RBSE Secondary Social Science cheat sheet

Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 2500–1750 BCE mature phase): Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had grid streets, covered drains, and standardised burnt bricks; the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro, the Granary and dockyard at Lothal (Gujarat).

Harappan script is undeciphered and was written right to left; seals are mostly steatite, and the Pashupati seal shows a seated horned figure.

Vedic period: Rigveda is the oldest text (hymns to Agni, Indra, Varuna); the four Vedas are Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva. Later Vedic texts are Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads.

Mahajanapadas: 16 large states by the 6th century BCE; Magadha rose under Bimbisara, Ajatashatru, and the Nandas, aided by iron tools and river routes.

Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, first sermon at Sarnath, died at Kushinagar; Tripitaka is the Pali canon. Jainism: Mahavira was the 24th Tirthankara.

Mauryan Empire: Chandragupta (321 BCE) founded it with Kautilya's Arthashastra; Ashoka's Dhamma and rock/pillar edicts followed the Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE).

Gupta age (4th–6th century CE): Samudragupta's conquests recorded in the Allahabad pillar inscription by Harisena; Aryabhata, Kalidasa, and the Nalanda university belong to this era.

Delhi Sultanate: five dynasties - Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi (1206–1526); Alauddin Khalji's market reforms and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency are standard exam points.

Mughals (1526–1857): Babur won the First Battle of Panipat (1526); Akbar's mansabdari and Din-i-Ilahi; Aurangzeb's reign ended with the empire's decline after 1707.

Earth's layers: crust (continental ~35 km, oceanic ~5–10 km), mantle to ~2900 km, outer core (liquid, generates magnetic field), inner core (solid iron-nickel).

Latitude: 1° = ~111 km; Tropic of Cancer 23.5°N passes through Rajasthan near Banswara; longitude 1° = ~111 km × cos(latitude).

Rock types: igneous (basalt, granite), sedimentary (limestone, sandstone), metamorphic (marble from limestone, slate from shale); the rock cycle links them via heat, pressure, and erosion.

Atmospheric pressure belts: equatorial low, subtropical high (~30°), subpolar low (~60°), polar high; winds blow from high to low pressure, deflected by the Coriolis effect.

Monsoon: the Indian summer monsoon arrives via the southwest, with the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal branches; the Western Ghats' windward side gets orographic rain, the leeward side is a rain shadow.

Indian rivers: Himalayan rivers are perennial (Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra); peninsular rivers are seasonal (Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Narmada, Tapi). Narmada and Tapi flow west into the Arabian Sea.

Soils: alluvial (fertile, Indo-Gangetic plain), black regur (cotton, Deccan), red (iron-rich), laterite (heavy rain, leaching), arid sandy soil in western Rajasthan.

Population density = population ÷ area (persons per sq km); India's 2011 Census density was about 382 per sq km; sex ratio = females per 1000 males.

The Preamble declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and lists justice, liberty, equality, fraternity as objectives; it is not enforceable in courts.

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35) include equality (14–18), freedom (19–22), against exploitation (23–24), religion (25–28), cultural/educational (29–30), and constitutional remedies (32, called the 'heart and soul' by Ambedkar).

Fundamental Duties were added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on Swaran Singh Committee advice; there are 11 duties under Article 51A.

Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are non-justiciable welfare goals; Article 39A (legal aid), 40 (panchayats), 44 (uniform civil code), 48A (environment) are frequently tested.

Parliament: Lok Sabha max 552 members (530 states, 20 UTs, 2 Anglo-Indian nominated, now lapsed), Rajya Sabha max 250; a money bill starts only in the Lok Sabha with the President's recommendation.

President: elected indirectly by an electoral college; can declare national emergency (Article 352), state emergency (356), financial emergency (360); pardoning power under Article 72.

Judiciary: Supreme Court under Articles 124–147; judicial review and writs (habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto) under Articles 32 and 226.

73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities; the 61st Amendment (1989) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

GDP = C + I + G + (X − M); nominal GDP uses current prices, real GDP uses constant base-year prices, and GDP deflator = nominal ÷ real × 100.

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

Inflation measured by CPI (consumer basket, RBI target 4% ± 2%) and WPI (wholesale, no services); demand-pull versus cost-push are the two basic causes.

Money supply: M1 = currency + demand deposits; M3 = M1 + time deposits (broad money). CRR and repo rate are RBI tools; SLR is the statutory liquid-asset ratio.

Fiscal policy: budget deficit = total expenditure − total receipts; revenue deficit excludes capital receipts; fiscal deficit = total expenditure − total receipts excluding borrowings.

Poverty and unemployment: NITI Aayog's Multidimensional Poverty Index and the Tendulkar committee line are standard references; disguised unemployment is common in Indian agriculture.

Human Development Index combines life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling), and GNI per capita; it ranges 0–1.

Planning: the Planning Commission (1950) launched Five-Year Plans from 1951; NITI Aayog replaced it in 2015. The Green Revolution used HYV seeds, irrigation, and fertiliser.

Rajasthan formed on 30 March 1949 (Greater Rajasthan) and was named Rajasthan on 26 January 1950; it is India's largest state by area (342,239 sq km) with Jaipur as capital.

Physiographic divisions: Western Desert (Thar), Aravalli Range (Guru Shikhar, 1722 m, highest peak), Eastern Plains, Hadoti plateau, and the semi-arid Marwar/Mewar regions.

Rivers: Chambal (only perennial, with the Gandhi Sagar and Rana Pratap Sagar dams), Luni (saline, drains into the Rann of Kutch), Banas, Mahi, and Ghaggar (inland drainage).

Mahajanapada-era and medieval history: Matsya (Alwar/Bharatpur), Mewar's Bappa Rawal and Maharana Pratap (Haldighati, 1576), Marwar's Rathores, and Amer's Kachwahas.

1857 revolt in Rajasthan: leaders include Kota's Lala Jaidayal and Mehrab Khan, Aauwa's Kushal Singh, and Nasirabad's sepoys; the British crushed it with the aid of loyal princely states.

Praja Mandal movements and the 1949 unification: the Matsya Union, Rajasthan Union, and Greater Rajasthan merged 22 princely states; Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon guided integration.

Culture: Pushkar fair, Desert National Park (Jaisalmer), Keoladeo Ghana (Bharatpur, a Ramsar wetland), Kalbelia dance, Ghoomar, and the gharana of Jaipur and Mewar painting.

Polity and economy: 200 members in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, 25 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha seats; the Indira Gandhi Canal irrigates the Thar, and mining (zinc at Zawar, marble at Makrana) is a key industry.