NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 4 - Gender, Religion and Caste

Answer:

1. Less education: Girls are provided with less education as compared to boys. Literacy rate in India is 74.04% out of which 82.14% are males and 65.46% are females. The percentage of females opting for higher studies is very low. The academic results of girls are better than boys but still their parents prefer spending their money on boy’s education.
2. Less pay for same work: There are very few women who are drawing better wages as compared to men. Even if women work more than men, they are still given less wages as their work is not given much importance.
3. Wish to have male child: In most parts of the country, people prefer male child than female. That is why the sex ratio in India is declining and female foeticide is prevalent on an increasing scale. (iv) Exploitation of women: Women in India are exploited on various grounds. The percentage of crimes against women such as harassment, dowry deaths, rape, physical and mental abuse, conjugal violence, etc., has risen.

In this way, we can say that women are exploited and discriminated to a great extent in the male dominated society of India.

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1. The most common form of communalism is our day-to-day beliefs or religious ideas. These ideas include the belief in superiority of one religion as compared to another religion, religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities.
2. If any person has communal views then it can lead to a quest for political dominance of his religion over the others. If that person belongs to a majority community of that nation then majoritarian dominance may prevail. Eventually, a need to form a separate political unit also comes in the minority community of that nation.
3. Another most common form of communalism is the political mobilisation on religious lines. For this, religious leaders may use their speech, emotional appeal, sacred symbols for uniting followers of one religion in the political field. In elections, we can often see religious leaders give orders to their followers to cast their votes in favour of a particular political party.
4. The most ugly form of communalism is riots and communal violence between the followers of different religions. One common example is the riots that occurred at the time of partition of India wherein both India and Pakistan suffered a lot of bloodshed. Even after Independence, this has happened in many parts of the country such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc.

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1. Endogamy: The meaning of endogamy is to marry within the caste or group and not out of it. Even in modern age, people do not opt for inter-caste marriages even though it is legally sanctioned. They think that their caste is superior to others due to which they look at the other castes with hatred. In this way, endogamy is a factor of inequality based on caste.
2. Untouchability: Untouchability was a concept in which people of so-called lower castes could not come in contact of people of so-called higher castes. If they did, then they were severely punished. The Constitutional provisions have abolished the practice of untouchability but is still prevalent although on a lower scale.
3. Education: Earlier, when the caste system was prevalent, lower caste groups had no access to education due to which they have naturally lagged behind at present. But, at present after many amendments, they have access to education.
4. Occupation: Earlier people of so-called lower castes took their hereditary occupation of cleaning and were not allowed to adopt any other occupation. After many constitutional amendments, these people are able to take up other job opportunities in any field.

In this way, we can say that caste inequalities have persisted in India but are now losing ground.

Answer:

Caste alone cannot determine election results in India because:

1. No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of a single caste–to regard as a vote bank. Hence, every candidate or party needs to win the trust of the entire community and not just one caste. No single party gets the vote of only a single community.
2. Many political parties may nominate their candidates from the same caste. Sometimes more candidates turn up from the same caste, while sometimes none at all.

Thus, we can say that caste alone fails to determine election results as people have stronger attachment to their political parties than to the caste or community. Their economic status also determines their voting pattern. The popularity of the leaders as well as their commitment to do work plays a major role in determining their choice of candidate.

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This is a well known fact that the participation of women in India’s legislative bodies is very less. In each election, the share of women’s winning percentage in Parliament never exceeds 10%. Their representation in state assemblies is as low as 5%. If we consider globally, India is at the bottom of the list in women’s representation in legislative assemblies. Even if a female leads the government, the cabinet is still dominated by males.

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Secular state is that state which has no religion of its own and which regards all the religions of the country equally. Our Constitution has given our country the status of a Secular State due to the presence of diverse religious groups in our country. The constitution has made many provisions which reflect secular status given to India:

1. India has no official religion of its own. Unlike India, many countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, etc., have their official religion.
2. All the citizens of the country are given the right to profess, propagate and practise any religion of their choice.
3. The Constitution states that the government shall not discriminate against any citizen on the basis of his or her religion.

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(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women

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(d) Panchayati Raj bodies

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(d) B and D

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(b) It gives official status to one religion.

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caste

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1. (b), 2. (a), 3. (d), 4. ( c)

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Due to gender division of labour in most of the families according to tradition, women take care of the housework and men work outside to earn livelihood. The work done by a housewife is not valued and recognised by the society. They (women) were not paid for the household work and therefore it is stated that “I don’t work. I am a housewife”.

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Hint. Student can express their feeling in favour or against the topic. Given below is the view of an unknown individual. Casteism and Communalism are not good, because they are a hindrance in the working of democracy. Feminism is considered good because it aims to secure equal right for both men and women. Caste is fixed by birth. A person cannot change his caste until his/her death.

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Both communalism and secularism effect the working of a democratic society. Communalism divides the society on the basis religion and tries to impose the religious belief on one religion over others, while secularism provides equal opportunities to develop all religions. Communalism leads to tension as well as violence in the society. Communalism should be curbed and the possible measures should be taken to reduce its influence on the politics and the society.

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Casteism has influenced the Indian society. Even our politics is under its influence. It has adversely affected the working of democracy. By discussing about casteism’s impacts, measures can be suggested to reduce its influence.

By talking about casteism we are not promoting it but suggesting measures to reduce its influence through textbooks.