NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Civics Chapter 7 - Understanding Marginalisation

Q1. Write in your own words two or more sentences of what you understand by the word ‘marginalisation’.
Ans: The word ‘marginalisation’ simply means exclusion from the mainstream. Marginalisation of any community or a person can be because of many reasons like -
(a) Speaking a different language,
(b) Following different customs,
(c) Belonging to different religious group from the majority community etc.
Marginalisation is linked to experiencing disadvantage, prejudice, poverty and powerlessness. It is a complex phenomenon which results into a low social status, not having equal access to education and other resources.    

Q2. List two reasons why Adivasis are becoming increasingly marginalised.
Ans: The two reasons why Adivasis are becoming increasingly marginalised are:
(i) The people often wrongly believe that Adivasis are exotic, primitive and backward.
(ii) That often Adivasis are blamed for their lack of advancement as they are believed to be resistant to change or new ideas.  

Q3. Write one reason why you think the Constitution’s safeguards to protect minority communities are very important?
Ans: The safeguards to protect minority communities are necessary because the majority community may culturally dominate the minority communities, and the minority communities might become marginalised.   

Q4. Re-read the section on Minorities and Marginalisation. What do you understand by the term minority?
Ans: A minority is a community that is numerically small in relation to the rest of the population. A particular religious section which has a low percentage in population compared to the major religious community is called a minority. The Constitution of India provides safeguards to linguistical and religious minorities as a part of its fundamental rights and ensures that minorities do not face any disadvantage or discrimination. In India, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, etc., are included as minorities.

Q5. You are participating in a debate where you have to provide reasons to support the following statement: ‘Muslims are a marginalised community’. Using the data provided in this chapter, list two reasons that you would give.
Ans: As per the data provided in the chapter, the literacy rate of the Muslim population in India is only 59%, which is the lowest compared to 65% among Hindus, 70% among Sikhs, 73% among Buddhists, 80% among Christians, and 94% among Jains.
Also, only 3% of Muslims represent the esteemed Indian Administrative Service Cadre. The above statistics support that Muslims are a marginalised community in India.

Q6. Imagine that you are watching the Republic Day parade on TV with a friend and she remarks, “Look at these tribals. They look so exotic. And they seem to be dancing all the time”. List three things that you would tell her about the lives of Adivasis in India. 
Ans: The concepts about Adivasis which people have, is far from reality. The concepts and the reasons behind this can be best described as follows:
(a) Lives of Adivasis are actually very rich but people seem to know very little about the realties of their lives.
(b) They are usually shown in sympathetically in colourful costumes, headgear and dancing.
(c) Often people wrongly believe that Adivasis are exotic, primitive, backward and immune to development.  

Q7. In the storyboard you read about how Helen hopes to make a movie on the Adivasi story. Can you help her by developing a short story on Adivasis?
Ans: Helen may find the following story useful.
There used to be an adivasi community living their life freely in the forest. They take care of the forest and in return the forest provides them with all the necessary resources. One day, the government decided to start a ‘Development Project’ and ‘modernize’ the lives of the adivasi community.
The people of that community were very happy earlier but soon they realised that they would lose everything they have in return to nothing, in this ‘Development Project’. They protested and tried to raise their voices against the orders but nobody came forward to help them. Eventually goons were sent to beat and threatened the adivasi people to leave their land. The story ends with the adivasi family who used to have everything, now have nothing and are crushed under the stress and betrayal by the people in power.

Q8. Would you agree with the statement that economic marginalisation and social marginalisation are interlinked? Why?
Ans: I agree that economic marginalisation and social marginalisation are interlinked because

• Marginalised communities face social discrimination and are denied access to necessary resources to improve their quality of life. Access to clean water, education, health services, and respectable employment are a few of such services. Hence, their social marginalisation leads to their economic marginalisation.
• The lack of education and health services leads to the lack of skills acquired by members of the marginalised community. Due to the absence of skills, the marginalised group could never develop and stayed stuck in the web of social discrimination.