NCERT Books Class 10 Social Science – Official PDFs

If you are searching for NCERT books class 10 social science, you actually need four separate textbooks, not one combined book. This page links the official edition prescribed by CBSE for the 2026-27 session, and every chapter PDF below is checked directly against ncert.nic.in rather than copied from a random download site.

We verified all 22 chapter PDFs across the four books live on ncert.nic.in (HTTP 200 response) on 2026-07-11. This check matters because an outdated mirror can still show a chapter CBSE has since dropped after rationalising the syllabus — revise a deleted chapter and you lose time on material the exam will never ask about.

About the Four NCERT Class 10 Social Science Textbooks

CBSE does not prescribe one Social Science book for Class 10. It prescribes four separate books, one per discipline, and each is examined as its own unit inside the same paper. You can confirm this listing yourself on the official NCERT textbook page.

These four books together hold 22 chapters, and all four are the current rationalised edition prescribed for the 2026-27 session.

Chapter-Wise PDF Links for All Four Books

Before you open the History files, note one thing: three of its five chapter PDFs (jess301, jess303, jess305) are labelled Section I, Section II and Section III in the official registry instead of a chapter name. They are not divider or front-matter pages — they carry the full chapter text for History chapters 1, 3 and 5, and each runs to more than 20 pages.

India and the Contemporary World – II (History)

• Chapter 1 (Section I) traces the rise of nationalism in Europe after the French Revolution and how new nation-states formed.
• Chapter 2, Nationalism in India, follows the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements and how they built a mass freedom struggle.
• Chapter 3 (Section II) explains how trade, migration and colonial rule connected countries into one global economy before the World Wars.
• Chapter 4, The Age of Industrialisation, compares factory growth and working conditions in Britain and colonial India.
• Chapter 5 (Section III) covers the print revolution and its effect on readers, religious debate and colonial censorship.

Contemporary India – II (Geography)

• Chapter 1, Resources and Development, classifies resources and explains land use and soil types across India.
• Chapter 2 looks at forest and wildlife conservation, including community-led protection projects.
• Chapter 3 covers multipurpose river projects and traditional rainwater harvesting methods.
• Chapter 4 studies cropping patterns and reforms in agriculture across different farming types.
• Chapter 5 lists metallic and non-metallic minerals and compares conventional with non-conventional energy resources.
• Chapter 6 explains agro-based and mineral-based manufacturing industries and their linkages.
• Chapter 7 treats transport, communication and trade as the lifelines of the national economy.

Democratic Politics – II (Political Science)

• Chapter 1 uses Belgium and Sri Lanka to explain why power-sharing arrangements matter in divided societies.
• Chapter 2 studies federalism and how power is divided across India’s three tiers of government.
• Chapter 3 shows how gender, religion and caste shape political mobilisation and representation.
• Chapter 4 examines how parties, pressure groups and institutions keep everyday democratic politics functioning.
• Chapter 5 weighs the outcomes of democracy — accountability, economic growth and dignity for citizens.

Understanding Economic Development (Economics)

• Chapter 1 (listed as “Notes for the Teacher” in the file itself) works through how economists define and compare development using income and human development indicators.
• Chapter 2 divides the economy into primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the Indian economy and how employment shifts between them.
• Chapter 3 contrasts formal and informal sources of money and credit and why cheap credit matters for borrowers.
• Chapter 4 looks at MNCs, trade barriers and globalisation‘s effect on Indian producers and workers.
• Chapter 5 covers the consumer movement and consumer rights available under COPRA.

CBSE Class 10 Social Science Marks Distribution (2026-27)

Every one of the four books carries identical weight in the board paper, no matter how many chapters it has. This is worth stating plainly, because students often assume History or Geography counts for more marks simply because those books look longer.

That is 80 marks of theory plus 20 marks of internal assessment, for 100 total, as set out in the CBSE Curriculum 2026-27 for Secondary Social Science. Geography has seven chapters against five each for the other three books, yet it still carries the same 20 marks — so per-chapter revision time in Geography should be shorter, not longer.

How to Use These NCERT Books for Board Exam Preparation

Because all four books share equal marks, the smart way to plan revision is to pair chapters across books by marks weight, not by how many pages a book has.

1. In week 1, read Chapter 1 of History, Geography, Political Science and Economics together — one chapter from each book.
2. Repeat this pairing for weeks 2 to 5, matching chapter numbers across the four books.
3. Geography has two extra chapters (6 and 7); cover these in weeks 6 and 7, alongside a revision pass of any book you found difficult.
4. In the final week before the exam, revise the marks table above and re-check that you have not skipped any Section I, II or III pages in the History book.

Taken together, the 22 chapters run to about 376 pages. Individual chapters range from 6 pages (Forest and Wildlife Resources) to 28 pages (the History Section chapters), so reading one chapter a day clears the entire set in roughly three weeks.

Related NCERT Resources for Class 10

If you want chapter-wise revision notes to go with these textbooks, our Class 10 Social Science notes page follows the same four-book structure. To see every subject prescribed for this class in one place, start from the Class 10 notes hub. If you need material for another class entirely, the CBSE notes home lists every class we cover.

Frequently Asked Questions on Class 10 Social Science NCERT Books

How many NCERT books are prescribed for Class 10 Social Science?

Four: India and the Contemporary World – II (History), Contemporary India – II (Geography), Democratic Politics – II (Political Science) and Understanding Economic Development (Economics), totalling 22 chapters.

Which NCERT book covers Federalism and Power-sharing for Class 10 Social Science?

Democratic Politics – II covers both: Chapter 1 is Power-sharing and Chapter 2 is Federalism.

Are the Class 10 Social Science NCERT PDFs the same for the current session?

Yes. All 22 chapter PDFs were checked live on ncert.nic.in on 2026-07-11 and match the rationalised edition used for the 2026-27 session.

Why does the History book show Section I, Section II and Section III instead of chapter names?

The official file names for History chapters 1, 3 and 5 (jess301, jess303, jess305) are labelled Section I, II and III in the NCERT registry rather than a topic title. The chapters they contain — on European nationalism, the global economy, and the print revolution — are full, graded chapter text, not front matter.

Do History, Geography, Political Science and Economics carry equal marks in the Class 10 board exam?

Yes. Each of the four units carries 20 theory marks, for 80 marks total, plus 20 marks of internal assessment, as per the CBSE Curriculum 2026-27 for Secondary Social Science.

Is Understanding Economic Development the same book as Contemporary India for Class 10?

No. Understanding Economic Development is the Economics book (5 chapters); Contemporary India – II is the separate Geography book (7 chapters). They are examined as different units.

Reference: NCERT Class 10 Social Science textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in.