Q 1. What is the aim of a feminist movement?
A feminist movement aims at the equality of men and women in personal and family life as well.
Q 2. Name the countries in which the participation of women in public life is very high.
In Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Finland the participation of women in public life is very high.
Q 3. Write main provision of Equal Wages Act.
The Equal Wages Act provides that equal wages should be paid to equal work.
Q 4. Give an example of the sexual division of labor.
In most families, women do all work inside the home such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, tailoring, looking after children, etc. and men do all the work outside the home.
Q 5. Give two reasons for the imbalance in the Sex Ratio in India.
(1) Parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have the girl child aborted before she is born.
(2) Parents are reluctant to spend their resources on their daughters’ health and nutrition.
Q 6. Define atheist.
A person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.
Q 7. Which term is used for a country which allows its people to follow any religion?
Secular state
Q 8. What was the opinion of Mahatma Gandhi on the relation between religion and politics?
Religion can never be separated from politics.
Q 9. What is the basis of gender division in society?
Gender division in society is based on the concept of patriarchal society.
Q 10. What are castes?
Castes or caste hierarchy refers to a ladder-like formation in which all the caste groups are placed from the ‘highest’ to the ‘lowest’ caste.
Q 11. What did political leaders and reformers like Motiva Phyla, Gandhi B.R. Ambedkar and Perilya Ram swami oppose?
Caste system based on exclusion and discrimination against the `outcaste’ groups.
Q 12. Define Feminist Movements. Write their objective?
(1) Feminist Movement is an agitation or a movement demanding enhancement in the political and legal status of women and improvement in their education and career opportunities.
(2) They believe in equal rights and opportunities for both men and women. All their objective is to attain equality between men and women.
Q 13. What is the sexual division of labor? Mention the political demand of the worldwide women’s agitations.
(1) Sexual division of labor is a system in which all work inside the home is either done by the women of the family or organized by them through the domestic helpers.
(2) (i) Gradually the gender issue was rained in politics. Women in different parts of the world organized and agitated for equal rights.
(ii) There were agitations in different ‘countries for the extension of voting rights to women.
1) Sexual division of labor refers to the division of work between the men and the Some works especially the household works such as cooking, tailoring, washing, etc. are exclusively meant for
the women while the men have some other defined work.
The sexual division of labor does not mean that men can’t do household work. They think that it is for women to attend the household work. When these jobs are paid, ready to take up those jobs, for example, most tailors and cooks in the hotel are Chief sexual division of labor also does not mean that women do not work outside. In villages, women fetch water, collect fuels and work in the fields. In urban he poor women work as domestic help while middle-class women work in the office.
Q 14. Suggest any two measures to check communalism in India.
(1) We should respect the secular provision of our Constitution. A nation or state which keeps itself equip-distant from different religious issues, does not give protection to a particular religion and gives all religions an equal chance to flourish is called a secular state. Our Constitution provides to all individuals and communities the freedom to prefer, practice, and propagate any religion or not to follow any.
(2) We may have firm faith in our religion but should respect other religions also. India is a country of diverse religions. Our Constitution-makers never believed that religion can be the basis of a nation. That is why India has chosen to become a secular state.
Q 15. How can the relationship between politics and religion be beneficial and problematic at the same time? Explain.
(1) Unlike gender differences, religious differences are often expressed in the field of politics. Ideas, ideals, and values drawn from different religions can and perhaps should play a role in politics.
(i) Politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.
(ii) People should be able to express in politics their needs, interests, and demands as a member of a religious community. Political power should sometimes be able to regulate the practice of religion so as to prevent discrimination and oppression. These political acts are not wrong as long as they treat every religion equally.
(2) Religion is a source of danger to democratic politics and problematic in the following ways:
(i) The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs involving religious Povrejudi is stereotypes of religious communities and believe in the superiority of one’s religion to other religions.
(ii) A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. This takes the form of majoritarian dominance and people belonging to the minority the community can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
(iii) Political mobilization on religious lines involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal, and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena involving special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
Q 16. Communalism will weaken India’s unity. Explain.
(1) Communalism involves religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious comm. and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions.
(2) A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community.
(3) Political mobilization on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. In electoral politics, this often involves a special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
(4) Sometimes communalism in India takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots, and massacre.
(5) Communal prejudices and propaganda needs to be countered in everyday life and religion-based mobilization needs to be countered in the arena of politics.
Q 17. Explain any three factors that brought about a change in the Indian Caste System in modern India.
(1) Role of Social Reformers: Many reformers like Mahatma Phule, Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. fought to establish a society in which caste inequalities have no place.
(2) Role of Socio-economic changes: Development of new cities, industrialization, creation of job opportunities in new urban areas, etc. compelled people from all castes to live and work together. This has developed a liberal view relating to the notions of caste practices.
(3) Role of the Constitution: The Constitution prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid the foundation of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system. Untouchability has been made a punishable offense.
Q 18. Describe any five features of the caste system prevailing in India.
The basic features of the caste system in India are as follows:
(1) It was a hierarchical occupational division of the society.
(2) It had four main divisions — Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra.
(3) It was hereditary.
(4) The members of the same caste group formed a social community that followed similar occupations, married within the caste, and did not mingle with the other castes.
(5) The caste system was based on the exclusion of and discrimination against the ‘out caste’ groups that were subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability.
Q 19. Assess the influences of politics on the caste system.
Politics influences the caste system in the following ways:
(1) Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within its sub-castes.
(2) Various caste groups are required to enter into a coalition with other castes or communities.
(3) New kinds of caste groups have entered politics like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ castes.
(4) Politics in caste has allowed many disadvantaged caste groups to demand their share of Power.
(5) Caste politics has helped the Dalits and Other Backward Classes to gain better access to decision-making viewpoints.
Q 19. Suggest any two measures to check Casteism in India.
The following are the two measures to check casteism in India.
- Spread of education: Education upgrades one’s level of thinking and helps in eradicating the misconceptions of one’s mind. All possible steps should be taken to educate the masses.
- Economic equality: Inequality in the economic life creates the feeling of superiority and inferiority among the members of different caste groups. Steps need to be taken to maintain economic equality of all castes.
- Abolition of Reservation Policy: Reservation in government job, education and other sectors creates conflicting attitude among the members of two different castes. When the people of higher castes having adequate educational qualification are deprived of all facilities, they revolt against the lower caste people.
- Political reforms: Political leaders and parties based on caste should be banned from the political Participation and should even not be allowed to contest the elections.
Q 20. How can religion be used in politics in a positive manner? Express your viewpoint.
Politics and religion can be a deadly combination if not used wisely. It should be for the good of the people rather than used as a weapon to settle scores. Religion can be used in politics in a positive manner in the following ways.
Politics should be guided by the ethics and values of religion.
We should raise our demands as a religious community but not at the cost of other religions.
Political leaders should also ensure that religion is not used as a medium of oppression and discrimination. They should have equal responses to different religious conflicts or demands.
Q 21. Why are caste barriers breaking down in India? Explain any five reasons.
In recent decades, cast barriers have been breaking down in India because of the following reasons.
- It has been the efforts of social reformers that people have released the caste based differences had no logic.
- The economic development, large scale urbanization and occupational mobility have further erased the caste barriers.
- Spread of literacy and education has also played a great role in upgrading the beliefs and ideologies of the people.
- Complete eradication of landlordism has resulted in the decline of caste system.
- The constitutional provision of prohibiting caste based discriminations in every form and providing equal opportunities to all has reversed the caste injustices.
Q 22. How is gender division understood in Indian society? To what extent does political mobilization on a gender basis help to improve women’s role in public life?
In Indian society, gender division is taken as a socially constructed basis to differentiate between the roles played by men and women. The sexual division of work has become the mindset of society. Because of this women face discrimination and have become victim of the patriarchal system.
Even after adopting the concepts of equality and liberty, we lack a practical approach. It is therefore necessary that political mobilization helps to improve women’s role in public life. Political parties should come together to frame policies for equal representation of women in national and local politics. This will widen the Political representation for women. Taking part in the decision-making will encourage them in their day-to-day affairs. They will develop a sense of maturity and responsibility.
Q 23. Describe three advantages and two disadvantages of the political expression of caste differences.
The following are the advantages of the political expression of caste differences.
- In the present times, several political and non-political organizations have fought discrimination against particular castes, for more dignity and more access to land, resources and opportunities for the people from lower caste, which were not given equal status and opportunity like the upper caste people.
- In some situations, expression of caste differences in politics gives many disadvantaged communities the space to demand their share of power. Usually it is seen that the disadvantaged communities are not able to exercise their rights but because of political resentation of such caste differences, the oppressed people get to put forward their rights to get what they deserve. The following are the disadvantages of the political expression of caste differences.
- In case of religion, politics based on caste identity alone is not very healthy in democracy. It can divert attention from other pressing issues such as poverty, development and corruption because caste is not the only issue that is causing a hindrance in the society, there are various issues that need to be given equal importance.
In some cases, caste differences lead to caste division, which further leads to violence and tension among the people of different caste and that might lead to outburst of riots in the society.
Q 24. Explain any five aspects of our day-to-day life in which women are discriminated against in India.
The following points sum up how women are still discriminated against and oppressed in India.
- Literacy rate: The first and foremost discrimination is in the field of education where the literacy rate among women is only 66 percent when compared to a high 82 percent in males. Even otherwise, parents prefer educating spending their resources of education of a male child rather than a female child.
- Sex ratio: The sex ratio in India is as low as 940 females per 1000 males. The proportion of women as compared to men is very low. A major reason behind this is that parents prefer having a male child over a female child keeping in view the future perspective.
- Unpaid work: The proportion of highly-paid women is very less when compared to highly-paid men. Though on an average, Indian women work one hour more than men everyday but they are not equally paid and thus their work is also not often valued as much as that of men.
- Domestic violence: Women everyday in Indian society are harassed, exploited and subjected to all sorts of violence behind the closed doors. Both in urban and rural areas, domestic violence are one of the most prominent forms of discrimination faced by women. Many cases of domestic violence and dowry deaths are reported in the media every day.
- Female feticide: In India, a male child is considered a blessing and a female child is considered a bane. This has come to an extent where the female child is killed in the womb of the mother. This killing of fetus is known as feticide. Female feticide is prevalent in both urban and rural areas.
Q 25. Mention any three constitutional provisions that make India a secular state.
The constitutional provisions which make India a ‘secular state’ are as follows.
The Constitution of India does not give special recognition to any religion and there is no state religion in India, unlike, Christianity in America, and Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
- All individuals and communities have been given freedom to practice, profess and propagate any religion.
- The Constitution of India has put a ban on any discrimination on the grounds of religion.
- According to the constitution, the state cannot intervene in the matters of religion to promote religious equality.
Q 26. What forms does communalism take in politics?
Communalism is a strong sense of belonging to a particular community, especially a religious community, which often leads to extreme behavior or violence towards others. It cannot tolerate and respect people belonging to different religious communities.
There are different forms of communalism in politics as follows.
- Communalism in everyday beliefs: It is the most common form of communalism and can be in the form of religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief that one religion is superior to other religions.
- Communalism as Majoritarian Dominance and Political Dominance: A communal mind often leads to quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For people belonging to the majority community this comes out as ‘Majoritarian’ dominance’ for those belonging to the minority community, it can take form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
- Communalism as political mobilization: Political mobilization on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols, emotional appeals and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in political arena.
- Communalism in the form of communal violence: Sometimes, communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre. For instance, India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of the partition.
To sum up, it can be said that communalism leads to the belief that people belonging to different religions cannot live as equal citizens within one nation. Either one of them has to dominate e rest or they have to form different nations.
Q 27. Explain how the proper representation of women in legislature can solve the problem of gender-based discrimination in India.
The proper representation of women in the legislature can solve the problem of gender-based discrimination in the following ways.
- Proper representation of women in legislature will result in more women- friendly laws.
- Better policing will help in greater security for women and better law enforcement.
- Seeing women in positions of decision-making is reassuring women empowerment, which helps to improve their image.
Q 28. What do you mean by sexual divisions of Labor?
A system in which all work inside the home is either done by the women of the family or organized by them through the domestic helpers.
Q 29. What is patriarchal society?
This is a system that values men more and gives them power over women.
Q 30 What is a secular state.?
A state in which the constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.