There are thousands of species of animals and a large variety of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, insects and worms which dwell in the forest of India.
(i) The tiger is our national animal. It is found in various parts of the country. Gir forest in Gujarat is the home of Asiatic lions.
(ii) Elephants and one-horned rhinoceroses roam in the forests of Assam. Elephants are also found in Kerala and Karnataka.
(iii) Camels and wild asses are found in the Great Indian desert and the Rann of Kuchchh.
(iv) Wild goats, snow leopards, bears, etc. are found in the Himalayan region.
(v) Besides these, many other animals are found in our country such as monkey, wolf, jackal, nilgai, cheetah, etc.
(vi) There are several hundreds of species of snakes found in India. Cobras and kraits are important among them. India is equally rich in bird life.
(vii) The peacock is our national bird. Other common birds are parrots, pigeons, mynah, geese, bulbul and ducks.
(viii) There are several bird sanctuaries which have been formed to give birds their natural habitat. These provide the birds with protection from hunters.

Sarpanch has various responsibilities, Some of them are as follows :
(i) Looking after street lights, construction and repair work of the roads in the villages and also, village markets, fairs, festivals and celebrations.
(ii) Keeping a record of births, deaths and marriages in the village.
(iii) Looking after public health and hygiene by providing facilities for sanitation and drinking water.
(iv) Providing education, implementing development schemes for agriculture and animal husbandry.

The famous leader who faced discrimination was the Father of India, Mahatma Gandhi. He faced discrimination when he was in South Africa. He faced discrimination directed towards the Black South Africans and Indians. One day, in the court at Durban, he was asked to remove his turban by the Magistrate. Another incident was when he was thrown off a train after his refusal to move from the first class to the third class.

(i) The members of the Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people.
(ii) Territorial areas called Parliamentary Constituencies are set up in each State and Union territory for the purpose of elections.
(iii) Seats are allotted to various States on the basis of their respective population.
(iv) Any number of candidates may contest an election from the same constituency.
(v) The candidate who secures majority of vote is declared elected to the Lok Sabha.

The Sun is the head of the solar family with nine planets revolving around it. But now, Pluto is no longer considered as a planet because of the following reasons :
(i) A planet is a celestial body that revolves the Sun.
(ii) A planet must not be a satellite.
(iii) It must be big enough to dominate its orbit. Pluto does not adhere to the last part of the definition so, it is called a 'dwarf planet'.

Assam is a North-Eastern state of India. It is famous for Assam tea and silk. A land of high rainfall, the place is endowed with lush greenery and the mighty river Brahrnapurta. Major religions of the state are Hinduism and Islam. Bihu is the important festival celebrated in Assam. It is the home of varieties of citrus fruits and leafy vegetables.

(i) Fold mountains are generally formed in the less deformed areas adjacent to areas strongly affected by thrust tectonics.
(ii) Typically, they are found in the foreland region where a major mechanically weak horizon is present.
(iii) The frontal thrust (or thrusts) propagate(s) a long distance along the horizon and subsequent movement on the thrust can give rise to a sequence of folds as the hanging wall of the thrust effectively crumples.
(iv) The anticline crests may be high enough to form mountains.
(v) Most of the fold mountains are likely to be relatively young in geological terms as they will start eroding as soon as they are formed.

The components of maps are:
(i) Symbols: Symbols are used on maps because it is not possible to show all details of an area as they actually are. These symbols make it easier to draw maps and also, to understand them.
(ii) Direction: There are four main directions i.e. East, West, South and North, known as the cardinal directions. Maps easily help us to locate direction on the given surface, because northern direction of a map is always marked as 'N'.
(iii) Distance: With the help of scale, large areas can be shown on a small scale map.

(i) Establishment of Harsha-vardhan Empire: The breakup of the Gupta empire was followed by a period of disorder. Small kingdoms fought against one another. Finally, Harshavardhana conquered these kingdoms and established a powerful empire.
(ii) Military Campaigns: The capital of Harsha's empire was Kannauj. He conquered Punjab, Eastern Rajasthan and the whole of the Ganga valley up to Assam. He attacked the Chalukyan King but was defeated. Harsha did not annex all the territories that he conquered. He allowed some kings whom he defeated, to continue ruling. They accepted Harsha as their overlord and paid him an annual tribute.
(iii) Sources of Information: Banabhatta, a learned man who wrote a biography of Harsha called Harshacharita gives us information about this period.
Another source of information is Hieun Tsang, a Chinese Buddhist scholar who came from China via Central Asia to India. He stayed in India for 15 years. He gave an account of life in Harsha's period in a book called Si-Yu-Ki or records of the Western World.
(iv) Religion: Before embracing Buddhism, Harsha worshipped Shiva and Surya. Later on, he became a Buddhist like Ashoka, Manender and Kanishka. Like them, he was tolerant towards other religions. The Indian government practises this attitude of tolerance towards all religious even today.
(iv) Administration: Just like the Mauryas and Guptas, the king was assisted by a council of ministers. Unlike the Mauryas but similar to the Guptas, power was not centralised. Harsha's empire was also divided into provinces. These were headed by Governors.

(i) Mehrgarh is located on a fertile plain, near the Bolan Pass, one of the most important routes into Iran.
(ii) The remains of square and rectangular houses were found at Mehrgarh. Each house was composed of four or more compartments, some of which may have been used for storage.
(iii) The evidences discovered at Mehrgarh prove that it was probably one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat and rear sheep and goats for the first time in human history.

(i) Between 2200 and 1900 years ago, Arikamedu was a coastal settlement where ships unloaded goods from distant lands.
(ii) A massive brick structure, which may have been a warehouse was found at the site.
(iii) Other findings include pottery from the Mediterranean region, such as amphorae (tall double-handled jars that contained liquids such as wine or oil) and stamped red-glazed pottery, known as Arretine Ware which was named after a city in Italy.
(iv) Roman lamps, glassware and gems have also been found at the site.
(v) Small tanks have been found that were probably dyeing vats, used to dye cloth.

(i) This manuscript is now preserved in a library in Pune, Maharashtra
(ii) This manuscript was written on birch bark.
(iii) This manuscript has been found in Kashmir.
(iv) This manuscript was used to prepare one of the earliest printed texts of the Rigveda.

There are several ways to earn a living of rural areas. These are farming and non-farming activities.
The farming activities are:
(i) Preparing the land
(ii) Sowing
(iii) Harvesting
(iv) Weeding
(v) Transplanting
People of rural areas are dependent upon the seasons, sometime they face problem such as failure of crops etc.
Non-farming activities are:
(i) Making baskets
(ii) Making utensils
(iii) Making pots
(iv) Making bricks
(v) Making bullock-carts
(vi) Fishing
(vii) Crafting
Some of the people have shops such as blacksmith's shop, tea shop, grocery shop, barber shop, cycle repair shop etc.

Councillors are elected by the people and they keep their positions only if they are re-elected. Officials are appointed on merit basis by council management to a specified job within the municipal administration and are like any other employee In a Job. Officials possess the knowledge and skills on the technical and specialised aspects of municipal affairs. Councillors who don't have this knowledge have to rely on the reports of officials to help them make decisions.
Both the Councillors and officials decide the policies and direction of the municipality. Once the council has reached a decision, then officials are expected to carry these out in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

It is a busy street in a city with hawkers and vendors. Various types of vehicles like cycles, buses, cars are plying on the roads.
Some of the people are trying to board the bus.
Many other people are buying goods from various shops. Some children are going to school. Also some people are taking their meals at dhaba.

(i) The above cartoon depicts a daughter who wants her place and says to her father that she doesn't want dowry of silk and gold but a place of her own.
(ii) Women had the following rights in property before the Hindu Succession Amendment Act, 2005:
(a) They did not get a share in the family's agricultural land.
(b) After the death of father, property was divided equally only among his sons.
Women have the following rights after the Hindu Succession Amendment Act, 2005:
(a) In this new law sons, daughters and their mothers can get an equal share in the land.
(b) The women can enjoy their independent status with equal rights.

(i) Lithosphere It is made-up of solid rock surface of the earth's crust and the thin layers of soil, which contain nutrient elements essential for life. There are two main divisions of the earth's surface. The large landmasses are known as the continents and massive water bodies are called ocean basins.
(ii) Hydrosphere The earth is called the blue planet. More than 71 per cent of the earth is covered with water and 29 per cent is with land. Hydrosphere consists of water in all its forms. As running water in oceans and rivers and in lakes, ice in glaciers, underground water and the water vapour in atmosphere, all comprise the hydrosphere.
(iii) Biosphere It is the zone with existing life. There are several organisms found here from microbes to large animals. All the organisms are linked with each other and biosphere as well. The living organisms in biosphere can be broadly divided into plant kingdom and animal kingdom.

(i)The monolithic temples shown the picture are located in Mahabalipuram.
(ii)They are called monoliths because each of these was carved out of a huge single piece of stone.
(iii)The stone cutters had to work from top downwards.

List of the different kinds of activities that the government is reported to be doing in these newspaper headlines is:
(i) The Government protects the rights of unorganised workers.
(ii) The Government fixes the price of onions when they are in short supply.
(iii) The Government plans to tackle natural disasters like floods, earthquake, tsunami, ere as soon as possible.
(iv) Government revamps the coal and power sectors.
(a) Yes, the government has a wide range of activities.
(b) The government is the organisation which makes the decision with regard to:
• building roads and schools
• reducing the prices of essential commodities
• increasing the supply of electricity
• implementing several programmes to help the poor

The difference between the summer solstice and the winter solstice is as follows:
Summer Solstice In the Northern hemisphere the longest day and the shortest night occur on 21st June. The Sunrays fall directly on the tropic of Cancer. All these conditions are opposite in Southern hemisphere and it is winter there. The nights are longer than the days in Southern hemisphere. This position of the Earth is called the summer solstice.
Winter Solstice The tropic of Capricorn receives direct rays due to tilting of South Pole towards the sun on 22nd December. The vertically falling sun rays at the tropic of Capricorn 23 1/2° provide heat to a larger portion of it. Therefore, it is summer in Southern hemisphere. This position of the Earth is called the winter solstice.

The rate of difference of time can be calculated as follows:
The Earth rotates 360^o in about 24 hours, i.e. 360/24 = 15^o/ hour
15^o in1 hour means, 60 minutes/15 = 4 minutes for 1^o.
For example (i) When it is 12 noon at Greenwich, what time will be at 15^o East of Greenwich?
(i) The time at 15^o East of Greenwich (when it is 12 noon at Greenwich) will be 15x4 =60 minutes or 1 hour ahead of Greenwich, it means 1 p.m.
(ii) When it is 12 noon at Greenwich, what time wil be at 15^o West of Greenwich? The time at 15^o West of Greenwich (when it is 12 noon at Greenwich) will be 15x4 =60 minutes or 1 hour behind, it means 11 a.m.
The time at 180^o will be 12 0' clock of mid-night when it is 12 noon at Greenwich.

(i) This fortification wall is located at Kaushambi.
(ii) A part of this wall was probably built about 2500 years ago.

India is a country of vast geographical expanse. In the North, it is bound by the lofty Himalayas.
The Arabian Sea in the West, the Bay of Bengal in the East and the Indian Ocean in the South, wash the shores of the Indian peninsula. India has an area of about 3.28 million sq. km.
The North-South extent from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is about 3,200 km. The East-West extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kuchchh is about 2,900 km.
The lofty mountains, the Great Indian Desert, the Northern Plains, the uneven plateau surface and the coasts and islands present a diversity of landforms.

(i)Statue depicts Vishnu as Varaha or Boar.
(ii) According to the Puranas, Vishnu took the shape of a boar in order to rescue the earth.

(i) The picture shows stone weights.
(ii) They were made of chert stone.
(iii) They were used to weigh precious stones or metals.

(i)Rampurwa bull is shown in the picture.
(ii)The picture belongs to the Mauryan dynasty.
(iii) Mauryan Pillar has been found in Rampurwa, Bihar

(i)The monument in the picture is Buddhist Stupa at Sarnath.
(ii)Stupa was built to mark the place where the Buddha first taught his message.

There were major changes in the climate of the world. Climate became relatively warm than the past. This warm condition led to some major changes:
(i) There was development of grasslands in many areas. As a result, the number of animals, which survived on grass, was increased. These animals were deer, antelope, goat, sheep and cattle.
(ii) This increasing number of animals helped people to start thinking about herding and rearing of these animals. Fishing became important.
(iii) At that time, several grains bearing grasses like wheat, barley, rice grew naturally and men became aware about where these grew and when they ripened. These grains were collected by men, women and children and they started thinking about growing these plants on their own.

(i) This manuscript was written about a thousand years ago.
(ii) The palm leaves were cut into pages and tied together to make books.
(iii) A palm leaf manuscript.

(A) Europe
(B) Asia
(C) Antarctica
(D) Sourh America
(E) Australia
(F) Indian ocean
(G) Pacific ocean
(H) Atlantic ocean
(I) Ural mountains

Yes, we can list three ways in which the different geographical location of these regions (Kerala and Ladakh) would be influence:

The way our country has to run is determined by the government. At each and every level, the government makes laws that citizens have to comply with. The Government formulates and implements policies and programmes for the socioeconomic development of the nation which directly or indirectly affects our daily life.

Khasra member is the number used for land which is owned by an individual villager or a village community .

The major seasons experienced in India are:
(i) Cold Weather Season (Winter)-December to February.
(ii) Hot Weather Season (Summer)-March to May.
(iii) South-West Monsoon Season (Rainy)-June to September.
(iv) Season of Retreating Monsoon (Autumn)- October and November.

Shekar's family had just finished the harvesting. He is the owner of two acres of land and manages to do all the work in the field with the help of his family members. It is subsistence agriculture for which outside labourers are not required

The Sarpanch is the head of the Gram Panchayat

District Education Officer and the District Civil Surgeon are two important officers. The health services of a district are under the Chief Medical Surgeon. He supervises all the hospitals and dispensaries of the district. Doctors, compounders and nurses assist the CM.O. in his work. The Education department of the district is looked after by the District Inspector of Schools. He makes frequent inspections to the schools and looks after the Education Department.

(i) Right to vote is the bed-rock of a democratic system. It should be equally available to all.
(ii) Citizens cast their vote at regular intervals.
(iii) The Constitution of India has introduced Universal Adult Franchise. All the adults above the age of 18 years, irrespective of their castes, colour and or sex are entitled to participate in the elections.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus have rings around them. A planetary ring is a ring of cosmic dust and other small particles orbiting around a planet in a flat disc-shaped region.

Drought is a dry weather condition that persists long enough to cause problems such as crop damage and water supply shortages. The two states that are severely affected by drought are Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Latitudes and longitudes can locate the exact location of a place, but they are not uniform units of measurement.
(i) If we look at the globe, we will see that longitudes are closer together as we move towards north and south of the Equator.
(ii) Only near the Equator, the distance represented by 1° longitude is equal to the distance represented by 1° latitude

Yes, these caves may have been hollowed out. These caves had been shaped and carved.

Traders carried many goods to Rome in ships, across the sea, and by land in caravans. Traders explored several sea routes and followed the coasts. The sailors took advantage of the monsoon winds to cross the seas more quickly.

In the northern part of the sub-conntinent:
(i) The village headman was known as the Grama Bhojaka.
(ii) The independent farmers were known as grihapatis, most of whom were smaller landowners.
(iii) The other men and women who did not own land, and had to earn their living by working on the fields owned by others, were known as dasa karmakara.

Rasheeda's question was how could anyone know what had happened so many years ago. There are various ways by which the people can know about the past.
(i) By the study of remains left by the early men in the form of tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins.
(ii) Various inscriptions written on hard surfaces which contain both scripts and languages and these inscriptions were deciphered.
(iii) By various manuscripts and religious books, epics and poems.

There are many similarities such as its shape, construction and material used in construction.

(i) Bachchu Manjhi came to the city to find work. He did not get masonry work regularly in his village. The income that he earned was not sufficient for his family. Sohe came to the city.
(ii) Bachchu Manjhi cannot live with his family because he lives in a rented room with his friends.
(iii) Bachchu Manjhi is a cycle-rickshaw puller. He earns about Rs 80 to 100 per day, out of which he spend Rs 50 to 60 on food and rent. If he takes leave from work, he will not be able to earn money for himself and his family.

The major landforms are mountains, plateaus and plains.

The level of sea water remains the same everywhere in the world. The elevation of the land is measured from the level of sea, which remains always same and taken as zero.

The Vajji sangha was different from the other mahajanapadas in these ways:

The three components of a map are distance, direction and symbol.

It is because the rays of the sun are slanting due to the Earth's inclined position and movement of the Earth. The Earth is spherical in shape, so only half of it gets light from the sun at a same time. The portion facing sun experiences day while other portion experiences night.

The inscriptions of the Pallavas mention a number of local assemblies. These were:
The Sabha It was an assembly functioned through sub-committees, which looked after irrigation, agricultural operations, making roads, local temples etc.
The Nagaram It is an organisation of merchants. It is likely that these assemblies were controlled by rich and powerful landowners and merchants.

List of some prejudices that I have noticed around me are:
(i) Prejudice against caste, creed
(ii) Prejudice against colour, eating habits and living style.
(iii) Prejudice against gender
They affect how people treat each other in the following ways:
(i) They comment on other people.
(ii) They abuse other people.
(iii) They use dirty languages.
(iv) They laugh at other people.

India belongs to Eastern hemisphere.

The words 'jana' or 'vish' are familiar, which were used to describe people or the community as a whole. The word jana is still used in Hindi and other languages.

The three important buildings in my city (Delhi) are:
(i) Rashtrapati Bhavan It is official residence of the President of India.
(ii) Parliament House In this house, elected Members of Parliament (MPs) meet and discuss all the important issues regarding the country.
(iii) Supreme Court It is the highest court of our country where all the major cases are decided.
All these are located in important areas of our national capital.

The king was afraid that someone might try to kill him, so he had special servants to taste the food before he ate.

The beggar convinced the sages that all people are part of the universal world i.e., God, and he is also a part of the universal soul. If the sages refused food to the beggar, they are refusing it to God. So, the sages shared their food with him.

Now-a-days, in India, it has been rarest, but in the African countries we can find them.