Important Questions CBSE Class 10th : Social Science Year 2009 (Solved)
(Challenges of Communalism and Casteism)

Question .1. Which basic ideas by the people make India secular?
Answer : Humanism, respect and tolerance towards all religions.

Question .2. Mention two important sources of social tension in India?
Answer : Casteism and Communalism.

Question .3. State two factors that pose danger to our national unity and integration?
Answer : Casteism and Communalism.

Question .4. Why has the national minority commission been set up?
Answer : It is set up by the Constitution to promote the rights, interests and welfare of the minorities in India.

Question .5. What is meant by ‘Sarvadharmasambhav’?
Answer : ‘Sarvadharmasambhav’ means all religions are worthy of respect and people belonging to different religions should live in complete harmony.

Question .6. Which religious community of India are making the country a treasure of rich cultural heritage?
Answer : The Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Budhists, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (Parsis), Jews and other religions are making the country a treasure of rich cultural heritage.

Question .7. Which are disturbing our social peace and amity?
Answer : Caste clashes, communal riots, regional violence and ethnic animosity are disturbing our social peace and amity.

Question .8. State the ill-effects of casteism?
Answer : Ill-effect of casteism:-
(i) It creates a sense of high and low and people belonging to higher caste exploit the people of low castes. It is also resulted as untouchability.
(ii) Due to casteism people get divided into various groups and consequently differences crop up which destroy the unity of nation. (iii) People caste their votes on caste basis which is harmful to democracy.

Question .9. Mention three concessions which have been provided to the weaker sections for adequate representation in government services?
Answer : Concessions provided to the weaker sections are:-
(i) Relaxation in age, fee and qualification.
(ii) Free pre-examination coaching.

Question .10. Name two facilities which the government has provided to the Other Backward Classes / Castes?
Answer : Relaxation provided to the O.B.C. by government in:-
(i) Qualifying marks in written examinations and interviews.
(ii) Upper age limit by three years in direct recruitment.
(iii) Increasing the number of attempts to seven in civil service examination.

Question .11. What is fundamentalism? Mention some of the characteristics of a fundamentalist?
Answer : Fundamentalism are those which projects own religious community distinct and separate from the rest of the religions.
Characteristics of fundamentalists:-
(i) They give preceding to their interest over common interest.
(ii) They perceive and deal with citizens communally not individually.
(iii) They distance others from self and self from others.
(iv) It attracts disintegration of the society.

Question .12. What is communalism? Mention various factors which are responsible for the growth of communalism in India?
Answer : An ideology which believes that society is divided into a number of religious communities different from each other and opposed to each other is called communalism. Each community think itself superior to others. According to communalists the interest of community is above the interest of the nation.
Factors responsible for the growth of communalism are:
(i) Divide and rule policy followed by the British Government.
(ii) The communal leaders arouse public hysteria.
(iii) Political parties and politicians create favourable vote-bank and vote-combination on communal lines.
(iv) The growth of fundamentalist organizations.
(v) Continuous supply of terrorist by Pakistan to India.

Question .13. How the communalism are misusing religious places?
Answer : Some people resort to spread hatred against other religions and lead to social tension and sectarian violence. Such a situation may be used by anti-social people and even terrorists and play havoc with the safety of the people and security of the nation.

Question .14. Write note on minorities?
Answer : Minorities may be religious or lingual, are those who are not in majority in a particular region or areas. The enjoy all the rights as enjoyed by the majority community, but they can preserve, protect and promote their own religion, culture, script and language. The cultural and educational rights guarantee to the minorities that all groups have the right to conserve their language or culture. Any government funded educational institution cannot deny admission on the grounds of religion, race, caste, colour or language. Every section of the society has the right to establish the educational institution of their own choice.

Question .15. Enumerate the constitutional provisions for safe guarding the interest of minorities, weaker sections and backward classes?
Answer : Constitutional provisions for safeguarding the interest of minorities are:-
(i) The constitution-makers have taken all precautions to preserve, protect and promote the religion, culture, script and language of the minority communities.
(ii) The National Minority Commission has been set up by Constitution to promote the rights, interests and welfare of the minorities in India.
(iii) The cultural and educational rights guarantee to the minorities that all groups have the right to conserve their language or culture.
Constitutional provisions for safeguarding the interest of weaker sections and backward classes:-
(i) Abolition of untouchability.
(ii) Prohibition of forced labour (Begar).
(iii) Protection against social injustice and various forms of exploitation.
(iv) Some seats are reserved for them in educational institutions.
(v) Some constituencies of Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies are reserved for them.
(vi) All sorts of restrictions on access to schools, shops, hotels, places of entertainment and other public places, use of tanks, wells, roads, bathing ghats etc have been removed.
Relaxation to O.B.C.:-
(i) Qualifying marks in written examination and interviews.
(ii) Upper age limit by three years in direct recruitment.
(iv) The number of attempts have been increased to seven in respect of civil services examination.