CBSE Class 10 Social Science: sample paper 2023-24

1. The Rowlatt Act (1919) was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council despite unanimous opposition from Indian members. It allowed repression of political activities and detention of political prisoners without trial for two years. So the answer is (A).

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Answer: A, Rowlatt Act

1. Bhopal has an artificial lake built in the 11th century, which was one of the largest such lakes of its time and is an example of traditional water conservation. So the answer is (B).

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Answer: B, Bhopal

1. Compare the literacy rates in the table: males 76% and females 54%. Rural children aged 10-14 are at 87-90%. The lowest figure in the table is the 54% for females, so the answer is (D).

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Answer: D, Female

1. Banning hunting, giving habitats legal protection and restricting wildlife trade (i), setting up sanctuaries and national parks (iii), and creating reserved and protected forests (iv) are all valid tiger conservation measures. Banning all public entry (ii) is not a practical measure. So the answer is (D).

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Answer: D, statements (i), (iii) and (iv)

1. The European Union has its headquarters at Brussels, the capital of Belgium. So the answer is (A).

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Answer: A, Brussels

1. Majoritarianism is the belief that the majority community should rule and dominate, as in Sri Lanka. Power sharing means distributing power among different social groups and levels of government. Only option (A) states this correctly.

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Answer: A

1. Democracy rests on political equality, and this is shown in universal adult franchise where every person has one vote of equal value. Hence both A and R are true, and R explains A. The answer is (A). Option B is word-for-word the same as option A, but A is the key given in the scheme.

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Answer: A

1. Money removes the need for a double coincidence of wants because it acts as a medium of exchange. A person with money can buy any goods without finding someone who wants what they have. The answer is (D).

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Answer: D, Double coincidence of wants, Money

1. The question stresses that no single branch of government should have absolute power. This is horizontal power sharing, or separation of powers, among the legislature, executive and judiciary, which check one another. The answer is (C).

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Answer: C

1. The painting shows the Frankfurt Parliament, a domed chamber in St Paul's Church in 1848, where 831 elected representatives met to draft a constitution for Germany. The answer is (A).

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Answer: A, Frankfurt Parliament

1. Foreign trade widens the choice of goods (i), makes producers in distant countries compete (ii), and integrates markets (iii). Statement (iv) is wrong because quality is not always good. The answer is (B).

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Answer: B, statements i, ii and iii

1. Following the scheme, a government that gives citizens the right and means to examine the decision-making process is called accountable. The answer is (A).

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Answer: A, accountable government

1. The sequence is: forced recruitment and war hardships (ii); Jallianwala Bagh massacre, April 1919 (i); satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act (iv); and the Khilafat movement after Turkey's defeat (iii). So the order is ii, i, iv, iii, which is (B).

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Answer: B, ii, i, iv, iii

1. Farmers' produce is the primary sector. Products that cannot move affect processing and manufacturing, which is the secondary sector. Transport itself is the tertiary sector. So all three are affected, which is (C).

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Answer: C, Tertiary, Primary and Secondary

1. Statement I is correct because Western printing technology reached China in the late 19th century. Statement II is wrong because Shanghai, not Beijing, became the hub of the new print culture. The answer is (A).

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Answer: A

1. Black soil is ideal for cotton and is well known for its capacity to hold moisture. The other clues describe other soils, so the answer is (A).

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Answer: A, Clue i

1. Representative democracy arose as societies grew larger, with people electing representatives, and this is directly linked to the rise of political parties. The answer is (C).

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Answer: C, Representative democracies

1. The growing integration of countries through trade, investment and movement of people is called globalisation. The answer is (B).

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Answer: B, Globalization

1. Following the scheme, a government is formed only by parties that are elected and hold a majority. Statements i to iii are therefore not accepted, so the answer is (D).

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Answer: D, only statement iv

1. India has many parties, so A is true. R is also a commonly stated view of multi-party systems. But R does not explain why India has a multi-party system, since this is due to its social diversity. So the answer is (B).

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Answer: B

1. Linguistic diversity (inference from map): Belgium has Dutch-speaking Flanders (about 59%), French-speaking Wallonia (about 40%), a small German-speaking area (about 1%), and bilingual Brussels, where about 80% speak French and 20% Dutch. Dutch and French are the dominant languages.

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2. Impact on social and political life: The French-speaking minority was richer and more powerful, which caused resentment among Dutch speakers. Tension, especially in Brussels, led Belgium to adopt a federal model with community governments and power-sharing to accommodate the differences.

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Answer: Dutch and French are the dominant languages; the diversity caused tension, resolved by federal power-sharing.

1. The Spanish conquerors carried germs, especially smallpox, which spread deep into the American continent even before the Europeans themselves reached those areas.

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2. The original inhabitants had no immunity against these European diseases, so whole communities were wiped out. This 'biological warfare' in the mid-sixteenth century made it easy for the Spanish to conquer them.

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Answer: Germs such as smallpox, against which Americans had no immunity, were the Spaniards' real weapon.

1. Traders and travellers carried foods across regions. For example, noodles are believed to have travelled from China to the West and become spaghetti, and Arab traders probably took pasta to Sicily in the fifth century.

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2. Many common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies and sweet potatoes were unknown in Europe and Asia until about five centuries ago. They were introduced after Columbus reached the Americas, whose native peoples first grew them.

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Answer: Examples: noodles to spaghetti; potatoes, maize, tomatoes, chillies etc. spread from the Americas after Columbus.

1. Mr. Palani can cultivate tea in Tamil Nadu (the Nilgiri hills), since the soil and climate suit it. Wheat is a rabi crop of cool, dry winters and is not suited to the state.

2. Reason 1: Tea needs a tropical or sub-tropical climate, deep, fertile, well-drained laterite soil rich in humus, and a warm, moist, frost-free climate all year round.

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3. Reason 2: Frequent showers spread evenly across the year ensure continuous growth of tender leaves.

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Answer: Tea

1. Division of powers: the Constitution clearly divides powers between the Centre and the States through the Union, State and Concurrent Lists in the Seventh Schedule, each with its own jurisdiction.

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2. Independent judiciary: the Supreme Court, with the power of judicial review, interprets the Constitution and settles disputes between the Centre and the States. (Alternatively: Rajya Sabha represents the States.)

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Answer: Division of powers between Centre and States; independent judiciary settling disputes (or Rajya Sabha representing States).

1. Print culture gave women access to knowledge, and women's books, magazines and newspapers let them voice views on education, social reform and women's rights. Liberal fathers and husbands began educating women at home and sending them to schools.

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2. Women became writers. Rashsundari Debi, an orthodox East Bengal housewife, secretly learnt to read in her kitchen and wrote 'Amar Jiban' (1876), the first full-length Bengali autobiography. Kailashbashini Debi wrote about women being kept in ignorance and forced into domestic labour.

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3. In Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows. Print thus awakened social consciousness and advanced women's empowerment.

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Answer: Print gave women education, a voice and authorship, as shown by Rashsundari Debi, Kailashbashini Debi, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai.

1. The government should register small factories and make them follow laws such as the Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Gratuity Act and Shops and Establishments Act, so that wages and working hours are fair.

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2. Workers must be given medical benefits, and the employer must provide drinking water and a safe working environment. The government should also ensure job security and protection from sudden dismissal.

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3. The government can give loans and support to unemployed youth to start their own work, and can provide cheap credit and marketing help to small traders like the pushcart seller.

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Answer: The government protects the unorganised workers through regulation and law enforcement, welfare benefits, job security and support for self-employment.

1. Cleaning and deepening the village lake or pond (and building water-conservation structures) improves water for irrigation, raising farm output and incomes while giving wage work.

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2. Constructing village roads improves connectivity, makes transport of goods easier and creates jobs for local labourers.

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3. Building houses, community centres or other local infrastructure, or setting up a co-operative milk society or small-scale industry, creates further employment and income.

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Answer: Cleaning ponds, building village roads, and construction work or a co-operative milk society/small industry.

1. Raw materials: agriculture supplies raw materials to industries such as cotton textiles, jute, sugar, food processing and edible oils, so steady farm output sustains industrial production.

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2. Market: farmers buy industrial goods such as tractors, fertilisers, pesticides, pumps and electrical goods, and rising farm incomes raise demand for consumer goods.

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3. Employment and growth: agro-based industries create jobs, and higher rural incomes and demand encourage industrial growth and reduce poverty.

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Answer: Agriculture supplies raw material, provides a market for industrial goods and generates employment, so it boosts industry.

1. Two Union List subjects: defence of the country and foreign affairs (also banking, currency, railways, communication). Only the Union government can make laws on them.

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2. Education is in the Concurrent List.

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3. Reason: it is a subject of common interest to both the Union and State governments, so both can make laws on it; if the laws conflict, the Union law prevails.

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Answer: Union List: defence, foreign affairs; Education is in the Concurrent List because both Union and States can legislate on it.

1. The tables show the primary sector's share of GDP fell from 40% to 11%, but its share of employment fell only from 71% to 44%. Nearly half the workforce still depends on agriculture.

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2. Secondary and tertiary sector jobs did not grow enough: industrial output rose over nine times but employment only about three times, and services output rose about 14 times but employment only about five times.

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3. Underemployment: agriculture has more people than needed, so moving some out would not reduce output. Thus more than half the workers still produce only a small share of GDP.

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Answer: Because industry and services did not create enough jobs, and agriculture remains crowded with underemployed workers.

1. Health: dust and noxious fumes inhaled by miners cause pulmonary (lung) diseases such as silicosis. Collapsing mine roofs, flooding and fires in coal mines are constant risks to life.

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2. Land and ecology: mining removes large amounts of topsoil, causing erosion, loss of habitat and disruption of local flora and fauna.

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3. Water and pollution: mining waste contaminates rivers and groundwater, harming nearby communities. Dumping of waste degrades land and air.

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4. Thus mining endangers both miners' health and the local environment, so safe and sustainable mining is needed.

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Answer: Mining causes lung disease and accidents for miners, and soil erosion, habitat loss, and water and land pollution for the locality.

1. Non-conventional sources are renewable and inexhaustible. Examples are solar, wind, tidal, biogas/bio-energy, geothermal energy, and also natural gas.

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2. They are clean and produce little secondary waste, so environmental impact is minimal.

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3. Growing dependence on coal, oil and gas depletes them. Rising prices and shortages threaten energy security and the economy, so renewable sources reduce this pressure.

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4. Natural gas has low carbon dioxide emissions and causes little air pollution, so it is the fuel for the present century.

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5. Renewable technologies reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming by replacing conventional sources, hence they best conserve resources.

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Answer: Renewable, clean sources such as solar, wind and biogas conserve exhaustible fossil fuels and protect the environment.

1. The Civil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code) did away with privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.

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2. The Code was extended to French-controlled regions such as Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the Dutch Republic, where the feudal system was abolished and peasants were freed from serfdom and manorial dues.

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3. Administrative divisions were simplified, and guild restrictions in towns were removed, giving businessmen, artisans, peasants and workers new freedom.

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4. Transport and communication systems improved.

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5. A common national currency, standardised weights and measures and uniform laws helped the movement of goods and capital, so Napoleon made administration rational and efficient.

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Answer: Napoleon rationalised administration through the Civil Code, abolition of feudalism, simplified divisions, better transport and uniform currency and measures.

1. Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria, who had defeated Napoleon, met at Vienna under Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich and drew up the Treaty of Vienna (1815). Its aim was to undo the Napoleonic changes and restore a conservative order and monarchies.

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2. The Bourbon dynasty was restored in France, and France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.

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3. States were set up on France's borders to check future expansion, for example the Kingdom of the Netherlands including Belgium in the north, and Genoa added to Piedmont in the south.

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4. Prussia was given territories on its western frontier and Austria control of northern Italy. Russia got part of Poland and Prussia a portion of Saxony. The German Confederation of 39 states was left untouched.

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5. The conservative regimes were autocratic, intolerant of criticism and curbed activities questioning their legitimacy.

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Answer: The Congress restored monarchies, weakened France with buffer states, redistributed territories and set up autocratic conservative regimes.

1. In a large, diverse country like India, a multiparty system represents the varied interests, regions and communities of its citizens.

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2. It creates a competitive political environment in which parties with different ideologies and agendas compete for the voters' support.

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3. Competition gives voters a choice among several parties and candidates.

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4. Multiple parties check any one party from becoming too powerful, so power is not concentrated in a single party.

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5. Different parties represent different sections of society, giving the vast diversity political representation; this is why India adopted the system.

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Answer: A multiparty system gives representation to diverse interests, choice to voters, competition and a check on concentration of power.

1. National parties are active across the country and focus on national issues. Regional parties operate in one state or region and raise that region's issues and demands.

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2. National parties give priority to national over regional problems, while regional parties' operations are confined to their states.

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3. Examples: BJP, Congress, BSP are national; DMK, Telugu Desam are regional.

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4. To become a national party, a party must win at least 6% of votes in Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in four states.

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5. It must also win at least four Lok Sabha seats (the alternative route is 2% of Lok Sabha seats from three states).

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Answer: National parties work country-wide on national issues; regional parties are state-limited. To become national, a party needs 6% votes in four states plus four Lok Sabha seats.

1. The farmer has fallen into a debt trap. He borrowed from the informal sector (moneylender), where the rate of interest is high, there is no proper documentation and no rules are followed. The lender's main motive is profit.

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2. Because he cannot pay the interest, he borrowed again from a landlord just to pay that interest. This starts a cycle of debt, since the second loan also carries a high interest rate.

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3. His debt keeps growing. He cannot make regular interest payments or repay the principal, and he may have to sell his land, cattle or other assets to clear the dues.

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4. He may face harassment, ill-treatment and threats from the lenders or their men, and may even suffer physical harm.

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5. He and his family may suffer severe mental stress, anxiety and depression, and their living standard falls. In the worst case this can push the farmer to extreme steps such as suicide.

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Answer: The farmer is trapped in a debt trap: mounting debt, loss of assets, harassment by lenders, mental stress and a lower standard of living.

1. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are small groups of 15-20 rural poor, mostly women, who pool their savings regularly. This helps them become self-reliant in savings and income generation.

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2. Members get loans from the group's pooled savings and from banks at low interest. No collateral is demanded, so the poor can access credit easily and avoid moneylenders.

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3. The loans help women start small businesses and self-employment, which raises their income and standard of living. This is economic empowerment and helps reduce poverty.

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4. SHGs provide training and skill development, so women can run their ventures successfully.

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5. Social empowerment: women meet, share problems and take collective decisions, which builds confidence and makes them active in their communities. SHGs also help improve literacy, health care and family planning.

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Answer: SHGs give the poor, especially women, easy low-interest credit without collateral, savings habits, skills and a platform for collective action, so they raise incomes, reduce poverty and empower women.

1. (1) Gandhiji said passive resistance is not a weapon of the weak because it calls for intense activity and great inner strength. Only a strong person can use it.

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2. (2) Truth is the very substance of the soul, which is full of knowledge and love. A satyagrahi fights with truth and non-violence, not physical force, so satyagraha is pure soul-force.

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3. (3) Gandhiji considered non-cooperation (satyagraha) the best weapon to end British rule.

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4. In Hind Swaraj he declared that British rule was established, and survived, only with Indians' cooperation. If Indians refused to cooperate, it would collapse within a year.

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Answer: (1) It needs intense activity and inner strength. (2) Truth is the substance of the soul, and satyagraha uses love and non-violence, not force. (3) Non-cooperation, because British rule depended on Indian cooperation.

1. (1) One reason is overexploitation of groundwater for agriculture and urban use, which has lowered water levels. (Pollution of surface water by industrialisation and urbanisation is another.)

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2. (2) One solution is to adopt efficient irrigation such as drip or sprinkler systems that use less water. Rainwater harvesting can also recharge groundwater.

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3. (3) Maharashtra gets heavy rainfall, but agriculture uses about 80% of its water through inefficient flood irrigation. Much water is lost as runoff and wastage.

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4. Groundwater is overdrawn, and the surface water that is available is polluted. Demand therefore exceeds usable supply despite high rainfall.

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Answer: (1) Overexploitation of groundwater. (2) Drip or sprinkler irrigation, or rainwater harvesting. (3) Despite high rainfall, wasteful flood irrigation, groundwater overuse and pollution cause scarcity.

1. (1) Per capita income is total national income divided by population. It allows fair comparison of countries with different populations, since it shows what an average person earns.

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2. It indicates the relative economic performance and standard of living of countries, and is a key indicator of development.

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3. (2) Countries are classified as high-income (rich) countries, with per capita income of US$49,300perannumormorein2019,andlow-incomecountries,withUS$ 2,500 or less.

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4. The World Bank determines this classification, in its World Development Reports.

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Answer: (1) It lets us compare average income and living standards across countries. (2) High-income (US$49,300ormore)andlow-income(US$ 2,500 or less) countries; classified by the World Bank.

1. (a)(i) The 1920 session of the Indian National Congress was held at Calcutta (Kolkata), the special session in September 1920 that approved the Non-Cooperation Movement. This is place A on the map, in the east in West Bengal.

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2. (a)(ii) Gandhiji broke the salt law at Dandi, on the Gujarat coast, in 1930. This is place B on the west coast. Write both names on the lines near A and B.

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3. (b) Mark any three with correct symbols: Neyveli (lignite/coal mine), Tamil Nadu, on the south-east coast inland of Puducherry.

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4. Salal Dam on the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, in the far north.

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5. Visakhapatnam, the largest natural seaport, on the Andhra Pradesh east coast. Noida Software Technology Park is in Uttar Pradesh near Delhi. Mark the chosen three with the proper symbols and label them.

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Answer: (a) A: Calcutta; B: Dandi. (b) Neyveli (Tamil Nadu); Salal Dam (Chenab, J&K); Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh); Noida (Uttar Pradesh), any three located and labelled.