WOMEN, CASTE AND REFORM-CLASS-8-EXERCISE QUESTION ANSWERS

 

CHAPTER-WOMEN,CASTE AND REFORM

SUBJECT-SOCIAL SCIENCE

CLASS-8

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Q1. What social ideas did the following people support.

Answer: 

* Rammohan Roy:-  Support improving the condition of widow by abolishing sati and promoting women education

* Dayananda Saraswati:- Against idol worship, promote widow remarriage and girl education.

 * Veerasalingham Pantulu:- Widow remarriage.

 * Jyotiba Phule:- Against caste distinctions, promote girl education.

* Pandita Ramabai:- Wanted to improve the conditions of  Hindu widows, economic independence of women,  make a widow home.

* Periyar:- Start self-respect movement,  wanted the lower cast people to struggle for the improvement of their conditions, considered Brahmans as foreigners.

*Mumtaz Ali:-  Reinterpretation of Quran for women education.

* Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar:-  Promote women education, widow remarriage act 1856.

Q2. State whether true or false:-

a) When the British captured Bengal, they framed many new laws to regulate the rules regarding marriage, adoption, inheritance of property, etc.

b)  Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices. 

c) Reformers got full support from all sections of the people of the country. 

d) The child marriage restraint act was passed in 1829.

Answer:-

 a) True  b) False    c) False  d) False

Q3. How did the knowledge of ancient text help? 

Answer:- 

a) The reformers promote new laws, the reformers used ancient texts to convince people at social evils like caste distinctions, child marriage, Sati, etc. had no sanction in ancient texts. 

b) The knowledge of this texts gave reformers a sense of confidence and moral support to promote new laws.

Q4. What were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school?

Answer:- 

1. They fear that schools would take girls away from home.

2.  They would prevent them from doing their domestic duties.

3.  Girls had to travel through public places in order to reach school.

4.  This would have a corrupting influence on them. 

5.  Girls should stay away from public space.

Q5. Why were Christian missionaries attacked by many people in the country? Would some people have supported them too. If so, for what reasons?

Answer:- 

1.  They suspected that they were involved in forced conversion.

2. They also suspected to use money power of poor and tribal people from Hinduism to Christianity. 

3.  Some people who supported them were those who favored English education.  

4. Some people also favored them because by converting tribals and lower caste people to Christianity, they were bringing them out of the bondage of caste ridden Hindu society after becoming Christians.

5.  These people could enjoy greater freedom and liberty.

Q6. In the British. what new opportunities opened up for people who came from cast that were regarded as "low"? 

Answer:- 

1. The poor began leaving their villages to look for jobs that were opening up in cities. 

2. Drains had to be dug,  roads laid,  buildings constructed in cities cleaned. This needed workers. 

3. Some of them also went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia. 

4. The poor and the people from low castes, show this has an opportunity to get away from the oppressive hold of the upper caste landowners.

5.  There were other jobs too.  The army for instance, offered opportunities.  

Q7. How did Jyotirao the reformer justified their criticism of caste inequality in society? 

Answer:- 

1. Jyotirao Phule, born in 1827, was the most vocal amongst the low caste leaders.

2.  He attacked the Brahmans claim of their superiority to others.

3.  He argued audiAryans were foreigners who came from outside the subcontinent. 

4.  According to Phule, the upper caste had no right to their land and powor.

5.  He proposed that the sudhra's and Ati sudras should unite to challenge caste discrimination. 

6. The Satyasodhak Samaj Association founded by Phule propagated caste inequality.

Q8. Why did Phulle dedicated his book 'Gulamgiri' to the American movement to free slaves?

Answer:- 

1.  In 1873 Phule wrote 'Gulamgiri'.

2.  It means slavery.

3.  Some 10 years before this, the American Civil War resulted in the abolition of slavery in America.

4.  Phule dedicated his book to all those Americans who fought to abolish slavery. 

5.  This book set up close relation between "lower" caste in India and the black slaves in America.

 Q9. What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement? 

Answer:- 

1. Ambedkar was born into a Mahar family.

2.  In childhood, he experienced various forms of caste prejudices in his everyday life. 

3. Ambedkar led 3 such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935. 

4.  His aim was to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.

Q10. Why were Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswami Naicker critical of the national movement? Did their criticism help the national struggle in any way?

Answer:

1. Both Jyoti Rao Phule and Naicker were critical of national movement in their own times.

2. Jyoti Rao Phule was critical of nationalism preached by upper castes. 

3. He wrote that they give advice to Shudra, Muslim and Parsi youth to forget their differences and come together for progress of nation, later it will be “Me here and you over there” all over again.

4. E V Ramaswamy Naicker became member of Congress. But left it in disgust when he found out that at a feast, organised by nationalists, seating arrangement was based on caste distinctions.

5. Their assertions, forceful speeches and writings did lead to rethink and self-criticism among the upper caste nationalist leaders.

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