Class 8 Social Science book Exploring Society India and Beyond: chapters, PDFs and what’s inside

The Class 8 Social Science book Exploring Society India and Beyond is NCERT’s single-volume Social Science textbook for Class 8, with 7 chapters across 183 printed pages, and the official chapter-wise PDFs are on this page.

It runs from Natural Resources and Their Use (NCERT, p. 1) to Factors of Production (NCERT, p. 183), covering history, civics, geography and economics in one volume.

Beyond the files, this page shows what is actually inside the book: how long each chapter runs, how many numbered figures it carries, where the questions live, and which chapter answers the topic you were asked about. Every page reference comes from the official edition and can be checked against the PDF in the download table.

Class 8 Social Science book Exploring Society India and Beyond: chapter-wise official PDFs

Each row below links an official NCERT file on ncert.nic.in — the same PDFs the printed edition is set from — so you can open any chapter without hunting for a scanned copy.

The Class 8 SST book PDF at a glance

These are the totals a student actually asks about first, before the detailed chapter directory below.

• 7 chapters in one combined volume, from Natural Resources and Their Use (pp. 1-20) to Factors of Production (pp. 163-183).
• 183 printed pages (p. 1 to p. 183) in Part I of the series.
• 7 verified chapter PDFs, all official and linked above.
• 139 verified numbered figures indexed from the textbook across the 7 chapters.
• No end-of-chapter exercise sections — the questions are the boxes inside each chapter, not a separate exercise block at the back.
• Exactly one formally numbered section heading in the whole book: Chapter 6, p. 150.

Class 8 students often expect three separate books. This is one combined volume; the grouping below is how the seven chapters divide by subject area.

What each chapter of the Class 8 Social Science book teaches

The directory below carries the per-chapter counts from the book itself. A “section” is one of NCERT’s own numbered headings — the book has exactly one, in Chapter 6 (NCERT, p. 150). A “figure” is a numbered figure indexed from the textbook, 139 in all. A “question” would be an end-of-chapter exercise, and none appear in this edition.

Instead of end-of-chapter exercises, every chapter runs its questions and activities as boxes inside the chapter — The Big Questions, Think About It, Let’s Explore — which is where you will actually find the questions.

Chapter 1: Natural Resources and Their Use (pp. 1-20)

This chapter sorts the natural resources around us — water, soil, forests, minerals, sunlight — into resources essential for life, for materials and for energy, and separates renewable from non-renewable, so it is the starting point for the geography half of the book.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• Categories of Natural Resources
• Resources essential for life
• Resources for materials
• Resources for energy
• Renewable and non-renewable resources

With 22 figures in 20 pages, Chapter 1 carries the densest figure load in the book, and it teaches mainly through photographs — Fig. 1.1, “Dudhsagar waterfall and the railway bridge, Goa, India” (p. 1), Fig. 1.2, a microhydel plant in Himachal Pradesh (p. 2), and Fig. 1.21, the Rajasthan solar park (p. 17) — with its boxed questions rather than end-of-chapter exercises.

Chapter 2: Reshaping India’s Political Map (pp. 21-60)

This chapter runs from the Delhi Sultanate and the kingdoms that resisted it, through the Vijayanagara Empire, to the Mughals and the regional powers that followed — so it is the chapter for Babur, Rani Durgavati and the battles of Panipat.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate
• Resistance to the Delhi Sultanate
• The Vijayanagara Empire
• The Mughals
• Babur and India

At 40 pages it is the longest chapter in the book, with 27 of the 139 indexed figures: Fig. 2.1, “An aerial view of the Qutub Minar complex, Delhi” (p. 21), Fig. 2.15, the battle of Panipat from a copy of the Baburnama (p. 36), and Fig. 2.27, the dynasty map (NCERT, p. 52).

The figure numbers run with gaps (2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6 …), exactly as printed in the book.

Chapter 3: The Rise of the Marathas (pp. 61-82)

The chapter follows the rise of the Marathas from Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation at Raigad in 1674 through Maratha administration — civilian, military and maritime — to the Peshwas and leaders such as Ahilyabai Holkar, so it is the chapter for Shivaji, the wagh nakh and Maratha naval power.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• The Marathas After Chhatrapati Shivaji
• Maratha Administration
• Civilian administration
• Military administration
• Maritime supremacy

The chapter carries 19 figures in 22 pages, anchored by Fig. 3.1, “Raigad Fort, Maharashtra” (p. 61), Fig. 3.6, Sindhudurg Fort (p. 65) and Fig. 3.7, the “Wāgh nakh or the ‘tiger’s claw'” (NCERT, p. 66).

Chapter 4: The Colonial Era in India (pp. 83-116)

The chapter tracks the Portuguese, Dutch, French and finally British traders as they moved from commerce to rule — Plassey, famines, the drain of wealth, railways — and ends with the rebellion of 1857, so it answers everything about the East India Company, Rani Lakshmibai and Begum Hazrat Mahal.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• The Age of Colonialism
• Europeans in India
• The Portuguese: commerce and atrocities
• The Dutch: commerce and competition
• The French: colonial ambitions
• Enter The British
• From traders to rulers

At 34 pages it is the second-longest chapter, with 20 figures: Fig. 4.7, “Clive leading the East India Company’s troops at Plassey, 1757” (p. 93), Fig. 4.19, Rani Lakshmibai (p. 111) and Fig. 4.20, Begum Hazrat Mahal (p. 111). The chapter opens and returns to the Britannia painting (Fig. 4.1, p. 83; Fig. 4.14, p. 99).

Chapter 5: Universal Franchise and India’s Electoral System (pp. 117-138)

The chapter explains universal adult franchise — one adult, one vote — the barriers that kept people from voting, and how the Election Commission of India overcomes them, then how a modern election is run, so this is the chapter for elections, EVMs (NCERT, p. 130) and the Model Code of Conduct.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• Universal Adult Franchise
• Bridging Barriers, Enabling Participation: Ensuring Universal Franchise
• Election Commission of India — A brief introduction
• Managing the electoral process
• Model Code of Conduct (MCC)

The chapter has 16 figures in 22 pages, including Fig. 5.15, Shyam Saran Negi, India’s first voter (p. 129), and Fig. 5.21, T.N. Seshan (p. 132).

Chapter 6: The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive (pp. 139-162)

The chapter walks through Parliament — the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the new Parliament building, how a bill becomes a law and the sessions — and the executive, so it is the chapter for lawmaking, ministers and the Prime Minister.

It also holds the only formally numbered section heading in the whole book: “1.2 Co-location of Ayush facilities at Primary Health Centers (PHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs)” (NCERT, p. 150), inside the Standing Committee report extract shown as Fig. 6.9. Every other chapter flows through unnumbered feature boxes instead.

With 12 figures it has the lightest figure load in the book — Fig. 6.2, Samvidhan Sadan (p. 141), Fig. 6.8, the lawmaking diagram (p. 147), and Fig. 6.13, the Monsoon Session (p. 159).

Chapter 7: Factors of Production (pp. 163-183)

The chapter introduces the factors of production — land as natural resources, labour as human resources — then what builds human capital (education, training, social and cultural influences), and the capital, technology and enterprise that combine them, so it closes the economics thread that Chapter 1 opened.

The chapter’s own section headings:

• Land (natural resources)
• Labour (human resources)
• People as a resource
• Facilitators of human capital
• Education and training
• Social and cultural influences
• Challenges to human capital

It carries 23 figures in 21 pages — Fig. 7.2, “A glimpse at the production of some goods” (p. 164), Fig. 7.17, J.R.D. Tata (p. 175) and Fig. 7.18, drones spraying fertilisers (p. 176).

Chapter study pages for the Class 8 Social Science book

Once you know which chapter you need, the next step up from the PDF is a chapter study page that explains it in depth. The listing below shows the current status of each chapter’s study page.

How to use the Class 8 NCERT book Social Science

There is a natural order to work through this volume, because the chapters build on each other rather than stand alone.

1. Read Chapter 1 before Chapter 7. Factors of Production opens with “Land (natural resources)” (NCERT, p. 163), so the two chapters form one resources-and-production thread — opening the Chapter 1 PDF and the Chapter 7 PDF side by side is the fastest way to revise that half of the book.
2. Read the history chapters in the book’s own order — 2, then 3, then 4. The Mughal and regional-power map drawn in Chapter 2 is the stage the Marathas, and then the British, enter.
3. Finish with civics — Chapter 5, then 6. Elections decide who sits in the Lok Sabha that Chapter 6 goes on to describe.

Which chapter answers your question — a look-up guide to the Class 8 SST book

• Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals → Chapter 2, Reshaping India’s Political Map (pp. 21-60).
• Shivaji and the Marathas → Chapter 3, The Rise of the Marathas (pp. 61-82).
• East India Company, Plassey, the 1857 rebellion → Chapter 4, The Colonial Era in India (pp. 83-116).
• Elections, Election Commission, EVMs, Model Code of Conduct → Chapter 5, Universal Franchise and India’s Electoral System (pp. 117-138).
• Parliament, lawmaking, the executive → Chapter 6, The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive (pp. 139-162).
• Natural resources: water, minerals, energy → Chapter 1, Natural Resources and Their Use (pp. 1-20).
• Production, entrepreneurship, human capital → Chapter 7, Factors of Production (pp. 163-183).

One correction before you start: this is a single combined volume, so do not wait for separate history, geography and civics books — they do not exist for this edition. And do not hunt for end-of-chapter exercises: this edition prints its questions as boxes inside each chapter.

For the other textbooks in this class, see the Class 8 NCERT books hub. Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus for what is examinable this year.

Related NCERT book pages

• NCERT books directory — browse every class and subject in the same listing.
• Class 8 NCERT books hub — the home page for all Class 8 textbooks on this site.
• The Class 8 hub also carries this volume’s sibling textbooks — Science and Mathematics — for the same class.

Sources and data verification

• What this page describes: the official NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Part I, as published on ncert.nic.in. All page ranges and figure references come from that edition.
• What this page covers: Part I only — 7 chapters, pp. 1-183. This is not the whole CBSE subject scheme, and no other Class 8 NCERT book is listed here.
• Session: this listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session.
• Who settles what: NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.

Frequently asked questions about the Class 8 Social Science book

How many chapters are in the Class 8 Social Science book?

Seven. The book runs from Natural Resources and Their Use (pp. 1-20) to Factors of Production (pp. 163-183), across 183 printed pages in one volume.

Is the Class 8 Social Science book PDF official and free?

Yes. The download table above links NCERT’s own files on ncert.nic.in, the official edition of Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Part I — the same edition the printed book is set from.

Which chapter covers the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals?

Chapter 2, Reshaping India’s Political Map (pp. 21-60). It also covers the Vijayanagara Empire, Rani Durgavati and the regional powers that rose alongside the Mughals.

Which chapter explains elections and the Election Commission of India?

Chapter 5, Universal Franchise and India’s Electoral System (pp. 117-138), covering universal adult franchise, EVMs, and the Model Code of Conduct.

Does the book have end-of-chapter exercises, and where are the questions?

This edition has no end-of-chapter exercise sections. The questions appear as boxes inside each chapter — such as The Big Questions, Think About It and Let’s Explore — so the textbook itself carries no separate answer key.

Reference: NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.