Ch-4
Gender, Religion and Caste
GENDER AND POLITICS:
A prominent social division in our country is the gender division, generally understood to be natural and unchangeable. It is based on social expectations and stereotypes about women for centuries. They are brought up differently and made to think that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children. The main responsibility of the man is to earn money to provide for the family. There is a division of labour based on gender in most of the families.
Sexual Division of Labour:
The sexual division of labour happens when the work is divided on the basis of the gender of the person. For example:-
Male
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Female
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The household work is done by the women of the family.
Women do go out and work, to fetch water, collect wood and work in the fields.
The work done by the women is not paid for and also does not require any basic skill.
But work done by women is not valued and not considered as essential.
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This has resulted in
- Confining the women to her household
- Restricted her participation outside the home.
- Monopoly situation in politics where only men rule.
Present Situation
But gradually, with increasing education and awareness, gender issues have been raised in politics. The role of women in changing and has changed a lot from the previous times. They now enjoy more or less equal political rights and have advanced in many fields today and are found in almost all occupations today.
Different Aspects of Life in Which Women Are Discriminated:
Indian society is a patriarchal society. Mean there is a male domination everywhere. Women in our society face discrimination, disadvantage and oppression:
1. Education: the literacy rate of women is still lower than men. Only 54% of the women are literate against 76% of men. This is because a boy’s education is still preferred over sending a girl to the school. Spending money for a boy’s education is considered more important as they consider the boys to be the future bread winners of the family, rather than girls who shall be married off. In the field of higher education the prop. of girls is significantly lower than the boys.
2. Proportion of Women in Paid Jobs: women still have a small share in the highly paid jobs and higher posts. On an average a woman works one hour more than a man per day. But women’s works is not recognized as much of it is housework which is unpaid.
3. Preference of Male Child: Indian parents prefer to have male children over female children. A female child is considered as a burden as the parents will have to earn for her dowry to marry her. While, a boy child is considered as an asset for the family who will earn and increase the family income. This preference has resulted in social crimes such as female foeticide where a girl child is killed even before she is born.
4. Crime against women: there are various instances of crime against women, they are exploited and harassed at the work place and at home. There are cases of domestic violence against which makes her unsafe even in her family.
All these factors have prevented the women from actively participating in the work outside their homes and have confined her to homes. Any role played by women outside the household work is not respected and recognized.
PRESENT CONDITION OF WOMEN IN POLITICAL
1. In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. For example, the percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha has never reached even 10 % and in the state assemblies less than 5 %.
2. One-third of seats in Panchayats and municipalities – are now reserved for women. Now there are more than10 lakh elected women representatives in rural and urban local bodies.
3. Women’s organisations and activists have been demanding 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.
4. The share of women in India is behind those of several developing countries of Latin America and Africa.
How can the problem of woman’s political representation be solved in India?
Ans.-a.) 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.
b.) Women’s organizations 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.
Feminist: are people who are advocating for social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. They campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Feminism is a philosophy.
RELIGION AND POLITICS:
COMMUNAL POLITICS
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.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND POLITICS
1. Gandhi ji used to say that religion can never be separated from politics. He believed that politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.
2. Human rights groups in our country have argued that most of the victims of communal riots in our country are people from religious minorities.
3. Women’s movement has argued that family Laws of all religions discriminate against women.
Communalism: What is Communalism?
· When religion is expressed in politics in exclusive (as most important) terms.
· When one religion and its followers are pitted against another(ek doosre ke khilaf hona).
· When beliefs and practices of one religion are considered superior than any other religion.
· When the demands of one religion are formed in opposition to another.
· When the state favours domination of one religion above all others.
What is NOT communalism?
· Adherence to a religion or its system.
· Indulgence in ritualism, superstition, obscurantism, magic charm and occult practices, astrology is NOT communalism.
· Practice and propagation of a religion, religious gatherings, seminars meetings etc. is NOT communalism.
· Running a religious education institution or organization is NOT communalism.
What is the ideological basis ( or thinking line or features) of communalism?
· Religion is the principal basis of social community.
· Fundamental interest, socio-economic interest, and political interest of a religious community are the same.
· People who belong to different religions cannot belong to the same social community.
· Interests of most Religious communities are different and mutually conflicting.
· This was the extreme form of communalism practiced under the aegis of of the Muslim League which led to the Partition of India. The Muslims felt that the Hindus would dominate them and therefore two separate nations were created- India and Pakistan.
The Idea of Communalism is Fundamentally wrong:
· The idea of communal politics is fundamentally flawed as it is not necessary that people of the same religion have identical interests and demands.
· There is a possibility that people of the same religion have different interests, opinions and ideas.
· The demand and interests of the people depend on the roles they play in society. Their interests are based upon the position and the status they enjoy in the society and not based on the religion that they follow.
COMMUNALISM CAN TAKE VARIOUSFORMS IN POLITICS (PAGE 47 OF BOOK)
1. The most common expression of communalism is in the form of everyday beliefs which involves religious prejudices (preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience), stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions.
2. A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. So for those who belonging to majority community, communalism takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those who belongs to the minority community take the form of a separate political unit
3. Political mobilization 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.( Political mobilization means is the process by which large numbers of people are organized to a political activity like protest, strike etc )
4. 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.
WHAT WERE THE SEVERAL CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS TAKEN TO SOLVE COMMUNALISM IN INDIA?
1. India declare itself as secular state. There is no official religion and our Constitution does not give special status to any religion.
2. The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
3. The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
4. At the same time, the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities.
5. 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.
Secular State Features
India is a secular state because:
- There is no official religion of the Indian State
- 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
- The Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities
CASTE AND POLITICS:
Political expression of casteism has seen both positive as well as negative outcomes. Casteism is a unique phenomenon to Indian society.
The Caste System/The Caste Hierarchy:
Some form of social inequality and division of labour exist in almost all the countries. Since the existence of the earliest civilizations, ancestral profession and occupation are passed on from generation to generation. Caste system is an extreme form of the hereditary occupational division, which was sanctioned by rituals; members of the same caste formed a separate social community. They practiced the same occupation, dined with the same caste group, married within the same caste group. The most extreme and virulent expression of casteism was discrimination against the so-called ‘outcastes’ or untouchables whose mere touch could pollute a person of upper caste.
The Two Social Groups: Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: They are Indian communities that are accorded special status by the constitution of India. The scheduled caste communities were considered “outcastes” in the Hindu social order. They have been denied the access to various resources and were given only low status work. The scheduled tribes included those communities who were self sufficient and lived in hills and forest. They were not allowed to live with the rest of the society and were also not given equal opportunities of work.
In modern India, the caste system or the cast hierarchy has declined to a great extent due to:
1. Socio religious reformers like R R M Roy, D Saraswati, and Swami Vivekananda opposed the caste system. J Phule, Gandhiji, Ambedkar, R Naicker aggressively worked for a casteless and egalitarian society.
2. Large scale industrialization and urbanization.
3. Growth of education and literacy
4. Occupational mobility whereby members of the same caste opted for various other occupations.
5. Abolition of zamindari and landlordism, coupled with land reforms destroyed the old socio-economic system in villages which protected and nurtured caste system.
Casteism has not totally disappeared from our system:
1. In India, mostly people marry within the caste framework; inter-caste marriages are not accepted and are still considered a forbidden.
2. In remote villages where illiteracy has not reached yet, untouchability is practiced even today. That is despite the fact that our constitution abolishes untouchability.
3. Member of upper caste are generally better off than those of the lower caste. This is because the upper caste has access to modern education. A large number of professionals, government servants and people occupying upper positions and ranks belong to the upper castes and therefore form the upper class.
4. Those groups that belong to lower caste did not have access to education or were prohibited from acquiring wealth have naturally lagged behind.
5. That is why there is a disproportionately large presence of ‘upper caste’ among the urban middle classes in our country.
❖ Caste 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 for winning elections.
➢ When governments are formed, political parties usually take care about the representatives of different castes and tribes to find a place in it.
➢ During elections, political parties and candidates 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 compelled political leaders to gear up for the task of mobilising and securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among the low caste people.
Caste alone cannot determine election results in India: Caste is one of the most important factors, sometimes it is rendered totally insignificant. Issues like development and candidate’s past performance, merits and demerits become key factors:
1. No state legislature in the country has a majority of any caste group. Every caste group has its presence in the parliament. It means that no caste group can be ignored and every citizen’s vote is necessary to win elections.
2. It is impossible to secure votes of all the voters of a caste in a constituency, there are a host of other factors that count. If a large population of voters from a particular caste votes for a candidate, we call it the vote bank of a particular party.
3. It generally that many political parties put up candidates from the same predominant caste in a constituency. Therefore, naturally, all members of the predominant caste cannot vote for the same candidate. There is more than one candidate from the caste making up sizeable members of voters’ list whereas many voters have no candidates from their class.
4. The ruling party and serving PMs and MLAs frequently lose elections. If all castes and communities repeatedly voted for the same political party, same parties and candidates would have kept on winning elections.
Politics in Caste ( or politicization of the cast)
There is a two way relationship between caste and politics. Politics influences the caste system and vice versa. There is politicization of the castes that are dragged into the political arena:
1. Each caste group has a tendency to grow bigger by including in its fold most immediate castes or sub-castes.
2. Many caste groups form some sort of coalition with other caste groups at some point on some issue.
3. New kind of caste groups have come up, after the Mandal Commission report. All upper castes are referred to as “Forward Castes” and others as “Backward Castes”. Political Leaders Treat Castes as “vote banks”
HOW DO POLITICS INFLUENCE THE CASTE SYSTEM?(CASTE PLAYS DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROLES IN POLITICS)
Politicization of caste has led to positive and negative influences:
Positive:
1. Caste politics has led to reservation of seats in government jobs for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs.
2. These caste groups have more presence in the three organs of the government.
3. Several lower castes are now demanding more shares in land, resources and other opportunities as well.
Negative:
1. Caste division has also resulted in conflict and violence.
2. It might lead to division of the political party on the basis of caste where one political party represents one caste exclusively
3. Politics based on caste is not healthy for the democracy, important issues like poverty, illiteracy; unemployment and corruption are generally over shadowed by politics based on casteism.
NCERT Solutions
1. Mention different aspects of life in which women are discriminated or disadvantaged in India.
Answer:-In India, women are discriminated and disadvantaged in the following ways:
Answer:-In India, women are discriminated and disadvantaged in the following ways:
→ They are not provided adequate education. Thus, the literacy rate among women is just 54%.
→ Most of the labour done by them is unpaid. Where they are paid for their work, they receive lesser wages than men.
→ Due to the preference for the boy child, female foeticide is practiced in many parts of the country.
→ Most of the labour done by them is unpaid. Where they are paid for their work, they receive lesser wages than men.
→ Due to the preference for the boy child, female foeticide is practiced in many parts of the country.
2. State different forms of communal politics with one example each.
Answer:-Different forms of communal politics:
→ The expression of communal superiority in everyday beliefs
→ The expression of communal superiority in everyday beliefs
Militant religious groups are a good example of this.
→ 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.
→ 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.
→ In addition to all this, communal politics can take the form of communal violence and riots, like the riots in Gujarat in 2002.
→ 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.
→ 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.
→ In addition to all this, communal politics can take the form of communal violence and riots, like the riots in Gujarat in 2002.
3. State how caste inequalities are still continuing in India.
Answer:-Caste has not disappeared from contemporary India.
→ 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, e.g., Caste continues to be closely linked to economic status.
4. State two reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.
Answer:-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.
5. What is the status of women's representation in India's legislative bodies?
Answer:-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.
6. Mention any two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state.
Answer:-Two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state are:
→ Freedom to practice, profess and propagate the religion of one’s choice.
→ The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
7. 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
Answer:-(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women
8. In India seats are reserved for women in
(a) Lok Sabha
(b) State Legislative Assemblies
(c) Cabinets
(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
Answer:-(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
9. 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 is/are correct?
(a) A, B, C and D
(b) A, B and D
(c) A and C
(d) B and D
Answer:-(c) A and C
10. 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
Answer:-(b) gives official status to one religion
11. Social divisions based on ______________ are peculiar to India. Answer:-caste
12. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists:
→ 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, e.g., Caste continues to be closely linked to economic status.
4. State two reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.
Answer:-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.
5. What is the status of women's representation in India's legislative bodies?
Answer:-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.
6. Mention any two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state.
Answer:-Two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state are:
→ Freedom to practice, profess and propagate the religion of one’s choice.
→ The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
7. 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
Answer:-(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women
8. In India seats are reserved for women in
(a) Lok Sabha
(b) State Legislative Assemblies
(c) Cabinets
(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
Answer:-(d) Panchayati Raj bodies
9. 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 is/are correct?
(a) A, B, C and D
(b) A, B and D
(c) A and C
(d) B and D
Answer:-(c) A and C
10. 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
Answer:-(b) gives official status to one religion
11. Social divisions based on ______________ are peculiar to India. Answer:-caste
12. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists:
List I
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List II
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1.
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A person who believes in equal rights and opportunities for women and men
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Α.
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Communalist
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2.
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A person who says that religion is the principal basis of community
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Β.
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Feminist
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3.
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A person who thinks that caste is the principal basis of community
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C.
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Secularist
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4.
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A person who does not discriminate others on the basis of religious beliefs
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D.
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Castiest
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1
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2
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3
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4
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(a)
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B
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C
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A
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D
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(b)
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B
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A
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D
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C
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(c)
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D
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C
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A
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B
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(d)
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C
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A
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B
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D
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Answer
1
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2
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3
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4
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(b)
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B
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A
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D
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C
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