CBSE Class 7 Social Science Chapter 01 The Story Of Indian Farming MCQs Set 01

Answer: (A) Barley and millets

Explanation:
Mehrgarh, located in Baluchistan and considered a precursor site to the Sindhu-Sarasvati civilisation, shows evidence of barley and millet cultivation dating back that far. Rice cultivation, by contrast, is associated more with the Ganga Plain around the same broad era.

Answer: (A) It confirmed that soil and climate differences across regions shaped what could be grown

Explanation:
Xuanzang's remark, made during his 7th-century travels, captured how varying soil and climate conditions across India produced distinct plants, fruits and trees in different places — essentially anticipating the chapter's later discussion of agroclimatic zones.

Answer: (A) They receive rainfall from both the southwest and northeast monsoons

Explanation:
Unlike northern India, which depends only on the southwest monsoon and faces a dry spell afterward, coastal regions like Kerala and Tamil Nadu get a second dose of rain from the northeast monsoon between October and December, allowing farmers there to grow rice across much of the year.

Answer: (A) Kharif

Explanation:
Kharif crops depend on the timely and moderate arrival of monsoon rains; the chapter notes that excessive rainfall during this season can destroy crops and cause serious distress to farming families, unlike rabi (winter) or zaid (summer) seasons which don't rely on monsoon timing in the same way.

Answer: (A) Haimana

Explanation:
The chapter notes that prior to adopting Arabic-origin words during Mughal times, Indians used haimana for winter crops, kedara for wet (monsoon) crops, and graishmika for summer crops.

Answer: (A) It holds more moisture and is more fertile since it forms from weathered volcanic rock

Explanation:
Black soil, often called cotton soil, develops from the weathering of volcanic rock and retains considerable moisture, making it very fertile.
Red soil, in contrast, forms from weathered lava or old rocks and is described in the chapter as not very fertile because of its iron content reacting with air and water.

Answer: (A) Alpine soil

Explanation:
This matches alpine soil, which the chapter says forms from the weathering caused by freezing and melting ice, giving it a thin, rough, rocky texture typical of high mountain regions.

Answer: (A) Rainfall washes away most minerals, leaving mainly iron and aluminium behind

Explanation:
Heavy rain gradually strips laterite soil of most of its minerals, leaving behind iron and aluminium compounds that turn it reddish and hard in hot weather — a composition that does not support fertile plant growth.

Answer: (A) A fermented mix of cow dung, urine, milk, curd, and ghee

Explanation:
Panchagavya combines five products from cows — dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee — fermented together; recent studies cited in the chapter show it works as a biofertiliser that improves crop growth and disease resistance.

Answer: (A) It follows the natural curves of a slope, which slows rainwater runoff and reduces soil erosion

Explanation:
By ploughing along a hill's natural contours rather than straight up and down, farmers slow the flow of rainwater across the field, which reduces the washing away of topsoil — distinct from terracing, which instead creates flat steps.

Answer: (A) Small community-managed canals divert river water to the fields

Explanation:
Phad is described as a community-based irrigation system where small canals redirect river water into the fields, distinguishing it from northeast India's bamboo drip irrigation, which channels spring water through bamboo pipes instead.

Answer: (A) It gradually depleted groundwater and degraded soil quality over time

Explanation:
Although the Green Revolution boosted wheat and rice output and brought India food self-sufficiency, its heavy reliance on chemical fertilisers, pesticides and intensive irrigation eventually led to problems like groundwater depletion, soil impoverishment, and water contamination.

Answer: (A) Banning chemical fertilisers and pesticides across the state

Explanation:
Sikkim earned recognition as the world's first fully organic state by banning chemical fertilisers and pesticides in 2014 and promoting natural farming methods instead.

Answer: (A) Small plots generate limited income and make expensive machinery hard to justify or use efficiently

Explanation:
With average landholdings around three-fourths of a hectare — roughly the size of a football field — farmers struggle to earn adequate income, and buying or renting machinery built for larger farms often isn't practical or affordable for them.

Answer: (A) Melting glaciers, irrigation diversion, groundwater extraction, and dam interference

Explanation:
The chapter lists several interconnected causes: accelerated melting of Himalayan glaciers due to global warming, large-scale diversion of river water for irrigation, heavy groundwater pumping by agriculture and industry, and hundreds of dams disrupting natural flow — together threatening the river's ability to replenish itself.

Answer: (B) Around 46 per cent

Explanation:
The chapter separates two figures: agriculture contributes a little over 18 per cent to GDP, while close to 46 per cent of working Indians rely on it for their livelihood. The 75 per cent figure instead refers to the share of women among rural agricultural workers, and 85 per cent refers to traditional practices validated by ICAR.

Answer: (B) Joining two plants together so they grow as one, combining useful traits

Explanation:
Grafting joins one plant to another so they grow as a single plant, allowing traits like pest resistance or fruit sweetness to be combined; the Brihatsamhita describes a grafting method still used today. The other options describe seed-soaking, contour ploughing and beejamrit, which are unrelated techniques mentioned elsewhere in the chapter.

Answer: (A) The domestication of cattle, sheep, and goats in the pre-urban Sindhu-Sarasvati civilisation

Explanation:
Animal domestication is dated to around 3500 BCE, during the pre-urban phase of the Sindhu-Sarasvati civilisation, well before the historical-period texts like the Arthashastra, Brihatsamhita, and Vrikshayurveda, which the chapter places later as sources of agricultural knowledge.

Answer: (B) The seeds produced by these plants are usually unsuitable for replanting, forcing farmers to buy fresh seed each season

Explanation:
Commercial high-yield seeds are pest-resistant and productive, but the plants they produce typically don't give seeds fit for the next season's sowing—so farmers must keep purchasing from companies, creating an ongoing dependency the chapter criticises.

Answer: (B) Hydroponics

Explanation:
Hydroponics grows plants in nutrient-rich water solutions, delivering minerals straight to the roots in a controlled setup, making it useful precisely where soil is scarce or unsuitable—unlike terracing, contour ploughing, or crop rotation, which all depend on cultivable land.

Answer: (B) It reduced pest risk and ensured at least some harvest even if one crop failed

Explanation:
Growing several crops together lowered the chance of losing everything to pests and staggered harvests so that some yield was almost always guaranteed, unlike single-crop fields which risked total failure from one problem.

Answer: (A) More than 75 per cent of those working in agriculture in rural India are women

Explanation:
The chapter deliberately points out that the image of a farmer as a man is misleading, since over three-fourths of rural agricultural workers are actually women, handling tasks from sowing right through to threshing.

Answer: (B) It cut down the labour that would otherwise go into three separate steps

Explanation:
This refers to the Indian seed drill. Its cleverness lay in merging what would normally be three separate jobs - preparing the ground, dropping in seeds, and closing the furrow - into one smooth process, saving considerable effort for the farmer.

Answer: (B) Saffron cultivation in Kashmir, forest-integrated farming in Odisha, and below-sea-level farming in Kerala

Explanation:
• Kashmir's saffron fields are one recognised system
• Odisha's traditional farming that combines forest management with cultivation is another
• Kerala's unique method of farming and fishing below sea level rounds off the third
Together these three were singled out by the FAO for their heritage value.

Answer: (B) Kulagar, from Konkani words meaning 'family' and 'storehouse'

Explanation:
Kulagar comes from the Konkani terms 'kula' (family) and 'agar' (storehouse), and describes a system common in the Konkan Plains of Goa where households cultivate a mix of crops around their homes rather than relying on cows and bullocks, which is instead the basis of gokrishi.