NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 8 B. Think and discuss — Let us Think

Yes. The decision was correct — and it was correct for a good reason, not just because the farmer was the nicer man.

Before answering, look at both sides honestly.

Now the reasons why the Panchayat was right:

1. It listened to both men first. The chief did not decide the moment the farmer complained. She fixed a day, called both men, and heard each one out.
2. It did not shout the cunning man down. It agreed with the true part of what he said — only the well was sold. That is honest.
3. It followed his own argument to the end. If the water is yours, then it is your water in another man’s well. You cannot keep your things in someone else’s property for nothing. Take it out, or lose it.
4. It matched what everybody knows. A well is bought for its water. A rule that makes the sale useless is not a fair rule.
5. The punishment fitted. A fine and an apology — not a beating, not the loss of his land. Just enough to teach and to make good the wrong.

Sample answer: I think the decision of the Panchayat was correct. The Panchayat did not take sides at the start. It called both the farmer and the neighbour and let each one speak in front of the whole village. It even agreed with the neighbour that only the well had been sold. But it then showed him that his own words worked against him. If the water was really his, he could not keep it in another man’s well; he had to remove it or use it up. Since nobody can carry away all the water in a well, the water had to go to the owner of the well, who was the farmer. The neighbour was fined and made to say sorry, which was fair, because he had tried to cheat a man who had paid him honestly.

This question is really asking you to be a small Panchayat. So do what the village chief did.

How to deal with it, step by step:

1. Stop the fight first. Ask both of them to stop and sit down. Nothing can be settled while people are shouting.
2. Hear both of them, one at a time. Let Radha say why she needs the box. Then let Sita say why she needs it. Do not interrupt either one.
3. Find out the real need. Does one of them have no colours at all? Does one need only two shades? Very often the need is smaller than the quarrel.
4. Look for an answer that gives something to both. Sharing is usually possible.
5. Say your decision clearly, and say why. A decision without a reason feels unfair, even when it is fair.
6. If it is still equal, use something no one can argue with — a coin toss, or turn by turn — and let the other one go first next time.

What a good answer must contain: hearing both sides, a solution that is shared rather than a winner and a loser, and a reason you can say out loud.

Sample answer: First I would ask Radha and Sita to stop quarrelling and to tell me one by one why each of them wants the painting box. When I listened, I would find that Radha has brought her own brushes but no colours, and that Sita needs only the red and the yellow for her drawing. So I would keep the box open on my desk between them and let them both use it together, taking one colour at a time. If they both needed it fully at the same moment, I would ask them to use it turn by turn — Radha for the first half of the period and Sita for the second half — and I would tell them clearly why, so that neither of them feels I like the other more. I would not give the box to one friend only, because both of them are my friends and both of them have to finish the same activity.

The cunning neighbour said this to the farmer.

He said it on the very next day after the sale, standing at the well. His full words on page 92 were, “I sold only the well to you, not the water. The water still belongs to me. You cannot take it.”

He said the same thing a second time later — but that time to the village chief and the whole Panchayat, when the chief asked him why he was stopping the farmer.

The village chief said this to the cunning neighbour.

She said it while giving the judgment, in front of the Panchayat members and the villagers. Her full sentence was, “if you have NOT sold the water and the water is yours, then you have no business keeping your water in his well. Remove the water or use it all up immediately. If not, the water will belong to the owner of the well.”

The farmer said this to the village chief.

He said it when he went to her with his problem, on page 92: “So, he went to the village chief and told her about his case, and said, ‘He is not letting me take the water.’”