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NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 1 End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities

Book page 19 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
What can make what is today a renewable resource non-renewable tomorrow? Describe some actions that can prevent this from happening.
Answer

One thing only: using it faster than Nature can restore and regenerate it. A resource is not renewable because of what it is made of — it is renewable because of the rate at which it renews compared with the rate at which we take it. Break that comparison and the label changes.

rate of use < rate of renewal → renewable
rate of use > rate of renewal → the stock shrinks every year
continue long enough → the resource becomes non-renewable in practice

The chapter's own examples of this happening:

Renewable resourceWhat tips it overResult
Forest / timberHarvesting timber faster than the forest can grow treesThe forest is eventually depleted (page 6)
GroundwaterExtraction greater than the rate of recharge, year after yearDeeper, costlier pumping and finally unavailability; almost 80% of Punjab ‘over-exploited' (pages 12, 14)
River waterUntreated industrial waste that cannot decay into food for any lifeformThe river turns poisonous and cannot support life (page 7)
FishCommercial over-fishing, including during the spawning seasonRapid, extensive decline — the tuna example (page 6)
SoilImproper use of chemical fertilisers and pesticidesSoil degradation and crop failure (Fig. 1.14, page 12)
Glacier-fed riversFossil-fuel industrialisation plus deforestation → rising temperaturesHimalayan glaciers melting faster than precipitation can replace them, threatening water security in the plains (page 6)

Actions that prevent it:

  1. Set the rate of use by the rate of renewal. Cut only as much timber as grows back; draw only as much groundwater as recharges. This is the one rule from which the rest follow.
  2. Protect the regeneration period. No fishing in the spawning season; fallow years for land; closed periods for grazing — the traditional practice the chapter praises on page 6.
  3. Replant with native species. Page 5 is specific: planting the types of trees that were originally growing there restores the ecosystem, so that birds, squirrels and other creatures return.
  4. Recharge, do not just extract. Traditional water harvesting, rejuvenation of ponds and tanks, cutting wasteful consumption, processing and reusing water (page 12).
  5. Keep the waste out of the cycle. Treat effluent before it reaches a river, so decomposition can continue to work.
  6. Restore the soil with cow dung and other natural fertilisers, mulching and multi-cropping instead of heavy chemical use — the practices that made holistic soil management possible (page 12).
  7. Reduce the fossil-fuel burning and forest clearing that drive the temperature rise, since that is what is melting the glaciers behind our rivers.
Why the word ‘renewable' can mislead: it sounds like a permanent property of the thing. It is not — it is a statement about a relationship between two speeds. Sunlight will keep arriving whatever we do, but a forest, a fishery, a soil and an aquifer are renewable only conditionally, and the condition is ours to keep or break.
Q2.
Name five ecosystem functions that serve humans.
Answer

An ecosystem function is something Nature does of its own accord; when humans benefit from it, the same thing is called an ecosystem service (page 7). Five, with the benefit alongside:

#Ecosystem function (what Nature does)Ecosystem service (how it serves us)
1Trees produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxideThe air we breathe, and a check on rising temperatures
2A forest filters water as it moves through soil and rootsClean water in our streams, wells and taps
3Roots and vegetation prevent soil erosionProtected farmland; less silt in rivers and reservoirs
4Insects, birds and bats pollinate flowersPollinated crops — fruit, vegetables, oilseeds and pulses
5Forests provide habitat for animals, and bacteria, fungi and insects decompose dead matterBiodiversity is maintained, and nutrients return to the soil so new plants can grow

Two more you can add if asked for extras: rivers and rain replenish groundwater, giving us water security; and wetlands and floodplains absorb floodwater, protecting settlements downstream.

Did you know? The DON'T MISS OUT box on page 7 lets you check the oxygen function with arithmetic. A mature tree produces about 275 litres of oxygen a day; a human being needs about 350 litres a day.
350 ÷ 275 = 1.27
So one person needs the daily output of about 1.3 mature trees — more than one tree each.
Both figures vary — with the type of tree, and with a person's activity, height and weight — but the direction of the answer does not change.
Why the distinction between function and service matters: the function happens whether or not anyone is watching; it becomes a ‘service' only when a human benefit is attached. Naming it a service makes it countable — and something that can be counted is harder to destroy by accident, because its loss shows up.
Q3.
What are renewable resources? How are they different from non-renewable ones? What can people do to ensure that renewable resources continue to be available for our use and that of future generations? Give two examples.
Answer

Renewable resources are those that Nature restores and regenerates over time — so they can go on being available, provided the natural rhythm of restoration and regeneration is not disturbed. Solar energy, wind energy, energy from flowing water and timber from forests are the chapter's examples, and it adds the condition each time: as long as we are able to manage them in a sustainable manner.

Non-renewable resources are created over long periods and cannot be replenished at the rate we use them — fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, and minerals and metals such as iron, copper and gold.

Point of differenceRenewableNon-renewable
How it is replacedNature restores and regenerates it within a human timescale — rain and melting glaciers feed rivers, forests renew themselves, soil replenishes itselfFormed over millions of years; for practical purposes it is not replaced at all
Effect of useThe stock stays steady if use is within the rate of renewalEvery unit used is one unit less, permanently
Condition attachedRenewable only while the rhythm of regeneration is undisturbedNo condition can make it renew — only the rate of use can be managed
ExamplesSolar energy, wind energy, flowing water, forest timberCoal, petroleum, iron, copper, gold
What responsible use meansUse it, but no faster than it renewsUse it judiciously so it lasts long enough for a sustainable alternative to be found
The chapter's warningHarvest timber faster than the forest grows and the forest is depletedIndia's coal reserves may last another 50 years while demand keeps rising

What people can do to keep renewables available:

  1. Keep use within the rate of renewal — the single decisive rule.
  2. Give the resource its recovery time: no fishing in the spawning season, fallow periods for land, rotational grazing.
  3. Replant and restore with native species so the ecosystem, not just the tree count, comes back.
  4. Recharge water — rooftop harvesting, revived ponds and tanks, less wasteful consumption, treated water reused.
  5. Keep the waste out, so rivers and soil can still complete their cycles.
  6. Feed the soil back with compost, cow dung, mulching and multi-cropping.

Two examples, in full:

ExampleWhat was doneWhat it achieved
Sikkim's organic farming (pages 16–17)Pema's family switched to compost, made natural pest repellents from neem and garlic, and grew multiple crops through the year. The State promoted organic farming everywhere. The early years were hard — yields dropped while the soil recovered from years of chemical useIn 2016 Sikkim became a 100 per cent organic state, with all its farmland certified organic. Local biodiversity flourished and beneficial insects and birds returned; tourism increased; farmers' incomes grew by 20 per cent on average. The soil — a renewable resource — was brought back within regenerating range
Groundwater recharge (page 12)Traditional practices of water harvesting, rejuvenation of ponds and tanks, cutting down wasteful consumption of water, and processing and reusing waterRecharge is brought back towards the rate of extraction, so wells stop deepening year after year — the remedy the chapter offers against the prediction that many growing cities will run out of groundwater soon
Why Sikkim is a strong example and not just a nice story: it shows both halves of the trade-off honestly. Yields fell first, and only after about five years did the farm thrive. A resource pushed past its regeneration point does not recover the moment we stop pushing — the recovery itself takes time, and someone has to be supported through it. That is why the change worked when a State policy backed it, and might not have worked for one family alone.
Q4.
Identify cultural practices in your home and neighbourhood that point to mindfulness in the use of natural resources.
Answer

Look for the ordinary habits nobody calls ‘conservation'. Most Indian households are full of them.

PracticeWhat it conserves
Rice or dal washing water poured on the plants; the last of the drinking water tipped into a pot, never down the drainWater — and the nutrients in it
Bathing from a bucket rather than a running shower; utensils scoured with ash or sand where water is scarceWater
A matka or earthen pot for cool drinking water; cross-ventilation and thick walls instead of running a cooler all dayElectricity
Cooking only what will be eaten; leftovers reused the next morning; food never thrown awayGrain, water and the energy that produced them
Kitchen scraps and peels fed to cattle or composted in a corner of the yardSoil fertility — waste is returned as food, as in Nature's own cycle
Clothes handed down between siblings; old cotton turned into kanthas, dusters or bags; steel and brass vessels used for decades and given for repairCotton, metal and the energy of manufacture
The kabadiwala who buys back newspaper, glass, plastic and metalEverything recyclable — an old, working recycling system
A cloth or jute bag carried to the market; the same steel dabba refilled at the shopPlastic, and therefore petroleum
Drying clothes, grain, papad and pickle in the sunFuel and electricity
Tulasī watered daily; the peepal or neem near the temple never cut; grain or water put out for birdsTrees, and the birds and insects that depend on them
Ponds, wells and stepwells kept clean by the community; a shared village tankGroundwater and surface water
Festivals tied to the harvest and to cattle — Pongal, Bihu, Onam, Govardhan pūjaGratitude expressed at the moment Nature has delivered — the habit of mind behind all of the above

Sample answer: ‘At home my grandmother never lets the water in which vegetables were washed go down the drain; it goes to the tulasī and the curry-leaf plant. Our clothes are dried in the sun on the terrace and the iron is used only for school uniforms. Every second Sunday the kabadiwala takes away newspapers, bottles and old vessels, and my mother keeps a cloth bag hanging on the door for the market. In our lane, the neem tree near the corner shop has a raised platform around it and no one is allowed to cut its branches. None of these are called environmental practices — they are just how things are done — but each of them saves water, electricity, plastic or a tree.'

Why these count as ‘mindfulness': the chapter's point on page 12 is that traditional practices considered soil to be part of Mother Earth — a relationship, not a stock to be drawn down. When resources are treated as belonging to something larger than oneself, restraint becomes a habit rather than a rule to be enforced. That is why these practices survived for generations without any inspector to check them.
Try This: keep a two-column diary for one week — every time you use water or electricity, and every time you avoid using some. At the end, mark which of the ‘avoided' entries came from a family habit you did not have to think about. Those are the ones worth keeping.
Q5.
What are some considerations to keep in mind in the production of goods for our current use?
Answer

The chapter's answer, gathered from its four production examples, is that production must be judged at every stage — not only by whether the product is useful.

ConsiderationWhat to askWhere the chapter shows it
The source of the raw materialIs it renewable, and is it being taken within the rate of renewal? If non-renewable, is it being used judiciously and can recycled material replace some of it?Pages 6, 8, 17
Pollution from the processWhat does the process release into air, water and soil, and is it treated before it leaves?Cement — one of the most polluting industries; fine dust damages lungs, settles on leaves and lowers yields, and pollutes soil and water (page 15). Industrial waste discharged untreated poisons rivers (page 7)
Regulation and complianceAre the applicable standards being followed?The Central Pollution Control Board's guidelines for cement factories, so that pollution is minimised or eliminated (page 15)
Choice of materialIs there a less polluting alternative that does the same job?Traditional stone and mud, new plant-based materials, recycled materials from waste plastic; Jaisalmer fort and the Auroville Earth Institute's modern mud building (page 15)
Waste and reuseCan the waste become an input again, so that production imitates Nature's cycles, where there is no waste?Pages 5 and 1 — a regenerative economy that repurposes used resources and minimises waste
Local employmentDoes the process provide work to the people of the place, or only take from them?Page 16 — the new sustainable materials are less polluting, provide local employment, and are designed keeping the local climate in mind
Fit with the local climateIs it designed for the place it will stand in, so that it needs less energy to run?Page 16
Energy sourceCan the process run on renewable energy instead of fossil fuel?Page 17 — make the switch to renewable sources of energy for as many purposes as we can
Fair access to the productWho gets it, and who pays the cost of making it?Page 18 — distribution and access, even to basic resources like water and clean air, is often unfair to some sections of society
Future generationsWill this still be possible in fifty years, or are we spending what our grandchildren will need?Pages 12 and 14 — Punjab's short-term food security against long-term consequences that will take time and effort to heal
Why the cement example is the chapter's best test case: cement cannot simply be given up. Houses, schools, hospitals, bridges, roads and airports all need it — the chapter says as much. So the question is never ‘produce or not produce', but how to produce: control the dust, follow the guidelines, substitute mud, stone, plant-based and recycled materials where they will serve, and design for the local climate. That is what responsible production means in practice.
Tip: a good short answer to this question names three stages, not three products — where the material comes from, what the process releases, and what happens to the thing when we are done with it. Almost every consideration above fits into one of the three.
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