Ans:- Yes. Because, not all the people engaged in agriculture have sufficient land for cultivation. About one third of the 450 families are landless, i.e. 150 families, most of them dalits, have no land for cultivation. 240 families cultivate small plots of land less than 2 hectares in size. Cultivation of such plots doesn’t bring adequate income to the farmer family.

d. FACILITIES
Educational –one high school and two primary school
Medical –a government primary health centre and private dispensary
Electricity Supply-most of the houses and tube wells have electric supply
Communication-Many kinds oftransport are visible on this road starting from bullock carts, tongas, bogeys (wooden cart drawn by buffalos) loaded with jaggery (gur) and other commodities to motor vehicles like motorcycles, jeeps, tractors and trucks.
Nearest Town-shahpur

Ans:- Yes, modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry. Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh were the first to try out the modern farming method in India. The farmers in these regions had set up tube wells for irrigation, and made use of HYV seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides in farming. Some of them bought farm machinery like tractors and threshers, which made ploughing and harvesting faster. Here the inputs for modern farming is tube wells, HYV seeds , tractors, threshers etc..

Ans:-The Electricity powers all the tube wells in the fields and is used in various types of small scale industry.

Ans:- Yes. Because, not all the people engaged in agriculture have sufficient land for cultivation. About one third of the 450 families are landless, i.e. 150 families, most of them dalits, have no land for cultivation. 240 families cultivate small plots of land less than 2 hectares in size.
Cultivation of such plots doesn’t bring adequate income to the farmer family.

Ans:- Total Family - 450
Dalits, 150 families, have no land
Remaining 120 Family have small plots of land less than 2 hectares in size
Remaining 60 families of medium and large farmers have more than 2 hectares of land
Few of the large farmers have land extending over 10 hectares or more.

Ans:- There is heavy competition for work among the farm labourers in Palampur, so people agree to work for lower wages.

Ans:- In our region Daya and Rani are two farm labourer working at construction site. They get wages around Rs 35–40. Yes, they are paid in cash. No mostly they don't get work regularly, because so many people agree to work for lower wages. Yes they are in huge debt because with such a low wage they can not meet the two ends of the family.

Ans:- To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year is known as multiple cropping. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. All farmers in Palampur grow atleast two main crops; many are growing potato as the third crop in the past fifteen to twenty years.

Ans:- In Palampur, the yield of wheat grown from the traditional varieties was 1300 kg per hectare. With the HYV seeds, the yield went up to 3200 kg per hectare, because of the modern farming method in India.

Ans:- Medium and large farmers supply wheat to the market. And they obtain capital for farming while Most small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital. They borrow from large farmers or the village money lenders or the traders.

Ans:- Tejpal Singh agreed to give Savita the loan at an interest rate of 24 per cent for four
months, which is a very high interest rate. Savita also has to promise to work on his
field as a farm labourer during the harvest season at Rs 35 per day.
Yes, the interest rates for bank is lower. And there are many schemes for small farmers

Ans:-Dairy, Small scale Industry , poultry.

Ans:-There are few Non farm activities like dairy, poultry, small factories can be started in the village.

Ans:- 'People as Resource' is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing productive skills and abilities. Looking at the population from this productive aspect emphasises its ability to contribute to the creation of the Gross National Product. Like other resources, population also is a resource — a 'human resource'.

Ans:-The basic difference between human resources and other resources is that human resource can make use of land and capital. While Land and capital cannot become useful on its own.

Ans:- The role of education in human capital formation can be understand by this way As we know that a large population has been considered a liability rather than an asset .But It can
be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital for example, by spending resources on education .education added to the quality of labour. This enhanced the total productivity. Total productivity adds to the growth of the economy. This in turn pays an
individual through salary or in some other form as human capital . investments made
on her education can yield a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and greater contribution to society. education contributes towards the growth of society also. It enhances the national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of governance.

Ans:- The role of education in human capital formation can be understand by this way As we know that if any employ people who might not work efficiently as a healthy worker because of ill health. And hence the ill people can not assessing the future progress of the country. The health of a person helps him to realise his potential and the ability to fight illness. improvement in the health status of the population has been the priority of the country. Our national policy, too, aimed at improving the accessibility of health care, family welfare and nutritional service with special focus on underprivileged segment of population.

Ans:- The health of an individual person helps to realise his potential and the ability to fight illness. An unhealthy person becomes a liability for an organisation indeed; health is an indispensable basis for realising one’s well being.A family welfare and nutritional service can also be provide by healthy person in his working life .

Ans:- The various activities have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, and mining. Quarrying and manufacturing is included in the secondary sector. Trade,
transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance etc. are included in the tertiary sector. The activities in this sector result in the production of goods and services. These activities add value to the national income. These activities are called economic activities.

Ans:- The various activities have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, and mining. Quarrying and manufacturing is included in the secondary sector. Trade,transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance etc. are included in the tertiary sector. The activities in this sector result in the production of goods and services. These activities add value to the national income. These activities are called economic activities. While economic activities have two parts -market activities and non-market activities here non market activities Non-market activities is same as non economic activity the production for self-consumption.

Ans:- Women are paid low compared to men. Most women work where job security is not there. Various activities relating to legal protection is meagre. Employment in this sector is characterised by irregular and low income.

Ans:- Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the going wages and cannot find jobs.

Ans:- In case of rural areas, there is seasonal and disguised unemployment. Seasonal unemployment happens when people are not able to find jobs during some months of the year. People dependant upon agriculture usually face such kind of problem. There are certain
busy seasons when sowing, harvesting, weeding, threshing is done. Certain months do not provide much work to the people dependant on agriculture. In case of disguised unemployment
people appear to be employed. They have agricultural plot where they find work. This usually happens among family members engaged in agricultural activity. The work requires the service of five people but engages eight people. Three people are extra. These three people also work in the same plot as five people. The contribution made by the three extra people does not add to the contribution made by the five people. If three people are removed the productivity of the field
will not decline. The field requires the service of five people and the three extra people are disguisedly employed.

Ans: Educated unemployment has become a common phenomenon. Many youth with matriculation, graduation and post graduation degrees are not able to find job. A study showed that unemployment of graduate and post-graduate has increased faster than among matriculates. Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource People who are an asset for the economy turn into a liability. There is a feeling of hopelessness and despair among the youth. People do not have enough money to support their family. Inability of educated people who are willing to work to find gainful employment implies a great social waste. Unemployment tends to increase economic overload, due to which India faces unemployment problems.

Ans: Small scale Manufacturing sector is the most labour absorbing.Also various new services are now appearing like biotechnology, information technology and so on are very useful to build the maximum employment.

Ans:-As I feel human capital is the best among all others capital population need not be a liability. It can be turned into a productive asset by investment in human capital (for example,by spending resources on education and health for all, training of industrial and agricultural workers in the use of modern technology, useful scientific researches and so on).Because human capital is in one way superior to other resources like land and physical capital: human resource can make use of land and capital. Land and capital cannot become useful on its own!

Ans:- The poverty line in India, estimated which is based on the desired calorie requirement. Food
items such as cereals, pulses, vegetable, milk, oil, sugar etc. among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

Ans:- From my point of view present methodology of poverty estimation can not be ignored because with the spread of irrigation and the Green revolution, many job opportunities
were created in the agriculture sector. But the effects were limited to some parts of India. The industries, both in the public and the private sector, did provide some jobs. But these were not enough to absorb all the job seekers.

s:-Poverty trend in India since 1973 can be explain by this way It is clear that there is
substantial decline in poverty ratios in India from about 55 per cent in 1973. A person is
considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given “minimum level” necessary to fulfill basic needs. While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc. are determined for subsistence. These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees.

Ans:- One historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British
colonial administration. The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles. The low rate of growth persisted until the nineteen eighties. This resulted in less job opportunities and low growth rate of incomes. the growth rate of per capita income very low. One of the major reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources.

Ans:- Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households. Similarly, among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.

Ans:- The proportion of people in developing countries living in extreme economic poverty— defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1 per day—has fallen from 28 per cent in 1990 to 21 per cent in 2001. Although there has been a substantial reduction in global poverty, it
is marked with great regional differences.As-In China and Southeast Asian countries as a result
of rapid economic growth and massive investments in human resource development. Number of poors in China has come down from 606 million in 1981 to 212 million in 2001. In the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has not been as rapid. Because of different poverty line definition, poverty in India is also shown higher than the national estimates.

Ans:- The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks (1) promotion of economic growth (2) targeted anti-poverty programmes. The higher growth rates have helped significantly in the reduction of poverty. Therefore, it is becoming clear that there
is a strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction.And for targeted anti-poverty
programmes. Although there are so many schemes which are formulated to affect poverty directly or indirectly, some of them mentioned1. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005 2. Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) 3. Rural Employment Generation Programme 4. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) 5. Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY) 5. Antyodaya Anna Yozana (AAY)

(i) What do you understand by human poverty?
Ans:- It is about a “minimum” subsistence level of living rather than a “reasonable” level of living.

(ii) Who are the poorest of the poor?
Ans:- Women, children (especially the girl child) and old people are poorest of the poor.

(iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005?
Ans:- There are so many schemes which are formulated to affect poverty directly or indirectly, some of them are worth mentioning. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005
was passed in September 2005. The Act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household in 200 districts. Later, the scheme will be extended to 600 districts. One third of the proposed jobs would be reserved for women. The central government will also
establish National Employment Guarantee Funds. Similarly state governments will establish State Employment Guarantee Funds for implementation of the scheme. Under the programme if an applicant is not provided employment within fifteen days she/he will
be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.

Ans:- Food security is ensured in a country only if (1) enough food is available for all the persons (2) all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality and (3) there is no barrier on access to food.

Ans:- The states of Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts), Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal,Chattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra account for largest number of food insecure people in the India.

Ans:-Yes, I believe that green revolution has made India self-sufficient because After independence, India is aiming at Self-sufficiency in Foodgrains since independence. After independence, Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in the ‘Green Revolution’ especially in the production of wheat and rice. the Green revolution in agriculture by releasing a ‘Wheat Revolution’ in July 1968. The success of wheat was later replicated in rice. The increase in foodgrains was, however, disproportionate. The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana, where foodgrain production jumped from 7.23 million tonnes in
1964–65 to reach an all-time high of 30.33 million tonnes in 1995–96. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, recorded significant increases in rice yield. India has become self-sufficient in foodgrains during the last thirty years because of a variety of crops grown all over the country. The availability of foodgrains (even in adverse weather conditions or otherwise) at the country level has further been ensured with a carefully designed food security system by the government.

Ans:- The food insecure people are disproportionately large in some regions of the country, such as economically backward states with high incidence of poverty, tribal and remote areas, regions more prone to natural disasters etc. a large section of people suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India, the worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend upon, traditional artisans, providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers and destitute including beggars. In the urban areas, the food insecure families are those whose working members are generally employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labour market. These workers are largely engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages that just ensure bare survival.

Ans:- Due to a natural calamity, say drought, total production of foodgrains decreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. Due to shortage of food, the prices go up. At the high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. A massive starvation might take a turn of famine. A famine is characterised by wide spread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of
contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation.

Ans:- Chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and/or quality. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and in turn inability to buy food even for survival. Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting. This is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of the casual labour, e.g., there is less work for casual construction labour during the rainy season. This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to get work for the entire year.

Ans:- Public Distribution System (PDS) is the most important step taken by the Government of India (GoI) towards ensuring food security. In the beginning the coverage of PDS was universal with no discrimination between the poor and non-poor. Over the years, the policy related to PDS has been revised to make it more
efficient and targeted. In 1992, Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introducted in 1,700 blocks in the country. The target was to provide the benefits of PDS to remote and backward areas. From
June 1997, in a renewed attempt, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’. It was for the first time that a differential price policy was adopted for poor and non-poor. In 2000, two special schemes were launched viz., Antyodaya Anna Yojana*** (AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups .The functioning of these two schemes was linked with the existing network of the PDS. The PDS has proved to be the most effective instrument of government policy over the years in stabilising prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices. AAY was launched in December 2000. Under the scheme one crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the targeted public distribution system were identified. Poor families were identified by the respective state rural development departments through a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey. Twenty five kilograms of foodgrains were made available to each eligible family at a highly subsidised+ rate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice.

Ans:- Buffer Stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This buffer stock can be used during any natural calamity such as drought or earth quake.

(a) Minimum support price
Ans: The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The
farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price.

(b) Buffer stock
Ans: Buffer Stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states
where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This buffer stock can be used during any natural calamity such as drought or earth quake.

(c) Issue price
Ans; To distribute foodgrains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a price lower than the market price also known as Issue Price.

(d) Fair price shops
Ans: Ration shops also known as Fair Price Shops keep stock of foodgrains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price.

Ans:- PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc. It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality grains left. This has proved to be a big problem.

Ans:- The cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security in India especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people. In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making strides in provision of milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rate decided by Government of Delhi. Amul is another success story of cooperatives in milk and milk products from Gujarat. It has brought about the White Revolution in the country. These are a few examples of many more cooperatives running in different parts of the country ensuring food security of different sections of society.

7. When we come to terms with something, it is (still upsetting/no longer upsetting)

1. Fear or terror -- (iv) speaking to father
2. Glad sense of relief -- (ii) noise of the carriage grows fainter
3. A “funny” feeling, perhaps of understanding -- (vi) father comforts her and falls asleep

1. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
Ans. Kezia was afraid of her father because she thought he was too big — his hands and his neck, especially his mouth when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking about a giant for her.

2. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Ans. Kezia’s family constituted of her grandmother, her father, mother and herself.

3. What was Kezia’s father’s routine?
(i) before going to his office?
Ans. Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave her a casual kiss.
(ii) after coming back from his office?
Ans. After coming back from his office he asked for his tea, newspaper and his slippers.
(iii) on Sundays?
Ans. On Sundays he preferred stretching out on the sofa, his handkerchief on his face, his feet on one of the best cushions, sleeping soundly and snoring.

4. In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her father better?
Ans. On Sunday afternoons, Kezia’s grandmother sent her down to the drawing-room to have a “nice talk with Father and Mother”. She also suggested her to make a pin-cushion out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk, as a birthday gift for her father.

1. Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How did this happen?
Ans. As suggested by her Granny, Krezia was making a pin cushion out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk, as a gift for her father’s birthday.
She stitched three sides laboriously with double cotton but was not sure of what to fill it with. And as her grandmother was out in the garden, she wandered into her mother’s bedroom to look for scraps. On the bed-table she discovered a great many sheets of fine paper. So she gathered them up, tore them into tiny pieces, and stuffed her case, then sewed up the fourth side.
But to her horror, it turned out to be her father’s great speech for the Port Authority. And so her father got displeased from her very much.

2. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers”. What kind of father was Mr Macdonald, and how was he different from Kezia’s father?
Ans. The Macdonalds lived next door. They had five children. Looking through a gap in the fence Kezia saw them playing ‘tag’ in the evening. The father with the baby, Mao, on his shoulders, two little girls hanging on to his coat pockets ran round and round the flower-beds, shaking with laughter. Once she saw the boys turn the hose on him—and he tried to catch them laughing all the time.
So she decided that there were different kinds of father because her father never played with her or behave so lovingly.

3. How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy?
Ans. One night Kezia’s mother fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. Her granny also stayed in the hospital. So she was left to sleep alone in her room. That night when she woke up, afraid from a nightmare, she found her father standing beside her with a candle in his hand. He then caught her up in his arms and took her to his bedroom and laid beside her and asked her to rub her feet against his to get some warmth. Being afraid and half asleep Krezia then crept close to him, snuggled her head under his arm and held tightly to his shirt.
But being tired, her father slept off before her. Krezia had never seen her father caring so much about her. It was then that she realized that her father was not so big. He was also a human being who after working the whole day could not behave like Mr. MacDonald. And she had torn his important speech, so he had to get angry.

2. Who had these opinions about Einstein?
(i) He was boring.
Ans. His playmates.
(ii) He was stupid and would never succeed in life.
Ans. His headmaster.
(iii) He was a freak.
Ans. His mother.

3. Explain what the reasons for the following are.
(i) Einstein leaving the school in Munich for good.
Ans. Einstein was a revolutionarist . He hated the school’s regimentation, and often clashed with his teachers. So he felt stifled there and finally quit the school.
(ii) Einstein wanting to study in Switzerland rather than in Munich.
Ans. Einstein didn’t like the regimentation in Munich schools. And since his parents had also shifted to Milan, he decided to study in Switzerland because it was more liberal than Munich, and also the people there spoke German.
(iii) Einstein seeing in Mileva an ally.
Ans. Einstein saw an ally in Mileva because she was intelligent and she was also against the “philistines”— those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds.
(iv) What do these tell you about Einstein?
Ans. All this is an indication that Einstein was a revolutionarist. He didn’t like his ideas to be shackled in chains of regimentation. He was also a very broad minded person who liked women getting higher degrees.

4. What did Einstein call his desk drawer at the patent office? Why?
Ans. Einstein called his desk drawer as the “bureau of theoretical physics.” This was because he kept all his innovative ideas and works in that drawer.

5. Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?
Ans. Einstein was worried about the fact that the Nazis were developing an atom bomb. He was aware of the impact that an atom bomb could bring in. So he warned the then US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt in his letter.

6. How did Einstein react to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Ans. Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction brought in to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the use of atom bomb there. So he wrote a public missive to the United Nations. In it he proposed the formation of a world government. But unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact.
Over the next decade, Einstein got even more involved in politics — agitating for an end to the arms buildup and using his popularity to campaign for peace and democracy.

7. Why does the world remember Einstein as a “world citizen”?
Ans. Einstein was born in Germany, but he lived in many countries in his life time. He was a peace messenger and supported humanity, rather than the power quest of different countries. Though he was born in Germany, and was in America then, he was worried about the impact of the atom bomb if the Nazis used it and was agitated when the Americans actually used it. He also participated in politics to protest against the use of nuclear weapons throughout the world. That is why, we remember him as a world citizen.

1. “The sound was a familiar one.” What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? (Find the places in the text.) When and why did the sounds stop?
Ans. The Dr. heard the sound of a snake moving on the beam. He thought it were the regular sound of rats running on the beam. He heard it three times.
The sounds finally stopped because the snake had stopped moving and was about to fall from the beam.
2. What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?
Ans. The doctor was young and unmarried. He was also a great admirer of beauty in those days, so he thought he should look handsome. In that jovial mood while looking at himself in the mirror, he decided that he would shave daily and would grow a thin moustache. Another important decision was to keep an attractive smile on his face always.

3. “I looked into the mirror and smiled,” says the doctor. A little later he says, “I forgot my danger and smiled feebly at myself.” What is the doctor’s opinion about himself when
(i) he first smiles
Ans. First time when the doctor smiled, looking at himself in the mirror, he thought that he looks handsome with that attractive smile on his face. And so he decides that he would always keep smiling.
(ii) he smiles again? In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why?
Ans. This time when the doctor smiled, his left arm had a cobra coiled around it and whose hood was a few inches away from his face. Death was lurking four inches away. So the doctor started thinking about the medicines required if the cobra struck. He then realized that there were no medicines in that room and he didn’t even have the money to buy them. At this thought, he sarcastically smiled at his condition.
Earlier while the doctor was thinking to look handsome as he was unmarried and a doctor on top of it, later he finds himself helpless and thinks that he was nothing but a poor, foolish and stupid doctor. But this change of feeling was certainly temporary in the view of natural helplessness. There was nothing he could do at that time but to pity on his situation.

1. Where was Abdul Kalam’s house?
Ans. Abdul Kalam’s house was on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram.

2. What do you think Dinamani is the name of? Give a reason for your answer.
Ans. Dinamani should be the name of a newspaper. We can say this because in the time about which Dr. Kalam has talked (1939), India had not seen the radio, television or internet. So the only facility available then to get the headlines was a newspaper.

3. Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they later become?
Ans. Kalam had three close friends in school – Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan. Ramanadha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram templeso later, he took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father; Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims; and Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.

4. How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages?
Ans. When India was forced to join the Allied Forces and an emergency was declared, the first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station. As a result the newspaper had to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. This forced Kalam’s cousin Samsuddin, who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram, to look for a helping hand to catch the bundles. So he employed Kalam for the job, and in this way, he earned his first wages.

5. Had he earned any money before that? In what way?
Ans. Yes he had earned some money before this.
With the breaking out of the Second World War in 1939, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market. So Kalam used to collect the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street. A day’s collection fetched him one anna.

1. How does the author describe: (i) his father, (ii) his mother, (iii) himself? Ans. Kalam calls his father an austere person who used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries. However, he provided his family with all necessities, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. His father, Mr. Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education nor much wealth. But despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. Kalam’s mother Mrs. Ashiamma was an ideal helpmate to his father. She fed far more outsiders along with the members of her our own family. Kalam describes himself as a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. But this only shows his humble nature. A great personality who doesn’t believe in praising himself, even after all that he has achieved. 2. What characteristics does he say he inherited from his parents? Ans. Kalam says that he inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father and from his mother, he inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness.

1. “On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups,” says the author.
(i) Which social groups does he mention? Were these groups easily identifiable (for example, by the way they dressed)?
Ans. Kalam has mentioned about two major social groups existing in Rameswaram – The Hindu Brahmins and the Muslims.
Yes these groups were easily identifiable from their appearances. The Hindu Brahmins wore a sacred thread and the Muslims wore a cap.

(ii) Were they aware only of their differences or did they also naturally share friendships and experiences? (Think of the bedtime stories in Kalam’s house; of who his friends were; and of what used to take place in the pond near his house.)
Ans. They were very well aware of their differences but they still naturally shared friendships and experiences. And that makes our India so special with people from different diversities living here in harmony.
The three close friends of Kalam were all from orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. But still all of them were inseparable. During the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, Kalam’s family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site, situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha. Further, Kalam and his siblings were not only told the events from the life of the Prophet, but also from the Ramayana, as the bedtime stories from his mother and grandmother.

(iii) The author speaks both of people who were very aware of the differences among them and those who tried to bridge these differences. Can you identify such people in the text?
Ans. Such persons include Kalam’s own family members who helped the Hindus in the Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam. Further his mother and grandmother not only told their children the events from the life of the Prophet , but also from the Ramayana as their bedtime stories.
Then there was Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple and his friend Ramanadha Sastry’s father who was against spreading the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children.
There was his science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer as well, who although being an orthodox Brahmin, called Kalam to his home and fed him the food from his own hands.

2. (i) Why did Abdul Kalam want to leave Rameswaram?
Ans. Kalam wanted to leave Rameswaram to study at the district headquarters in Ramanathapuram. The Second World War had got over by then and the whole country was optimistic towards a free and self governed India. This optimism also got into Kalam and he thought of doing something for the nation by getting educated at a better place.

(ii) What did his father say to this?
Ans. His father readily agreed to it and said that he knew that one day Kalam had to go away. He gave the example of a seagull to him. He even consoled Kalam’s hesitant mother by quoting from the Khalil Gibran that our children are not actually ours but that of the Life’s longing for itself. They come to us but not from us. We can only give them our love but not our thoughts because they come with their own thoughts.

(iii) What do you think his words mean? Why do you think he spoke those words?
Ans. Kalam’s father may not be educated much but he possessed great innate wisdom and was a visionary. He could see that his son had something in him to do big. That’s why he gave him the example of a seagull who flies across the Sun alone and without a nest. He knew that Kalam had to leave home to grow. He also consoled Kalam’s mother, who was hesitant in sending Kalam away from her, by quoting the lines from Khalil Gibran which stated that no human being is bound to anyone. They have their own life and they owe to the Mother Nature for that. They come to their parents, not to serve them but to do something great in their life. So it’s the duty of the parents to love them and not impose their own thoughts over them. Everyone has got their own thinking and they should be left to lead their life, their own way.

1. How many characters are there in the narrative? Name them. (Don’t forget the dog!).
Ans. There are four characters in the narrative. Jerome (the narrator), Harris, George and Montmorency (the dog).

2. Why did the narrator (Jerome) volunteer to do the packing?
Ans. The narrator volunteered to do the packing because he thought he was quite good at packing and could do the job better than anyone living on Earth. He also knew how bad Harris and George were at the work.

3. How did George and Harris react to this? Did Jerome like their reaction?
Ans. George and Harris fell into the suggestion with a readiness and left the entire job on Jerome. George put on a pipe and spread himself over the easy-chair, and Harris cocked his legs on the table and lit a cigar.
No Jerome didn’t like their reaction because he intended a little differently at his suggestion.

4. What was Jerome’s real intention when he offered to pack?
Ans. When Jerome offered to pack, he actually meant to boss the job. He thought of supervising and Harris & George pottering about under his directions.

5. What did Harris say after the bag was shut and strapped? Why do you think he waited till then to ask?
Ans. When the bag was shut and strapped, Harris asked Jerome if he was not going to put the boots in?
He waited till then to ask to make fun of Jerome. He knew that Jerome thought of himself as a great packer, so he enjoyed every mistake of his and made fun sarcastically.

6. What “horrible idea” occurred to Jerome a little later?
Ans. Jerome, though being a great person in the art of packing, often remained unsure if he had packed his toothbrush. So every time, even though he had taken his toothbrush, the very idea of it haunted him. And that’s why, he calls this worried feeling as an horrible idea.

7. Where did Jerome finally find the toothbrush?
Ans. He finally found it inside a boot.

8. Why did Jerome have to reopen the packed bag?
Ans. He had to reopen the packed bag to check whether he had taken the toothbrushes. He always had this feeling that he did not take his toothbrush along. So he wanted to make sure that he had taken it.

9. What did George and Harris offer to pack and why?
Ans. George and Harris offered to pack the hampers. It was getting late and they thought that Jerome had taken just too much of time packing the bag, so they wanted to show him how to do the work more efficiently.

Ans. As per Jerome, Montmorency’s ambition in life was to get in the way and be sworn at. If he could squirm in anywhere where he particularly was not wanted, and be a perfect nuisance, and make people mad, and things thrown at his head, then he felt his day had not been wasted. To get somebody to stumble over him, and curse him steadily for an hour, was his highest aim and object; and, when he had succeeded in accomplishing this, his conceit became quite unbearable.
The narrator has talked of Montmorency in a way that it seems, he was a mischievous little child who loved creating troubles for others. But we should not forget that he was just a dog sans much mind like the humans. All he wanted was a little attention from his masters. Whenever he found people busy with their work, he might feel bored and wanted to get involved. He meant no trouble intentionally. But when people shouted at him or threw things at his head, he got discouraged and then went away to sit silently, which the narrator calls as the fulfillment of his conceit. He might also be hungry because till the time Jerome was packing, he is seen nowhere but then suddenly his presence becomes so evident when the packing of hampers is started.
This story is actually written in a humorous way with irony over every instance and decisions. In this attempt, the author has also used Montmorency as a vivid character in the story. He has described him as one of the nuisances among all the idiotics that kept happening in that room.

1. Of the three, Jerome, George and Harris, who do you think is the best or worst packer? Support your answer with details from the text.
Ans. Out of the three, Jerome was of course the best packer. He knew how to arrange things in order, while all that Harris and George could do was breaking a cup; placing hard things over the soft ones; fighting hard to adjust a pack of butter, and getting constantly irritated by Montmorency. Till the time Jerome packed, although he took his time, we can’t find Montmorency disturbing him though he was present there in the room. But then suddenly his presence is felt as a nuisance when Harris and George take up the job. They even kept things behind them and then kept searching for it. They made everything such a mess that they couldn’t even see what they tread on.

2. How did Montmorency ‘contribute’ to the packing?
Ans. Montmorency’s ambition in life was to get in the way and be sworn at. He squirmed in everywhere when he particularly was not wanted, and became a perfect nuisance. He made Harris and George go mad at him.
He came and sat down on things, just when they were wanted to be packed; and he labored under the fixed belief that, whenever Harris or George reached out their hand for anything, it was his cold damp nose that they wanted. He put his leg into the jam and worried the teaspoons. He also pretended that the lemons were rats. So he got into the hamper and killed three of them before Harris could land him with the frying-pan.

3. Do you find this story funny? What are the humorous elements in it?
(Pick out at least three, think about what happens, as well as how it is described.)
Ans. Yes this story is surely funny. The sarcastic approach that the author has used and also the irony about the incidences & decisions, makes it quite humorous.
Just for example, the way Harris reminds Jerome of the boots when the bag was shut and strapped; or the way in which Harris and George do their packing; even the plot of Montmorency are all very funny.

1. Why was the ‘holy man’ who gave Santosh’s mother his blessings surprised? (1)
Ans. Santosh was born in a society where the birth of a son was regarded as a blessing, and a daughter, though not considered a curse, was not generally welcome. So the holy man, while giving the blessings to unborn child’s mother, assumed that she wanted a son. But, to everyone’s surprise, Santosh’s grandmother, who was standing close by, told him that they did not want a son. At this the holy man was surprised.

2. Give an example to show that even as a young girl Santosh was not ready to accept anything unreasonable. (2)
Ans. In her young age, Santosh preferred wearing shorts while the girls were supposed to wear traditional Indian dresses. This shows that she was not ready to accept anything unreasonable.

3. Why was Santosh sent to the local school? (3)
Ans. Being a girl, Santosh was not supposed to get higher education. Girls in her village were married at the age of sixteen. So, in line with the prevailing custom in the family, Santosh had to make do with the local village school

4. When did she leave home for Delhi, and why? (4)
Ans. She left home for Delhi at an age of sixteen. She did so in her urge to get higher education before getting married.

5. Why did Santosh’s parents agree to pay for her schooling in Delhi? What mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light by this incident? (4)
Ans. Santosh’s parents though that they could compel to agree to their wishes by threatening her not to pay fees for her higher studies..But when Santosh humbly told them that she still wishes to continue her studies, by earning money through some part time job, her parents finally, bowed down to her determination and firmness and they agreed to pay the school fees.
This the mental toughness of Santosh. She was very determined about what she wished to do.

1. How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?
Ans. In Jaipur, Santosh’s Hostel faced the Aravalli hills. She always saw a few peole going up the hills and then vanishing. So she decided to check the matter herself. At the hills she only saw a few mountaineers, whom she asked if she could join them. The Mountaineers agreed and thus she began to climb mountains.

2. What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for her team-mates?
Ans. During the 1992 Everest mission, Santosh Yadav provided special care to a climber who lay dying at the South Col. She was unfortunately unsuccessful in saving him. However, she managed to save another climber, Mohan Singh, who would have met with the same fate had she not shared her oxygen with him.

3. What shows her concern for the environment?
Ans. As a fervent environmentalist, Santosh collected and brought down 500 kilograms of garbage from the Himalayas. This shows her concern for the environment.

4. How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?
Ans. Describing her feelings at the summit of the Everest, Santosh said that it took some time for the enormity of the moment to sink in... Then she unfurled the Indian tricolour and held it aloft on the roof of the world. It was a spiritual moment for her and she felt proud as an Indian.

5. Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt. Everest. What were the reasons for this?
Ans. First time when Santosh scaled the Mt. Everest at the age of twenty, she became the youngest woman of the world to achieve that feat.
And when she scaled it the second time, she set a record as the only woman to have scaled the Everest twice.

 The Gondwanaland included India, Australia, South Africa and South America as one single land mass. The convectional
currents split the crust into a number of pieces, thus leading to the drifting of the Indo-Australian plate after being separated from the Gondwana land, towards north. The northward drift resulted in the collision of the plate with the much larger Eurasian Plate. Due to this collision, the sedimentary rocks which were accumulated in the geosyncline known as the Tethys were folded
to form the mountain system of western Asia and Himalayas

 Natural Lakes

(a) Wular ,  (b) Dal , (c) Nainital ,  (d) Bhimtal , (f) Loktak , (g) Barapani , (h) Chilika , (i) Sambhar  ,   (k) Nizam Sagar , (l) Pulicat
(m) Nagarjuna Sagar      

Man-made Lakes

(e) Gobind Sagar , (j) Rana Pratap Sagar ,  (n) Hirakund