Bhagya – Page 30 – Jharkhand Board Solution

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 The Making of Global World

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 The Making of Global World

→ Human societies have become steadily more interlinked.

Travellers, traders, priests and pilgrims travelled vast distances for carrying goods, money, ideas, skills, inventions and even germs and diseases.
Indus Valley Civilisation was linked with present West Asia. Cowries was a form of currency from the Maldives.

→ Silk Routes Link the World:

The Silk routes proved to be a great source of trade and cultural link between distinct parts of the world.
The silk routes were regarded as the most important routes linking the distant parts of the world.
These routes existed even before the Christian Era and flourished till the 15th century.
The Buddhist preachers, Christian missionaries and later on Muslim preachers used to travel by these routes.
Food Travels: Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange. Foods like potatoes, soya, maize, etc., were not known to our ancestors.

→ Conquest, Disease and Trade:

The world shrank in the 16th century after the European sailors found a sea route to Asia and America.
The Indian subcontinent had been known for bustling trade with goods, people, customs and knowledge. It was a crucial point in their trade network.
After the discovery of America, its vast lands, abundant crops and minerals began to transform trade and lives everywhere.
Precious metals, particularly silver from mines located in Peru and Mexico enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia.
The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America was underway.
The most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a conventional military weapon but germs of small pox which they carried.
America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against such types of diseases.

→ A World Economy Takes Shape:

Abolition of the com law.
Under pressure from the landowners’ groups, the government restricted the import of foodgrains.
After the com laws were scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced in the country.
British farmers were unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were left uncultivated.
As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose.
Faster industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and more food imports.

→ The Role of Technology:

Technology had a great impact on the transformation of the 19th century world such as railways, steamship and telegraph.
Technological advances were often the results of social, political and economic factors.
The refrigerated ships helped to transport the perishable food items over a long distance.
It facilitated the shipment of frozen meat from America, Australia or New Zealand to different European countries.

→ The Nineteenth Century (1815 to 1914)

In the 19th century, economic, political, social, cultural and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations by European cqnquests.
Rinderpest or the cattle plague: It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed Italian soldiers. Rinderpest killed 90% of the cattle and destroyed African livelihoods.
Meaning of ‘Indentured labour’ – ‘Indentured labour’ means labour by a bonded labourer under contract to Work for an employer for a specific period of time.
It brought higher income for some and poverty for others.
In the 19th century indenture was described as a new system of slavery.
Living conditions were harsh but workers discovered their own ways to survive.
- Indian bankers financed export agriculture in Central and South-East Asia
- Britain had ‘Trade surplus’ with India- Value of British exports were bigger than the value of imports from India.

→ The Inter War Economic:

The First World War was mainly fought in Europe.
During this time, the world experienced economic and political instabilities and another miserable war.
The First World War was fought between ; two power blocs. On the one hand were the allies – Britain, France, Russia and later joined the US, and on the opposite side- Germany, Austria, Hungary, Ottoman and Turkey.
This war lasted for four years.

→ Technological Transformations:

Modem industrial war- First-time modem weapons like machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons, etc., were used on a massive scale.
Millions of soldiers had to be recruited from around the world, and most of them were men of working age.
British borrowed large sums from US banks.
The war transformed the US from being an international debtor to an international creditor.
US recovery was quicker after the war.
Important feature of the US economy of 1920’s was mass production.

→ The Great Depression:
Factors responsible for depression

Agricultural overproduction made the price of agriculture products slumping.
Many countries financed their investment through the loan they got from the USA.
American capitalists stopped all loans to European countries.
In Europe, it led to a failure of some major banks and collapse of currencies like Sterling.
Doubling the import duties by the USA, which hit the world trade badly.

→ Bretton Woods Institutions:

To deal with external surpluses and deficits a conference was held in July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, the USA.
International Monetary Fund and World Bank were set up to finance post war restructuring.
The post war international economic system is known as Bretton Woods system.
This system was based on fixed exchange rates.
IMF and World Bank are referred to as Bretton Woods Twins.
The US has an effective right of veto over key IMF and World Bank.

→ Decolonisation and Independence:

Most developing countries did not benefit from the fast growth of Western economies in the 1950s and 60s.
They organised themselves as a group, the group of 77 or G-77 to demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
- The relQcation of industry to low wage countries stimulated world trade and capital flow.
- Because of New economic policy, china became a favourite destination for the MNCs to invest.
It was a system that would give them real control over their natural resources, more development assistance, fairer prices for I raw materials and better access for their manufactured goods in developed countries, markets.
In last two decades, the economy of the world has changed a lot as countries like China, India and Brazil have achieved rapid economic development.

→ End of Bretton Woods and the Beginning of ‘Globalisation’

The US dollar could not maintain in relation to gold
It led collapse of the system of fixed exchange rates and introduction of floating exchange rates.
1970’s MNCs also started shifting production to low-wage countries.
The relocation of industries to low wage countries stimulated the world trade and capital flow.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 Nationalism in India

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 2 Nationalism in India

→ The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

The First World War created a new economic and political situation.
As defence expenditure increased, custom duties were raised and income tax introduced.
Rise in prices between 1913 and 1918 led to extreme hardship for the common people.
There was forced recruitment of soldiers from rural areas which caused widespread anger.
As crops failed in many parts of India, between 1918-19 and 1920-21, there was shortage of food, resulting in famines and epidemic.

→ The Idea of Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915.
He successfully fought the racist regime in South Africa using a novel method of mass agitation, known as satyagraha.
He believed that dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.
Gandhiji successfully organised satyagraha movements in Champaran in Bihar against oppressive plantation system; Kheda in Gujarat to reduce revenue collection; and Ahmedabad in Gujarat amongst the cotton mill workers.

→ The Rowlatt Act

The Rowlatt Act (1919) passed by the Imperial Legislative Council, gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
Gandhiji decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against such unjust laws.
Rallies were organised in various cities, workers went on strike in railway workshops, and shops closed down.
To control the nationalists, the British administration picked up local leaders from Amritsar and barred Gandhiji from entering Delhi.
On 13 April 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place. General Dyer ordered an open fire on peaceful, innocent people who gathered at the park for a peaceful protest and attend the annual Baisakhi fair.
This led to mass aggression which the government brutally repressed.
At the Calcutta Session of Congress in September 1920, Gandhiji decided to launch Non-Cooperation Movement in support of Khilafat and Swaraj. He thought this would unite the Hindus and the Muslims.

→ Why Non-Cooperation?

Mahatma Gandhi in his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909) declared that British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians. If the Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year and swaraj would come.
Gandhiji believed that non-cooperation should be unfolded in stages. It should begin with the surrender of titles that the government awarded, boycott civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods.
However, many within the Congress were concerned about the proposals and there was intense tussle within the Congress.
At the Congress Session at Nagpur in December 1920, a compromise was worked out and the Non-Cooperation movement was adopted.

→ The Movement in the Towns

The movement began with the middle-class participation in the cities. Students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, lawyers gave up their practice. Council elections were boycotted.
Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, afnd foreign clothes burnt in huge bonfires. Foreign import halved.
However, the movement in the cities gradually slowed down for variety of reasons, such as khadi was expensive and not affordable by all, and alternate Indian institutions had to be set up so that they could be used in place of British ones.

→ Rebellion in the Countryside

Non-Cooperation Movement drew into its folds the struggles of peasants and tribals which were developing in various parts of the country.
In Awadh, the peasants were led by Baba Ramchancjra, who was a sanyasi. Their struggle was against the oppressive talukdars and landlords who charged exorbitant rents and variety of other cesses, and forced peasants to do begar. They had no secured tenure.
Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others. The effort of Congress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the wider struggle.
As the movement spread in 1921, houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked, bazaars were looted and grain hoards were taken over. Many local leaders declared that Gandhiji had said that it was not necessary to pay tax and the land would be redistributed among the poor.
As the tribal peasants were forbidden from entering the forests to graze cattle, collect fuelwood and fruits, they sought to guerilla warfare. They resented for forced begar to construct roads. Alluri Sitaram Raju inspired people to wear khadi and give up drinking. He also said that India could gain freedom by the use of force and not by non-violence.

→ Swaraj in the Plantations

Plantation workers in Assam wanted the freedom to move around and also keep in touch with the village from where they had come.
Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, they did not have the permission to leave the tea gardens without permission.
When the workers heard about Non-Cooperation Movement, they left the plantations, defied the authorities and left for home.
However, they were stranded on the way with steamer and railway strike, caught by the police and brutally beaten up.

→ Towards Civil Disobedience

With the Chauri-Chaura incident in 1922, Gandhiji halted the Non-Cooperation Movement. He felt satyagrahis needed to be trained properly before they would be ready for mass struggle.
When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, they were greeted with slogan ‘Go back Simon’. It was constituted to look into the constitutional system in India but had only British members and no Indians. A Round Table Conference was to decide the future constitution.
The radicals within the Congress were not satisfied and became more assertive. Under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the demand for ‘Puma Swaraj’ was formalised in December 1929 at Lahore Congress Session. 26 January 1930 was declared as the Independence Day when people would take a pledge to struggle for complete independence.

→ The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

The most oppressive of all rules of the British was the tax on salt and its monopoly over production. Gandhiji found in salt a veiy powerful symbol that could unite the nation.
Gandhiji sent eleven demands to Viceroy Irwin .stating that if they were not met, a nationwide. Civil Disobedience Movement would be launched. The demands were wide ranging, so that all classes of society would identify with it and be brought together in a united campaign.
When the demands were not fulfilled, Gandhiji started the Dandi March with his followers from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi. On 6 April, he violated the law by manufacturing salt by boiling sea water. This marked the beginning of Civil Disobedience Movement.
People were asked to defy British administration peacefully. People went to forest to graze their cattle and collect wood, foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed. People manufactured salt, peasants refused to pay taxes and village officials resigned.
The colonial government began using repressive measures and arrested many leaders. When Gandhiji was arrested, industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal buildings, courts, etc. As the movement became violent, Gandhiji decided to call off the Movement.
Gandhiji signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931 and consented to join the Second Round Table Conference in London. However, the discussions were not satisfying and Gandhiji returned India disappointed. In India when he found Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru imprisoned and that the British had renewed their oppressive measures, he decided to re-launch the Civil Disobedience Movement.

→ How Participants saw the Movement

In the countryside, rich peasants participated in the movement. However, when the Civil Disobedience Movement was called off in 1931 without revision in the rent, they were very disappointed. When the movement was restarted in 1932, many refused to participate.
The poor peasants had joined movements led by the Socialists and Communists. Apprehensive of issues from the rich peasants and displeasing them, Congress was not willing to support the poor peasants.
Prominent Indian industrialists supported the movement. Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) was formed in 1927. However, after the failure of the Round Table Conference, industrialists were not uniformly enthusiastic.
The industrial working class did not participate in large numbers in the movement, except in the Nagpur region. Congress was reluctant to include the workers’.demands as part of the struggle as it felt it would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
Women participated in large numbers in this movement. They were involved in protest marches, manufactured salt, picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.

→ The Limits of Civil Disobedience

The Congress ignored the dalits in fear of offending the sanatanis, the high-caste Hindus. Gandhiji believed that freedom would not come for years if untouchability was not eliminated. He called them harijans.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar organised the dalits into Depressed Classes and demanded for separate electorates for them. When the British agreed to his demands, Gandhiji went on fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates would mean process of integration of dalits into society would slow down. Finally, when Ambedkar accepted Gandhiji’s position, Poona Pact was signed on September 1932. They were to have reserved seats in provincial and legislative councils but were to be voted in by the general electorate.
Muslims also had a lukewarm response to the Civil Disobedience Movement. Muhammad Ali Jirmah, one of the leaders of Muslim League was ready to give up demand for separate electorate if Muslims were given reserved seats in Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in the Muslim-dominated provinces. However, when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly disagreed to it, all efforts at compromise broke down.

→ The Sense of Collective Belonging:

Nationalism spreads when people feel, they belong to the same nation; when they have common bonds that unite them together. History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all play a part in making of nationalism.
In the twentieth century, with the growth of nationalism, the identity of India came to be associated with image of Bharat Mata. She was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as he wrote ‘ Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland. This hymn was included in his famous novel Anandamath.
The image of Bharat Mata was first painted by Abanindranath Tagore. Later it acquired several different forms. Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.
Ideas of nationalism also developed through revival of Indian folklore. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore himself began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths and led the movement for folk revival. In Madras, Natesa Sastri believed that folklore was a national literature.
During Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolour (red, green and yellow) was designed with eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims. Gandhiji designed the Swaraj flag, which was a tricolour (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel at the centre representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help.
Feeling of nationalism was created with reinterpretation of history. While the British considered Indians backward and primitive, and incapable of governing themselves, Indians began looking into the past to rediscover India’s great achievements.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 1 The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes History Chapter 1 The Rise of Nationalism in Europe Notes

→ In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a series of four print visualizing his dream of a world made up of ‘democratic and social republic

→ Artists of the time of the French Revolution personified Liberty as a female figure. According’to Sorrieu’s utopian vision, the * people of the world are grouped as distinct nations, identified through their flags and national costume.

→ During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force which brought about sweeping changes in the political and mental world of Europe. The end result of these changes was the emergence of the nation¬state in place of the multi-national dynastic empires of Europe.

→ A modem state, in which a centralized power exercised sovereign control over a clearly defined territory, had been developing over a long period of time in Europe.

→ A nation-state was one in which the majority . of its citizens, and not only its rulers, came to develop a sense of common identity and shared history or descent.

→ The French -Revolution and the Idea of the Nation:

The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.
The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.
The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
The Estates General was elected by the body of the active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
Customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
Students and other members of educated middle classes began setting up Jacobin club. Their activities and campaigns prepared the way for the French armies which moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790’s.
Through a return to monarchy Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field he had incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make the whole system more rational and efficient.
The Civil Code of 1804-usually known as the Napoleonic Code-did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.

→ Transport and communication systems were improved.

Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realize that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.
In many places such as Holland and Switzerland, Brussels, Mainz, Milan, Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of Liberty.
It became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom.
Increased taxation, censorship, forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of the Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes.

→ The Making of Nationalism in Europe

Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories.
They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture.
The Habsburg Empire ruled over Austria-Hungary.
In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar while the other half spoke a variety of dialects.
Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the boundaries of the empire.
The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.

→ The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy was the dominant class on the continent.
The members of this class were by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions.
Their families were often connected by ties if marriages.
This powerful aristocracy was, however, numerically a small group. The growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes whose existence was based on production for the market.
Industrialization began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century, but in France and parts of the German states it occurred only during the nineteenth century.
In its wake, new social groups came into being: a working-class population, and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, professional.
It was among the educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity.

→ What Did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?

In early-nineteenth century Europe was closely allied to the ideology of liberalism.
The term ‘liberalism’ derives from the Latin root liber, meaning free.
Liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law.
It emphasized the concept of government by consent.
A constitution and representative govern¬ment through parliament.
The right to vote and to get elected was generated exclusively to property-owning men.
Men without property and all women were excluded from political rights.
Women and non-propertied men and women organised opposition movements demanding equal political rights.
The abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
A merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg to sell his goods would have to pass through 11 customs barriers and pay a customs duty of about 5% at each one of them.
Obstacles to economic exchanges and growth by the new commercial classes, who argued for the creation of a unified economic territory allowing the unhindered movement of goods, people and capital.
The union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two.

→ A New Conservation after 1815

Following the defect of Napoleon in 1815, European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism.
Most conservatives, did not propose a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days.
That modernization could in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy.
A modem army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe.
In 1815, representatives of the European powers – Britain, Russia, Pmssia and Austria – who had collectively defeated Napoleon, met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe.
The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed during the French Revolution, was restored to power, and France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.
German confederation of 39 states that has been set up by Napoleon was left untouched.
Autocratic did not tolerate criticism and dissent, and sought to curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of autocratic government.

→ The Revolutionaries

During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists undergrounds.
Revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms and to fight for liberty and freedom.
Giuseppe Mazzini, bom in Genoa in 1807, he became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
He was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
Mazzini believed that god had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
Secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland.
Mettemich described him as ‘The most dangerous enemy of our social order’.

→ The Age of Revolution: 1830-1848

As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.
‘When the France sneezes’, Mettemich once remarked, ‘the rest of the Europe catches cold’.
An event that mobilized nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe was the Greek war of independence.
Greece had been the part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century.
Greeks living in exile and also from many west Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.

→ The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansions.
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feeling.
Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiments.
Romantic artists and poet generally criticised the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on emotions, institution and mystical feelings.
Other romantics were through folk song, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation.
National feelings were kept alive through music and languages.
Karol Kurpinski, celebrated the national struggles through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.
Language played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments.
Russian language was imposed everywhere.
Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance.
As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russians.

→ Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.
The first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in population.
In most countries there were more seekers of jobs than employment.
Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded slum.
Food shortage and widespread unemploy¬ment brought the population of Paris out on the roads.
National Assembly proclaimed a republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
Earlier, in 1845, weavers in Silesia had lead a revolt against contractors who supplied them ra\y material and gave them orders for finished textile.
On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers emerged from their homes and marched in pairs up to the mansion of their contractors demanding higher wages.
The contractors fled with his family to a neighbouring village which, however, refused to shelter such a person.
He returned 24 hours later having requisitioned the army.
In the exchange that followed, eleven weavers were shot.

→ 1848: The Revolution of the Liberals

The poor, unemployment and starving peasants and workers in many European countries in the years 1848, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was under way.
Men and women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism with national unification.
They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.
Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.
While the opposition of the aristocracy and military became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded.
The issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial one within the liberal movement.
Women had formed their own political associations, founded newspaper and taken part in political meetings and demonstrations.
Women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors’ gallery.
Monarchs were beginning to realize that the cycles if revolution and repression could be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist revolutionaries.

→ The Making of Germany and Italy Germany

After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.
This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came to be unified as nation-states.
Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans.
This liberal initiative to nation-building was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners of Prussia.
Prussia took on the leadership of the movement.
Three wars overseen years-with Austria, Denmark, and France-ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.
The nation-building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.
The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in Germany.

→ Italy

Like Germany, Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation.
Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire.
Italy was divided into seven states.
Italian language had not acquired one common form and still had many regional and local variations.
Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.*
Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
The failure of revolutionary uprising both in 1831 andf 1848 meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war.
Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.
Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
Italian population, among whom rates of illiteracy were high, remained blissfully unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology.

→ The Strange Case of Britain

The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have argued, is Great Britain.
It was the result of a long-drawn-out process.
There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth century.
‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland.
The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.
Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
British flag, the national anthem, the English language – were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partners on this union.

→ Visualising the Nation

While it was easy enough to represent a ruler through a portrait or a statue.
In other words, they represented a country as if it were a person.
Nations were then portrayed as a female figure.
The female figures became an allegory of the nation.
Christened Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of people’s nation.

→ Nationalism and Imperialism

By the quarter of the nineteenth century nationalism no longer retained its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment of the first half of the century, but became a narrow creed with limited ends.
The most serious source of nationalists tension in Europe after 1871 was the area called the Balkans.
The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation.
One by one its European subjects nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.
The Balkan area became an era of intense conflict.
The Balkan states were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of each other.
But the idea that societies should be organized into ‘nation-states’ came to be accepted as natural and universal.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Understanding Media

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Understanding Media

→ Media can be anything and everything ranging from the stall at the local fair to the program that we see on TV.

Media is the plural form of Medium. There are different ways through which we communicate with people and society. It is a means of communication.
Television, radio and newspapers are a form of media that reaches millions of people or the masses all over the country and the world thus, they are called mass media.

→ Media and Technology:

The technology that mass media uses keeps changing from time to time. Television and the use of the Internet is a very recent phenomenon as these have come into existence for less than twenty years.
Due to certain use of technologies, newspapers, television and radio can reach millions of people.
Newspapers and magazines are the part of the print media and Television and radio are the part of the electronic media.
Technology are making us more modem. Changing technology, or machines helps media to reach more people. It not only improves the quality of sound and the images that you see. But also changes the ways in which we think about our lives.
Television has enabled us to think as members of a larger global world. Television images travel huge distances through satellites and cables and allows us to view news and entertainment channels from other parts of the world.
Television, cell phones, internet has brought the world closer to us.

→ Media and Money:

The various technologies which mass media uses are very expensive. In a news studio, it is not only the newsreader who needs to be paid but also a number of other people who help to put the broadcast together, this includes those who look after the cameras and lights etc.
Most of the television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses.
To meet the expenses, they do number of things. One of them is advertising. The mass media earns money by advertising different things such as cars, chocolates, clothes, mobile phones, etc.
Advertisements are repeated in the hope that you will go out and buy what is advertised. It is the way of convincing the common people.

→ Media and Democracy:

The media plays an important role in providing news and discussing events taking place in the country and the world in democracy.
The ways in which they can take action on the basis of news is by writing letters to the concerned minister, organising a public protest, starting a signature campaign, asking the government to rethink its programme etc.
It is important that the information should be balanced as the media has been given the role in providing information.
A balanced report is one that discusses all points of view of a particular story and then leaves it to the readers to make up their minds.
A balanced report write ups depends on the media being independent. An independent media means that no one should control and influence its coverage of news. No one should tell the media what to write or what not to write.
In a democracy, an independent media is very important.
In reality, the media is far from independent. Reasons are there for it.
The control that the government has on the media is the first reason. When the government bans or cut either a news item or scenes from a movie or the lyrics of a song from being shared with the larger public this is known as censorship. There have been periods in Indian history when the government censored the media. Between 1975-1977, the worst of these was the Emergency period.
The second reason is that despite the absence of censorship by the government, most of the newspapers nowadays fail to provide a balanced story because the business houses control the media. At times, it is in the interest of these businesses to focus on only one side of the story. Since, media needs money to run, hence it links to advertising means that it becomes difficult for media to be reporting against people who give them advertisements.
Apart from these factors, to make the news story more interesting they show only one side of the story and to increase the public support.

→ Setting Agendas:

The media also plays an important role in deciding what stories to focus and emphasize on and decides on what is newsworthy.
By emphasizing and focusing on particular issues, the media influences our thoughts, feelings and actions, and brings those issues to our attention. Due to this significant influence, it plays in our lives and in shaping our thoughts and it is generally said that the media ‘sets the agenda’.
The media positively help us to focus on an issue that affects our lives and one that we might not even have been aware of it, had it not been for media reporting.
Though there are several occasions when the media fails to focus on issues that are very much significant in our lives.
Since it is a democratic country, the media has a very important role to play in our lives because it is through the media that we hear about issues related to the working of the government. The media decides what to focus on and in this way it ‘sets the agenda’.
This is important for us to be aware that the ‘factual information’ that a news report provides is often incomplete and can be one-sided. Therefore, we need to analyse the news before coming into conclusion of the issue or news.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 7 Markets Around Us

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 7 Markets Around Us

→ There are many types of markets that we may visit for our everyday needs: these can include shops, hawker’s stalls in our neighbourhood, a weekly market, a large shopping complex, perhaps even a mall.

→ Weekly Market:

The market which is held on a specific day of the week is known as the weekly market.
Weekly markets do not have permanent shops. Traders set up shops for the day and then close them up in the evening. Then they may set up at a different place the next day.
Many things are available at cheaper rates in weekly markets. The reason is when shops are in permanent buildings, they incur a lot of expenditure, they have to pay rent, electricity, fees to the government, etc. They also have to pay wages to their workers. In weekly markets, these shop owners store the things at home.
One of the advantages of weekly markets is that most things you need are available at one place.

→ Shops in the Neighbourhood:

We also buy things from other kinds of markets. There are many shops that sell goods and services in our neighbourhoods.
Many of these are the permanent shops while others are roadside stalls such as the vegetable hawker, the fruit vendor, the mechanic, etc.
Shops in the neighbourhood are useful in many ways. They are near our home and we can go there on any day of the week. Generally, the buyer and seller know each other and these shops also provide goods and things on credit.

→ Shopping Complexes and Malls:

There are other markets in the urban area that have many shops, popularly called shopping complexes.
These days in many urban areas there are large multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors known as malls.
In these urban markets, both branded and non-branded goods are found.
The companies producing the branded products, sell them through shops in large urban markets and at times through special showrooms as compared to non-branded goods, fewer people can afford to buy branded ones.

→ Chain of Markets:

The people who is present in between the producer and the final consumer are the traders. The wholesale trader first buys goods in large quantities.
Through these connections of traders that goods reach distant places. The retailer is the trader who finally sells this to the consumer.
This could be a trader in a weekly market, a hawker in the neighbourhood or a shop in a shopping complex.
A chain of markets is set up. Every city has areas for wholesale markets. This is where goods first reach and are then supplied to other traders. From these traders, the retailers buy and finally the buyers get it.

→ Markets Everywhere:

Buying and selling takes place in different ways, not through shops in the market only. People use phones and internet to place orders and get the things at their home.
There are markets that we are not so aware of because a large number of goods are bought and sold that we don’t use directly.
Generally, we don’t see all the buying and selling processes but only the final product.

→ Markets and Equality:

We can be buyers or sellers in these different markets which depends among other things and on the money that we have.
The weekly market trader earns very less compared to the profit of a shop owner in a shopping complex.
When things are sold, it encourages production and new opportunities are created for people to earn. Hence, there is inequality in the market.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 8 A Shirt in the Market

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 8 A Shirt in the Market

→ A chain of markets links the producer of cotton to the buyer of the shirt in the supermarket. Buying and selling takes place at every step in the chain.

→ A Cotton Farmer in Kurnool:

Cultivation of cotton is a very tough and difficult job. Cultivation of cotton is very expensive and requires high levels of inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides.
The farmers have to bear heavy expenses on account of these. The small farmers need to borrow money to meet these expenses.
Local traders were giving loans to farmers and in return they were buying their cottons from them at cheaper rates. They were very clever and making good amount of money.

→ The Cloth Market of Erode

Different varieties of cloth are sold in Erode’s bi-weekly cloth market in Tamil Nadu.
It is one of the largest cloth markets in the world.
Cloth that is made by weavers in the villages around is also brought in the market for sale. Offices of cloth merchants are present in the market who buy this cloth. Other traders from many south Indian towns also come and purchase cloth in this market.
On market days, weavers bring cloth that has been made on order from the merchant. These merchants supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country. Merchants purchase the yam and give instructions and directions to the weavers about the kind of cloth that is to be made.

→ Putting-out System – Weavers Producing Cloth at Home

The merchant distributes and hand out the work among the weavers based on the orders he has received for cloth. The merchant give yam to the weavers and in turn the weavers supply him the cloth.
Two advantages are there for the weavers. They do not have to spend their money on purchase of yam. Second, the problem of selling the finished cloth is taken care of.
But this dependence on the merchants for raw materials and markets means that the merchants has a lot of power. They give orders for what is to be made and they pay a very low price for making the cloth.
The weaver never know for whom they are making the cloth or at what price it will be sold. At the cloth market, the merchants sell the cloth to the garment factories. The market works in favour of the merchants most of the time.
Weavers invest all their savings or borrow money at high interest rates to buy looms. He cannot work alone so he takes the help
of another adult family member. They work very hard and earn very nominal amount.
The arrangement between the merchant and the weavers is an example of putting-out system where the merchant supplies the raw material and receives the finished product. It is prevalent in the weaving industry in most regions of India.

→ The Garment Exporting Factory Near Delhi

The Erode merchant supplies the cotton cloth produced by the weavers to a garment exporting factory near Delhi. The garment exporting factory will use the cloth to make shirts.
The shirts will be exported to foreign buyers who are from the US and Europe who run a chain of stores.
They do business on their own term and conditions. They demand the lowest prices from the supplier and set high standards for quality of production and timely delivery. Any defects or delay in delivery is dealt with strictly. Hence, the exporter tries his best to meet the conditions.
The exporters having these conditions and pressures in turn cut the costs of weavers and maximize their own profit and supply the garment to foreign buyers at cheap rates.

→ The Shirt in the United States
The big businessperson who bought the shirts from the garment exporters in Delhi earn a huge amount of profit. Although, he spent some amount on advertising, storage, etc.

→ Who are the Gainers in the Market?
There were people who made profits in the market and there were some who did not gain as much from this buying and selling. Despite they have been toiled very hard, they earned very little.

→ Market and Equality

Democracy is also about getting a fair wage in the market.
The foreign businessperson made maximum profits in the market But, the garment exporter made only moderate profits. Whereas, file workers earned so less at the garment export factory that are barely enough to cover their day- to-day needs. Similarly, the small cotton former and tiie weaver at Erode put in long hours ofhard work but they did not get a lair price in the market for what they produced. The merchants or traders are somewhere in between.
Mostly the rich and the powerful that get the maximum earnings from the market. These are the people who have money and own the factories, the large shops, large land holdings, etc. The poor have to depend on the rich and the powerful for different things. They have to depend for loans, for raw materials and marketing of their goods and most often for employment.
Due to this dependency and inequality, the poor people are exploited in the market.
To overcome these situations, cooperatives of producers are formed and ensures that laws are followed strictly.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

→ The heart of democracy is equality and India is a democratic country. Unfortunately, there is inequality in the society. Only during election, on the polling day all adult citizen of India enjoys the equal rights to vote.

We have seen in earlier chapters as well that discrimination was always present with person such as Kanta, Swapna, Ansaris, Kavita, Melani and the list is long. For them, some people take initiatives and starts struggles for equality. For this cause, many people extend their support.
The major reason why so many people’s lives in India are highly unequal are poverty and lack of resources.
Another significant reason why people are treated unequally in India are discrimination on the basis of person’s caste, sex and religion.

→ Struggles for Equality:
Some of the persons become more widely recognised and well known because they have the support or represent large numbers of people who have united to address a particular issue of inequality.

In India, there are several struggles in which people have come together to fight for issues that they believe are important.
We can allude and refer the methods used by the women’s movement to raise issues of equality. Another example of people coming together to fight for an issue is the Tawa Matsya Sangh in Madhya Pradesh.
There are many such struggles such as those among beedi workers, fisherfolk, agricultural labourers, slum dwellers and each of them is struggling for justice in its own methods.

→ Tawa Matsya Sangh:

When dams are built or forest areas declared sanctuaries for animals, thousands of people are displaced. Most of these people are poor and forced to go somewhere else.
In urban areas too, bastis in which poor people live are often uprooted. Their work as well as their children’s schooling is severely hampered and disrupted.
This displacement of people and communities is a major problem that has become quite widespread in our country. People and activists usually come together to fight for this.
The Tawa Matsya Sangh is a federation of Fisherworker’s cooperatives which is an organisation fighting for the rights of the displaced forest dwellers of the Satpura forest in Madhya Pradesh.
The Tawa dam began to be built in 1958 and was completed in 1978. It submerged large areas of forest and agricultural land.
Some of the displaced people settled around the reservoir and apart from their meagre farms found a livelihood in fishing. They earned nominal amount.
In 1994, the government gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors. These contractors drove the local people away and got cheap labour from outside.
The villagers stood united and decided that now it was time to set up an organisation and do something to protect the rights.
The newly formed Tawa Matsya Sangh (TMS) organised rallies and a chakka jam (road blockade) demanding their right to continue fishing for their livelihood.
In response to their protests and agitations, the government created a committee to assess the issue. On January 2,1997, people from 33 villages of Tawa started the new year with the first catch.
With the TMS taking over the charges, the fishworkers were able to increase their earnings substantially because they set up the cooperative which would buy the catch from them at a fair price.
The TMS has also begun giving the fishworkers loans for repair and the buying of new nets.
By managing to earn a higher wage as well as preserving the fish in the reservoir, the TMS has shown that when people’s organisations get their rights to livelihood, they can be good managers.

→ The Indian Constitution as a Living Document:
The Indian Constitution recognises the equality of all persons. Movements and struggles for equality in India continuously refer to the Indian Constitution to make their point about equality and justice for all.

By referring to the Constitution the people use it as a ‘living document’, i.e., something that has real meaning in our lives. In a democracy, there are always communities and individuals trying to expand the idea of democracy and push for a greater recognition of equality on existing as well as new issues.
The issues substantially affect poor and marginalised communities, and hence, concern economic and social equality in the country.
This is the basic principal of the struggle for equality in a democracy. The dignity and self-respect of each person and their community can only be realised if they have adequate resources to support and nurture their families and if they are not discriminated against.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 1 Environment

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 1 Environment

→ Environment is the most crucial aspect of our life. The place, people, things and nature that consists of any living organism is called environment. It is a blend of natural and human made phenomena.

Both biotic and abiotic conditions which exists on earth refers to natural environment.
Biotic means the world of living organisms and abiotic means the world of non-living organisms.
Human environment divulge into the activities, creations and interactions among human beings.

→ Natural Environment

The natural environment consists of land, water, air, plants and animals.
Environmental domains are lithosphere, • hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere.
The solid crust or the hard top layer of the earth is called the lithosphere. It is made up of different types of rocks and minerals and covered by a thin layer of soil. It provides us with forests, grasslands for grazing, land for agriculture and human settlements. We find different kinds of minerals here.
Various sources of water and different types of waterbodies such as rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, etc., comprises Hydrosphere. It is an essential element for all living organisms.
The thin layer of air that surrounds the earth is called the Atmosphere. It protect us from the harmful rays and scorching heat of the sun and contains many types of gases, dust and water vapour. Weather and climate changes due to the changes in the atmosphere.
Biosphere or the living world consists of plant and animal kingdom. Land, water and air interact and mix with each other to support life and it is a narrow zone of the earth.

→ What is Ecosystem?

The association between the living organisms as well as the association between the organisms and their surroundings form a system which is known as ecosystem.
An ecosystem can be of large rainforest, grassland, desert, mountains, lake, river, ocean and even a small pond.
As per human beings need, they modify the natural environment which is very dangerous.

→ Human Environment

Early humans adjusted themselves to the natural surroundings.
With time needs grew and humans learnt new ways to use and change environment. They learnt to grow crops, domesticate animals and lead a settled life.
The wheel was invented, barter system came into existence, trade started and
commerce developed. Transportation became faster. Information revolution made communication easier and faster.
A good balance is required between nature and human beings.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 2 Inside Our Earth

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 2 Inside Our Earth

→ Both outside and inside of the earth, change is going on constantly.

→ Interior of the earth:

Many concentric layers which are one inside the another maked the earth.
The crust is the uppermost layer over the earth’s surface. Among all the layers, it is the thinnest. It is about 35 km on the continental masses and only 5 km on the ocean floors.
The main mineral components of the continental mass are silica and alumina and known as sial.
The oceanic crust mainly consists of silica and magnesium and known as sima.
The mantle is just under the crust which extends upto a depth of 2900 km below the crust.
The innermost layer is mainly consists of nickel and iron and is known as nife which is the core with a radius of about 3500 km and has very high temperature and pressure.

→ Rocks and Minerals:

A rock is the natural mass of mineral matter that makes up the earth’s crust. It can be of different shape, colour, size and texture.
Three types of rocks are there:
- igneous rocks
- sedimentary rocks
- metamorphic rocks.

→ Igneous rocks are also called as primary rocks. There are two types of igneous rocks:

Intrusive rocks – They cool down slowly and thus they form large grains such as Granite.
Extrusive rocks – They have a very fine grained structure such as basalt. The Deccan plateau is made up of basalt rocks.

→ The sediments are transported and deposited by wind, water, etc. Layers of rocks are formed by these loose sediments which are compressed and hardened. These types of rocks are known as sedimentary rocks such as sandstone which is made from grains of sand. These rocks may also contain fossils of plants, animals and other micro-organisms that once lived on them.

→ Igneous and sedimentary rocks changes into metamorphic rocks under great heat and pressure such as clay changes into slate and limestone into marble.
The process of transformation of the rock from one to another rock is called the rock cycle.
Rocks are made up of different minerals and are naturally occurring substances which have certain physical and chemical properties. Some are used as fuels, some in medicines, industries, fertilisers, etc.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 3 Our Changing Earth

September 5, 2024September 4, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 3 Our Changing Earth

→ The lithosphere is fragmented into a number of plates known as the Lithospheric plates.

Lithospheric plates move around very slowly say just a few millimetres each year, this happens because of the movement of the molten magma inside the earth.
The earth movements are classified on the basis of the forces which cause them.
Two types of forces works: The forces which act in the interior of the earth are known as Endogenic forces and the forces that work on the surface of the earth are known as Exogenic forces.
Sudden movements such as earthquakes and volcanoes cause mass destruction over the surface of the earth.
A vent means opening in the earth’s crust through which molten material erupts suddenly is known as a volcano.
When the Lithospheric plates move, the surface of the earth vibrates which travel all round the earth. These vibrations are known as earthquakes. The focus is the place in the crust where the movement starts. The epicentre is the place on the surface above the focus.
Though earthquakes cannot be predicted, but some common earthquake prediction methods adopted locally by the people include studying animal behaviour such as fish in the ponds get agitated, snakes come to the surface, etc.
The device used for measuring earthquake is Seismograph. Richter scale helps to measure the magnitude of the earthquake.

→ Earthquake preparedness – where to take shelter when earthquake occurs.

Safe spots are under a kitchen counter, a table, against an insided comer or wall.
Stay away from fire places such as chimneys, windows with glass pane, pictures.
Always be prepared by spreading awareness among your family members and friends and face any disaster and hurdle confidently.

→ Major Land Forms:

The landscape is being continuously worn away by two processes, they are weathering and erosion.
The breaking up of the rocks on the earth’s surface is known as Weathering. The wearing away of the landscape by different agents like water, wind and ice is known as Erosion.
The process of erosion and deposition create different and numerous landforms on the surface of the earth.

→ Work of a River:

A waterfall is formed when the river tumbles at steep angle over very hard rocks or down a steep valley side.
Meanders are formed by turns and large bends when the river enters the plain and twists.
An ox-bow lake is formed in due course of time when the meander loop cuts off from the river and forms a cut-off lake.
As the river floods, it deposits layers of fine soil and other material called sediments along its banks and this leads to the formation of a flat fertile flood plain. Thus, the raised banks are called levees.
The speed of the flowing river decreases as it approaches the sea and river begins to break up into a number of streams known as distributaries.
A delta is formed by the collection of sediments from all the mouths.

→ Work of Sea Waves:

Sea caves are the hollow caves which are formed on the rocks.
Sea arches are formed when these cavities become bigger and bigger in size and only the roof of the caves remain.
Stacks are the only walls which are left where erosion breaks the roof. Sea cliff are the steep rocky coast rising almost vertically above sea water.
The sea waves deposit sediments along the shores forms the beaches.

→ Work of Ice:

Rivers of ice which too erode the landscape by bulldozing soil and stones to expose the solid rock below is known as Glaciers.
The different material carried by the glacier such as rocks big and small, sand and silt gets deposited and these deposits form glacial moraines.

→ Work of Wind:

Mushroom rocks are the rocks which you find in deserts in the shape of a mushroom.
When the wind stops blowing the sand falls and gets deposited in low hill like structures are known as sand dunes.
The grains of sand becomes very fine and light, the wind can carry it over very long distances. When such sand is deposited in large areas, it is known loess. Large deposits of loess is found in China.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 5 Women Change the World

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 5 Women Change the World

→ Still getting an education was one way in which new opportunities were created for women.

→ Fewer Opportunities and Rigid Expectations:

Many people believe that women make better nurses because they are more patient and gentle.
This is linked to women’s roles within the family. In the same way, it is believed that science requires a technical mind and girls and women are not capable of dealing with technical things.
Most of the people believe in these stereotypes, hence many girls do not get the same support that boys do to study and train to become doctors and engineers.
Once girls finish their school, they are encouraged by their families to see marriage as their main aim in life.
We live in a society in which all children face pressures from the world around them. Sometimes, these come in the form of demands from adults. At other times, they can just be because of unfair teasing by our own friends.

→ Learning for Change:

• An extremely important part of our life is going to school. As more and more children enter school every year, we begin to think that it is normal for all children to go to school.
In the past, the skill of reading and writing was known to only a few. Most children learnt the work their families or elders did. The situation was worse for the girls. In communities that taught sons to read and write, daughters were not allowed to learn the alphabet. Even in families where skills like pottery, weaving and craft were taught, the contribution of daughters and women was only seen as supportive.
In the nineteenth century, many new ideas about education and learning emerged. Schools became more common and communities that had never leamt reading and writing started sending their children to school but there was a lot of opposition to educating girls even then.
Around 200 years ago, Rashsundari Devi (1800-1890) was bom in West Bengal. At the age of 60, she wrote her autobiography in Bangla. Her book titled A mar Jiban is the first known autobiography written by an Indian woman.
During that time, it was believed that if a woman leamt to read and write, she would bring bad luck to her husband and become a widow.
She leamt the alphabets with great efforts and read the Chaitanya Bhagabat as well. There were days when she did not have a moment’s rest, no time even to sit down and eat.
Another example is about Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) who did a lot in the field of education for women. She herself knew how to read and write Urdu. Later, she also learnt to read and write English and Bangla. She wrote a phenomenal story named ‘Sultana’s Dream’.

→ Schooling and Education today:

Though today, both boys and girls attend school in large numbers. Yet, there are differences between the education of boys and girls.
India has a census every 10 years which counts the whole population of the country along with other details.
According to the 1961 census, about 40 per cent of all boys and men were literate compared to just 15 per cent of all girls and women. In the census of2001, these figures have grown upto 76 per cent for boys and men and 54 per cent for girls and women. But, then also there is a huge gap.
Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) girls leave school at a rate that is higher than the category of ‘All Girls’. It means that girls who are from Dalit and Adivasi backgrounds are less likely to remain in school. The 2001 census also found that Muslim girls are less likely than Dalit and Adivasi girls to complete primary school.
In many parts of the country, especially in rural and poor areas, there may not even be proper schools nor teachers who teach on a regular basis.
Most families are too poor and not able to bear the cost of educating all their children. Boys may get preference in this situation. Many children also leave school because they are discriminated against by their teacher and classmates.

→ Women’s Movement:

Now, women and girls have the right to study and go to school. There are other spheres .such as legal reform, violence and health where the situation of women and girls has improved.
Women individually as well as collectively have struggled to bring about these changes. This struggle is known as the Women’s Movement. Individual women and women’s organisations from different parts of the country are part of the movement.
The diversity, passion and efforts of those involved makes it a very vibrant and energetic movement. Different methods and strategies have been used to spread awareness, fight discrimination and seek justice. Many men also supported this movement.

→ Campaigning:

Campaigns are to fight discrimination and violence against women are an important part of the women’s movement.
Campaigns also led to new laws being passed. In 2006, a law was passed to give women who face physical and mental violence within their homes are known as domestic violence some legal protection.
In 1997, to protect women against sexual harassment at the workplace and within educational institutions, efforts made by the women’s movement led the Supreme Court to formulate guidelines.
In the 1980s, women’s groups across the country campainged against ‘dowry deaths’ means cases of young brides being murdered by their in-laws or husbands, greedy for more dowry.
Women did so by coming on to the streets, approaching the courts, and by sharing information. Hence, this became a public issue in the newspapers and society and the dowry laws were changed to punish families who seek dowry.

→ Showing Solidarity
The women’s movement is also about showing solidarity with other women and causes.