Many Bengali writers excelled in writing on historical topics, while many other writers focused on contemporary themes. The new bhadralok enjoyed the private world of reading novels. Durgeshnandini (1865) was written by Bankim and this novel was much appreciated for its literary excellence.

The initial Bengali novels used a colloquial style associated with urban life. Meyeli, the language associated with women’s lingo was also used in those novels. But Bankim’s prose was Sanskritised and contained a more vernacular style.

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876-1938) became the most popular novelist in Bengal and probably in the rest of India because of his expertise in storytelling in simple language.

(i) World of women : The most exciting element of the novel was the involvement of women. The eighteenth century saw the middle classes become more prosperous. Women got more leisure to read as well as write novels. And novels began exploring the world of women – their emotions and identities, their experiences and problems. Many novels were about domestic life – a theme about which women ‘Were allowed to speak with authority. They drew upon their experience, wrote about family life and earned public recognition. The novels of Jane Austen give us a glimpse of the world of women.
(ii) Women character as independent and assertive : But women novelists did not simply popularise the domestic role of women. Often their novels dealt with women who broke established norms of society before adjusting to them. Such stories allowed women readers to sympathise with rebellious actions. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, published in 1847, young Jane is shown as independent and assertive. While girls of her time were expected to be quiet and well behaved, Jane at the age of ten protests against the hypocrisy of her elders with startling bluntness.
(iii) New conception of womanhood : Another reason for the popularity of novels among women was that it allowed for a new conception of womanhood. Stories of love – which was a staple theme of many novels – showed women who could choose or refuse their partners and relationships. It showed women who could to some extent control their lives. Some women authors also wrote about women who changed the world of both men and women.
(iv) Women novelist : There were many women novelist who wrote about family life, autobiographies their personal experiences as women and earned public recognisation. Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Rokeya Hossein, Rashsundari Devi all wrote exclusively on women.

In India coal deposits are found mainly of two geological ages –
1. Gondwana coal deposits, which are about 200 million years old. The major coal deposits in India are Gondwana coal which are metallurgical coal and are located in Damodar Valley (West Bengal, Jharkhand). These constitute mainly Jharia, Dhanbad, Ranigunj, and Bokaro coal fields. Besides, the Godavari, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha valley also contain coal deposits.
2. Tertiary coal deposits which are around 55 million years old. Tertiary coal deposits are found in the North-Eastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Richard M Hoe revolutionised the printing press. His new press could now print 8000 copies. It was used mainly for printing newspapers. He perfected the power-driven cylindrical press, which was capable of printing 8,000 sheets in an hour.

Railways can transport larger number of goods and passengers over long distances at economical cost. Hence, Railways are the most convenient means of transport in the vast Northern Plains of India. The flat terrain, dense population, rich agricultural resources and greater industrial activity have favoured the development of railways in this region. The Northern Plains, therefore, have the densest road networks. Railways have accelerated the development of industry and agriculture in this region by providing quick availability of raw materials and distributing the finished products to the market.

(i) Money or material things that one can buy with it is one factor on which our life depends. But the quality of our life also depends upon non-material things like equal treatment, freedom, security, respect of others, etc.
(ii) Money cannot buy us a pollution free environment, unadulterated medicines, peace, etc.
(iii) There are many facilities like schools, colleges, parks, hospitals which an individual cannot afford. All these are to be provided by the government/society.
(iv) Money possessed by an individual even can not provide us a type of government which take decisions for the welfare of the common people.

Green Revolution
(i) Technical inputs resulted in the green revolution in sixties and seventies of the twentieth century.
(ii) High yielding and early maturing variety of seeds have been used.
(iii) Instead of bio-fertilizers, chemical fertilizers are used.
(iv) Flooding of fields are replaced by drip irrigation and the use of sprinklers.
White Revolution
(i) The Dairy Development led to the white revolution or “Operation Flood”.
(ii) The dairy co-operation in the rural areas helped in rural development.
(iii) The National Milk Grid achieved Operation Flood.
(iv) Cross breed from foreign and native cattle have been developed.
 

Cheap and affordable credit is crucial:

• Many people want to start an enterprise by borrowing may not do because of high cost of borrowing.
• Banks and cooperative societies need to lend more.
• This would lead to higher income and many people could then borrow cheaply for a variety of needs.
• They could grow crops, do business or set up small scale industries.

The role of Ambedker in uplifting the dalit was as follows
(i) Dr. BR Ambedkar joined active polities in 1930 and organised the Depressed Classes Association to uplift the dalits.
(ii) He demanded separate electorates for dalits and reservation of seats in educational institutions for them.
(iii) He signed the Poona Pact that gave reserved seats to the depressed classes in provincial and central legislative councils.

Steps to clean up London :
(i) Attempts were made to decongest localities.
(ii) To have more green spaces or green belts.
(iii) To adopt measures to prevent or reduce pollution.
(iv) Landscaping the city by planting more trees and plants. Planning poor people’s houses, etc.

*** ration can be understood as the ratio of number of males to the female population. In India, it is calculated as number of females per thousand male members. According to the recent data, the *** ratio of India is 943.

The principle of the Garden City was developed by architect and planner Ebenezer Howard to solve the problem of the growing congestion and pollution of the city of London. The Garden City was a pleasant space full of plants and trees, where people would both work and live.
He believed that not only it would bridge the difference between the city and the countryside and solve the housing problem of the poor, but it would also produce better quality citizens.
Following his ideas, Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker designed the Garden City of New Earswick. Though aimed at solving the housing problems of the poor, in the end, only well-off workers could afford these types of houses.

Creating more employment opportunities in urban areas can be accomplished by the following means
(i) Strengthening the information technology sector This involves opening of more call centres, cyber cafes and software development units.
(ii) Strengthening the tourism sector By opening more hotels, restaurants, amusement parks and similar other tourism destinations, demand for employment in this sector will increase.
(iii) Improving organised retailing Giving better facilities and allowing more foreign investment will give many employment opportunities in urban areas.

Bombay was the principal port of the East India Company and considered as the prime city of India.
The three reasons or important facts which made it a prime city are as fotiows
(i) It was an important centre for cotton textiles.
(ii) It became an important administrative centre in Western India.
(iii) It was a major industrial centre and dominated the maritime trade of India.

India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods in the world. It is the second largest exporter of jute; after Bangladesh. Most of the 70 jute mills in India are located in West Bengal; mainly along the bank of Hooghly. USA, Canada, Russia, UAE, UK and Australia are the main markets.

During the time period from 1830 to 1848 many revolutions took place because since the conservative relation after 1815 many monarchichal and despotic regimes were reestablished all over Europe. However, the ideals of nationalism, republicanism and liberalism had already been instilled in the people of Europe. This led to a major churning of nationalist aspirations among the multi-lingual and multi-ethnic states of Europe. Different nations started to demand thier own states with republican rule. This led to many insurrections against the monarchical and conservative rule all over Europe between 1830 to 1848.
For instance,

1. The first upheaval took place in France in July 1830. The Bourbon kings who had been restored to power during the conservative reaction after 1815, were now overthrown by liberal revolutionaries who installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at its head.
2. The Greek war of Independence that started in 1821. Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many West Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture. Finally, Greece gained its independence in 1832 after the Treaty of Constantinople recognised Greece as one.

In the modern era, industrialisation generally means the growth of factories and factory production. However, if we look at the case of England, there was a large scale industrial production for international markets at the time when factories were not yet established. The merchants brought the raw material for cloth and took them to artisans and peasants in the countryside. The yarn was spun, woven, pleated and dyed. The merchant then collected the cloth and sold it in international markets. Thus, we cannot say that ndustrialisation mean only the growth of factory industries. Many historians now refer to this phase of industrialisation as proto-industrialisation.

The newly organised Police Forces , in the Nazi State, were given so much powers that people could be detained in Gestapo torture chambers, they could be rounded up and sent to concentration camps, or be deported or arrested without any legal procedure. The police force could function with such unwieldy authority that the Nazi state was known as the most dreaded criminal state.