CBSE Class 12 History Sample Paper Set B Solved

PART A

Answer the questions given below.

1. Write any two features of Harappan script. 

2. Which crops were known as ‘Jins-I-Kamil’ in Mughal period and why? 

3. Why did the salt selected for satyagraha by Gandhiji? 

PART B

Section I

Answer any three of the following questions:

4. Write important features of harappan town planning. 

5. What are the main sources of political history of maurayas? 

6. Kings in early states were not invariably kshatriyas. Explain. 

7. Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at sanchi. 

Section II

Answer any two of the following questions.

8. What do you think were the advantage and disadvantage enclosing agricultural land within the fortified area of the city? 

9. Who were zamindars? What were their functions ?What were their functions. 

10. Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the mughal Empire. 

Section III

Answer any three of the following questions.

11. Why did the paharias invade plains where settled agriculturists lived and how was peace purchased by the zamindars? Explain. 

12. What measures were adopted to form the unity among the rebels? 

13. Explain the ideals introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru in the “objectives resolution” that were to be kept in mind while framing the constitution of India. 

14. Explain social changes found in new colonial cities. 

PART C

15. What is Sufism? Discuss the principles of Sufism.

or

Who was Baba Guru Nanak? Describe the major teachings of Baba Guru Nanak.

16. Why did Gandhiji start non- cooperation movement? Why was it withdrawn? (5+5=10)

or

How did Gandhiji transform National movement into mass movement?

PART-D

17. Source Based Questions.

Read the following extracts( Q.19 to 21) carefully and answer the questions that follow:

THE POOR PEASANT

An excerpt from Bernier’s description of the peasantry in the countryside: Of the vast tracts of country constituting the empire of Hindustan, many are little more than sand, or barren mountains, badly cultivated and thinly populated. Even a considerable portion of the good land remains untilled for want of labourers; many of whom perish inconsequence of the bad treatment they experience from Governors. The poor people, when they become incapable of discharging the demands of their rapacious lords, are not only often deprived of the means of subsistence, but are also made to lose their children, who are carried away as slaves. Thus , it happens that the peasantry, driven to despair by so excessive tyranny , abandon the country.

In this instance, Bernier was participating in contemporary debates in Europe concerning the nature of state and society, and intended that this description of Mughal India would serve as a warning to those who did not recognize the “merits” of private property.

(a) What were the problems about cultivating the land, according to Bernier? 

(b) Why did the peasantry abandon the land? 

(c) Explain the reasons given by Bernier for the exploitation of the peasants.

(d) How did his observations influence thinkers in Europe? Explain. 

or

Reverence for the Jogi

Here is an excerpt from a letter written by Aurangzeb to a Jogi in 1661-62. The possessor of the sublime station, Shiv Murat, Guru Anand Nath Jio! May your Reverence remain in peace and happiness ever under the protection of Sri Shiv Jio!! A piece of cloth for the cloak and a sum of twenty five rupees which have been sent as an offering will reach (Your Reverence)….your Reverence may write to us whenever there is any service which can be rendered by us.

(a) Who is the deity the Saint or Jogi worships? How do you know it? 

(b) How does Aurangzeb show his respect to him?

(c) Explain briefly the five principles of Islam. 

(d) How did these universal practices accommodate regional influences in India? Give two examples. 

18. Much later, in 1947, R.E.M. wheeler then Director General of the ASI, tried to correlate thisarchaeological evidence with that of the Rigveda, the earliest known text in the subcontinent. He wrote : The Rigveda mentions pur, meaning rampart , fort or stronghold. Indra, the Aryan wargod is called purandara, the fort- destroyer. Where are – or were- these citadels? It has in the past been supposed that they were mythical …. The recent excavation of Harappa may be thought to have changed the picture. Here we have a highly evolved civilization of essentially non- Aryan type, now known to have employed massive fortifications … what destroyed this firmly settled civilization? Climatic, economic or political deterioration may have weakened it, but its ultimate extinction is more likely to have been completed by deliberate and large- scale destruction .It may be no mere chance that at a late period of Mohenjodaro men , women and children, appear to have been massacred there. On circumstantial evidence, Indra stands accused.

-From R.E. M. Wheeler, “Harappa 1946”,Ancient India, 1947.

(a) What did the Rigveda mention about pur? 

(b) According to Wheeler what did excavations show? 

(c) What do you conclude about the destruction of this civilization and why? 

(d) Who was R.E.M. Wheeler ?

Or

What the King’s officials did?

Here is an excerpt from the account of Megasthenes: OF the great officers of state, some …..superintend the rivers, measure the land, as is done in Egypt, and inspect the sluices by which water is let out from the main canals into their branches, so that every one may have an equal supply of it, the same persons have charge also of the huntsmen, and are entrusted with the power of rewarding or punishing them according to their deserts. They collect the taxes, and superintend the occupations connected with land; as those of the woodcutters, the carpenters, the blacksmiths and the miners.

(a) List the jobs done by the officers of the state. 

(b) Give any three features of the Maurya administration under Asoka. 

(c) To what extent does this extract help us to understand about the Mauryan Empire? Explain. 

(d) What are some of the other sources for studying this Empire? Give four of them. 

19. “without a shot being fired” this is what moon wrote: 

For over twenty –four hours riotous mobs were allowed to rage through this great commercial city unchallenged and unchecked. The finest bazaars were burnt to the ground without a shot being fired to disperse the incendiaries (i.e. those who stirred up conflict). The.. District Magistrate marched his ( large police) force into the city and marched it out again without making any effective use of it at all…..

(a) To which event does this source refer to? Describe what the mobs were doing ? 

(b) Why did Amritsar become the scene of blood shed later in 1947? 

(c) What was the attitude of the soldiers and policemen towards the mob? 

(d) Give one example to show how Gandhiji tried to bring about communal harmony? 

Or

Excerpt from what Jawaharlal Nehru said in his famous speech of 13 December,1946: “We say that it is our firm and solemn resolve to have an independent sovereign republic. India is bound to be sovereign, it is bound to be independent, and it is bound to be a republic … .. Now some friends have raised the question: “ Why have you not put the word ‘democratic ‘ here?” … obviously we are aiming for democracy and nothing less than democracy . 

Please Refer to the attached file for CBSE Class 12 History Sample Paper Set B Solved