Caste and Reform – Page 4 – Jharkhand Board Solution

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 On Equality

→ Equality is the main characteristics of democracy and affects all aspects of its functioning.

→ Equal Right to Vote:

In India which is a democratic country, all adults irrespective of what religion they belong to, how much education they have had, what caste they are, or whether they are rich or poor are allowed to vote is called Universal Adult Franchise.
The idea of universal adult franchise is based on the idea of equality because it states that every adult in a country, irrespective of their wealth and the communities she/he belongs to, has one vote.

→ Other Kinds of Equality:

Many kinds of inequalities exist in our country till now. One of the most common form is the caste system which is alive from centuries in India which also creates division among human beings.
Another form of inequality exists is lower castes or Dalits.
Dalit means ‘broken’ and lower castes are pointing to how they were and continue to be seriously discriminated against and exploited most of the time.
Dalits belong to the unprivileged class.
Omprakash Valmiki is a famous Dalit writer who wrote his harsh experience and feelings in his autobiography, ‘Joothari. He mentioned that how he was tortured by the teachers. He had to clean and sweep the floors and playgrounds while the other children were in the class studying.
There is another form of inequality which exists. The religion is also a big factor. The Ansaris were not given apartments on rent by many landlords and landladies because of they were from different religion. So made different types of excuses.

→ Recognising Dignity:

The three things – the caste we are bom into, the religion we practice and the class background we come from whether we are male or female determines why some people are treated unequally.
The above things happened with Omprakash Valmiki and the Ansaris who were treated unequally on the basis of differences of caste and religion.
The dignity of a person is violated when the person is treated unequally.
In the case of Omprakash and the Ansaris, they do not deserve to be treated like this. They deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else.

→ Equality in Indian Democracy:

The Indian Constitution recognizes and acknowledges every person as equal. This means that every individual in the country including male and female persons from all castes, religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds are recognised as equal. This is not to say that inequality ceases to exist. It doesn’t.
Earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination, torture and ill-treatment but now there are many works to see that people are treated with dignity and as equals. This means that no one can be discriminated against on the basis of their caste, creed, place of birth, religion, race, etc.

→ The recognition of equality consists some of the following provisions in the Constitution:

First, that every person is equal before the law. This means that every person from the President of the country to a domestic worker has to obey the same laws. Everyone is equal in front of law.
Second, no person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race, caste, place of birth or whether they are female or male.
Third, every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use publicly available wells, roads and bathing ghats.
Fourth, untouchability has been abolished.

→ The government has tried to implement the equality that is guaranteed in the Constitution by two ways.

First through laws
Second through government programmes or schemes to help disadvantaged communities.
Apart from the laws, the government has also set up several schemes to improve the lives of communities and individuals who have been treated unequally for several centuries.
The midday meal scheme is one of the steps taken by the government. This scheme was introduced in all government elementary schools to provide children with cooked lunch. The first state in India was Tamil Nadu to introduce this scheme, and in 2001, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this scheme.
This midday meal scheme has many positive results. This has helped to lessen the caste prejudices because both lower and upper caste children in the school eat this meal together. Apart from this, in few places, Dalit women have been employed to cook the meal.
The midday meal scheme also helped to reduce the hunger of poor students who often come to school and cannot concentrate because their stomachs are empty. Hence, there is increase in the enrollment and attendance of poor children in school.
Despite of all these efforts, there continues to be a huge differences in our country between schools that the. rich attend and those that the poor children attends.
One of the reasons for the discrimination is that the attitudes change is very slow.
Establishing equality in a democratic society is a continuous struggle and one in which individuals as well as various communities in India need to contribute.

→ Issues of Equality in Other Democracies:

There are many democratic countries in the world where the issue of inequality exists. India is not the only country where there is inequality.
In the United States of America, the African-Americans whose ancestors were brought over from Africa to work as slaves, continue to describe their lives today as largely unequal and discriminated.
A day came when a huge agitation against the unequal ways in which African- Americans were treated and which came to be known as the Civil Rights Movement. It was started by Rosa Parks, an African- American woman who changed the course of American history with one defiant act.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited and banned discrimination on the basis of race, religion or national origin. It also stated that all schools would be open to African- American children and that they would no longer have to attend separate schools specially set up for them. In spite of this, a majority of African-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.

→ Challenge of Democracy:
The struggle for the recognition of all persons as equal and for their dignity should be maintained so that we can think of an equal people society. This issue of equality affects various aspects of our daily lives in democratic India.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Role of the Government in Health

→ People expect the government to work tor their welfare in a democratic country and along with the provision of education, health, employment, housing or the development of roads, electricity, etc.

→ What is Health?

Health means our ability to remain free from illness and injuries. But health isn’t only about diseases, there are other factors as well that affect our health.
if people get clean drinking water or a pollution free environment they are likely to be healthy. While if people do not get adequate food to eat or have to live in cramped conditions, they will be prone to illness or unhealthy.
The various aspects of our lives which are a part of health are active positive not very anxious and without mental strain and stress.
Good health consists of both sound mind andbody.

→ Healthcare in India:

Healthcare facilities consists of health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood banks, etc., which can provide the required care and services that patients need.
To run these facilities we need health workers, nurses, qualified doctors and other health professionals who can advice, diagnose and treat illnesses. Apart from these, we also need the medicines and equipment that are necessary and required for treating patients.
In India there are numerous experienced doctors and nurses present. Public healthcare system is a system of hospitals and health centres run by the government. It has the ability to look after the health of a large section of its population scattered over hundreds of thousands of villages.
Though we have most of the facilities and positive developments but then also we are not able to provide proper healthcare facilities to people.

→ Public and Private Healthcare Services:
Healthcare services .is divided into two services:

Public Health Services
Private Health Services

→ Public Health Services:

A series of health centres and hospitals run by the government is known as the public health service. They are linked together because they cover both rural and urban areas and can also provide treatment to all kinds of problems from common illnesses to special services.
Primary Health Care centres are available in villages which has a doctor and a nurse to assist and to deal with common illnesses. Such a centre covers many villages in a rural area. .
The District Hospital at the district level, supervises all the health centres. Large cities have many government hospitals.
For several reasons health service is called as ‘public’. To fulfil its promise and commitment of providing healthcare to all citizens, the government has established these hospitals and health centres. The resources needed to run these services are obtained from the money that we, the public, pay to the government as taxes.
The most important function of the public health system is that it is meant to provide quality healthcare services either free cfr at a low cost so that the poor can seek treatment.
Another important function of public health is to take action to prevent the spread of diseases such as TB, malaria, jaundice, cholera, diarrhoea, chikungunya, etc. This has to be organised by the government with the participation and support of people otherwise it is not effective.

→ Private Health Facilities:

There is a vast range of private health facilities that exist in our country. A large number of doctors run their own private clinics and hospitals. In the rural areas, Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) are available. Urban areas have large number of doctors, many of them providing specialised services.
There are many laboratories that do tests and offer special facilities such as X-ray, ultrasound, etc. There are shops as well from where we buy medicines.
In private facilities, patients have to pay a lot of money for every service that they use but this is not the case in public health facilities.
Now there are large companies that run hospitals and some are engaged in manufacturing and selling medicines.

→ Healthcare and Equality:

Is adequate healthcare available to all?
In India, we face a situation where private services are increasing but public services are not. These private services are very expensive and it is difficult for poor people to afford the expenses. Apart from this, private facilities are available in urban areas only.
In order to earn more money and profit, these private services encourage practices which are incorrect. At times cheaper methods are available but not used.
The fact is that approximately 20 per cent of the population can afford all the medicines that they require during an illness. Hence, even for middle class people as well, medical expenses cause hardship.
In a study it was reported that nearly 40% of the people who are admitted in hospital had to borrow money or sell some of their possessions for their illness.
Poor people are undernourished and tend to fall ill frequently.
These poor families are not eating as much as they should. They are not provided basic necessities such as drinking water, adequate housing, clean surroundings, etc., and hence, are more likely to fall ill. The expenses on illness make their situation even worse and to sustain.
Many tribal areas have few health centres and they do not run properly and even private hospitals are also not present.
It is not only the deficiency of money that prevents people from getting proper medical treatment, it is also there lack of concerns as women’s health concerns are considered to be far less important than the health of men in the family.

→ What Can Be Done?

It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality healthcare services to all its citizens, especially to the poor and the disadvantaged.
Health is as much dependent on basic amenities and social conditions of the people, as it is on healthcare services.

→ The Kerala Experience:

Kerala government gave 40% of the budget to the panchayats in 1996 to provide better environment in terms of healthcare, education, living standards, etc. to the rural peoples.
Water supply schemes were checked, the working of schools and anganwadis was ensured and specific problems of the village were taken up to solve. Health centres were also improved. All of this helped to improve the situation. But then also, some problems such as shortage of medicines, insufficient hospital beds, not enough doctors stayed.

→ The Costa Rican Approach:

Costa Rica is considered to be one of the healthiest countries in Central America.
The Costa Rican government spend the money that the army would have used, on health, education and other basic needs of the people. They believed that a country has to be healthy for its development and pays a lot of attention to the health of its people.
It provides safe drinking water, sanitation, nutrition and housing. Health education is also considered very important and knowledge about health is an essential and important part of education at all levels.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

→ Government works at three levels, they,are local, state and national.

→ Who is an MLA?

Members of the Legislative Assembly or MLAs are elected by the people. They then become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government. Hence, the MLAs represent people.
In India, every state has a Legislative Assembly. And, each state is divided into different areas or constituencies.
For example, Himachal Pradesh is divided into 68 assembly constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). These people who stand for election are from different parties.
A political party whose MLAs have won mote than half the number of constituencies in a.state can be said to be in a majority. The political party that has the majority is known as the ruling party and all other members are known as opposition.
After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling or of majority party will elect their leader as who will become the chief minister.
The chief minister then selects other ministers for his government. After the elections, the Governor of the state appoints the chief minister and other ministers.
A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs, whether from the ruling party or from the opposition meet to discuss various things about their state. Hence, some MLAs have dual responsibilitie-one as an MLA and the other as a minister.

→ A Debate in the Legislative Assembly:

In a democracy, the members of the Legislative Assembly can ask questions, debate on important issue, decide where money should be spent, etc. They have the main authority.
The MLAs are together responsible for the work of the government. Here, the word ‘government’ refers to government departments and various ministers who head them. The overall head is the chief minister.
This is known as the executive part of the government. All the MLAs who assemble together in the legislative assembly are known as the Legislature. They are the ones who authorize and supervise their work.

→ Working of the Government:

In a democracy, there are many ways through which people express their views and also take action.
Sometimes after the discussion in the assembly, press conference are organised by the minister.
Ministers also visit the areas where there are problems and meet the suffered people.
The government announces compensations as well as solves the problems faced by the suffered families.
Enquiry committees are made to look into different problems such as water problem, sanitation, etc.
The people who are in power means the chief minister and the minister need to take actions. They do so through different departments such as the Public Works Department, the Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department.
The chief minister and other ministers also have to answer questions that are asked in the Legislative Assembly and convince people asking the questions that what proper steps are being taken.
The government can also decide to make new laws for the state regarding sanitation and health facilities.
Laws for the entire country are made in the Parliament.
In a democracy, it is the people who elect their representatives as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Hence, it is the people who have the main authority.

→ A Wallpaper Project:
A wallpaper is an interesting activity through which research can be done on particular topics of interest.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Growing Up as Boys and Girls

→ Being a boy or a girl is an important part of one’s identity. The roles women play and the work they do are usually valued less than the roles men play and the work they do.

→ Growing Up in Samoa in the 1920s:

In Samoan society, children did not go to school. Instead, they learnt many things such as how to take care of children or do household work from older children and from adults.
Young people learn fishing which was a very important activity on the islands. But they learnt these things at different points in their childhood.
Both boys and girls looked after their younger siblings.
The time when a boy was about nine years old, he joined the older boys in learning outdoor jobs such as fishing and planting coconuts.
Girls had to continue looking after small children or do tasks for adults till they were teenagers.
After attaining the age of fourteen or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the plantations and learnt how to weave baskets.
In special cooking-houses, cooking was done. Boys were supposed to do most of the work while girls helped with the preparations.

→ Growing Up Male in Madhya Pradesh in the 1960s:

The following points are taken from a small town scenario in Madhya Pradesh.
From Class VI onwards, boys and girls went to separate schools.
The girls’ school was designed very differently from the boys’ school. They had a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the outside world. Whereas, the boys’ school had no such courtyard and the playground was just a big space attached, to the school.
The girls always went in groups because they also carried fears of being teased or attacked. But the boys who used the streets as a place to stand around idling, to play, to try out tricks with their bicycles.
We realise that societies make clear distinctions and differences between boys and girls. This begins from a very tender and young age. Boys are usually given cars to play with and girls dolls.
All the ways of telling children that they have specific roles to play when they grow up to be men and women. Hence, how girls must dress, what games boys should play, how girls need to talk softly or boys need to be tough, etc.
In most societies which includes our own as well, the roles men and women play or the work they do are not valued equally. Men and women do not have the same status.

→ Valuing Housework:
All over the world, the main responsibility for housework and care-giving tasks, such as looking after the family especially children, the elderly and sick members lies with women. Although, the work that women do within the home is not recognised as work and assumed that this is something that comes naturally to women. Hence, they does not have to be paid for and society devalues this work.

→ Lives of Domestic Workers:

The domestic workers are employed particularly in towns and cities. They do a lot of work such as sweeping and cleaning, washing clothes and dishes, cooking, looking after young children or the elderly people.
Most domestic workers are women and sometimes even young boys or girls are employed to do this work.
Wages are low as domestic work does not have much value. They work very hard as well from early morning till night but employers doesn’t give much respect to them.
In fact, housework actually involves many different tasks and works. Heavy physical work also required to do a number of these tasks. In both rural and urban areas women and girls have to fetch water. In rural areas women and girls carry heavy headloads of firewood as well.
The work women do is strenuous and physically demanding, these words are actually associate with men normally.
Another characteristics of housework and care-giving is that we do not recognise that it is very time consuming and have much less time for leisure.

→ Women’s Work and Equality:

We all know equality is an important principle of our Constitution. The Constitution says that being male or female should not become a reason for discrimination. In reality, inequality between the sexes exists.
Hence, the Constitution recognises that burden of child-care and housework falls on women and girls and it has an impact on whether girls can attend school or not.
In many villages in the country, the government has set up anganwadis or child-care centres. The government has passed laws that make it mandatory for organisations that have more than 30 women employees to provide creche facilities. The provision of creches helps many women to take up employment outside the home. It also makes it possible for more girls to attend schools.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

September 4, 2024September 3, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

→ Two hundred years ago things were very different. Most children were married off at an early age.

In some parts of the country, widows were praised if they chose death by burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
Women who died in this manner whether willingly or otherwise, were called ‘sati’ which means virtuous women.
In many parts of the country people believed that if a woman was educated, she would become a widow.
In most regions, people were divided along lines of caste. Brahmans and Kshatriyas considered themselves as ‘upper castes’.
Traders and moneylender were referred as ‘Vaishyas’ were placed after them.
Then came peasants and artisans such as weavers and potters who were referred as ‘Shudras’.
At the lowest rung were those who laboured to keep cities and villages clean or worked at jobs that upper castes considered polluting, that is, it could lead to the loss of caste status. They were untouchables.

→ Working Towards Change

The development of new forms of communication started. For the first time, books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets and pamphlets were printed.
All kinds of issues such as social, political, economic and religious could now be debated and discussed by men and sometimes by women as well in the new cities.
The discussions could reach out to a wider public and could become linked to movements for social change.
Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Sabha (later known as the Brahmo Samaj) in Calcutta.
People such as Rammohun Roy are described as reformers because they felt that changes were necessary in society, and unjust practices needed to be done away with.
Rammohun Roy was keen to spread the knowledge of Western education in the country and bring about greater freedom and equality for women.

→ Changing the lives of widows

Rammohun Roy began a campaign against the practice of sati.
Rammohun Roy was well versed in Sanskrit, Persian and several other Indian and Europeon languages.
He tried to show through his writings that the practice of widow burning had no sanction in ancient texts.
In 1829, sati was banned.
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, used the ancient texts to suggest that widows could remarry.
A law was passed in 1856 permitting widow remarriage.
By the second half of the nineteenth century, the movement in favour of widow remarriage spread to other parts of the country.
In the Telugu-speaking areas of the Madras Presidency, Veerasalingam Pantulu fonned an association for widow remarriage.
In the north, Swami Dayanand Saraswati who founded the reform association called Arya Samaj also supported widow remarriage.

→ Girls begin going to school

Vidyasagar in Calcutta and many other reformers in Bombay set up schools for girls.
Throughout the nineteenth century, most educated women were taught at home by liberal fathers or husbands. Sometimes women taught themselves.
In the latter part of the century, schools for girls were established by the Arya Samaj in Punjab and Jyotirao Phule in Maharashtra.
In aristocratic Muslim households in North India, women leamt to read the Koran in Arabic.
Reformers such as Mumtaz Ali reinterpreted verses from the Koran to argue for women’s education.

→ Women write about women

From the early twentieth century, Muslim women like the Begums of Bhopal played a notable role in promoting education among women. They founded a primary school for girls at Aligarh.
Another remarkable woman, Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta.
By the 1880s, Indian women began to enter universities.
Tarabai Shinde, a woman educated at home at Poona published a book Stripurushtulna (A Comparison between Women and Men) criticising the social differences between men and women.
Pandita Ramabai, a great scholar of Sanskrit felt that Hinduism was oppressive towards women and wrote a book about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women.
By the end of the nineteenth century, women themselves were actively working for reform.
From the early twentieth century, they formed political pressure groups to push through laws for female suffrage (the right to vote) and better health care and education for women.
In the twentieth century, leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose lent their support to demands for greater equality and freedom for women.

→ Caste and Social Reform

In Bombay, the Paramhans Mandali was founded in 1840 to work for the abolition of caste.
During the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries began setting up schools for tribal groups and lower caste children.
The poor from the villages and small towns many of them from low castes began moving to the cities where there was a new demand for labour.
Some also went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia.
The army also offered opportunities to lower caste people. A number of Mahar people who were regarded as untouchable, found jobs in the Mahar Regiment.
The father of B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalit movement taught at an army school.

→ Demands for equality and justice

By the second half of the nineteenth century, people from within the Non-Brahman castes began organising movements against caste discrimination and demanded social equality and justice.
The Satnami movement in Central India was founded by Ghasidas who worked among the leather workers and organised a movement to improve their social status.
In eastern Bengal, Haridas Thakur’s Matua sect worked among Chandala cultivators.
In what is present-day Kerala, a guru from Ezhava caste, Shri Narayana Guru, proclaimed the ideals of unity for his people.
According to him, all humankind belonged to the same caste. One of his famous statements was one caste, one religion, one god for humankind.

→ Gulamgiri

One of the most vocal amongst the low- caste leaders was Jyotirao Phule. He was bom in 1827 and studied in schools set up by Christian missionaries.
As the Aryans established their dominance, they began looking at the defeated population as inferior as low caste people.
According to Phule, the upper castes had no right to their land and power. In reality, the land belonged to indigenous people, the so- called low castes.
He proposed that Shudras means labouring castes and Ati Shudras means
untouchables should unite to challenge caste discrimination.
The Satyashodhak Samaj which is an association Phule founded propagated caste equality.
In 1873, Phule wrote a book named Gulamgiri meaning slavery.
He was concerned about the plight of upper caste women, the miseries of the labourer, and the humiliation of the low castes.
This movement for caste reform was continued in the twentieth century by other great dalit leaders such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in western India and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in the south.

→ Who could enter temples?

Ambedkar was bom into a Mahar family. In school he was forced to sit outside the classroom on the ground and was not allowed to drink water from taps that upper caste children used.
On his return to India from US in 1919, he wrote extensively about upper caste power in contemporary society.
In 1927, Ambedkar started a temple entry movement, in which his Mahar caste followers participated.
Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935.
His aim was to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.

→ The Non-Brahman movement

In the early twentieth century, the non-Brahman movement started.
The initiative came from those non-Brahman castes that had acquired access to education, wealth and influence.
E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker or Periyar as he was called came from a middle-class family.
He had been an ascetic in his early life and had studied Sanskrit scriptures carefully.
Convinced that untouchables had to fight for their dignity, Periyar founded the Self Respect Movement.
He became a member of the Congress but left it in disgust when he found that at a feast organised by nationalists, seating arrangements followed caste distinctions.
He argued that untouchables were the true upholders of an original Tamil and Dravidian culture which had been subjugated by Brahmans.
Periyar was an outspoken critic of Hindu scriptures especially the Codes of Manu, the ancient lawgiver and the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana.
Orthodox Hindu society also reacted by founding Sanatan Dharma Sabhas and the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal in the north and associations such as the Brahman Sabha in Bengal.
The object of these associations was to uphold caste distinctions as a cornerstone of Hinduism, and show how this was sanctified by scriptures.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 The Indian Constitution

September 3, 2024September 2, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 The Indian Constitution

→ In large societies in which different communities of people live together, these rules are formulated through consensus and in modem countries this consensus is usually available in written form. A written document in which we find the rules is called a Constitution.

→ Why Does a Country Need a Constitution?

The Constitution serves several purposes. First, it lays out certain ideals that form the basis of the kind of country that we as citizens aspire to live in. Or, a Constitution tells us what the fundamental nature of our society is.
A Constitution helps serve as a set of rules and principles that all persons in a country can agree upon as the basis of the way in which they want the country to be governed.
This includes not only the type of government but also an agreement on certain ideals that they all believe the country should uphold.
In 2006 the people of Nepal finally succeeded in putting an end to the powers of the King. The people had to write a new Constitution to establish Nepal as
a democracy. The reason that they did not want to continue with the previous Constitution is because it did not reflect the ideals of the country that they want Nepal to be and that they have fought for.
The people of Nepal adopted a new Constitution for the country in 2015.
The second important purpose of a Constitution is to define the nature of a country’s political system.
The Constitution plays a crucial role in laying out certain important guidelines that govern decision making within these societies.

→ In a democracy, we choose our leaders so that they can exercise power responsibly on behalf of common people.

However, there is always the possibility that these leaders might misuse their authority and the Constitution usually provides safeguards against this.
In democratic societies, the Constitution often lays down rules that guard against the misuse of authority by our political leaders.
The Right to Equality is one of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
Another important function that a Constitution plays in a democracy is to make sure that a dominant group does not use its power against other, less powerful people or groups.
The Constitution usually contains rules that ensure that minorities are not excluded from anything that is routinely available to the majority.
Another reason why we have a Constitution is precisely to prevent this tyranny or domination by the majority of a minority.
The third significant reason why we need a Constitution is to save us from ourselves.
The Constitution helps to protect us against certain decisions that we might take that could have an adverse effect on the larger principles that the country believes in.

→ The Indian Constitution: Key Features

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Indian national movement had been active in the struggle for independence from British rule for several decades.
During the freedom struggle the nationalists had devoted a great deal of time to imagining and planning what a free India would be like.
The leaders work was to work out the ways in which a democratic government would be set up in India and the rules that would determine its functioning.
• This was done not by one person but by a group of around 300 people who became members of the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and who met periodically for the next three years to write India’s Constitution.
When the Constitution was being written, India was going through considerable turmoil. The partition of the country into India and Pakistan was imminent, some of the Princely States remained undecided about their future, and the socio-economic condition of the vast mass of people appeared dismal.
The final document also reflects its concern for eradicating poverty through socio-economic reforms as well as emphasising the crucial role the people can play in choosing their representatives.

→ The key features of the Indian Constitution are given below:

Federalism
Parliamentary Form of Government
Separation of Powers
Fundamental Rights
Secularism

→ Federalism:

This refers to the existence of more than one level of government in the country. In India, we have governments at the state level and at the centre. Panchayati Raj is the third tier of government.
The vast number of communities in India meant that a system of government needed to be devised that did not involve only persons sitting in the capital city of New Delhi and making decisions for everyone.
It was important to have another level of government in the states so that decisions could be made for that particular area.
While each state in India enjoys autonomy in exercising powers on certain issues, subjects of national concern require that all of these states follow the laws of the central government.
Under federalism, the states are not merely agents of the federal government but draw their authority from the Constitution as well. All persons in India are governed by laws and policies made by each of these levels of government.

→ Parliamentary Form of Government:

The different tiers of government consist of representatives who are elected by the people.
The Constitution of India guarantees universal adult suffrage for all citizens.
The people of India have a direct role in electing their representatives.
Every citizen of the country, irrespective of his/her social background, can also contest in elections. These representatives are accountable to the people.

→ Separation of Powers:

According to the Constitution, there are three organs of government. They are the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
The legislature refers to our elected representatives.
The executive is a smaller group of people who are responsible for implementing laws and running the government.
The judiciary refers to the system of courts in this country.
In order to prevent the misuse of power by any one branch of government, the Constitution says that each of these organs . should exercise different powers.

→ Fundamental Rights:

The section on Fundamental Rights has often been referred to as the ‘conscience’ of the Indian Constitution.
Fundamental Rights protect citizens against the arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the State.
The Constitution guarantees the rights of individuals against the State as well as against other individuals.
The Constitution also guarantees the rights of minorities against the majority.
As Dr Ambedkar has said about these Fundamental Rights, their object is two-fold.
The first objective is that every citizen must be in a position to claim those rights.
Secondly, these rights must be binding upon every authority that has got the power to make laws.
The Constitution also has a section called Directive Principles of State Policy.
This section was designed by the members of the Constituent Assembly to ensure greater social and economic reforms and to serve as a guide to the independent Indian State to institute laws and policies that help reduce the poverty of the masses.

→ Secularism:
A secular state is one in which the state does not officially promote any one religion as the state religion.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Understanding Secularism

September 3, 2024September 2, 2024 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Understanding Secularism

→ The acts of discrimination take place more easily when one religion is given official recognition by the State at the expense of other religions.

→ What is Secularism?

The Indian Constitution allows individuals the freedom to live by their religious beliefs and practices as they interpret these.
In keeping with this idea of religious freedom for all, India also adopted a strategy of separating the power of religion and the power of the State.
Secularism refers to this separation of religion from the State.

→ Why is it Important to Separate Religion from the State?

The most important aspect of secularism is its separation of religion from State power. This is important for a country to function democratically.
If the majority religious group has access to State power. then it could quite easily use this power and financial resources to discriminate against and persecute persons of other religions.
This tyranny of the majority could result in discrimination, coercion and at times even the killing of religious minorities.
The tyranny of the majority and the violation of Fundamental Rights that can result is one reason why it is important to separate the State and religion in democratic societies.
Another reason that is important to separate religion from the State in democratic societies is because we also need to protect the freedom of individuals to exit from their religion, embrace another religion or have the freedom to interpret religious teachings differently.

→ What is Indian Secularism?

The Indian Constitution mandates that the Indian State be secular.
According to the Constitution, only a secular State can realise its objectives to ensure the following:
- That one religious community does not dominate another;
- That some members do not dominate other members of the same religious community;
- That the State does not enforce any particular religion nor take away the religious freedom of individuals.
The Indian State works in various ways to prevent the domination. First, it uses a strategy of distancing itself from religion.
The Indian State is not ruled by a religious group and nor does it support any one religion.
Government schools cannot promote any one religion either in their morning prayers or through religious celebrations. This rule does not apply to private schools.
The second way in which Indian secularism works to prevent the domination is through a strategy of non-interference.
The third way in which Indian secularism works to prevent the domination is through a strategy of intervention.
In order to prevent the religion-based exclusion and discrimination of Tower castes’, the Indian Constitution bans untouchability.
To ensure that laws relating to equal inheritance rights are respected, the State may have to intervene in the religion-based ‘personal laws’ of communities.
The intervention of the State can also be in the form of support.
The Indian Constitution grants the right to religious communities to set up their own schools and colleges.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the legislature from making laws ‘respecting an establishment of religion’ or that ‘prohibit the free exercise of religion’.
In the U.S.A., the separation between State and religion means that neither the State nor religion can interfere in the affairs of one another.
Unlike the strict separation between religion and the State in American secularism, in Indian secularism the State can intervene in religious affairs. This is the difference.

→ In Indian secularism, though the State is not strictly separate from religion it does maintain a principled distance vis-a-vis religion.

This means that any interference in religion by the State has to be based on the ideals laid out in the Constitution.
The Indian State is secular and works in various ways to prevent religious domination.
The Indian Constitution guarantees Fundamental Rights that are based on these secular principles.
The knowledge that such rights exist makes us sensitive to the violations that occurs and enables us to take action when these violations take place.