Gender, Caste and Religion

Q1. Explain the factors responsible for low female literacy rate in our country? **

It is only a smaller proportion of girl students go for higher studies.
Girls dropout.
Parent’s prefer to spend their resources for their boys education rather than spending equally on their sons and daughters.

There is no official religion for Indian state.
The constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.

Q3. Explain any three factors responsible for breaking down the caste hierarchy in our country?

With economic development, large scale urbanization, growth of literacy and education.
Occupational mobility and weakening of the positions of landlords in the villages, the caste hierarchy is breaking down.
The Constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination. We don’t see the practice of untouchability anywhere today.
Caste system also weakened due to the efforts of our political leaders and social reformers like Jyothiba Phule, Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker.

Q4. Explain any three forms of caste politics in India? ***

When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from different castes so as to muster essential support to win elections.
Political Parties and candidates in elections make appeals to cast sentiments of the electorate in order to muster support.
When governments are formed, political parties usually take care that representatives of different caste and tribes find place in it.

Q1. Discuss any five steps taken by the government towards women empowerment and gender inequality. ***

One-third of seats in the local government bodies in Panchayats and Municipalities are now reserved for women.
The provision of equal wages for women without any discrimination has been made under the Equal Wages Act.
Female infanticide has been reduced as sex-selective abortions has been taken away, in many parts of the country.
Domestic violence against women, their exploitation etc. always have been the part of daily news. In this regards, the government has brought Domestic Violence Act which proves and effective steps.
Girl students are getting concessions and free education in many states.

Communalism in daily beliefs – These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions. This is so common that we often fail to notice it, even when we believe in it.
Formation of Political parties based on religious communities- A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For those belonging to majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
Political mobilization on religious lines- It is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in political arena. In electoral politics this often involves special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
Communal Riots- Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre. India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of the Partition. The post- Independence period has also seen large scale communal violence.

Gender, Caste and Religion - Class X