JAC Class 7 Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

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

JAC Class 7th Civics Struggles for Equality InText Questions and Answers

Page 103

Question 1.
What do you think is meant by the expression ‘power oyer the ballot box’? Discuss.
Answer:
The expression ‘power over the ballot box’ means the power and right to vote. Every adult citizen of India has the equal right to vote during elections. To elect or replace their representatives, this right has been used by people.

Page 104

Question 2.
Can you think of one person in your family, community, village, town or city whom you respect because of their fight for equality and justice?
Answer:
Students need to do it on their own with the help of parents.

Page 106

Question 3.
What issue is the Tawa Matsya Sangh (TMS) fighting for?
Answer:
The Tawa Matsya Sangh (TMS) fighting for the issue of equality.

Question 4.
Why did the villagers set up this organisation?
Answer:
The villagers set up this organisation to protect their rights.

Question 5.
Do you think that the large-scale participation of villagers has contributed to the success of the TMS? Write two lines on why you think so.
Answer:
Yes, I think that the large-scale participation of villagers has contributed to the success of the TMS because when people are united then they get strength and finally success. Also, people stand together to fight for an issue and no one can come on their way.

Page 107

Question 6.
Can you think of an incident in your life in which one person or a group of people came together to change an unequal situation?
Answer:
Students need to do it on their own.

Page 108

Question 7.
Refer to the song below and answer the following questions:
The Right To Know
My dreams have the right to know
Why for centuries they have been breaking
Why don’t they ever come true My hands have the right to know
Why do they remain without work all along ‘
Why do they have nothing to do
My feet have the right to know Why from village to village they walk on their own
Why are there no signs of a bus yet My hunger has the right to know Why grain rots in godowns While I don’t even get a fistful of rice My old mother has the right to know Why are there no medicines Needles, dispensaries or bandages My children have the right to know Why do they labour day and night Why is there no school in sight

What is your favourite line in the above song?
What does the poet mean when he says, “My hunger has the right to know”?

Answer:
(i) Favourite line in the above song is ‘my children have the right to know’.

(ii) The poet means what he says, “ My hunger has the right to know” means that a sufferer must have a right to know the cause and reason of his suffering and pain in which he is living. He must know that who is responsible for this situation.

Question 8.
Can you share with your class a local song or a poem on dignity that is from your area?
Answer:
Students need to do it on there own.

Page 109

Question 9.
What role does the Constitution play in people’s struggles for equality?
Answer:
The Constitution plays an important role in people’s struggles for equality. Our Constitution recognises the equality for all people. Movements and struggles for equality continuously refer to the Indian Constitution to make their point about equality and justice for everyone. For example, the fishworkers intheTawa Matsya Sangh hope that the provisions of the Constitution will come into existence through their participation in this movement By constantly referring to the Constitution they use it as a ‘living document’, i.e., something that has real meaning in our lives.

Question 10.
Can you make up a social advertisement on equality? You can do this in small groups.
Answer:
Students need to do it in the class.

JAC Class 7thCivics Struggles for Equality Important Questions and Answers

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
Tehri Dam is in
(a) Madhya Pradesh
(b) Uttarakhand
(c) Uttar Pradesh
(d) Himachal Pradesh
Answer:
(b) Uttarakhand

Question 2.
Full form of TMS is
(a) Tawa Matsya Sangh
(b) Tawa Matsya Samiti
(c) Tawa Maan Sangh
(d) Tawa Maan Samiti
Answer:
(a) Tawa Matsya Sangh

Question 3.
Tawa dam began to built in ….. and completed in
(a) 1958,1968
(b) 1968,1978
(c) 1958,1978
(d) 1978,1988
Answer:
(c) 1958,1978

Question 4.
Tawa Matsya Sangh was organised in
(a) Maharashtra
(b) Andhra Pradesh
(c) Madhya Pradesh
(d) Arunachal Pradesh
Answer:
(c) Madhya Pradesh

Question 5.
The government gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors in
(a) 1992
(b) 1996
(c) 1994
(d) 1998
Answer:
(c) 1994

Question 6.
Similarity among Kanta, Swapna, Melani is
(a) They were all politicians
(b) They were all people of dignity
(c) They have been treated equally always
(d) They have been treated unequally
Answer:
(d) They have been treated unequally

Question 7.
A social movement consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists against a number of large dams being built across the Narmada river is called as
(a) Nadi Bachao Andolan
(b) Narmada Bachao Andolan
(c) Tawa Bachao Andolan
(d) None of these
Answer:
(b) Narmada Bachao Andolan

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
What was the demand and stipulation of Tawa Matsya Sangh?
Answer:
Tawa Matsya Sangh were demanding their right to continue fishing for their livelihood.

Question 2.
Why so many people’s lives in India are highly unequal?
Answer:
People’s lives in India are highly unequal because of the poverty and the lack of resources continue to be a major reason.

Question 3.
In what way the contractor hehave with the local people?
Answer:
The contractors got cheap labour from outside the village and drove the local people away. They also threaten the villagers.

Question 4.
Why in India people are treated unequally?
Answer:
People are treated unequally because of the person’s religion, caste and sex.

Question 5.
In what way Indian Constitution justify rights to equality?
Answer:
The Indian Constitution recognises all Indians as equal before the law and states that no person can be discriminated against because of their religion, sex, caste or whether they are rich or poor.

Question 6.
Why the old Tehri town and manyvillages totally and some partially were submerged?
Answer:
The old Tehri town and many villages some totally and some partially were submerged because of the construction of Tawa dam across the river.

Question 7.
In which way writers, singers, dancers and artists have also been very active in the fight against inequality?
Answer:
The writers, singers, dancers and artists have also been very active in the fight against inequality with their poems, songs and stories which inspire us and make us believe strongly in an issue and influence our efforts to correct the situation.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
What was the outcome when the Madhya Pradesh government in 1994 gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors?
Answer:
When the Madhya Pradesh government in 1994 gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors, they began to threat the villagers and started suppressing them. They drove them away from there and brought cheap labour from outside. The villagers could not tolerate these monsterity and wrong doing of the contractors for the long period. They stood united and set up an organisation named as Tawa Matsya Sangh to protect their rights.

Question 2.
When the Tawa dam began to build, what happened?
Answer:
When the Tawa dam began to build then

It submerged large areas of agricultural land and forests.
The forest dwellers lost everything, they had nothing.
Some of the displaced people settled around the reservoir. They started to work on there meagre farms and apart from it they found livelihood in fishing.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
In which way, Tawa Matsya Sanghhelped the fishworkers?
Answer:
Tawa Matsya Sangh helped the fishworkers in various ways:

The Tawa Matsya Sangh has set up a cooperative which buys the catch at a fair price from the fishworkers.
The cooperative then make ceratin arrangements for transportation and sells the catch in markets to get them a good price. This arrangement enhanced the earning of the fishworkers.
The Tawa Matsya Sangh also started to give the fishworkers loans for repair and buying new nets.

Question 2.
Indian Constitution is called the living document. Why?
Answer:
Indian Constitution is called the living document because of the following:

Indian Constitution recognises the equality of all persons.
Indian Constitution has a true meaning in everyone’s lives.
Movements and struggles for equality in India continuously refer to Indian Constitution to make their point about equality and justice to everyone.
The starting point and base of all movements for justice and the inspiration and for all the poetry, song, stories is the recognition of equality among people.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Solutions

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 Board Class 7th Social Science Solutions Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

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

JAC Class 7 Social Science Notes