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NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 12 Introduction — LET’S EXPLORE

Book page 174 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Why is a city like Kolkata, Chennai or Mumbai more complex and diverse than a village or a town?
Answer

Because a big city holds far more people, far more kinds of people, and far more kinds of work in the same space — and every one of those differences adds something a local government must manage.

What differsA village or a small townKolkata, Chennai or Mumbai
SizeA few hundred to a few thousand people; often one main settlementMany lakhs, even crores of people, spread over hundreds of wards
Where people came fromMost families have lived there for generationsPeople arrive from every district and State for work, study and treatment — so languages, foods, festivals and dress all mix
WorkMostly farming and a few crafts, trades and servicesPorts, factories, offices, hospitals, colleges, markets, transport, film and software — hundreds of occupations side by side
Services neededDrinking water, a road, a school, a health centrePiped water and sewers, buses and trains, traffic signals, thousands of tonnes of garbage a day, fire services, hospitals, drainage against floods
Knowing one another“Everyone knows everyone else and pitches in to help each other out” (Sameer, page 180)“People are more independent and often don’t even know their neighbours” (Anita, page 180)
How decisions are takenA Gram Sabha of all adult voters can meet in one placeImpossible to gather everyone — so wards, ward committees and elected councillors are needed

That is exactly why the chapter says on page 174 that “since the latter is generally more complex and diverse than the former, it is understandable that the urban governance system needs to be more complex too”.

Try this: stand at a busy crossing in your nearest town or city for ten minutes and count the different kinds of shop, vehicle, uniform and language you notice. Then do the same in a quieter, smaller place. The two lists are the difference this question is asking about.
Q2.
With your classmates, make a list of diverse communities residing in any city that you are familiar with. How many were you able to list? What else do you observe in the list?
Answer

This is a class activity, so the real answer is the list your own class makes. Here is how to do it well, and a model to compare against.

Method:

  1. Pick one city everybody knows — the one you live in, or the nearest big city.
  2. On the board, make columns for the different ways people can differ: language, State or region they came from, religion, occupation, food habits, festivals celebrated.
  3. Every student adds what they actually know — from their own family, their neighbours, their classmates, shopkeepers near their home. Add nothing you have only guessed.
  4. Count the entries. Then look at the list as a whole and ask what it shows.

Sample answer (a class in a large Indian city might list something like this):

Way of differingSome of what the class listed
Languages heardHindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Odia, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Malayalam, Gujarati, English
Where families came fromNearby villages of the same district; other districts; Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Kerala, the North-East; and families settled here for generations
Festivals on the streetDiwali, Eid, Christmas, Pongal, Durga Puja, Baisakhi, Chhath, Buddha Purnima, local temple and church feasts
Kinds of workShopkeepers, drivers, construction workers, teachers, nurses, tailors, sanitation workers, office staff, street vendors, fishers, IT workers

What else do you observe in the list? Four things are usually worth saying out loud:

  • The list is never finished. However many the class names, someone remembers one more the next day. A city’s diversity cannot be counted exactly.
  • The same person belongs to several groups at once. A shopkeeper can be a Tamil speaker, a Christian, a cricket fan and a resident of Ward 14, all together. Communities overlap; they are not boxes.
  • Different communities share the same services. The same water pipe, bus, hospital and dustbin serves all of them — which is why the local body must treat everyone equally.
  • The class itself is part of the diversity. The list is usually drawn straight from the students’ own homes.
Why the chapter asks this before teaching the structure: it wants you to feel why urban governance is complicated before you learn how it is organised. A body that must serve dozens of communities at once needs clear rules, elected representatives from every ward, and a way of hearing complaints — which is precisely what the rest of the chapter describes.
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