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Term pack

Class 6 History & Civics

Name: ________________________

Skills in this pack

  • Measuring historical time
  • The sources of history
  • Early humans and the first crops
  • The names of India
  • What makes a civilisation
  • The Indus-Sarasvatī civilisation
  • Harappan cities and their water
  • Harappan food, crafts and trade
  • Family and community
  • Governance and the three organs
  • Democracy and representatives
  • Panchayati Raj
  • Urban local bodies

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Class 6 History & Civics · 1 of 13

Measuring historical time

Read and write dates as BCE and CE, count the years across the gap where no year zero sits, and say which century or millennium a year falls in.

Before you start

One line, running from the distant past on the left to the future on the right.

123
  1. 1. BCE
  2. 2. No year zero
  3. 3. CE

The thick mark in the middle is the calendar's starting point. To its left the years are counted backward and written BCE, so they run 3, 2, 1 as you move towards the middle; to its right they are counted forward and written CE. There is no year zero at the mark: 1 CE follows straight after 1 BCE.

  1. 1.Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was born in 1828 CE. Which century CE does that year belong to?

    • a) The 18th century CE
    • b) The 20th century CE
    • c) The 17th century CE
    • d) The 19th century CE

  2. 2.Add the two numbers and subtract 1. How many years passed between 3 BCE and 5 CE? Answer with a number.

  3. 3.The 21st century CE runs from 2001 to 2100. Which point on this line is the last year of the century before it?

    Mark the line with an X.

    19001920194019601980200020202040206020802100

  4. 4.The years counted backward from that starting point used to be marked BC. Write out in full what the three letters BCE stand for.

  5. 5.Arrange these four dates in order, earliest first.

    • 1 CE
    • 560 BCE
    • 1947 CE
    • 300,000 BCE

  6. 6.The chapter names one calendar as the one commonly used worldwide today, and several others used side by side with it for the dates of festivals and other auspicious events. Sort them.

    Groups: Commonly used worldwide today · Used alongside it for festival dates

    • The Muslim calendar
    • The Jewish calendar
    • The Chinese calendar
    • The Gregorian calendar
    • The Hindu calendar

  7. 7.A timeline runs from the beginning of humanity to the present, with a few important landmarks marked along it. What does putting events on one let you see straight away?

    • a) Why each of the events happened
    • b) Which of the events historians trust most
    • c) The order in which the events took place
    • d) How long each event took to finish

  8. 8.How many years lie between 1 BCE and 1 CE?

    • a) One, the year zero
    • b) Ten, one for each year of a decade
    • c) None — 1 CE follows immediately after 1 BCE
    • d) A hundred, because a century separates them

Measuring historical time · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 2 of 13

The sources of history

Say what counts as a source of history, group the four kinds the chapter names, tell apart the specialists who study the past, and follow what a historian does when two sources disagree.

Before you start

Four people who each study the past in a different way, and what each of them works on.

1234
  1. 1. Geologist
  2. 2. Palaeontologist
  3. 3. Anthropologist
  4. 4. Archaeologist

Left to right: a trench cut into the ground with brick courses showing; a fossil bone lying in rock; three people standing together; a hill with a seam of stone running through it. Four different things to look at, four different specialists — and the chapter's point is that these four feed one history between them.

  1. 1.In the last fifty years or so, what has been contributing more and more to the reconstruction of the past, alongside the usual sources?

    • a) Larger museums
    • b) Longer inscriptions
    • c) Scientific studies
    • d) More travelogues

  2. 2.The chapter opens by saying what history is the study of. What is it?

    • a) The age of the Earth
    • b) The human past
    • c) The lives of kings and queens
    • d) The objects kept in museums

  3. 3.Put the steps a historian works through into order, starting from gathering information.

    • Gather information from as many sources as can be found
    • Where sources contradict, decide which one to trust more
    • Notice where the sources confirm each other
    • Re-create the history of the period being studied

  4. 4.Some sources reach back into the ancient past. Others exist for recent history, which usually means the last two or three centuries. Sort them.

    Groups: Reaches back into the ancient past · A source for recent history

    • stories passed down by word of mouth
    • newspapers
    • television and the internet
    • an inscription carved for a king
    • stone tools dug out of the ground

  5. 5.Studies of ancient climates, chemical studies of excavated materials, and studies of the ______ of ancient people have given historians fresh insights. Which branch of biology, the one about features passed from one generation to the next, fills the gap?

  6. 6.Two sources give contradictory information about the same event. What does the chapter say historians do then?

    • a) Decide which of the sources they can trust more
    • b) Leave the event out of the history altogether
    • c) Add the two accounts together and use both
    • d) Take whichever of the two is older

  7. 7.Sort each of these under the heading the chapter puts it beneath.

    Groups: Archaeological sources · Literary sources · Oral sources · Artistic sources

    • sculptures
    • tools and weapons
    • paintings
    • monuments
    • folklore
    • poems and plays
    • travelogues
    • genealogical accounts

  8. 8.The chapter compares putting a history together to working on a particular kind of puzzle. Which one, and what is its catch?

    • a) A jigsaw puzzle, in which quite a few pieces may remain missing
    • b) A maze, in which there is one path and many dead ends
    • c) A riddle, which has a single hidden answer
    • d) A crossword, in which one wrong word spoils the rest

The sources of history · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 3 of 13

Early humans and the first crops

Describe how early humans lived as hunters and gatherers, and follow what changed after the last Ice Age when people began to farm, settle and build the first towns.

Before you start

A rock shelter wall, and the parts of the painting on it.

123
  1. 1. Symbol
  2. 2. Figure
  3. 3. Animal

A star-like symbol on the left, a stick figure with arms and legs in the middle, a four-legged animal with horns on the right. The chapter says some rock paintings hold simple figures or a few symbols, and others show whole scenes with animals or humans — this wall has both kinds on it.

  1. 1.The chapter ends this stretch of the story with a caution about how safe early human progress was. What does it say?

    • a) Each new technology made the next one certain to arrive
    • b) At some critical times humanity could have almost disappeared, as some earlier species did
    • c) Progress was steady once fire had been mastered
    • d) The Ice Ages were the last serious danger humanity faced

  2. 2.The chapter says early humans were mainly hunters and gatherers. What does that mean they relied on?

    • a) Sowing cereals in fields they had cleared
    • b) Trading food with the villages nearby
    • c) Keeping cattle and goats near their camps
    • d) Hunting, and collecting edible plants and fruits

  3. 3.Early humans communicated with each other using languages that are now ______. Which word completes the sentence, and is the reason nothing they said reaches us?

  4. 4.Sort each of these into the way of life it belongs to.

    Groups: Hunter-gatherer life · Farming life

    • settlements beside rivers, where the soil is more fertile
    • domesticated cattle and goats
    • temporary camps, rock shelters or caves
    • hunting, and collecting edible plants and fruits
    • stone axes, blades and arrowheads
    • cultivating cereals and grains

  5. 5.The last Ice Age lasted from over 100,000 years ago until roughly when?

    • a) Around 300,000 years ago
    • b) Around 12,000 years ago
    • c) Around 100 years ago
    • d) Around 1,000 years ago

  6. 6.Match each word the chapter explains to what it means.

    • Ice Age
    • hamlet
    • welfare
    • afterlife
    • a life that begins after death
    • a time when much of the Earth was covered with ice
    • health, prosperity and well-being
    • a small settlement or small village

  7. 7.The chapter says the use of metal helped make three kinds of thing. Which three?

    • a) Ploughs, boats and grain stores
    • b) Durable tools, objects of daily use and ornaments
    • c) Pots, bricks and roof tiles
    • d) Weapons, coins and seals

  8. 8.Modern humans have walked the planet for about how many years? Find the point on this line.

    Mark the line with an X.

    0100000200000300000400000

Early humans and the first crops · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 4 of 13

The names of India

Trace the names this land has been given — Sapta Sindhava, Bhāratavarṣha, Jambudvīpa, Bhārata from within, and Hindu, Indoi and Yindu from outside — and say where each one came from.

Before you start

The Viṣhṇu Purāṇa's description of Bhārata, drawn.

123
  1. 1. Mountains
  2. 2. Bhārata
  3. 3. Ocean

North is at the top: snow-capped peaks along the upper edge, open sea along the lower one, and the land in between. An ancient Tamil poem of about 2,000 years ago describes the same country from the other end — from Cape Kumari in the south to the great mountain in the north, and from the oceans on the east and on the west.

  1. 1.Which region of the Subcontinent does the Ṛig Veda give the name Sapta Sindhava to?

    • a) The far south, around Cape Kumari
    • b) The northwest region
    • c) The whole Subcontinent
    • d) The eastern region, towards Vanga

  2. 2.The word Sindhava comes from Sindhu. Which river does Sindhu refer to?

  3. 3.Which people does the chapter name as the first foreigners to mention India?

    • a) The ancient Chinese
    • b) The Arabs
    • c) The ancient Greeks
    • d) The Persians, the ancient inhabitants of Iran

  4. 4.Put the steps of the Chinese name for India in order, starting from Sindhu.

    • Indu
    • Sindhu
    • Hindhu
    • Yindu

  5. 5.The Indian Constitution, first written in English, opens with a phrase naming the country twice over. Which phrase?

    • a) Jambudvipa, that is India
    • b) Hindustan, that is India
    • c) India, that is Bharat
    • d) Bharatavarsha, the land of the seven rivers

  6. 6.The ancient Greeks took their name for the region from the Persian sources, but dropped the initial letter h. Why?

    • a) The h was a mistake in the inscription they copied from
    • b) That letter did not exist in their Greek language
    • c) They wanted a name that sounded less Persian
    • d) The Persians had already stopped using the h themselves

  7. 7.Xuanzang travelled from China to India in the 7th century CE, visited many parts of the country, met scholars and collected Buddhist texts. After how many years did he return to China? Answer with a number.

  8. 8.Match each name to what it means.

    • Sapta Sindhava
    • Bhāratavarṣha
    • Jambudvīpa
    • Bharata
    • the land of the seven rivers
    • the country of the Bharatas
    • one of the main Vedic groups of people
    • the island of the fruit of the jamun tree

The names of India · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 5 of 13

What makes a civilisation

Name the characteristics the chapter says a civilisation should have, tell internal trade from external, and say where and when civilisation first began.

Before you start

Village, town, city — the same place at three moments.

123
  1. 1. Village
  2. 2. Town
  3. 3. City

Left: two huts. Middle: more of them, closer together. Right: larger buildings set along straight streets that cross each other. The last picture is the one the chapter calls urbanism — not just more houses, but a place laid out and managed.

  1. 1.In general, what does the chapter say the term civilisation is used for?

    • a) A society that has invented writing
    • b) Any group of people living in one place
    • c) The period after the last Ice Age
    • d) An advanced stage of human societies

  2. 2.The chapter names some form of government and administration as a characteristic. What does it say that government is for?

    • a) Defending the city against attack
    • b) Managing a more complex society and its many activities
    • c) Collecting taxes from the villages around the city
    • d) Deciding what the crafts should produce

  3. 3.Cultural ideas about life and the world are one of the characteristics. How does the chapter say they get expressed?

    • a) Through trade with distant regions
    • b) Through writing alone, once a script has been invented
    • c) Through art, architecture, literature, oral traditions or social customs
    • d) Through the decisions of the government and administration

  4. 4.By the end of the previous chapter, what were the first human groups already doing?

    • a) Building cities laid out on a plan
    • b) Trading with distant parts of the world
    • c) Settling down, practising agriculture, and developing construction, metallurgy and transport
    • d) Living in caves and rock shelters, hunting and gathering

  5. 5.Match each characteristic of a civilisation to what the chapter says it means.

    • urbanism
    • a variety of crafts
    • trade
    • some form of writing
    • managing raw materials and producing finished goods
    • keeping records and communicating
    • exchanging goods within a region and with distant ones
    • town-planning, the growth of cities and their management

  6. 6.The chapter splits trade into two kinds. Sort each one.

    Groups: Internal trade · External trade

    • within a region
    • within a city
    • with distant regions
    • with other parts of the world

  7. 7.The chapter says civilisation began at different times in different parts of the world. What does it add about what those ancient civilisations left us?

    • a) Each one developed without knowing of the others
    • b) Their achievements were lost when their cities were abandoned
    • c) Humanity would not have reached its present stage without their contributions and advances
    • d) They were each built on the same three characteristics

  8. 8.In the northwest of the Indian Subcontinent, put these three stages in order, starting from villages, from about 3500 BCE.

    • Villages, from about 3500 BCE
    • Towns, as trade and other exchanges increased
    • Cities, around 2600 BCE

What makes a civilisation · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 6 of 13

The Indus-Sarasvatī civilisation

Say when this civilisation ran and why it carries four different names, place its main cities on the modern map, and follow the two rivers its sites grew along.

Before you start

The two river systems, and where the sites cluster along them.

1234
  1. 1. Himalayas
  2. 2. Indus
  3. 3. Sarasvatī
  4. 4. Sea

Both rivers come down out of the mountains along the top and run to the sea along the bottom. The dark dots are settlements. Dots sit on both rivers — which is the chapter's point about the name: the sites are not confined to the Indus. Left to right: the Indus and its tributaries, then the Sarasvatī with the sites crowding along it.

  1. 1.In the Ṛig Veda, how is Sarasvatī spoken of?

    • a) Both as a goddess and as a river flowing from the mountain to the sea
    • b) As a goddess, with no river of that name
    • c) As a city built where two rivers meet
    • d) As a river, with no worship attached to it

  2. 2.The plains of the Punjab and Sindh were favourable to agriculture. What made them so?

    • a) The rainy season was longer there than elsewhere
    • b) The Indus River and its tributaries watered them and made them fertile
    • c) The Himalayas sheltered them from cold winds
    • d) The soil was rich in the stone the crafts needed

  3. 3.The Sarasvatī River is described as seasonal today. What does that mean here?

    • a) It flows in the rainy season and not at other times of year
    • b) It has dried up completely and no longer exists
    • c) It floods once a year and then runs steadily
    • d) It changes its course from one year to the next

  4. 4.Why are the people of this civilisation called Harappans?

    • a) The city of Harappa was the first of this civilisation to be excavated
    • b) Harappa was the largest city the civilisation built
    • c) Harappa is the name the inhabitants used for themselves
    • d) Harappa was the capital the other cities answered to

  5. 5.The civilisation's period runs from about 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Find the point on this line of BCE years that marks when it began.

    Mark the line with an X.

    15002000250030003500

  6. 6.What do later texts say became of the Sarasvatī River?

    • a) That it changed its name
    • b) That it burst its banks and flooded the plains
    • c) That it was joined to the Indus
    • d) That it dried up and eventually disappeared

  7. 7.The Sarasvatī River goes by two names today, one in India and one in Pakistan. What is it called in India?

  8. 8.What does the chapter say about the discovery of sites belonging to this civilisation?

    • a) They stopped once the Sarasvatī sites were mapped
    • b) They are confined to the two countries the Indus runs through
    • c) Such discoveries continue even today
    • d) The last of them was found a century ago

The Indus-Sarasvatī civilisation · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 7 of 13

Harappan cities and their water

Describe how a Harappan city was laid out, tell the upper town from the lower, and follow the wells, drains and reservoirs that made such cities possible.

Before you start

A Harappan city from above.

1234
  1. 1. Wall
  2. 2. Street
  3. 3. Houses
  4. 4. Tank

Streets crossing each other at right angles, blocks of buildings between them, a wall running round the whole thing, and a water tank in one corner. The houses differ in size — but the chapter's point is that they were built to the same quality whatever their size.

  1. 1.The chapter explains what it means by the elite of a Harappan city. Who does it mean?

    • a) The craftspeople who made ornaments and tools
    • b) The farmers whose surplus fed the city
    • c) The traders who handled goods from distant regions
    • d) The higher layers of society — rulers, officials, administrators and often priests

  2. 2.Which city does the chapter name as having three distinct zones rather than two?

    • a) Lothal
    • b) Dholavira
    • c) Mohenjo-daro
    • d) Harappa

  3. 3.Where did the drains of a Harappan city generally run?

    • a) Around the outside of the city wall
    • b) Through the upper town alone
    • c) Along the middle of the streets, in the open
    • d) Below the streets

  4. 4.Sort what is known about the Great Bath from what is still argued over.

    Groups: Known from the remains · Still a matter of debate

    • It was waterproofed with natural bitumen
    • Whether it was a tank used for religious rituals
    • It measured about 12 by 7 metres
    • Whether it was a bath for the royal family
    • Small rooms surrounded it, one holding a well

  5. 5.The Harappan cities' wide streets were often lined up with the four main compass directions. What is the word for those four — north, south, east and west — that the chapter uses?

  6. 6.At Dholavira at least six large reservoirs were built with stones or cut into the rock. What connected most of them?

    • a) Open channels running down the main street
    • b) Underground drains, for efficient water harvesting and distribution
    • c) A single well at the centre of the city
    • d) Clay pipes laid along the top of the city wall

  7. 7.What does the chapter say about the quality of construction in these cities?

    • a) It was best in the upper town and poorer in the lower
    • b) It varied from street to street
    • c) It was the same for small and big houses
    • d) It improved as the cities grew older

  8. 8.Match each part of a Harappan city to what the chapter says about it.

    • upper town
    • lower town
    • where common people lived
    • where the local elite probably lived

Harappan cities and their water · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 8 of 13

Harappan food, crafts and trade

Say what the Harappans grew, made and traded, read what their seals and their dockyard were for, and give the two reasons the chapter says their cities were abandoned.

Before you start

A Harappan seal, about the size of a large stamp.

12
  1. 1. Signs
  2. 2. Animal

A row of small marks along the top and a horned animal below them. Thousands of these have been excavated. The animal figures and the signs above them are part of a writing system — and both the system and the meaning of the animals are yet to be understood. What is certain is that the seals somehow relate to trade.

  1. 1.Lothal's huge basin, 217 metres long, must have been what?

    • a) A field flooded for growing rice
    • b) A reservoir, to store water for the settlement
    • c) A dockyard, to receive and send boats carrying goods
    • d) A public bath like the one at Mohenjo-daro

  2. 2.Thousands of small seals have been excavated from Harappan settlements. What does the chapter say their chief purpose seems to have been?

    • a) Recording the names of the city's rulers
    • b) Marking the boundaries between city zones
    • c) Decorating the doorways of large houses
    • d) Letting traders identify their goods and each other

  3. 3.Match each material to what the chapter says about it.

    • carnelian
    • steatite
    • copper
    • conch shell
    • a soft metal that turns to bronze when tin is added
    • a hard material worked into bangles
    • a reddish semiprecious stone found mostly in Gujarat
    • a soft stone hardened by heating

  4. 4.Sort each of these by what the chapter says about it.

    Groups: A cereal they grew · A surprise found in their cooking pots

    • barley
    • banana
    • ginger
    • wheat
    • turmeric

  5. 5.What does the chapter say about warfare or invasion as an explanation for the cities being abandoned?

    • a) Warfare is one of the two factors currently agreed upon
    • b) The cities fought each other over the shrinking rivers
    • c) There is no trace of warfare or invasion, and no sign of an army or weapons of war
    • d) An invasion from the northwest destroyed the cities one by one

  6. 6.The seals carry animal figures with a few signs above them. What does the chapter say about those signs and figures?

    • a) They record the weight of the goods a trader carried
    • b) They have been read, and describe religious rituals
    • c) They are part of a writing system, and that system is yet to be understood
    • d) They spell the names of the traders who owned the seals

  7. 7.Sort these goods by which direction the chapter says they moved.

    Groups: Exported · Probably imported

    • copper
    • ornaments
    • timber
    • cotton

  8. 8.What happens if tin is added to copper?

    • a) The result is bronze, which is softer than copper
    • b) The result is bronze, which is harder than copper
    • c) The mixture cannot be worked
    • d) The copper becomes easier to drill

Harappan food, crafts and trade · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 9 of 13

Family and community

Tell a joint family from a nuclear one, say what a community is and how many kinds the chapter allows, and read the real examples it gives of communities acting together.

Before you start

Two households, drawn the same size.

12
  1. 1. Joint
  2. 2. Nuclear

Both houses are drawn the same size on purpose: the difference between the two types is who lives inside, not how grand the building is. On the left, three rows of people — grandparents, then parents, uncles and aunts, then the children. On the right, one couple and two children.

  1. 1.What does the chapter say about the responsibilities children take on at home?

    • a) As they grow up they take on more, and through daily practice learn to participate in the household
    • b) They are the same for each child in a family
    • c) They are set by the community rather than the family
    • d) They begin once their schooling is finished, and not before

  2. 2.The chapter names four values it says children learn in the family, calling the family a school for them. Which set is it?

    • a) Tyāga, dharma, satya and ahimsa
    • b) Ahimsa, dharma, karma and moksha
    • c) Ahimsa, dāna, sevā and tyāga
    • d) Dāna, sevā, vidya and shanti

  3. 3.What does the chapter say a community is?

    • a) A group of connected people, families joined with the families and people around them
    • b) The people living in one village and no further
    • c) A group of families related to each other by blood
    • d) A group formed by the government to manage a local area

  4. 4.What does the chapter say the family is, in relation to society as a whole?

    • a) One of several units, alongside the community and the state
    • b) A grouping found in Indian society but not elsewhere
    • c) A unit that has replaced older kinds of grouping
    • d) The fundamental and most ancient unit of any society

  5. 5.Match each word the chapter explains to what it means.

    • joint family
    • nuclear family
    • Cooperation
    • a couple and their children
    • several generations living together
    • working together

  6. 6.The chapter says community is a flexible concept. Which of these does it give as an example of something also called a community?

    • a) A single household
    • b) A State government department
    • c) A jāti, or a subdivision of it
    • d) A Municipal Corporation

  7. 7.Why does the chapter say most Indian languages have no word for cousin?

    • a) Because each language has a different word for it
    • b) Because the relationship is a recent one in Indian families
    • c) Because cousins are counted as brothers and sisters
    • d) Because the English word is used instead

  8. 8.Following the halma tradition of coming together for a common task, what did the Bhil community around Jhabua do about their region's water crisis?

    • a) Asked the State government to build them a reservoir
    • b) Planted thousands of trees and dug trenches to conserve rainwater, without being paid
    • c) Moved their villages closer to a river
    • d) Divided the remaining water between the families by rule

Family and community · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 10 of 13

Governance and the three organs

Tell governance from government and rules from laws, say what each of the three organs does and why they are kept separate, and place India's three levels of government.

Before you start

The three levels of government in India, stacked.

123
  1. 1. Centre
  2. 2. State
  3. 3. Local

A pyramid: the widest block is at the bottom, closest to the town or village, and the narrowest at the top. Suppose there is a flood in part of a district. If it is not too severe the local authorities may deal with it; if it involves several towns and many villages the State Government steps in; if it is massive, the Central Government may also send relief supplies and the army. Bottom to top: Local Government at the town or village level, State Government at the State level, Central Government at the national level.

  1. 1.Match each organ of government to its job.

    • legislature
    • executive
    • judiciary
    • implements the laws
    • decides whether someone has broken the law
    • makes new laws

  2. 2.Why does the chapter say rules become necessary when a large number of people live together?

    • a) Because the law courts need something to decide upon
    • b) Because a government cannot exist without them
    • c) Because otherwise nobody would know who is in charge
    • d) Because there can be disagreements and disorder, and rules keep order and harmony

  3. 3.The chapter says the President of India and the Governor of a State are heads in name rather than in fact. Which word does it use for that — a word meaning in name rather than in substance?

  4. 4.One subject appears in the table under the Central Government's list and again under the State Government's list. Which?

    • a) Defence
    • b) Currency
    • c) Irrigation
    • d) Education

  5. 5.At the national level the legislature has two houses. Which?

    • a) The Vidhan Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
    • b) The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
    • c) The Gram Sabha and the Lok Sabha
    • d) The Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha

  6. 6.Match each word to what the chapter says it means.

    • Governance
    • A government
    • Laws
    • the more important rules
    • the group or system that makes the rules
    • taking decisions and making sure the rules are followed

  7. 7.What is the separation of powers intended to provide?

    • a) A way of deciding which organ is the most important
    • b) A method for choosing the head of state
    • c) A guarantee that the three organs have no need to talk to each other
    • d) A system of checks and balances, so one organ can restore balance if another goes beyond its role

  8. 8.How does the table describe the leadership of the Central Government?

    • a) The President as both nominal and executive head
    • b) The President of India as nominal head and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, with the Prime Minister as executive head
    • c) The Prime Minister as nominal head, with the President as executive head
    • d) The Prime Minister alone, with no nominal head

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Class 6 History & Civics · 11 of 13

Democracy and representatives

Take the word democracy apart into its two Greek halves, tell direct democracy from representative democracy, and name who represents people at each level in India.

Before you start

The same decision taken two ways, side by side.

12
  1. 1. Direct
  2. 2. Representative

On the left, eight people and eight votes going straight into the decision at the bottom. On the right, four people whose lines run together into one person, and that one person's line goes into the decision. Same number of people either side; different number of hands on the result.

  1. 1.What does grassroots democracy refer to?

    • a) A system in which representatives are elected from villages rather than cities
    • b) A system that encourages ordinary citizens to take part, so they have a say in decisions which affect them
    • c) A democracy without any elected representatives
    • d) The lowest of the three levels of government

  2. 2.Sort each title by the level of government its holders are elected to.

    Groups: State level · National level

    • Members of Parliament
    • Members of Legislative Assembly

  3. 3.The chapter uses one school arrangement to explain representation. Which?

    • a) A school assembly held each morning
    • b) A class teacher appointed by the principal
    • c) A class monitor or class representative, elected by the whole class
    • d) A prefect chosen by the older students

  4. 4.One of democracy's foundation stones, the chapter says, is an idea it introduces before naming the word itself. Which idea?

    • a) The rule of law
    • b) The separation of powers
    • c) The three levels of government
    • d) Representatives of the people

  5. 5.How do people choose their representatives, according to the chapter?

    • a) By turns, so each citizen serves for a period
    • b) By agreement among the families of a locality
    • c) By appointment from the assembly itself
    • d) Through elections, in which they vote for them

  6. 6.Put the two Greek words together. What does democracy literally mean? Five words, beginning with the.

  7. 7.Why does the chapter say the whole population cannot rule directly?

    • a) Because most people would not want to take part
    • b) Because it is clearly not practical, so representatives are chosen instead
    • c) Because a decision taken that way would not be binding
    • d) Because the law forbids it

  8. 8.What is the name of the process in which people raise hands or cast ballots, and the option with the larger number wins?

Democracy and representatives · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Class 6 History & Civics · 12 of 13

Panchayati Raj

Name the three tiers of the Panchayati Raj system, say who the Gram Sabha and the Sarpanch are and who assists them, and describe what these institutions are for.

Before you start

The three-tier system, drawn as the chapter draws it.

123
  1. 1. District
  2. 2. Block
  3. 3. Village

The widest block is at the bottom, and it is the one closest to the people. Read the diagram from the bottom up and you are reading the system the way it is built: village, then block, then district. The Panchayat Samiti in the middle is the link between the other two. The three tiers, bottom to top, are the Village Parishad or Gram Panchayat, the Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti, and the District Panchayat or Zila Parishad.

  1. 1.Match each body or officer to what the chapter says they are.

    • Gram Sabha
    • Sarpanch
    • Panchayat Secretary
    • Patwari
    • maintains the villagers' land records
    • calls meetings and maintains records
    • the elected head of a Gram Panchayat
    • the adults of a village who are enrolled as voters

  2. 2.What did Sangkhu Radhu Khandu Gram Panchayat in west Sikkim do to earn its child-friendly declaration?

    • a) Built compound walls to make schools safer, and kitchens so mid-day meals are hygienically cooked
    • b) Set up a Bal Panchayat that meets each month
    • c) Reserved a third of its seats for young people
    • d) Brought children who had dropped out back to school

  3. 3.Why does the chapter say the structure and functions of Panchayati Raj institutions differ a little from State to State?

    • a) Because the institutions were set up at different times
    • b) Because the Central Government leaves rural matters unregulated
    • c) Because the States have authority over those institutions
    • d) Because each State has a different number of villages

  4. 4.In Maharashtra, what have a few Bal Panchayats worked to do?

    • a) Eliminate child labour and child marriage, and bring children back to school
    • b) Build compound walls around the village schools
    • c) Collect the village's development plans
    • d) Maintain the land records of the village

  5. 5.What is the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a scheme for?

    • a) Supplying drinking water to rural households
    • b) Building schools in villages that have none
    • c) Reserving seats for women in the Panchayats
    • d) Building roads in rural areas that stay usable in any weather

  6. 6.Kauṭilya's Arthaśhāstra sets out headquarters for larger and larger numbers of villages. Put them in order, starting from a sangrahaṇa, to each 10 villages.

    • A sthānīya, to each 800 villages
    • A kārvaṭika, to each 100 villages
    • A droṇamukha, to each 400 villages
    • A sangrahaṇa, to each 10 villages

  7. 7.The Child-Friendly Panchayat Initiative exists because Panchayats are supposed to listen to whose voice as well?

    • a) Neighbouring villages'
    • b) The Patwari's
    • c) Children's
    • d) The State government's

  8. 8.Put the three tiers of the Panchayati Raj system in order from the bottom up, starting from the village level.

    • The district level
    • The village level
    • The block level

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Class 6 History & Civics · 13 of 13

Urban local bodies

Say what an urban local body is and what decentralised means, work out which body a city gets from its population, and describe what wards and ward committees do.

Before you start

One city, divided into wards.

1234
  1. 1. One ward
  2. 2. Another ward
  3. 3. A third ward
  4. 4. A fourth ward

The heavy lines cut the city into four smaller units. Each of those is a ward, and each has its own ward committee — running health camps, campaigning against single-use plastics, and keeping an eye out for a water leak, a blocked drain or a damaged road to report to the authorities.

  1. 1.A city has a population of 18 lakhs. Which body will sit at the top of its urban local government?

    • a) Nagar Panchayat
    • b) Municipal Council
    • c) Municipal Corporation
    • d) Ward Committee

  2. 2.Put the urban side of the governance pyramid in order from the bottom up, starting from the People of the Ward.

    • The People of the Ward
    • The Ward Committee
    • The Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council or City Council

  3. 3.A Parliamentary Act gave the Madras Corporation the power to levy municipal taxes, which is when its municipal administration properly began. In which year? Answer with a number.

  4. 4.What kind of activities does the chapter say ward committees facilitate?

    • a) Planning the city's economic development
    • b) Conducting health camps and campaigning against single-use plastics
    • c) Levying property tax and issuing trade licences
    • d) Electing the members of the Municipal Corporation

  5. 5.A town has a population of 60,000. Which body will sit at the top of its urban local government?

    • a) Municipal Corporation
    • b) Nagar Panchayat
    • c) Municipal Council
    • d) Zila Parishad

  6. 6.Sort each urban local body by the population band the chapter gives it.

    Groups: Above 10 lakhs · Between 1 and 10 lakhs · Below 1 lakh

    • Municipal Council
    • Nagar Panchayat
    • Municipal Corporation

  7. 7.Which of these is named among the functions of urban local bodies?

    • a) Running the State's police force
    • b) Issuing the country's currency
    • c) Deciding the school syllabus for the State
    • d) Garbage collection and disposal, and collecting local taxes and fines

  8. 8.Match each term to what the chapter says it means.

    • urban local bodies
    • decentralised
    • wards
    • the smaller units a city or town is divided into
    • local communities have a direct say instead of a central authority
    • local government structures in urban areas

Urban local bodies · Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Answer keys — Class 6 History & Civics

In the same order as the worksheets.

Measuring historical time

  1. 1. d) The 19th century CE
  2. 2. 7
  3. 3. 2000
  4. 4. Before Common Era
  5. 5. 1. 300,000 BCE 2. 560 BCE 3. 1 CE 4. 1947 CE
  6. 6. The Gregorian calendar → Commonly used worldwide today; The Hindu calendar → Used alongside it for festival dates; The Muslim calendar → Used alongside it for festival dates; The Jewish calendar → Used alongside it for festival dates; The Chinese calendar → Used alongside it for festival dates
  7. 7. c) The order in which the events took place
  8. 8. c) None — 1 CE follows immediately after 1 BCE

The sources of history

  1. 1. c) Scientific studies
  2. 2. b) The human past
  3. 3. 1. Gather information from as many sources as can be found 2. Notice where the sources confirm each other 3. Where sources contradict, decide which one to trust more 4. Re-create the history of the period being studied
  4. 4. newspapers → A source for recent history; television and the internet → A source for recent history; stone tools dug out of the ground → Reaches back into the ancient past; an inscription carved for a king → Reaches back into the ancient past; stories passed down by word of mouth → Reaches back into the ancient past
  5. 5. genetics
  6. 6. a) Decide which of the sources they can trust more
  7. 7. monuments → Archaeological sources; tools and weapons → Archaeological sources; poems and plays → Literary sources; travelogues → Literary sources; folklore → Oral sources; genealogical accounts → Oral sources; paintings → Artistic sources; sculptures → Artistic sources
  8. 8. a) A jigsaw puzzle, in which quite a few pieces may remain missing

Early humans and the first crops

  1. 1. b) At some critical times humanity could have almost disappeared, as some earlier species did
  2. 2. d) Hunting, and collecting edible plants and fruits
  3. 3. lost
  4. 4. temporary camps, rock shelters or caves → Hunter-gatherer life; hunting, and collecting edible plants and fruits → Hunter-gatherer life; stone axes, blades and arrowheads → Hunter-gatherer life; cultivating cereals and grains → Farming life; domesticated cattle and goats → Farming life; settlements beside rivers, where the soil is more fertile → Farming life
  5. 5. b) Around 12,000 years ago
  6. 6. Ice Age → a time when much of the Earth was covered with ice; hamlet → a small settlement or small village; welfare → health, prosperity and well-being; afterlife → a life that begins after death
  7. 7. b) Durable tools, objects of daily use and ornaments
  8. 8. 300000

The names of India

  1. 1. b) The northwest region
  2. 2.
    • the Indus
    • the Indus River
    • Indus
  3. 3. d) The Persians, the ancient inhabitants of Iran
  4. 4. 1. Sindhu 2. Hindhu 3. Indu 4. Yindu
  5. 5. c) India, that is Bharat
  6. 6. b) That letter did not exist in their Greek language
  7. 7. 17
  8. 8. Sapta Sindhava → the land of the seven rivers; Bhāratavarṣha → the country of the Bharatas; Jambudvīpa → the island of the fruit of the jamun tree; Bharata → one of the main Vedic groups of people

What makes a civilisation

  1. 1. d) An advanced stage of human societies
  2. 2. b) Managing a more complex society and its many activities
  3. 3. c) Through art, architecture, literature, oral traditions or social customs
  4. 4. c) Settling down, practising agriculture, and developing construction, metallurgy and transport
  5. 5. urbanism → town-planning, the growth of cities and their management; a variety of crafts → managing raw materials and producing finished goods; trade → exchanging goods within a region and with distant ones; some form of writing → keeping records and communicating
  6. 6. within a city → Internal trade; within a region → Internal trade; with distant regions → External trade; with other parts of the world → External trade
  7. 7. c) Humanity would not have reached its present stage without their contributions and advances
  8. 8. 1. Villages, from about 3500 BCE 2. Towns, as trade and other exchanges increased 3. Cities, around 2600 BCE

The Indus-Sarasvatī civilisation

  1. 1. a) Both as a goddess and as a river flowing from the mountain to the sea
  2. 2. b) The Indus River and its tributaries watered them and made them fertile
  3. 3. a) It flows in the rainy season and not at other times of year
  4. 4. a) The city of Harappa was the first of this civilisation to be excavated
  5. 5. 2600
  6. 6. d) That it dried up and eventually disappeared
  7. 7.
    • Ghaggar
    • the Ghaggar
  8. 8. c) Such discoveries continue even today

Harappan cities and their water

  1. 1. d) The higher layers of society — rulers, officials, administrators and often priests
  2. 2. b) Dholavira
  3. 3. d) Below the streets
  4. 4. It measured about 12 by 7 metres → Known from the remains; It was waterproofed with natural bitumen → Known from the remains; Small rooms surrounded it, one holding a well → Known from the remains; Whether it was a bath for the royal family → Still a matter of debate; Whether it was a tank used for religious rituals → Still a matter of debate
  5. 5.
    • cardinal
    • the cardinal directions
    • cardinal directions
  6. 6. b) Underground drains, for efficient water harvesting and distribution
  7. 7. c) It was the same for small and big houses
  8. 8. upper town → where the local elite probably lived; lower town → where common people lived

Harappan food, crafts and trade

  1. 1. c) A dockyard, to receive and send boats carrying goods
  2. 2. d) Letting traders identify their goods and each other
  3. 3. carnelian → a reddish semiprecious stone found mostly in Gujarat; steatite → a soft stone hardened by heating; copper → a soft metal that turns to bronze when tin is added; conch shell → a hard material worked into bangles
  4. 4. barley → A cereal they grew; wheat → A cereal they grew; turmeric → A surprise found in their cooking pots; ginger → A surprise found in their cooking pots; banana → A surprise found in their cooking pots
  5. 5. c) There is no trace of warfare or invasion, and no sign of an army or weapons of war
  6. 6. c) They are part of a writing system, and that system is yet to be understood
  7. 7. ornaments → Exported; timber → Exported; cotton → Exported; copper → Probably imported
  8. 8. b) The result is bronze, which is harder than copper

Family and community

  1. 1. a) As they grow up they take on more, and through daily practice learn to participate in the household
  2. 2. c) Ahimsa, dāna, sevā and tyāga
  3. 3. a) A group of connected people, families joined with the families and people around them
  4. 4. d) The fundamental and most ancient unit of any society
  5. 5. joint family → several generations living together; nuclear family → a couple and their children; Cooperation → working together
  6. 6. c) A jāti, or a subdivision of it
  7. 7. c) Because cousins are counted as brothers and sisters
  8. 8. b) Planted thousands of trees and dug trenches to conserve rainwater, without being paid

Governance and the three organs

  1. 1. legislature → makes new laws; executive → implements the laws; judiciary → decides whether someone has broken the law
  2. 2. d) Because there can be disagreements and disorder, and rules keep order and harmony
  3. 3. nominal
  4. 4. d) Education
  5. 5. b) The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
  6. 6. Governance → taking decisions and making sure the rules are followed; A government → the group or system that makes the rules; Laws → the more important rules
  7. 7. d) A system of checks and balances, so one organ can restore balance if another goes beyond its role
  8. 8. b) The President of India as nominal head and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, with the Prime Minister as executive head

Democracy and representatives

  1. 1. b) A system that encourages ordinary citizens to take part, so they have a say in decisions which affect them
  2. 2. Members of Legislative Assembly → State level; Members of Parliament → National level
  3. 3. c) A class monitor or class representative, elected by the whole class
  4. 4. d) Representatives of the people
  5. 5. d) Through elections, in which they vote for them
  6. 6. the rule of the people
  7. 7. b) Because it is clearly not practical, so representatives are chosen instead
  8. 8. voting

Panchayati Raj

  1. 1. Gram Sabha → the adults of a village who are enrolled as voters; Sarpanch → the elected head of a Gram Panchayat; Panchayat Secretary → calls meetings and maintains records; Patwari → maintains the villagers' land records
  2. 2. a) Built compound walls to make schools safer, and kitchens so mid-day meals are hygienically cooked
  3. 3. c) Because the States have authority over those institutions
  4. 4. a) Eliminate child labour and child marriage, and bring children back to school
  5. 5. d) Building roads in rural areas that stay usable in any weather
  6. 6. 1. A sangrahaṇa, to each 10 villages 2. A kārvaṭika, to each 100 villages 3. A droṇamukha, to each 400 villages 4. A sthānīya, to each 800 villages
  7. 7. c) Children's
  8. 8. 1. The village level 2. The block level 3. The district level

Urban local bodies

  1. 1. c) Municipal Corporation
  2. 2. 1. The People of the Ward 2. The Ward Committee 3. The Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council or City Council
  3. 3. 1792
  4. 4. b) Conducting health camps and campaigning against single-use plastics
  5. 5. b) Nagar Panchayat
  6. 6. Municipal Corporation → Above 10 lakhs; Municipal Council → Between 1 and 10 lakhs; Nagar Panchayat → Below 1 lakh
  7. 7. d) Garbage collection and disposal, and collecting local taxes and fines
  8. 8. urban local bodies → local government structures in urban areas; decentralised → local communities have a direct say instead of a central authority; wards → the smaller units a city or town is divided into

Class 6 History & Civics · www.arenapublications.com/learn