ਅਧਿਆਇ 3 ਲਿੰਗ ਧਰਮ ਅਤੇ ਜਾਤ
Chapter 3 Gender, Religion and Caste
Overview
The existence of social diversity does not threaten democracy. Political
expression of social differences is possible and sometimes quite desirable
in a democratic system. In this chapter we apply these ideas to the practice
of democracy in India. We look at three kinds of social differences that
can take the form of social divisions and inequalities. These are social
differences based on gender, religion and caste. In each case we look at
the nature of this division in India and how it gets expressed in politics.
We also ask whether different expressions based on these differences are
healthy or otherwise in a democracy.
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Democratic Politics
Gender and politics
Let us begin with gender division.
This is a form of hierarchical social
division seen everywhere, but is
rarely recognised in the study of
politics. The gender division tends
to be understood as natural and
unchangeable. However, it is not
based on biology but on social
expectations and stereotypes.
Public/private division
Boys and girls are brought up to
believe that the main responsibility
of women is housework and bringing
up children. This is reflected in a
sexual division of labour in most
families: women do all work inside
the home such as cooking, cleaning,
washing clothes, tailoring, looking
after children, etc., and men do all
the work outside the home. It is not
that men cannot do housework; they
simply think that it is for women to
attend to these things. When these
jobs are paid for, men are ready to
take up these works. Most tailors or
cooks in hotels are men. Similarly,
it is not that women do not work
outside their home. In villages,
women fetch water, collect fuel and
work in the fields. In urban areas,
poor women work as domestic
helper in middle class homes, while
middle class women work in offices.
In fact, the majority of women do
some sort of paid work in addition
to domestic labour. But their work
is not valued and does not get
recognition.
The result of this division of
labour is that although women
constitute half of the humanity, their
role in public life, especially politics,
is minimal in most societies. Earlier,
only men were allowed to participate
in public affairs, vote and contest
for public offices. Gradually the
gender issue was raised in politics.
Women in different parts of the
world organised and agitated for
equal rights. There were agitations
in different countries for the
extension of voting rights to women.
A poster from Bengal affirming women’s
strength.
Sexual division of labour:
A system in which all
work inside the home
is either done by the
women of the family,
or organised by them
through the domestic
helpers.
Why not? If
politics is about
power, then
surely male
dominance in the
household should
be considered
political.
Why are we
discussing things
like household
work in this
textbook on
Political Science?
Is this politics?
© Zuban
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T h ese agi tati on s d eman ded
enhancing the political and legal
status of women and improving their
educational and career opportunities.
More radical women’s movements
aimed at equality in personal and
family life as well. These movements
are called feminist movements.
Political expression of gender
division and political mobilisation
Discuss all these perceptions of an ideal woman that prevail in our society. Do you
agree with any of these? If not, what is your image of an ideal woman?
Feminist: A
woman or a man
who believes in
equal rights and
opportunities for
women and men.
© Zuban
on this question helped to improve
women’s role in public life. We now
find women working as scientists,
doctors, engineers, lawyers,
managers and college and university
teachers which were earlier not
considered suitable for women. In
some parts of the world, for example
in Scandinavian countries, such as
Sweden, Norway and Finland, the
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Democratic Politics
Patriarchy: Literally,
rule by father, this
concept is used to
refer to a system that
values men more and
gives them power
over women.
Activities Men Women
Income generating work 6:00 2:40
Household and related work 0:30 5:00
Talking, Gossip 1:25 1:20
No work/ Leisure 3:40 3:50
Sleep, self-care, reading etc. 12:25 11:10
Daily time use (hours: minutes)
Source: Government of India, Time Use Survey, 1998-99.
+
A ‘time use survey’ was conducted in six states of our country. It
shows that an average woman works every day for a little over
seven and half hours while an average man works for six and a
half hours. Yet the work done by men is more visible because
most of their work leads to generation of income. Women also do
a lot of direct income generating work, but the bulk of their work
is household related. This work remains unpaid and invisible.
participation of women in public life
is very high.
In our country, women still lag
much behind men despite some
improvement since Independence.
Ours is still a male-dominated,
patriarchal society. Women face
disadvantage, discrimination and
oppression in various ways:
The literacy rate among women
is only 54 per cent compared with
76 per cent among men. Similarly, a
smaller proportion of girl students
go for higher studies. When we
You can conduct a similar time use survey in your own
household. Observe all the adult male and female members of
your family for one week. Every day note down the number of
hours each of them spends on the following activities: income
generating activity (working at the office or shop or factory
or field, etc.), household related activity (cooking, cleaning,
washing, fetching water, looking after children or elders, etc.),
reading and recreation, talking/gossiping, self-care, taking rest
or sleeping. If necessary make new categories. Add up the time
taken on each activity for a week and calculate the daily average
for each activity for each member. Do women work more in your
family as well?
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Mummy always
says to outsiders:
“I don’t work. I
am a housewife.”
But I see her
working non-stop
all the time. If
what she does is
not work, what
else is work?
look at school results, girls perform
as well as boys, if not better in
some places. But they drop out
because parents prefer to spend their
resources for their boys’ education
rather than spending equally on their
sons and daughters.
No wonder the proportion of
women among the highly paid and
valued jobs, is still very small. On
an average, an Indian woman works
one hour more than an average man
every day. Yet much of her work
is not paid and therefore, often
not valued.
The Equal Remuneration Act,
1976 provides that equal wages
should be paid to equal work.
However in almost all areas of
work, from sports and cinema, to
factories and fields, women are paid
less than men, even when both do
exactly the same work.
In many parts of India, parents
prefer to have sons and find ways to
have the girl child aborted before
she is born. Such sex-selective
abortion led to a decline in child sex
ratio (number of girl children per
thousand boys) in the country to
merely 919. As the map shows, this
Can you identify
your State on this
map? What is the
child sex ratio in
it? How is it
different from
others with a
different colour?
Identify the States
which have child
sex ratio below
900.
Compare this map
with the poster
on the next page.
How do the two of
them tell us about
the same issue?
Source: Census Report of 2011
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© Oxfam GB
ratio has fallen below 850 or even
800 in some States.
There are reports of various
kinds of harassment, exploitation
and violence against women. Urban
areas have become particularly
unsafe for women. They are not safe
even within their own home from
beating, harassment and other forms
of domestic violence.
Women’s political
representation
All this is well known. Yet issues
related to women’s well being or
otherwise are not given adequate
attention. This has led many
feminists and women’s movements
to the conclusion that unless women
control power, their problems will
not get adequate attention. One way
to ensure this is to have more women
as elected representatives.
In India, the proportion of
women in legislature has been very
low. For example, the percentage
of elected women members in Lok
Sabha has touched 14.36 per cent of
its total strength for the first time
in 2019. Their share in the state
assemblies is less than 5 per cent.
In this respect, India is among the
Could you think of some
reasons why women’s
representation is so
low in India? Do you
think Americas and
Europe have achieved
a satisfactory level of
women’s representation?
Women in national parliaments in different
regions of the world (in%)
Note: Figures are for the per cent of women in the directly elected houses of parliament as on 1 October
2018.
Source: http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm
Nordic
countries
Americas Europe SubSaharan Africa
Arab Pacific States
Region
Asia 0
20
15
10
5
World
Average
24
India
45
40
35
30
25 29.5
42.3
26.4
23.7
19.8
18.6
15.6
11.8
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This cartoon offers an understanding of why the Women’s Reservation Bill has not been passed in the Parliament.
Do you agree with this reading? © Surender - The Hindu
If casteism and
communalism
are bad, what
makes feminism
a good thing?
Why don’t we
oppose all those
who divide the
society on any
lines – caste,
religion or
gender?
bottom group of nations in the
world (see the graph below). India
is behind the averages for several
developing countries of Africa and
Latin America. In the government,
cabinets are largely all-male even
when a woman becomes the Chief
Minister or the Prime Minister.
One way to solve this problem is
to make it legally binding to have a fair
proportion of women in the elected
bodies. This is what the Panchayati
Raj has done in India. One-third of
seats in local government bodies – in
panchayats and municipalities – are
now reserved for women. Now there
are more than 10 lakh elected women
representatives in rural and urban
local bodies.
Women’s organisations and
activists have been demanding
a similar reservation of at least
one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha
and State Assemblies for women.
A bill with this proposal has been
pending before the Parliament for
more than a decade. But there is no
consensus over this among all the
political parties. The bill has not
been passed.
Gender division is an example
that some form of social division
needs to be expressed in politics. This
also shows that disadvantaged groups
do benefit when social divisions
become a political issue. Do you
think that women could have made
the gains we noted above if their
unequal treatment was not raised in
the political domain?
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Democratic Politics
Religion, communalism and politics
Let us now turn to a very different
kind of social division, the division
based on religious differences. This
division is not as universal as gender,
but religious diversity is fairly
widespread in the world today.
Many countries including India have
in their population, followers of
different religions. As we noticed in
the case of Northern Ireland, even
when most of the people belong
to the same religion, there can be
serious differences about the way
people practice that religion. Unlike
gender differences, the religious
differences are often expressed in the
field of politics.
Consider the following:
Gandhiji used to say that religion
can never be separated from politics.
What he meant by religion was
not any particular religion like
Hinduism or Islam but moral values
that inform all religions. He believed
that politics must be guided by ethics
drawn from religion.
Human rights groups in our
country have argued that most
of the victims of communal riots
in our country are people from
religious minorities. They have
demanded that the government
take special steps to protect religious
minorities.
Women’s movement has argued
that family laws of all religions
discriminate against women. So they
have demanded that government
should change these laws to make
them more equitable.
I am not
religious.
Why should I
bother about
communalism
and secularism?
All these instances involve a
relationship between religion and
politics. But they do not seem very
wrong or dangerous. Ideas, ideals and
values drawn from different religions
can and perhaps should play a role
in politics. People should be able
to express in politics their needs,
interests and demands as a member
of a religious community. Those
who hold political power should
sometimes be able to regulate the
practice of religion so as to prevent
discrimination and oppression.
These political acts are not wrong
as long as they treat every religion
equally.
Communalism
The problem begins when religion
is seen as the basis of the nation.
The example of Northern Ireland
in Chapter 3 shows the dangers of
such an approach to nationalism.
The problem becomes more acute
when religion is expressed in politics
in exclusive and partisan terms,
when one religion and its followers
are pitted against another. This
happens when beliefs of one religion
are presented as superior to those of
other religions, when the demands
of one religious group are formed in
opposition to another and when state
power is used to establish domination
of one religious group over the rest.
This manner of using religion in
politics is communal politics.
Communal politics is based
on the idea that religion is the
principal basis of social community.
Communalism involves thinking
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along the following lines. The
followers of a particular religion
must belong to one community.
Their fundamental interests are
the same. Any difference that they
may have is irrelevant or trivial
for community life. It also follows
that people who follow different
religions cannot belong to the same
social community. If the followers
of different religions have some
commonalities these are superficial
and immaterial, their interests are
bound to be different and involve
a conflict. In its extreme form,
communalism leads to the belief
that people belonging to different
religions cannot live as equal citizens
within one nation. Either, one of
them has to dominate the rest or
they have to form different nations.
This belief is fundamentally
flawed. People of one religion
do not have the same interests
and aspirations in every context.
Everyone has several other roles,
positions and identities. There
are many voices inside every
community. All these voices have
a right to be heard. Therefore any
attempt to bring all followers of one
religion together in context other
than religion is bound to suppress
many voices within that community.
Communalism can take various
forms in politics:
The most common expression
of communalism is in everyday
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
Family laws: Those
laws that deal with
family related matters
such as marriage,
divorce, adoption,
inheritance, etc.
In our country,
different family laws
apply to followers of
different religions.
that we often fail to notice it, even
when we believe in it.
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 mobilisation on
religious lines 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 the
political arena. In electoral politics,
this often involves special appeal to
the interests or emotions of voters of
one religion in preference to others.
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.
Secular state
Communalism was and continues
to be one of the major challenges
to democracy in our country. The
makers of our Constitution were
aware of this challenge. That is why,
they chose the model of a secular
state. This choice was reflected in
several constitutional provisions that
we studied last year:
There is no official religion for
the Indian state. Unlike the status of
Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam
I often crack
jokes about
people from one
religion. Does
that make me
communal?
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Democratic Politics
in Pakistan and that of Christianity in
England, our Constitution does not
give a special status to any religion. 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. At the same time, the Constitution
allows the state to intervene in
the matters of religion in order to
ensure equality within religious
communities. For example, it bans
untouchability.
Understood in this sense,
secularism is not just an ideology of
some parties or persons. This idea
constitutes one of the foundations
of our country. Communalism
should not be seen as a threat to
some people in India. It threatens
the very idea of India. That is why
communalism needs to be combated.
A secular Constitution like ours
is necessary but not sufficient to
combat communalism. Communal
prejudices and propaganda need to
be countered in everyday life and
religion- based mobilisation needs to
be countered in the arena of politics.
Caste and politics
We have seen two instances of the
expression of social divisions in the
arena of politics, one largely positive
and the other largely negative. Let us
turn to our final case, that of caste
and politics, that has both positive
and the negative aspects.
Caste inequalities
Unlike gender and religion, caste
division is special to India. All societies
have some kind of social inequality
and some form of division of labour.
In most societies, occupations are
passed on from one generation to
another. Caste system is an extreme
form of this. What makes it different
from other societies is that in this
system, hereditary occupational
division was sanctioned by rituals.
Members of the same caste group
were supposed to form a social
community that practiced the same
or similar occupation, married
within the caste group and did
not eat with members from other
caste groups.
Caste system was based on
exclusion of and discrimination
against the ‘outcaste’ groups. They
were subjected to the inhuman
practice of untouchability about
which you have studied in Class
IX. That is why political leaders
and social reformers like Jotiba
Phule, Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar
and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker
advocated and worked to establish
a society in which caste inequalities
are absent.
Partly due to their efforts and
partly due to other socio-economic
changes, castes and caste system
in modern India have undergone
great changes. With economic
d e v e l o p m e n t , l a r g e s c a l e
urbanisation, growth of literacy and
education, occupational mobility
and the weakening of the position
of landlords in the villages, the old
notions of caste hierarchy are
breaking down. Now, most of the
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Social and Religious Diversity of India
The Census of India records the religion of each and every Indian after every ten years.
The person who fills the Census form visits every household and records the religion of
each member of that household exactly the way each person describes it. If someone
says she has ‘no religion’ or that he is an ‘atheist’, this is exactly how it is recorded.
Thus we have reliable information on the proportion of different religious communities
in the country and how it has changed over the years. The pie chart below presents
the population proportion of six major religious communities in the country. Since
Independence, the total population of each community has increased substantially but
their proportion in the country’s population has not changed much. In percentage terms,
the population of the Hindus, Jains and Christians has declined marginally since 1961.
The proportion of Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist population has increased slightly. There is
a common but mistaken impression that the proportion of the Muslims in the country’s
population is going to overtake other religious communities. Expert estimates done for
the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (popularly known as Sachar Committee)
show that the proportion of the Muslims is expected to go up a little, by about 3 to 4
per cent, in the next 50 years. It proves that in overall terms, the population balance
of different religious communities is not likely to change in a big way.
The same is true of the major caste groups. The Census of India counts two social
groups: the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Both these broad groups
include hundreds of castes or tribes whose names are listed in an official Schedule.
Hence the prefix ‘Scheduled’ in their name. The Scheduled Castes, commonly known
as Dalits, include those that were previously regarded as ‘outcaste’ in the Hindu social
order and were subjected to exclusion and untouchability. The Scheduled Tribes, often
referred to as Adivasis, include those communities that led a secluded life usually in hills
and forests and did not interact much with the rest of society. In 2011, the Scheduled
Castes were 16.6 per cent and the
Scheduled Tribes were 8.6 per cent
of the country’s population.
The Census does not yet count the
Other Backward Classes, the group
we discussed in Class IX. Hence there
are some differences about their
proportion in the country’s population.
The National Sample Survey of
2004–05 estimates their population
to be around 41 per cent. Thus the
SC, ST and the OBC together account
for about two-thirds of the country’s
population and about three-fourths of
the Hindu population.
Population of different religious
communities in India, 2011
Hindu
79.8
Muslim
14.2
Others 2%
Christian 2.3
Sikh 1.7
Others include Buddhist 0.7% Jain 0.4%
Other Religions and Persuasions 0.7%
Religion not stated 0.2%
Source: Census of India, 2011
In %
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Democratic Politics
times, in urban areas it does not
matter much who is walking along
next to us on a street or eating at
the next table in a restaurant. The
Constitution of India prohibited any
caste-based discrimination and laid
the foundations of policies to reverse
the injustices of the caste system. If
a person who lived a century ago
were to return to India, she would
be greatly surprised at the change
that has come about in the country.
Yet caste has not disappeared
from contemporary India. Some
of the older aspects of caste have
persisted. Even now most people
marry within their own caste or
tribe. Untouchability has not ended
completely, despite constitutional
prohibition. Effects of centuries
of advantages and disadvantages
continue to be felt today. The caste
groups that had access to education
under the old system have done very
well in acquiring modern education
as well. Those groups that did not
have access to education or were
prohibited from acquiring it have
naturally lagged behind. That is why
there is a disproportionately large
presence of ‘upper caste’ among
the urban middle classes in our
country. Caste continues to be
closely linked to economic status.
(See Plus Box on Page 41.)
Caste in politics
As in the case of communalism,
casteism is rooted in the belief
that caste is the sole basis of social
community. According to this way
of thinking, people belonging to
the same caste belong to a natural
social community and have the
same interests which they do not
share with anyone from another
caste. As we saw in the case of
communalism, such a belief is not
borne out by our experience. Caste
is one aspect of our experience but it
is not the only relevant or the most
important aspect.
Caste can take various forms
in politics:
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
necessary support to win elections.
When governments are formed,
political parties usually take care that
representatives of different castes and
tribes find a place in it.
Political parties and candidates
in elections make appeals to caste
sentiment to muster support. Some
political parties are known to favour
some castes and are seen as their
representatives.
Universal adult franchise and
the principle of one-person-one-vote
Urbanisation: Shift
of population from
rural areas to urban
areas.
Occupational
mobility: Shift from
one occupation to
another, usually
when a new
generation takes up
occupations other
than those practiced
by their ancestors.
Caste hierarchy: A
ladder-like formation
in which all the caste
groups are placed
from the ‘highest’ to
the ‘lowest’ castes.
I don’t care what
my caste is. Why
are we discussing
all this in the
textbook? Are we
not promoting
casteism by
talking about
caste?
Now you don’t like
it! Didn’t you tell
me that wherever
there is domination,
we should discuss it
in Political Science?
Will caste disappear
if we keep mum
about it?
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Caste inequality today
Caste is an important source of economic inequality because it regulates
access to resources of various kinds. For example, in the past, the so-called
‘untouchable’ castes were denied the right to own land, while only the so-called
‘twice born’ castes had the right to education. Although this kind of explicit and
formalised inequality based on caste is now outlawed, the effects of centuries of
accumulated advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt. Moreover, new
kinds of inequalities have also developed.
The relationship between caste and economic status has certainly changed a
lot. Today, it is possible to find very rich and very poor people in every caste,
whether ‘low’ or ‘high’. This was not true even twenty or thirty years ago – it
was very rare indeed to find rich people among the ‘lowest’ castes. However,
as this evidence from the National Sample Survey shows, caste continues to be
very strongly linked to economic status in many important ways:
The average economic status (measured by criteria like monthly
consumption expenditure) of caste groups still follows the old hierarchy –
the ‘upper’ castes are best off, the Dalits and Adivasis are worst off, and the
backward classes are in between.
Although every caste has some poor members, the proportion living in
extreme poverty (below the official ‘poverty line’) is much higher for the lowest
castes and much lower for the upper castes, with the backward classes once
again in between.
Although every caste has some members who are rich, the upper castes are
heavily over-represented among the rich while the lower castes are severely
under-represented.
Percentage of population living below the poverty line, 1999–——2000
Caste and Community groups Rural Urban
Scheduled Tribes 45.8 35.6
Scheduled Castes 35.9 38.3
Other Backward Classes 27.0 29.5
Muslim Upper Castes 26.8 34.2
Hindu Upper Castes 11.7 9.9
Christian Upper Castes 9.6 5.4
Sikh Upper Castes 0.0 4.9
Other Upper Castes 16.0 2.7
All Groups 27.0 23.4
Note: ‘Upper Caste’ here means those who are not from SC, ST, or OBC. Below the poverty line
means those who spent 327 or less per person per month in rural and
454 or less per person per
month in urban areas.
Source: National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Government of India, 55th Round, 1999–2000
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Democratic Politics
compelled political leaders to gear up
to the task of mobilising and securing
political support. It also brought new
consciousness among the people of
castes that were hitherto treated as
inferior and low.
The focus on caste in politics
can sometimes give an impression
that elections are all about caste and
nothing else. That is far from true.
Just consider these:
No parliamentary constituency
in the country has a clear majority
of one single caste. So, every
candidate and party needs to win the
confidence of more than one caste
and community to win elections.
No party wins the votes of all
the voters of a caste or community.
When people say that a caste is a
‘vote bank’ of one party, it usually
means that a large proportion of
the voters from that caste vote for
that party.
Many political parties may put
up candidates from the same caste
(if that caste is believed to dominate
the electorate in a particular
constituency). Some voters have
more than one candidate from their
caste while many voters have no
candidate from their caste.
The ruling party and the sitting
MP or MLA frequently lose elections
in our country. That could not
have happened if all castes and
communities were frozen in their
political preferences.
Clearly, while caste matters in
electoral politics, so do many other
factors. The voters have strong
attachment to political parties which
is often stronger than their attachment
to their caste or community. People
within the same caste or community
have different interests depending
on their economic condition. Rich
and poor or men and women from
the same caste often vote very
differently. People’s assessment of
the performance of the government
and the popularity rating of the
leaders matter and are often decisive
in elections.
Politics in caste
We have so far looked at what caste
does to politics. But it does not mean
that there is only a one-way relation
between caste and politics. Politics
too influences the caste system and
caste identities by bringing them
into the political arena. Thus, it is
not politics that gets caste-ridden, it
© Ajith Ninan - India Today Book of Cartoons
Do you think that political leaders are right to treat people belonging to a
caste as ‘vote banks’?
Rationalised 2023-24
G e n d e r , R e l i g i o n a n d C a s t e
43
is the caste that gets politicised. This
takes several forms: Each caste group tries to become
bigger by incorporating within it
neighbouring castes or sub-castes
which were earlier excluded from it. Various caste groups are required
to enter into a coalition with other
castes or communities and thus enter
into a dialogue and negotiation. New kinds of caste groups
have come up in the political arena
like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’
caste groups.
Thus, caste plays different
kinds of roles in politics. In some
situations, expression of caste
differences in politics gives many
disadvantaged communities the
space to demand their share of
power. In this sense, caste politics
has helped people from Dalits and
OBC castes to gain better access to
decision making. Several political
and non-political organisations have
been demanding and agitating for
an end to discrimination against
particular castes, for more dignity
and more access to land, resources
and opportunities.
At the same time, exclusive
attention to caste can produce
negative results as well. As in the
case of religion, politics based on
caste identity alone is not very
healthy in a democracy. It can
divert attention from other pressing
issues like poverty, development
and corruption. In some cases, caste
division leads to tensions, conflict
and even violence.
Rationalised 2023-24
44
Democratic Politics
- Mention different aspects of life in which women are discriminated or disadvantaged in India.
- State different forms of communal politics with one example each.
- State how caste inequalities are still continuing in India.
- State two reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.
- What is the status of women’s representation in India’s legislative bodies?
- Mention any two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state.
- When we speak of gender divisions, we usually refer to: (a) Biological difference between men and women (b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women (c) Unequal child sex ratio (d) Absence of voting rights for women in democracies
- In India seats are reserved for women in (a) Lok Sabha (b) State legislative assemblies (c) Cabinets (d) Panchayati Raj bodies
- Consider the following statements on the meaning of communal politics. Communal politics is based on the belief that: A. One religion is superior to that of others. B. People belonging to different religions can live together happily as equal citizens. C. Followers of a particular religion constitute one community. D. State power cannot be used to establish the domination of one religious group over others. Which of the statements are correct? (a) A, B, C, and D (b) A, B, and D (c) A and C (d) B and D
- Which among the following statements about India’s Constitution is wrong? It (a) prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion. (b) gives official status to one religion. (c) provides to all individuals freedom to profess any religion. (d) ensures equality of citizens within religious communities. Exercises
- Social divisions based on _________ are peculiar to India. Rationalised 2023-24 G e n d e r , R e l i g i o n a n d C a s t e 45 Exercises List I List II
- A person who believes in equal rights and opportunities for women and men A. Communalist
- A person who says that religion is the principal basis of community B. Feminist
- A person who thinks that caste is the principal basis of community C. Secularist
- A person who does not discriminate others on the basis of religious beliefs D. Castiest 1 2 3 4 (a) B C A D (b) B A D C (c) D C A B (d) C A B D
- Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists: Rationalised 2023-24
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 1 ਵਿਕਾਸ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 1 ਵਿਕਾਸ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 1 ਘਟਨਾਵਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਕਿਰਿਆਵਾਂ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 1 ਪਾਵਰ ਸ਼ੇਅਰਿੰਗ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 1 ਸਰੋਤ ਅਤੇ ਵਿਕਾਸ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 2 ਸੰਘਵਾਦ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 2 ਜੰਗਲ ਅਤੇ ਜੰਗਲੀ ਜੀਵ ਸਰੋਤ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 3 ਲਿੰਗ ਧਰਮ ਅਤੇ ਜਾਤ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 3 ਰੋਜ਼ੀ-ਰੋਟੀ ਆਰਥਿਕਤਾ ਅਤੇ ਸਮਾਜ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 3 ਪੈਸਾ ਅਤੇ ਕ੍ਰੈਡਿਟ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 3 ਜਲ ਸਰੋਤ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 4 ਖੇਤੀਬਾੜੀ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 4 ਵਿਸ਼ਵੀਕਰਨ ਅਤੇ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਅਰਥਵਿਵਸਥਾ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 4 ਸਿਆਸੀ ਪਾਰਟੀਆਂ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 4 ਉਦਯੋਗੀਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਯੁੱਗ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 5 ਖਪਤਕਾਰ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 5 ਰੋਜ਼ਾਨਾ ਜੀਵਨ ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰ ਅਤੇ ਰਾਜਨੀਤੀ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 5 ਖਣਿਜ ਅਤੇ ਊਰਜਾ ਸਰੋਤ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 5 ਲੋਕਤੰਤਰ ਦੇ ਨਤੀਜੇ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 6 ਨਿਰਮਾਣ ਉਦਯੋਗ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ 7 ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਅਰਥਚਾਰੇ ਦੀਆਂ ਜੀਵਨ ਰੇਖਾਵਾਂ
- ਅਧਿਆਇ-2-ਭਾਰਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਵਾਦ