NCERT Solutions for Class 9th Social Science Chapter 7 Political Parties — LET'S MAP

This is a map-work and research task on Fig. 7.10, so here is the method, the checklist, and a worked model of one row. Fill in the actual parties and agendas yourself from the sources named below — and use the same three states throughout, so your map and your table match.

Method

1. Pick three states, one of which must be your own. Choosing states from different regions makes the comparison more interesting.
2. Go to the Election Commission of India website and open its list of recognised State parties. This is the only list that decides whether a party counts as a "state party" for this exercise — Fig. 7.12 gives the criteria the ECI applies.
3. For each state, note the party's full name, its reserved symbol and the state it is recognised in.
4. On the outline map (Fig. 7.10), first shade or outline your three states. Then draw the symbol neatly inside each state and add a small numbered key in the margin: 1 – state, 2 – party name, 3 – symbol. Do not crowd the map with text; the details belong in the table below it.
5. For the agenda, open the party's own manifesto for the latest Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha or local body election, and pick three to five of its main promises. Write them in the party's own words or as a close paraphrase, and cite the manifesto and its date.

What a good answer must contain

• Three states, one of them yours, correctly located on the map.
• Each symbol drawn accurately — the reserved symbol as the ECI prints it, not an approximation.
• The agenda taken from the manifesto itself, not from a news headline or a social media post.
• A neutral, factual tone. You are recording what a party promises, not recommending it. Do not add your opinion about any party in this table.
• A source line under the table: name of document, publisher, date accessed.

Sample answer: the format of one completed row would look like this —

The printed table has four columns — Policy area, Party's viewpoint, Any policy/law that aligns with the party's viewpoint, Source — and six rows. Fill one such table for each of the two parties, then build the poster from the two tables.

Method

1. Choose two parties that contested the last Lok Sabha election. Recognised national or state parties are easiest, because their manifestos are published.
2. Download both manifestos. This is your primary source. Newspapers are a secondary source, useful for checking a fact, not for deciding what a party's position is.
3. For each of the six policy areas, find the paragraph in the manifesto that deals with it, and compress it into two or three factual bullet points.
4. In column three, name an actual policy, scheme or law that matches that stated viewpoint — and say plainly if you cannot find one.
5. In column four, give the source precisely: document name, page or section number, and the date you accessed it.
6. Build the poster: one colour per party, one icon per policy area, the two parties' bullets placed side by side under each area so a reader can compare at a glance.

What a good comparison must do

• Compare like with like — the same six areas, the same election, the same kind of source for both parties.
• Use the parties' own words. Quote or paraphrase closely; do not summarise a position into a slogan.
• Give both parties equal space on the poster. Unequal space is itself a form of bias.
• Stay descriptive. Your task is to show what each party says, not to judge which is right. Leave the judgement to the reader — that is what a voter does at the ballot.
• Mark clearly anything you could not find, instead of filling the gap with a guess.

Sample answer: a completed row, shown with the wording pattern rather than a real party's content —