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Class 10 Social Science important questions 2026-27, chapter-wise with marks and answers

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This page has important questions for the Class 10 Social Science board paper of 2026-27, chapter by chapter across History, Geography, Political Science and Economics. Each question is labelled the way the official sample paper labels them: 1 mark, 2, 3 or 5 marks, or a 4-mark case question, plus the Geography map questions. Every answer is worked out and names the NCERT page it rests on.

These questions are our own, drafted with AI help. Every answer was checked against the NCERT chapter and every number was re-computed by a script, 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 the 2026-27 paper is built

History

Chapter 1: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

Q1 (1 mark, multiple choice). Who founded the secret society Young Italy to spread the idea of a united Italian republic? (A) Count Cavour (B) Giuseppe Mazzini (C) Giuseppe Garibaldi (D) Victor Emmanuel II

Answer: (B). In the 1830s Giuseppe Mazzini worked out a programme for a unitary Italian Republic and formed Young Italy to spread his goals (page 20).

Q2 (3 marks, short answer). (a) How was Italy divided in the middle of the nineteenth century? (b) Why was it hard for Italians to feel like one nation even in language? (c) After unification, what does the story of "La Talia" tell us about how far nationalist ideas had reached?

Answer: (a) Italy was split into seven states, and only one of them, Sardinia-Piedmont, had an Italian princely house; Austria's Habsburgs held the north, the Pope ruled the centre, and the south was under the Bourbon kings of Spain (page 20). (b) Italian itself had no single common form yet; it still varied from region to region and place to place (page 20). (c) Many Italians could not read and had never heard of liberal-nationalist ideas: the peasants of the south who had backed Garibaldi thought "La Talia" was Victor Emmanuel's wife (page 21).

Chapter 3: The Making of a Global World (subtopics 1 to 1.3)

Q3 (1 mark, multiple choice). In the sixteenth century, precious metals that added to Europe's wealth and paid for its trade with Asia came mainly from mines in present-day (A) India and China (B) Peru and Mexico (C) South Africa (D) Australia

Answer: (B). Silver mined in what are now Peru and Mexico made Europe richer and paid for its purchases from Asia (page 55).

Q4 (3 marks, short answer). (a) Where did the potato originally come from, and how did it change life for Europe's poor? (b) What happened in Ireland in the mid-1840s, and why was it so severe? (c) What lesson does this hold for a region that depends on one crop?

Answer: (a) The potato is one of the foods that came from the original inhabitants of America (pages 54-55); once it reached Europe, the poor ate better and lived longer (page 55). (b) A disease destroyed the potato crop, and because Ireland's poorest peasants had come to depend on potatoes so heavily, hundreds of thousands starved to death (page 55). (c) Depending on a single crop is risky: if disease or bad weather destroys it, there is nothing to fall back on. (Part (c) asks you to reason from the case; the facts are on page 55.)

Chapter 5: Print Culture and the Modern World

Q5 (1 mark, multiple choice). The earliest print technology, a system of hand printing with woodblocks, was developed in (A) Germany (B) China, Japan and Korea (C) Italy (D) England

Answer: (B). Hand printing began in China, Japan and Korea; from AD 594, Chinese printers pressed paper onto inked wooden blocks to make books (page 106).

Q6 (2 marks, very short answer). Give two reasons why Europe needed a new way of producing books by the early 1400s.

Answer: Demand for books was rising, but copying by hand was costly, slow and laborious; and manuscripts were fragile and hard to handle or carry, so few people could read them (page 108). Woodblocks were already used for textiles, playing cards and short religious texts, but a quicker and cheaper way to reproduce whole texts was needed, which Gutenberg's press supplied in the 1430s (page 108).

Q7 (4 marks, case-based). Read the passage and answer the questions.

In 1517 a monk named Martin Luther set out ninety-five points against the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Within weeks, printed copies of his writings were being read across the German lands. His German translation of the New Testament sold thousands of copies, and he thanked printing as God's greatest gift. Not everyone shared his joy: the scholar Erasmus, himself a critic of the Church, worried about what an endless flood of books might do.

(a) What did Luther's Ninety Five Theses criticise? (1) (b) How did print help Luther's ideas spread, and what did this lead to? (2) (c) What did people like Erasmus fear about print? (1)

Answer: (a) Many rituals and practices of the Roman Catholic Church (page 112). (b) His writings were reproduced in large numbers and widely read, and his New Testament sold 5,000 copies in a few weeks, with a second edition within three months; this led to a split in the Church and began the Protestant Reformation (page 112). (c) That without control over printing, rebellious and irreligious ideas would spread and "valuable" literature would lose its authority (page 112); Erasmus expressed deep anxiety about the flood of books (page 113).

Chapter 2: Nationalism in India

For Nationalism in India, including the History map items (the 1920 Calcutta and Nagpur and 1927 Madras Congress sessions, the Kheda, Champaran and Ahmedabad mill workers' satyagrahas, Jallianwala Bagh and the Dandi March), see our separate chapter guide when it is published; the curriculum lists the map items on PDF page 7.

Geography

Chapter 1: Resources and Development

Q8 (1 mark, multiple choice). Which soil, also called regur, is ideal for growing cotton? (A) alluvial (B) black (C) red and yellow (D) laterite

Answer: (B). Black soil is also called regur, and it is ideal for cotton, which is why it is also known as black cotton soil (page 7).

Q9 (3 marks, short answer). (a) In states rich in minerals, such as Jharkhand and Odisha, what has caused severe land degradation? (b) In Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, what is one of the main causes? (c) Suggest two ways to check land degradation in dry areas.

Answer: (a) deforestation for mining; (b) overgrazing; (c) any two of: shelter belts of plants, control of overgrazing, thorny bushes to hold sand dunes in place. (a) Forests cleared for mining have badly degraded land in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha (page 6). (b) Overgrazing is one of the main reasons in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (page 6). (c) In arid areas, land degradation can be checked by planting shelter belts, controlling overgrazing and fixing sand dunes by growing thorny bushes; afforestation and better management of grazing help everywhere (page 6).

Chapter 2: Forest and Wildlife Resources

Q10 (1 mark, multiple choice). Project Tiger was launched after the tiger population in India had fallen to 1,827. In which year was this count made? (A) 1947 (B) 1973 (C) 1991 (D) 2002

Answer: (B). By 1973 only 1,827 tigers were left, against an estimated 55,000 around 1900, and that count led to Project Tiger (page 14).

Q11 (2 marks, very short answer). Name any two tiger reserves of India and the state each is in.

Answer (any two): Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand; Sunderbans National Park, West Bengal; Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh; Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan; Manas Tiger Reserve, Assam; Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala (page 15).

Chapter 3: Water Resources

Q12 (1 mark, multiple choice). Which was the first state in India to make rooftop rainwater harvesting structures compulsory for all houses? (A) Meghalaya (B) Rajasthan (C) Tamil Nadu (D) Gujarat

Answer: (C). Tamil Nadu made rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory for all houses, with legal provisions to punish defaulters (page 27).

Q13 (3 marks, short answer). Describe the bamboo drip irrigation system of Meghalaya. Why is it a good example of traditional water conservation?

Answer: It is about 200 years old and taps stream and spring water through bamboo pipes (page 28). About 18-20 litres of water enter the pipes, travel hundreds of metres, and reach the plant as only 20-80 drops a minute; the flow is controlled by moving the pipe positions (page 28). It shows how local, low-cost methods can carry water a long way and deliver it to each plant without waste.

Chapter 4: Agriculture

Q14 (1 mark, multiple choice). Aus, Aman and Boro are three crops of paddy grown in one year in (A) Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan (B) Assam, West Bengal and Odisha (C) Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa (D) Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

Answer: (B). In Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, paddy is grown three times a year, and the three crops are called Aus, Aman and Boro (page 32).

Q15 (5 marks, long answer). India has three cropping seasons. For each of rabi, kharif and zaid, say when the crops are sown and harvested and name two crops of that season. Then explain one reason why rabi crops do well in the north and north-west.

Answer: Rabi: sowing runs from October to December, at the start of winter, and the harvest comes in April to June; for example wheat, barley, peas, gram or mustard (page 32). Kharif: sown when the monsoon arrives and harvested in September and October; for example paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, cotton, jute, groundnut or soyabean (page 32). Zaid: a short summer season between rabi and kharif; for example watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables or fodder crops (page 32). Why rabi does well in the north and north-west: winter rain brought by western temperate cyclones helps these crops, and the green revolution, which succeeded in Haryana, Punjab, parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh, has added to it (page 32).

Chapter 5: Minerals and Energy Resources

Q16 (1 mark, multiple choice). Which of these is a non-conventional source of energy? (A) coal (B) firewood (C) geothermal energy (D) petroleum

Answer: (C). Coal, firewood, petroleum, natural gas and electricity count as conventional; the chapter's non-conventional list includes geothermal energy along with the sun, wind, tides, biogas and atomic energy (page 50).

Q17 (3 marks, short answer). (a) Where is India's largest cluster of wind farms? (b) Where are India's two experimental geothermal projects? (c) Suggest one thing a citizen can do to save energy.

Answer: (a) In Tamil Nadu, from Nagarcoil to Madurai (page 54). (b) One is near Manikaran, in Himachal Pradesh's Parvati valley; the other is in Ladakh's Puga valley (page 55). (c) Any one: use public transport instead of a private vehicle, switch off electricity when it is not needed, use power-saving devices, or use non-conventional energy (page 55).

Chapter 6: Manufacturing Industries

Q18 (4 marks, case-based). Read the passage and answer the questions.

A district has a cooperative sugar mill run by the cane growers, a cement works using local limestone, a steel plant owned by a government company, and a two-wheeler factory owned by a private firm.

(a) Which two units are agro-based and mineral-based, by the raw material they use? (1) (b) Classify the steel plant and the two-wheeler factory by ownership. (1) (c) How is a cooperative industry like the sugar mill owned and run, and how are its profits shared? (2)

Answer: (a) The sugar mill is agro-based and the cement works is mineral-based (page 59). (b) The steel plant is in the public sector, like SAIL, and the two-wheeler factory is in the private sector, like Bajaj Auto (page 59). (c) A cooperative industry belongs to, and is run by, the people who grow or supply its raw material, its workers, or both together; they pool their resources and share profits or losses in proportion, as in Maharashtra's sugar industry (page 59).

Map work (Geography, 3 marks)

Q19 (3 marks, map). On an outline map of India, locate and label: (a) the multipurpose project in the Mahanadi basin that combines water conservation with flood control; (b) the most important oil field of Gujarat; (c) the Kachchh port that India built first after Independence.

Answer: (a) Hirakud; (b) Ankleshwar; (c) Kandla (Deendayal Port). The Hirakud project is in the Mahanadi basin (Water Resources, page 22). Ankleshwar is the most important oil field of Gujarat (Minerals and Energy Resources, page 52). Deendayal Port at Kandla in Kachchh came first after Independence, built to take pressure off Mumbai once Karachi had gone to Pakistan (Lifelines of National Economy, page 77).

The full Geography map list for 2026-27 (curriculum, PDF pages 7-8): major soil types; the dams Salal, Bhakra Nangal, Tehri, Rana Pratap Sagar, Sardar Sarovar, Hirakud, Nagarjuna Sagar and Tungabhadra; rice and wheat areas and the largest producer states of jute, cotton, rubber, coffee, tea and sugarcane; the iron ore mines Mayurbhanj, Durg, Bailadila, Bellary and Kudremukh; the coal mines Raniganj, Bokaro, Talcher and Neyveli; the oil fields Mumbai High, Bassien, Kalol, Ankleshwar, Digboi and Naharkatia; the thermal power plants Namrup, Singrauli and Ramagundam, and the nuclear plants Narora, Kakrapara, Tarapur and Kalpakkam; cotton textile centres, iron and steel plants and software technology parks; and the ten major sea ports and six international airports.

Political Science

Chapter 1: Power-sharing

Q20 (1 mark, multiple choice). In Sri Lanka, roughly what share of the people speak Sinhala? (A) 18 per cent (B) 50 per cent (C) 74 per cent (D) 90 per cent

Answer: (C). Sinhala speakers are about 74 per cent and Tamil speakers about 18 per cent (page 2).

Q21 (3 marks, short answer). Describe three majoritarian measures adopted in Sri Lanka after independence.

Answer: In 1956 an Act made Sinhala the only official language, ignoring Tamil (page 3). Later governments gave Sinhala-speaking candidates preference for university seats and government posts (page 3). The constitution also said that the state would protect and foster Buddhism (page 3). These measures made Sri Lankan Tamils feel alienated.

Chapter 2: Federalism

Q22 (1 mark, multiple choice). Which of these is on the Union List? (A) police (B) agriculture (C) defence (D) irrigation

Answer: (C). The Union List has subjects of national importance such as defence, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency; police, agriculture and irrigation are on the State List (page 16).

Q23 (5 marks, long answer). Explain how the Constitution of India divides law-making powers between the Union and the States. Who decides a dispute over this division?

Answer: The Constitution has a three-fold distribution in three lists (page 16). The Union List covers subjects of national importance, like defence, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency, so that there is one policy for the whole country, and only the Union Government can make laws on them. The State List covers subjects of state and local importance, like police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation, and only the State Governments can make laws on them. The Concurrent List covers subjects of interest to both, on which both can make laws (pages 16-17). Subjects in none of the lists, such as computer software, are residuary subjects, and the Union Government can legislate on them (page 17). Disputes about the division of powers are decided by the High Courts and the Supreme Court (page 17).

Chapter 3: Gender, Religion and Caste

Q24 (1 mark, multiple choice). In 2019, women's share of the elected members of the Lok Sabha touched (A) about 5 per cent (B) 14.36 per cent (C) 33 per cent (D) 50 per cent

Answer: (B). It reached 14.36 per cent for the first time in 2019; in state assemblies women's share is below 5 per cent (page 34).

Q25 (3 marks, short answer). Describe three forms that communalism can take in politics.

Answer (any three): Everyday beliefs that carry religious prejudices, stereotypes of other communities and a belief that one's own religion is superior (page 37). A drive for political dominance by one's own community: majoritarian dominance for a majority, or a wish for a separate political unit for a minority (page 37). Political mobilisation on religious lines, using sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeals and fear to bring one religion's followers together in politics (page 37). At its worst, communal violence, riots and massacres (page 37).

Chapter 4: Political Parties

Q26 (1 mark, multiple choice). A party is recognised as a national party if it gets at least 6 per cent of the votes in Lok Sabha elections or in Assembly elections in four States, and also wins at least (A) one (B) two (C) four (D) ten seats in the Lok Sabha

Answer: (C). It must also win at least four Lok Sabha seats (page 53).

Q27 (2 marks, very short answer). Apart from the lack of internal democracy, explain any two challenges that political parties in India face today.

Answer (any two of these three): Dynastic succession: since most parties do not follow open, transparent procedures, ordinary workers rarely rise to the top, and leaders tend to favour people close to them or their family (page 58). Money and muscle power play a bigger and bigger part: parties focused only on winning elections tend to nominate candidates who can raise money or win by any means (pages 58-59). Parties often fail to offer a meaningful choice to voters, because their ideological differences have narrowed (page 58).

Chapter 5: Outcomes of Democracy

Q28 (4 marks, case-based). Read the passage and answer the questions.

In a town, the municipal council takes three months to decide where a new market should go: it holds public meetings, publishes its reasons and lets residents read the papers behind the decision. A neighbouring town under an appointed administrator decides the same question in a week, without consulting anyone.

(a) What is the most basic outcome we should expect from a democratic government? (1) (b) Why does the democratic council take longer, and why might its decision still work better? (2) (c) Residents can read the papers behind the decision. What is this called? (1)

Answer: (a) A government that answers to its citizens and responds to what they need and expect (page 65). (b) Democratic decisions come out of discussion and give-and-take, which takes time; but because it follows procedures, its decisions are more likely to be accepted by people and to work, while a quick decision that people do not accept may run into problems (page 65). (c) Transparency: a citizen has the right and the means to check how a decision was made (page 65).

Economics

Chapter 1: Development

Q29 (1 mark, multiple choice). Per capita income is (A) the total income of a country (B) the total income of a country divided by its total population (C) the income of the richest person (D) the income of a family in a year

Answer: (B). Average income is the country's total income divided by its population, and it is also called per capita income (page 8).

Q30 (4 marks, case-based). Three made-up countries report their figures for 2024: Country X has a total income of US$ 140 billion and 2 million people; Country Y has US$ 9 billion and 5 million people; Country Z has US$ 200 billion and 25 million people.

(a) Find the per capita income of each country. (2) (b) Using the World Bank thresholds given in the chapter for 2024, which country is high-income and which is low-income? (1) (c) Give one reason why per capita income alone does not show how well people live. (1)

Answer: (a) X: 140,000 million ÷ 2 million = US$ 70,000. Y: 9,000 million ÷ 5 million = US$ 1,800. Z: 200,000 million ÷ 25 million = US$ 8,000. (b) In 2024, countries with US$ 66,500 or more per person are high-income and those with about US$ 2,300 or less are low-income (page 8), so X is high-income and Y is low-income; Z is in between. (c) Averages are useful for comparing, but they hide disparities: two countries with the same average can share income very differently among their people (page 9), and income does not show health or education.

Chapter 2: Sectors of the Indian Economy

Q31 (1 mark, multiple choice). Under MGNREGA 2005, people in rural areas who are able to and need to work are guaranteed (A) 50 (B) 100 (C) 150 (D) 365 days of employment in a year

Answer: (B). MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment a year, and an unemployment allowance if the government fails to provide it (page 29).

Q32 (3 marks, short answer). Kanta works for a registered company; Kamal works in a small workshop that is not registered. Give three differences between the organised and the unorganised sector.

Answer (any three): In the organised sector the terms of employment are regular and work is assured; in the unorganised sector jobs are low-paid and often not regular (pages 30-31). Organised enterprises are registered and follow laws such as the Factories Act and the Minimum Wages Act; unorganised units are small and scattered and largely outside government control, so rules exist but are not followed (pages 30-31). Organised workers get benefits such as overtime pay and, on retiring, pensions; such benefits are missing in the unorganised sector (pages 30-31).

Chapter 3: Money and Credit

Q33 (1 mark, multiple choice). The Grameen Bank, a success story in giving credit to the poor at reasonable rates, works in (A) India (B) Bangladesh (C) Nepal (D) Sri Lanka

Answer: (B). Grameen Bank of Bangladesh began as a small project in the 1970s and had grown to more than 9 million members across roughly 81,600 villages by 2018; nearly all its borrowers are women (page 52).

Q34 (5 marks, long answer). (a) What is collateral? Give two examples. (b) Why do poor households take a larger share of their loans from informal lenders than rich households do? (c) Why is a high share of informal credit bad for borrowers, and what does the chapter suggest?

Answer: (a) Collateral is something the borrower owns and pledges to the lender as a guarantee; if the loan is not paid back, the lender may sell it to recover the money. Examples: land, a building, a vehicle, livestock, deposits with banks (page 44). (b) Formal lenders such as banks usually ask for collateral, which many poor households do not have; in urban areas, 54 per cent of the loans of poor households come from informal sources, against 17 per cent for rich households (pages 44 and 49). (c) Most informal lenders charge much higher interest, so a larger part of the borrower's earnings goes in repayment and less income is left (page 49); a loan that cannot be repaid can push the borrower into a debt-trap (page 44). The chapter says formal credit should expand so that dependence on costly informal credit falls, and the poor should get a much larger share of formal loans from banks and cooperatives (page 52).

Chapter 4: Globalisation and the Indian Economy ("What is Globalisation?" and "Factors that have enabled Globalisation" only)

Q35 (1 mark, multiple choice). Shipping goods in containers, which move as one unit from ship to train to truck, has mainly (A) raised port handling costs (B) cut port handling costs and sped up exports (C) stopped air transport (D) ended foreign trade

Answer: (B). Containers sharply cut the cost of handling goods at ports and get exports to markets faster (page 62).

Q36 (3 marks, short answer). (a) What is globalisation? (b) Name two developments in technology that helped it. (c) What is a trade barrier? Give one example.

Answer: (a) Countries becoming quickly and closely linked, as more and more goods, services, investment and technology cross between them (page 62). (b) Any two: improvements in transport such as containers and cheaper air freight (page 62); telecommunications, computers and the Internet, which let people share information instantly at low cost (page 63). (c) A restriction that a government sets up on foreign trade; a tax on imports is an example (page 64).

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Sources

All opened and read on 3 November 2026. NCERT page numbers are printed page numbers; CBSE page numbers are PDF pages.

The facts in each answer are from the textbook pages named. The questions, passages, made-up figures and worked answers are our own, and every number was re-computed by script. This page is general information; follow your teacher, the textbook and CBSE's own notices.

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