Q 1 – What did the marginal groups rely on to protect themselves from continued exploitation by other groups?
Ans. Marginal groups relied on the Constitution of India and the Judiciary System to protect them from continued exploitation by other groups.
Q 2 – What is ‘untouchability’, and who was called ‘untouchables’?
Ans. Untouchability is individual discrimination against certain classes of persons. Dalits are sometimes called Untouchables. Untouchables are regarded as ‘low caste’ and have been marginalized for centuries.
Q 3 – Mention 4 untouchable practices.
Ans. Some untouchable practices are :
Segregation in seating and food arrangements in village functions and festivals Prohibited from entering into village temples Separate burial grounds No access to village’s wells and ponds.
Q 4 – What is the ‘Reservation Policy’?
Ans. Reservation Policy confirms that a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state civil services, union and state government departments, and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled Castes and Tribes who were inadequately represented in these services and institutions.
Q 5 – What are the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006?
Ans. The central government passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The Act states that the injustice meted out to the Adivasis must be undone. This Act recognizes their right to their homestead, cultivable and grazing land, and to non-timber forest produce. It points out that the rights of forest dwellers include the conservation of forests and biodiversity.
Q 6 – How did the Dalits assert themselves?
Ans. The Dalits asserted themselves and sort the help of law to fight discrimination In the late 1970s and 1980s in parts of South India the Dalits asserted themselves by refusing to perform their so-called caste duties and insisted on being treated equally.
Adivasi people successfully organized themselves and demanded equal rights, and for their land and resources to be returned to them.
Dalit groups demanded new laws that would list the various sorts of violence against Dalits and prescribe stringent punishment for those who indulge in them.
Q 7 – Define the term linguist.
Ans. The linguist is someone who knows and studies several languages.
Q 8 – What was main aim behind establishing Hindu College in Benaras in 1791?
Ans. Hindu College was established to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.
Q 9 – What is meant by an Orientalist?
Ans. Orientalists were those who were having scholarly knowledge of the language and culture of Asia.
Q 10 – How did Thomas Babington Macaulay see India?
Ans. He saw India as an uncivilized country that needed to be civilized.
Q 11 – Why was the English Education Act introduced and in which year?
Ans. Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education Act of 1835 was introduced.
Q 12 – Who toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar in 1830’s?
Ans. In the 1830’s William Adam, a Scottish missionary toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar.
Q 13 – When did the Company decide about improving the system of vernacular education?
Ans. After 1854, the Company decided to improve the system of vernacular education.
Q 14 – Name the institution established by Rabindranath Tagore.
Ans. Santiniketan’ was established by Rabindranath Tagore in 1901.
Q 15 – Who was William John.
Ans. William Jones was appointed as Junior Judge at the supreme court of the company.
Q 16 – Which languages were learnt by William Jones?
Ans. Greek, Latin, French, and English.
Q 17 – By whom was the Asiatic society of Bengal was setup?
Ans. By William Jones.
Q 18 – From whom did William Johns learnt Sanskrit language?
Ans. The Pandits.
Q 19 – In which year was Madarsa setup in Calcutta?
Ans. In 1781.
Q 20 – Who emphasized on teaching of English language in manner of civilizing, changing the taste values and cultures of the Indians?
Ans. Lord Macaulay.
Q 21 – In what sense does Gandhiji and Tagore’s thoughts were similar and different about western education?
Ans. In many senses Tagore’s and Gandhiji’s thoughts about western education were similar. There were several differences too. Gandhiji was highly critical of western education, civilization, and its worship of machines and technology. But Tagore wanted to combine elements of modern western civilization with the best within the Indian tradition. Tagore emphasized the need to teach science and technology along with art, music, and dance.
Q 22 – Why did Tagore hate going to school in his school days?
Ans. He found school suffocating and oppressive. The school appeared like a prison to him as he could never do what he felt like doing. And the experience of Tagore’s school days in Calcutta shook his ideas of education. These were reasons why he hated going to school in his school days.
Q 23 – What did Mahatma Gandhi say about western education?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi said that western education focused on reading and writing rather than oral knowledge. It valued textbooks rather than practical knowledge. He argued that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy or simply learning to read and write by itself did not count as education.
Q 24 – What consequences were there of the new rules and routine over the earlier pathshala students who accepted the British rules?
Ans. In the earlier system of Pathshala, students from poor peasant families had been able to go to pathshalas as the timetable was flexible before the adoption of rules of the British government. The discipline of the new system demanded regular attendance, even during harvest time when children of poor families had to work in the fields. Inability to attend school came to be seen as indiscipline, as evidence of the lack of desire to learn.
Q 25 – What did James Mill declare while attacking the orientalists?
Ans. James Mill attacked the orientalists and declared that the British should not make efforts to teach what the natives wanted or respected, in order to please them. The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advancements that the west had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature of the orientals.
Q 26 – In view of Mahatma Gandhi why was practical knowledge very much essential for development of person’s mind and soul?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi believed that western education focused on reading and writing rather than lived experiences and practical knowledge. He argued that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy – or simply learning to read and write by itself did not count as education.
Q 27 – Explain the William Adam’s report produced on the progress of education in vernacular schools.
Ans. William Adam had been asked by the Company to report on the progress of education in vernacular schools. The report Adam produced was interesting.
- Adam found that there were over 1 lakh pathshalas in Bengal and Bihar. These were small institutions with no more than 20 students each. But the total number of children being taught in these pathshalas was considerable over 20 lakh. These institutions were set up by wealthy people, or the local community. At times they were started by a teacher (guru).
- The system of education was flexible. Adam discovered that this flexible system was suited to local needs. For instance, classes were not held during harvest time when rural children often worked in the fields. The pathshala started once again when the crops had been cut and stored. This meant that even children of peasant families could study.
Q 28 – Explain Wood’s Despatch. What was mentioned in its provision?
Ans. In 1854, the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the Governor-General in India, issued by Charles Wood, the president of the Board of Control of the Company. It has come to be known as Wood’s Despatch.
- It emphasized once again on the practical benefits of system of European learning.
- One of the practical uses the Despatch pointed to was economic European learning.
- It said, it would enable Indians to recognize the advantages that flow from the expansion of trade and commerce.
- Wood’s Despatch argued that European learning would improve the moral character of Indians.
- It would make them truthful and honest and would supply the Company with civil servants who could be trusted and depended upon.
- The literature of East was believed to be full of errors and also couldn’t instill in the people a sense of duty and a commitment to work nor could it develop the skill required for administration.