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NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 13 Chapter opening — The Big Questions

Book page 1 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
What are the main characteristics of Indian agriculture?
Answer

Indian agriculture has six main characteristics, and every one of them comes straight out of this chapter.

CharacteristicWhat the chapter shows
1. It is very oldRice grains in the Ganga Plain from the 7th–8th millennium BCE; barley and millets at Mehrgarh in the 7th millennium BCE; barley and wheat as Harappan staples. Farming here has never stopped.
2. It is very diverse“A vibrant blend of traditional and modern farming practices, with diverse crops and deep-rooted cultural traditions” — the wheat fields of Punjab, the saffron valley of Kashmir, the tea gardens of the Northeast and the Nilgiris, the paddy fields of Kerala.
3. It is broadIt is not only crops. ‘Agriculture' here means farming, animal husbandry, forestry and horticulture, and in places pisciculture and rearing cocoons for silk.
4. It depends on the monsoonThe southwest monsoon (June–September) and northeast monsoon (October–December) decide the three cropping seasons — kharif, rabi and zaid.
5. It supports huge numbers of peopleAbout 46 per cent of India's working population and a little over 18 per cent of GDP (2022-2023). In rural areas, more than 75 per cent of agricultural workers are women (2025).
6. Its farms are smallThe average landholding is about three-fourths of a hectare — roughly the size of a football field — because land keeps being divided among family members.
Why it happens: India is not one farming country but many. Seven climate types, 15 agroclimatic zones and six major soil types sit side by side inside one nation. So the same country grows saffron at 1,800 m in Kashmir and coconut at sea level in Kerala — and no single description of ‘Indian farming' can leave out that variety.
Q2.
How are farming, climate, soil, and water interrelated?
Answer

They are links in one chain. Change any one and the crop changes.

Climate (sunshine, temperature, rainfall) decides when a crop can be sown
Soil (nutrients, moisture-holding, depth) decides what can grow there
Water (rain or irrigation) decides whether it will grow at all
= the crop the farmer actually plants

Follow the chain through the chapter:

  • Climate → seasons. The southwest monsoon brings rain from June to September, so kharif crops (rice, maize, jowar, bajra, cotton) are sown then. The cool, dry months that follow suit rabi crops (wheat, barley, peas, mustard, gram). The hot gap in between suits zaid crops (watermelon, cucumber, muskmelon, pumpkin).
  • Climate → soil. Soil itself is made by climate. Alpine soil forms “by the freezing and melting of ice”; laterite soil is formed “by the weathering of rock by rain”. Rainfall and temperature literally build the soil.
  • Soil → crop. Fig. 1.10 makes this plain. Black soil “holds a lot of moisture and is very fertile”, so cotton and sugarcane thrive on it. Alluvial soil is “rich in nutrients”, so the Gangetic plains grow rice, wheat, sugarcane and jute.
  • Water → everything. “Without it, crops cannot grow.” Where rain is enough, farming is rain-fed. Where it is not, the farmer must irrigate — and Fig. 1.10's asterisked crops are exactly those “not here on the ideal soil for their cultivation, but can be grown with efficient irrigation”.
Why it happens: a plant is not choosy about one thing only. It needs warmth and nutrients and water together, at the right time. If any one of the three is missing, the other two cannot make up for it. That is why the same seed gives a fine crop in one district and fails in the next.
Check it yourself: Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh grow rice all year round. Not because their soil is unusual, but because monsoon rain plus irrigation keeps water available in every season. Water was the missing link, and irrigation supplied it.
Q3.
How can traditional practices and contemporary ones complement each other?
Answer

Because each is strong exactly where the other is weak.

Traditional practicesContemporary practices
Strength“More resilient and sustainable because they work in harmony with Nature” — crop rotation, multiple cropping, contour ploughing, organic manure“Highly productive and can produce a substantial amount of food quickly” — HYV seeds, irrigation, machines
Weakness“They may yield lower results”Long-term impoverishment of soil, depletion of groundwater, contamination by pesticides and fertilisers, damage to human and animal health

The chapter gives real examples of the two working together:

  • ICAR's testing of old knowledge. ICAR has documented almost 5000 traditional practices and tested over a hundred. Over 85 per cent “were validated by modern science and could be applied to reduce the use of chemicals and enhancing soil health”. Modern science did not replace the old practice — it proved it.
  • Beejamrit. An ancient idea (coating seed with cow dung and urine) developed by ICAR into a method that protects seed and shortens germination time.
  • Neem-based pesticides — a traditional material, used in place of chemical pesticides, “much less harmful to the environment”.
  • Panchagavya — the five cow products, now shown by “recent studies” to act as a biofertiliser.
  • Efficient irrigation. Drip and sprinkler systems carry out the old aim — never waste water — with modern tubes and emitters.
Why it happens: traditional practices were designed to keep a field productive for centuries, because the same family would farm it for generations. Modern methods were designed to raise the yield of this season. Put the two aims together and you get what the chapter calls sustainable agriculture — “using modern innovations to meet our food needs while also adopting the sustainable practices of our ancestors”.
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