BHIE 143 Solved Guess Paper is a 17 page PDF that shortlists the 13 questions most likely to appear in your History of Environment term-end paper, and gives you a written answer for every one of them. It was built by reading six previous term-end papers side by side, marking every topic that came back, and then writing answers from the IGNOU book itself. If you have four or five days left and twelve units in front of you, this is the shortlist you revise from.
BHIE 143 Key Facts at a Glance
- Course code: BHIE 143
- Course title: History of Environment
- Programme: B.A. (General) BAG and B.A. (Honours) History BAHIH
- Credits: 6 (Discipline Elective)
- Units in the syllabus: 12
- Paper: 100 marks, 3 hours
- Exam rule: attempt any 5 of 8, minimum 2 from each Section
- Guess paper size: 13 questions across 17 pages
- Samples on this page: 5 questions, 8 remaining in the full PDF
- Prepared for: December 2026 Term-End Examination
What the BHIE 143 Solved Guess Paper Contains
The file holds 13 questions with full written answers, mapped across all 12 units of History of Environment, in 17 pages. Nine of those questions are marked HIGH priority because they appeared four or more times in the last six sessions, or because they were skipped in the most recent papers and are due to return.
Most students arrive here after trying to read all twelve units and running out of days. That is the problem this file solves. It is one of the subject-specific papers in our wider IGNOU Solved Guess Paper collection, and the method behind each one is the same: read the old papers first, then write.
Sample Questions and Answers from the BHIE 143 Guess Paper
Five of the 13 questions are reproduced below so you can judge the answer quality before you buy; the other 8 are in the paid PDF. Each extract shows the opening definition and the main points. The full file carries the complete answer for every question at examination length.
Hunter-Gatherers and Nomadic Communities
Question: Discuss the environmental adaptation and subsistence patterns of hunter-gatherers and nomadic communities in the early societies of the Indian subcontinent.
Answer extract. Hunting and gathering was the earliest mode of human sustenance and is treated as the first stage in the social evolution of humankind, occupying the largest span of time. Prehistory extends back at least 2.6 million years and was established as a branch of archaeology through the work of Daniel Wilson (1851), Charles Darwin (1859) and Sir John Lubbock (1865).
Lubbock coined the term Palaeolithic in 1865, and the culture is divided into Lower, Middle and Upper phases on the basis of tool type and habitation. The first chopper-chopping tools came from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, giving us the name Oldowan; in India the Soanian and Acheulian traditions developed at Attirampakkam and in the Narmada and Soan valleys.
In the warmer post-glacial Mesolithic, tools shrank into geometric microliths, and the rock art at Bhimbetka shows hunting scenes, one of them with 80 individuals and women cornering game.
On the nomadic side, herders migrated seasonally in groups of four to five families and wintered near forests and mountain valleys. Romila Thapar notes that most pastoralists sat inside an exchange system with cultivators, trading meat, wool and hide for cereals. The Kuruba of Karnataka and the Golla of Telangana show this pastoral-cum-agricultural strategy and cite nitikorata, scarcity of water, as their reason for moving.
Water Management in Medieval India
Question: Elaborate on the water management techniques during the medieval period in India.
Answer extract. In the medieval period the tapping of natural resources reshaped whole landscapes. Artificial irrigation pushed agriculture outward, helped rulers deal with famine, and lifted output of both rabi and kharif crops.
The Tughlaqs were the first to bring in canal irrigation. Firoz Shah Tughlaq built the Rajabwah and Ulugh Khani canals, drawing the Yamuna into the dry Hissar tract, which could then carry two cropping seasons.
Shah Jahan later laid out the Nahr-i-Bihisht, improved the West Yamuna canal for the doab, and built stepped reservoirs called dighis. The Mughals also used qanats, an Arabic term known as kariz in Persia, which are vertical hillside shafts joined by a sloping tunnel, alongside the Noria and the Saqiya.
Step-wells did the same job in arid country while keeping the air cool: Chand Baoli near Jaipur, Rani Ki Vav at Patan, and Agrasen Ki Baoli in Delhi. Artificial lakes such as Anasagar at Ajmer and Pichola at Udaipur were raised against drought, and in Delhi Iltutmish excavated the Hauz-i-Shamsi while Alauddin Khilji built the Hauz-i-Alai. Further south, Rajendra Chola built the Cholagangam tank at Gangaikonda Cholapuram.
Ecological Imperialism and Botany
Question: Critically examine the concept of ecological imperialism. Discuss the emergence of Botany as an imperial science during the colonial period.
Answer extract. Imperialism reworked the biosphere and the livelihood patterns of colonised societies, because the central aim of European colonisers was to pull natural resources out of the colonies and into European cities.
Alfred Crosby (1972) described the Columbian exchange, the large-scale transfer of flora and fauna from Europe to the New World, and argued in 1986 that Europeans created Neo-Europes in temperate zones such as Australia and New Zealand.
He also noted why this failed in Asia and Africa: dense population and strong centralised states blocked it, though Europeans still gained the political dominance needed to exploit indigenous knowledge. Richard Grove (1995) reframed the story as Green Imperialism, a two-way exchange in which indigenous knowledge shaped the European idea of nature, as it did for Alexander von Humboldt.
Botany carried this project. Colonial states funded gardens at Oxford, Chelsea, Edinburgh and above all Kew. Lucile Brockway (1979) traced through cinchona, rubber and sisal how those gardens served capital. In South Asia, the Saharanpur Botanic Garden recommended tea for the Himalayan foothills, and Robert Fortune moved 2000 tea plants and 17,000 seeds from China to India.
Ideological Aspects of Eco-feminism
Question: Discuss the ideological aspects of Eco-feminism and write about Indian Eco-feminism.
Answer extract. Ecofeminism places the exploitation of nature inside the ideological fabric of patriarchy, arguing that the subjugation of women and the subjugation of nature are justified in the same terms.
The French writer Francoise d'Eaubonne, who founded the Ecology-Feminism Centre in Paris in 1972, first used the term ecofeminisme in 1974. Anil Agarwal supplies the material side: environmental degradation hits women hardest, and in arid regions they spend five to ten hours a day collecting fuel, fodder and water.
Bina Agarwal supplies the ideological core, that in the patriarchal imagination women stand for nature and men for culture, and because culture is ranked higher, women are ranked lower. Carolyn Merchant traces the shift from nature as nurturing mother to a mechanistic worldview after the Scientific Revolution, which licensed domination.
For India, Vandana Shiva reads nature as Prakriti, an expression of Shakti that creates the world with Purusha, and argues the colonial state caused the death of the feminine principle. Bina Agarwal criticises her for essentialism and offers feminist environmentalism instead.
Environmental History and Environmental Justice
Question: Define environmental history. What do you understand by environmental justice?
Answer extract. Environmental history is the study of the interactions people have had with nature in past times. Antecedents sit in Plato and Kautilya, but the field is mainly a product of the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which were reacting to over-exploitation, deforestation, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Roderick Nash argued in 1972 that environmental history covers the past contact of man with his total habitat, and J. Donald Hughes was among its pioneers.
J. R. McNeill sorted the field into three streams: material environmental history, cultural or intellectual history, and political and policy history. The debate between the anthropocentric and eco-centric positions runs through environmental ethics, while the Anthropocene, named by Crutzen and Stoermer in 2000, marks human activity as a global geological force closing the Holocene.
Environmental justice began with people of colour and black communities in America protesting unequal environmental protection. Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain (1991) argued for per-capita responsibility, and Martinez Alier with Ramachandra Guha described the environmentalism of the poor, where women lead, as in Chipko.
Those are 5 of the 13 questions. The remaining 8 cover river valley water systems, wildlife in the early modern period, Indian philosophy and environment, conservation and indigenous practice, health policy, post-colonial development, the United Nations and NGOs, and the short note bank.
Get all 13 BHIE 143 answers on WhatsApp 9899436384Unit-Wise Syllabus Table for BHIE 143 History of Environment
History of Environment is organised as 12 units rather than formal blocks, and the guess paper touches every one of them. The table below lists the official unit titles as they appear on IGNOU's eGyanKosh repository, the topics that actually carry marks in each, and where that unit sits in the guess paper.
| Unit | Official Unit Title | Topics That Carry Marks | In the Guess Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Studying Environmental Concerns in History – A Perspective | Nash 1972 definition, McNeill's three streams, anthropocentric versus eco-centric ethics, Anthropocene and Holocene, environmental justice | Question 12 and short note (a) |
| 2 | Environment and Early Societies I – Hunting-Gathering and Nomadic Societies | Palaeolithic phases, Oldowan and Acheulian tools, Bhimbetka rock art, Sarai-Nahar Rai burials, pastoral exchange with cultivators | Question 1 and short note (d) |
| 3 | Environment and Early Societies II – River Valley Civilizations | Mohenjodaro wells and Great Bath, Dholavira reservoirs, Lothal dockyard, Sudarshan lake, Kallanai and jala sutradas | Question 2 |
| 4 | Environment Issues in the Medieval Ages in India | Tughlaq canals, Nahr-i-Bihisht, qanats and lifting devices, baolis and hauz, medieval droughts and floods | Question 3 |
| 5 | Environmental Issues in the Early Modern Society | Sport and big game hunting, Madras Hunting Society, revenue-led forest clearance, hunting casualty figures, famines and disease | Question 4 and short note (c) |
| 6 | Indian Philosophy and Environment | Tapovana, mahavana and shrivana, sacred groves count, Nadistuti hymn, four tirthas of the Brahma Purana, temple tanks and sacred plants | Question 5 |
| 7 | Conservation through the Ages | Brandis and sacred groves, Gadgil and Guha on caste as ecological adaptation, Bishnoi and the Khejri tree, Yellowstone, IUCN and WWF | Question 6 |
| 8 | Colonialism and Environment – Green Imperialism | Crosby's Columbian exchange and Neo-Europes, Grove's two-way exchange, Kew and colonial gardens, cinchona and rubber, tea transfer to India | Question 7 |
| 9 | Debates on Environment and Health | Alma-Ata 1978, selective primary health care and GOBI, National Health Policy 1983 and 2017, structural adjustment, Qadeer's critique | Question 8 |
| 10 | Development and Environmental Concerns in Post-Colonial Societies | Rostow's five stages, Green Revolution package, dependency and world systems theory, Sen's capability approach, Articles 48 and 51-A | Question 9 |
| 11 | Gender and Environment | d'Eaubonne and the term ecofeminisme, Anil Agarwal on fuel and fodder hours, Bina Agarwal's nature-culture argument, Merchant, Shiva's Prakriti | Question 10 |
| 12 | Role of UN, NGOs etc. in the Shaping of the Environmental Movement | UNEP 1972 at Nairobi, Greenpeace and Amchitka, Bishnoi 1730 and Chipko 1973, Silent Valley, Appiko, Narmada Bachao Andolan | Question 11 and short note (b) |
If you are still building your base before you revise from a shortlist, work through the unit PDFs first and use this table as your checklist. Our BHIE 143 Study Material page collects the reading in one place, and the official unit files sit on IGNOU's eGyanKosh repository for this course.
How the BHIE 143 Important Questions Were Selected
Six term-end papers were read line by line, from June 2023 to December 2025, and every question was tagged to its unit before a single answer was written. That tagging is what produces the priority bands. A topic that surfaced in four or more of those six sittings is marked HIGH. One that appeared twice or three times is MEDIUM. A single appearance is LOW and stays in the file only as a backup.
Two patterns came out of that exercise. First, some units are effectively permanent: hunter-gatherers and early societies, medieval water management, green imperialism and eco-feminism turned up in all six papers. Second, the short note question is where the paper hides its variety, so the note bank was built from the options that recurred rather than from the ones that appeared once.
The raw material for all of this is the question papers themselves, and you can verify any claim in the file against them. Our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper section carries them by course code, and the university publishes them too, for instance the June 2025 BHIE 143 term-end paper on ignou.ac.in. Compare the two and you will see where the shortlist comes from.
One honest caveat. A guess paper is a probability exercise, not a leak. It tells you which nine or ten topics have historically carried the paper so that your revision time goes where the marks have been. It cannot promise a specific question will appear.
BHIE 143 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme
BHIE 143 is a 100 mark, three hour descriptive paper: eight questions in two Sections, of which you attempt any five, with at least two from each Section. All questions carry equal marks. Question 4 and Question 8 are short note questions worth 10 plus 10, where you pick any two of four options.
| Element | Detail | What It Means for You |
|---|---|---|
| Total marks | 100 | Each attempted question is worth 20, so one weak answer costs a fifth of the paper |
| Duration | 3 hours | Roughly 33 minutes per answer including reading and planning time |
| Questions set | 8, split into Section I and Section II | Four come from Units 1 to 6 and four from Units 7 to 12 |
| Questions to attempt | Any 5 | Preparing 9 to 10 topics well gives you comfortable choice on the day |
| Section rule | Minimum 2 from each Section | Revising only the early units or only the later ones will strand you |
| Short notes | Question 4 and Question 8, 10 plus 10 | Two notes of about 200 words each, chosen from four options |
| Prescribed length | About 400 words per answer | The guess paper writes to 450 so you have room to trim under pressure |
| Assignment weight | 30 percent, term-end 70 percent | A strong term-end script still decides most of your final grade |
The same structure governs the other History electives in the honours stream, so if you are sitting more than one paper this session our BAHIH Guess Paper listings follow the identical format and priority banding.
Who Should Use This BHIE 143 Solved Guess Paper
It suits learners who understand the subject well enough to write, but do not have the days left to read twelve units cover to cover. If you have not opened the book at all, read Units 1, 2 and 8 first, then come back to the shortlist.
It fits four situations in particular. Learners in the final week before the term-end exam who need to know what to revise. Backlog candidates re-attempting History of Environment who already sat the paper once and want the repeat topics. Working students in BAG who fit revision around a job. And BAHIH learners carrying several History electives at once, who need to allocate hours across subjects rather than perfect one.
Students taking multiple courses this session usually pick up more than one file at a time, and the BAG Guess Paper index lists the other course codes we have ready. It is not for anyone hoping to pass without writing anything: the answers still have to go on your script in your own hand.
Answer Writing Method for BHIE 143 History of Environment
Examiners in this paper reward four things: a definition, a named scholar with a date, a concrete Indian example, and an evaluative closing line. Every answer in the file is built on that skeleton, so you can reproduce the shape even on a topic the guess paper did not cover.
Open with the definition and attribute it. Writing that Crosby described the Columbian exchange in 1972, or that Grove reframed it as Green Imperialism in 1995, is worth more than a paragraph of general description. Then pin the theory to something Indian: Dholavira, the Grand Anicut, Chipko, the Bishnoi, Narmada Bachao. Theory without an Indian example reads as half an answer in this subject.
Keep the numbers accurate, because this paper rewards them. About 80,000 tigers killed during the Raj, roughly 30 rivers named in the Rig Veda, close to 10,000 sacred groves documented nationally. Then close with one critical sentence that links the topic back to sustainability or environmental justice. That last line is what separates a 12 from a 16.
On time, budget 30 minutes per answer and keep the final 20 minutes for revision of what you have written. Five reasonable answers beat three excellent ones and two abandoned ones, every time.
How to Get the Complete BHIE 143 Guess Paper
Send a WhatsApp message with your course code to 9899436384 and we will confirm the price, the session covered and the delivery time in the same chat. The complete file is a paid study aid, delivered as a PDF on WhatsApp once your enquiry is confirmed. The 5 samples above are what we show publicly; the other 8 questions come with the file.
Message us with the course code, your programme (BAG or BAHIH), and the session you are sitting. Doubt support runs on the same number until your exam is over, so if an answer is not clear you can ask rather than guess. If you are sitting several papers, say so in the first message and we will tell you what else is ready.
BHIE 143 Guess Paper Questions Students Ask Us
Is the BHIE 143 Solved Guess Paper valid for the December 2026 term-end exam?
Yes. The file was prepared for the 2026 sessions of BHIE 143 and remains current for the December 2026 term-end examination. The syllabus has carried the same 12 units since the course was introduced, and the frequency analysis behind the shortlist covers six sittings up to December 2025. Message 9899436384 to confirm the session before you order.
How many questions does the BHIE 143 guess paper contain?
The file contains 13 questions with complete written answers across 17 pages. Five of them are shown as extracts on this page, which leaves 8 questions available only in the paid PDF. Twelve are full 20 mark answers and the thirteenth is a short note bank with four options at 10 marks each, matching how IGNOU sets Question 4 and Question 8.
Are the BHIE 143 History of Environment answers written from the IGNOU book?
Every answer is written from the IGNOU self-learning material for this course, using the book's own scholars, dates, figures and examples. Nothing is pulled in from outside reading, because examiners mark against the prescribed material. That is also why names like Crosby, Grove, Bina Agarwal and Vandana Shiva appear so often in the answers, exactly as they do in the units.
Can I pass BHIE 143 by preparing only this guess paper?
The shortlist covers the topics that carried the last six papers, which gives most learners enough choice to attempt five questions. It is still a probability exercise and not a guarantee. Students who read at least the six HIGH priority units alongside the file do noticeably better, because they can handle a question phrased in an unfamiliar way.
Does the BHIE 143 guess paper work for both BAG and BAHIH students?
Yes. History of Environment is set as a six credit discipline elective for both B.A. General and B.A. Honours History learners, and both groups sit the same term-end paper with the same pattern and the same Section rule. The file makes no distinction between the two programmes, so one copy serves you whichever stream you are registered in.
How long should each BHIE 143 answer be in the exam?
IGNOU asks for about 400 words for a 20 mark question and about 200 words for each short note. The answers in the file are written to roughly 450 words, slightly above the prescribed length, so you can cut a supporting point if you are running short on time rather than scramble to add one. Short notes are written to about 250 words.
In what format is the BHIE 143 Guess Paper delivered?
It arrives as a single PDF of 17 pages, sent on WhatsApp after your enquiry is confirmed. The file opens on a phone or a laptop and prints cleanly if you prefer paper. There is no login, no app and no waiting for dispatch. Send your course code to 9899436384 and we will walk you through price and delivery in the chat.
Does BHIE 143 History of Environment have a practical or project component?
No. BHIE 143 is a six credit theory course assessed through assignments and a written term-end paper, so there is no practical file, laboratory record or project report to submit. Your continuous assessment is the tutor marked assignment, worth 30 percent, and the three hour descriptive examination carries the remaining 70 percent of the course marks.