land.
Land covers only about thirty per cent of the total area of the earth’s surface and all parts of this small area are not habitable.
Due to varied characteristics of land and climate there is uneven distribution of population in different parts of the world.
Plains and river valleys are suitable land for agriculture. Hence, these are the densely populated areas of the world.

→ Land Use:

Land is used for different causes and purposes such as agriculture, forestry, mining, building houses, roads and setting up of industries.
Certain physical factors such as topography, soil, climate, minerals and availability of water determines the use of land.
Other important determinants of land use pattern are human factors such as population and technology.
Land can be divided into two categories on the basis of ownership as – private land and community land.
Private land is owned by individuals and community land is owned by the community for common uses like collection of fodder, fruits, nuts or medicinal herbs. The community lands are also known as common property resources.
The major threats to the environment because of the expansion of agriculture and construction activities and proceedings are land degradation, landslides, soil erosion, and desertification.

→ Conservation of Land Resource:
The common methods used to conserve land resources are afforestation, land reclamation, regulated use of chemical pesticide and fertilisers and checks on overgrazing land.

→ Soil:

Soil is the thin layer of grainy substance covering the surface of the earth and it is very closely linked to land.
Category of soil is determined the landforms.
Organic matter, minerals and weathered rocks found on the earth forms the soil.
The right mix of minerals and organic matter make the soil fertile.

→ Factors of Soil Formation:
The nature of the parent rock and climatic factors are the major factors of soil formation. The topography, role of organic material and time taken for the composition of soil formation are the other factors. Though they all differ from place to place.

→ Degradation of Soil and Conservation Measures:

The major threats to soil are soil erosion and depletion.
Soil degradation happens due to deforestation, overgrazing, overuse of chemical feritilisers or pesticides, rain wash, landslides and floods.

→ Few methods of soil conservation are:

Mulching: The bare ground between plants is covered with a layer of organic matter like straw and it helps to retain soil moisture.
Contour barriers: Along contours, stones, grass, soil are used to build barriers. To collect water, trenches are made in front of the barriers.
Rock dam: Rocks are piled up to slow down the flow of water and it prevents gullies and further soil loss.
Terrace farming: Terraces or broad flat steps are made on the steep slopes so that flat surfaces are available to grow crops. This reduce the surface runoff and soil erosion.
Intercropping: Different types of crops are grown in alternate rows and are sown at different times to protect the soil from rain wash.
Contour ploughing: To form a natural barrier, ploughing is done parallel to the contours of a hill slope for water to flow down the slope.
Shelter belts: Mainly in the coastal and dry regions, rows of trees are planted to check the wind movement to protect soil cover.

→ Water:

Earth is also known as an ‘water planet’ because three-fourths of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
The ocean water is not fit for human consumption as it is saline.
Fresh water accounts for only about 2.7 per cent. In this 2.7 per cent, about 70 per cent of this occurs as ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and mountain regions and these are inaccessible due to their locations.
Only 1 per cent of freshwater is available and fit for human use. It is found in the form of ground water, as surface water in rivers and lakes and as water vapour in the atmosphere.
The most precious substance on earth is fresh water. Its total volume remains constant.
Humans use huge amounts of water for drinking, washing but also in the process of production.
The main reasons leading to shortages in supply of fresh water is either due to drying up of water sources or water pollution.

→ Problems of Water Availability:

Scarcity of water is present in many regions of the world. Mostly countries located in climatic zones are most susceptible to droughts, face great problems of water scarcity.
Water shortage may be a result of variation in seasonal or annual precipitation or by over-exploitation and contamination of water sources.

→ Conservation of Water Resources:

World is facing a major problem in accessing the clean and adequate water sources.
To conserve this valuable resource, steps need to be taken.
The major contaminants in waterbodies are the discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage, agricultural chemicals and industrial effluents and pollute water with nitrates, metals and pesticides.
Water pollution can be controlled by treating these effluents suitably before releasing them in waterbodies.
Another method to save surface runoff is water harvesting.
Drip or trickle irrigation is very useful in dry regions with high rates of evaporation.

→ Natural Vegetation and Wildlife:

Natural vegetation and wildlife exist only in the narrow zone of contact between the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere and that is known as biosphere.
The life supporting system is called as the ecosystem. Here, living beings are inter-related and interdependent on each other for survival.
There are innumerable uses of plants. They provide us with timber, give shelter to animals, produce oxygen, protects soils essentials for growing crops, help in storage of underground water, give us fruits, nuts, latex, turpentine oil, gum, medicinal plants and the paper.
Animals big or small, all are integral and essential in maintaining balance in the ecosystem.
A vital cleanser of the environment are the vultures and considered as scavengers because they have the ability to feed on dead livestock.
Animals provide us milk, meat, hides and wool.
Bees and birds have an important role to play as decomposers in the ecosystem.

→ Distribution of Natural Vegetation:

Temperature and moisture are the factors for the growth of vegetation.
The major vegetation types of the world are grouped as forests, grasslands, scrubs and tundra.
In regions where heavy rainfall occurs, huge trees may thrive.
In the regions of moderate rainfall, short stunted trees and grasses grow forming the grasslands of the world.
In the regions of low rainfall, thorny shrubs and scrubs grow.
Tundra vegetation of cold Polar Regions comprise of mosses and lichens.
Population is growing in rapid way and to feed the growing numbers, large regions of forests have been cleared to grow crops. Forests are vanishing rapidly. An urgent need has come up to protect from destruction this valuable resource.

→ Conservation of Natural Vegetation and Wildlife:

Many species have become endangered and some are on the verge of extinction.
Some of the human and natural factors which gives momentum to the process of extinction of these resources are deforestation, soil erosion, constructional activities, forest fires, tsunami and landslides.
Another major and important issue is poaching. The animals are poached for collection and illegal trade of hides, skins, nails, teeth, horns as well as feathers.
The animals which are poached are tiger, lion, elephant, deer, blackbuck, crocodile, rhinoceros, snow leopard, ostrich and peacock. We need to create awareness to conserve these animals.
To protect our natural vegetation and wildlife, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserves are made.
Awareness programmes such as social forestry and Vanainohatasava should be encouraged at the regional and community level.
School children should also be encouraged to gain more knowledge about such awareness programs and try to conserve it.
Laws has been passed in many countries against the trade as well as killing of birds and animals. In India, killing lions, tigers, deer, great Indian bustards and peacocks is illegal.
Lists of several species of animals and birds in which trade is prohibited has been established by an international convention CITES.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 1 Resources

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 1 Resources

→ Any object, substance or material that has utility or usability makes a resource.

The substances which have certain values becomes a resource.
The two important factors that can change substances into resources are time and technology.
Time and technology are related to the needs of the people.
Human beings themselves are the most important resource. It is their ideas, recommendations, knowledge, inventions and discoveries that lead to the creation of more resources in the world.

→ Types of Resources
These are mainly divided into three categories:

Natural resources
Human made resources
Human resources

→ Natural Resources

Natural resources are the resources that are drawn from Nature and used without much alterations.
The natural resources are the air which we inhale, the rivers and lakes, the soils, minerals. These resources are presents of nature to living things and can be used directly.
Sometimes technology may be needed to use a natural resource in the finest manner.
Natural resources can be divided into:
- Renewable resources
- Non-renewable resources

→ Renewable Resources

These are the resources which get renewed or refilled quickly.
Solar energy and wind energy are some of the resources which are unlimited and are unaffected by human activities.
But some renewable resources such as water, soil and forest can affect the living things. In many parts of the world now a days, a major problem has come up. There is a shortage and drying up of natural water.

→ Non-renewable Resources

These are the resources which are present in fixed amount.
These are found inside the earth and take millions of years to form.
Fossil fuels, oil, natural gas, and coal and nuclear energy are some of the non-renewable resources.
In current scenario, around 84% of the total amount of energy used globally comes from fossil fuels.

→ Certain physical factors such as terrain, climate and altitude lead to the distribution of natural resources. Due to the unequal distribution of resources, these factors differ a lot over the earth.

→ Human Made Resources:

Human made resources are those natural resources whose original form has been changed to some other form.
Human beings use natural resources for their needs such as buildings, bridges, roads, etc.
Technology is also one of the forms of this resource.

→ Human Resources:

Knowledge, skill and technology help people to create more resources when they need to do so. Hence, human beings are a special human resource.
Human beings become a valuable resource due to education and health.
Human Resource Development is to enhance and improve the quality and attributes of person’s skills so that they are able to create and generate more resources.

→ Conserving Resources:

Resource conservation means utilising resources veiy carefully and giving them time to get renewed and restore.
Sustainable development means to balance the need to use resources and also preserve them for the future.
Many ways are there to conserve resources such as reducing consumption, recycling and reusing thing.
It is our responsibility and task to ensure that:
- Sustainable use of renewable resources.
- On the earth, the varied range of life is conserved.
- Minimise the damage to natural environmental system.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 10 Law and Social Justice

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 10 Law and Social Justice

→ To protect people from any kind of exploitation, the government makes certain laws. These laws try to ensure that unfair practices are kept at a minimum in the markets.

Private companies, contractors, business persons normally want to make as much profit as they can.
To ensure that workers are not underpaid, or are paid fairly, there is a law on minimum wages.
The minimum wages are revised upwards eveiy few years.
There are also laws that protect the interests of producers and consumers in the market.
These help ensure that the relations between these three parties – the worker, consumer and producer – are governed in a manner that is not exploitative.
The government has to ensure that these laws are implemented. This means that the law must be enforced. Enforcement becomes even more important when the law seeks to protect the weak from the strong.
Many of these laws have their basis in the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

→ What is a Worker’s Worth?

One reason why foreign companies come to India is for cheap labour.
Wages that the companies pay to workers, say in the U.S.A., are far higher than what they have to pay to workers in poorer countries like India.
Cost cutting can also be done by other more dangerous means. Lower working conditions including lower safety measures are used as ways of cutting costs.
Making use of the workers’ vulnerability, employers ignore safety in workplaces.

→ Enforcement of Safety Laws:

As the lawmaker and enforcer, the government is supposed to ensure that safety laws are implemented.
Instead of protecting the interests of the people, their safety was being disregarded both by the government and by private companies.
With more industries being set up both by local and foreign businesses in India, there is a great need for stronger laws protecting worker’s rights and better enforcement of these laws.

→ New Laws to Protect the Environment:

In 1984, there were veiy few laws protecting the environment in India, and there was hardly any enforcement of these laws.
The environment was treated as a ‘free’ entity and any industry could pollute the air and water without any restrictions.
In response to this pressure from environmental activists and others, in the years following the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian government introduced new laws on the environment.
In Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar (1991), the Supreme Court held that the Right to Life is a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution and it includes the right to the enjoyment of pollution-free water and air for full enjoyment of life.
The government is responsible for setting up laws and procedures that can check pollution, clean rivers and introduce heavy fines for those who pollute.

→ Conclusion:

A major role of the government, is to control the activities of private companies by making, enforcing and upholding laws so as to prevent unfair practices and ensure social justice.
This means that the government has to make ‘appropriate laws’ and also has to enforce the laws.
Laws that are weak and poorly enforced can cause serious harm, as the Bhopal gas tragedy showed.
People must demand stronger laws protecting workers’ interests so that the Right to Life is achieved for all.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Public Facilities

June 4, 2022May 24, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Public Facilities

→ Water and the People of Chennai:
Different situations are mentioned about the water supply and the people of Chennai.

→ Water as Part of the Fundamental Right to Life:

Water is essential for life and for good health.
India has one of the largest number of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera.
The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
There should be universal access to water.
There have been several court cases in which both the High Courts and the Supreme Court have held that the right to safe drinking water is a Fundamental Right.

→ Public Facilities:

There are things like electricity, public transport, schools and colleges that are also necessary. These are known as public facilities.
The important characteristic of a public facility is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people.

→ The Government’s Role:

One of the most important functions of the government is to ensure that these public facilities are made available to everyone.
In most of the public facilities, there is no profit to be had.
Private companies provide public facilities but at a price that only some people can afford.
This facility is not available to all at an affordable rate.
Public facilities relate to people’s basic needs.
The Right to Life that the Constitution guarantees is for all persons living in this country. The responsibility to provide public facilities, therefore, must be that of the government.

→ Water Supply to Chennai: Is it Available to All?

While there is no doubt that public facilities should be made available to all, in reality we see that there is a great shortage of such facilities.
Water supply in Chennai is marked by shortages.
The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly on the poor.
The middle class when faced with water shortages are able to cope through a variety
of private means such as digging borewells, buying water from tankers and using bottled water for drinking.
Apart from the availability of water, access to ‘safe’ drinking water is also available to some and this depends on what one can afford.
In reality, therefore, it seems that it is only people with money who have the right to water – a far cry from the goal of universal access to ‘sufficient and safe’ water.

→ In Search of Alternatives:

A similar scenario of shortages and acute crisis during the summer months is common to other cities of India.
The supply of water per person in an urban area in India should be about 135 litres per day (about seven buckets) – a standard set by the Urban Water Commission.
Whereas people in slums have to make do with less than 20 litres a day per person (one bucket), people living in luxury hotels may consume as much as 1,600 litres (80 buckets) of water per day.
A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign of failure of the government.
Within India, there are cases of success in government water departments, though these are few in number and limited to certain areas of their work.
It has also used the services of private companies for transporting and distributing water but the government water supply department decides the rate for water tankers and gives them permission to operate. Hence, they are called ‘on contract’.

→ Conclusion:

Public facilities relate to our basic needs and the Indian Constitution recognises the right to water, heath, education, etc., as being a part of the Right to Life.
One of the major roles of the government is to ensure adequate public facilities for everyone.
There is a shortage in supply and there are inequalities in distribution.