NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 13 The chapter in seven points — Before we move on …

Book page 26–27 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.

Indian agriculture blends traditional and modern methods, involving crops, livestock, forestry, and more.

Answer

Two ideas are packed into this sentence.

1. Agriculture is broader than crops. The chapter's definition: agriculture “encompasses the preparation of soil, cultivation of plants, rearing of livestock, and, in many cases, the growing of trees as part of a comprehensive farming system”, and in some areas pisciculture (fish rearing) and rearing cocoons for silk. Very broadly it means farming, animal husbandry, forestry and horticulture. The Government of India's own grouping, ‘agriculture and allied activities', adds beekeeping (apiculture), fisheries, silk yarn and fibre production such as cotton and hemp.

2. Old and new stand side by side in the same country — and often in the same field. Look again at Fig. 1.1 on the chapter's first page:

Traditional	Modern
(1) Ploughing a field with a ploughshare pulled by oxen	(2) A farmer uses a tractor to plough the land
(3) Women transplanting rice seedlings by hand	(4) Transplanting seedlings using a transplanter
(6) Transporting vegetables by boat on the Dal Lake, Kashmir	(5) Separating wheat from the stalk using a threshing machine

The chapter says plainly that “many farmers use a combination of methods”. A farmer may keep gokṛiṣhi — cows for manure, bullocks for the plough — and still hire a threshing machine at harvest.

Why the blend exists: India's farming history never broke. Practices from prehistory, from the Vedas, from the Arthaśhāstra, from the Mughal period and from the Green Revolution have all been added one on top of another, and each was kept where it still worked.

Q2.

Agriculture in India is connected with its diverse climates and the monsoons, with three cropping seasons: kharif, rabi, and zaid.

Answer

Climate first. India has seven climate types — alpine (the Himalayas), temperate (the lower Himalayas), subtropical (the northern plains), arid (the Thar Desert), tropical wet (the western coastal strip), semi-arid (the central Deccan Plateau) and tropical (eastern India and the southern peninsula). Each “receives different quantities of sunshine and rainfall, experiences variations in the temperatures across the seasons, and is affected differently by the monsoons”. On top of this, India is divided into 15 agroclimatic zones, which combine climate, soil, terrain and vegetation, and help the government plan “what, when, and how to grow different crops”.

Monsoons next.

Southwest monsoon — rain from June to September; “crucial for the seasonal growth of kharif crops in northern and central India”.
Northeast monsoon — October to December; brings rain to the east and south.
Both reach the Malabar (Kerala) and Coromandel (Tamil Nadu) coastal plains — which is why farmers in the south can also grow a crop in the gap between the two, while the same months are a dry season in the north.

Then the three seasons. This is the timetable Fig. 1.5 sets out:

Season	Conditions	Sowing	Growing	Harvesting	Crops in Fig. 1.5
Kharif	Hot, heavy rainfall	June–July	August–September	October–November	rice, maize, jowar, bajra, sugarcane, groundnut, cotton
Rabi	Cool, less water	October–December	January–February	March–April	wheat, barley, peas, mustard, gram
Zaid	Summer season	March–May	the hot months	June onwards	watermelon, cucumber, muskmelon, pumpkin

Why the rhythm matters: “Farmers have been following this rhythm for centuries. A wide variety of agricultural products becomes available throughout the year. This rhythm is one of the factors that ensures food supply for the people.” Three harvests in one year mean the country is never waiting on a single crop.

Did you know? Kharif, rabi and zaid are Arabic words in use since Mughal times. Before that the three were called kedāra (wet crops), haimana (winter crops) and graiṣhmika (summer crops).

Q3.

Six major soil types influence which crops are grown. Soil health is key to flourishing and sustainable farming.

Answer

The six types, as classified today: alluvial, black, red, laterite, desert (sandy) and mountain / alpine soil. (The ancient Amarakoṣha went further and described twelve types of agricultural land based on fertility.)

Soil	How it formed (Fig. 1.9)	Fertility	Typical crops (Fig. 1.10)
Alluvial	Silt — mud, sand and fine particles — brought by rivers from the mountains and plateaus	Rich in nutrients	rice, wheat, maize, barley, chana dal, mustard, groundnut, sugarcane, jute
Black (cotton soil)	Weathering of volcanic rocks	Very fertile, holds a lot of moisture	cotton, sugarcane, jowar, urad dal, sunflower, linseed, groundnut, wheat
Red	Weathering of slowly cooled lava or old rocks; iron in them reacts with air and water and turns them red	Not very fertile	ragi, arhar dal, groundnut, tobacco, rice, vegetables and fruits
Laterite (brick earth)	Weathering of rock by rain; most minerals washed away, leaving iron and aluminium; hardens in hot weather	Not fertile	tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona, coconut, areca nut, cashew nut, tapioca, yam
Alpine / mountain	Freezing and melting of ice weathers the rock	Thin, rough and rocky	rice, tea, nutmeg, cardamom, vegetables and fruits
Desert / sandy	Mostly small grains of sand, plus a little water, air and organic matter	Poor, dries fast	bajra, groundnut, maize, vegetables and fruits

Why soil health, and not just soil type, decides the harvest. Soil is “a complex ecosystem with organisms like bacteria, fungi, earthworms, and insects”, along with minerals, humus, water and air. The organisms break down organic material so plants can take up the nutrients; the plants in turn feed the organisms through their roots. Break that partnership and even a fertile soil stops producing.

Traditional ways of keeping soil healthy	Contemporary ways
Crop rotation — different crops in the same field in different seasons, “to prevent the soil from losing specific nutrients”	Terracing on hill slopes — flat steps that slow water runoff and reduce erosion
Multiple cropping — several crops in one field; reduced pest risk and “ensured at least one crop”, with periodic harvests	Afforestation — planting trees to hold the soil
Contour ploughing — ploughing along the natural curves of a slope to avoid erosion by rainwater	Mulching and ploughing back crop residue — traditional methods still in daily use
Organic fertilisers such as cow dung, and panchagavya as a biofertiliser	Very precise application of fertilisers, so they are used efficiently and soil health is maintained

Why it happens: soil takes “from a century to several millennia” to form (Fig. 1.8) but can be exhausted in a few decades of careless use. That difference in speed is the whole argument for soil conservation — you cannot make more of it in a hurry.

Q4.

Seeds are passed down traditionally or bought as high-yield varieties from companies. This sometimes creates dependence on companies for seeds.

Answer

The traditional way. Seeds “have been passed down in families from generation to generation, preserved at the community level, and shared”. In some areas women carry seeds as part of the gifts they bring to their marital home. High-yielding seeds were carefully selected and preserved for the next planting season — the best plants of this year became the seed of next year. Seed was also treated before sowing: the Arthaśhāstra tells farmers to smear cotton seed with cow dung, to soak cereals, beans and pulses in dew and then sun-dry them, and to smear cut sugarcane with honey, ghee and lard before covering it with cow dung. ICAR has revived exactly this idea as beejamrit.

The company way. “Today, an increasing number of farmers purchase seeds from various companies. These seeds are developed using scientific processes that provide higher yields and are pest-resistant.”

	Saved seed	Company seed
Cost each season	Nothing — it comes from your own harvest	Must be bought again every season
Yield	Lower, but steady	Higher
Pest resistance	Built up slowly by local selection	Bred in scientifically
Next year's seed	Save the best of the crop and sow it again	“Often the seeds that the plant later produces are not suitable for planting in the next season”
Who decides	The family and the community	The seed company

Why this creates dependence: a farmer who saves seed is inside a closed circle — harvest feeds next year's sowing. A farmer whose seed cannot be replanted must return to the shop every single season. “This has drawn criticism because it creates a dependency of farmers on these seed companies.” If the price rises or the supply fails, that farmer has no fallback of his own.

Did you know? The Indian seed drill was “an ingenious invention of ancient Indian farmers”. It combined soil preparation, seed planting and the closing of the furrow in one operation — turning a three-step job into one and saving a great deal of labour.

Q5.

Sustainable farming combines modern technology with eco-friendly practices, such as efficient irrigation.

Answer

What sustainable farming means here: keeping the productivity of modern methods while dropping the damage. The chapter says the approach “is inspired by Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and focuses on environment-friendly, long-lasting farming practices”.

Modern technology	Eco-friendly practice it is joined to	Result
Drip irrigation — tubes and emitters delivering water slowly and directly to the roots	The old aim of never wasting water; bamboo drip irrigation of the Northeast is the same idea in bamboo	Water “used efficiently, minimising waste” — vital because “groundwater reserves are fast decreasing”
Sprinkler irrigation — spraying water into the air so it falls like artificial rain	Watering the whole field evenly instead of flooding it	Less water for the same crop
Precise application of fertilisers; drones to assess soil moisture (Fig. 1.12)	Adding only what the soil actually lacks	Efficient use, and soil health maintained
Scientific testing by ICAR	Almost 5000 documented traditional practices, over a hundred tested	Over 85% validated — usable “to reduce the use of chemicals and enhancing soil health”
Organic farming at scale	Compost, seed cake and animal manure instead of chemical fertilisers; neem-based pesticides instead of chemical ones	Sikkim: the world's first 100 per cent organic state, chemicals banned in 2014

India already holds three farming systems that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has recognised as globally significant agricultural heritage systems: the farming of saffron in Kashmir, the traditional agricultural systems of Odisha that integrate forest management, and the below-sea-level methods of Kerala, which combine crop plantation with fishing (Fig. 1.20). Homestead systems such as kulāgar in the Konkan Plains of Goa — food crops, cash crops, fruits, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants grown together around the house on a structured irrigated design — are sustainable farming that never stopped.

Why the combination is necessary: the chapter states the trade-off honestly. Modern techniques “are highly productive and can produce a substantial amount of food quickly”, but have caused long-term harm; traditional methods “are often more resilient and sustainable because they work in harmony with Nature; however, they may yield lower results”. Neither alone is enough. “The challenge today is to find a balance between the two.”

Q6.

Farmers face challenges like small landholdings, climate change, non-affordability of modern equipment, and market challenges.

Answer

Challenge	What the chapter says	Consequence for the farmer
Shrinking landholdings	Land “gets divided among family members over generations”. The average landholding is about three-fourths of a hectare — roughly the size of an average football field.	“Farmers with small landholdings are not able to earn much income.”
Machines out of reach	Tractors and other machines “are designed for larger farms and are expensive to buy or rent”, though machines for small farms are now being invented too.	Work stays slow and hard; the productivity gains of modern farming pass the small farmer by
Climate change	“One of the biggest challenges of our time” — untimely rains, and more frequent severe droughts or heavy rainfall.	“A higher risk of crop destruction, leading at times to heavy losses” — and “likely to get worse as our planet gets rapidly warmer”
Other income no longer enough	Farming families traditionally also rear cows, goats and poultry, practise apiculture or fishing, collect forest produce, and grow trees on the bunds. “Diversity builds resilience.”	“However, today this is proving to be inadequate to provide a decent quality of life to farmers.”
Debt	Hardship pushes farmers to take loans, “only to find that paying those loans back was difficult and catching them in a debt trap”.	“As many as 2,300 every day, according to some estimates — have been compelled to abandon agriculture.”
Water stress	Groundwater reserves are falling fast; parts of the Ganga are no longer navigable in summer.	Irrigation becomes costlier and less certain, exactly where the most people are fed

Why these problems feed each other: a small holding gives a small income; a small income cannot absorb one bad monsoon; so the farmer borrows; the loan must be repaid whether or not the next crop succeeds. Climate change makes bad years more frequent, and the trap closes faster. The chapter ends on hope, though — with new approaches like those it describes, “there is hope that agriculture will eventually flourish in every part of India”.

Q7.

The government helps through access to information, research and training, as well as different types of financial support.

Answer

Type of help	What the government does	What it solves
Inputs	A support system in many states to help farmers access seeds, fertilisers and pesticides	Good-quality inputs reach even a small farmer
Information	Weather forecasts, and better access to information and markets through digital technology	The farmer knows when to sow, when to spray, and where the price is best
Research and training	Research and training on new farming practices; ICAR's work on traditional practices and on beejamrit	New methods actually reach the field instead of staying in a laboratory
Lower input costs	Electricity for irrigation at lower prices	Pumping water does not eat up the profit
Insurance	Crop insurance schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Fig. 1.22)	One failed monsoon no longer means ruin
Assured purchase	The government purchases important crops from farmers	“To ensure that they have no difficulty marketing their produce and get fair prices”
Storage and markets	Promotion of cold storages; digital access to markets	Produce does not rot before it is sold, so the farmer “gets better prices”

Why the government must step in at all: a farmer is a very small seller facing very large risks. The weather is beyond her control, the harvest all arrives at once, and it will spoil if it is not sold quickly. Insurance, assured purchase, storage and timely information each remove one of those risks — and together they let a farmer plan a year ahead instead of gambling on it.

Tip: notice the pattern in the list. The government does not farm. It supplies the things a single farmer cannot supply alone — research, a forecast, a national market, and a cushion against disaster.

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