Work, Life and Leisure: 10 CBSE SST

Question: Explain the housing problem of Bombay (Mumbai).

Answer:

1. Bombay (Mumbai) was a crowded city because a person living in Bombay had a mere 9.5 square yards of space
2. About 70 per cent of the working people lived in the thickly populated chawls of Bombay (Mumbai). Chawls were multistory structures, built since 1860s in the native parts of the town.
3. The homes were small, so the streets and neighborhood were used for a variety of activities and social functions.
4. People belonging to the depressed classes, found ft very difficult to find houses.

Question: Explain the various land reclamation projects launched in Bombay (Mumbai) which helped in its expansion.
Or
Throw light on some of the land reclamation projects of Bombay.

Answer:

1. A project was launched in 1754 to join the seven islands of Bombay into one landmass. Then the Governor of Bombay. William Hornby approved the building of the great sea wall to prevent the Hooding of The low lying areas of Bombay,
2. In 1864. the Back Bay Reclamation Company won the right to reclaim the western foreshore from the tip of Malabar Hill to the end of Colaba Most of the hills were leveled by the company to construct buildings.
3. By the 1870s, although most of the private companies closed down duo to the mounting cost, the city had expanded to about 22 square miles.
4. The Bombay Port Trust, also launched a reclamation project to build a dry dock between 1914 and 1918 The Trust used the excavated earth to create the 22 acre Ballard Estate. Subsequently, the famous Marine Drive of Bombay (Mumbai) was developed.

Question: Why is Mumbai (Bombay) known as the city of dreams? Give three reasons.
Or
“Bombay appears to many as a city of dreams – Mayapuri”. Explain by giving examples.

Answer:

1. Film industry: Bombay film industry has contributed in a big way to produce an —age of City as a blend of dream and reality, it is India’s film capital providing employment to more than 10 lakh people.
   Most of the people in the film industry were themselves migrants and became successful. This has encouraged more migration.
2. Employment: Bombay is one of the most important industrial towns of India providing employment to skilled, and unskilled workers. It also provides employment lo women workers.
3. Spacious bungalows: Film producers heroes and industrialists live in sprawling spacious bungalows which attract large number of migrants to the city.

Question: Why is Bombay (Mumbai) known as the city of hardship?

Answer:

1. Housing problems: Bombay Mumbai is a crowded city. Rich, traders, film producers, etc., live in sprawling spacious bungalows whereas 70% of the working people live in thickly populated chawls.
2. Class division: People who belonged to the depressed classes found it difficult to find housing. Lower castes were kept out of many chawls.
3. Film industry: Many Bombay (Mumbai films dealt with the arrival in the city of new migrants and their encounters with the real pressures of daily life.
4. Pollution: City development everywhere occurred at the expense of ecology and the environment Natural features were flattened out or transformed in response to the growing demand for space for factories, housing and other institutions. Large quantities of refuse and waste products polluted air and water, while excessive none became a regular feature of urban life
5. Wide gap between rich and poor: Bombay Fort area which formed the heart of the city in early 1 SCO’s was divided between a native loan where most of the Indians lived, and a European or white section’. The gap between natives and whites and rich was poor was very wide.

Question: Explain the social life of people living In Bombay (Mumbai).
Or
Highlight the principal features of the social life of people living in Bombay.

Answer:

1. Overcrowded city: Bombay was a crowded city. While every Londoner in the: 840s enjoyed an average space of 155 square yards. Bombay had a mere 9.5 square yards. By 1872. when London had an average of 8 persons per house, the density in Bombay was as high as 20
2. Separate living areas for the natives and the white: The Bombay Fort area which formed the heart of the city in the early 1800s was divided between a ‘native’ town, where most of the indians lived, and a European or ‘while section. A European suburb and an industrial zone began to develop to the north of the Fort settlement area, with a similar suburb and cantonment in the south.
3. Living space for the rich: Like the European elite, the richer Parsi. Muslim and upper case traders and industrialists of Bombay lived in sprawling, spacious bungalows In contrast, more than 70 per cent of the working people lived in the thickly populated chawls of Bombay.
4. Life in chawls: More than 70 per cent of the working people lived in the thickly populated chawls of Bombay.
5. Depressed classes and housing problem: People who belonged to the ‘depressed classes’ found it even more difficult to find housing. Lower castes were kept out of many chawls and often had to live in shelters made of corrugated sheets, leaves, or bamboo poles.

Question: How was the social life of the people transformed because of city life? Explain.
Or
How was the condition of urban family transformed by the 20th century?

Answer:

1. City life and the migrants: The new dries attracted large number of migrants. As there was shortage of work so many of them made a living from crime.
2. City life and children: Large number of children were pushed into low paid work, often by their parents. As they were underpaid so many of them also .Mailed making their living from crime, it was only after the passage of -he compulsory Elementary Education Act in 1870 and the Factories Act that children were kept out of industrial work.
3. Industrialisation and life of workers: The abundance of labour in the market affected the lives of worker As news of possible jobs travelled to the countryside, hundreds tramped to the c:ties. Many job classmate seekers had to wait weeks, spending nights under bridges or in night shelter.
4. City life and individualism: The city no doubt encouraged a new spirit of individualism among both men and women, and a freedom from the collective values that were a feature of the smaller rural communities.
5. City life and women: Men and women did not have equal access to this new urban space. As women lost their industrial jobs and conservative people railed against their presence in public spaces, women were forced to withdraw into Shier homes The public space became increasingly a male preserve, and the domestic sphere was seen as the proper place for women.