Class 8 Question Paper 2023 Social Science

ANNUAL EXAMINATION

Question Paper
2023

NCERT BASED SYLLABUS
FOR CBSE AND STATE BOARD
FOLLOWING NCERT

ANNUAL EXAMINATION (2022-23)

Class - VIII Subject – Social Science
Time – 3 Hours Maximum Marks - 80

General Instructions:

i. All questions are compulsory
ii. There is no overall choice in the question paper. However, an internal choice has been
provided in few questions. Only one of the choices in such questions have to be attempted.

HISTORY
I. Choose the correct option. [1x7=7]
1. Who was Warren Hastings ?
A. First Viceroy of India
B. Former Governor General of India
C. Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom
D. None of the above
2. What was farman ?
A. A trading ship
B. An East India Factory
C. A royal edict to trade duty free
D. Name of faujdari adalat situated in Bengal
3. _______ is a unit of measurement of land.
A. Litre
B. Bigha
C. Kilogram
D. millilitre
4. ____________ was the last Mughal ruler.
A. Aurangzeb
B. Bahadur Shah Zafar
C. Ahmad Shah Bahadur
D. Mahmud Shah Bahadur

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5. Match the following
COLUMN A COLUMN B

(i) Linguist (a) A person who can read, write and teach Persian

(ii) Orientalists (b) A local language

(iii) Munshi (c)A place of learning

(iv) Vernacular (d) An order brought from England to India by Wood

(v) Wood’s Despatch ( e) A person who knows and studies several languages.

(vi) Pathshalas ( f) People who have scholarly knowledge of the language and
culture of Asia.

OPTIONS
A. (i)-e , (ii)-f, (iii)-a, (iv)-b, (v)-d, (vi)-c
B. (i)-e , (ii)-f, (iii)-a, (iv) c , (v)-d, (vi)-b
C. (ii)-d , (i)-f, (iii)-b, (iv) c, (v)-e, (vi)-a
D. (iii)-c, (i)-f, (iii)-d, (iv) b, (v)-d, (vi)-a
6. His support for women upliftment made him mark for the passing of the Widow
Remarriage Act 1856. Who is being referred to here ?
A. Keshab Chandra Sen
B. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
C. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
D. Dada Bhai Naoroji
7. Bengal was divided by the British in the year
A. 1900
B. 1905
C. 1910
D. 1915
II. Answer the following : [2x3=6]
1. What were the areas of conflict between the Bengal Nawabs and the East India Company ?
2. List any two changes introduced in the administrative set up of the British territories in India
as a result of the rebellion of 1857.
3. Write about any two remarks given by William Adam in his report on vernacular education
in India.

III. Answer the following questions : [3x2=6]
1. Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.
2. Why were people dissatisfied with the British rule in the 1870s and 1880s ?

IV. Answer the following questions in detail. [5]
Why was Bengal divided? Explain it's consequences. (2+3=5)
OR
Who were the Moderates? How did they propose to struggle against British rule? (2+3=5)
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V. Read the paragraph given and answer the following questions : [4]
Girls begin going to school
Many of the reformers felt that education for girls was necessary in order to improve the
condition of women.
Vidyasagar in Calcutta and many other reformers in Bombay set up schools for girls. When
the first schools were opened in the mid-nineteenth century, many people were afraid of
them. Therefore, throughout the nineteenth century, most educated women were taught at
home by liberal fathers or husbands. Sometimes women taught themselves and secretly
learned to read and write in the flickering light of candles at night.
PanditaRamabai, a great scholar of Sanskrit, felt that Hinduism was oppressive towards
women, and wrote a book about the miserable lives of upper caste Hindu women. She
founded a widows’ home at Poona to provide shelter to widows and were given training so
that they could support themselves.

From the early twentieth century, they formed political pressure groups to push through
laws for female suffrage and better health care and education for women. Some of them
joined various kinds of nationalist and socialist movements from the 1920s.
1.What was PanditaRamabai’s contribution towards the lives of widows? [1]
2.What do you understand by the term ‘female suffrage’ ? [1]
3.Why were the girls denied the opportunity to attend school in mid nineteenth century? [2]
CIVICS

I. Choose the correct option : [1x5=5]
1. What does it mean to say that a state is “sovereign”?
A. Sovereignty is a ruse of global capitalism.
B. The state is recognized as the sole political authority in it’s territory.
C. Sovereignty means that you are governed indirectly by an empire but you get to keep your
own, semi-autonomous institutions.
D. None of the above
2. The term “coercion” means
A. Force used by legal authority like the State
B. State’s efforts to influence a particular matter in accordance with the principles of the
Constitution
C. A goal or a principle
D. An organized political structure
3. Situations in which there are no easy solutions to problems are called _____ situations.
A. resolved
B. unresolved
C. approval
D. mobilised
4. ____________ is a locality which is populated largely by members of a particular community.

A. Ghetto
B. Adivasis
C. Minorities
D. None of these
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5. Which gas has been leaked from UC plant in Bhopal gas tragedy ?
A. Nitrogen oxide
B. Methyl-isocyanite
C. Carbon dioxide
D. Carbon monooxide
I. Answer the following questions in short. [2x2=4]
1. What do you understand by the term ‘rule of law’. Also include a fictitious example of a
violation of the rule of law. (1+1=2)
2. Discuss the significance of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in ensuring justice to all.

II. Answer the following questions in detail. [3x2=6]
1. “An independent judiciary is necessary for Upholding the law and Enforcing the
Fundamental Rights”. Elucidate.
2. Which term is used for Adivasis in official documents? Discuss the importance of forests for
Adivasis. (1+2=3)

III. Answer in detail. [5]
What did Rathnam refuse and why? What were the consequences he had to face after his
refusal? (2+1+2=5)
OR
What are the clauses of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989 ? (2+1+2=5)

IV. Read the given passage carefully and answer the following questions: [4]

What is a worker’s worth
The foreign companies come to India for cheap labour. Wages that companies pay to
workers, say in U.S.A.,are far higher than what they have to pay to workers in
poorer/developing countries. For lower pay, companies get longer hours of work.
Additional expenses such as for housing facilities for workers are also fewer. Thus,
companies can save costs and earn higher profits.
Cost cutting can also be done by other more dangerous means. Lower working conditions
including lower safety measures are used as ways of cutting costs. In the UC plant, every
safety device was malfunctioning or was in short supply. Between 1980 and 1984, the work
crew for the MIC plant was cut in half from 12 to 6 workers. The period of safety training for
workers was brought down from 6 months to 15 days. The post of night-shift worker for the
MIC plant was abolished.
At West Virginia(U.S.A), computerized warning and monitoring systems were in place,
whereas the UC plant in Bhopal relied on manual gauges and the human senses to detect gas
leaks. At the West Virginia plant, emergency evacuation plans were in place, but nonexistent
in Bhopal.

1. Compare the safety standards of UC plant followed in U.S.A. and that of India. ? [1]
2. “There are many labours/workers in poorer countries who are ready to work in unsafe
conditions”. Why? [1]
3. Why do foreign companies want to establish their units in developing countries ? [2]
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GEOGRAPHY

I. Choose the correct option: [1x5=5]
1. The application of latest knowledge and skills in doing or making things is known as
A. Patent
B. Utility
C. Value
D. Technology

2. Which one among the following is true?
A. Water is not precious and we should not bother about its wasteful use.
B. All sources and substances have the equal economic value.
C. We should minimise the depletion of natural resources.
D. Non-renewable resources are human made resources.

3. Fill in the blanks :
Crop Climatic conditions
i. ? It requires high temperature, light rainfall, two hundred and ten
----------- frost-free days and bright sunshine for its growth.
ii. ? It requires moderate temperature and rainfall during growing
----------- season and bright sunshine at the time of harvest.

OPTIONS:
A. i. Wheat , ii. Maize
B. i. Cotton , ii. Wheat
C. i. Rice , ii. Coffee
D. i. Jute , ii. Tea

4. In which year the Ministry of Human Resource Development was established by the
Government of India?
A. 1955
B. 1965
C. 1975
D. 1985

5. Match the columns and choose the correct option :

Column I Column II
a. Immigration i. A graphical presentation of the age, sex composition
of a population.
b. Emigration ii. It is the number of years that an average person can
expect to live.
c. Life expectancy iii. When a person leaves a country.
d. Population Pyramid iv. When a person enters a new country.

OPTIONS:
A. a.-iv, b.-i, c.-iii, d.-ii
B. a.-iv, b.-ii, c.-i, d.-iii
C. a.-iv, b.-iii, c.-i, d.-ii
D. a.-iv, b.-iii, c.-ii, d.-i
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II. Answer the following questions in short : [3x2=6]
1. Distinguish between Subsistence farming and Commercial farming. Write three points of
each.
OR
Which crop is also known as the ‘Golden Fibre’? Write climatic conditions required for its
growth. (1+2=3)

2. Describe any three factors affecting the distribution of population.

III. Answer the following questions in detail : [5x2=10]
1. How is vegetation useful to us? Explain any five points.
2. Explain any five measures to reduce the risk of industrial disaster.
OR
Explain any five favourable locational factors which were responsible for the development
of the cotton textile industry in Ahmedabad.

IV. Read the given extract and answer the following questions : [4]
A naturally occurring substance that has a definite chemical composition is a mineral.
Minerals are not evenly distributed over space. They are concentrated in a particular area or
rock formations. Some minerals are found in areas which are not easily accessible such as the
Arctic ocean bed and Antarctica.

Minerals occur in different types of rocks. Some are found in igneous rocks, some in
metamorphic rocks while others occur in sedimentary rocks. Generally, metallic minerals are
found in igneous and metamorphic rock formations that form large plateaus. Iron-ore in north
Sweden, copper and nickel deposits in Ontario, Canada, iron, nickel, chromites and platinum
in South Africa are examples of minerals found in igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Sedimentary rock formations of plains and young fold mountains contain non-metallic
minerals like limestone. Limestone deposits of Caucasus region of France, manganese
deposits of Georgia and Ukraine and phosphate beds of Algeria are some examples. Mineral
fuels such as coal and petroleum are also found in the sedimentary strata.

IV.1 In which rocks metallic minerals are generally found? [1]

IV.2 Which country is the largest producer of high grade iron-ore in the world? [1]

IV.3 Why do we need to conserve minerals? [2]

V. Locate and label the following on the Political Map of India: [1x3=3]
A. Salem - Iron and Steel Plant
B. Jamshedpur - Iron and Steel Plant
C. Surat - Cotton Textile Industry

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