The class 10 civics book pdf you are looking for is NCERT’s Democratic Politics-II textbook, and the official chapter files are on this page. The book runs five chapters across 74 printed pages, and every PDF linked below is NCERT’s own file hosted on ncert.nic.in.
This page also reports what is actually inside each chapter — page ranges, the topics it covers in order, and the exercise load at the end — measured from the book itself. Most results for this query only link the PDFs; the breakdown below is the part you can check against the textbook in front of you.
Download the official Class 10 Civics textbook PDF
Every file below is NCERT’s own official chapter PDF, hosted on ncert.nic.in under the file codes jess401 to jess405 — one file per chapter, so the download matches the printed edition. If you need to confirm which edition is current, NCERT’s official textbook portal is the authority.
| Ch. | Chapter | Pages | Official PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Power-sharing | 12 | |
| 2 | Federalism | 16 | |
| 3 | Gender, Religion and Caste | 17 | |
| 4 | Democratic Politics | 17 | |
| 5 | Outcomes of Democracy | 12 |
The civics class 10 textbook PDF at a glance
These are numbers a student can verify by opening the book — each one is read from the official edition. Use them to decide which chapter to open first.
- 5 chapters in the official edition, from Power-sharing to Outcomes of Democracy.
- 74 printed pages across the five chapter PDFs.
- 5 official chapter PDFs, all hosted on ncert.nic.in with file codes jess401 to jess405.
- 25 exercise questions in total; Chapter 3 alone carries 12 of them.
- Chapter lengths run 12, 16, 17, 17 and 12 pages — Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are the longest.
- 0 sections recorded in the index we maintain for this edition; the topic lists below come from the book’s own headings.
What is inside each chapter of the Class 10 Civics book
The chapter guide below follows the order of the textbook itself. Each chapter of Democratic Politics-II is profiled with its topics listed in the sequence in which they appear in the book, so you can see at a glance whether the topic you need is covered.
| Ch. | Chapter | Sections | Activities | Figures | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Power-sharing | — | — | — | 9 |
| 2 | Federalism | — | — | — | 3 |
| 3 | Gender, Religion and Caste | — | — | — | 12 |
| 4 | Democratic Politics | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Outcomes of Democracy | — | — | — | 1 |
The columns count what a reader can actually find in the book. A section is one of NCERT’s own numbered headings; a figure is a numbered figure indexed from the book; a question is an end-of-chapter exercise.
This edition’s section column reads 0 across the book — its chapter headings were captured as topics (listed in each profile below) rather than as numbered-section entries.
Chapter 1: Power-sharing (pp. 1-12)
This chapter begins with Belgium and Sri Lanka — two small countries that handled their internal divisions very differently — and it is the foundation the rest of the book builds on.
From those cases it defines what power-sharing means, why unchecked majoritarianism fails a divided society, how accommodation in Belgium contrasts with Sri Lanka’s choice, and the main forms of power-sharing a constitutional democracy can use.
- Belgium and Sri Lanka
- Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka
- Accommodation in Belgium
- Khalil’s dilemma
- Forms of power-sharing
- Reigning the Reins
With 9 of the book’s 25 exercise questions, it is the second-heaviest question chapter — only Chapter 3 carries more.
Chapter 2: Federalism (pp. 13-28)
Where Chapter 1 explains why power is shared, this chapter explains how it is divided across territory — the chapter a student needs for the Union-State relationship as a whole.
Following India’s own path, it covers the creation of linguistic states, the language policy adopted to hold the union together, the long argument over centre-state relations, and the push for decentralisation to local government — the ideas that define federalism in the Indian Constitution.
- Linguistic States
- Language policy
- Centre-State relations
- The States Plead for More Powers
- Perils of Running a Coalition Government
- Linguistic diversity of India
- Scheduled Languages of India
- Decentralisation in India
- An experiment in Brazil
With just 3 exercise questions, it is light on question practice but dense in concepts — the work here is understanding the Union-State division, not solving problems.
Chapter 3: Gender, Religion and Caste (pp. 29-45)
The social divisions themselves are this chapter’s subject — gender, religion and caste — and it is where the book’s heaviest exercise load sits.
It opens with the sexual division of labour and the gap shown by the chapter’s data on women’s political representation, then turns to communalism and the secular state as its answer, and closes with the caste inequalities that still shape electoral competition.
- Gender and politics
- Sexual division of labour:
- Public/private division
- Daily time use (hours: minutes)
- Women’s political representation
- Religion, communalism and politics
- Secular state
- Caste and politics
- Caste inequalities
- Social and Religious Diversity of India
With 12 exercise questions — 21 parts in the book’s numbering — this chapter carries the heaviest question load in the volume.
Chapter 4: Democratic Politics (pp. 46-62)
The indexed title is ‘Democratic Politics’, but the subject is narrow and concrete: political parties — so this is the chapter to open when a practice paper or a revision list asks about parties.
It covers what parties are and why they exist, what popular participation in party life looks like, how national parties are recognised, and the challenges to political parties that drive every debate about reforming the system.
- Political Parties
- Popular participation in political parties
- National parties
- Challenges to political parties
Chapter 4 of Democratic Politics-II, “Political Parties,” spans pages 46–62. It introduces the idea of political parties, discusses popular participation in them, looks at national parties, and examines the challenges political parties face.
Chapter 5: Outcomes of Democracy (pp. 63-74)
The final chapter turns from how democracy works to what it delivers, and it suits a student revising last because its argument ties the whole book together.
Its benchmark is an accountable government — responsive and legitimate — and it weighs the economic outcomes of democracy against non-democratic regimes before taking up reduction of inequality, accommodation of social diversity, and dignity and freedom for citizens.
- Accountable, responsive and legitimate government
- Governmental Secrecy
- Economic growth and development
- Economic outcomes of democracy
- Reduction of inequality and poverty
- Voice of the Poor
- Accommodation of social diversity
- Dignity and freedom of the citizens
With just 1 exercise question, the work in this chapter is evaluative — forming and defending a judgement — rather than question practice.
Chapter study pages for the Class 10 Civics book
Each chapter of this book is being given its own dedicated study page on this site; the list below shows what is available now.
Chapter-wise notes for this subject are not published yet. The unit-wise syllabus on this page is complete and verified against the official CBSE curriculum document.
How to use the class 10th civics NCERT book PDF
Working front to back is the right order for this book, because each chapter builds on the one before it. The table below maps that progression.
| Stage | Chapters | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapter 1 | Why power is shared — the case for diffusing power in a divided society |
| 2 | Chapter 2 | How power is divided across territory — Union, States and local government |
| 3 | Chapter 3 | How social divisions — gender, religion and caste — enter politics |
| 4 | Chapter 4 | The organisations that run democracy — political parties |
| 5 | Chapter 5 | What democracy delivers — judged by outcomes, not promises |
A revision sequence that follows that logic:
- Read Chapter 1 before Chapter 2 — the why of power-sharing comes before the how of federalism.
- Read Chapter 3 before Chapter 4 — the social divisions in Chapter 3 are what the parties in Chapter 4 organise around.
- Read Chapter 5 last — it judges the whole system, so its argument lands only after the other four.
The one confusion students actually hit deserves a table of its own:
| Mistake | Correct rule | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Searching the chapter list for “political parties” and concluding the book does not cover them. | Chapter 4 is indexed as Democratic Politics but its topics are political parties — open pp. 46-62. | Look at the Chapter 4 topic list on this page: Political Parties, Popular participation, National parties, Challenges. |
One caution before you plan: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official CBSE syllabus to confirm what each chapter demands.
How to choose a starting point in the civics class 10 book
- Starting from zero — begin with Chapter 1 (pp. 1-12); the power-sharing idea is what the rest of the book builds on.
- Short on time and need answer-writing practice — go to Chapter 3, the 12-question chapter with the heaviest exercise load in the book.
- Exam-eve revision — work through Chapters 4 and 5, which are conceptual and light on end-of-chapter questions.
If you came with a specific topic in mind: federalism is Chapter 2 (pp. 13-28), political parties is Chapter 4 (pp. 46-62), and outcomes of democracy is Chapter 5 (pp. 63-74).
Related NCERT book pages
These pages live on the same site and cover the rest of the NCERT shelf.
- The NCERT books directory — every class and subject indexed here.
- The Class 10 book hub — the full Class 10 shelf around this civics book.
- The Class 10 History book page — the sibling social-science textbook in the same book set.
Sources and data verification
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
- The contents, counts and page references on this page come from the NCERT Democratic Politics-II textbook editions this site indexes — the same editions whose chapter PDFs are linked above.
- The five chapters span 74 printed pages in NCERT’s official PDFs. This edition’s diagrams are not captioned or numbered, so a numbered-figure index is not included here.
- The listing is maintained for the current academic session using the NCERT information available to us; no update date on this page is fabricated.
- NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations. For any question about the edition, the NCERT files above are the authority.
Reference: NCERT Class 10 Democratic Politics-II textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.
Frequently asked questions about the Class 10 Civics book
How many chapters are in the Class 10 Civics NCERT book?
The Class 10 Civics textbook — Democratic Politics-II — has 5 chapters, from Power-sharing to Outcomes of Democracy, across 74 printed pages. Chapter lengths are 12, 16, 17, 17 and 12 pages.
Are the Class 10 Civics chapter PDFs on this page the official NCERT files?
Yes. Every PDF linked on this page is hosted on ncert.nic.in, NCERT’s own portal, under the file codes jess401 to jess405. No third-party mirror is used.
Which chapter covers federalism in Class 10 Civics?
Federalism is Chapter 2, on pages 13-28 of the textbook PDF. It covers linguistic states, language policy, Centre-State relations and decentralisation.
Which chapter covers political parties in Class 10 Civics?
Political parties are covered in Chapter 4, indexed as ‘Democratic Politics’, on pages 46-62. The title hides the topic, so it is easy to miss in the contents list.
Where can I find answers to the Class 10 Civics exercise questions?
NCERT does not print solved answers inside the textbook — the exercises that appear at the ends of Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 are for practice. Check official NCERT or CBSE resources for model answers rather than expecting them in the book itself.