CLASS 10 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS

GENDER,RELIGION AND CASTE-PART-2

CLASS NOTES
Q5. What is the status of women’s representation in India’s legislatures bodies?
Ans. The status women’s representation in India’s legislative bodies is as follows:
i).The central legislature; Less than 10% of its total strength is women
ii).State Legislature: Less than 5% of its total strength is women.
iii). Panchayati Raj: One –third of the seats are reserved for women.
iv).India is among the bottom group of nations in the world, in this aspect.
v).Women’s organisations and activists have been demanding a similar
reservation of at least one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. But
the bill to this effect has not been passed.
Q6. Mention any two institutional provision that make India a secular state?
Ans. The constitutional provisions for a secular state are:
i). There is no official religion for the Indian state. Unlike the status of Buddhism in
Srilanka, that of Islam in Pakistan and that of Christianity in England, our
constitution does not give any special status to anyone.
ii). The constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to
profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
iii). The constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
iv). At the same time, the constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters
of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities. For example ,
it bans untouchability.
Q7.Due to what efforts caste system in modern India Undergone a great change.
Ans.Partly due to the efforts and partly due to other socio economic changes
castes and caste system in modern India have undergone great changes.
ii).With economic development and large scale URBANISATION,growth of literacy
and education,OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY and the weekening of the landlords in
the villages,the old notion of CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.
iii).The constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid
the foundation of politics to reverse the injustices of the caste system.
Q8.”Caste has not disappeared from contemporary India”. Support the
statement with one suitable examples.
Ans. Caste has not disappeared from the contemporary India.
i).Even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe.Untouchability has
not ended completely,despite constitutional prohibition.
ii).The caste group that had access to education under the old system have done
very well in acquiring modern education as well.
iii).Those group that did not have access to education or were prohibited from
acquiringit have naturally lagged behind.
iv).That is why there is a disproportionately large presence of ‘upper caste’ among
the urban middle classes in our country.
Q9.Explain the impact of caste system on Indian democracy.
Ans.Impact of caste system on Indian economy:
i).Expression of caste differences in politics gives many disadvantages
communities the space to demand their share of power. In this sense, caste
politics has helped Dalit and OBC to gain better access to decision making.
ii).Several political and non-political organisations have been demanding and
agitating for an end to discrimination against particular castes for more dignity
and more access to land,resources and opportunities.
iii). Exclusive attention can produce negative results as well .It can divert attention
from other pressing issues such as poverty development and corruption.in some
cases it leads to violence.
Q10.The focus on caste in politics can sometime give an impression that
elections are all about caste and nothing else.Do you agree? Explain
Ans.No I do not agree with this statement.
This is far from true because
i).No Parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single
caste. So,every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than
one caste and community to win elections.
ii).No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community.When people
say that a caste is a ‘vote bank’ of one party.It usually means that a large
proportion of the voters from the caste vote for the party.
iii).Many political parties may put up-candidates from the same caste if that caste
believed to- dominate the electorate in a particular constituency.Some voters
have more than one candidate from their caste while many have no candidates
from their caste .
iv).The ruling party of the sitting MP or MLA frequently loses elections in our
country.That could not have happened if all castes or communities were frozen in
their political preferences.