CLASS -8 CHAPTER-21

Chapter 21

Social Justice and the Marginalized

Ques. 1 Mention any four elements which are essential for making a successful democracy.

Ans. The four elements that are essential for making a successful democracy are social justice, individual rights, equality of opportunity and public participation in decision making, make a democracy successful democracy.

Ques. 2 What is marginalization?

Ans. Marginalization means the social process of discriminating and isolating an individual or a group to a lower or outer edge and treating them as inferiors. In most cases the deprivation leads to impoverishment and unemployment.

Ques. 3 Define the term ‘Creamy Layer’.

Ans. The term ‘Creamy Layer’ is used for the relatively wealthier and better educated members of the backward classes. It is argued that they should not avail the benefits of reservation.

Ques. 4 Why is equality considered a necessary condition for democracy?

Ans. Equality is considered a necessary condition for democracy because it promotes and restores the dignity of SC/ST/OBCs minorities or children

Ques. 5 Who are Musahars? What was their traditional occupation? Why are they referred to as ‘Dalits among the Dalits?’

Ans. Mushahars survive on the margins of villages in isolated settlements. Their traditional occupation was hunting out rats from burrows in the fields. In return, they were allowed to keep the grains and chaff recovered from the rat holes. In times of drought and food scarcity, the mushahars would resort to eating rats.

They are referred as the ‘dalits among the dalits’ because their condition is worst among the dalits, most of them are still poor, illiterate and are oppressed and discriminated under the caste system.

Ques. 6 Who are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes? Why are they called SC and ST? Who is responsible for their miserable plight and backwardness?

Ans. (i) The castes of Dalits and Adivasis which are listed in the constitution of India are known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

          (ii) Economically and socially disadvantaged communities of India also known as Dalits, Harijans or untouchables are known as Scheduled  Castes. They include people who were leather-workers, scavengers, tanners, flayers, cobblers, agricultural laborers, drumbeaters, folk musicians and street handicraft persons.

(iii) They were discriminated and exploited by the higher castes on one hand and the colonial power on the other, due to their monopoly over the resources.

Ques. 7 Explain the constitutional provision of reservations. How has this benifitted the backward classes?

Ans. (I) The constitution framers included the provision of reservation to uplift historically oppressed and marginalized sections of society, who were denied respect and equality.

(ii) The under privileged and the under represented needed equal opportunity in nation building activities.

(iii) Under it, a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, Union and State civil services, Union and State departments and in all public and private educational institutions for the socially and economically backward classes, listed as scheduled casted and scheduled tribes.

Ques. 8 Which communities come under OBCs? Who identified them and how?

Ans. The OBC communities mainly comprise of small cultivators, agricultural laborers, artisans, people engaged in weaving, fishing, construction work, etc. They constitute a majority of poor and backward population that have been producing a variety of goods and services, but continue to suffer due to unfair terms and conditions. They were listed as Other Backward Classes on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission under Chairman B.P. Mandal In 1978.

Ques. 9 ‘ The rich culture of Adivasis is an important part of India’s heritage’. Justify this statement by highlighting the life style of bishnois.

Ans. ‘ The rich culture of Adivasis is an important part of India’s heritage’. For example, the Bishnois are the tribal community of Rajasthan.

1.      The preservation of animals and vegetation has been a religion to them since the fifteenth century.

2.      Their spiritual mentor, Jambeshwari formulated 29 tenets – Bis (twenty) + noi ( nine). This is the origin of their name.

3.      The tents are related to personal hygiene, maintaining good basic health, healthy social behavior and worship of the God.

4.      Eight tenets direct them to preserve bio-diversity and encourage good animal husbandry.

5.      Their religion bans animal killing, felling green trees and directs them to protect all life forms.

6.      The Bishnoi conservationists take care of nature and grow with it instead of exploiting it. They have contributed more to environment and wildlife protection than the entire country put together.

Ques. 10 Explain the impact of many welfare schemes for the Scheduled Tribes launched by the government.

Ans. 1 The government has launched many schemes for their welfare but they are disenchanted with them as the schemes have provided more money making opportunities to the rich and higher castes and the Adivasis have mostly been given the option of manual labour.

2 The plans of development and progress of SC and ST have not given the desired results due to failures of proper implementation and co-ordination.

3 As a result of exploitation, many a times, the resentment has surfaced in the form of protests or revolts against higher castes, landlords and the colonial power. But they were quickly suppressed in merciless manner to teach others not to raise their heads against the tyranny of the powerful classes, even again.

Ques. 11 Explain the term ‘minorities’. Why do they lag behind the majority community, both educationally and economically? How can they get their rightful place in society?

Ans. The communities whose number is much less than the majority community are known as minority communities like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Persians, Anglo-India, etc., on the basis of race, religion or language. Among all the minorities, Muslims are the largest single minority community in India. They lag behind the majority community, both educationally and economically. A large part of Muslim population suffers from backwardness due to obstaining from the mainstream education and opting for traditional education, which is primarily religious. Many Muslim parents still prefer to send their children to a traditional Islamic education institutions, called Madarsa and not for modern education.

They can get their rightful place in the society by opting for modern education and are becoming a part of mainstream.