Social Science History CBSE Class 10 Work, Life and Leisure SAQ

Q.1. Who wrote the novel ‘Debganer Martye Aagaman’ (The Gods visit Earth) ? What was the plot of the novel ? Explain.
Or
Describe in brief how did ‘The city of Calcutta’ both amaze and confuse the Gods’. [CBSE 2013]
Ans. (i) In his book Durgacharan Ray has written about the visit of Brahma (the creator) and Other Gods to Calcutta.
(ii) As Varuna the Rain God, conducted them around the capital of British India, the gods were wondersBuck by the big. modem city the train itself, the large ships 0n the river Ganges, rectories belching smoke, bridges and monuments and a dazzling a nay of shops selling a wide range of commodities, iii The gods were so impressed by the marvels of the teeming metropolis that they decided to build a Museum and a High Court in Heaven.

Q.2. “Three historical processes have shaped modern cities in a decisive way-. Explain.
Ans. (i) The rise of industrial capitalism attracted large number of workers to cities.
(ii) The colonial rule over large parts of the world also helped in the development of cites, for example. Indian dries of Calcutta and Bombay developed because of Britishers.
(iii) Development of democratic ideals also played important role in bidding new towns and cities because these cities were needed for administrative purposes.

Q.3. “Industrialisation changed the form of urbanisation in the modem period”. Explain.
Or
Describe the role of industrialisation in shaping the modem cities in England. [CBSE 2014]
Ans. (i) The early industrial cities of Britain such as Leeds and Manchester attracted large number of migrants to the textile mills set up in the late eighteenth century. In 1851. more than three-quarter; of the adults living in Manchester were migrants from rural areas.
(ii) London’s doming and footwear, wood and furniture, metals and engineering, priming and stationery, etc. attracted larc-e number or skilled as well as unskilled workers
(iii) The first cotton textile mill in 3ombay was established in 1854. By 1921. there were 85 cotton mills with about 1.46.000 workers. Only about one-fourth of Bombay’s inhabitants between 1851 and 1931 were born in Bombay: the rest came from outside. Large numbers flowed in from the nearby district of Ratnagiri to work in the Bombay mills.

Q.4. What type of life were the marginal groups of London living in the 1870s ? Explain.
Ans. (i) Most of the marginal groups included unemployed migrants, women and their children.
(ii) Most of them made their living from crime.
(iii) Many of them made their living by stealing lead from roofs, food from shops, lumps of coal, and clothes drying on hedges. There were others who were more skilled at their trade, expert at their jobs. They were the cheats and tricksters, pickpockets and petty thieves crowding the streets of London.
(iv) A large number of women used their homes to increase family income by taking in lodgers or through such activities ns tailoring, washing or matchbox making,
(v)With industrialisation a large number of children were pushed into low paid work.

Q.5.What was the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation on the family in Britain in the nineteenth century ? [CBSE 2010. 2011 2012]
Ans. (i) Women gradually lost their industrial jobs and were forced to work within households,
(ii) A large number of women used their homes to increase family income by taking in lodgers.
(iii)Through the activities of tailoring, washing or matchbox making, they could increase their income. Large number of children were pushed into low paid work during this period.

Q.6.Explain the housing problem of Londoners which occurred due to industrialisation.
Ans. A large number of people began pouring in London after the Industrial Revolution,
(ii) Factory or workshop owners did not house the migrants.
(iii) individual landowners put up cheap, and usually unsafe, tenements for the new arrivals.
(iv) Due to shortage of houses people started living in slums.

Q.7.Mention any three steps which were taken by the government to check criminalisation of London.
Ans. (i)The authorities imposed high penalties for crime, and offered work to those who were considered the ‘deserving poor.’
(ii) The Compulsory Elementary Education Ac; and the Factories Act were passed through which the children were kept out of industrial work.
(iii) Tire population of criminals was counted and their activities were watched.

Q.8. (i) Who conducted the First social survey of low skilled London workers ?
(ii) Mention any four factors responsible for the increase in criminal activities in London in the 1870s.
Ans. (i) Charles Booth conducted the first survey of low skilled London workers in 1887.
(ii) (a) Increasing population
(b) Low wages
(c) Lack of education
(d) Pushing large number of children into low paid work by their parents.

Q.9. Explain any three reasons for the increasing concern about the need for housing for the poor in London after the Industrial Revolution. [CHSE 2008 (Oh 2009 (F), Sept. 2010]
Or
Why were mass housing schemes planned for workers In London, after the Russian Revolution in 1917 ? Explain. [CBSE 2010 F]
Or
Why well off Londoners supported the need of building houses for the poor in the 19th century ?
[CBSE Sept. 2011. 2012]
Ans. (i) The poor and filthy living conditions of one room houses which posed a serious threat to public health.
(ii) There was danger of fire hazards.
(iii) There was a fear of social disorder or rebellion by the workers, especially after the Russian Revolution in 1917. So to prevent the London poor from turning rebellious workers’ mass housing scheme was introduced.

Q.10. Mention various measures which were taken to decongcst London in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. [CBSE. 2009 (O)]
Ans. (i) Large blocks of apartments were built
(ii) Rent control was introduced in Britain during the First World War to ease the impact of a severe housing shortage.
(iii)Between the two World Wars (1919-39) the responsibility for housing the working classes was accepted by the British state, and a million houses, most of thorn single-family cottages. were built by local authorities.
(iv) Underground railway was built in 1863 which enabled large number of people TO live outside central London.

Q.11. (i) When and where was the London underground railway started ? [CBSE 2009 (F) Sept. 2010]
(ii) How did the underground railway help in solving the housing problem ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Ans. The firs section of the underground railway in the world opened on 10th January. 1863 between Paddington and Farrington street in London.
(ii) (a) The London underground railway partially solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
b) Large number of people started living outside central London.

Q.12. Who designed the garden city of New Earswick ? Mention its two features. [CBSE Sept. 2012]
Ans. The garden city of New Earswick was designed by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker.
(i) There were common garden spaces, beautiful view’s, and great attention was paid to every detail.
(ii)These houses could be afforded by only well-off workers.

Q.13. Why some people were against the London Underground Railway ? (CBSE Sept. 2012)
Ans. (i) Many fell that the “iron monsters added to the mess and unhealthiness of the city.
(ii) To make approximately two miles of railway, about 900 houses had to be destroyed.
(iii) The London Tube Railway led to a massive displacement of the London poor.

Q.14.What was the impact of city life on women ? Explain. [CBSE 2014]
Ans. (i) Women of the upper and middle classes in Britain, faced increasingly higher levels of isolation, although their lives were made easier by domestic maids who cooked, cleaned and cared for young children on low wages.
(ii) Women who worked for wages had some control over their lives, particularly among the lower social classes. However, many social reformers felt that the family, as an institution had broken down, and needed to be saved or reconstructed by pushing these women back into the home.
(iii) The city life was dominated by men and women who were forced to withdraw into their homes.
(iv) Most of the conservatives were against the presence of women in the public places.

Q.15. What were the changes in the kind of work available to women in London between the 19th and 20th centuries ? Explain the factors which led to this change.
Or
Explain giving three reasons, how women gradually lost their industrial jobs due to technological development, during the early nineteenth century in Britain. [CBSE 2009 (F) ]
Or
How the condition of women workers changed from 19th and 20th centuries in London ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Ans. (i) Employment in Factories : In the 18th and the 19th centuries, a large number of women were employed in the factories because during that period, most of the production activities were carried with the help of the family.
(ii)Technological Developments and loss of jobs : But with the technological advancement, women gradually lost their industrial jobs and were forced to do household work. They also tried to increase the family income by activities like tailoring, washing or matchbox making.
(iii) Employment during War : However, in the 20th century, women again started getting employed in wartime industries and offices because most of the male citizens were fighting at the front.

Q.16.Mention the problems which the authorities faced while trying to provide pollution free environment to the people living in the cities.
Ans. (i)Factory owners and steam engine owners did not want to spend on technologies that would improve their machines.
(ii) By the 1840s. a few towns such as Derby. Leeds and Manchester had laws to control smoke in the city. But smoke was not easy to monitor or measure, and owners go! away with small adjustments to their machinery’ that did nothing to stop the smoke.
(iii) Moreover, the Smoke Abatement Acts of 1547 and 1853. as they were called, did nor always work to clear the air.

Q.17.What is meant by the term individualism ? Explain. [CBSE 2013]
Ans. (i)Individualism is a theory which promotes the liberty, rights or independent action of the individual, rather than of the community.
(ii)This is a freedom from the collective values that were a feature of small rural communities.
(iii) Ties between members of household loosened, and among the working class the institution of marriage tended to break down.

Q.18 Mention any three features of the London Season.
Ans. (i) The London Season evolved in the 17th and I8th centuries.
(ii)it was basically for wealthy Britshers
(iii) Several cultural events, such as the opera, the theatre, and classical music performances were organised for an elite group of 300 – 400 families

Q.19. “Cities of the 19th century also became the breeding grounds for the politics”. Explain by taking examples from London.
Ans. (i) In 1556 when outdoor work came to a standstill, the London poor exploded in a riot, demanding relief from the terrible conditions of poverty.
(ii) In 1857 once again poor came on to the streets for the similar demands.
(iii) In 1889 thousands of workers of London dockyard went on strike demanding to recognise dockworkers union.

Q.20. (i) Under whose control was Bombay in the 17th century ? Why the control of island passed into the British hands?
(ii) How did the development or expansion of Bombay differ from London ? [CBSE Sept. 2012]
Ans. (i) In the seventeenth century. Bombay (Mumbai) was a group of seven islands under the Portuguese control. In 1661. the control of the islands passed into the British hands after the marriage of Britain’s King Charles II t the Portuguese princess.
(ii) (a) It was an overcrowded city where a person hod only about 9.5 square yard of space, whereas it was around 155 square yard per person in London.
(b) The city did not grow according to a plan, whereas London grew according to a plan.

Q.21. Give reasons for the following :
(i) The Rent Act led to the housing crisis in Bombay (Mumbai).
(ii) Expansion of the city has always posed a problem in Bombay (Mumbai).
(iii) What were chawls ?
Ans. (i) Because landlords withdrew houses from the market.
(ii) Because of the scarcity of land
(iii) Chawls were multistoreyed structures built since 1560s in the native parts of Bombay Mumbai) These were largely owned by private landlords who were looking for quick ways of earning money from the anxious migrants. Each chawl was divided into smaller one room tenements which had no private toilets.

Q.22. Mention any three factors which promoted migration to Bombay or presently. Mumbai. [CBSE Sept. 2012. 2013]
Ans. (i)Bombay now Mumbai; was the hub of trade in opium and cotton.
(ii) Bombay (now Mumbai) was also at the junction head of two major railways. The railways encouraged a large number o! people to migrate into the city.
(iii)The establishment of textile mills.

Q.23‘The policy of racialism and discrimination was visible in the colonial cities.’ Explain by giving examples.
Ans. The Bombay (Mumbai) fort area was divided between a ‘native town’ where most of the Indians lived and a ‘white section where the Europeans lived.
(ii) A European suburb and an industrial zone developed to the North ol the fort area with a similar suburb and cantonment in the South.
(iii) The richer Parsi, Muslims and upper caste traders and industrialists of Bombay lived in sprawling spacious bungalows whereas 70% of the working people lived in chawls.

Q.24. Mention any four features of houses of the Bombay city which developed during the colonial period.
Ans. (i)Most of the houses were owned by private landlords.
(ii)Most of the people were living in chawls.
(iii)The houses were very small. So streets and neighbourhoods were used for a variety of activities such as cooking, washing and sleeping etc.
(iv)The richer Parsi. Muslims and upper casts traders lived in spacious bungalows.