1. How does literacy vary across gender, region and social groups?
Chapter 2 - The Demographic Structure of the Indian Society

Ans:
Literacy is said to be an instrument of empowerment.
Literacy across gender
The literacy rate for women is almost 22% less than the literacy rate for men.There has been rise in female literacy and in the year it was noticed that between year 1991 and 2001 there has been a 15% rise in literacy incase of females compared to the rise in male literacy of a little less than 12% in the same period.
Literacy across social groups
Disadvantaged communities like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower rates of literacy, and rates of female literacy within these groups are even lower.
Literacy across regions
Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind.

2. Write a note on traditional business communities.
Chapter 4: The Market as a Social Institution

Ans:

• The "traditional business communities" in India includes not only ‘Vaisyas’, but also other groups with distinctive religious or other community identities, such as the Parsis, Sindhis, Bohras, or Jains.
• Merchant communities did not hold high status in society during the colonial period , for example the trade in salt was mostly held by tribal group called Banjaras.
• The operation of markets in India , earlier and at present can be examined based on business handled by communities.
• One of the reasons for this caste-based specialisation is that trade and commerce often operate through caste and kinship networks.
• Since businessmen are more comfortable to work with their own community because of trust they tend to do business within their own community rather than with outsiders and this tends to create a caste monopoly within certain areas of business.

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3. Explain the three key principles of social stratification.
Chapter 5: Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

Ans:
Three key principles that helps explain social stratification are :
1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of individual differences .Social stratification is a society-wide system that unequally distributed social resources among categories of people.With basic technologically little was produced so only simple social stratification could exist.And with advanced technology people produce a surplus over and above their basic needs,but social resources are unequally distributed to various social categories regardless of people’s innate individual abilities.
2. Social stratification persists over generations. It is linked to the family and the inheritance of social resources passed from one generation to the next.The occupational opportunities are decided based on the caste system an individual is born in.For example a dalit is likely to be confined to traditional occupations such as agricultural labour, scavenging, or leather work, with little chance of being able to get high-paying white-collar or professional work. Marriage is usually restricted to members of the same caste, ruling out inter-caste marriages.
3. Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology.No system of social stratification is likely to persist over generations unless it is widely viewed as being either fair or inevitable.The caste system, for example, is justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution, with the Brahmins designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most inferior by virtue of their birth and occupation. People with the greatest social privileges express the strongest support for systems of stratification such as caste and race

4. Analyse the importance of safeguarding minority rights.
Chapter 6: The Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Ans:

• For a strong and democratic nation, special constitutional provisions are required to ensure the rights of all groups and those of minority groups in particular.
• Privileged minorities such as extremely wealthy people are not usually referred to as minorities; and they fall in the category of "privileged minority".
• When minority is used without qualification, it generally implies a relatively small but also disadvantaged group.
• The sociological sense of minority also implies that the members of the minority form a collectivity – that is, they have a strong sense of group solidarity, a feeling of togetherness and belonging.
• It is possible to have anomalous instances where a minority group is disadvantaged in one sense but not in another. Thus, for example, religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off economically. But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of their small numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus.
• Religious or cultural minorities need special protection because of the demographic dominance of the majority.

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5. Explain Satish Saberwal's three aspects of change in Colonial India.
Chapter 2 - Cultural Change

Ans:
Sociologist Satish Saberwal three aspects of change in Colonial India are as follows:

• Modes of communication: New technologies speeded up various forms of communication.The printing press, telegraph, and later the microphone, movement of people and goods through steamship and railways helped quick movement of new ideas
• Forms of organisation:Modern social organisations like the Brahmo Samaj in Bengal and Arya Samaj in Punjab were set up. Indian reformers debated not just in public meetings but through public media like newspapers and journals.Translations of writings of social reformers from one Indian language to another took place.
• The nature of ideas:New ideas of liberalism and freedom, new ideas of homemaking and marriage, new roles for mothers and daughters, new ideas of self conscious pride in culture and tradition emerged.The value of education became very important. It was seen as very crucial for a nation to become modern but also retain its ancient heritage.Reformers argued that for a society to progress women have to be educated and schools were started.

6. Analyse the negative social effects of green revolution in India.
Chapter 4: Change and Development in Rural Society

Ans:

• It was primarily the medium and large farmers who were able to benefit from the new technology.This was because inputs were expensive, and small and marginal farmers could not afford to spend as much as large farmers to purchase these inputs.
• The farmers who were able to produce a surplus for the market who were able to reap the most benefits from the Green Revolution.
• Increase inequalities in rural society.
• The introduction of machinery such as tillers, tractors, threshers, and harvesters led to the displacement of the service caste groups who used to carry out these agriculture-related activities.
• The ultimate outcome of the Green Revolution was a process of ‘differentiation’, in which the rich grew richer and many of the poor stagnated or grew poorer.

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7. Write a note on Globalisation of culture.
Chapter 6: Globalisation and Social Change

Ans:

• In India we have seen open approach to cultural influences and have been enriched because of it. The last decade has seen major cultural changes leading to fears that our local cultures would be overtaken.
• A central argument is that all cultures will become similar, that is homogeneous. Others argue that there is an increasing tendency towards glocalisation of culture. Glocalisation refers to the mixing of the global with the local.
• Globalisation will lead to the creation of not just new local traditions but global ones too.
• Globalisation can be taken as a bogey to defend unjust practices against women.
• With culture we mainly refer to dresses, music, dances, food.Globalisation includes culture of consumption and corporate culture. Cultural consumption (of art, food, fashion, music, tourism) shapes to a large extent the growth of cities. This is evident in the spurt in the growth of shopping malls, multiplex cinema halls, amusement parks and ‘water world’ in every major city in India.
• Corporate culture is a branch of management theory that seeks to increase productivity and competitiveness through the creation of a unique organisational culture involving all members of a firm.

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8. Write a note on the nature of communalism in India.
Chapter 6: The Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Ans:

• Communalism is an aggressive political ideology linked to religion.
• It is important to emphasise that communalism is about politics, not about religion.
• A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers may or may not be communalists. However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on religion.
• Communalists cultivate an aggressive political identity, and are prepared to condemn or attack everyone who does not share their identity.
• One of the characteristic features of communalism is its claim that religious identity overrides everything else.
• Communalism is an especially important issue in India because it has been a recurrent source of tension and violence.

9. Analyse the impact of industrialisation in independent India.
Chapter 1 - Structural Change

Ans:

• Industrialisation refers to the emergence of machine production, based on the use of inanimate power resources like steam or electricity.
• In India the impact of the very same British industrialisation led to deindustrialisation in some sectors.
• Traditional exports of cotton and silk manufacturers from India declined in the face of Manchester competition.
• This period also saw the further decline of cities such as Surat and Masulipatnam while Bombay and Madras grew.
• At the end of the 19th century, with the installation of mechanised factory industries, some towns became much more heavily populated.
• In India the initial impact of the same British industrialisation led to more people moving into agriculture.

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10. Explain Malthusian Theory of population growth.
Chapter 2 - The Demographic Structure of the Indian Society

Ans:

• Malthus’s theory of population growth – outlined in his Essay on Population (1798) – was a rather pessimistic one.
• He argued that human populations tend to grow at a much faster rate than the rate at which the means of human subsistence i.e food, clothing and other agriculture-based products can grow.
• That's why he said humanity is condemned to live in poverty forever because the growth of agricultural production will always be overtaken by population growth.
• While population rises in geometric progression (i.e., like 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 etc.), agricultural production can only grow in arithmetic progression (i.e., like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc.).
• He felt that there should be control on growth of population and humanity has only a limited ability to voluntarily reduce the growth of its population by using preventive checks like postponing marriage or practicing sexual abstinence or celibacy.
• Malthus believed therefore that "positive checks" to population growth – in the form of famines and diseases – were inevitable because they were nature’s way of dealing with the imbalance between food supply and increasing population.

11. Analyse the Nattukottai Chettiars as a traditional merchant community.
Chapter 4: The Market as a Social Institution

Ans:

• The Nattukottai Chettiars (or Nakarattars) of Tamil Nadu, provide an interesting illustration of how the local trading networks were organised and worked.
• A study of this community during the colonial period shows how its banking and trade activities were deeply embedded in the social organisation of the community.
• The structures of caste, kinship, and family were oriented towards commercial activity, and business activity was carried out within these social structures.
• As in most "traditional" merchant communities, Nakarattar banks were basically joint family firms, so that the structure of the business firm was the same as that of the family.
• Extensive caste-based social networks allowed Chettiar merchants to expand their activities into Southeast Asia and Ceylon.

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12. Write a note on the traditional business community of the Vaishyas.
Chapter 4: The Market as a Social Institution

Ans:

• "Vaisyas" constitute one of the four varnas – an indication of the importance of the merchant and of trade or business in Indian society.
• Like the other varnas, "Vaisya" is often a status that is claimed or aspired to rather than a fixed identity or social status.
• There are "Vaisya" communities (such as banias in North India), whose traditional occupation has been trade or commerce for a long time, there are some caste groups that have entered into trade.These communities tend to acquire or claim ‘Vaisya’ status in the process of upward mobility.

13. Explain the survey method.
Chapter 7: Suggestions for Project Work

Ans:

• A survey usually involves asking a relatively large number of people (such as 30, 100, 2000, and so on) the same fixed set of questions.
• The questions may be asked by an investigator in person where they are read out to the respondent, and his/her answers are noted down by the investigator.
• Or the questionnaire may be handed over to the respondents who then fill it up themselves and give it back.
• The main advantage of the survey is that it can cover a lot of people, so that the results are truly representative of the relevant group or population.
• The disadvantage is that the questions to be asked are already fixed. No on-the-spot adjustments are possible.
• If a question is misunderstood by the respondents, then wrong or misleading results can be produced.

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14. Explain the concept of contract farming.
Chapter 4: Change and Development in Rural Society

Ans:

• In "contract farming" systems, the company identifies the crop to be grown, provides the seeds and other inputs, as well as the know how and often also the working capital.
• In return, the farmer is assured of a market because the company guarantees that it will purchase the produce at a predetermined fixed price.
• Contract farming is very common now in the production of specialised items such as cut flowers, fruits such as grapes, figs and pomegranates, cotton, and oilseeds.
• While contract farming appears to provide financial security to farmers, it can also lead to greater insecurity as farmers become dependent on these companies for their livelihoods.
• Contract farming of export-oriented products such as flowers and gherkins also means that agricultural land is diverted away from food grain production.
• Contract farming caters primarily to the production of elite items, and because it usually requires high doses of fertilisers and pesticides, it is often not ecologically sustainable.

15. Explain the term weightless economy.
Chapter 6: Globalisation and Social Change

Ans:
The weightless economy is one in which products have their base in information, as in the case with computer software, media and entertainment products and internet based services.

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16. Analyse the growth of the radio as a medium of communication in Independent India.
Chapter 7: Mass Media and Communications

Ans:

• When India gained independence in 1947, All India Radio had an infrastructure of six radio stations, located in metropolitan cities.
• The country had 280,000 radio receiver sets for a population of 350 million people.
• After independence the government gave priority to the expansion of the radio broadcasting infrastructure, especially in state capitals and in border areas.
• Over the years, AIR has developed a formidable infrastructure for radio broadcasting in India.
• It operates a three-tiered – national, regional, and local – service to cater to India’s geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity.

17. Explain the survey method with its advantages and disadvantages.
Chapter 7: Suggestions for Project Work

Ans:

• A survey usually involves asking a relatively large number of people (such as 30, 100, 2000, and so on) the same fixed set of questions.
• The questions may be asked by an investigator in person where they are read out to the respondent, and his/her answers are noted down by the investigator.
• Or the questionnaire may be handed over to the respondents who then fill it up themselves and give it back.
• The main advantage of the survey is that it can cover a lot of people, so that the results are truly representative of the relevant group or population.
• The disadvantage is that the questions to be asked are already fixed. No on-the-spot adjustments are possible.
• If a question is misunderstood by the respondents, then wrong or misleading results can be produced.

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18. Explain the impact of urbanisation on Indian Villages according to Sociologist M.S.A. Rao.
Chapter 1 - Structural Change

Ans:
The impact of urbanisation on Indian Villages as per M.S.A Rao is as follows:

• There are villages in which a sizeable number of people have sought employment in far-off cities.A considerable number of emigrants reside not only in Indian cities but also in overseas towns. There are many overseas migrants from Gujarat villages living in African and British towns.They have built fashionable houses in their natal villages, invested money on land and industry, and have donated literally to the establishment of educational institutions and trusts.
• The second kind of urban impact is to be seen in villages which are situated near an industrial town.Industrial town like Bhilai comes up in the midst of villages, some villages are totally uprooted while the lands of others are partially acquired. The latter are found to receive an influx of immigrant workers, which not only stimulates a demand for houses and a market inside the village but creates problems of ordering relationships between the native residents and the immigrants.
• The growth of metropolitan cities accounts for the third type of urban impact on the surrounding villages.While a few villages are totally absorbed in the process of expansion, only the land of many others, excluding the inhabited area, is used for urban development.

19. Explain the ideals of the Panchayati Raj.
Chapter 3 - The Story of Indian Democracy

Ans:
Here are few ideals listed of Panchayati Raj:

• The idea is to ensure, the village gets a grass root level democracy.
• In 1992 the grassroots democracy was ushered in by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. This act provided constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
• In Panchayati Raj it is compulsory now for local self-government bodies in rural and municipal areas to be elected every five years.
• In Panchayati Raj control of local resources is given to the elected local bodies.
• The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution ensured the reservation of one third of the total seats for women in all elected offices of local bodies in both the rural and urban areas.

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20.What are the powers and responsibilities delegated to Panchayats?
Chapter 3 - The Story of Indian Democracy

Ans:
The following powers and responsibilities were delegated to the Panchayats:

• to prepare plans and schemes for economic development
• to promote schemes that will enhance social justice
• to levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees
• help in the devolution of governmental responsibilities, especially that of finances to local authorities

21. Examine the Economic Policy of Liberalisation.
Chapter 6: Globalisation and Social Change

Ans:

• Globalisation involves a stretching of social and economic relationships throughout the world and this stretching is termed as Liberalisation.
• Liberalisation of the economy meant the steady removal of the rules that regulated Indian trade and finance regulations. These measures are also described as economic reforms.
• Indian economy has witnessed a series of reforms in all major sectors of the economy i.e. agriculture, industry, trade, foreign investment and technology, public sector, financial institutions etc. The basic assumption was that greater integration into the global market would be beneficial to Indian economy.
• The process of liberalisation also involved the taking of loans from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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22. Explain the Dalit Movement as a caste based movement in India.
Chapter 8: Social Movements

Ans:

• The Dalit Movement is said to be a struggle for recognition as fellow human beings. It is a struggle for self-confidence and a space for self-determination. It is a struggle for abolishment of stigmatisation, that untouchability implied. It has been called a struggle to be touched.
• Dalit refers to those who have been broken, ground down by those above them in a deliberate way.
• The nature of Dalit movements and the meaning of identity, there has been a common quest for equality, self-dignity and eradication of untouchability.
• The Dalit movement has unquestionably acquired a place in the public sphere that cannot be ignored. This has been accompanied by a growing body of Dalit literature.