Social Science LONG ANS. QUESTIONS(5 Mark)

The term "all persons are equal before the law" means that everyone will be given justice before law by treating them equal. From the President of the country to the common people, all are equal in front of law.
It is important in a democracy because:

1. Democracy suggests that no one should be treated on unequal basis because of their wealth, caste, colour, religion, gender etc.
2. It also ensures that no one will be given more preference for the same crime.
3. It provide the people equal opportunity to defend themselves in public court irrespective of their socioeconomic position.
4. It also reflects the true nature of democracy.

It is obvious that no one will like someone not behaving normally with them because of their religion. Everyone has a different feeling for religions. Now in this modern world, I don't think that anyone would be criticised because of the religion they practice but, some people do criticise others in these cases. People often ignore them and being ignored is one of the worst feelings a person can ever have. So I think that the criticism of religion must be stopped and people should know that people living on this earth are humans and every human has his/ her own choices. Everyone lives a same kind of life, some with a lot of money and some with no money. We all are created by god and god never differentiates anyone.

One of the main reasons for continuance of discrimination is that attitudes change very slowly.

• Persons are aware that discrimination is against the law. Still they continue to treat people unequally on the basis of their caste, religion, disability, economic status and sex.
• It is only when people begin to believe that no one is inferior and that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, that attitudes change.
• Establishing equality in a democratic society is a continuous struggle.
• Persons 12321s well as various communities in India contribute to remove inequalities.

• The two ways in which the government has tried to implement the equality that is guaranteed in the constitution are:

1. Through laws.
2. Through government programmes or schemes to help disadvantaged communities.

• There are several laws in India that protect every person's right to be treated equally.
• The government has also set up several schemes to improve the lives of immunities and individuals who have been treated unequally for several centuries.
• The schemes ensure greater opportunity for people who have not had this in the past.

Issues of Equality in Other Democracies: India is not the only democratic country in which there is inequality and in which the struggle for equality continues to exist.
In most democratic countries around the world the issue of equality continues to be the key issue around which communities struggle.

• In USA the Africo-Americans brought as slaves from Africa continue to be largely unequal.
• This is despite a movement in the late 1950s to push for equal rights for Africo- Americans.
• Prior to this, Africo-Americans were treated extremely unequally in the United States. They were denied equality through law.

The provisions made in the constitution for the recognition of equality are as follow:

1. Every person is equal before the law. What this means is that every person, from the President of India to a domestic worker like Kanta, has to obey the same laws.
2. No person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, caste, race place of birth or whether they are male or female.
3. Every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use publicly available wells, roads and bathing ghats.
4. Untouchability has been abolished.

It is an incident that took place in a large city in India. Ansari family wanted to rent an apartment. They approached a property dealer for help. The property dealer knew about quite a few places. Ansaris liked the first apartment shown to them.
After knowing their names landlady made an excuse that she could rent the apartment to a non-vegetarian since all the other residents are vegetarian. This surprised the Ansaris as well as the property dealer because they could smell fish being cooked in next house.
This happened with them at other places as well. They were given the suggestion that they should change their name to get an apartment. The Ansaris were not willing to do this. It took them a month to find an apartment on rent.

The recognition of equality includes some of the following provisions in the constitution:

• Every person is equal before the law. This means that every person from the
  President of the country to a domestic worker has to obey the same laws.
• No person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race, caste, place of birth, or gender.
• Every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use wells, roads and bathing ghats.
• Untouchability has been abolished.

1. Every person, right from president to a domestic worker is equal before the law.
2. No person can be descriminated on the basis of caste, colour, race, religion, place of birth and wheter they are male or female.
3. Each and everyperson has acess to all public place like park, market, hotel etc.
4. All persons can use publically available well, roads, bath gaths etc.

No country is described as completely democratic country. There are always certain challenges like.

• Caste system.
• Inequality of gender or gender bias.
• Economic or social inequality.
• Communities and individuals are always trying to expand democracy. They push for equality on existing and new issues.

Provisions made in the constitution for the recognition of equality are as follows:

1. Every person, from the President of the country to Kanta, a domestic worker, has to obey the same laws.
2. No person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race, caste, place of birth or whether they are female or male.
3. Every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use publicly available wells, roads and bathing ghats.
4. Untouchability has been abolished.

One of the steps taken by the government is the midday meal scheme:

• This refers to the programme introduced in all government elementary schools. It provides children with cooked lunch.
• Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce this scheme.
• In 2001, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this programme in their schools within six months.
• This programme has many positive effects which include the fact that more poor children have begun enrolling and regularly attending school.
• This programme has also helped reduce caste prejudices because both lower and upper caste children in the school eat this meal together.
• In a few places, Dalit women have been employed to cook the meal.
• The mid-day meal programme also helps reduce the hunger of poor students who often come to school and cannot concentrate because their stomachs are empty.

• When persons are treated unequally their dignity is violated because they feel humiliated.
• The dignity of both Omprakash Valmiki and the Ansaris was violated because of the way in which they were treated.
• By picking on him and making him sweep the school, because of his caste, Omprakash Valmiki’s schoolmates and teachers badly hurt his dignity and made him feel as if he was less than equal to all other students in the school.
• Being a child Omprakash Valmiki could do very little about the situation that he was in. It was his father who felt angry by this unequal treatment. He confronted the teachers.
• The Ansaris dignity was also hurt when persons refused to lease their apartments to them.
• The suggestion of the property dealer to change their name also violated their dignity or self-respect. Hence, they refused this suggestion.
• Omprakash and the Ansaris do not deserve to be treated like this. They deserve the same respect and dignity as others.

• Rosa Parks was an Africo-American woman.
• Tired from a long day at work she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man on December 1, 1955.
• Her refusal started a huge agitation against the unequal ways in which Africo- Americans were treated. This came, later on, to be known as the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion or national origin.
• It also stated that all schools would be open to Africo-American children and that they would no longer have to attend separate schools specially set up for them.
• Despite this, a majority of Africo-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.
• Most Africo-American children can only afford to attend government schools that have fewer facilities and poorly qualified teachers in comparison to white students who either go to private schools or live in areas where the government schools are highly rated compared to private schools.

1. Kanta works as a maid for the Jain family. While they vote together, they are different in other situations.
2. Kanta lives in slum, while Jain family lives in a bungalow.
3. If Kanta’s daughter falls sick, she has to visit a government hospital and stand in a long queue, while the Jain family goes to a private clinic and doesn’t have to stand in queues.
4. So, Kanta has a political equality, but whose daily wages and working conditions are far from equal.

• The Indian Constitution recognises every person as equal.
• This means that every person in the country, both male and female from all castes, religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds is equal.
• Inequality still exists. But at least, in democratic India, the principle of the equality of all. persons is recognised.
• Earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination and, ill-treatment.
• Now there are several laws that work to see that people are treated with dignity and as equals.

1. Minorities of different religions are denied equality in India.
2. Over here, we can give the example of Mr and Mrs Ansari who went to look for a house in a big city of India with a property dealer.
3. To their surprise, most of the landlords gave lame excuses like they could not allow non-vegetarians in their building.
4. The property dealer asked Mr and Mrs Ansari to change their names to Mr and Mrs Kumar but they refused.
5. It took them a month before they could find a house. This shows the type of discrimination against minorities in India.

1. When persons are treated unequally, their dignity is violated. In a school, a child was maltreated on the grounds of casteism.
2. He was treated as an unequal as he belonged to a low caste.
3. It was an inhuman way of hurting his dignity.
4. Likewise, if a Muslim or Christian or any other religious minority is denied rights, his dignity is hurt.

1. If I were in his place.
2. I would feel and constant agony due to the behavior of so-called educated society.
3. Since I can't change other's mind.
4. It would develop a frustration within me.
5. I would not let this all deter me from my studies and goal as I firmly believe if I'm doing my best, the best would I get.

1. Caste identity is a very common form of inequality in India.
2. One such example is of Omprakash Valmiki, a Dalit writer who in his autobiography ‘Joothan’ writes that in school, he had to sit separately from others.
3. In Class IV, he was asked by the headmaster to sweep the entire school and the playground, while other children used to study.
4. It was not Omprakash who told his father about it, but one day his father walked in and saw him sweeping. He warned the teacher against this type of discrimination.

• Kanta lives in a slum and has a drain behind her house.
• Her daughter is sick but she cannot skip day's work because she needs to borrow money from her employers to take her child to the doctor.
• Her job as a domestic help tires her out.
• She ends her day by again standing in a long line. This line is in front of the government hospital.
• It is unlike the one in the morning because most of the people standing in it are poor.