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NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 19 After Rishabh’s journey and Satish’s tomatoes — THINK ABOUT IT

Book page 173 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
What might happen to Satish’s efforts if any part of the infrastructure is missing?
Answer

His hard work would be wasted at whichever link fails — the crop would either not grow, not travel, not stay fresh, or not fetch a fair price. The chapter names four supports behind his “red and juicy tomatoes”; take each away in turn:

Missing pieceWhat happens to Satish
Canals and electric water pumpsIrrigation fails. He must depend on rain alone, so a weak monsoon means a small, poor-quality crop — or none
Good roadsTrucks cannot reach the field, or take too long. Tomatoes bruise and rot on the way; some never leave the village
Cold storageHe must sell everything the same day at whatever price he is offered, because the crop will not keep
InternetHe does not know about better inputs, and does not know today’s mandi prices — so he has no way of judging whether the price offered is fair
Why it happens: the chapter says physical infrastructure is “connected like pieces of a puzzle”. The pieces are not spares for one another — a good road cannot water a field, and cold storage cannot tell you a price. So the whole system delivers only as much as its weakest piece allows.
Tip: Notice the order of the losses. The first two pieces decide whether he has a crop at all; the last two decide how much he earns from it. Both matter to a farming household.
Q2.
What happens when a new highway is built near a village? How does it impact the lives of the people living nearby?
Answer

The village stops being far away. A highway shortens the time between the village and the nearest town, and that single change works through daily life in many ways.

What usually improves

  • Getting produce out. Trucks arrive, and crops, milk and handicrafts reach bigger markets while still fresh — the same gain Satish gets.
  • Getting services in. Hospitals, colleges and government offices become reachable; an ambulance or a fire engine can come.
  • Work. Building and maintaining the road is work in itself; afterwards, dhabas, repair shops, petrol pumps, cold storages and small workshops tend to come up along it. The chapter makes exactly this point for railways: “new settlements emerged near stations”.
  • Choice. Goods from outside arrive, so prices in the village shop face competition; young people can study or work in the town and come home the same day.

What has to be watched

  • Farmland may be taken for the road, so the households that lose it need proper compensation.
  • Fast traffic near a village is dangerous for children and cattle, so crossings, footpaths, speed control and, as the chapter notes elsewhere, even alarm systems where animals cross are needed.
  • Noise, dust and vehicle exhaust rise; the chapter’s section on sustainable infrastructure asks for exactly this to be planned for.
Why it happens: a highway does not simply pass by a village — it changes the cost of travel for everyone near it. When travel becomes cheap and quick, activities that were impossible before become worth doing, and new ones appear along the road. That is why the effects are far bigger than “a road was built”.
Q3.
Imagine if there were no internet or phone services. How would this affect people’s ability to work or learn?
Answer

Work and learning would slow down and shrink to whatever can be done face to face. The chapter lists what communication infrastructure makes possible; remove it, and each of those goes.

AreaWhat we would lose (the chapter’s own examples)
LearningOnline classes, digital libraries and educational videos — the chapter stresses these reach students “even in remote areas”, so remote schools would lose the most
BusinessSmall and large businesses sell across the world through e-commerce; without the internet a small seller is limited to the local market again
Government servicesNo e-governance — no applying for documents online, no filing a complaint, no DigiLocker; every task means a journey and a queue
MoneyNo quick online payments
SafetyNo SMS alerts or apps during floods, cyclones or earthquakes, so warnings would arrive late or not at all
FarmingSatish could not check input advice or market prices before selling
Why it happens: a phone call or a message replaces a journey. Every message that gets through saves somebody a trip, a wait or a wasted day. When that layer disappears, all those journeys come back — and for people far from towns, some journeys are simply too long to make.
Did you know? The chapter reminds us how new all this is. In the 1990s a mobile call in India could cost up to ₹17 per minute, and even incoming calls were charged. Today India has some of the world’s cheapest mobile and internet rates, with 1,160 million wireless subscribers in 2025.
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