Category: Class 7 Social

NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 9 A Shirt in the Market

1. Did Swapna get a fair price on the cotton?
Answer: No. Swapna did not get a fair price on the cotton. The local trader paid her low price.

2. Why did the trader pay Swapna a low price?
Answer: The trader had lent Swapna money at the beginning of the cropping season on a condition that she would sell all her cotton to him. Thus, Swapna was in his grip. The trader took advantage of this situation and paid her a low price.

3. Where do you think large farmers would sell their cotton? How is their situation different from Swapna?
Answer: Large farmers would sell their cotton in the market. Their situation is different from Swapna. Unlike Swapna, they grew cotton on their own and therefore they are free to sell them anywhere they wish.

4. What are the following people doing at the Erode cloth market—merchants, weavers, exporters?
Answer: Merchants. They supply cloth on order to garment manufactures and exporters around the country. They purchase the yam and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth that is to be made.
Weavers. They make cloth and bring this to the Erode cloth market for sale. They also make cloth on order from the merchant.
Exporters. They use the cloth to make shirts to export them to foreign buyers.

5. In what ways are weavers dependent on cloth merchants?
Answer: Weavers are dependent on cloth merchants for raw materials and markets.

6. If the weavers were to buy yam on their own and sell cloth, they would probably earn three times more. Do you think this is possible? How? Discuss.
Answer: In such a situation the weavers would definitely earn more. They would buy yam at the lowest possible price and would sell cloth at the highest possible price. They would select the market of their choice for better price.

7. You might have heard of cooperatives in your area. It could be in milk, provisions, paddy, etc. Find out for whose benefit they were set up?
Answer: They were set up for the benefit of those who were in want of capital.

8. What are the demands foreign buyers make on the garment exporters? Why do the garment exporters agree to these demands?
Answer: They demand the lowest prices from the garment exporters.
They set high standards for quality of production and timely delivery. Any defects or delays in delivery in dealt with strictly.
The garment exporters agree to these demands because they are able to gain maximum profits even after that.

9. How do the garment exporters meet the conditions set by the foreign buyers?
Answer: The garment exporters cut costs. They get maximum work out of the workers at the lowest possible wages.

10. Why do you think more women are employed in the Impex garment factory? Discuss.
Answer: More women are employed in the Impex garment factory because they agree to work even at the lowest possible wages.

11. Compare the earnings per shirt of the worker in the garment factory, the garment exporter, and the business person in the market abroad What do you find?
Answer: The business person abroad makes a profit of Rs. 600 on one shirt and the garment exporter gains Rs. 100 on one shirt. So far the worker’s earning is concerned, he gets only Rs. 15 per shirt.

12. What are the reasons that the business person is able to make a huge profit in the market?
Answer: There are various reasons why the business person is able to make a huge profit in the market:
Some of them are given below:

1. He sells his shirts to people belonging to the high-income groups.
2. He is able to sell a large number of shirts every day.
3. He knows the ways how to get work done by the garment exporters at the lowest possible price.

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Who was Swapna?
Answer: Swapna was a small farmer, growing cotton on her small piece of land.

2. Why did Swapna take a loan from the local trader?
Answer: She took a loan from the local traders to buy seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for the cultivation of cotton.

3. On what condition did the trader agree to give a loan to Swapna?
Answer: He agreed to give a loan to Swapna on a condition that she would sell all her cotton to him.

4. What is the putting-out arrangement? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Under the putting-out arrangement, the cloth merchants supply the raw material to the weavers and receive the finished product.

5. Who are mostly employed in the Impex garment factory?
Answer: They are women.

6. What do women workers do in the Impex garment factory?
Answer: They do thread cutting, buttoning, ironing, and packaging.

7. Whom does the garment exporting factory export the shirts to?
Answer: The garment exporting factory exports the shirts to foreign buyers.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. How are small farmers in the grip of the local trader? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Small farmers can not do without the help of the local traders. They depend on them for various reasons:

• During cropping season they take a loan from the local traders.
• Whenever there is an illness in the family they go to the local trader for help.
• Farmers also face seasonal unemployment. There are times in the year when they have no work and hence no income.

During this time their survival depends on borrowing money from him.
Due to these reasons, small farmers easily come in the grip of the powerful local traders.

2. How do weaver’s cooperatives reduce the dependence of weavers on the cloth merchants? [V. Imp.]
Answer: In a cooperative people with common interests come together and work for their mutual benefit. In a weaver’s cooperative, the weavers form a group and take up certain activities collectively. They get yam from the yam dealer and distribute it among the weavers. The cooperative also does marketing. In this way, the role of the merchants is reduced and weavers get a fair price on the cloth that they produce by dint of their hard labour.

3. Write a short note on the Impex garment factory.
Answer: The Impex garment factory employs mostly women. The workers work on a temporary basis. They can be asked to leave at any time. Their wages are fixed according to their skills. The highest-paid among the workers are the tailors who get about Rs. 3,000 per month. Women are employed as helpers. They are engaged in thread cutting, buttoning, ironing, and packaging. They get the lowest wages.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Who is involved in the putting-out system? How is this system advantageous and disadvantageous for the weavers? [V. Imp.]
Answer: The persons involved in the putting-out system are weavers and merchants.
This system is advantageous for the weavers in two ways:

• They do not have to spend their money on the purchase of yam.
• They are also free from the tension of selling the finished cloth.

This system is disadvantageous for the weavers in these ways:

• They have to depend on the merchants for raw materials as well as markets.
• Under this system, the merchants become very powerful. They give orders for what is to be made and they pay a very low price for making the cloth.
• The weavers have no way of knowing who they are making the cloth for or at what price it will be sold.

2. How does market work move in favour of the rich and powerful? What are the ways to overcome them? (V. Imp.]
Answer: It is usually the rich and the powerful who earn the maximum profits in the market. These people have money and they own the factories, the large shops, large landholdings, etc. The poor have to depend on the rich and the powerful for various things. They have to depend on loans, for raw materials and marketing of their goods, and most often for employment.

This dependence makes the poor miserable. They are easily exploited in the market. They get low wages in spite of their hard labour and the rich earn huge profits at the cost of the workers. There are ways to overcome these such as forming cooperatives of producers and ensuring that laws are following strictly.

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NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 8 Markets Around Us

1. In what ways is a hawker different from a shop owner?
Answer: A hawker provides door to door service. He sells his goods by calling out the names of his items. He generally owns a the which we may call a movable shop and keeps in it different items of our everyday use. He sells his goods at a minimum profit.

A shop owner runs his shop at one fixed place. Whenever we need anything we go there and purchase it. Here, we get things at a somewhat costlier rate.

2. Compare and contrast a weekly market and a shopping complex on the following:

3. Explain how a chain of markets is formed. What purpose does it serve?
Answer: Goods are produced in factories, Goods are also produced in farms and in homes. But we are not required to go to factories or farms to buy goods of our need, because the producers are not interested in selling us small quantities. The wholesale traders do this job. They are the people who come in between the producer and the final consumer. They first buy goods in bulk. Then they sell these goods to the retailers, who finally sell this to the consumers.
From the above instance we come to the conclusion that from factories to final consumers a chain is formed, which we may call a chain of markets. We can better understand it through the flow chart given below:

It serves a great purpose. It maintains the flow of money. It makes easy availability of various items of our daily use. It also promotes coordination in society

4. ‘All persons have equal rights to visit any shop in a marketplace.’ Do you think this is true of shops with expensive products? Explain with examples.
Answer: It is true that all persons have equal rights to visit any shop in the marketplace. But this is not true of shops with expensive products. It is because of the following:

1. People with high incomes can buy expensive products. Hence, these people go to the shops with expensive products and not the poor or people with low income.
2. The low-income group people visit the shops or weekly markets to buy goods as these goods are available at cheaper rates.

Examples:
People with high income buy green vegetables from multiplexes or malls while poor people purchase green vegetables from small vegetable sellers or from hawkers.

5. ‘Buying and selling can take place without going to a marketplace’. Explain this statement with the help of examples.
Answer:
It is correct that buying and selling can take place without going to a market place. It is done in the following manner.
Examples:

• We can order goods that we need over the telephone and get their delivery.
• Over the internet, we can visit the concerned website and order the products.
• We can pay through internet banking or on the delivery of goods.

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Why is a weekly market called so?
Answer: A weekly market is called so because it is held a specific day of the week.

2. Why is there a competition among the shops in the weekly market? [V. Imp.]
Answer: In the weekly market there are many shops that sell the same goods. This creates competition among them.

3. Who is Scunner? What does he do?
Answer: Sameer is a small trader in the weekly market. He buys clothes from a large trader and sells them in six different markets in a week.

4. Give some examples of roadside stalls.
Answer: Vegetable hawker, fruit vendor, mechanic.

5. How are shops in the neighbourhood useful?
Answer: These types of shops are close to our home and we can go there any time. As the buyer and seller know each other these shops also provide goods on credit.

6. Where are the goods produced?
Answer: Goods are produced in factories, on farms, and in homes.

7. Why do we not buy directly from the producer?    [V. Imp.]
Answer: It is because the producer is not interested in selling goods in small quantities. 9*

8. Who is a retailer?   [Imp.]
Answer: A retailer is a small trader who buys goods from the wholesale trader and sells this to the consumer.

9. Who is Aftab?
Answer: Aftab is a wholesaler in the city. He purchases vegetables in bulk and sells them to hawkers and shopkeepers.

10. How are buyers, different people?
Answer: There are many buyers who cannot afford even the cheapest of goods. While others frequently visit malls and buy different items.

11. What is done in the wholesale markets?
Ans. This is where goods first reach and are then supplied to other traders.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Write in brief about shopping complexes and malls.
Answer: Shopping complexes and malls are usually found in urban areas. These are large multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors. These shops sell both branded and non-branded goods. Fewer people visit malls because they sell costly items. Only well-to-do people can afford to buy these items.

2. What is the job of a wholesale trader?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: A wholesale trader buys goods from the producer in large quantities. He then sells them to other traders, say small traders. These small traders sell different items to the final consumer. Thus, the wholesale trader establishes link between the producer and the consumer. It is through these links of traders that goods reach faraway places.

3. How are shop owners in a weekly market and those in a shopping complex very different people?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: Both are undoubtedly different people.
(a) The shop owners in a weekly market are small traders who run their shop with little money. On the other hand, the shop owners of a shopping complex are big parties. They have a lot of money to spend on their shops.

(b) What these two types of shop owners earn is also not equal. The weekly market trader earns little compared to the profit of a regular shop owner in a shopping complex.

4. Write a brief note on ‘Aftab—the wholesaler in the city’.
Answer: Aftab is a wholesaler of vegetables. His work usually starts at around 2 o’clock in the early morning. This is the time when vegetables reach the market or mandi and with them start the activities. The vegetables come in trucks, matadors, etc. and soon the process of auctions begins. Aftab participates in this auction and decides what he will buy. He buys vegetables in bulk. After that, he sells them to hawkers and shopkeepers who usually come to him around six in the morning.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Do you see equality in the market? If not, why not? Explain with examples.[V. Imp.]
Or
Write in brief on ‘market and equality’.
Answer: We do not see equality in the market. Big and powerful business persons earn huge profits while small traders earn very little. For example, the shop owners in a weekly market and those in a shopping complex are two different people. One is a small trader who has little money to run the shop. Whereas the other has a lot of money to spend on the shop. The earning of these two people is also unequal. The weekly market trader earns little profit whereas the shopping complex owner gains huge income.

Not only the shop owners are different people, but also the buyers. In the market we see different types of buyers There are several buyers who Eire not able to afford even the cheapest of goods white others are busy shopping for different luxurious items in malls. Thus, we see no equality in the market place.

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NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 7 Understanding Advertising

1.  Look at the two advertisements given below and tell in the table that follow.

2. Do you think there is a problem in using the image of the mother as the only person who takes care of the child on the Care Soap, advertisement?
Answer: I don’t think there is any problem. Mother is undoubtedly the only person in the family who takes the greatest care of her child.

3. Observe the advertisements given below and answer the questions that follow:

(a) What does this advertisement want me to feel when I use this brand?
(b) Who is this advertisement talking to and who is leaving out?
(c) If you have money to buy these products, how would you feel when you see these advertisements? If you do not have money, then how would you feel?
Answer: (a)When I use this brand I feel exalted.
(b) This advertisement is talking to those who can afford to buy this brand. It is leaving out those who belong to the poor lot and earn their livelihood with great difficulty.
(c) If I have money to buy these products, I would feel proud when I see these advertisements. But if I do not have money, I would feel depressed.

4. Observe the advertisement given below and answer the questions that follow:

(a) Who do you think is the target audience for the social advertisements above?
(b) What is the message that each social advertisement is trying to get across?
(c) Having read about diarrhoea epidemic in the chapter on State Government,
Answer: (a) Here are two social advertisements. In the first advertisement the target audience is the disabled children. In the next advertisement the target audience is common mass.
(b) Freedom is birthright to the disabled children also. Unless they get education, this freedom won’t come to them. Hence, they have every right to get education.
Railway runs faster than us. Hence, we should not dare to cross the railway crossing when the train is coming.

• Advertisement No. 1
• Visual — Display of furniture items
• Text — Quality, brand, discount ,

(a) Advertisement No. 2

• Visual — Display of CCTV
• Text — Features, Quality, Availability

(b) People can afford best things at cheaper price.
(c) Advertisement No. 1. This advertisement is speaking to the middle class people and is leaving out the people belonging to higher societies.
Advertisement No. 2 is speaking to the business group and is leaving out the common mass.
(d) I would feel a little bit depressed.

5. Can you explain two ways in which you think advertising affects issues of equality in a democracy?
Answer: Yes, the two ways in which we think advertising affects issues of equality in a democracy are:

1. The branded products are costly than those available in the open market because they include the cost of the product, its package, and its advertisement. Those people buy this product who can afford it. But there are numerous people who can not buy them because of the higher cost. Hence, the principle of equality is marred.
2. Only large companies can get their products branded due to the large involvement of amounts of money. Small companies cannot get their product branded as they are not able to spend large amounts of money. Hence, there is a question of inequality in branding.

6. Making an advertisement requires a lot of creativity. Let us imagine a situation in which a manufacturer has just made a new watch. She says that she wants to sell this watch to school children. She comes to your class and asks you all to create a brand name as well as an advertisement for the watch. Divide the class into small groups and each group creates an advertisement for this watch. Share it with the class.
Answer: Students should attempt it at the class level. One sample answer is given below:

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. What do advertisements do?
Answer: They attract people’s attention to their products.

2. What do you mean by the word branding?
Answer: The naming of a product is called branding.

3. Why is the consumer confused? Or What makes the consumer confused?[V. Imp.]
Answer: Sometimes there are two or more advertisements of a similar product. This makes the consumer confused because it becomes difficult for him to differentiate one product from the other/others.

4. What do the advertisers do to convince the consumer?
Answer: They start claiming certain special values for their brand.

5. How are brand values conveyed to us?
Answer: Brand values are conveyed to us through the use of visuals and words.

6. When products are advertised by cricket heroes and film stars, we feel tempted to buy them. Why?
Answer: It is because persons whom we consider our heroes tell us that those products are worth buying.

7. Advertisements aim to get people to buy a particular brand’. What does this really mean?
Answer: It means that after we see an advertisement we should want to buy the brand

8. Why do companies show the advertisements again and again?
Ans. They do so in order to get it to stick in people’s minds.

9. Under what pressure do companies show the advertisements again and again?
Answer: There are so many advertisements in the market. This creates pressure on the companies and they start showing the advertisements, again and again, to make it most popular.

10. What do you mean by social advertisements?   [V. Imp.]
Answer: Social advertisements are advertisements made by the State or private agencies.
These advertisements have a larger message for the society.

11. What impressions does advertising create on us?
Answer: It creates the impressions that things that are packaged are better than things that are sold loose.

12. Mention one drawback of advertising.
Answer: It tends to promote a certain lack of respect for the poor.

13. How do people feel when they fail to afford certain brands?
Answer: They feel bad about their helplessness to buy certain brands.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think the manufacturer of the daal (pulses) gave his product a specific name?  [Imp.]
Answer: Daals (pulses) are usually sold loose in the market. There are different types of daals in the market such as arahar ki daal, masoor ki dual, urad ki daal, etc. These names are not brand names. When a company takes particular daal such as urad ki daal and puts it into a packet, it will need to give the daal a specific name. It needs to do this so that we don’t confuse the daal is that particular packet with the daal that is sold loose.

2. What do companies do in case there are two brands of a similar product?
Answer: In such a situation the consumer is confused. He cannot decide which product he should buy. The manufacturer, being aware of this has to give the consumer a reason to refer a particular brand of a product. Just naming a product does not help sell it. So, advertisers began claiming certain special values for their brand. In this way, they try to differentiate it from other similar products.

3. What brand values are used by the two daals namely Top Taste Daal’ and ‘Best Taste Daal’?
Answer: The two daals namely Top Taste Daal’ and ‘Best Taste Daal’ are saying two different things. Top Taste Daal is appealing to our social tradition of treating guests extremely well. On the other hand ‘Best Taste Daal is appealing to our concern for our children’s health and that they eat things that are good for them. Values such as treating our guests well and making sure and children get nutritious food are used by brands to create brand values. These brand values are conveyed through the use of visuals and words to give us an overall image that appeals to us.

4. How is personal emotion being used in the Care Soap advertisement?  [Imp.]
Answer: The Care Soap advertisement uses the mother’s concern for her child. It tells the mother that her love and care is best shown through using this particular brand of soap. Because of this, mothers begin to feel that using this soap is a sign of how much they love their child. In this way, the advertisement uses the love of a mother for her child to sell this expensive soap.
Just think about those mothers who cannot afford this soap. They might begin to feel that they are not giving their children the best care.

5. What role do advertisements play in our lives?  [V. Imp.]
Answer:  Advertisements play a major role in our lives. They influence us to a great extent. We watch advertisements, discuss them, and often judge people according to the brand products they use. Whenever we see cricket heroes and film stars advertising different products we feel tempted to buy those products. It is because persons whom we consider our heroes tell us that they are worth buying.

Advertisements tell us how we should live our lives, what we should aspire and dream for, how we should express our love, what it means to be smart, successful, and beautiful. Thus, advertisements have a significant role in our lives. In the present scenario, we cannot think of life without advertisements.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. How are small businessmen affected in this age of advertisements?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: Advertising a product is a costly affair no doubt but this is the only way to sell products in the market. Large companies have no dearth to money and therefore they can easily advertise their products. But these are small businessmen also who have no money to show their products on television or national newspapers and magazines. They often have to sell their products in weekly markets and neighbourhood shops.

Advertising also makes us believe that packaged and branded things are better than things sold loose. We often forget that the quality of a product has little to do with the packaging that it comes in. This shift to packaged products negatively affects the sales of several small businesses forcing people out of their livelihoods.

2. Mention the drawbacks of advertising. [V. Imp.]
Answer: Advertising shows certain drawbacks which are as follow:
(a) We are citizens of a democratic country. It means we all are equal. But advertising always focuses on the lives of the rich and influential persons. It tends to promote a certain lack of respect for the poor. They are not the faces we most often see in advertisements and therefore we cease to think about them.

(b) Advertising uses the personal emotions of the people. Those who are capable to buy certain brands feel exalted but there are many who cannot afford to buy them. The personal emotions of these people are hurt badly.

(c) Advertising promotes the sale of packaged products. This negatively affects the sale of things which do not come in packets. This forces many people out of their livelihoods.

(d) Advertising by focussing on the lives of the rich and famous helps us forget about issues of poverty, discrimination, and dignity, all of which are central to the functioning of equality in a democracy.

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NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 6 Understanding Media

1. In what ways does media play an important role in a democracy?
Answer: Media play an important role in democracy in the following ways:

1. They make the masses know about certain issues/problems.
2. They propagate the policies and programmes of the government.
3. They also criticise the unpopular policies and programmes of the government.
4. They help in forming the opinion of the masses.
5. They also report various crimes and mishappenings, accidents, etc.
6. The media also announce the opinions of the public about certain issues/problems etc.

2. Can you give this diagram a title? What do you understand about the link between media and big business from this diagram?

Answer:  A title to the above diagram may be given like this—Media and Big Business Houses. Big Business Houses attract people to promote their products through media. It is the best and the cheapest means to reach people at large.

3. You have read about the ways in which the media ‘sets the agenda’. What kind of effect does this have in a democracy? Provide two examples to support your point of view.
Answer:
Media “setting an agenda” has an impact on democracy.

1. By focusing on a particular issue the media influences our thoughts and feelings.
2. It brings the core issues to light and sometimes even helps get justice for people.
3. By setting an agenda, media creates awareness about certain wrongs or the illegal activities happening in the society and makes the government take action.
4. Sometimes due to government pressure or due to the influence of big business houses, the balanced may not come out.
5. For example: During and after the Commonwealth games media focused on the corruption in giving out the projects, more recently the “Coalgate” issue.
6. Bring to light the amount of money secretly stashed in Swiss banks.

4. As a class project, decide to focus on a particular news topic and cut out stories from different newspapers on this. Also, watch the coverage of this topic on TV news, compare two newspapers and write down the similarity—and differences in their reports. It might help to ask the following questions:
(a) What information is this article providing?
(b) What information is it leaving out?
(c) From whose point of view is the article being written?
(d) Whose point of view is being left out and why?
Answer: Students are suggested to do this project themselves.

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Name various forms of communication.
Answer: Radio, television, newspapers, the Internet.

2. What does the word ‘media’ mean?
Answer: Radio, television, newspapers, the Internet, and several other forms of communication are collectively known as media.

3. Mention any one positive aspect of television.
Answer: Television has enabled us to think of ourselves as members of a larger global world.

4. Mention one way in which the mass media earns money.
Answer: The mass media earns money by advertising different things like cars, clothes, tea, etc.

5.Why are some advertisements shown repeatedly on the television screen?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: Same advertisements are shown repeatedly on the television screen just to make people’s minds to go out and buy what is advertised.

6. What are the various ways through which people express their dissatisfaction to any of the government’s decision which does not go in their favour?
Answer: They do so by writing letters to the concerned minister, organising a public protest, starting a signature campaign and asking the government to rethink its programme, etc.

7. What do you mean by a balanced report? [V. Imp.]
Answer: A balanced report is one that discusses all points of view of a particular story and then leaves it to the readers to make up their minds.

8. Why is it necessary for the media to be independent?
Answer: Only then media can write a balanced report.

9. Why does media sometimes focus on a particular aspect of a story?
Answer: It is because the media believes that this will make the story interesting.

10. What does the media’s close relationship with business often mean?
Answer: It means that the media will fail to give a balanced report.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. How has television brought the world closer to us?
Answer: Television images travel huge distances through satellites and cables. This allows us to view news and entertainment channels from other parts of the world. We see cartoons on our television set which are mostly from Japan and the United States. We can be sitting in Delhi and can see images of Barak Obama’s oath ceremony in the United States. Thus, television has enabled us to think of ourselves as members of a larger global world.

2. Most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses. Why?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: The technologies that mass media use keep changing and so a lot of money is spent on getting the latest technology. The TV studio in which the newsreader sits has lights, cameras, sound recorders, transmission satellites etc. All of these cost a lot of money.

One thing more, it is not only the newsreader who needs to be paid but also a number of other people who help put the broadcast together. Due to these costs, mass media needs a great deal of money to do its various works. As a result, most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses.

3. What do you mean by an independent media? Why is it important for the media to be independent?  [V. Imp.]
Answer:  An independent media means that no one should control and influence its coverage of news. No one should tell the media what can be included and what should not be included in a news story. It means that the media should not be under any one’s pressure. It will be totally independent. An independent media is very important because it is on the basis of the information that the media provides that we take action as citizens. Hence, it essential that this information is reliable. It should be biased at all.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Write a brief note on ‘local media’.
Answer: Local media covers small Issues that involve ordinary people and their daily lives. It is usually started by local groups. Several people use community radio to tell farmers about the prices of different crops and advise them on the use of seeds and fertilisers. Others make documentary films with fairly cheap and easily available video cameras on real-life conditions faced by different poor communities and, at times, have even given the poor these video cameras to make films on their own lives.

Khabar Lahriya is also a local newspaper. It is a fortnightly that is run by eight Dalit women in the Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh. It is written in the local language, Bundeli. This eight-page newspaper covers the Dalit issues and cases of violence against women and political corruption. This newspaper is popular among farmers, shopkeepers, panchayat members, school teachers, and women who have recently become literate.

2. How can you say that media is far from freedom? Or why do most newspapers still fail to provide a balanced story?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: It is said that media is often controlled by business houses. Media does what these business houses wish. At times, it is in the interest of these businesses to focus on only one side of the story. The media is in constant need of money.

Hence, it is essential for media to get linked, it is with advertising groups. In such a situation it is difficult for media to report against people who give them advertisements. Its close links to big business houses snatch its independence. It has to do as per the wishes of these business houses, Media also tends to focus on a particular aspect of a story because they believe this makes the story interesting.

One thing more, if they want to increase public support for an issue, they often do this by focusing on one side of a story. Thus, it is difficult to say that the media is independent.

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NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 5 Women Change the World

1. How do you think stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do, affect women’s right to equality?
Answer: Stereotypes about what women can or cannot do affect women’s right to equality because they are termed weak and incapable of doing strong work. It is because of this reason that women are called inferior to men. They are paid fewer salaries/ wages than their men counterparts.

2. List one reason why learning the alphabet was so important to women like Rashsundari Devi, Ramabai, and Rokeya.
Answer: Learning the alphabet was so important to these women because only after that they became able to write stories, letters, and autobiographies which described their own experiences of inequality.

3. “Poor girls drop out of school because they are not interested in getting an education”. Re-read the last paragraph on page 62 and explain why this statement is not true.
Answer: This statement, “Poor girls dropout of school education” is not true because of the following reasons:

1. There are no facilities in rural areas, especially in Adivasi areas.
2. Not even proper schools.
3. No teacher in the schools on regular basis.
4. No schools near their homes.
5. No transport facilities if the schools are far away.
6. Families too poor to afford schooling expenses.
7. Discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion or sex.
8. Preference for boys for education and not girls.

4. Can you describe two methods of struggle that the women’s movement used to raise issues? If you had to organise a struggle against stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do, what method would you employ from the ones that you have read about? Why would you choose this particular method?
Answer:
Two methods of struggle that the women’s movement used

1. Campaigning: To fight discrimination and violence against women. Women groups spoke against dowry deaths, sexual harassment. Laws were formulated in 1997 to protect women against sexual harassment. Anti dowry laws were passed in the 1980’s.
2. Raising awareness: It is an important part to raise public awareness about women’s rights issues. Public rallies, demonstrations were the methods used.
3. We would use raising awareness. This way we will be able to let people know about the discrimination and gather their support raising awareness.
4. It is a creative and positive way of expressing the views and thoughts of people on the concerned issues and involving more people.
5. This way the people who are clueless about women’s problems or are unaware would also be involved.

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. What is the percentage of women engaged in agricultural work in our country?
Answer: 83.6% of women are engaged in agricultural work.

2. What does agricultural work mean to these women?
Answer: Plating, weeding, harvesting, and threshing.

3. When we think of a farmer we only think of a man. Why?[V. Imp.]
Answer: It is because a major portion of the agricultural work is done by man. Women only assist them.

4. Why was Ramabai given the title ‘Pandita’?
Answer: It was because she could read and write Sanskrit. It was a remarkable achievement as women were not allowed such knowledge in those days.

5. How did women support men in the pottery trade?
Answer: They collected the mud and prepared the earth for the pots.

6. Mention any one stereotype about what women can or cannot do?
Answer: Women can be good teachers but they are incapable of dealing with technical things.

7. How did Laxmi Lakra break the stereotype that only men could be engine drivers?
Answer: She became the first woman engine driver for Northern Railways.

8. What changes came to be seen with the emergence of new ideas about education and learning in the 19th century?
Answer: Schools became more common and communities that had never learnt reading and writing started sending their children to school.

9. Who was Rashsundari Devi? What did she write in her autobiography?
Answer: Rashsundari Devi was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family in west Bengal. She wrote about her everyday life experiences in her autobiography.

10. What did Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain do for the girls?
Answer: She started a school for girls in Kolkata which is functioning even today.

11. Mention any two reasons why many girls do not continue their education.
Answer: Poverty and discrimination are the two major reasons why many girls do not continue their education.

12. What is the purpose of conducting a census every 10 years?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: Census is held every 10 years to count the whole population of the country. It also gathers detailed information about the people living in India—their age, schooling, what work they do, and so on.

13. What is meant by the Women’s Movement?[Imp.]
Answer: Women as a whole struggled for a long to bring out all-round improvement in women’s condition. This is known as the Women’s Movement.

14. What happened to Satyarani’s daughter?
Answer: Her daughter was murdered for Dowry.

15. What are the various means to spread awareness among the common mass?
Answer: Street plays, songs, and public meetings.

16. When is International Women’s Day celebrated?
Answer: International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March every year.

17. What do women do on International Women’s Day?
Answer: Women all over the world come together to celebrate the auspicious day and renew their struggles.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Give a brief life sketch of Laxmi Lakra
Answer: Laxmi Lakra belongs to a poor tribal family in Jharkhand- She studied in a government school. She studied hard and did well and then went on to get a diploma in electronics. She then took the railway board exam and passed it on her first attempt. She became the first woman engine driver for Northern Railways.

In this way, she broke the stereotype that engine drivers could be men only. She says “I have challenges and the moment somebody says it is not for girls. I make sure I go ahead and do it”. Laxmi has had to do this several times in her life—when she wanted to take electronics, when she rode motorcycles at the polytechnics and when she decided to become an engine driver.

2. Who set up a Mission in Khedgaon near Pune in 1898? How did the Mission prove beneficial for the women?
Ans. Pandita Ramabai set up a Mission in Khedgaon near Pune in 1898. This was the place where widows and poor women were encouraged not only to become literate but to be independent. They were taught a variety of skills from carpentry to running a printing press, skills that are considered a male preserve. This Mission is still active today and does a lot for women’s upliftment.

3. Was Rashsundari Devi a superstitious woman? If not, why not?
Answer: Rashsundari Devi was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family in West Bengal. She was not allowed to learn to read and write. During her time, some 200 years ago, there was a prevalent belief that if a woman learnt to read and write, she would bring bad luck to her husband. Rashsundari Devi took this belief as false because she was not at all superstitious.

She took a strict decision and taught herself how to read and write in secret, well after her marriage. She even wrote her autobiography in Bangla at the age of 60. Her book titled Amor Jiban is the first known autobiography written by an Indian woman.

4. Although the literacy rates have increased since independence, what remains the worrying factor with respect to gender?[V. Imp.]
Answer: It is true that literacy rates have increased since independence. According to the 1961 census, about 40% of all boys and men were literate compared to 15% of all girls and women. In the census of 2001, these figures have grown to 76% for boys and men and 54% for girls and women. This means that the proportion of both men and women who are able to read and have at least some amount of schooling has increased. But the worrying factor is that the percentage of the male is still higher than the female group. The gap exists even today.

5. Why was Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain stopped from learning Bangla and English? How did she manage to team these languages?
Answer: In those days, English was seen as a language that would expose girls to new ideas, which people thought were not correct for them. Therefore, it was mostly boys who were taught English. However, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain wished to learn these two languages in addition to Urdu. Fortunately, she got the support of her elder brother and an elder sister and ultimately learnt to read and write Bangla and English.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Who wrote the story Sultana’s Dream? What is the story all about?
Answer: It was Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain who wrote the story Sultana’s Dream in 1905 at the age of 25. The story is all about Sultana’s dream. In her imagination, she reaches a place called Ladyland. Ladyland is the place where women had the freedom to study, work, and create inventions like controllin’ rain from the clouds and flying air cars. In this Ladyland, the men had no freedom at all.

They had been sent to seclusion. Their aggressive guns and other weapons of war defeated by the brain-power of women. As Sultana travels in the Ladyland, She awakes suddenly and becomes disappointed to see the reality.

2. What are the various ways women apply to fight discrimination and seek justice? [V. Imp.]
Answer: The various ways women apply to fight discrimination and seek justice are as follow:
(a) It has proved to be a great success. It has led to a new law being passed in 2006. This law gives legal protection to women against domestic violence which includes physical and msptrjjj.. violence within then- homes.

Women by dint of campaigning made the Supreme Court formulate guidelines in 1997 to protect women against sexual harassment at workplace. They also campaigned for bringing justice to those families which have become pray to dowry deaths. As a result of their campaigns, dowry laws were changed to punish families who seek dowry.

(b) Raising Awareness. Women, in order to fight-discrimination, work hard to raise public awareness on women’s rights issues. They do so through several means such as street plays, songs, and public meetings.

(c) Whenever a law or policy acts against the interest of the women, they rise in protest by holding public rallies and demonstrations. These are powerful ways of drawing attention to injustices.

(d) Showing Solidarity. Women associated with the Women’s movement also believe in showing solidarity with other women and their causes.

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