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Class 10 Geography: Lifelines of National Economy, 8 practice questions with answers

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Here are 8 practice questions on Chapter 7 of the NCERT Class 10 Geography textbook, Contemporary India II: Lifelines of National Economy. Every question has a worked answer and the textbook page behind it. Three of them are map work on the 2026-27 list of sea ports and international airports, which is the only part of this chapter the board paper tests. The other five use the chapter's own figures on railways, waterways and trade, and its comparison of roads, rail, pipelines, water and air. Those are what school tests and the interdisciplinary project ask about.

These questions are our own, drafted with AI help. Every number was re-computed by a script and every answer was checked against the chapter and its maps, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. None of them is a textbook exercise or a sample-paper question reworded. If you find a mistake, please tell us.

How this chapter is tested in 2026-27

CBSE's Social Science curriculum for 2026-27 lists Lifelines of National Economy with the note that only map pointing is evaluated in the board examination (curriculum, PDF page 1). Geography carries 20 marks in the paper, of which 3 are for map pointing, and the map question can draw on several Geography chapters. The chapter is also one of the three joined in the interdisciplinary project, which the school marks out of 5 (PDF page 1). So:

Map work for this chapter

The 2026-27 list asks you to locate and label these places (curriculum, PDF page 8). The notes beside each are our own, built from the chapter's text and its map on page 79, to help you remember where each one is.

Major sea ports, west coast, north to south:

Major sea ports, east coast, south to north:

International airports on the list (curriculum, PDF page 8):

CityAirport
DelhiIndira Gandhi
HyderabadRajiv Gandhi
KolkataNetaji Subhash Chandra Bose
MumbaiChhatrapati Shivaji
AmritsarSri Guru Ram Das Ji (Raja Sansi)
ChennaiMeenambakkam

All six are marked on the chapter's map on page 79, which also shows Thiruvananthapuram; that one is not on the 2026-27 list.

Tips for the map question:

Map questions

Question 1. (Map, 1 mark each) Name the port on the 2026-27 map list that fits each clue: (a) an Odisha port that specialises in exporting iron ore; (b) the Karnataka port that ships iron ore concentrates from the Kudremukh mines; (c) the Goa port that handles about half of India's iron ore exports; (d) the extreme south-western port, at the entrance of a lagoon.

Answer: (a) Paradip; (b) New Mangalore; (c) Marmagao (Mormugao); (d) Kochi (Cochin). Paradwip port in Odisha specialises in iron ore exports (page 78). Iron ore concentrate from the Kudremukh mines leaves through New Mangalore, and roughly half of all the iron ore India sends abroad goes out through Mormugao (page 77). Cochin is the extreme south-western port, at a lagoon's entrance with a natural harbour (page 77). All four are on the CBSE list as Paradip, New Mangalore, Marmagao and Kochi (curriculum, PDF page 8).

Question 2. (Map, 1 mark each) The airports on the 2026-27 list are often named after people. In which city is each of these? (a) Raja Sansi (Sri Guru Ram Das Ji) International Airport; (b) Indira Gandhi International Airport; (c) Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport; (d) Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport; (e) Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Answer: (a) Amritsar; (b) Delhi; (c) Mumbai; (d) Kolkata; (e) Hyderabad. These are five of the six international airports on the CBSE map list, which gives each city with its airport's name (curriculum, PDF page 8). The chapter's map on page 79 marks the airports at Amritsar, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

Question 3. (Map) Put the five listed west-coast ports in order from north to south, and the five listed east-coast ports in order from south to north. Which listed port on each coast is closest to the Tropic of Cancer?

Answer: west coast, north to south: Kandla, Mumbai, Marmagao, New Mangalore, Kochi; east coast, south to north: Tuticorin, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Haldia. Closest to the Tropic of Cancer: Kandla on the west, Haldia on the east. The order is read from the chapter's map of major ports (page 79). On that map Deendayal Port at Kandla sits just below the Tropic of Cancer, and Haldia, at about 22° N, is the most northerly of the five east-coast ports on the list. Knowing the sequence lets you place each port on an outline map even without the latitude lines.

Transport and trade

Question 4. The chapter's Table 7.1 gives India's railway route length by gauge: broad gauge (1.676 m) 63,950 km, metre gauge (1.000 m) 2,402 km and narrow gauge (0.762 m and 0.610 m) 1,604 km. (a) Check that these add up to the total the table gives. (b) What percentage of the route is broad gauge? (c) About how many times longer is the broad-gauge route than the metre-gauge and narrow-gauge routes put together?

Answer: (a) 67,956 km; (b) about 94.1%; (c) about 16 times. (a) 63,950 + 2,402 + 1,604 = 67,956 km, the total in Table 7.1 (page 75). (b) 63,950 ÷ 67,956 × 100 ≈ 94.1%. (c) Metre and narrow gauge together: 2,402 + 1,604 = 4,006 km, and 63,950 ÷ 4,006 ≈ 16.0. Almost the whole network now runs on the widest gauge.

Question 5. The chapter says that 95 per cent of India's trade by volume, but only 68 per cent by value, moves by sea. (a) What share of trade, by volume and by value, goes by other routes (air and land)? (b) Compare the average value of a tonne of cargo sent by sea with a tonne sent by other routes. (c) What does this tell you about the kind of goods each carries?

Answer: (a) 5% by volume, 32% by value; (b) a tonne sent by other routes is worth about 9 times as much as a tonne sent by sea; (c) the sea carries heavy, bulky goods, while air and land carry lighter, more valuable ones. (a) 100 − 95 = 5% of the volume and 100 − 68 = 32% of the value (page 77). (b) By sea: 68 parts of value for 95 parts of volume, about 0.72 per unit. By other routes: 32 for 5, which is 6.4 per unit. 6.4 ÷ 0.72 ≈ 8.9, so about 9 times. (c) The chapter calls waterways the cheapest means of transport and the most suitable for heavy and bulky goods (page 75), which is why most of the tonnage goes by ship.

Question 6. Choose the most suitable mode of transport for each job, and give the chapter's reason: (a) moving natural gas from a gas field to fertiliser plants hundreds of kilometres inland; (b) taking a few crates of tomatoes from a village to a market in the next town; (c) carrying a large load of heavy goods down the Ganga from Prayagraj towards Haldia; (d) flying a crew out to an offshore oil platform.

Answer: (a) pipeline; (b) road; (c) inland waterway (National Waterway No. 1); (d) helicopter (air transport). (a) Pipelines carry crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas to refineries, fertiliser factories and big power plants; laying them is costly, but running costs afterwards are minimal (page 75). (b) Roads are economical for small loads over short distances, and give door-to-door service (page 72). (c) Waterways suit heavy and bulky goods and are cheap and fuel-efficient, and the Ganga between Prayagraj and Haldia is National Waterway No. 1 (pages 75 and 77). (d) Pawanhans Helicopters provides helicopter services to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in its offshore operations (page 78).

Question 7. The chapter lists five National Waterways with their lengths: No. 1 (Ganga, Prayagraj to Haldia) 1,620 km; No. 2 (Brahmaputra, Sadiya to Dhubri) 891 km; No. 3 (West-Coast Canal, Kerala) 205 km; No. 4 (stretches of the Godavari and Krishna with the Kakinada-Puducherry canals) 1,078 km; No. 5 (stretches of the Brahmani and Mahanadi delta with the East Coast Canal) 588 km. (a) What is their total length? (b) India has 14,500 km of inland navigation waterways. About what percentage do these five make up? (c) Which of the five is the longest, and which is the shortest?

Answer: (a) 4,382 km; (b) about 30%; (c) longest No. 1, shortest No. 3. (a) 1,620 + 891 + 205 + 1,078 + 588 = 4,382 km (page 77). (b) 4,382 ÷ 14,500 × 100 ≈ 30.2% (14,500 km is on page 75). (c) The Ganga stretch, 1,620 km, is the longest; Kerala's West-Coast Canal, 205 km, is the shortest. The chapter adds that 111 waterways, including these five, were declared National Waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016 (page 75).

Question 8. A made-up country exports goods worth ₹4,200 crore and imports goods worth ₹5,000 crore in one year. The next year its exports rise to ₹5,600 crore and its imports to ₹5,300 crore. (a) Find its balance of trade in each year. (b) Say whether each balance is favourable or unfavourable.

Answer: (a) year 1: −₹800 crore (imports exceed exports by ₹800 crore); year 2: +₹300 crore (exports exceed imports by ₹300 crore); (b) year 1 unfavourable, year 2 favourable. The balance of trade is the difference between a country's exports and imports. When exports are worth more than imports it is favourable; when imports are worth more it is unfavourable (page 80). Year 1: 4,200 − 5,000 = −800. Year 2: 5,600 − 5,300 = +300.

What the chapter says you need

Facts from Chapter 7 of the NCERT textbook (Contemporary India II, Reprint 2026-27, printed pages 71 to 83), in our words:

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Sources

All opened and read on 3 November 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the textbook; printed page = PDF page + 70.

The facts and figures are from the textbook pages above; the port and airport labels and their order were read from the rendered map on page 79. The questions, the made-up trade figures and the worked answers are our own, and every number was re-computed by script. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and the textbook.

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