BSEH Secondary Social Science cheat sheet

The French Revolution (1789) ended feudal privileges, issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and spread ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity to Europe and colonial India.

Nationalism in Europe: Mazzini founded Young Italy; Cavour and Garibaldi unified Italy; Bismarck unified Germany through 'blood and iron' wars (1864-1871).

The Rowlatt Act (1919) allowed detention without trial; protests against it led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar on 13 April 1919.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) was withdrawn after the Chauri Chaura incident (February 1922); Civil Disobedience began with the Dandi Salt March in 1930.

The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885; the Muslim League demanded a separate state in the Lahore Resolution of 1940.

Nazism in Germany: Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933; the Enabling Act (1933) let him rule without parliament; the Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jewish citizenship.

The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929; it cut farm prices, worsened colonial economies, and pushed Indian peasants into debt.

Print culture: Gutenberg's printing press (c. 1450) allowed cheap books; in India vernacular presses lowered book prices and spread nationalist ideas after 1857.

Land use classification includes net sown area, forest, land not available for cultivation, other uncultivated land, and fallow land; net sown area is largest in Punjab and Haryana.

Land degradation causes: overgrazing, deforestation, water logging, salinity, mining and industrial effluents; gullies in Chambal are an example of erosion from running water.

Soil types: alluvial (fertile, northern plains), black/regur (cotton, Deccan trap), red and yellow (crystalline rocks), laterite (heavy rain, leaching), arid, forest and mountain soils.

Water scarcity results from over-exploitation, excessive use, unequal access and pollution; drip and sprinkler irrigation reduce consumption.

Multi-purpose river projects such as Bhakra Nangal and Hirakud provide irrigation, power, flood control and navigation but cause displacement and silting.

Agriculture: rabi crops are sown in winter (wheat, gram, mustard); kharif crops in the monsoon (rice, maize, cotton); zaid is a short summer season (watermelon, cucumber).

Major crops: rice needs above 100 cm rainfall; wheat 50-75 cm; cotton grows on black soil; tea and coffee are plantation crops grown on hill slopes.

Minerals: iron ore types are magnetite (highest iron content) and haematite (most widely used); coal occurs in the Damodar, Godavari and Mahanadi valleys.

Conventional sources are firewood, cattle dung, coal, petroleum and natural gas; non-conventional sources include solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and biogas.

Federalism in India divides powers by the Union, State and Concurrent Lists in the Seventh Schedule; residuary powers rest with the Union.

Key features of federalism: two or more levels of government, division of powers fixed by a written constitution, independent judiciary, and revenue sources for each level.

Decentralisation in India was strengthened by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992), making panchayats and municipalities elected bodies with reserved seats.

Elections: the Election Commission conducts Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections; a candidate must be at least 25 years old for the Lok Sabha.

The anti-defection law allows disqualification of an elected member who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against the party whip.

The Rajya Sabha has a maximum of 250 members; the Lok Sabha a maximum of 552 members; the President is elected indirectly by an electoral college.

The Supreme Court's basic structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) limits Parliament's power to amend fundamental features of the Constitution.

Political parties: a national party requires at least 6% of votes in four or more states plus 4 Lok Sabha seats; a recognised state party needs 6% of votes and 2 seats in the state.

Popular struggles: Nepal's 2006 movement restored democracy; Bolivia's 2000 water privatisation protest shows how collective action can influence policy.

GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a year; it does not measure distribution or non-market activities.

Per capita income = national income / population; it is an average and hides inequality, so the Human Development Index (HDI) uses income, health and education.

Sectors: primary (agriculture, mining), secondary (manufacturing, construction), tertiary (services); India's tertiary sector contributes the largest share of GDP.

Underemployment (disguised unemployment) occurs when more people work on a task than needed, common in Indian agriculture.

Public sector provides public goods such as roads and defence; private sector produces for profit; public goods are non-rival and non-excludable.

Money as a medium of exchange removes the double coincidence of wants; the Reserve Bank of India issues currency and controls credit.

Formal credit comes from banks and cooperatives at lower interest; informal lenders charge high interest and often trap borrowers in debt.

Globalisation is integration of economies through trade, investment and technology; liberalisation in India began with the 1991 reforms removing licensing restrictions.

Consumer rights: right to safety, information, choice, be heard, seek redressal and consumer education; the Consumer Protection Act protects buyers against unfair trade.

Disaster = hazard x vulnerability / capacity; risk rises when exposure and vulnerability are high and preparedness is low.

Disaster management cycle: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response/relief, recovery and rehabilitation.

Earthquake: drop, cover and hold under a sturdy table; stay away from windows; do not use lifts; magnitude is measured on the Richter scale.

Flood response: move to higher ground, avoid walking or driving through flood water, and drink only boiled or treated water to prevent water-borne disease.

Cyclone warning terms in India: cyclone alert, cyclone warning, and stages of the IMD warning system; evacuate to designated shelters before landfall.

Drought mitigation includes rainwater harvesting, watershed development, crop diversification and drought-resistant seed varieties.

Maps: scale is the ratio of map distance to ground distance; large-scale maps show small areas in more detail; contour lines join points of equal height.

Map symbols: blue for water bodies, green for forests, brown for contour lines, and a north arrow shows direction; latitude lines run east-west, longitude north-south.

Source interpretation: distinguish primary sources (official records, letters, photographs) from secondary sources; check authorship, date, purpose and bias before drawing conclusions.

Locate Indian states and capitals using latitude-longitude references; Delhi is near 28.6°N, 77.2°E, and Mumbai near 19°N, 72.8°E.

Standard meridian of India is 82°30'E, which sets Indian Standard Time (UTC+5:30).

Major rivers: Ganga rises in the Gangotri glacier, Brahmaputra in Tibet (as Tsangpo), Godavari in Maharashtra, Narmada in Amarkantak.

Mountain passes: Khyber and Bolan in the northwest, Nathu La in Sikkim, Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh.

Iron and coal belts: iron ore in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh; coal in the Damodar valley (Jharia, Raniganj) and Korba.

Ports: Kandla (Gujarat), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Marmagao (Goa), New Mangalore (Karnataka), Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Paradip (Odisha), Haldia and Kolkata (West Bengal).

Crop regions: rice in the east and coastal plains, wheat in Punjab-Haryana, cotton in the Deccan, tea in Assam and West Bengal, coffee in Karnataka and Kerala.

National parks: Kaziranga (Assam), Corbett (Uttarakhand), Kanha (Madhya Pradesh), Gir (Gujarat), Sundarbans (West Bengal).

Direction and distance: use the map scale to convert measured map distance to actual ground distance; state direction from the north arrow, not from the page edge.

Reading a source: identify who wrote it, when, for whom, and why; a colonial official's report and a nationalist newspaper describe the same event differently.

Primary sources include government records, newspapers, diaries, letters and photographs; secondary sources interpret or summarise primary material.

Bias check: look for loaded words, missing voices, and the writer's interest in the outcome before accepting a claim.

Statistical tables: read row and column headings first, note units (lakh, crore, per cent), then compare values across years or regions.

Bar graphs compare categories; line graphs show change over time; pie charts show parts of a whole; choose the graph type that matches the data.

Percentage change = [(new value − old value) / old value] × 100; a rise from 40 to 50 is a 25% increase, not 10%.

Averages hide spread: per capita income can rise while most households earn less than the mean, so use median and distribution data.

Correlation is not causation: two series rising together may both be driven by a third factor such as population growth or policy change.

Cartoons and advertisements are sources too: identify the target, the symbols used, and the message the creator wants the reader to accept.