Short Answer Type Questions [3 Marks]
Question 1.
How did people entertain themselves in the chawls of Bombay?
Answer:
The people in the chawls of Bombay entertained themselves in the following ways.
Streets were used for different leisure activities. Magicians, monkey players or acrobats performed their acts here.
People used to exchange news about jobs, strikes, riots or demonstrations.
Liquor shops and akharas too came up where people spent their time.
Question 2.
Explain the concept of the ‘Garden City’? Who developed this system in London?
Answer:
The concept of the ‘Garden City’ was introduced to decongest localities in London.It was thought to have more green spaces that would serve as new lungs for the city that had been choking under pollution and crowd. For this less polluted large block of apartments were to be made to house the growing population in London. A pleasant space, full of plants and trees and beautiful views, would be developed where people would both live and work.This system was developed by an England based architect and planner Ebenezer Howard.
Question 3.
‘The chawls of Bombay were a small cosmopolitan community in themselves’. Explain the statement.
Answer:
The chawls of Bombay were a small cosmopolitan community in themselves because of the following reasons.
Chawls were multi-storeyed low cost buildings that were built during 1860s to house the anxious migrants into the city of Bombay.
These were owned by private landlords who looked for quick ways of making money.
Each chawl was divided into smaller one room tenement with no private toilet.
In the middle of the chawl there was an open space for social and cultural gatherings.
People from different social backgrounds lived here. Those who belonged to the depressed classes found it difficult to find space in these chawls. They lived in shelter along the roads by using corrugated sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
Question 4.
Explain any five social changes that took place in the family life in the 18th century in London.
Answer:
Family became a unit of production and consumption along with political decision making. Functions and shape of the family transformed. Following were the social changes that took place in the family life in the 18th century in London.
Ties between the members of the family began to loosen with marriages breaking down.
Women among the lower social classes, who worked for wages, controlled their lives themselves.
Spirit of individualism developed among men and women.
As women lost their jobs from industries, public spaces became male dominated and domestic sphere was meant ideal for women.
Women faced higher levels of isolation despite being helped by maids.
2015
Short Answer Type Questions [3 Marks]
Question 5.
Examine the condition of people living in chawls of Bombay.
Answer:
The people living in chawls were living in pitiful condition.
Many people lived together in single tenements.
Due to closeness of gutters and animal shelters, people had to keep their windows shut even in humid weather.
There were no private toilets or water connections, which often led to quarrels among residents.
Question 6.
Who are philanthropists? Explain any two steps taken to control crime in London in the 1870s.
Answer:
Philanthropists were social workers, who worked for social upliftment and public morality. They took to donating time and money to fulfil their purpose. The following were the steps taken to control crime in London in the 1870s.
Counting of criminal population, keeping a watch on their activities and investigating their way of life
Imposing huge penalties and offering work for deseving poor.
Question 7.
When and why was the Rent Act passed in Bombay during the British days? What was its outcome?
Answer:
Rent Act was passed in Bombay in 1918 to keep the rents reasonable. It had a negative effect as landlords withdrew houses from the market, thus causing severe housing crises.
Question 8.
Explain how the underground railway was able to solve transport problems as well as housing crisis in London in the nineteenth century?
Answer:
The problem of transport and housing crises was solved by underground railway in the following ways.
The London underground railway partially solved the housing crises by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
Better-planned suburbs and a good railway network enabled a large number of people to live outside London and travel to work. A large number of houses were built for the working class, most of them were single-family cottages.
By 1880, the expanded train service was carrying 40 million passengers a year
Long Answer Type Questions [5 Marks]
Question 9.
Describe the features of the big modern city of Calcutta (Kolkata) as viewed by the gods in the novel written by Durgacharan Roy.
Answer:
The following were the features witnessed by the gods in the novel written by Durgacharan Roy.
The city was big and modern with improved transportation like train, large ships on rivers, etc.
New forms of production units were belching smoke from the chimneys.
Rivers were bounded by bridges. Monuments and a dazzling away of shops were selling a wide range of commodities.
There were a lot of opportunities for trade and commerce, education and jobs.
There was a negative aspect of the cities too. Poverty and poor housing were common with cheats and thieves, making their living by their tricks.
The city had a confusing state of caste, religious and gender identities
The city also witnessed breaking down of social distinctions, (any five)
Question 10.
State the history of air pollution in Calcutta during the nineteenth century.
Answer:
The following points sum up the history of air pollution in Calcutta during the nineteenth century.
Calcutta had a long history of air pollution. Its inhabitants inhaled grey smoke, particularly in the winter. Since the city was built on marshy land, the resulting fog combined with smoke to generate thick black smog.
High levels of pollution were a consequence of the huge population that depended on dung and wood as fuel in their daily life. But the main polluters were the industries and establishments that used steam engines run on coal.
Colonial authorities were at first intent on clearing the place of miasmas, or harmful vapours, but the railway line, introduced in 1855, brought a dangerous new pollutant into the picture coal from Raniganj.
The high content of ash in Indian coal was a problem. Many pleas were made to banish the dirty mills from the city, with no effect.
However, in 1863, Calcutta became the first Indian city to get smoke nuisance legislation.
2014
Short Answer Type Questions [3 Marks]
Question 11.
State any three characteristics of the ancient cities.
Answer:
The following were the three characteristics of the ancient cities.
Towns and cities, that first appeared along river valleys, such as Ur, Nippur and Mohenjodaro in ancient times, were larger in scale than other human settlements of those times.
There were certain conditions needed for the development of ancient cities. It could develop only when an increase in food supplies made it possible to support a wide range of non-food producers.
Cites were often the nucleus of political power, administrative network, trade and industry, religious institutions, and knowledge production. It supported variegated social groups such as artisans, merchants and priests.
Question 12.
Explain any three features of chawls of Bombay (Mumbai).
Answer:
The following were the three features of chawls of Bombay.
Chawls were multi-storeyed structures that had been built from at least the 1860s in the native parts of the town.
Each chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements, which had no private toilets.
Chawls were also the place for the exchange of news about jobs, strikes, riots or demonstrations.
Question 13.
Explain how the underground railways was able to solve transport problems as well as housing crisis in London in the late nineteenth century?
Answer:
Refer to answer 8.
Question 14.
Describe various steps which were taken to clean up London.
Answer:
The following steps were taken to clean up London.
Attempts were made to decongest localities, reduce pollution and landscape the city.
Large apartments were built to accommodate the growing population.
Rent control was introduced to ease the impact of severe housing shortage.
Green open spaces were extended to beautify the city.
Question 15.
Ties between members of household loosened in Britain in the era of industrialization. Explain the statement.
Answer:
The function and shape of the family was completely transformed by life in the industrial city.
Ties between members of households loosened.
Among working class, the institution of marriage tended to break down.
Women of upper and middles classes in Britain faced increasingly high level of isolation. Their lives though were made easier by maids who cooked, cleared and cared for young children on low wages.
Women who worked had some control over their lives, especially among the lower social classes.
When women lost their industrial jobs, conservative people forced them to withdraw into their homes.
The 20th century saw another change; the family became the heart of new market of goods, services and of ideas. Families after the war became smaller units.
The city encouraged a new spirit of individualism among both men and women, and freedom from the collective values.
Question 16.
How was the family life transformed in the industrial city during the 18th century?
Answer:
Refer to answer 15.
Question 17.
Why was the underground rail criticized in London? Explain the reasons.
Answer:
The underground railway in London was constructed to solve the housing problem. It was criticized initially because of the following reasons.
A newspaper reported the danger to health and asphyxiation (lack of air) and heat in the train compartments.
It was referred to as iron monsters, which added to the mess of the city. Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son described its destructive process of construction.
About 900 houses were destroyed to make two miles of railways.
It led to a large-scale displacement of the poor.
The underground railway created huge ecological and environmental problem. The process of construction led to large-scale destruction of forests and other natural features.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
Question 18.
Explain the changes in the work available to women in London during the 19th and 20th century.
Answer:
The following were the changes in the work available to women in London during the 19th and 20th century.
Factories employed large numbers of women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
With technological developments, women gradually lost their industrial jobs and were forced to work within households.
The 1861 census recorded a quarter of a million domestic servants in London, of whom the vast majority were women, many of them recent migrants.
A large number of women used their homes to increase family income by taking in lodgers or through activities like tailoring, washing and matchbox making.
There was a change once again in the twentieth century. As women got employment in wartime industries and offices, they withdrew from domestic service.
2013
Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]
Question 19.
“The congestion in the nineteenth century industrial city led to a yearning for clean country air.” Explain how the wish of the people fulfilled.
Answer:
The following points sum up how the Londoners got their wish for a clean air fulfilled.
Due to the increasing pollution level, Londoners made demands for new ‘lungs’ for the city. Some attempts were made to bridge the gap between city and countryside through ideas like the Green Belt around London.
The notion of the Garden City came into being, which was a pleasant space full of plants and trees, where people would both live and work.
Smoke Abatement Acts of 1847 and 1853 were passed to clear the air.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
Question 20.
How was the condition of urban family transformed by the 20th century?
Answer:
The condition of urban family transformed in the following ways.
By the twentieth century, the urban family had been transformed once again due to First World War. Women played an important part in this.
This transformation came into being partly by the experience of the valuable wartime work done by women, who were employed in large numbers to meet war demands.
The family now consisted of much smaller units and helped each other in the processes of production.
Due to these developments, the family became the heart of a new market. It propelled the production of goods and services, and ideas.
The ties between the members of households loosened and institution of marriage broke down.
2012
Short Answer Type Questions [3 Marks]
Question 21.
How did the development or expansion of Bombay (Mumbai) differ from that of London? Give any three points of difference.
Answer:
The development or expansion of Bombay and London was different in the following ways.
The development of Bombay was the result of fear about spread of plague epidemic, whereas the development of London was the outcome of the fear of spread of social disorder.
Bombay faced scarcity of land while London had plenty of land in the countryside.
The pace of development in Bombay was slower as compared to that in London.
Bombay developed as a port town while London developed as an industrial town.
Question 22.
Who are philanthropists? Explain any two steps taken to control crime in London in the 1870s.
Answer:
Refer to answer 6.
Question 23.
Explain any three problems faced by people who migrated to Bombay in the mid-nineteenth century.
Answer:
The problems faced by migrated people in Bombay in the mid nineteenth century were as follows.
Housing: They were forced to live in cheap and unsafe multistoreyed structures called chawls. More than 70 per cent migrants lived in these thickly-populated chawls. They were overcrowded with no toilets and privacy.
Shortage of water and other basic amenities: Water was scarce, which led to daily quarrels at the tap. People had to use streets and neighbourhood for cooking, washing and sleeping.
Caste discrimination: Depressed classes faced difficulties in finding house. They were kept out of chawls and had to live in shelters made of sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
Fear of spread of diseases: Being overcrowded and built in an unplanned way, there was a constant danger of spread of epidemic diseases like plague and other communicable diseases in chawls.
2011
Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]
Question 24.
Why was the land reclamation in Bombay necessary? Mention any two land reclamation projects taken up in Bombay.
Answer:
Being a multi-functional presidency city of British India, Bombay witnessed a huge surge in migration. To accomodate a large number of people, the expansion of the city was required, which always posed a problem because of the scarcity of land. The only way to solve this problem was land reclamation.Two land reclamation projects taken up in Bombay in the late 18th century were as follows.
Reclamation of the western foreshore from the tip of Malabar Hill to the end of Colaba by Back Bay Reclamation Company in 1864.
Development of dry dock between 1914 and 1918 by Bombay Port Trust, where the excavated earth was used to create Ballard Estate.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
Question 25.
How did the city development occur at the cost of ecology and environment?
Answer:
The city development occurred at the cost of ecology and environment in the following ways.
Growing demands for factories, housing, etc. led to the destruction of natural fractures like countryside and forests.
Large quantities of refuse and waste from homes polluted air and water.
Widespread use of coal and wood in homes raised serious environmental issues.
In industrial cities, black smoke from chimneys turned the skies grey and vegetation degraded.
Excessive noise from industries and railways became a feature of urban life.
2010
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
Question 26.
Describe in brief the development of Bombay (Mumbai) as the Prime City of India.
Answer:
In the seventeenth century, Bombay was a group of seven islands under Portuguese control. It passed into British hands after the marriage of Britain’s King Charles II to the Portuguese Princess.
It became a prominent base for East India Company after it had shifted from Surat. It became a major cotton textile outlet.
Later, it began functioning as a port, which dealt with raw materials like cotton and opium.
After the Anglo-Maratha war and the defeat of Marathas, it became the capital of Bombay Presidency in 1819.
The city expanded quickly. As trade grew, communities like traders, bankers, artisans and shopkeepers settled in Bombay.
The establishment of textile mills and migration of people made it a prime city of India.
2009
Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]
Question 27.
What was the tradition of London Season? Explain different forms of entertainment which came up in 19th century England to provide leisure activities for the people?
Answer:
In the late 18th century, various cultural events like the opera, the theatre and classical music performances were organised for wealthy and elite group of England. These events were organised annually. This was called London Season. With the coming of 19th century, other forms of entertainment provided leisure activities like the following.
Pubs for working class, where they met, drank, exchanged news and organised for political action.
Pleasure gardens provided facilities for sport and refreshment for well-to- do families.
Libraries and museums equipped people with a sense of pride in historical achievements.
Music halls and cinema were popular among mixed audiences.
Industrial workers relaxed on the beaches to get the benefits of sun and bracing winds.
Abhi Panday 5 years ago (10140710)
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