INTERNATIONAL INDIAN SCHOOL-DAMMAM
POLITICAL SCIENCE, CLASS X (2025-26)
CHAPTER-3 GENDER, RELIGION AND CASTE
1. Mention different aspects of life in which women are discriminated or disa
dvantaged in India.
· LOW LITERACY RATE
The literacy rate among women is only 54 per cent compared with
76percent among men. Similarly, a smaller proportion of girl students go
for higher studies. When we look at school results, girls perform as
well as boys, if not better in some places. But they drop out because
parents prefer to spend their resources for their boys’ education rather
than spending equally on their sons and daughters.
·WOMEN WORK MORE
No wonder when the proportion of women among the highly paid and
valued jobs is still very small. On an average an Indian woman works
an hour more than an average man every day. Yet much of her work is
not paid and therefore often not valued.
·UNEQUAL WAGES
The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be
paid to equal work. However in almost all areas of work, from sports
and cinema, to factories and fields, women are paid less than men,
even when both do exactly the same work.
·SEX SELECTIVE ABORTION
In many parts of India parents prefer to have sons and find ways to
have the girl child aborted before she was born. Such sex-selective
abortion led to a decline in child sex ratio ( number of girl children
per thousand boys) in the country to merely 919.
· DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Urban areas have become particularly unsafe for women. They are not
safe even within their own home from beating, harassment and other
forms of domestic violence.
. SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR
Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility
of women is housework and bringing up children. This is reflected in
a sexual division of labour 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.
2. State different forms of communal politics with one example each.
Ans. Communalism can take various forms in politics:
·The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These
routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities
and belief in the superiority of one's religion over the religions. This is so
common that we often fail to notice it, even when we believe in it.
·A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one's
own religious community. For those belonging to majority community, this
takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the
minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate
political unit.
·Political mobilization on religious lines is another frequent form of
communalism. This 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. In electoral politics this often
involves special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one
religion in preference to others.
·Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal
violence, riots and massacre. India and Pakistan suffered some of the
worst communal riots at the time of the Partition. The post-Indepen
dence period has also seen large scale communal violence.
3. State how caste inequalities are still continuing in India.
Ans. Caste has not disappeared from contemporary India. Some of the older
aspects of caste have persisted. Even now most people marry within their
own caste or tribe. Untouchability has not ended completely, despite
constitutional prohibition. Effects of centuries of advantages and
disadvantages continue to be felt today. The caste groups that had access to
education under the old system have done very well in acquiring modern
education as well.These groups that did not have access to education or
were prohibited from acquiring it have naturally lagged behind. That is
why there is a disproportionately large presence of 'upper caste 'amongst the
urban middle classes in our country. Caste continues to be closely linked
to economic status.
4. State two reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election
results in India.
·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.
·No party wins the votes for 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 that caste vote for
that party.
·Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste (if
that caste is believed to dominate the electorate in a particular
constituency).Some voters have more than one candidate from their
caste while many voters have no candidate from their caste.
·The ruling party and the sitting of MP or MLA frequently lose
elections in our country. That could not have happened if all castes
and communities were frozen in their political preferences. Clearly,
while caste matters in electoral politics, so do many other factors.
·The voters have strong attachment to political parties which is often
stronger than their attachment to their caste or community. People
within the same caste or community have different interests
depending on their economic condition. Rich and poor or men and
women from the same caste often very differently.People's assessment
of the performance of the government and the popularity rating of
the leaders matter and are often decisive in elections.
5. What is the status of women's representation in India's legislative
bodies?
·In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low.
For example, the percentage of elected women members in Lok
Sabha has touched 14.36 per cent of its total strength for the first
time in 2019. Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5
percent. In this respect, India is among the bottom group of
nations in the world. India is behind the averages for several
developing countries of Africa and Latin America.In the government,
cabinets are largely all - male even when a woman becomes the
Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.
·One third of seats in local government bodies-in panchayats and
municipalities-are now reserved for women. Now there are more
than 10 lakh elected women representatives in rural and urban
local bodies. Women's organisations and activists have been
demanding a similar reservation of at least one-third of seats in the
Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women. A bill with this
proposal has been pending before the Parliament for more than a
decade.
6. Mention any two constitutional provisions that make India a
secular state.
·There is no official religion for the Indian state. Unlike the
status of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam in Pakistan
and that of Christianity in England, our Constitution does not
give a special status to any religion.
·The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities
freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to
follow any.
·The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
·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.
7. Explain the role of caste in politics.
Ans. Caste can take various forms in politics:
· When parties choose candidates in elections. They keep in mind
the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates
from different caste so as to muster necessary support to win
elections. When governments are formed political parties usually
take care that representatives of different castes and tribes find a
place in it.
·Political parties and candidates in elections make appeals to caste sentiment
to muster support. Some political parties are known to favour some castes
and are seen as their representatives.
·Universal adult franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote compelled
political leaders to gea up to the task of mobilizing and securing
political support. It also brought new consciousness among the people of
castes that were hitherto treated as inferior and low.
8. Explain the role of politics in caste.
·Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it
neighboring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.
·Various caste groups are required to enter into a coalition with other
castes or communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.
·New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena like
'backward' and 'forward' caste groups.
