Class 6 Ch 2 Society & Polity- Diversity & discrimination

Last updated: 2017/06/15 at 6:29 PM

Sandarbha Desk 8 years ago

Source: NCERT

There are eight major religions in the world. Every single one of them is practiced in India.

We have more than 1600 languages that are people’s mother tongues, and there are more than a hundred dance forms.

Prejudice

Prejudice means to judge other people negatively or see them as inferior.
When we think that only one particular way is the best and right way to do things we often end up not respecting others, who may prefer to do things differently.

Creating stereotypes

When we fix people into one image we create a stereotype.
Stereotypes stop us from looking at each person as a unique individual with his or her own special qualities and skills that are different from others.
They fit large numbers of people into only one pattern or type.
Stereotypes affect all of us as they prevent us from doing certain things, that we might otherwise be good at.

Inequality and discrimination

Discrimination happens when people act on their prejudices or stereotypes.
In the caste system, communities or groups of people were placed in a sort of ladder where each caste was either above or below the other. Those who placed themselves at the to of this ladder called themselves upper caste and saw themselves as superior.
The groups who were placed at the bottom of the ladder were seen as unworthy and called “untouchables”.
Dalit is a term that people belonging to so-called lower castes use to address themselves. They prefer this word to ‘untouchable’.
Dalit means those who have been ‘broken’.
This word according to Dalits shows how social prejudices and discrimination have ‘broken the Dalit people.
The government refers to this group of people as Scheduled Castes (SC).
Caste rules were set which did not allow the so-called ‘untouchables’ to take on work, other than what they were meant to do.
The upper castes acted in ways which did not give the so-called ‘untouchables’ the same rights as they enjoyed.

Striving for equality

After gaining independence from the British rulers, India became a secular country where people of different religions and faiths have the freedom to practice and follow their religion without any fear of discrimination.

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