RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

These comprehensive RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality will give a brief overview of all the concepts.

RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 Struggles for Equality

→ The Indian Constitution recognises the equality of all persons.

• The Indian Constitution recognises all Indians as equal before the law and states that no person can be discriminated against because of their Religion, sex, caste or whether they are rich or poor.
• All adults in India have the equal right to vote.
• But inequality exists in India. The main reasons for this unequal behavior are :
  • poverty and lack of resources,
  • caste,
  • religion,
  • gender, and
  • their mixed forms.

→ Struggles for equality:

• There are some people who are known and respected because of their fight for equality. These people may have stood up against an act of discrimination that they faced or which they witnessed. Or they may be well-respected because they treat all persons with dignity.
• A large number of people join them in the fight for equality, like-women’s movement to raise issues of equality, Tawa Matsya Sangh, beedi workers, fisherfolk, agricultural, labourers, slum dwellers.
• There are also many attempts to form cooperatives or other collective ways by which people can have more control over resources.

→ Tawa Matsya Sangh:

• Tawa Matsya Sangh is a union of fishermen’s cooperatives fighting for the rights of people displaced from the forests of Satpura.
• The people of the forest were displaced due to the dam built on the Tawa River originating from Mahadev Hills of Chhindwara district,
• Some of these displaced living near the dam started farming and fishing business.
• In 1994, the government gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors. The people of the village formed an organisation called Tawa Matsya Sangh to fight against it and to protect their right. Which demanded their right to continue fishing for their livelihood. In response to their protests, the government granted the right of fishing to the villagers in 1996 and also a five-year lease agreement was signed on 1997.

→ Tawa Matsya Sangh formed a cooperative society. With the TMS taking over the fishworkers were able to increase their earnings substantially, because

• Now they started getting fair price for the fish which was 3 times more than their earlier price;
• They started getting loans for buying and maintaining, nets, and
• Arrrangements were also made to raise and grow fish properly. 

→ The Indian constitution as a living document:
The basis of the struggle and hope of fishermen to Tawa Matsya Sangh is the provision of equality and justice in the Constitution.