NCERT Solutions for Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 6 Some Unique Places (PDF) – 2027

The southernmost point of India is Indira Point. It is on Great Nicobar Island, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) is only the southernmost point of the Indian mainland.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are in the Bay of Bengal. The water just to their east is called the Andaman Sea.

Other islands of India: Lakshadweep (in the Arabian Sea), Majuli (a river island in the Brahmaputra, Assam), Sagar Island (West Bengal), Elephanta (near Mumbai), Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) and Pamban Island (Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu).

No, it does not stay up. The thin paper tube wobbles and falls over, because its bottom touches the table in only a tiny circle, so even a small tilt topples it.

Yes, now it stays upright. The triangles stuck round the bottom make a wide base, so the tube can lean a little without falling. The roots of a tree do the same job: they spread out wide at the bottom and hold the tree upright.

Because these islands are surrounded by the sea on all sides. Land animals and many birds cannot cross so much sea, so they stayed here for thousands of years and slowly changed to suit the islands. Now birds like the Andaman wood pigeon and the Andaman hornbill are found here and nowhere else.

My favourite sea animal is the clownfish. It is a small, bright orange fish with white bands. It lives in warm, shallow sea water near coral reefs, among the waving arms of a sea anemone. The anemone stings other fish but not the clownfish, so it keeps the clownfish safe.

Three living things found in the sea: fish (such as the clownfish), coral and the dolphin. Others are the octopus, starfish, crab, sea turtle and seaweed.

Life under the sea is as important as life in the forests, because the sea also gives us food (fish, prawns, crabs), gives work to fishing families, and its tiny plants make a large part of the oxygen we breathe. Coral reefs and mangroves protect the shore from big waves, and the sea is home to countless living things.

A coral reef is like a town under the sea for fish and other sea creatures. It gives them a home in its holes and cracks, a hiding place from bigger fish, a safe place to lay eggs and bring up their young, and food, because tiny plants and animals grow on the coral.

They know their island, the sea and the animals very well. In 2004 they probably noticed nature’s warning signs — the ground shaking, the sea pulling back, the wind changing and animals behaving oddly — and moved away from the shore to higher ground before the tsunami reached them.

Any three: (1) mangrove trees with stilt roots and breathing roots, (2) the Royal Bengal Tiger, (3) crocodiles in the salty, muddy water. We can also see spotted deer, monkeys, egrets, fish and crabs.

The Sundarbans grow where the river Ganga meets the sea, so the water is salty and the ground is soft, wet mud. The tide floods the forest and drains it twice a day. The mangrove trees have special roots above the ground (stilt roots and breathing roots), and people move about by boat.

People of the Sundarbans depend on the mangrove forest for:

• food and income — fish, prawns, crabs and honey;
• wood for fuel, houses and boats;
• safety — mangrove roots hold the soil together and break the force of storms and waves, which protects their villages.

We must take care of places like the Sundarbans because the mangroves hold the soil and protect villages from storms and waves; fish, prawns and crabs breed among their roots; they are the home of rare animals like the Royal Bengal Tiger; and many people depend on them for food and work. Once destroyed, such a forest takes many years to grow back.

Yes. The house lizard on our wall has special pads under its toes that help it cling to walls and even walk upside down on the ceiling. The duck in our pond has webbed feet that help it swim.

To confuse a tiger. A tiger usually attacks its prey from behind. A mask worn on the back of the head looks like a face watching it, so the tiger may think it has been seen and not attack.

The seven Northeastern states (the Seven Sisters) are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Together with Sikkim they make up Northeast India.

Any three: cane or bamboo baskets, hand-woven shawls and cloth, and clay jars with cloth-tied lids (of pickle or honey). Small bottles are also on sale.

The festival is Bihu, the festival of Assam. The two women in the middle are doing the Bihu dance with their arms raised. They wear the mekhela chador (cream with a red border), the traditional dress of Assam.

Houses are built on bamboo structures because bamboo grows plentifully there, and it is light and strong and bends instead of breaking in an earthquake. A house raised on bamboo posts also stays above flood water, damp ground, snakes and insects in this very rainy region.

An elephant and a hornbill. The elephant is in the bushes behind the people on the right, and the hornbill, with its big yellow bill, sits at the bottom right.

The picture shows that the people of the Northeast live close to nature. They make baskets, cloth and pots by hand from bamboo, cane, cotton and clay found nearby; they build bamboo houses; wild animals like the elephant and the hornbill live near their villages; and their festivals, like Bihu, follow the farming seasons.

Sample protection plan — the house sparrow near our school: Sparrows have few places to nest and little water in summer. We will (1) fix nest boxes made from old cardboard boxes under the roof, (2) keep bowls of water filled every day, (3) scatter some grain near the tree, and (4) count the sparrows every week and share our chart at assembly.

A good nest is a strong bowl of twigs on the outside and a soft cup of cotton, feathers or paper on the inside. To keep the eggs safe it needs deep sides (so the eggs do not roll out), a soft lining (so they do not crack) and a high, hidden, sheltered place, away from cats, snakes and crows.

Yes. Tie four strings tightly between the two chairs, lay sticks across them and tie each stick down, then weave more string through to hold it all together. This woven bridge holds a small toy, because the weight is shared by many strands — just as a living root bridge is made of many roots woven together.

The Western Ghats run along the west coast of India, near the Arabian Sea. The six states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Animals in the forest picture: a monkey (the lion-tailed macaque), a leopard, deer, an elephant, a wild goat (the Nilgiri tahr) on a rock, a cobra, a frog, a hornbill and other colourful birds.

The people are collecting herbs and other useful plants from the forest. Two men are bending among the plants near the stream, picking leaves. Forest produce such as spices is laid out on the ground nearby.

Forts were built on hilltops because there they were easier to defend and harder to attack. Guards could see enemies coming from far away, attackers had to climb steep slopes along narrow paths, and the steep rock itself worked like a strong wall.

Three rivers that start from the Western Ghats: the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri. All three flow east into the Bay of Bengal.

Sample answer — mango varieties known in a village in Uttar Pradesh: Dasheri, Langda, Chausa, Safeda, Ramkela and the old desi (seedling) mango — six kinds of just one fruit. Ask your elders for the local names used in your own area.

Three protected areas in the Western Ghats: Silent Valley National Park (Kerala), Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala) and Bandipur National Park (Karnataka).

The living root bridges of Meghalaya surprised me the most. I thought bridges were built from stone or iron, but here people slowly grow a bridge from the living roots of trees. Because it is alive, it becomes stronger every year instead of weaker.

I would most like to visit the Sundarbans. I would go by boat along the creeks to see the breathing roots of the mangroves, look for tiger pug marks on the mud (from a safe boat), and ask a honey collector how he stays safe from tigers.

Sample answer (a village in western Rajasthan compared with the Sundarbans): My village is dry and sandy with very little water, while the Sundarbans are wet and muddy, with salty water everywhere. Our houses have thick mud walls to keep out the heat. But in both places people depend on nature and protect the plants that hold their land — khejri trees here, mangroves there.

Answers:

Mangroves are special trees that can grow in salty, muddy water where rivers meet the sea. Their breathing roots stick up out of the mud to take in air, and their stilt roots hold them firm. The roots hold the soil together, stop waves from washing the land away, protect the coast from storms, and give shelter to fish, prawns and crabs.

People in different regions use what nature gives them carefully and take only what they need. In the Sundarbans people fish and collect honey but protect the mangroves; in the Northeast they build with bamboo, grow living root bridges and protect the Hargila bird; in the Western Ghats they gather plants without clearing the forest; and in Kerala people saved Silent Valley.

How to make it: collect pictures of India’s land, animals, people, festivals, crafts and food from old newspapers and magazines. Arrange them on a chart paper around an outline map of India, paste them, write a label beside each picture, and give the collage a title such as Vibrant India.