Caste, religion and gender issues Notes in English Class 10 Political Science Chapter-3 Book-DEMOCRATIC POLITICS-II

 

Introduction

In this chapter, we will see that social diversity is not a threat to democracy but can be an advantage in politics. We will understand this idea in the context of the functioning of democracy in India. The focus here will be on three major social inequalities—gender, religion and caste. We will learn what these inequalities are and how they manifest in politics. Finally, we will try to understand whether these inequalities are beneficial or harmful to democracy.

 Gender issues and politics 

Gender inequality is visible everywhere in society, but it is often ignored in the study of politics. It is assumed to be natural or unchangeable, when in fact it is not based on biological differences.

1. The reason for inequality

• Stereotypes reflect old and traditional images of men and women in society. 

• These notions place predefined social roles and responsibilities on women and men, which limit their individual freedom and potential.

• To understand and eradicate gender inequality, it is important to question these stereotypes and roles. This is not only an important issue of society, but also of politics.

2. Gender inequality in private and public life

• Gender inequality is deeply ingrained in our society. 

• From childhood, boys and girls are prepared for different social roles. 

• Girls are taught that their primary responsibility is the home and family, while boys are prepared for outside work.

3. Home and outdoor division

• In Indian society, household work, such as cooking, cleaning and childcare, is mostly considered the responsibility of women, while outside work falls on men. 

• Interestingly, when the same work, like cooking, is done for money (like working as a cook in a hotel), men do it happily. 

• This system places a double burden on women, as they work to earn income as well as do household chores, but their work is often undervalued. The position of women in public life is also unequal. 

• Despite constituting half of the population, their public and political participation is limited. 

• In history, women did not have the right to vote and contest elections, but through movements and struggles they gained their rights, which improved their condition.

4. The main forms of discrimination against women

• Women in India face many inequalities in education, economic opportunity, and social protection. 

• The female literacy rate is only 54%, which is much lower than the male literacy rate of 76%.

• Girls have limited access to higher education, as parents often prefer boys. Economic inequality is also a serious problem; women work more than men but receive lower wages. 

• Despite the Equal Wages Act, women are paid less for equal work. The declining sex ratio is a result of the male-female mentality and practices such as female foeticide, leaving India's sex ratio at only 919 women per 1,000 men. 

• Furthermore, problems such as domestic violence and sexual harassment are common for women, and they feel unsafe in both urban and rural areas.

5. Contribution of feminist movements

• Feminist movements provided a strong basis for women's rights by demanding political, legal, and social equality for women. 

• As a result of these movements, today women are working successfully in fields like doctor, engineer, scientist and making their mark. 

• The high levels of women's participation in Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Norway, are an inspiring source of inspiration, showing that given equal opportunities, women can excel in every field.

6. Political representation of women

• Less attention is paid to women's rights and equal treatment. 

• Feminist movements realized that unless women were represented in political power, their problems could not be solved. 

• One way is to increase the participation of women in electoral politics.

7. Current political representation of women

• Women's representation in India is still limited. 

• In 2019, the number of women MPs in the Lok Sabha reached 14.36% for the first time, but the representation of women in state assemblies is still less than 5%. 

• India's ranking in this region also lags behind many countries in the world, especially African and Latin American countries, which are performing better in women's political empowerment and participation.

8. Direction of solution

• Reservation has been an important step towards the empowerment of women in India. 

• One third of the seats have been reserved for women in the Panchayati Raj system, resulting in more than 10 lakh elected women actively playing their role in local bodies (rural and urban). 

• On the demand of women's organisations, the Women's Reservation Bill was introduced with the aim of reserving 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies also. 

• This bill was passed in 2023 and is known as Nari Shakti Vandan Act.  Under this, provision has been made for reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and Delhi Legislative Assembly.

 Religion, Communalism and Politics 

Religion   

The relationship between religion and politics has always been a complex issue. There are no religious divisions, like gender divisions, but religious diversity is widespread around the world today. India and other countries are home to many religions, and when people follow different worship practices or beliefs, this can lead to conflicts.

1. Gandhiji's Viewpoint

• Gandhiji believed that politics cannot be separated from religion, but here religion did not mean any particular religion, like Hinduism or Islam. 

• According to Gandhiji  , religion meant moral values, which are the basic foundation of all religions. 

• Gandhi believed that politics should be guided by moral values ​​that promote honesty, justice and truth in society. 

• According to Gandhiji,  this coordination of religion and politics is a means of taking the society in the right direction.

2. Relationship between religion and politics

• To prevent communal riots and protect the rights of religious minorities, human rights groups have urged the government to take strict measures to prevent religious violence and riots and ensure the safety of minorities. 

• At the same time, women's movements have drawn attention to the discrimination prevalent in religious family laws. They say these laws are against women's rights, and have called on the government to amend these laws to make them more egalitarian.

3. Role of religion in politics

• Religious ideas, ideals, and values ​​can play an important role in politics, provided they promote equality and justice. 

• Every religious community should have the right to raise its needs and demands in politics, as this is a part of the democratic process. 

• If the government treats all religions equally and does not discriminate against any religion, it is considered an example of positive and just politics, which strengthens unity and harmony in the society.

Communalism

Communalism is a situation when religion is considered the basis of nation and politics. It arises when religion demands exclusivity and favouritism for its community, making it antagonistic towards other religions. If one religion is considered superior to another and the state favours a particular religion, it takes the form of communalism.

1. The idea of ​​communalism

Communalism believes that people of one religion are a homogeneous community and their interests are the same, while people of other religions have different and opposing interests. As this thinking grows, it becomes the belief that people of different religions cannot be equal citizens.  The effect of communalism is seen in social and political life:

• At the social level: religious prejudices, the notion of one religion being superior and communal mentality prevalent in everyday life.

• At the political level: The majority community wants dominance of its religion, while the minorities want to maintain their identity. Religion and sentiments are used to influence voters in elections.

• Violent form: The extreme form of communalism is seen in riots, violence and genocide. India has faced communal violence at the time of partition and even after independence.

2. Secular rule

• Communalism has been a major challenge to our democracy, and to deal with it the Indian Constitution has adopted secular governance. 

• Our Constitution makers were well aware that if special status is given to one religion, it could create division and inequality in the society.

3. Main features of secular governance

• The Constitution of India does not recognise any religion as a state religion, as is done for Buddhism in Sri Lanka or Islam in Pakistan. 

• Instead, the Constitution provides all citizens the freedom to practice, profess and propagate any religion. 

• Also, the Constitution outlaws any form of discrimination based on religion, thereby ensuring equality for all citizens. 

• Furthermore, the government has also been given the power to intervene in religious matters, so as to ensure equality within religious communities and eliminate practices such as untouchability.

4. Secularism in India

• Secularism is not just the ideology of any party or person but it is one of the basic ideology and fundamental principles of the Indian Constitution. 

• It is an integral part of the social and political structure of our country, which maintains the diversity and unity of India while ensuring equality and respect for all religions.

5. Steps to tackle communalism

• Our Constitution has laid a strong foundation to deal with communalism, but the solution to this problem is not limited to the Constitution alone. 

• To eradicate it, we have to actively counter communal prejudices and propaganda in our daily lives. 

• Also, mobilization on the basis of religion in politics must be stopped, so that brotherhood and equality can be promoted in the society.

 Caste and politics 

Caste is an important social division in politics, which has both positive and negative impacts.

• Caste-based reservation has taken a significant step towards equality by giving representation to the deprived sections of the society in education, employment, and politics.  It has provided an opportunity to the poor and backward classes to move forward. 

• However, it also has a negative side. Casteism often leads to discrimination, inequality and violence. Moreover, the use of casteism in electoral politics promotes polarisation and vote bank politics, leading to tensions and conflicts in society.

Caste inequalities

Caste inequality is an important and complex aspect of Indian society. While divisions based on gender and religion occur around the world, caste-based divisions are particularly visible only in India.

1. Caste system

• Occupation and social status are hereditary in the caste system, which means that a family's occupation is passed on to the next generation. 

• In this system, marriage and food relations are limited within the caste groups only. 

• The result was that the untouchable castes, who were considered the lowest of the low, were discriminated against and treated with untouchability, creating deep inequality and social divisions in society.

2. Social reformers and their efforts

• Social reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, and Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker made significant efforts to end caste discrimination and reform the society. 

• He led movements for social equality and protected the rights of the underprivileged classes. 

• His efforts and socio-economic changes resulted in positive changes in the caste system in India, enabling progress towards equality and justice.

3. Changes in the caste system in modern India

• The caste system has changed to some extent due to economic development, urbanization, literacy, and rising levels of education. 

• In urban areas, people are now less concerned about each other's caste, which has led to a change in social relations. 

• At the same time, the Indian Constitution has prohibited caste discrimination and has made strict laws and policies against casteism, which is an important step towards ensuring equality and justice in the society.

4. Current impact of casteism

• Casteism is still deeply present in society. Even today most people prefer to marry within their caste, and the practice of untouchability has not been completely eradicated. 

• The castes in which education was already prevalent are still strong educationally and economically, whereas the castes deprived of education are still backward. 

• Caste and economic status are closely correlated, and the proportion of forward castes in the urban middle class is relatively high, reflecting social and economic inequality.

 Caste in politics 

Casteism also plays an important role in politics. The belief that caste is the only basis of social community often promotes caste divisions in politics. However, this is not proven by experience, as caste is a part of our lives, but not the most important aspect.

1. Effects of caste in politics

• Caste plays a big role in Indian elections. To win the elections, political parties select candidates in such a way that different castes and communities can be satisfied. 

• Some parties see castes as vote banks and try to arouse their sentiments. They claim to represent particular castes and raise their issues to get their support.

• The "one person, one vote" system forced political parties to adopt a strategy of garnering support on the basis of caste. One advantage of this was that it increased political awareness among the smaller and backward castes.

2. Casteism and elections

• Caste has an influence in Indian elections, but it is not completely dominant. In most constituencies, no single caste has a majority, so parties have to seek support from multiple castes to win elections.

• Parties often consider a caste as a "vote bank", that is, they believe that people of that caste will vote for them. But sometimes it also happens that many candidates of the same caste are in the fray, due to which the votes get divided. Sometimes voters of a caste do not even have a candidate of their caste.

• Caste does have an impact, but government policies, popularity of leaders and other issues also have a big impact on the election results.

 Politics within caste 

The relationship between caste and politics is not one-way; politics also affects castes. The caste system and caste identity can change under the influence of politics.

1. Interrelationship between caste and politics

• In caste-based politics, every caste tries to increase its strength. Earlier, the sub-castes which considered themselves weak, now efforts are made to connect them with the main castes so that their collective influence can increase.

• Because no caste can hold power alone, they form alliances with other castes and communities. These alliances become a means of mutual understanding and negotiation among castes.

• Changes in caste politics come when new polarization strategies like 'forward' and 'backward' are adopted. This makes the caste equations more complex, which also changes the direction of politics.

2. Positive impact of caste politics

• Caste politics has given the deprived communities, especially the Dalits and backward castes, an opportunity to raise their voice and demand a share in power. This has enabled these communities to strongly advance their fight for rights and equality.

• Many political parties and organizations have been campaigning and carrying out reforms to end discrimination, provide respect to disadvantaged castes, and provide them property and opportunities.

• This process is a big step towards bringing social justice and equality in the society.

3. Negative aspects of caste politics

• If only caste is emphasized in politics, it can divert attention from bigger and important issues like poverty, development and corruption. It can promote conflict, tension and violence in the society, which is harmful for democracy and social harmony.

• This kind of politics can deepen social divisions, slowing down the country's progress and creating obstacles to development. Therefore, it is important to focus on broader issues in politics rather than caste.