NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 14 India and Her Neighbours
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
A ‘neighbour’ is more than a country across a land border. By land, India's neighbours are Pakistan and Afghanistan in the northwest, China's region of Tibet , Nepal and Bhutan in the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar in the east. India's land boundary stretches over 15,100 km through deserts, plains, forests, mountains, marshes and river valleys. But India has always been a maritime nation , sea on three sides — so Sri Lanka and the Maldives are immediate neighbours across the water, and Iran, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia belong to a wider maritime neighbourhood. The sea is India's oldest highway. With a coastline of about 11,100 km and a peninsula reaching deep into the Indian Ocean, India sits on the routes linking Southeast Asia, West Asia and Africa . The Indian O
- Chapter opening
- Framing the Neighbourhood
- India and Pakistan
- The ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’
- From Dvārakā to Dvāravatī and Ayodhyā to Ayutthayā
- The ‘Lion City’
- The chapter in four points
- End-of-chapter exercise
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maritime neighbour | A country connected to another by a shared sea or ocean, even without a direct land border | DON’T MISS OUT, page 30 | For India: Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and further out Iran, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia |
| Regionalism | Countries of a region working together for peace, stability and shared progress — trade, cooperation, humanitarian aid and disaster relief | Page 32 | “Being good neighbours is not just about borders” — it is about working together |
| Indian Ocean | The world's third-largest ocean, and a very busy shipping route | DON’T MISS OUT, page 32 | Half the world's container ships, one-third of bulk cargo, two-thirds of the world's oil; about 2.7 billion people around it |
| Open border | A border people from two countries can cross without a visa or passport | DON’T MISS OUT, page 39 | India–Nepal, under the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Both countries work together to keep it safe and not misused |
| Kartarpur Corridor | A visa-free border crossing (a permit is needed, not a visa) letting Indian pilgrims visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, in Pakistan | DON’T MISS OUT, pages 35–36 | Proposed in the 1990s, opened in 2019 for Guru Nānak's 550th birth anniversary |
| Uttarāpatha | The ancient trade route linking the Ganga plains to Central Asia through Afghanistan | Page 44 | Ran from Gandhāra through Takṣhaśhilā, Varanasi and Pāṭaliputra — a ‘cultural superhighway' |
| SAARC | South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, formed in 1985 to promote mutual interests and sociocultural and economic progress | DON’T MISS OUT, page 45 | Members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Political tensions among some members have often disrupted its functioning |
| Theravāda | ‘School of the Elders', around the 3rd century BCE; considered closest to the Buddha's original teachings | DON’T MISS OUT, page 41 | Followers mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, especially Thailand and Myanmar |
| Mahāyāna | ‘Great Vehicle', around the 1st century BCE; held that the Buddha had a divine nature and could guide people in many forms | DON’T MISS OUT, page 41 | Travelled to China, Japan, Korea; Zen grew out of it. The Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan were its symbols |
| Vajrayāna | ‘Diamond Vehicle' or ‘Tantric Buddhism', around the 6th century CE, an extension of Mahāyāna using mantras, mandalas and visualisations | DON’T MISS OUT, page 41 | Tibetan Buddhism derived from it around the 7th century CE; Guru Padmasambhava took it to Bhutan in the 8th century CE |
| Palk Strait | The narrow stretch of sea dividing India and Sri Lanka | Page 45 | At its nearest point the two countries are only about 32 km apart |
| Gross National Happiness Index | Bhutan's holistic measure of national progress, compared with Gross Domestic Product | DON’T MISS OUT, page 42 | Includes sustainability, good governance and promotion of culture; assessed periodically |
| Archipelago | An extensive group of islands | Page 54 | Indonesia — several large islands and over 17,000 smaller ones |
| Stūpa | A Buddhist shrine, often dome-shaped, that keeps sacred relics of the Buddha, senior monks or other revered figures | DON’T MISS OUT, page 55 | The Borobudur Stūpa (8th–9th centuries CE), five platforms, over 500 Buddha statues, designed as a mandala |
| Mandala | A traditional Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina geometric symbol used in rituals, generally symbolising the entire cosmos | DON’T MISS OUT, page 55 | Borobudur's highly geometric plan replicates one |
| Suvarṇabhūmi / Suvarṇadvīpa | The ‘golden land' / ‘golden island' — names Indian traders gave to Java, Sumatra and Malaya | Page 45 | Bangkok's airport is still called Suvarnabhumi |
| Ingot | A lump or block of metal put into a shape convenient for transport and reworking | Margin note, page 58 | Harappan traders are thought to have carried copper ingots from Oman — contact over 5,000 years old |
| Jaywalking | Pedestrians walking or crossing roads without taking care to follow traffic rules | Margin note, page 53 | In Singapore it is fined heavily, along with littering and breaking traffic rules |
| Dhivehi | The official language of the Maldives, also called Maldivian | DON’T MISS OUT, page 48 | Borrows from Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi — raajje/rājā, mas/matsya, dhoni, kukulhu, and even filmu |
| Chabahar Port | The Iranian port India is helping to develop | Pages 57; Figs. 2.28, 2.29 | It gives India better access to Afghanistan and Central Asia |
| International Solar Alliance | An Indian initiative that shares research and technology on solar energy | Page 48 | The Maldives is a member — a joint effort towards sustainability |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 29
- Framing the Neighbourhood — LET’S EXPLORE Page 30
- India and Pakistan — DON’T MISS OUT Page 36
- The ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’ — In-text Question Page 40
- From Dvārakā to Dvāravatī and Ayodhyā to Ayutthayā — LET’S EXPLORE Page 51
- The ‘Lion City’ — LET’S EXPLORE Page 53
- The chapter in four points — Before we move on … Page 59
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 60