NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 13 The Story of Indian Farming

About this chapter

Farming is one of the oldest occupations of humankind, and India's oldest story. Broadly, ‘agriculture’ covers farming, animal husbandry, forestry and horticulture , and in some places pisciculture and silk rearing too. A little over 18 per cent of India's GDP and about 46 per cent of its working population depend on agriculture and allied activities (2022-2023). In rural India, more than 75 per cent of those working in agriculture are women (2025). Indian farming goes back to prehistory. Rice grains appear in the Ganga Plain as early as the 7th–8th millennium BCE ; barley and millets were cultivated at Mehrgarh in the 7th millennium BCE; barley and wheat were the staples of the Harappans. Fig. 1.2 shows intercropping at Kalibangan around 2800 BCE — and the very same criss-cross furrows st

• Chapter opening
• India's Agricultural Landscape
• The monsoon and agriculture
• The rhythm of seasons and crops: kharif, rabi, and zaid
• The Arthaśhāstra on what makes a good rainy season
• Soils of India
• Soil-crop linkages
• Sustainable pathways
• The Role of the Government
• The chapter in seven points