Download The Value of Work – NCERT Class 6 Social Science Chapter 13 PDF from the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book Exploring Society: India and Beyond (2026-27). Read the chapter online or download the free PDF. The chapter’s one idea: every kind of honest work has value, even when nobody pays for it. Swami Vivekananda’s line opens the chapter — “When you are doing any work, do not think of anything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highest worship, and…
The Value of Work PDF – Chapter 13 of Exploring Society: India and Beyond
Read the chapter online or download the PDF.
| Chapter | Download | |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 13 PDF | The Value of Work | View PDF |
| Full book | NCERT Class 6 Social Science – Exploring Society: India and Beyond | View Book |
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NCERT Book Class 6 Social Science (Exploring Society India and Beyond) Chapter 13 The Value of Work
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What Is in The Value of Work? (Class 6 Social Science Chapter 13)
- The chapter’s one idea: every kind of honest work has value, even when nobody pays for it. Swami Vivekananda’s line opens the chapter — “When you are doing any work, do not think of anything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highest worship, and devote your whole life to it for the time being.” Whether a person flies an aircraft, drives a bulldozer, stitches a shirt, tills a field, cooks a family’s dinner or teaches the neighbourhood children for free, the work is worth respect.
- All activities fall into two groups — economic and non-economic. Page 185 defines the first: “Economic activities are those that involve money or are performed in exchange for money or money’s worth for the parties involved.” Page 186 defines the second: “Non-economic activities are those that do not generate income or wealth but are done out of feelings like gratitude, love, care and respect.” The test is not how hard the work is or how useful it is — it is only whether money or money’s worth changes hands.
- The same person does both, often on the same day. Geeta Aunty flies for the Indian Air Force and draws a salary (economic); Rohan writes computer applications for a salary (economic) and teaches computer skills free at a youth development programme on weekends (non-economic); Kavya’s aunt works at the village post office for a monthly salary, charges a weekly fee for evening online classes, and finishes “her share of the household chores” before leaving — work that earns nothing at all.
- People are paid in four different ways, and the chapter names each one in a margin box: a salary is “a fixed regular payment generally paid monthly by an employer to an employee” (page 187); a wage is “a payment made by the employer to the worker for a specific period of time” (page 189); a fee is “a payment made to a person or organisation in exchange for professional advice or services” (page 185); and payment in kind is “a non-cash payment that is received for the work performed” (page 189) — like the mangoes Sahil the farm labourer takes home along with his cash wage.
- Economic work adds value at every stage — this is value addition (pages 189–190). Rajesh the carpenter buys wood for ₹600 and sells the finished chair for ₹1,000. The extra ₹400 is not magic and it is not a trick: “It is the monetary value of Rajesh’s skill, time and effort, which went into making that chair.” Work is what turns cheap wood into a useful chair, and value addition is the money name for that work.
- Non-economic work carries value that money never measures. The chapter gives two great examples — sevā, selfless service, seen “in many places such as temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches”, of which the langar or community kitchen is the best known; and community participation, in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and in Van Mahotsav, “the festival of forests”, whose tree plantation drives “bring together members of the community”. These are “a way of contributing to society without expecting anything in return”.
- The work that is easiest to overlook is the work done at home. Cooking the family’s food, helping a child with schoolwork, caring for a sick grandparent, running the errands of the house — page 186 lists all of these as non-economic activities. No salary slip records them and no market price is put on them, yet without them nobody else could leave for work at all. Recognising this work, sharing it fairly among everybody in a household, and respecting whoever does it is one of the real lessons of this chapter.
Quick revision – The Value of Work
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic activity | An activity “that involves money or is performed in exchange for money or money’s worth for the parties involved” | Page 185 | The test is the exchange, not the effort — a pilot, a farmer, a truck driver, a factory worker |
| Non-economic activity | An activity that does “not generate income or wealth but [is] done out of feelings like gratitude, love, care and respect” | Page 186 | No money — but never “no value” |
| Money’s worth | “The monetary value that a person places on an object based on the benefit that they derive from it” | Page 185, margin | Why a payment in mangoes still counts as payment |
| Market | “A place where people engage in the exchange of goods and services” | Page 185, margin | Goods can be swapped for goods, “but in most markets these are exchanged for money” |
| Fee | “A payment made to a person or organisation in exchange for professional advice or services” | Page 185, margin | A doctor, a lawyer — and Kavya’s aunt’s weekly charge for her online classes |
| Salary | “A fixed regular payment generally paid monthly by an employer to an employee” | Page 187, margin | Geeta Aunty, Rohan, Kavya’s uncle and Kavya’s aunt all draw one |
| Wage | “A payment made by the employer to the worker for a specific period of time” | Page 189, margin | Sahil the farm labourer earns a daily wage — salary is monthly, wage is by the day or hour |
| Payment in kind | “A non-cash payment that is received for the work performed” | Page 189, margin | Sahil’s mangoes “of equal value” — goods instead of cash |
| Value addition | The increase in value at “each stage of the process of transforming something into another form” | Pages 189–190 | ₹1,000 − ₹600 = ₹400, the money value of Rajesh’s skill, time and effort |
| Sevā | Selfless service, seen “in many places such as temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches” | Page 191 | The langar at a gurudwara “serves food to every visitor for free” |
| Swachh Bharat Abhiyan | A cleanliness mission “based on the collective efforts of all Indian citizens to keep our surroundings clean” | Page 192 | Shows what community participation can do that no single person can |
| Van Mahotsav | “The festival of forests”, celebrated “to promote awareness about the value of trees and the conservation of forests” | Pages 192–193 | “The initiative brings together members of the community for tree plantation drives” |
Old NCERT vs New – Class 6 Social Science
This chapter is from Exploring Society: India and Beyond, the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book (NCF-SE 2023, used from 2024-25). It replaced the old book “Our Pasts, The Earth Our Habitat and Social and Political Life”, so chapter numbers and names differ from older PDFs.
Solutions and All Chapters
Answers to the exercises and the full chapter list of Exploring Society: India and Beyond:
The Value of Work – Overview
| Class | Class 6 |
| Subject | Social Science |
| Book | Exploring Society: India and Beyond – new NCERT book |
| Chapter | 13 of 14 – The Value of Work |
| Book pages | 183 – 194 |
| Edition | NCERT Reprint 2026-27 |
| Session | 2026-27 |
| Free – read online or download |
Class 6 Social Science Chapter 13 – FAQs
Where can I download The Value of Work Class 6 PDF?
From the download table on this page – the chapter PDF is free, and the full book is linked too.
What is Class 6 Social Science Chapter 13 about?
The chapter’s one idea: every kind of honest work has value, even when nobody pays for it. Swami Vivekananda’s line opens the chapter — “When you are doing any work, do not think of anything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highest worship, and devote your whole life to it for the time being.” Whether a person flies an aircraft, drives a bulldozer, stitches a shirt, tills a field, cooks a family’s dinner or teaches the neighbourhood children for free, the work is worth respect.
Is The Value of Work from the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book?
Yes. It is chapter 13 of exploring society: india and beyond, the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science book for 2026-27.
Is this the latest NCERT edition for 2026-27?
Yes – the PDF is NCERT’s latest edition for the 2026-27 session.
Where are the NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science Chapter 13?
Open the NCERT Solutions link above for answers to the exercise questions.