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An Indifference Curve cannot be concave to the origin. If an IC is concave, the Marginal Rate of Substitution will be increasing. This is unrealistic. The MRS must always diminish. Such a situation is achieved only when the IC is convex to the origin and not concave.

Correct answer is (b) 0.5

(b) Both (i) and (ii) are false

The Himalayas and the Indian Climate: 

They play an important role in lending a sub- tropical touch to the climate of India. The lofty Himalayas mountains form a barrier which affects the climate of India. It prevents the cold winds of North Asia from blowing into India. Thus protecting it from severely cold winters. It also traps the monsoon winds, forcing them to shed their moisture within the sub-continent. The mountain ranges also prevent Western wind disturbance from Iran from travelling further, resulting in snow in Kashmir and rainfall in parts of Punjab and northern India.

It refers to.the utility that, is derived by consuming the first unit of a commodity.

(b) 29 States and 7 union territories

India is divided into six physical features such as: 

1. North and North-Eastern Mountain Region (The North Mountains) 

2. The Northern Plains or the Gangetic Plain 

3. The Southern Peninsular plateau 

4. The Coastal Plains 

5. Thar Deserts 

6. The Islands

1. North and North-East Mountain Region (The Himalaya Mountain): 

The Himalayan range runs north-west to south east in 2500 kilometre long. Three of the world’s major rivers (the Indus, the Gangas and the Brahmaputra) originated from the Himalayas. The highest peak of the world i.e. the Mount Everest (about 8848 metre high from the sea level) is located in this region. 

The Himalaya mountain from South to North has three parallel ranges:

1. Siwaliks 

2. Himachal and 

3. Himadri.

The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian sub-continent and the Tibetan Plateau. They prevent frigid, dry winds from blowing into the subcontinent. It also forms barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from travelling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. All the perennial rivers of the North and North-East India arise from the Himalayas. Almost all the river valley projects owe their origin to this Himalayan region. The region is abundantly rich in biological diversities. There are vast tea and fruit gardens in the Himalayan ranges, and the valleys are laden with flowers and vegetables. The Himalayas are home to a diversity of medicinal resource. There are many worth visiting tourist places. Thus, the Himalayas contribute to the economic and modem development.

2. The Gangetic or The Northern Plains: 

The North Indian plain or the Indo-gangetic plain laying parallel to the south of the Himalayas stretches westwards. The greater part of the plains is made up of alluvial soil, deposited by the Ganga, the Satluj and the Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries. It is the most fertile part of India and also known as the Granary of India. 

The plains mostly comprise flat land and there are four distinct relief features:

(a) Bhangar: It is that largest part of the plains where the flood waters scarcely reach and is rich in the old alluvial soil. 

(b) Khadar: The Khadar belt is made of the newer deposits from the rivers. Contrary to Bhangar its soil is renewed often due to the annual flow of the flood water in the rivers. 

(c) Bhabar: It is a pebble covered belt. It lies parallel to the Siwalik slopes. 

(d) Terai: South of the Bhabar belt lies the Terai belt. The whole of this belt is marshy. The Northern plains are thickly populated because of their plain surface, alluvial soil and favourable climatic conditions.

3. The Southern Peninsular Plateau: 

The Deccan Plateau is a triangular landmass that lies to the south of the river Narmada. It is bounded by the Vindhya hills in the North, Aravali hills in the North¬West and Western Ghat hills in the West and the remains of the Eastern ghat hills in the east. The Western Ghats are higher than the Eastern Ghats. There are small plateaus as the Deccan plateau and the Chotanagpur plateau. The Deccan plateau is abundantly rich in minerals, and the fertile soil of Lava plateau of Deccan is the most suitable for the production of cotton. The Deccan Plateau is the largest, the most ancient, and the most stringent region of India. The oldest Aravali mountain ranges form the part of the Deccan Plateau.

4. Coastal Plains:

There are two coastal plains of the southern plateau region. The Eastern coastal plain and the Western coastal plain. The Mahanadi Godavari, Kaveri and Krishna rivers flow through these plains. Uncertainty and scarcity of rains in the interior parts of the plateau has affected adversely the agriculture. However, with the use of traditional methods of accumulating water, evolution of means of irrigation and the use of scientific technique of dry farming, dependence on rains for cultivation is gradually, declining. Some parts of the region have dense forests wealth. It is known for the cultivation of rubber, tea, coffee and spices. Most of the tribal population have their habitation in Vindhyachal, Satpura, Chhotanagpur and Sahyadari hills and in the forests.

5. The Islands: 

The Indian Islands lie in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The group of 247 islands in the Bay of Bengal are known as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Northern Islands are known as the Andaman Islands and the southern Islands are known as the Nicobar Islands. The only active volcano of India is in the barren island of Andaman. The Indira point in the Nicobar is the southern most island of India. The group of 36 islands in the Arabian sea are known as Lakshadweep island. Lakshadweep means one lac islands. It is the famous tourist resort.

Major religions of India are listed below: 

• Hinduism followed by the Hindus (78.8%).
• Islam by the Muslims (14.2%). 
• Christianity by the Christians (2.3%). 
• Sikkism by the Sikhs (1.7%). 
• Buddhism by the Buddhists (0.7%). 
• Jainism by the Jains (0.4%).

(a) North-Eastern Hemisphere

The River valley projects are known as the Multipurpose projects because they are the source of producing hydro-electricity, and are the means of irrigation and the source of drinking water for the densely populated cities of the mountainous region.

(b) Government expenditure

Indifference curve shows the different combinations of two products from which the consumer gets equal satisfaction.

India is known as the sub-continent because of its own peculiar physical identity. It is located in the southern Asian continent, flanked by the Kirthar, Sulaiman and Hindukush mountain ranges in the North-West, and the Himalayan mountain ranges stretched far to the north-east. The Arakanyoma mountains in the north east stretch along the Bay of Bengal Coast in Myanmar and proceed from South to North to join the Himalayas. These lofty and inaccessible mountain ranges separates the Indian sub-continent from the rest of Asia. The Southern India is a Peninsular plateau surrounded by water bodies as the Bay of Bengal in the East, the Arabian Sea in the West and the Indian Ocean in the south. As this Indian region of the southern Asia is impenetrable and inaccessible from all the sides it is known as the sub-continent and it has its unique geographical, cultural and environmental features.

Utility refers to the want-satisfying power of a commodity or a service.

The German Economist Prof. Gossen introduced the Law of DMU and Prof. Alfred Marshall popularized it.

Law of demand – “other things remaining the same as the price of a commodity falls, its quantity demanded increases and vice versa”. 

Certain ostentatious goods like luxury cars; diamonds, etc. are exceptions to the law of demand. These goods are considered as status symbol goods consumed by the rich. The status goes up as price increases. Therefore, the demand for these goods increases as their price increases.

(a)(i) Substitutes 

(ii) Complementaries 

(b) Substitutes are those goods where one good can be used instead of other.

Eg. Tea and Coffee.

Complementary goods are those goods which are used together.

Eg. Car and Petrol.

1. computer 

2. rectangular hyperbola

No, if his preferences are monotonic, he will prefer the bundle (8,7) over (7,7).

Change in quantity demanded due to change in price leads to expansion and contraction of demand. In this case, there is the movement along a demand curve.

Change in quantity demanded due to change in factors other than price leads to increase and decrease in demand. In this case, there is shift in demand curve.

(a) (i) AB is the Budget line 

(ii) Point E is the equilibrium point

(b) Properties of indifference curves are:

Indifferences curves are negatively sloped. Indifference curves are convex to origin. Higher and higher indifference curve represents higher level of satisfaction. Two indifference curves never intersect each other.

(c) I agree. Equilibrium point is reached by satisfying the following conductions.

(1) IC must be tangent with budget line. 

(2) Slope of IC must be equal to slope of budget line.

These two conditions are satisfied at the point E. Hence ‘C’ is not the equilibrium point.

1. In the equation of linear demand curve, ‘a’ is the vertical intercept and-b is the slope of the demand curve.

2. The slope of the demand curve measures the rate at which demand changes with respect to its price.

(a) Shift in demand / increase in demand 

(b) Increase in income of the consumers. Change in taste and preference of the consumers.

Formal source of credit includes all the sources for raising the credit from the institutions which are functioning under the guidelines of RBI or which work with specific rules and regulations. They are more reliable than informal sources. Banks and cooperatives are the main formal sources of credit. The main features of formal sources of credit are:

• Low-interest rates: The interest rate charged by the formal sources will be less because they are functioning under the guidelines of the RBI. The formal sources have a fixed rate of interest for different types of loans.
• Increased income: The formal sources will charge only a fixed rate of interest which will reduce the cost of borrowers to repay the loans. Thus the income with the borrowers after paying their loans back will be higher. Thus the savings and the standard of living of people will increase.
• Legal proceedings: The formal sources will function under a proper code of conduct and lenders cannot easily exploit the borrowers. They can use only legal measures to get their loans back. Thus their dealings would be more secure and fair.
• Limited reach: The requirement of collateral for taking loans from institutional sources makes it impossible for the poor to take loans from banks and other institutions. Also, private banks will not be ready to open branches in places with no business. Thus they have only limited reach in the economy.
• The credit from the informal source is getting loans from institutions that do not come under the purview of any legal entity. Credit from these sources moneylenders, friends, relatives, traders and employer can be included under the informal sources of credit. The main features of informal sources of credit are:
• A high rate of interest: The informal sources like moneylenders will charge any rate of interest which will lead to huge cost the borrowers to repay and lenders can easily exploit the borrowers.
• Fewer savings: The informal sources like moneylenders will charge any rate of interest which will lead to huge cost the borrowers to repay and lenders can easily exploit the borrowers. Thus only less income would be left with them after paying their loans back. Thus the savings with them would be minimal.
• Unfair means of extortion: The informal sources will not have any code of conduct and lenders can easily exploit the borrowers. They can use any illegal means to get their loans back. They may use their muscle power for the collection of loans. On the other hand, formal sources use only legal means in their dealings.
• Vast reach: The requirement of collateral for taking loans from institutional sources makes it impossible for the poor to take loans from banks and other institutions. Thus they have to rely on other informal sources. This gives them a wide reach in the economy. Thus it will be difficult to control them.
• Influence: The moneylenders and other informal lenders will be highly powerful and influential in society. Thus it would be very difficult to control their activities.

Anything that is acceptable as a medium of exchange and even the means of payment for the settlement of debts can be considered as money. The money as we see today has been the result of a long evolution process. In today's world, modern money consists of currency notes and coins, demand deposits and plastic money.

Plastic money has emerged and developed with the expansion of internet facilities. Plastic money consists of debit cards, credit cards and other facilities. The users can carry them instead of carrying currency. A debit card allows the user to withdraw money from the account while credit card allows the user to overdraw beyond the account holder's balances. The introduction of this has benefitted both the consumers and the banks.

The main benefits of plastic money from the point of view of the user are:

• The most important benefit of carrying cards is the reduction in the amount of cash that has to be carried by the users. This will reduce the risk and inconvenience. This will also reduce the risk of theft.
• The cards can be used globally – anywhere and anytime. It has 24-hour access even in foreign countries. This reduces the time and cost involved in exchanging the currencies.
• A credit card can be used in case of contingencies and emergencies. Even though the charges of using a credit card are high, it can be used in acute necessities.
• Both credit and debit cards can be used for online payments. The expansion of the internet has enabled buyers to purchase commodities online. This has been made further simpler by payment using cards.
• The consumers have the benefit to track and keep a perfect record of their transaction. No transaction will be missed while using cards. This will help in the proper handling of money.

The main advantages that banks have with the popularity of plastic money are:

• The number of liquid cash dealings through banks will be reduced. This will reduce the chances of theft and misappropriations.
• The banks have the benefit to track and keep a perfect record of their transaction. No transaction will be missed while using cards. This will help in proper maintenance of all their dealings.
• The cash dealings will be reduced with the use of plastic cards. This will reduce the cost of operation and administration.

Grains and cattle.

They accept deposit from account holders and advance the portion of the deposit as a loan.

They accept the deposit from the account holders and by keeping a portion of deposit as the ratio in RBI as cash reserve ratio (CRR) and portion keeping in the bank itself as statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), after reserving these two ratios they advance the remaining part as a loan to borrowers.

The main theme in the short story ‘The Fun They Had’ by Isaac Asimov is that of education. More specifically, the narrative deals with the future education which will become increasingly computerised and estranged from social interactions. The author’s message is one of warning against the dangers of computerised homeschooling which deprives children of the benefits of the personal interactions between students and teachers, which help them develop social skills.

Cycle repair shop, carpenter, ironsmith, general store, tea stall, stationary shop, computer training institute, etc.

A farmer with 1 hectare of land shall put under the category of small farmer. Most of the work would be done by the farmer and his family members. The farmer will normally use a pair of bullocks to plough the field. His family members would assist him in sowing the seeds. During harvest time, he may require to hire some labourers.

The different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land are:

→Multiple Cropping : It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. Under it, more than one crop is grown on the same piece of land during the year. Indian farmers should grow at least two main crops in a year. In India, some farmers are growing a third crop also over the past 20 years.

→Modern Farming Methods : Production on the same piece of land can also be increased by adopting modern farming methods. The Green Revolution in India is a remarkable example of it. Under modern farming, more cultivable areas should be brought underHYV seeds and irrigation. The use of simple wooden plough must be replaced by tractors. The increasing use of farm machinery like tractors, threshers, harvesters, etc.make cultivation faster.

Electricity can help any village. Availability of electricity ensures better irrigation. It also means that villagers can engage in some manufacturing activities; like flour mills, jaggery production, etc. Children can study late in the evening and shopkeepers can do better business if proper electricity supply can be provided.

Medium and large farmers usually have surplus cash by selling their farm produce. Since they have land and house, they easily get loan from banks. Small farmers, on the other hand, may not be able to get bank loans. They have to depend on the local merchant and moneylender for loan.

During the early period, irrigation was done by Persian wheel. Diesel operated or electricity operated pumps have replaced the Persian wheels. Tractors have replaced bullocks for ploughing the large farms. Now more and more farmers are in a position to grow up to three crops in a year.

1. Raju is a farm labourer. 

2. He gets wages ₹ 200 per day. 

3. He is paid in cash. 

4. He does not get work regularly, 

5. He is in debt. 

6. Mohan is labourer at the construction site. 

7. He is paid ₹ 350 per day. 

8. He gets work regularly. 

9. He is paid in cash. 

10. He is not in debts.

(i) Previously these were used to transport water to cities and industries.

(ii) Presently these are used to transport crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas.

(iii) Initial cost of laying pipelines is high but running costs are minimal.

(iv) It rules out delay and losses. Some network are from oilfield in upper Assam to Kanpur.

Pipeline transport network is a new arrival on the transportation map of India to transport liquids as well as solids in slurry form.

(i) Trade between two countries is called international trade.

(ii) One of the features of international trade of India is information technology.

1. Community identity is based on birth and belonging rather than on some forms of acquired qualifications or accomplishments. 

2. These kind of identities are called ascriptive i.e. they are determined by birth and individual’s choice is not involved. 

3. People feel a deep*sense of security and satisfaction in belonging to communities. 

4. Ascriptive identities such as community identities are difficult to shake off; even if we choose to disown them, others may continue to identify us by those very markers of belonging. 

5. Expanding and overlapping circles of community ties like family, kinship, ethnicity, language give meaning to our world and gives us a sense of identity. 

6. Ascriptive identities and community feelings are universal. Everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family, a faith. And we all are equally committed to our respective identities. 

7. Our community provides us with our mother-tongue and the cultural values through which we comprehend the world. It, also, anchors our self-identity. 

8.  The process of socialization involves continuous dialogue with our significant surroundings such as parents, kin, family and community. Thus, community is a very important part of our identity. 

9. Community conflicts are very hard to deal with since each side thinks of the other side as a hated enemy and there is a tendency to exaggerate the virtues of one’s own side as well as the vices of the other side. 

10. It is very hard for people on either side to sec that they are constructing matching but reversed mirror images of each other. 

11. At times, both sides are indeed equally wrong or right; at other times, history may judge one side to be the aggressor and the other to be the victim. 

12. But this can happen long after the heat of the conflict has cooled down. 

13. Some notion of a mutually agreeable truth is hard to arrive at in situations if identity conflict.

‘Polis’ means Greek City-States.

1. The Indian meanings of secular and secularism imply that state does not favour any religion. This implies equal respect for all religions rather than separation or distancing. 

2. In the western context, secularism implies separation of church and state. This implies the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as it was converted from a mandatory obligation to a voluntary personal practice. 

3. Secularization was related to the arrival of modernity and the rise of science and rationality as alternatives to religious ways of understanding the world. 

4. One difficult issue that arises from this is the tension between the western sense of state maintaining distance from religion and the Indian sense of the state giving equal respect to all religions.

• Communalism refers to aggressive chauvinism based on religious identity. Chauvinism is itself an attitude that sees one’s own group as the only legitimate or worthy group, with other groups being seen as inferior, illegitimate and opposed.

 • Communalism is an aggressive political ideology linked to religion. 

• This is a peculiarly Indian or South Asian meaning which is different from the ordinary English word. 

• In the English language, ‘communal’ means something related to a community or collectivity as different from an individual. The English meaning is neutral, whereas the South Asian meaning is strongly charged. 

• Communalism is about politics not about religion. Although, communalists are intensely involved with religion, there is no necessary relationship between personal belief and communalism. A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout persons may or may not be communalists. 

• Communalists cultivate an aggressive political identity and are prepared to condemn or attack everyone who does not share their identity. 

• One of the most important features of communalism is that religious identity overrides everything else, it, also, constructs large and diverse groups as singular and homogenous.

 • Examples of communal riots in our country- Anti Sikh riots of 1984; the Gujarat riots. 

• But, India also has a long tradition of religious pluralism, ranging from peaceful co-existence to actual mixing or syncretism. This syncretic heritage is reflected in the devotional songs and poetry of the Bhakti and Sufi movements.

• Minority usually involves some sense of relative disadvantage. 

• Privileged minorities such as extremely wealthy people are not usually referred to as minorities; if they are, the term is qualified in some way, as in the phrase “privileged minority’. 

• When minority is used without any qualification, it implies a relatively small and also, disadvantaged group. 

• The sociological sense of minority implies that the members of the minority form a collectivity i.e. they have a sense of group solidarity, a feeling of togetherness and belonging. 

• This is linked to disadvantage because the experience of being subjected to prejudice and discrimination usually heightens feelings of intra-group loyalty and interests. 

• Groups may be a minority in statistical sense, such as people who are left-handed or people bom on 29th February, are not minorities in sociological sense because they do not form a collectivity. 

• Religious or cultural minority groups need special protection because of the demographic dominance of majority. 

• These groups are politically vulnerable. They must face the risk that the majority community will capture political power and use the state machinery to suppress their religious or cultural institutions, ultimately forcing them to abandon their identity. 

Exceptions

•Religious minorities like Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well off economically but they may still be disadvantaged in the cultural sense because of their small numbers compared to overwhelming majority Hindus. 

•Another set of complications arise by the fact of India state’s simultaneous commitment to secularism as well as the protection of minorities. 

•The protection of minorities requires that they be given special consideration in a context where the normal working of the political system places them at a disadvantage vis-s-vis the majority. 

•This leads to the accusation of favouritism. But supporters would state that without this protection, secularism can turn into an excuse for imposing majority community’s values and norms on minorities.

• Language coupled with regional and tribal identity-and not religion-has provided the most powerful instrument for the formation of ethno-national identity in India. Language ensures better communication and results in more effective administration. 

• Madras presidency was divided into Madras State, Kerala and Mysore State. The Report of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) which was implemented on November 1, 1956, has helped transform the political and institutional life of the nation. 

• It has proved to be perfectly consistent to be Kannadiga and Indian, Bengali and ’ Indian, Tamil and Indian, Gujarati and Indian. 

• In 1953, Potti Sriramulu, died seven weeks after beginning a fast unto death. His death provoked violent protests and led to the creation of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It also led to the formation of the SRC, which in 1956 put the formal, final seal of approval on the principle of linguistic states. These states based on language sometimes quarrel with each other. While these disputes are not pretty, they could in fact have been far worse. 

Currently there are 29 states (federal units) and 7 Union territories (centrally administered) within the Indian nation-state.

• Regionalism in India is rooted in India’s diversity of languages, cultures, tribes and religions. 

• It is encouraged by the geographical concentration of these identity markers in particular regions, and fuelled by a sense of regional deprivation. 

• Indian federalism has been a means of accommodating these regional sentiments. From Presidencies to States 

• After Independence, initially the Indian state continued with the British-Indian arrangement dividing India into large provinces, called Presidencies. Madras, Bombay and Calcutta were the three major presidencies. 

• Soon after Independence and the adoption of the constitution, all these units of the colonial era had to be reorganized into ethno-linguistic states within the Indian union in response to strong popular agitations.

• Language coupled with regional and tribal identity and not religion has provided the most powerful instrument for the formation of ethno-national identity in India. 

• But this does not mean that all linguistic communities have got statehood. For example- Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. In their formation, language did not play*any role. A combination of ethnicity based on tribal identity, language, regional deprivation and ecology provided the basis.

A political community with some prerequisites is called a nation. A fixed region, people, a government, and sovereignty are the important factors that make up a nation. A nation has political and legal institutions to control the people who live in that region. Max Weber denes a nation as a large group of people that successfully claims legal, monopolistic rights to use force within a particular region.