Class 12 Sociology: CBSE Marking Scheme (2024-25) | Sociology Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


1 
 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
MARKING SCHEME 
Class XII-2024-25 
 SECTION-A  
1 
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A 
1 
2.  
d) A is false and R is true. 
1 
3.  
c) I. and III. 
 
1 
4.  
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
5.  
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or deliberate. 
1 
6.  
c) I., II., III. only 
1 
7.  
d)  Community conflicts can be resolved easily. 
1 
8.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
9.  
a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist. 
1 
10.  
d) I., II., and III. 
1 
11.  
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national boundaries 
1 
12.  
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people. 
1 
13.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
14.  a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
15.  
a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the plantation 
for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters. 
1 
16.  
a) III., II., I., IV. 
 
1 
 
SECTION-B 
 
17 
? Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed appropriately; 
? Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to India 
 
2 
   18 
 
For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste 
or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members of 
other castes or groups. 
Prejudice against female car drivers. 
Any other relevant example 
2 
Page 2


1 
 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
MARKING SCHEME 
Class XII-2024-25 
 SECTION-A  
1 
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A 
1 
2.  
d) A is false and R is true. 
1 
3.  
c) I. and III. 
 
1 
4.  
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
5.  
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or deliberate. 
1 
6.  
c) I., II., III. only 
1 
7.  
d)  Community conflicts can be resolved easily. 
1 
8.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
9.  
a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist. 
1 
10.  
d) I., II., and III. 
1 
11.  
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national boundaries 
1 
12.  
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people. 
1 
13.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
14.  a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
15.  
a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the plantation 
for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters. 
1 
16.  
a) III., II., I., IV. 
 
1 
 
SECTION-B 
 
17 
? Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed appropriately; 
? Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to India 
 
2 
   18 
 
For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste 
or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members of 
other castes or groups. 
Prejudice against female car drivers. 
Any other relevant example 
2 
2 
 
OR 
For example, the person who is refused a job because of his or her caste may be 
told that he or she was less qualified than others, and that the selection was done 
purely on merit. 
 
19 
? A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers may or 
may not be communalists.  
? However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on religion.  
The key factor is the attitude towards those who believe in other kinds of identities, 
including other religion-based identities.   
2 
20 
Give an example of an anomalous instance with regard to minority groups. 
 
Religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off economically. 
But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of their small 
numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus. 
OR 
People constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different states. 
? There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is, the 
population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’ Jamaicans.  
? A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws allow 
citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of another state. 
Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens of Israel as well as 
the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one country without losing 
their citizenship in the other country. 
 
2 
21 
This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction writing 
in India, and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world. In her dream, 
Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are reversed. Men are 
confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are busy scientists vying 
with each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds and regulate rain, and 
machines that fly or ‘air-cars’. 
2 
22 
? In most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so 
they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society 
? In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper castes. 
In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning castes 
2 
23 
? Kothari argues that the institutions of the state have been captured by elites.  
? Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an effective 
way for the poor to get their voices heard.  
? People left out by the formal political system join social movements or non-party 
political formations in order to put pressure on the state from outside 
2 
24 
? Outsourcing 
? Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement. 
2 
25 
No. 
? Social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences between 
people, but is produced by the society in which they live. 
? Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which 
categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy then 
shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations with others, as well as 
their access to resources and opportunities.  
 
2 
Page 3


1 
 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
MARKING SCHEME 
Class XII-2024-25 
 SECTION-A  
1 
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A 
1 
2.  
d) A is false and R is true. 
1 
3.  
c) I. and III. 
 
1 
4.  
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
5.  
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or deliberate. 
1 
6.  
c) I., II., III. only 
1 
7.  
d)  Community conflicts can be resolved easily. 
1 
8.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
9.  
a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist. 
1 
10.  
d) I., II., and III. 
1 
11.  
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national boundaries 
1 
12.  
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people. 
1 
13.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
14.  a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
15.  
a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the plantation 
for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters. 
1 
16.  
a) III., II., I., IV. 
 
1 
 
SECTION-B 
 
17 
? Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed appropriately; 
? Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to India 
 
2 
   18 
 
For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste 
or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members of 
other castes or groups. 
Prejudice against female car drivers. 
Any other relevant example 
2 
2 
 
OR 
For example, the person who is refused a job because of his or her caste may be 
told that he or she was less qualified than others, and that the selection was done 
purely on merit. 
 
19 
? A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers may or 
may not be communalists.  
? However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on religion.  
The key factor is the attitude towards those who believe in other kinds of identities, 
including other religion-based identities.   
2 
20 
Give an example of an anomalous instance with regard to minority groups. 
 
Religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off economically. 
But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of their small 
numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus. 
OR 
People constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different states. 
? There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is, the 
population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’ Jamaicans.  
? A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws allow 
citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of another state. 
Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens of Israel as well as 
the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one country without losing 
their citizenship in the other country. 
 
2 
21 
This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction writing 
in India, and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world. In her dream, 
Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are reversed. Men are 
confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are busy scientists vying 
with each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds and regulate rain, and 
machines that fly or ‘air-cars’. 
2 
22 
? In most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so 
they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society 
? In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper castes. 
In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning castes 
2 
23 
? Kothari argues that the institutions of the state have been captured by elites.  
? Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an effective 
way for the poor to get their voices heard.  
? People left out by the formal political system join social movements or non-party 
political formations in order to put pressure on the state from outside 
2 
24 
? Outsourcing 
? Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement. 
2 
25 
No. 
? Social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences between 
people, but is produced by the society in which they live. 
? Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which 
categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy then 
shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations with others, as well as 
their access to resources and opportunities.  
 
2 
3 
 
 SECTION-C  
26 ? Explicit efforts are required to end the cultural exclusion of diverse groups and to 
build multiple and complementary identities.  
? Such responsive policies provide incentives to build a feeling of unity in diversity.  
? Citizens can find the institutional and political space to identify with both their 
country and their other cultural identities. 
? Citizens can find the opportunity to build their trust in common institutions and to 
participate in and support democratic politics.  
 
4 
27 ? Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules.  
? Urbanisation and the conditions of collective living in the cities made it difficult for 
the caste-segregated patterns of social interaction to survive. 
? Modern educated Indians attracted to the liberal ideas of individualism and 
meritocracy, began to abandon the more extreme caste practices. 
? Recruitment to industrial jobs, whether in the textile mills of Mumbai, the jute mills 
of Kolkata, or elsewhere, continued to be organised along caste and kinship-
based lines.  
? The middle men who recruited labour for factories tended to recruit them from 
their own caste and region so that particular departments or shop floors were 
often dominated by specific castes.  
(Any 4) 
4 
28 ? Politics is a competitive enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power for the 
realisation of certain goals, and its process is one of identifying and manipulating 
existing and emerging allegiances in order to mobilise and consolidate positions.  
? The important thing is organisation and articulation of support, and where politics 
is mass-based, the point is to articulate support through the organisations in which 
the masses are to be found.  
? It follows that where the caste structure provides one of the principal 
organisational clusters along which the bulk of the population is found to live, 
politics must strive to organise through such a structure.  
? Politicians mobilise caste groupings and identities in order to organise their power.  
OR 
?  ‘Modernity’ assumes that local ties and parochial perspectives give way to 
universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes;  
? that the truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over those of 
the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational;  
? that the individual rather than the group be the primary unit of society and politics;  
? that the associations in which men live and work be based on choice not birth;  
? that mastery rather than fatalism orient their attitude toward the material and 
human environment;  
? that identity be chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed;  
? that work be separated from family, residence, and community in bureaucratic 
organisation. 
(Any 4 points) 
 
4 
29 
? As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords 
broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in 
prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal 
migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home 
4 
Page 4


1 
 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
MARKING SCHEME 
Class XII-2024-25 
 SECTION-A  
1 
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A 
1 
2.  
d) A is false and R is true. 
1 
3.  
c) I. and III. 
 
1 
4.  
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
5.  
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or deliberate. 
1 
6.  
c) I., II., III. only 
1 
7.  
d)  Community conflicts can be resolved easily. 
1 
8.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
9.  
a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist. 
1 
10.  
d) I., II., and III. 
1 
11.  
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national boundaries 
1 
12.  
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people. 
1 
13.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
14.  a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
15.  
a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the plantation 
for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters. 
1 
16.  
a) III., II., I., IV. 
 
1 
 
SECTION-B 
 
17 
? Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed appropriately; 
? Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to India 
 
2 
   18 
 
For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste 
or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members of 
other castes or groups. 
Prejudice against female car drivers. 
Any other relevant example 
2 
2 
 
OR 
For example, the person who is refused a job because of his or her caste may be 
told that he or she was less qualified than others, and that the selection was done 
purely on merit. 
 
19 
? A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers may or 
may not be communalists.  
? However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on religion.  
The key factor is the attitude towards those who believe in other kinds of identities, 
including other religion-based identities.   
2 
20 
Give an example of an anomalous instance with regard to minority groups. 
 
Religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off economically. 
But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of their small 
numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus. 
OR 
People constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different states. 
? There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is, the 
population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’ Jamaicans.  
? A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws allow 
citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of another state. 
Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens of Israel as well as 
the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one country without losing 
their citizenship in the other country. 
 
2 
21 
This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction writing 
in India, and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world. In her dream, 
Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are reversed. Men are 
confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are busy scientists vying 
with each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds and regulate rain, and 
machines that fly or ‘air-cars’. 
2 
22 
? In most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so 
they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society 
? In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper castes. 
In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning castes 
2 
23 
? Kothari argues that the institutions of the state have been captured by elites.  
? Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an effective 
way for the poor to get their voices heard.  
? People left out by the formal political system join social movements or non-party 
political formations in order to put pressure on the state from outside 
2 
24 
? Outsourcing 
? Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement. 
2 
25 
No. 
? Social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences between 
people, but is produced by the society in which they live. 
? Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which 
categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy then 
shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations with others, as well as 
their access to resources and opportunities.  
 
2 
3 
 
 SECTION-C  
26 ? Explicit efforts are required to end the cultural exclusion of diverse groups and to 
build multiple and complementary identities.  
? Such responsive policies provide incentives to build a feeling of unity in diversity.  
? Citizens can find the institutional and political space to identify with both their 
country and their other cultural identities. 
? Citizens can find the opportunity to build their trust in common institutions and to 
participate in and support democratic politics.  
 
4 
27 ? Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules.  
? Urbanisation and the conditions of collective living in the cities made it difficult for 
the caste-segregated patterns of social interaction to survive. 
? Modern educated Indians attracted to the liberal ideas of individualism and 
meritocracy, began to abandon the more extreme caste practices. 
? Recruitment to industrial jobs, whether in the textile mills of Mumbai, the jute mills 
of Kolkata, or elsewhere, continued to be organised along caste and kinship-
based lines.  
? The middle men who recruited labour for factories tended to recruit them from 
their own caste and region so that particular departments or shop floors were 
often dominated by specific castes.  
(Any 4) 
4 
28 ? Politics is a competitive enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power for the 
realisation of certain goals, and its process is one of identifying and manipulating 
existing and emerging allegiances in order to mobilise and consolidate positions.  
? The important thing is organisation and articulation of support, and where politics 
is mass-based, the point is to articulate support through the organisations in which 
the masses are to be found.  
? It follows that where the caste structure provides one of the principal 
organisational clusters along which the bulk of the population is found to live, 
politics must strive to organise through such a structure.  
? Politicians mobilise caste groupings and identities in order to organise their power.  
OR 
?  ‘Modernity’ assumes that local ties and parochial perspectives give way to 
universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes;  
? that the truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over those of 
the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational;  
? that the individual rather than the group be the primary unit of society and politics;  
? that the associations in which men live and work be based on choice not birth;  
? that mastery rather than fatalism orient their attitude toward the material and 
human environment;  
? that identity be chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed;  
? that work be separated from family, residence, and community in bureaucratic 
organisation. 
(Any 4 points) 
 
4 
29 
? As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords 
broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in 
prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal 
migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home 
4 
4 
 
villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and 
higher wages.  
? Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas from the 
mid-1990s, which have forced many households to combine multiple occupations 
to sustain themselves.  
? As a livelihood strategy, men migrate out periodically in search of work and better 
wages, while women and children are often left behind in their villages with elderly 
grandparents.  
? Migrant workers come mainly from drought-prone and less productive regions, 
and they go to work for part of the year on farms in Punjab and Haryana, or on 
brick kilns in U.P., or construction sites in cities such as New Delhi or Bangalore. 
These migrant workers have been termed ‘footloose labour’ by Jan Breman. 
 
30 
? Contract farming 
? Entry of MNCs 
? Participation in WTO 
? Circulation of labour 
 
4 
31 
? The substitutes offered by the East India Company and subsequently by the 
British government were land ownership and facilities for education in English.  
? The facts that the first remained unconnected with agricultural productivity and 
the second with the mainstream of Indian cultural traditions amply show that 
the alternatives were not sufficient in the sense that they could not create any 
genuine middle class.  
? We know only too well that the zamindars become parasites in land and the 
graduates job hunters. 
? Industrialisation is, thus, about the growth of new social groups in society and 
new social relationships. 
 
4 
32 
No. 
? It was pointed out that the tribe-peasantry distinction did not hold in terms of 
any of the commonly advanced criteria: size, isolation, religion, and means of 
livelihood.  
? Some Indian “tribes” like Santhal, Gonds, and Bhils are very large and spread 
over extensive territory.  
? Certain tribes like Munda, Hos and others have long since turned to settled 
agriculture.  
? Even hunting gathering tribes, like the Birhors of Bihar employ specialised 
households to make baskets, press oil etc.  
? It has also been pointed out in a number of cases, that in the absence of other 
alternatives, “castes” (or non-tribals) have turned to hunting and gathering. 
(any 4) 
4 
 SECTION-D  
33  6 
a)  
? Gender 
? Region 
? Social groups 
2 
Page 5


1 
 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
MARKING SCHEME 
Class XII-2024-25 
 SECTION-A  
1 
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A 
1 
2.  
d) A is false and R is true. 
1 
3.  
c) I. and III. 
 
1 
4.  
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
5.  
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or deliberate. 
1 
6.  
c) I., II., III. only 
1 
7.  
d)  Community conflicts can be resolved easily. 
1 
8.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
9.  
a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist. 
1 
10.  
d) I., II., and III. 
1 
11.  
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national boundaries 
1 
12.  
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people. 
1 
13.  
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. 
1 
14.  a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. 
 
1 
15.  
a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the plantation 
for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters. 
1 
16.  
a) III., II., I., IV. 
 
1 
 
SECTION-B 
 
17 
? Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed appropriately; 
? Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to India 
 
2 
   18 
 
For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste 
or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members of 
other castes or groups. 
Prejudice against female car drivers. 
Any other relevant example 
2 
2 
 
OR 
For example, the person who is refused a job because of his or her caste may be 
told that he or she was less qualified than others, and that the selection was done 
purely on merit. 
 
19 
? A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers may or 
may not be communalists.  
? However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on religion.  
The key factor is the attitude towards those who believe in other kinds of identities, 
including other religion-based identities.   
2 
20 
Give an example of an anomalous instance with regard to minority groups. 
 
Religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off economically. 
But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of their small 
numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus. 
OR 
People constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different states. 
? There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is, the 
population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’ Jamaicans.  
? A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws allow 
citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of another state. 
Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens of Israel as well as 
the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one country without losing 
their citizenship in the other country. 
 
2 
21 
This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction writing 
in India, and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world. In her dream, 
Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are reversed. Men are 
confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are busy scientists vying 
with each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds and regulate rain, and 
machines that fly or ‘air-cars’. 
2 
22 
? In most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so 
they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society 
? In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper castes. 
In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning castes 
2 
23 
? Kothari argues that the institutions of the state have been captured by elites.  
? Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an effective 
way for the poor to get their voices heard.  
? People left out by the formal political system join social movements or non-party 
political formations in order to put pressure on the state from outside 
2 
24 
? Outsourcing 
? Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement. 
2 
25 
No. 
? Social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences between 
people, but is produced by the society in which they live. 
? Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which 
categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy then 
shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations with others, as well as 
their access to resources and opportunities.  
 
2 
3 
 
 SECTION-C  
26 ? Explicit efforts are required to end the cultural exclusion of diverse groups and to 
build multiple and complementary identities.  
? Such responsive policies provide incentives to build a feeling of unity in diversity.  
? Citizens can find the institutional and political space to identify with both their 
country and their other cultural identities. 
? Citizens can find the opportunity to build their trust in common institutions and to 
participate in and support democratic politics.  
 
4 
27 ? Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules.  
? Urbanisation and the conditions of collective living in the cities made it difficult for 
the caste-segregated patterns of social interaction to survive. 
? Modern educated Indians attracted to the liberal ideas of individualism and 
meritocracy, began to abandon the more extreme caste practices. 
? Recruitment to industrial jobs, whether in the textile mills of Mumbai, the jute mills 
of Kolkata, or elsewhere, continued to be organised along caste and kinship-
based lines.  
? The middle men who recruited labour for factories tended to recruit them from 
their own caste and region so that particular departments or shop floors were 
often dominated by specific castes.  
(Any 4) 
4 
28 ? Politics is a competitive enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power for the 
realisation of certain goals, and its process is one of identifying and manipulating 
existing and emerging allegiances in order to mobilise and consolidate positions.  
? The important thing is organisation and articulation of support, and where politics 
is mass-based, the point is to articulate support through the organisations in which 
the masses are to be found.  
? It follows that where the caste structure provides one of the principal 
organisational clusters along which the bulk of the population is found to live, 
politics must strive to organise through such a structure.  
? Politicians mobilise caste groupings and identities in order to organise their power.  
OR 
?  ‘Modernity’ assumes that local ties and parochial perspectives give way to 
universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes;  
? that the truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over those of 
the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational;  
? that the individual rather than the group be the primary unit of society and politics;  
? that the associations in which men live and work be based on choice not birth;  
? that mastery rather than fatalism orient their attitude toward the material and 
human environment;  
? that identity be chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed;  
? that work be separated from family, residence, and community in bureaucratic 
organisation. 
(Any 4 points) 
 
4 
29 
? As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords 
broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in 
prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal 
migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home 
4 
4 
 
villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and 
higher wages.  
? Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas from the 
mid-1990s, which have forced many households to combine multiple occupations 
to sustain themselves.  
? As a livelihood strategy, men migrate out periodically in search of work and better 
wages, while women and children are often left behind in their villages with elderly 
grandparents.  
? Migrant workers come mainly from drought-prone and less productive regions, 
and they go to work for part of the year on farms in Punjab and Haryana, or on 
brick kilns in U.P., or construction sites in cities such as New Delhi or Bangalore. 
These migrant workers have been termed ‘footloose labour’ by Jan Breman. 
 
30 
? Contract farming 
? Entry of MNCs 
? Participation in WTO 
? Circulation of labour 
 
4 
31 
? The substitutes offered by the East India Company and subsequently by the 
British government were land ownership and facilities for education in English.  
? The facts that the first remained unconnected with agricultural productivity and 
the second with the mainstream of Indian cultural traditions amply show that 
the alternatives were not sufficient in the sense that they could not create any 
genuine middle class.  
? We know only too well that the zamindars become parasites in land and the 
graduates job hunters. 
? Industrialisation is, thus, about the growth of new social groups in society and 
new social relationships. 
 
4 
32 
No. 
? It was pointed out that the tribe-peasantry distinction did not hold in terms of 
any of the commonly advanced criteria: size, isolation, religion, and means of 
livelihood.  
? Some Indian “tribes” like Santhal, Gonds, and Bhils are very large and spread 
over extensive territory.  
? Certain tribes like Munda, Hos and others have long since turned to settled 
agriculture.  
? Even hunting gathering tribes, like the Birhors of Bihar employ specialised 
households to make baskets, press oil etc.  
? It has also been pointed out in a number of cases, that in the absence of other 
alternatives, “castes” (or non-tribals) have turned to hunting and gathering. 
(any 4) 
4 
 SECTION-D  
33  6 
a)  
? Gender 
? Region 
? Social groups 
2 
5 
 
b)  
? Literacy rates also vary by social group – historically disadvantaged communities 
like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower rates of literacy, and 
rates of female literacy within these groups are even lower.  
? Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching 
universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind.  
? The inequalities in the literacy rate are especially important because they tend to 
reproduce inequality across generations.  
? Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their children are 
well educated, thus perpetuating existing inequalities. 
4 
 
(Q 33. FOR CANDIDATES WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT) 
 
a)  
? Gender 
? Region 
? Social groups 
2 
b)  
? Literacy rates also vary by social group – historically disadvantaged communities 
like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower rates of literacy, and 
rates of female literacy within these groups are even lower.  
? Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching 
universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind.  
? The inequalities in the literacy rate are especially important because they tend to 
reproduce inequality across generations.  
? Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their children are 
well educated, thus perpetuating existing inequalities. 
4 
34. 
? In the past, many workers got their jobs through contractors or jobbers. In the 
Kanpur textile mills, these jobbers were known as mistris, and were themselves 
workers.  
? They came from the same regions and communities as the workers, but because 
they had the owner’s backing they bossed over the workers.  
? On the other hand, the mistri also put community-related pressures on the worker.  
? Nowadays, the importance of the jobber has come down, and both management 
and unions play a role in recruiting their own people.  
? Many workers also expect that they can pass on their jobs to their children. 
? Many factories employ badli workers who substitute for regular permanent 
workers who are on leave.  
? Many of these badli workers have actually worked for many years for the same 
company but are not given the same status and security. This is what is called 
contract work in the organised sector. 
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35 
? The movements in the period between 1858 and 1914 tended to remain localised, 
disjointed and confined to particular grievances.  
? Well-known are the Bengal revolt of 1859-62 against the indigo plantation system 
and the ‘Deccan riots’ of 1857 against moneylenders. 
? Some of these issues continued into the following period, and under the 
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence 
movement. For instance, the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928, Surat District) a ‘non-tax’ 
campaign as part of the nationwide non-cooperation movement. 
? In the 1920s, protest movements against the forest policies of the British 
government and local rulers arose in certain regions 
   6