RBSE Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and ReformTextbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 8 Women, Caste and Reform

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Women, Caste and Reform InText Questions and Answers

Activity (Page-95)

Question 1. 
Can you think of the ways in which social customs and practices were discussed in the pre-printing age when books, newspapers and pamphlets were not readily available?
Answer: 
During that time social customs and practices were discussed in the following ways-

1. By holding regular group meetings and conferences.
2. By handwritten letters on palm leaves, etc.
3. By speeches in public.
4. By discussion and debate among intellectuals and learned persons of different fields.

Activity (Page-97)

Question 1. 
This argument (source 1 - textbook) was taking place more than 175 years ago. Write down the different arguments you have heard around you on the worth of women. In what ways have the views changed?
Answer: 
Arguments that underestimate the importance and capabilities of women-Women should be confined at home. They can not have the same rights as men have. They can not be as equal as men are in the society. They do not understand worldliness.

They cannot make a decision and should not be much educated. Arguments that overestimate the importance and capabilities of women-There is no difference between men and women. They can do the same work what men can do. Today women are dominating all fields. With education they are now on the higher positions. They also have decision-making capacity. She should be more educated.

Activity (Page-102)
 
Question 1. 
Imagine that you are one of the students sitting in the school veranda and listening to the lessons. What kind of questions would be raising in your mind? 
Answer: 

1. Are we different from other children?
2. Why this discrimination is with us?
3. Was it in our hands to take birth in a higher or lower caste?
4. Will we never get equal status?
5. Do we have no right to education?

Question 2.
Some people thought that this situation was better than the total lack of education for dalit people. Would you agree with this view?
Answer:
No, we do not agree with this view. They should also get full right to education.

Activity (Page-103)

Question 1. 
Carefully read source 3 (in textbook). What do you think Jyotirao Phule meant by “me here and you over there again”?
Answer: 
From “me here and you there” Jyotirao Phule meant about untouchability. He said that there was a puipose hideen in the slogan of unity of the upper castes. In his view, the people of the upper caste wanted to conquer the British first by the power of this unity and after that they would once again speak of untouchability. They will do nothing to improve it.

Activity (Page-105)

Question 1.
Why does caste remain such a controversial issue today? What do you think was the most important movement against caste in colonial times?
Answer: 

1. Caste remains such a controversial issue even today because some politicians and political parties are doing cheap politics about it.
2. In my view, the most important movement against caste in the colonial period was the ‘temple entry movement’.

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Women, Caste and Reform Textbook Questions and Answers

Let’s Recall
 
Question 1.
What social idea did the following people support-

1. Rammohun Roy
2. Dayanand Saraswati
3. Veerasalingam Pantulu
4. Jyotirao
5. Phule Pandita
6. Ramabai
7. Periyar
8. Mumtaz Ali
9. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Answer: 
(1) Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) Raja Rammohun Roy was the founder of Brahmo Samaj. He was keen to spread the knowledge of western education in the country. He support more freedom and equality for women. As a result of his efforts, in 1829, ‘Sati practice’ was banned. He also criticised the caste system.

(2) Swami Dayanand Saraswati-He founded ‘Arya Samaj’ in 1875 and supported widow remarriage.

(3) Veerasalingam Pantulu-He formed an association in the Telgu-speaking areas of the Madras Presidency and supported widow remarriage.

(4) Jyotirao Phule-He supportedfor the education of girls. He established schools for girls in Maharashtra. He opposed all forms of inequality including the caste system.

(5) Pandita Ramabai-She supported the equality of women with men. She countered the miserable .lives- of upper caste Hindu women. She founded a ‘widows’ home’ at Poona to provide shelter to women who had been treated badly by their husbands’ relatives.

(6) Periyar-E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker or Periyar advocated social equality. He laid the foundation of ‘Self Respect Movement’, and defied the dominance of Brahmins over power.

(7) Mumtaz Ali-She supported women’s education.

(8) Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar-He supported widow remarriage and education of girls. He also opened schools for girls.

Question 2.
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 foil 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. 

Let’s Discuss 

Question 3. 
How did the knowledge of ancient texts help the reformers promote new laws? 
Answer: 
The strategy adopted by Rammohun was used by later reformers as well. Whenever they wished to challenge a practice that seemed harmful, they tried to find a verse or sentence in the ancient sacred texts that supported their point of view. Then they suggested that the practice as it existed at present was against early tradition.

Question 4. 
What were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school? 
Answer:
People did not send girls to school because of the following reasons-

1. People feared that schools would take girls away from home.
2. This would prevent them from doing their domestic duties.
3. This could affect their character.
4. Moreover, girls had to travel through public places in order to reach school. Many people felt that this would have a corrupting influence on them.
5. In many parts of the country people believe that if any girl is educated, she will soon become a widow.

Question 5. 
Why were Christian missionaries criticized by many people in the country?Would some people have supported them too? If so, for what reasons?
Answer: 

1. Christian missionaries were criticized by many people because they were orthodox and feared that these missionaries would convert the religion of tribal groups and lower caste people.

2. Yes, some people had also supported Christian missionaries and the reason for that might be-

• These missionaries were setting up schools for tribal groups and Lower-caste children.
• From these, the children of these people had some knowledge and skills, with the help of which they could mate their way in the changing world.

Question 6. 
In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as ‘low’?
Answer: 
In the ’ British period many new opportunities opened up for people which were dalit-
(1) Christian missionaries began setting up schools for the children of tribal groups and dalits. These children were thus equipped with some resources to make their way into a changing world.

(2) At the same time, the new jobs were coming up in cities. There were work in the factories that were coming up, and jobs in municipalities.

(3) Demands of labours, coolies, diggers, carriers, bricklayers, sewage cleaners, sweepers, palanquin bearers, rickshaw pullers, etc. were increasing day by day.

(4) There were opportunities of jobs in the plantations in Vssam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia.

(5) The army also offered opportunities. A number of Mahar people, who were regarded as Dalit, found, jobs in the Mahar Regiment. Work in new locations was often very hard. But the poor, the Dalits, saw this as an opportunity to get away from the oppressive hold that landowners exercised over their lives and the daily humiliation they suffered.

Question 7. 
How did Jyotirao the reformers justify their criticism of caste inequality in society?
Answer:
Jyotirao Phule set out to attack the Brahmans’ claim that they were superior to others, since they were Aryans Phule argued that the Aryans were foreigners, who came from outside the subcontinent, and defeated and subjugated the true children of the country - those who had lived here from before the coming of the Aryans As the Aryans established their dominance, they began looking at the defeated population as inferior. According to Phule, the ‘upper’ castes had no right to their land and power : in reality, the land belonged to indigenous people, the so-called low castes. 

Question 8. 
Why did Phule dedicate his book Gulamgiri to the American movement to free slaves?
Answer: 
In 1873, Phule wrote a book named Gulamgiri, meaning slavery. Some ten years before this, the America Civil War had been fought, leading to the end of slavery in America. Phule dedicated his book to all those Americans who had fought to free slaves, thus establishing a link between the conditions of the so-called ‘lower’ castes in India and the black slaves in America.

Question 9. 
What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement?
Answer: 
In 1927, Ambedkar started a temple entry movement, in which his Mahar community followers participated. Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935. His aim was to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.

Question 10. 
Why did Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker critical of the national movement? Did their criticism help the national struggle in any way?
Answer:
(1) Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker criticized the national movement led by the upper caste people because they believed that this movement would ultimately serve the objectives of the upper caste people. After the end of the movement, these people would again speak of ‘untouchability’. Once again these people would say “Me Here and You There”.

(2)  struggle. The speeches, writings and movements of these leaders prompted the upper-caste nationalist leaders Yes, their criticism created unity in the national to do some introspection and rethink the issue.