Formative Assessment
Given below is a list of activities for Formative Assessment. A wide variety of activities
have been given keeping in mind the fact that the students in a classroom have multiple
intelligences. You could use them to assess the understanding of the students either at
the end of the chapter, or at the end of each section.
• Report writing: Ask the students to write the report in not more than 2090 words.
• Find out: Ask the students to find out about the topic from government websites.
They can make a chart or booklet and display the same in class.
• Debate: Divide the class into two groups. Give them 5-10 minutes to prepare for the
topic. Conduct the debate in class.
• Group Work: Ask each group to choose one topic. They can find out information
about their topic and write a report not exceeding 200 -250 words.
• Project: Ask the students to find out about the topic from government websites.
They can make a chart or booklet and display the same in class.
• Peer and self-assessment: Use Fill in the blanks, True or false, and the MCQs on pages
69-70 for peer and self-assessment.
HOTS
The HOTS question can be discussed in class.
Life skills
Ask the students to complete the activity and discuss their findings in class.
Value-based question
Ask the students to discuss the answers for the value-based question.
Follow-up
• Make a model to show the difference between India before independence and
present-day India.
Answer key for the exercises in the lesson
Exercises for Summative Assessment
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. Development that keeps in mind the needs
of the poor, and that which does not damage
the environment is called urbanisation.
2. About 60% of Indians are employed in
agriculture.
3. Growth in agriculture is called Green
Revolution.
4. National Highway 7 runs between Varanasi
and Kanyakumari.
5. Government of India announced new
economic policies in the year 1991.
II. True or False?
1. There have been six Five-Year Plans so far. (F)
2. Indian rail and road networks are among the
largest in the world. (T)
3. Indian Railways is the biggest employer in
the country. (T)
4. In India, only the public sector offers
telecommunication services. (F)
III. Answer in brief.
1. What are Five-Year Plans?
Five year plans were started by the
government of India to ensure balanced
distribution of resources and to ensure that
everyone is benefitted by the process of
development.
2. Name one programme of the government
of India aimed at rural development.
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3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Indira Awaaz Yojana is aimed at rural
development.
‘Indian transport system is an amalgam of
both the ultramodern and the traditional’.
Explain how.
On the one hand we have one of the
largest networks of roads in the world,
a very large railway, modern ports and
modern airports. But even today there are
nearly 15 million bullock carts across rural
India, which happens to be the cheapest
means of transport there. Thus the Indian
transport system is an amalgam of both
the ultramodern and the traditional as we
have both the supersonic jets and the slow
moving bullock carts.
Name one public sector and one private
sector airline in India.
Air India is a public sector airline and
Kingfisher Airlines is a private sector airline.
Name one public sector and one
private sector company that offers
telecommunication services in India.
BSNL is a public sector company while
Airtel and Reliance communications
are private sector companies that offer
telecommunication services in India.
Give the full form of:
i) SAIL Steel Authority of India Limited.
ii) GAIL Gas Authority of India.
iii) GDP Gross Domestic Product.
iv) NHAI National Highway Authority of
India.
Give evidence that indicates that India
is still lagging in education. Mention one
remedy the government has come up with.
Less than half of India’s children aged
between six and fourteen go to school. Over
one-third of all children who enroll in school
never reach the eighth grade. Fifty-three
percent of girls in the age group of 5-19 years
are illiterate. Only 53% of habitation has a
primary school. Many schemes have been
launched by the government to counter
this. For example under Kasturba Gandhi
Balika Vidyalaya, funds are provided for an
additional 410 vidyalayas in educationally
backward areas.
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8. Mention one ill effect of uncontrolled
urbanisation.
One major ill-effect is the increase of slums
in all the major cities in India.
IV. Answer in detail.
1. What are the major functions of a
government?
The major functions of a government are
maintaining law and order, controlling
natural resources, providing civic amenities
and basic infrastructure, working towards
poverty alleviation and welfare of the poor,
and sustaining economic growth.
2. Give an account of the efforts taken by the
government to develop agriculture. What
was the result achieved?
The government has launched many land
reforms. Land holdings of the marginal
farmers were made bigger by redistributing
extra land taken from the larger zamindars.
Cooperative banks were started to lend
money to the farmers at reasonable rates.
Massive irrigation projects were launched.
High yielding seeds, pesticides and fertilisers
were made available at highly subsidised
rates. Farmers were guided about the best
techniques to adopt for maximising output
and were encouraged to mechanise the
process of farming. Many more steps have
been taken and as a result India witnessed
what is known as the Green Revolution.
Agricultural production shot up. India is
today self sufficient in food and has a buffer
stock to fall back on in case of drought.
3. Give a brief summary of the spectacular
growth of transport and telecommunication
sectors in India.
At the time of independence, the Indian
economy was in a state of ruin. Large tracts
of India were poorly linked with the rest of
the country. Since independence, India has
made rapid strides in the transport and
telecommunications sector. Today, India has a
very large network of roads. The government
set up the National Highway Authority of
India (NHAI) to link every corner of India.
These national highways form the economic
backbone of India. Another massive project
is the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ connecting the
four Metros. The Indian Railways play a major
role in the development of agriculture and
industry. Some of the important future plans
include building dedicated freight corridors,
constructing high speed passenger corridors
for running high speed trains and converting
the metre gauge rail lines to broad guage
by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan. In
the aviation industry too there has been a
phenomenal growth. Of all the sectors, the
telecommunications sector has probably
witnessed the most rapid technological
advancement over the past few years. In the
field of telecommunications the growth rate
in 2006 was 21% and is expected to grow
over 150% by the year 2012.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. c
8. b
2. c
9. c
3. b & c 4. b 5. c
10. c & d
6. c 7. a
Value-based question
• Being
compassionate
towards
the
disadvantaged sections of the society
• Having a sense of responsibility towards
society
• Selflessness
Answer key for the worksheet
I. 1. c
2. e
3. b
4. a
5. d
II. 1. b
2. d
3. d
4. a
5. d
III. 1. National Highway 2. Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited 3. Sarva Shiksha Abiyan 4. National
Thermal Power Corporation
IV. 1. The government through its Five Year Plans
launched several measures to develop
agricultural production. It launched massive
irrigation projects, encouraged mechanised
farming, gave credit to farmers to purchase
the machines and made arrangements to
market the produce of the farmers. All
these measures helped create a Green
Revolution in the country whereby the
agricultural production shot up. Today India
is self sufficient in food and even has a buffer
stock.
2. In India, the bullock cart is still used extensively
as the means of rural transportation. The
other means of transport prevalent in the
villages is tractors, buses and trains. But
there is an urgent need to modernise the
conventional carts so that the rural areas are
easily accessible.
3. The main challenge in the path of India’s
progress is the increase in the population
of the country. There is also a continuous
migration to metropolitan centres which
overburdens the resources in the cities. As
a result of this migration there is a growth
of slums in the metros which gives rise to
uncontrolled urbanisation.