SOCIAL SCIENCE

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE – I

Textbook for Class VI

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 0658 – Social and Political Life-I ISBN 81-7450-511-3
Textbook for Class VI

First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

February 2006 Phalguna 1927  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
Reprinted photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the
publisher.
December 2006, December 2007  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
December 2009, January 2011 re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in
any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
February 2012, November 2012  The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any
November 2013, January 2015 revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other
means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
January 2017, January 2018
February 2019, January 2020
March 2021, August 2021 OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION
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 Foreword
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, recommends that children’s
life at school must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle
marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to
shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community.
The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt
to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning
and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas.
We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction
of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on
Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals
and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning
and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that
given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging
with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed
textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other
resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative
is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as
receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of
functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour in
implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching
days is actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and
evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves for making
children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or
boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular
burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with
greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching.
The textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority
and space to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in
small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates
the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for
this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory committee for
Social Science textbooks at the Upper Primary Level, Professor Hari Vasudevan
and the Chief Advisor for this book, Sarada Balagopalan, for guiding the work
of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this
textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are

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 iv

indebted to the institutions and organisations which have generously permitted

us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially
grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed
by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri
and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an
organisation committed to the systemic reform and continuous improvement
in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions
which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.

Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 December 2005 Research and Training

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 Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content

load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises
reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential
learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has
undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes.
Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have
been taken into consideration in this exercise.
Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the
following:
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject areas in the
same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class in the same subject
• Difficulty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without much
interventions from teachers and can be learned by children through
self-learning or peer-learning
• Content, which is irrelevant in the present context
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying out the
changes given above.

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 Textbook Development Committee

Chairperson, Advisory Committee for Social Science Textbooks at the

Upper Primary Level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Calcutta,
Kolkata

Chief Advisor
Sarada Balagopalan, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS),
Rajpur Road, Delhi

Members
Anjali Noronha, Eklavya – Institute for Educational Research and Innovative
Action, Madhya Pradesh
Arvind Sardana, Eklavya – Institute for Educational Research and Innovative
Action, Madhya Pradesh
Dipta Bhog, Nirantar – Centre for Gender and Education, Sarvodaya
Enclave, New Delhi
Jaya Singh, Lecturer, DESSH, NCERT
Krishna Menon, Reader, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Latika Gupta, Consultant, DEE, NCERT
Mohan Deshpande, Coordinator, Aabha (Arogya Bhan), Aundh, Pune
M.V. Srinivasan, Lecturer, DESSH, NCERT
Sanjay Dubey, Reader, DESSH, NCERT
Shobha Bajpai, Government Middle School, Uda, District Harda, Madhya
Pradesh
Swati Verma, Heritage School, Sector-23, Rohini, Delhi

Member-Coordinator
W. Themmichon Ramson, Lecturer, DESSH, NCERT

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 Constitution of India
Part IV A (Article 51 A)

Fundamental Duties
It shall be the duty of every citizen of India —
(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the
National Flag and the National Anthem;
(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national
struggle for freedom;
(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to
do so;
(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst
all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional
or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity
of women;
(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes,
rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry
and reform;
(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective
activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour
and achievement;
* (k) who is a parent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education
to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and
fourteen years.

Note: The Article 51A containing Fundamental Duties was inserted by the Constitution (42nd
Amendment) Act, 1976 (with effect from 3 January 1977).
*(k) was inserted by the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 (with effect from
1 April 2010).

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 Acknowledgments
The collective effort that this textbook represents extends beyond the formal writing team.
Several friends and colleagues were involved with this book in many ways. As members
of our self-initiated internal review committee Mary John, S. Mohinder, Aditya Nigam and
C.N. Subramaniam provided us with detailed feedback and inputs.
In addition, Solly Benjamin, Rajeev Bhargav, Anu Gupta, Sarah Joseph, Prakash Kant,
Prabhu Mahapatra, Farah Naqvi, Awadhendra Sharan, Sujit Sinha, Bhupendra Yadav and
Yogendra Yadav read particular chapters and commented on them. Alex M. George played
multiple roles in terms of providing us with ideas, feedback and information. Keshab Das
helped us think through one of our chapters with his detailed draft. Sumangala Damodaran
provided us the wording of the IPTA song that we have used in the first chapter. Ben
eagerly worked at providing us with information on rice cultivation in Chizami, Nagaland.
We specially would like to thank Urvashi Butalia who generously agreed to edit the
book at short notice. Her detailed editing and comments greatly enriched the quality of
the book, its presentation of ideas and our writing style.
We would like to thank R.K. Laxman (The Times of India), Sheila Dhir, Poile
Sengupta and Anjali Monteiro for permitting us to use their work and writings. We duly
acknowledge, Penguin, Tulika and the Government of Maharastra for allowing us to use
their publications.
Some of the illustrations in this book have been done by children. The children of
Government Middle School, Uda, District Harda have drawn the pictures used in the
collage on rural livelihoods. Aditi, Aishwarya, Anisha, Bali, Meenakshi and Sahar also
provided us with their drawings. Saswati Chaudhury has painted two of the illustrations
that we have used in the first chapter.
The photographs were generously provided by Down to Earth, Hindustan Times and
Nehru Memorial Library. We specially thank Outlook for the help and understanding
extended to us and to Jan Breman and Parthiv Shah for their Photographs.
The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS); Eklavya; Nirantar – Centre
for Gender and Education and Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education played an
important institutional role in the evolution of the book by being patient with our constant
absences, our excessive demands and lending their help in whichever way we required.
Mr. Adhikari, Vikas, Sachin and Ghanshyam at CSDS, Dinesh Patil at Eklavya and Shalini
Joshi, Purwa Bhardwaj, Malini Ghosh, Prasanna and Anil Hasda at Nirantar have helped
us a great deal.
All of the above individuals – as parents, teachers or students – have a knowledge of
textbooks and became involved in this process out of a commitment to bettering the ways
in which we introduce children to new ideas.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head, DESSH, NCERT for her
support during the development of this book.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Arvind Sharma, DTP
Operator during the preparation of the book.
The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT in bringing out this book are also
highly appreciated. This textbook is a reflection of all of our efforts. Suggestions and
critical feedback on this book are welcome.
The contribution of M.V.S.V. Prasad, Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum
Studies, NCERT, in reviewing and updating the current edition is appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for analysing syllabi, textbook and the
content proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Kavita Jain, PGT, Political Science,
Ashok Vihar; Maneesha Pandey, Professor, Department of Political Science, Hindu College,
University of Delhi; Shankaran Sharan, Associate Professor, DESS, NCERT; Vanthangpui
Khobung, Assistant Professor, RIE, Bhopal, NCERT; and Sunita Kathuria, PGT, Political
Science, MCL Saraswati Bal Mandir, Hari Nagar, New Delhi.

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 ON USING THIS BOOK

Why ‘Social and Political Life’?

Members of the team that drew up the National Curriculum Framework 2005 were of the
opinion that the subject ‘Civics’ grew out of a certain colonial past and therefore required
to be changed. In addition, members of the curriculum committee felt that civics had
been focused only on describing government institutions and programmes and needed
to develop a critical outlook. “Social and Political Life” is the new subject that emerged
out of this exercise. This new subject has also simultaneously expanded its scope by
including within its purview topics that deal with various aspects of social, political and
economic life.

What is different about ‘Social and Political Life’?

A great deal of effort has gone into consciously devising a different approach while writing
this textbook. The textbook incorporates a mix of the following three elements:

1) Recognising that children learn best through concrete experiences. We have tried
to discuss institutions and processes through incorporating these either in the
form of fictional narratives, or case-studies or exercises that draws on the child’s
experiences.

2) Introducing concepts with a view to enabling comprehension rather than the

retention of facts. Some of the ways in which we have done this is through
minimising a listing of information, through asking questions that encourage the
child to think, and through avoiding definitions wherever possible.

3) Keeping in mind that the child is already deeply enmeshed within familial and
social networks, we have tried to balance the ideal with the real in our discussion
of topics.
Children bring in a lot of what happens in the outside world to the classroom. The
discussion of topics draws upon as well as interrogates these understandings. The reality
is portrayed along with an analysis of how we could move towards the ideal. This ideal
is emphasised through the values that are enshrined in the Constitution and through
people’s struggles to achieve these.
This book is divided into four sections that focus on different concepts i.e. diversity,
government, local government and administration and livelihoods. Each section contains
chapters that elaborate and expand on these concepts.

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 xi

I. Beginning Each Chapter

Each Chapter begins with two In the previous chapter you
have discussed the meanings
elements that have been introduced to of diversity. Sometimes people
Chapter 2
create an interest in the child to find who are ‘different’ from others
are teased, laughed at or not
out what the Chapter is about. The first
of these is the Introductory Box that Diversity and included in a certain activity
or group. We feel hurt, angry,

Discrimination
helpless or sad when friends
provides a brief glimpse into the contents or others treat us in such ways.
Have you ever wondered why
of what that Chapter will deal with. At this happens?
times it has questions that are designed In this chapter we will try and
both to generate curiosity as well as explore how such experiences
are related to the society we
to elicit the child’s experiences on the live in. We will look at how
particular topic. We have also begun each they are connected to the
inequalities that exist around
Chapter with a large visual. The reason us.
behind this is once again to enable the
child to conjecture, with the help of the
picture provided, what the particular
Chapter seeks to get across. Teachers are
encouraged to come up with their own
questions and visuals in addition to using
those provided in this book.

II. In-text Questions and Exercises

You will notice that all of the Chapters include
What were Hector and his classmates protesting about?
List five ways in which the non-whites were
boxes that contain in-text questions, discussion
discriminated against: boxes or exercises. These serve several purposes.
1.
2. One is to help the teacher gauge the extent to
3. which the student has understood what has
been discussed earlier in the Chapter.
3. Talk to a vegetable vendor or hawker
and find out how do they organise their Second is to expand on the student’s understanding
work, their way of preparing, purchasing,
selling etc. of concepts by attempting to locate these within a
4. Bachchu Manjhi has to think twice
before taking a day off from work. Why?
child’s own experiences.

Exercise: Look at the statements in the column on the left. Can you
identify which level they belong to? Place tick marks allow the student
The third is to to recall and make connections with what has been taught earlier.
allow the student Local State Central
to recall and make The decision of the Indian government to maintain peaceful
relations with Russia
connections with
what has been The decision of the West Bengal Government on whether to have
Board exam in Class 8 for all government schools.
taught earlier. Introduction of two new train connections between Jammu and
Bhubaneswar.

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 xii

The discussion boxes are meant for discussion

Discuss in small groups which then later gets shared
Why do you think Samir Do did not attend school? with the whole class. These discussion boxes are
Do you think it would have been easy for him to central to the student experientially expanding
attend school if he wanted to? In your opinion is
upon their understanding of particular concepts
it a fair situation that some children get to go to
school and others don’t? and should therefore in no way be ignored for the
sake of time constraints.

III. End-Text Questions

In drafting the end-text questions, care has been taken to encourage the student to
understand rather than to blindly memorise the contents of the book. Students should
be encouraged to write the answers in their own words. Various types of questions have
been used. A brief explanation of three different types of questions are provided:

QUESTIONS »» One type requires the child to specifically recall

1. What is the work of the police? some of the main ideas of the Chapter.
2. List two things that the work of a
Patwari includes. 5. Fill in the following table to show the
services provided by people in the
markets which you visit frequently.

Name of the Nature of the

shop or office service provided
»» Another type asks the student to answer based on
their own experiences.

6. Compare the situation of Sekar and Ramalingam by filling »» There are compare and contrast
out the following table:
questions that ask the student to think
SEKAR RAMALINGAM
through the information presented to
them
Land
cultivated

Labour
required

Selling of
harvest 6. Read the following news item.
...The incident came to light when some villagers brought a badly
injured Lad to hospital for treatment. In the FIR recorded by the police
Lad said that he was attacked when he insisted that the water in
the tanker must be emptied into the storage tanks constructed as
»» Questions also ask the part of the water supply scheme by Nimone Gram Panchayat so
student to imagine a that there would be equal distribution of water. However, he alleged
that the upper caste men were against this and told him that the
situation that they have tanker water was not meant for the lower castes.
Adapted from Indian Express, May 1, 2004
read about and react to a. Why was Bhagvan beaten?
the issues it throws up. b. Do you think that the above is a case of discrimination? Why?

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 xiii

7. Discuss:

In the two photographs »» Another type has used

you see different ways of
collecting and disposing visuals/ photos to ask the
garbage. student to describe what they
i) Which way do you see and how it relates to what
think provides safety they have read in the Chapter.
to the person disposing
garbage?

These various types of questions will allow the teacher to evaluate whether the child has
not only understood a concept but that this learning includes an ability to relate to the
concept meaningfully. The teacher is encouraged to set questions of various types, like
the ones described above, when evaluating the student. It is important that we formulate
new questions, similar to the end-text questions. We must try to abandon the practice of
students ‘learning’ answers to a fixed set of questions. Expressing opinion, or debating
on certain issues is part of engaging with or learning a concept.

IV. Use of Narratives

I meant it as a joke. This book uses several narratives, both fiction and non- fiction,
A joke for the small
ragged boy who sold
to enable the child to understand ideas and institutions. These
newspapers at the narratives should be used to encourage introspection as well
traffic light at the busy
intersection. Every time as discussion, with the effort being to have the student identify
I cycled past he would as much as possible with the story. In some Chapters we
run after me, holding
out the English paper have asked students to write narratives of their own based on
their experiences of
and screaming out the evening’s
headlines in a mixture of Hindi and
similar situations.
English. This time, I stopped by the Bachchu Manjhi – A Cycle-Rickshaw Puller
pavement and asked for the Hindi
The student should
paper. His mouth fell open... I come from a village in Bihar where I worked as a mason.
be encouraged to My wife and three children live in the village. We don’t own
land. In the village I did not get masonry work regularly. The
be as creative as possible while writing and income that I earned was not sufficient for our family.
narrating these stories. The teacher is also After I reached this city, I bought an old cycle rickshaw and
paid for it in instalments. This was many years ago...
encouraged to look for linkages that can be
made with concepts that are being taught in
the other subjects.

Imagine that you are a writer or an artist who lives in the place
described above. Either write a story or draw a picture of your
life here.
Do you think you would enjoy living in a place like this? List five
different things that you would miss the most if you lived here.

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 xiv

V. Use of Images

This book contains several illustrations and

photographs. These are as integral to the Chapter
as the narrative is and the teacher is encouraged to
use these in explaining the narrative contents of this
book. In addition pictures help the child visualise a
situation even if the child is not familiar with it. The
teacher is encouraged to use relevant visual material
in the classroom in addition to what is provided here.
The library, newspaper, magazines, the internet are
all a potential source of visuals and should be used
whenever possible.

VI. Use of other Sources

Letters to the editor

A textbook is important
but only one among many
sources that can be used
in a classroom. Students
should be encouraged to
read outside their textbooks.
One way would be to find
out answers to some of
the questions raised in the
class in other sources like
Not bad! One of the taps in the the newspaper, magazines,
nearby village must be getting books etc.
water!

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 CONTENTS xv

Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbook v
On Using this Book vii

UNIT I DIVERSITY
Chapter 1 Understanding Diversity 3
Chapter 2 Diversity and Discrimination 13

UNIT II GOVERNMENT
Chapter 3 What is Government 26

UNIT III LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

ADMINISTRATION
Chapter 4 Panchayati Raj 36
Chapter 5 Rural Administration 42
Chapter 6 Urban Administration 50

UNIT IV LIVELIHOODS
Chapter 7 Rural Livelihoods 60
Chapter 8 Urban Livelihoods 69
References 79

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