NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 10 Introduction — LET’S EXPLORE

Book page 150 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

Describe the two pictures given in Fig. 10.1 on page 151 — what differences do you see between them?

Answer

Both pictures show a busy road with the same kinds of people and vehicles. The difference is that in the first one, everybody is following the traffic rules, and in the second one, nobody is.

What to look at	Upper picture — rules being followed	Lower picture — rules ignored
The road itself	A clean crossroads with marked lanes and four white zebra crossings	The road markings have disappeared under the vehicles; you cannot tell where the lanes are
Vehicles	A car, a scooter and an SUV, each in its own lane, moving in one direction, with gaps between them	Cars, vans, autos, cycles and buses jammed at every angle, facing different directions, bumper to bumper
Traffic signals and signs	Traffic lights are working and being obeyed; a ‘no stopping’ sign stands at the corner	No signal is visible, and nothing is being obeyed even if it were
People on foot	Pedestrians walk on the wide footpath, or cross on the zebra crossing	People are walking in the middle of the road, weaving between moving cars, some carrying children
Cyclists	A cyclist rides at the edge of her own lane, safely	Cyclists are wedged between cars with no room at all
The overall feeling	Space, order, calm — traffic is moving	Crowding, confusion, danger — nothing is moving

The point of the pair: the two pictures are not a good place and a bad place. They are the same kind of place with and without rules being followed. Nothing was added to the second picture except disorder — and it made everybody slower, and everybody less safe.

Q2.

How do you connect this with our discussion on rules?

Answer

Fig. 10.1 is the chapter’s argument in two pictures. The paragraph just above it asks, “What would happen if no one followed those rules?” and answers, “society would not be able to function”. The lower picture is that answer, drawn.

What the discussion said	What the picture shows
“When a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements and disorder”	Many people and vehicles on one small crossroads — the disorder of the lower picture
“rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony”	The upper picture: lanes, signals, crossings — and everyone gets through faster
“Drivers on the road are expected to obey traffic rules”	The one rule set that both pictures are about
Governance means also “ensuring that they are followed”	The traffic light, the ‘no stopping’ sign — and, in Fig. 10.2 on page 152, the traffic police officer whose whole job this is

Three connections worth writing down:

Rules serve the people who follow them. Nobody in the upper picture is being controlled for someone else’s benefit — they all reach home sooner.
A rule that nobody enforces is not a rule. Zebra crossings exist in both pictures. In the lower one, they are painted over by chaos. That is why governance has a third part, ensuring rules are followed.
The cost of disorder falls hardest on the weakest. Look at who is in the greatest danger in the lower picture — the walkers, the cyclists, the children.

Q3.

What are some of the rules in your school? Who made them?

Answer

Method. List the rules you actually follow, not the ones on a notice board you have never read. Then, for each, write who made it — because the chapter’s next question is exactly that. You will find that a school, like a country, has more than one rule-making authority.

Rule in my school — sample answer	Who made it	Why it exists
Assembly at 8:00 am; the gate closes at 8:10	The Principal and the school management	The whole day’s timetable depends on one common start
Uniform, ID card and clean shoes	The school management	Everyone looks the same, so no child is judged by their clothes; and outsiders can be spotted
No mobile phones in class	The management, following the education department’s guidance	Attention, and fairness in tests
Homework submitted on the day given; corrections done	The class teacher or subject teacher	Learning has to be regular to work at all
Silence in the library; books returned in seven days	The librarian, with the management	A shared resource — the same logic as any shared thing
Wait in a line at the water cooler and the canteen	Custom, then made official by the school	A queue is the fairest way to share a turn
Class monitor collects notebooks and reports absentees	The class teacher, with the class electing the monitor	The first taste of representation — the very example the chapter uses on page 159
No littering; waste separated into two bins	The eco club and the management together	Students helped frame it, so students keep it
Sports ground booked period-wise by classes	The sports teacher with the class representatives	One ground, many classes — it has to be shared by rule
Examination rules — no talking, no unfair means	The board or examining body, above the school	The chapter mentions these too: “students appearing for examinations must follow certain rules”

What the second half of the question is really teaching. Sort your list by who made the rule and a pattern appears — a small version of the three levels of Fig. 10.4:

Class level — the class teacher and the class itself (monitor, seating, cleaning rota).
School level — the Principal and management (timings, uniform, discipline).
Above the school — the board or the education department (examination rules, syllabus, safety rules).

Try this: pick one school rule you think should change, and follow the chapter’s own advice — “a student body might ask the school or university management to change a rule”. Write the request with a reason and an alternative, and give it to your class representative. That is grassroots democracy in a classroom.

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