Class 8 Civics Chapter 8 Important Question Answers - Confronting Marginalisation

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
 

Q.1. Who was Soyrabai?
 Ans. She belonged to the Mahar caste.
 

Q.2. Name two distinct cultural and reigious groups in the country.
 Ans. Muslims and Parsis.
 

Q.3. How does our Constitution ensure cultural justice to minority groups? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. Our Constitution ensures cultural justice to minority groups by granting them Cultural and Educational Rights.
 

Q.4. What is government’s reservation policy? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. G overnment’s reservat i on pol i cy reserves seats in education and government employment for Dalits and Adivasis.

Q.5. For admission to colleges, especially to institutes of professional education, governments define a set of ‘cut-off’ marks. What does this mean? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. This means that not all Dalit and tribal candidates can qualify for admission, but only those who have done well and secured marks above the cut-off point.
 

Q.6. Why is Kabir’s poetry sung and appreciated by Dalits and marginalised groups even today?
 Ans. It is because Kabir’s poetry brings out the powerful idea of the equality of all human beings and their labour.
 

Q.7. Who was Rathnam?
 Ans. Rathnam was a twenty years old engineering student. He belonged to a Dalit Family.
 

Q.8. Which ritual did he refuse to perform?
 Ans. He refused the ritual of washing the feet of priests with and then bathing in that water.
 

Q.9. What shocked the powerful castes?
 Ans. A Dalit young boy like Rathnam dared to refuse to perform the age-old ritual.
 

Q.10.Why did Rathnam file a complaint under the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. He filed a complaint under this Act to protest against the domination and violence of the powerful caste in his village.
 

Q.11.What work does a manual scavenger do?
 Ans. He does the work of carrying human and animal waste/excreta.
 

Q.12.What is Safai Karamchari Andolan?
 Ans. Safai Karamchari Andolan is an organization working with manual scavengers.
 

Q.13.What is the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act about?
 Ans. This Act is about the prohibition of the employment of manual scavengers as well as the construction of dry latrines.
 

Q.14.How does Kabir describe the term ‘untouchability’?
 Ans. According to Kabir untouchability is the highest state of knowledge. It means not be touched by narrow limiting ideas.
 

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
 

Q.1. What does government do to promote social justice among Dalits and Advasis?
 Ans.(a)Both state and central governments create specific schemes for implementation in tribal areas or in areas that have a high Dalit population. For instance, the government provides for free or subsidised hostels for students of Dalit and Adivasi communities so that they can avail of education facilities that are not be available in their localities.
(b) Government’s reservation policy is a very significant way to promote social justice among Dalits and Adivasis. Under this policy seats are reserved in education and government’s employment for them.
 

Q.2. How does government’s reservation policy work? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. Governments across the country have their own list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and backward and most backward castes. The central government too has its list. Students applying to educational institutions and those applying for posts in government are expected to furnish proof of their caste and tribe certificates. If a particular Dalit caste or a certain tribe is on the government list, then a candidate from that caste or tribe can avail of the benefit of reservation.
 

Q.3. How did Kabir look at the division in society in India?
 Ans. Kabir strongly criticised caste system in his poetry. He attacked those who attempted to define indivduals on the basis of their religious and caste identities. In his view every person had the ability to reach the highest level of spiritual salvation and deep knowledge within themselves through their own experience. His poetry brings out the powerful idea of the equality of all human beings and their labour. He writes about valuing the work of the ordinary potter, the weaver and the woman carrying the water pot–labour that in his poetry becomes the basis of understanding the entrie universe.
 

Q.4. What happened in parts of southern India into 1970s and 1980s? Or What did Dalit groups do in 1970s and 1980s to assert their rights? [Imp.]
 Ans. During 1970s and 1980s, in parts of southern India, several strong Dalit groups came into being and asserted their rights. They refused to perform their so-called caste duties and insisted on being treated equally. They refused to follow practices which were based on humiliation and exploitation of Dalits. The powerful castes reacted violently against them. In order to indicate the governenment that untouchability was still being practised, Dalit groups demanded new laws that would list the various sorts of violence against dalits  and prescribe strict purnishment for those who indulge in them.
 

Q.5. Who in C.K. Janu? According to her how do governments violate the rights of tribal people?
 Ans. C.K. Janu is an Adivasi activist. According to the real violators of the rights of tribal people are governments in the various states of India. It is they who allow non-tribal encroachers in the form of timber merchants, paper mills etc, to exploit tribal land. They forcibly evict tribal people from their traditional homelands i.e., forests in the process of declaring forests as reserved or as sanctuaries. She has pointed out that in cases where tribals have already been evicted and cannot go back to their lands, they must be compensated.
 

Q.6. What is the Scheduled Tribe and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognitiron of Forest Rights) Act about? [Imp.]
 Ans. This Act was passed in 2006. The introduction to the final Act states that this Act is meant to undo the historical injustices meted out to forest dwelling populations in not recognising their rights to land and resources.
This Act recognizes their right to homestead, cultivable and grazing land and to non-timber forest produce.
The Act also mentions that the rights of forest dwellers include conservation of forest and bio-diversity.
 

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
 

Q.1. What crimes have been dealt with by the Scheduled Caste and Shceduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act? [V. Imp.]
 Ans. This Act contains a very long list of crimes. The Act does not only describe terrible crimes, but also lets people know what dreadful deeds human beings are capable of.
The Act distinguishes several levels of crimes:
(a) It lists modes of humiliation that are both physically horrific and morally represhensible and seeks to punish those who l force a member of a SC or ST to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance, l forcibly removes clothes from the person of a member of a SC or a ST or parades him or her naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity.

(b) It enlist actions that dispossess Dalits and Adivasis of their meagre resources or which force them into performing slave labour. Thus, the Act sets out to punish anyone who wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to, a member of a SC or a ST or gets the land allotted to him transferred;
(c) The Act recognises that crimes against Dalit and tribal women are of a specific kind and, therefore, seeks to penalise anyone who assaults or uses force on any women belonging to a SC or ST with intent to dishonour  her.