Question 1.
Mention four different aspects of life in which women are discriminated or
disadvantaged in India.
Answer:
Some of the factors where women lag behind men are:
i) Education :
The literacy rate of women
is still lower than men. Only 54% of the women are literate against 76%
literacy among men. This is because a boy’s education is still preferred over
sending girl child to the school. Spending money for boy’s education is
considered more important than spending money on a girl’s education. Because
of this very small percentages of girls go for higher education and the
drop-out rate is higher among the girls.
ii) Proportion of Women in Paid Jobs :
Women
still have a small share in the highly paid jobs. Even if a woman works for
more number of hours than a man, her work is not given importance. This
results in low paid jobs and low valued jobs for women.
iii) Preference for Male Child:
Indian
parents prefer to have male child over a female child in the family. A female
child is considered as a burden as the parents will have to earn for her dowry
to marry her. While, a boy child is considered as an asset for the family who
will earn and increase the family income. This preference has resulted in
social crimes such as female-feticide where a girl child is killed even before
she is born.
iv) Crime Against Women:
There are various
instances of crime against women. Women are exploited and harassed at the work
place and at the home. There are cases of domestic violence against women
which make her unsafe even in her family.
All these factors have prevented the women from actively participating in the work outside their homes and have confined her to house. Any role played by women outside the household work is not respected and recognised by the society.
Question 2.
State different forms of
communal politics with one example each.
Answer:
Communalism can take various forms
in politics :
i) The most common form of
communalism is in everyday religious ideas of people. People often believe
that the ideas of their religion are superior to the ideas of other religions.
The ideas, ideals and interests of a particular religion are given more
importance. The demands of a religious group are against the demands of other
religious groups.
ii) People of a particular religion often want the maximum representation of their religion in the politics. They want elected representatives in the political system from their religion. This often results in domination of those belonging to the majority community. People of the minority community, then demand a separate state for themselves
iii) Communalism in politics sometimes takes the shape of political mobilization on communal lines. It involves the use of sacred religious symbols and religious leaders to appeal to the people of that religion. It attempts to bring all the people of one religion together. The political leaders pay special attention to the demands of their own religion at the cost of the other religions.
iv) In its most ugly form, communalism leads to riots and violence. People from various religions are in opposition to each other and they use violence to show the domination of their religion.
Question 3.
State how caste inequalities are
still continuing in India.
Answer:
Under the caste work is divided among people on the basis of their caste.
Occupations are passed from generation to generation. Every caste group has
its own occupation. Members of same caste are considered to be from the same
community. They are generally not allowed to marry outside their caste and
cannot even eat with the members of other castes.
SCs and STs are accorded special status by the Constitution of India. The SC communities were considered ‘Outcastes’ in the Hindu social order, they have been denied access to various resources and are given only low status work. The STs included those communities who were self sufficient and lived in hills and forests. They were not allowed to live with the rest of the society and still they are not given equal opportunities of work.
Question 4.
State two reasons to say that
caste alone cannot determine election results in India.
Answer:
Politics is not only about the
castes. Even though attention is given to the caste groups, the political
system is not all about the caste system. The reasons are:
i) No state legislature in the country has a majority of any caste group.
Every caste group has its presence in the Parliament. It means that no caste
group can be ignored and every citizen’s vote is necessary to win the
elections.
ii) It is not necessary that people of the same caste vote for the same political party. They have different demands and vote according to their choice. It means that no political party represents only one caste.
iii) It does not happen that there are candidates from every caste. It might happen that all the candidates are from one caste. It might also happen that there are more than one candidate from one caste and no candidate from the other caste
Question 5.
What is the status of women’s
representation in India’s legislative bodies?
Answer:
In India the women’s participation
in the political area is very low. The women strength in the Lok Sabha is not
even 10 percent. Their share in state assemblies is as low as 5 percent. The
share of women in india is behind those of several developing countries of
Latin America and Africa.
One probable solution to increase the women participation in the political system is to make laws far the minimum number of seats to be filled by the women candidates.
In the Panchayats and municipalities it is legally binding to fills one-third of the seats by women candidates. This has resulted in 10 lakh elected women representatives in the local government a bodies.
Question 6.
Mention any two constitutional
provisions that make India a secular state.
Answer:
The constitutional provisions that
make India a secular state are as follows:
i) There is no official religion of India. Every religion is given the same
importance. Even though Hindus constitute 80% of the population, all religions
are treated equally by the Constitution.
ii) The Constitution gives freedom to people to follow any religion of their choice. People are free to follow, preach and propagate the ideas of any religion they like.
iii) The Constitution does not allow any discrimination on the basis of religion.
iv) The states have the powers, given by the constitution, to intervene in religious matters if they threaten the peace of the state. They are allowed to intervene to ensure equality among different religious communities.
Question 7.
When we speak of gender
divisions, we usually refer to:
(a)
Biological difference between men and women
(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women
(c) Unequal child sex ratio
(d) Absence of
voting rights for women in democracies
Answer:
(b) Unequal roles assigned by the
society to men and women
Question 8.
In India seats are reserved for
women in:
(a) Lok Sabha
(b) State legislative assemblies
(c)
Cabinets
(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
Answer:
(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
Question 9.
Consider the following
statements on the meaning of communal politics. Communal politics is based on
the belief that:
(A) One religion is
superior to that of others.
(B) People
belonging to different religions can happily live together as equal
citizens.
(C) Followers of a particular
religion constitute one community.
(D) State
power can be used to established the domination of one religious group over
others.
Which of the statements is/are
correct?
(a) A, B, C, and D
(b) A, B, and D
(c) A and C
(d) B and D
Answer:
(c) A and C
Question 10.
Which among the following
statements about India’s Constitution is wrong? It
(a) prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion
(b) gives official status to one religion
(c) provides to all individuals freedom to profess any religion
(d) ensures equality of citizens within religious communities.
Answer:
(b) gives official status to one
religion
Question 11.
Social divisions based on ……………
are peculiar to India.
Answer:
Caste
Question 12.
Match List I with List II and
select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists:
| List I | List II |
| 1. A person who believes in equal rights and opportunities for women and men | A. Communalist |
| 2. A person who says that religion is the principal basis of community | B. Feminist |
| 3. A person who thinks that caste is the principal basis of community | C. Secularist |
| 4. A person who does not discriminate others on the basis of religious beliefs | D. Castiest |
Answer:
b)