NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Civics Chapter 3 Gender, Religion and Caste

In the 1968 Olympics, Smith and Carless won the gold and bronze medals respectively. They received their medals wearing black socks and no shoes, to represent Black poverty. With this gesture, they tried to draw international attention to racial discrimination in the United States.

It is fairly common for people belonging to the same religion to feel that they do not belong to the same community, because their caste or sect is very different. It is also possible for people from different religious to have the same caste and feel close to each other. Rich and poor persons from the same family often do not keep close relations with each other for they feel they are different. For Example: Carlos and Smith were similar in one way that they both were Afro-Americans and thus different from Norman, who was white. But they were all athletes who stood against racial discrimination. Thus we all have more than one social group.

The belief that religion should not be involved with the ordinary social and political activity of a country.

A social structure in which classes are determined by heredity i.e. from the highest to the lowest castes.

It is a belief in which the followers of a particular religion believe that their religion is superior over other religion.

Different forms of communal politics: (a) The expression of communal superiority in everyday beliefs: Militant religious groups are a good example of this. (b) The desire to form a majoritarian dominance or a separate state: Separatist leaders and political parties in Jammu and Kashmir and Central India are an example of this. (c) The use of religious symbols and leaders in politics to appeal to the voters: This technique is applied by many politicians to influence voters from the two largest religious communities in the country. (d) In addition to all this, communal politics can take the form of communal violence and riots, like the riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Caste inequalities have not completely disappeared from India. Even today, most people marry within their own caste or tribe. Despite constitutional prohibition, untouchability has not ended completely. Education is not easily available to the so called ‘low castes’. Economic status is closely linked to the caste system. In modern India, like in pre-independence India, the poor are mostly the ‘low castes’ while the rich are the ‘high castes’, thereby showing that caste inequalities are still continuing in India.

In India, women are discriminated and disadvantaged n the following ways: (a) They are not provided adequate education. Thus, the literacy rate among women is just 54%. (b) Most of the labour done by them is unpaid. Where they are paid for their work, they receive lesser wages than men. (c) Due to the preference for the boy child, female foeticide is practiced in many parts of the country.

Caste alone cannot determine election results in India because: No parliamentary constituency has a clear majority of one single caste. No party wins all the votes of a particular caste.

When it comes to representation of women in legislative bodies, India is among the bottom group of nations in the world. Women’s representation has always been less than 10% in Lok Sabha and 5% in the State Assemblies. On the other hand, the situation is different in the case of local government bodies. As one-third of seats in local government bodies (panchayats and municipalities) is reserved for women, there are more than 10 lakh elected women representatives in rural and urban local bodies.

Two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state are: The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any. The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.