True or False
1. Al-Biruni wrote that people in India were not skilled at making ponds.
Answer: False
2. Stepwells are called so because people had to step on stones to reach the water.
Answer: False
3. In cities, a new bride worships the tap in her home as a custom related to water.
Answer: True
4. Lakes and johads helped in making the soil wet and fertile.
Answer: True
5. The Ghadsisar lake was built only for storing drinking water.
Answer: False
6. , water from stepwells can only be drawn up using ropes and buckets.
Answer: False
7. Tarun Bharat Sangh helped to solve water problems by building new lakes and johads.
Answer: True
8. The water bill shown in the text was issued by the Delhi Jal Board.
Answer: True
9. , all households in India get water through taps all day long.
Answer: False
10. When Jodhpur people cleaned the old stepwell in 1986, they removed more than two hundred trucks of garbage from it.
Answer: True
Question and Answer
1. What is Ghadsisar and who built it?
Answer: Ghadsisar is a lake that was built by King Ghadsi of Jaisalmer 650 years ago with the help of local people.
2. How did the nine-lake system in Jaisalmer work?
Answer: When the first lake (Ghadsisar) was full, the extra water flowed into another lake at a lower level. When that too filled up, the water flowed into the next lake. This way, all nine lakes would fill up.
3. Who was Al-Biruni and what did he write about?
Answer: Al-Biruni was a traveler from what is now Uzbekistan who came to India more than a thousand years ago. He wrote about things he found different from his own country, including the ponds and water management systems in India.
4. Why are stepwells called by that name?
Answer: They are called stepwells because instead of drawing water up from the well, people could go down the steps and reach the water directly.
5. What problems did wells in Punita’s area face according to her grandmother?
Answer: The wells dried up because water was being pumped from underground using electric motors, lakes that collected rainwater no longer existed, and soil around trees and parks was covered with cement.
6. What did the people of Jodhpur do during the drought of 1986?
Answer: They cleaned an old forgotten stepwell, removing more than two hundred trucks of garbage, and used it as a water source for the town.
7. How did Tarun Bharat Sangh help Darki Mai and her village?
Answer: They helped the villagers build a lake, which solved the problem of food and water for animals. This also increased milk production and helped people earn more.
8. What are some different ways people get water ?
Answer: People get water through taps, water tanks, wells, handpumps, canals, water tankers, and borewells with motors.
9. What customs related to water are mentioned in the text?
Answer: People celebrate when lakes fill with rainwater, and in Uttarakhand, a new bride bows to the spring or pond in her new village. In cities, brides worship the tap in their homes.
10. Why were stepwells built for travelers in the past?
Answer: Long ago, people used to make long journeys with caravans of animals and goods. People felt it was good to provide water to thirsty travelers, so they built beautiful stepwells along travel routes.
