NCERT Solutions Social Science History Chapter 1 Class 9th

NCERT Solutions – Social Science 

History 

Chapter 1

Exercise Page No. 24

1. Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.

Answer: When King Louis XVI was anointed as the new king, he found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. On top of this, there was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the Palace of Versailles. France had helped the thirteen American colonies gain their independence from their common enemy, Britain. The war added more than a billion lives to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion lives. Lenders who gave credit began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans. So the French Government had to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone. To meet its regular expenses, such as cost of maintaining an army, the court, governmental offices and Universities were increasingly becoming difficult. Raising taxes did not suffice, because the French society was divided into 3 estates and only the 3rd estate had to pay taxes. The 1st estate and the 2nd estate did not pay any taxes. The population of France was also growing massively. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with demand. So the price of bread, which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops, whose owner fixed their wages. But the wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the rich and the poor widened. All these factors led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

2. Which groups of French society benefited from the revolution? Which groups were forced to relinquish power? Which sections of society would have been disappointed with the outcome of the revolution?

Answer: French society was divided into 3 estates. The third estate benefitted the most. The third estate consisted of Peasants, artisans, Small peasants, landless labour, servants, big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers etc. The groups that were forced to relinquish power were the people belonging to the 1st and 2nd estate. These people had enjoyed certain privileges by birth. With the revolution, the people in 1st and 2nd estate lost their privileges. Because inequality was one of the root causes of the revolution, the revolution tried to bring equality to society.

3. Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Answer: The ideas of liberty and democratic rights are the most important legacies of the French revolution. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished. Colonised people reworked the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation-state. Tipu Sultan and Ram Mohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas originating from Revolutionary France.

4. Draw up a list of democratic rights we enjoy today whose origins could be traced to the French Revolution.

Answer: The list of democratic rights are-

Freedom of speech

Freedom of expression

Freedom of press

Abolition of censorship

Right to vote

Abolition of slavery

Right to liberty

Right to property

Right to security

Right to education

Divorce laws

5. Would you agree with the view that the message of universal rights was beset with contradictions? Explain.

Answer: Though it says ‘Universal Rights’, women were unfortunately left out from the basic rights that were promised. They did not have equal rights that men enjoyed. They did not have the right to liberty, property, security and above all, the resistance to oppression. In the formulation of laws, women did not have any representation. Women were not entitled to all the honours and public employment, according to their abilities.

 

6. How would you explain the rise of Napoleon?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He started conquering neighbouring countries by waging wars against them. He saw himself as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws, such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system. Many of his measures carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to the other parts of Europe. This had a positive impact on people long after he was dethroned as an emperor when he was finally defeated in the Battle of Waterloo.

French Revolution Summary

Monarchy of France was ended by the French revolution. A society based on privileges gave way to a new system of governance. Students will read the nature of French society in the mid-19th century.

You must know the following topics-

1. The Outbreak of the Revolution

France becomes a constitutional monarchy

2. France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic

3. The struggle to survive

How a subsistence crisis happens. A growing middle class envisages an end to privileges

4. Did Women have a Revolution?

The Abolition of Slavery. 

The list of democratic rights that have been originated from the French Revolution are:

1. Freedom of speech

2. Freedom of expression

3. Freedom of press

4. Abolition of censorship

5. Right to vote

6. Abolition of slavery

7. Right to liberty

8. Right to property

9. Right to security

10. Right to education

11. Divorce laws

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 1 - A Letter To God

Page No 5:<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-5266403293639869" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

Question 1: What did Lencho hope for?

ANSWER: Lencho hoped for rains as the only thing that his field of ripe corn needed was a shower.

Question 2: Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

ANSWER: Lencho’s crops were ready for harvest. However, they required a good downpour before harvesting. After a downpour, he could sell the harvest and get money. That is why he compared the raindrops to ‘new coins’.

Question 3: How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?

ANSWER: The rain was pouring down. But suddenly, a strong wind began to blow and very large hailstones began to fall along with the rain. The hail rained on the valley for an hour, because of which Lencho’s fields were destroyed. There was not a single leaf left on the trees and the flowers were gone from the plants. The corn was completely destroyed.

Question 4: What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

ANSWER: When the hail stopped, Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. He looked around at his fields and said that even a plague of locusts would have left more than what was left after the hailstorm. He said that they would have no corn that year and they would go hungry. He was full of sorrow.

Page No 6:

Question 1: Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

ANSWER: Lencho had faith in God. He had been instructed that God’s eyes see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience. Therefore, he wrote a letter to God expressing his need for a hundred pesos so that he could sow his field again and live until the crop grew again.

Question 2: Who read the letter?

ANSWER: When the postman saw that the letter was addressed to God, he laughed and took the letter to the postmaster, who then read it.

Question 3: What did the postmaster do then?

ANSWER: In order to keep the writer’s faith in God alive, the postmaster decided to answer the letter. When he read that Lencho needed hundred pesos, he asked for money from his employees. He himself gave a part of his salary. He could not gather the entire amount, but managed to send Lencho a little more than half the amount. He put the money in an envelope addressed to Lencho and signed it ‘God’.

Question 1: Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

ANSWER: Lencho had complete faith in God. The sentences in the story that show this are as follows:

(i) But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God.

(ii) All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.

(iii) “God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”

(iv) He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town.

(v) God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.

(vi) It said: “God: of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much.”

Question 2: Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?

ANSWER: The postmaster sent money to Lencho in order to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive. He turned serious when he read Lencho’s letter and wished he had the same faith in God. Even after he saw that Lencho had requested for money, he stuck to his resolution of answering the letter. He gathered as much money as he could and sent it to Lencho. He signed it ‘God’ so that Lencho’s faith would not get shaken.

Question 3: Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

ANSWER: No, Lencho does not try to find out who had sent the money to him. This is because he never suspected that it could be anybody else other than God who would send him the money. His faith in God was so strong that he believed that God had sent him the money.

Question 4: Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? 

ANSWER: Lencho thought that the post office employees had taken the rest of the money. The irony of the situation was that the employees whom he called a “bunch of crooks” and suspected of taking some of the money were the same people who had contributed and sent him the money in the first place.

Question 1: Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

ANSWER: No. Lencho was not at all surprised to see the letter from God with money inside it. His confidence and faith in God was such that he had expected that reply from God.

Question 2:What made him angry?

ANSWER: He got angry when he counted the money. There were only seventy pesos in the envelope. He was confident that God could neither make a mistake nor deny him what he had requested. Therefore, he concluded that the post office employees must have taken the remaining thirty pesos.

Page No 8:

Question 5: Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

Greedy

Naïve

stupid

ungrateful

selfish

comical

unquestioning

ANSWER:

There might be a few people like Lencho in the real world. He is an unquestioning, naïve kind of a person.

Question 6: There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

ANSWER: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the destruction of Lencho’s crops by the hailstorm. Lencho had worked really hard on his fields and the harvest was really important for him. He required the money to feed his family. However, the nature turned violent. The rains were accompanied by a hailstorm, which destroyed the crops. The story also illustrates another conflict, between humans themselves. The postmaster, along with the help of the other post office employees, sent Lencho the money that they could manage to collect. They were not related to Lencho in any manner. It was an act of kindness and selflessness on their part. Even though they did a good deed, Lencho blamed them for taking away some amount of money. He called them “a bunch of crooks”. This shows that man does not have faith in his fellow humans, thereby giving rise to this conflict.

Question 1: There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary to help you.

gale,

whirlwind,

cyclone,

hurricane,

tornado,

typhoon

1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle:

__ __ c __ __ __ __

2. An extremely strong wind: __ a __ __

3. A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: __ __ p __ __ __ __

4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel:

__ __ __ n __ __ __

5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic ocean: __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __

6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: __ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __

ANSWER:

1. Cyclone

2. Gale

3. Typhoon

4. Tornado

5. Hurricane

6. Whirlwind

Page No 9:

Question 3: Relative Clauses

Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which as suggested.

1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)

2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)

3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)

4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)

5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)

ANSWER:

1. I often go to Mumbai, which is the commercial capital of India.

2. My mother, who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.

3. These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.

4. Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.

5. This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.

Page No 10:

Question 4:

Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.

1. The trees lost all their leaves.

_______________________________________________________________

2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

_______________________________________________________________

3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

_______________________________________________________________

ANSWER:

1. The trees lost all their leaves.

Not a leaf remained on the trees.

2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

It was nothing less than a letter to God.

3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

Never in his career as a postman had he known that address.