Very Short Answer Type Question
1. What is Joothan about?
Answer: It is about the bitter experiences of growing up of a dalit boy.
2. What suggestion was given to Ansaris by the property dealer?
Answer: They were suggested to change their names and call themselves Mr and Mrs kumar
3. On what basis were the Ansaris treated unequally?
Answer: The Ansaris were treated unequally on the basis of religion.
4. What do you mean by ‘dignity’? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Dignity means thinking of one self and others as worthy of self-respect.
5. What are the two ways in which the government has tried to implement the equality that guaranteed in the constitution?
Answer: (i) Through laws
(ii) Through government programmes or schemes to help unprivileged groups.
6. Who have been employed to cook the meal under midday meal scheme?
Answer: Dalit women have been employed for this purpose.
7. How did B.R. Ambedkar view self-respect?
Answer: B.R. Ambedkar viewed self-respect as the most vital factor in life, without which man was cipher.
8. What was the condition of the African-Americans in the United States of America prior to 1950s? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Prior to 1950’s, the African-Americans were treated extremely unequally in the USA and denied equality through law.
9. What is known as the Civil Rights Movements? [V. Imp.]
Answer: A movement took place in the USA in the late 1950’s to push for equal rights for African-Americans. This movement later came to be known as Civil Rights Movement.
10. Give an example to show all people are equal according to Indian constitution.
Answer: Right to vote given to all adult irrespective of their gender, caste, creed or socio-economic status.
11. What do you mean by mid-day meal programme?
Answer: Mid-day meal programme is a programme introduced in all government elementary school to provide students with cooked lunch.
12. Are all the people who have voting rights really equal?
Answer: People like Kanta have the voting rights but their daily living conditions are far from equal. They experience inequality in different ways.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Why universal adult franchise is important in a democracy?
Answer: In a democracy, universal adult franchise is important because of the following reasons:
(i) Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.
(ii) Every adult irrespective of caste, creed, religion, region, sex, rich or poor people are allowed to vote. This is called universal adult franchise.
(iii) Concept of universal adult franchise is based on equality.
(iv) In democracy every citizen is equal.
2. What is one of the main reasons which is responsible for continuance of discrimination?
Answer: One of the main reasons for continuance of discrimination is that attitudes change very slowly.
(i) Persons are aware that discrimination is against the law. Still they continue to treat people unequally on the basis of their caste, religion, disability, economic status and sex.
(ii) It is only when people begin to believe that no one is inferior and that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, that attitudes change.
(iii) Establishing equality in a democratic society is a continuous struggle.
(iv) Persons 12321s well as various communities in India contribute to remove inequalities.
3. What is the position of equality in India, a democratic country?
Answer: (i) The Indian Constitution recognises every person as equal.
(ii) This means that every person in the country, both male and female from all castes, religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds is equal.
(iii) Inequality still exists. But at least, in democratic India, the principle of the equality of all persons is recognised.
(iv) Earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination and, ill-treatment.
(v) Now there are several laws that work to see that people are treated with dignity and as equals.
4. List the provision in the constitution for recognition of equality.
Answer: (i) Every person, right from president to a domestic worker is equal before the law.
(ii) No person can be discriminated on the basis of caste, colour, race, religion, place of birth and gender.
(iii) Each and every person has access to all public place like park, market, hotel etc.
(iv) All persons can use publicly available well, roads, swimming pools, markets etc.
5. Does Kanta has enough reason to doubt the equality level of citizens?
Answer: Yes, Kanta has enough reasons to doubt whether she is really equal. The reasons behind it are:
(i) She cannot skip work when her daughter is ill
(ii) She does not have enough money to take her to doctor
(iii) She has to stand in a line in the government hospital for her turn to show her daughter to then doctor.
6. Why people refuse to think dalit as equal, even though law says it?
Answer: This is because of the attitude and individual’s nature that cannot be changed immediately. It will take some more time to people to accept that all are equal and wonderful creation of god. No one is inferior or superior.
7. What do you mean by the term “All persons are equal before the law”? Why do you think this is important in a democracy?
Answer: By the term “all All persons are equal before the law”
(i) The law applies to everyone irrespective of their class, caste or gender
(ii) The law expects everyone to treat others as equal in matters of using public places, under law and all the fundamental rights.
(iii) This is important in a democracy so as to preserve the true nature of a democratic society where everyone’s dignity is respected.
8. What is it that makes Kanta unsure?
Answer: (i) She lives in a slum and has a drain behind her house.
(ii) Her daughter is sick but she cannot take the day off from work because she needs to borrow money from her employers to take her child to the doctor.
(iii) Her job as a domestic help tires her out, and finally she ends her day by again standing in a long line.
This line, in front of the government hospital, is unlike the one in the morning because most of the people standing in it are poor.
9. Mention two different kinds of inequalities that exist in our country. Give examples.
Answer: Two different kinds of inequalities that exist in our country are—inequalities based on the caste system and that based on the religion.
Omprakash Valmiki was treated extremely unequally because he was a dalit. In school, his headmaster made him sweep the school and the playground.
The Ansaris were treated unequally on the basis differences of religion. They were looking to rent an apartment in the city. They were about to take an apartment at the first sight. But the moment the land lady knew their names she declined to rent the house.
10. Write a brief note on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Answer: The Civil Rights Act was passed in the year 1964. The Act prohibited 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. However, a majority of African-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.
11. In a democracy why is universal adult franchise important?
Answer: In a democracy, universal adult franchise is important because of the following reasons:
(i) Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.
(ii) Every adult irrespective of caste, creed, religion, region, sex, rich or poor people are allowed to vote. This is called universal adult franchise.
(iv) Concept of universal adult franchise is based on equality.
(v) In democracy every citizen is equal.
12. In what ways was Om prakash Valmiki’s experience similar to that of the Ansaris?
Answer: In following ways Omprakash Valmiki’s experience was similar to that of the Ansaris:
(i) Both of them discriminated by the society on the basis of their caste or religion.
(ii) Dignity and self respect of both of them get violated.
(iii) Both suffered from unequal treatment.
13. What is it that makes Kanta unsure?
Answer: Kanta is a poor domestic worker. She lives in a slum which is very filthy. Her daughter is sick but she cannot skip work because she needs to borrow money from her employers to take her daughter to the doctor. Her job as a domestic help is not a permanent. She can be removed by her employers any time.
14. Mention two different kinds of inequalities that exist in our country. Give examples. [V. Imp.]
Answer: Two different kinds of inequalities that exist in our country are—inequalities based on the caste system and that based on the religion.
Omprakash Valmiki was treated extremely unequally because he was a dalit. In school, his headmaster made him sweep the school and the playground.
The Ansaris were treated unequally on the basis differences of religion. They were looking to rent an apartment in the city. They were about to take an apartment at the first sight. But the moment the land lady knew their names she declined to rent the house.
15. Write a note on equality in Indian democracy. [V. Imp.]
Answer: The Indian constitution recognises all persons as equals. This means that every individual in the country irrespective of his/her caste, religion, educational and economic backgrounds is recognised as equal. Although, inequality still exists in the country, yet the principle of the equality of all persons is recognised. While earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination and ill treatment now there are several that work to see that people are treated with dignity.
16. Write a brief note on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Answer: The Civil Rights Act was passed in the year 1964. The Act prohibited 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. However, a majority of African-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. What are the provision made in the constitution for the recognition of equality? [V. Imp.]
Answer: The provisions made in the constitution for the recognition of equality are as follow:
(a) Every person is equal before the law. What this means is that every person, from the President of India to a domestic worker like Kanta, has to obey the same laws.
(b) No person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, caste, race place of birth or whether they are male or female.
(c) 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.
(d) Untouchability has been abolished.
2. How can you say that establishment of equality in society is a continuous struggle?
Answer: Inspite of several efforts made by the government inequalities still exist in our society. Even today low caste people are being discriminated against and treated unequally. The reason behind it is that people refuse to think of them as equal even though the law requires it. This attitude of the people is so deeply rooted that it cannot change all of a sudden. It will take a lot of time. Even though people are aware that discrimination is against the law, they continue to treat others unequally on the basis of caste and religion. People are also discriminated against on the basis of economic status, disability and gender.
Unless people believe that every person deserves to be treated equally and with dignity, the present attitude cannot be rooted out. Changing people’s attitude is a very slow process and hence establishment of equality in society is a continuous struggle.
3. When persons are treated unequally, their dignity is violated. How?
Answer: (i) When persons are treated unequally their dignity is violated because they feel humiliated.
(ii) The dignity of both Omprakash Valmiki and the Ansaris was violated because of the way in which they were treated.
(iii) By picking on him and making him sweep the school, because of his caste, Omprakash Valmiki’s schoolmates and teachers badly hurt his dignity and made him feel as if he was less than equal to all other students in the school.
(iv) Being a child Omprakash Valmiki could do very little about the situation that he was in. It was his father who felt angry by this unequal treatment. He confronted the teachers.
(v) The Ansaris’ dignity was also hurt when persons refused to lease their apartments to them.
(vi) The suggestion of the property dealer to change their name also violated their dignity or self-respect. Hence, they refused this suggestion.
(vii) Omprakash and the Ansaris do not deserve to be treated like this. They deserve the same respect and dignity as others.
4. List four benefits of midday meal programme.
Answer: Following are the benefits of mid-day meal programme:
(i) It has helped increase the enrolment and attendance of poor children in school.
(ii) Students earlier used to go home for lunch and never returned after that. This practice has been stopped.
(iii) It has also helped reduce caste prejudices because both lower and upper caste children in the school eat this meal together, and in quite a few places, Dalit women have been employed to cook the meal.
(iv) The midday meal programme also helps reduce the hunger of poor students who often come to school and cannot concentrate because their stomachs are empty.
(v) This lead to increase in literacy rate of a state and removal of inequality among rich and poor children from schools.
