S.

Topic Page
No. No.

1. On Equality 2

2. Role Of Government In Health 4

3. How State Government Works? 7

4. Growing Up As Boys And Girls 9

5. Womens Change The World 11

6. Understanding Media 13

7. Market Around Us 15

8. A Shirt In The Market 17

9. Struggles For Equality 19

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 Chapter 1 Notes
On Equality
Equal Right to Vote
In a democratic country, like India, all adults irrespective of what religion they
belong to, how much education they have had, what caste they are, or whether
they are rich or poor are allowed to vote. This is called universal adult
franchise and is an essential aspect of all democracies. The idea of universal
adult franchise is based on the idea of equality.

Other kinds of equality

Apart from being poor, people in India experience inequality, which is based on
the caste system.

Recognising dignity
When persons are treated unequally, their dignity is violated. Dignity is the right
of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake and to be treated
ethically.

Equality in Indian democracy

The Indian Constitution recognises every person as equal. This means that every
individual in the country, including male and female persons from all castes,
religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds are recognised as
equal.
The recognition of equality includes the following provisions in the Constitution:

1. Every person is equal before the law.

2. No person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race,
caste, place of birth or whether they are female or male.
3. Every person has access to all public places.
4. Untouchability has been abolished.

Steps taken by Government to Implement Equality

The two ways in which the government has tried to implement the equality that is
guaranteed in the Constitution is:

 First through laws

 Second through government programmes or schemes
One of the steps taken by the government includes the midday meal scheme.

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Issues of equality in other democracies
In many democratic countries around the world, the issue of equality continues to
be the key issue around which communities struggle.
For example, in the United States of America, the African–Americans whose
ancestors were slaves who were brought over from Africa, continue to describe
their lives today as largely unequal. They were treated extremely unequally in the
US and denied equality through the law.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race,
religion or national origin. It also stated that all schools would be open to
African–American children and that they would no longer have to attend separate
schools specially set up for them.

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 Chapter 2 Notes
Role Of Government In Health

What is health?
Health means our ability to remain free of illness and injuries. Apart from disease,
there are other factors that affect our health such as dullness, inactiveness,
anxiety or being scared for long stretches of time.

Healthcare in India
To prevent and treat illnesses, we need appropriate healthcare facilities such as
health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood
banks, etc. These facilities can provide the care and services that a patient needs.
To run such facilities we need health workers, nurses, qualified doctors and other
health professionals who can advice, diagnose and treat illnesses. We also need
medicines and equipment that are necessary for treating patients.
India has a large number of doctors, clinics and hospitals. Public Healthcare
System is a system of hospitals and health centres run by the government. It has
the ability to look after the health of a large section of its population scattered
over hundreds of thousands of villages. However, even after having public
healthcare systems the government is not able to provide proper healthcare
facilities to people.

Public and Private Health Care Services

The health care facilities are divided into 2 categories:

1. Public Health Services

2. Private Health Facilities

Public Health Services

The public health service is a chain of health centres and hospitals run by the
government. They are linked together so that they cover both rural and urban
areas.

1. At the village level, there are health centres where there is a nurse and a
village health worker. They are trained in dealing with common illnesses
and work under the supervision of doctors at the Primary Health Centre
(PHC). Such a centre covers many villages in a rural area.

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 2. At the district level, there is a District Hospital that supervises all the health
centres.
3. Large cities have many government hospitals and also specialised
government hospitals.

The health service is called ‘public’ for many reasons as mentioned below:

1. The government has established hospitals and health centres for everyone.
2. The medical facilities are provided at a low cost so that the poor can also
seek treatment.

The function of Public health service is to take action to prevent the spread of
diseases such as TB, malaria, jaundice, cholera, diarrhea, chikungunya, etc.
The government must safeguard the Right to Life of every person. According to
our Constitution, it is the primary duty of the government to ensure the welfare of
the people and provide health care facilities to all.

Private Health Facilities

There is a wide range of private health facilities that exist in our country. There
are hospitals
and nursing homes that are privately owned. Private health facilities are not
owned or controlled by the government. Patients have to pay a lot of money for
every service that they use.

Healthcare and equality: Is adequate healthcare available to

all?
In India, private services are increasing fast but public services are the same.
There is no increase in the public service. So, people have access to mainly
private services. The cost of private services is very high. Some private services
encourage incorrect practices to earn more money.
For a middle-class family, medical expenses cause hardship. For the poor, every
illness in the family is a cause of great anxiety and distress. The expenses on
illness make their situation even worse.

What can be done?

It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality healthcare services to
all its citizens, especially the poor and the disadvantaged. It is important to work
on public health facilities as well as on basic amenities in order to improve the
health situation of our people. Let us take two examples to understand this in a
better way.

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1) The Kerala experience
In 1996, the Kerala government allocated 40% of the total Kerala budget to the
panchayats. This made it possible for a village to make sure that proper planning
was done for water, food, women’s development and education. Health centres
were also improved.
2) The Costa Rican approach
Costa Rica is considered to be one of the healthiest countries in Central America.
Several years ago, Costa Rica took a decision not to have an army. This helped
the Costa Rican government to spend the money that the army would have used,
on health, education and other basic needs of the people. The Costa Rican
government provides basic services and amenities to all Costa Ricans.

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 Chapter 3 Notes
How State Government Works?

Who is an MLA?
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected by the people. Then
they become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government.
These MLAs belong to different political parties.

1. Every state in India has a Legislative Assembly.

2. Each state is divided into different areas or constituencies.
3. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then
becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

How do people who are MLAs become ministers or chief

ministers?
A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of
constituencies in a state is said to be in a majority. The political party that has the
majority is called the ruling party and all other members are called the opposition.
After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader
who becomes the chief minister. The chief minister and other ministers have the
responsibility of running various government departments or ministries.

A debate in the Legislative Assembly

A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs, whether from the ruling
party or from the opposition meet to discuss various things. Hence, some MLAs
have dual responsibilities: one as an MLA and the other as a minister.
MLAs can express their opinions and ask questions related to the issue or give
suggestions about what should be done by the government in a debate taking
place in the Legislative Assembly. The minister then replies to the questions and
tries to assure the Assembly that adequate steps are being taken. The chief
minister and other ministers have to take decisions and run the government.
However, whatever decisions are being taken have to be approved by the
members of the legislative assembly.

1. The word ‘government’ refers to government departments and various

ministers who head them.
2. The overall head is the chief minister.

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 3. All the MLAs who gather together (assemble) in the legislative assembly
are called the Legislature.
4. They are the ones who authorise and supervise their work. From MLAs, the
head of the executive, or the chief minister is formed.

Working of the Government

In a democracy, it is the people who elect their representatives as Members of the
Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and, thus, it is the people who have the main
authority. The ruling party members form the government and some members are
appointed as ministers.
The people in power like the chief minister and the minister take action. They do
so through various departments like the Public Works Department, the
Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department and so
on. They also have to answer questions that are asked in the Legislative
Assembly and convince people asking the questions that proper steps are being
taken. At the same time, newspapers and the media widely discuss the issue and
the government has to respond, for example, by holding press conferences. The
government decides to make new laws for the states.

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 Chapter 4 Notes
Growing Up As Boys And Girls

Growing up in Samoa in the 1920s

In the 1920s, according to research reports on Samoan society, children did not
go to school. At a smaller age, they learnt things such as how to take care of
children or do household work from older children and from adults. Both boys
and girls used to do household work.

Growing up male in Madhya Pradesh in the 1960s

From class 6 onwards, boys and girls went to separate schools. Girls school had
a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the
outside world. The boys’ school had no such courtyard and their playground was
just a big space attached to the school. The girls always went in groups because
they also carried fears of being teased or attacked.
After reading the above two stories you will realise that there are many different
ways of raising children. You would have also analysed that societies make clear
distinctions between boys and girls.

Valuing housework
The main responsibility for housework and care-giving tasks such as looking
after the family lies with women. Yet the work that women do within the home is
not recognised as work. It is also assumed that this work comes naturally to
women. Therefore, women do not get paid for housework and society devalues
this work.

Lives of domestic workers

Housework involves many different tasks. A number of these tasks require heavy
physical work. In both rural and urban areas:

 Women and girls fetch water.

 Carry heavy head loads of firewood.
 Perform task like washing clothes, cleaning, sweeping and picking uploads
require bending, lifting and carrying.
The work women do is hard and physically demanding. It’s very time consuming
also. If you add up the housework and the work, women do outside the home, you
find that women spend much more time working than men and have much less
time for themselves.

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Women’s work and equality
Equality is an important principle of the Indian Constitution which says that there
should not be any discrimination based on gender. But in reality, inequality
between the gender exists. Therefore, it has to be dealt not just at the individual
level or the family, but also by the government. Some of the actions taken by the
government are as below:

 It has promoted Girl education.

 The government has set up anganwadis or child-care centres in several
villages in the country.
 The government has passed laws that make it mandatory for organisations
that have more than 30 women employees to provide crèche facilities.
A crèche is a facility which enables parents to leave their children while they are
at work and where children are provided with a stimulating environment for their
holistic development.

Chapter 5 Notes
Womens Change The World
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Fewer Opportunities and Rigid Expectations
There are many stereotypes that exist in society such as girls and women are not
capable of dealing with technical things. Due to these stereotypes, many girls do
not get the same support that boys get.

Learning for change

Going to school is an extremely important part of a child’s life. In the 19th
century, many new ideas about education and learning emerged. Schools became
more common and communities that had never learnt reading and writing started
sending their children to school. But there was a lot of opposition to educating
girls.
Rashsundari Devi was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family. At that time, it
was believed that if a woman learnt to read and write, she would bring bad luck to
her husband and become a widow! Despite this, she taught herself how to read
and write in secret, well after her marriage.

Schooling and education today

Today, both boys and girls attend school in large numbers. Yet there are still
some differences between the education of boys and girls. India has a census
every 10 years, which counts the whole population of the country. It also gathers
detailed information about the people living in India – their age, schooling, what
work they do, and so on.
There are several reasons why children from Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim
communities leave school. Some of them are:

1. In rural and poor areas, there are neither proper schools nor teachers.
2. Schools are often far away from people’s homes and there is no transport
like buses or vans available for girls. So, parents are not willing to send
their girls to school.
3. Many families are poor and unable to bear the cost of educating all their
children. In this situation, boys get preference.
4. Many children face discrimination from their teacher and classmates.

Women’s Movement
Women and girls now have the right to study and go to school. Their situation
has improved in other spheres like legal reform, violence and health. Women
individually, and collectively have struggled a lot to bring these changes. This
struggle is known as the Women’s Movement. Different strategies have been

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used to spread awareness, fight discrimination and seek justice for women. Here
are some glimpses of this struggle.
1) Campaigning
An important part of the women’s movement was Campaigns. Campaigns have
led to the making of new laws.

 A law was implemented in 2006 against domestic violence which states

that women who face physical and mental violence within their homes will
get some legal protection.
 The dowry laws were changed to punish families who seek dowry.
2) Showing Solidarity
The women’s movement is also about showing unity with other women and
causes.

Chapter 6 Notes
Understanding Media

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Everything ranging from the stall at the local fair to the programme that you see
on TV can be called media. It refers to all means of communication.
TV, radio and newspapers are a form of media that reaches millions of people, or
the masses, across the country and the world and thus called mass media.

Media and technology

The naming of mass media is related to the different technologies that media use.
Changing technology and making it more modern helps the media to reach more
people. It also improves the quality of sound and the images. Apart from this, it
has changed the ways in which we think about our lives.
Television has enabled us to think of ourselves as members of a larger global
world. It has brought the world closer to us. Now by sitting in Chennai or Jammu,
we can see images of a storm that has hit the coast of Florida in the United
States.

Media and money

The different technologies that mass media use are expensive. TV studio has
lights, cameras, sound recorders, transmission satellites etc .,which cost a lot of
money. As the technologies keep changing a lot of money is spent on getting the
latest technology. Due to this, the mass media needs a great deal of money to do
its work.
Most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses.
Nowadays, mass media is constantly thinking of ways to make money. One way
of making money is by advertising different ads like cars, chocolates, clothes,
mobile phones, etc.

Media and democracy

The media plays a very important role in providing news and discussing events
taking place in the country and the world. Thus, it is an essential part of a
democratic country. Media helps citizens in analysing the work that the
government does. Based on it, citizens can take action. They can do this by
writing letters to the concerned minister, organising a public protest, starting a
signature campaign, asking the government to rethink its programme, etc.
Balance Report
A balanced report is one that discusses all points of view of a particular story and
then leaves it to the readers to make up their minds. Writing a balanced report
depends on the independence of the media.

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Independent Media
An independent media means that no one should control and influence its
coverage of news. No one should tell the media what can be included and what
should not be included in a news story.
In reality, the media is far from independent because of two reasons:

1. Government has a good hold over the media. It can prevent a news item, or
scenes from a movie, or the lyrics of a song from being shared with the
larger public. This is referred to as censorship.
2. The media often focuses on a particular aspect of a story because they
believe this makes the story interesting and increases public support on an
issue.

Setting agendas
Media plays an important role in deciding what stories to focus on. Therefore, it
decides on what is newsworthy. By focusing on particular issues, the media
influences our thoughts, feelings and actions, and brings those issues to our
attention. Due to its significant influence in our lives, it is said that the media
‘sets the agenda’.
There are several instances when the media fails to focus on issues that are
significant in our lives. Nowadays, the media’s close relationship with business
has made it difficult to provide a balanced report. The ‘factual information’ that a
news report provides is often not complete and can be one-sided. So, it’s the
need of the hour to analyse the news and then react to it.

Chapter 7 Notes
Market Around Us

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Weekly market
Weekly market held on a specific day of the week. They do not have permanent
shops, for example, vegetable markets. Traders set up shops for the day and then
close them up in the evening. Then they may set up at a different place the next
day.
Many things in weekly markets are available at cheaper rates because:

1. They don’t have shops or permanent buildings. Therefore, they don’t have
to pay rent, electricity and other expenses.
2. They don’t have to pay wages to their workers.
3. They have a large number of sellers selling the same goods. So, if
someone is selling the things at a low price, people will prefer to buy from
it.

One of the advantages of weekly markets is that most things are available in one
place such as vegetables, groceries, cloth items or utensils.

Shops in the neighbourhood

There are many shops that sell goods and services in our neighbourhoods. We
buy milk from the dairy, groceries from departmental stores etc. Shops are
permanent and are near our homes. Here, buyers and sellers know each other
and some of these shops also provide goods on credit. There are also sellers
who sell their goods on the roadside.

Shopping complexes and malls

There are other markets in the urban area that have many shops popularly called
shopping complexes. These are multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with
shops on different floors, known as malls. Here you get both branded and non-
branded goods. Big companies sell their products through these shops in large
urban markets and, at times, through special showrooms. Fewer people can
afford to buy products from malls and shopping complexes.

Chain of markets
Goods are produced in factories, on farms and in homes. The people in between
the producer and the final consumer are the traders. The wholesale trader first
buys goods in large quantities. Then they sell it to other traders. Buying and
selling take place between traders which helps goods to reach faraway places.
The trader who finally sells products to the consumer is the retailer.

Markets everywhere
It is not always necessary that one has to go to the market to purchase goods.
You can place orders for a variety of things through the phone and the Internet.

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The goods get delivered to your home. Buying and selling take place in different
ways, not necessarily through shops in the market.

Markets and equality

We have seen that small traders with little money, struggle to run their shop
whereas some are able to spend a lot of money to set up the shop. They also earn
unequal amounts. Similarly, buyers are also different from each other. There are
many who are not able to afford the cheapest of goods while others are busy
shopping in malls.

Chapter 8 Notes
A Shirt In The Market

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A cotton farmer in Kurnool
Swapna, a small farmer in Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) grows cotton on her small
piece of land. It takes several days to harvest the cotton. Once the cotton is
collected, instead of selling it at Kurnool cotton market, Swapna and her husband
take the harvest to the local trader. She had borrowed Rs. 2,500 from the trader at
a very high-interest rate to buy seeds, fertilisers, pesticides for cultivation. In
return for this, the local trader made Swapna agree to another condition that she
has to sell all her cotton to him. At the end she received only 3,000 rupees.

The cloth market of Erode

Erode’s is a bi-weekly cloth market in Tamil Nadu, which is one of the largest
cloth markets in the world. A large variety of cloth is sold in this market. Cloths
made by weavers in the villages are brought to the market for sale. Cloths are
made on order from the merchant. These merchants supply cloth to garment
manufacturers and exporters around the country. They purchase the yarn and
give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth that is to be made.
Putting-out system
For the weavers, this arrangement has two advantages:

1. The weavers do not have to spend their money on the purchase of yarn.
2. Weavers don’t have to think about the selling of finished cloth.

On the other side, there are a few disadvantages for the weavers:

1. Dependency on raw materials and markets makes merchants more

powerful.
2. Weavers are paid very less for making the cloth.

The market works more in favour of the merchants. The arrangement between the
merchant and the weavers is an example of putting-out system, whereby the
merchant supplies the raw material and receives the finished product.
The merchant supplies the cotton cloth produced by the weavers to a garment
exporting factory. The garment exporting factory uses the cloth to make shirts.
The shirts are exported to foreign buyers. Foreign buyers are businesspersons
from the US and Europe who run a chain of stores and do business strictly on
their own terms which are:

1. They demand the lowest prices from the supplier.

2. They set high standards for quality of production and timely delivery.
3. Any defects or delay in delivery is dealt with strictly.

The shirt in the United States

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A number of shirts are displayed at a large clothes shop in the United States and
are priced at $26. That is, each shirt sells for $26 or around 1,800 rupees.

Market and equality

The foreign businessperson made huge profits in the market. Compared to this,
the garment exporter made only moderate profits. On the other hand, the
earnings of the workers at the garment export factory are very small that they can
only cover their day-to-day needs.
Compared to the weavers, merchants or traders earned more but it is still much
less than the exporter. Thus, everyone did not get equal profit in the market.
Usually, the rich and the powerful people get the maximum earnings from the
market. These are the people who have money and own the factories, the large
shops, large landholdings, etc.

Chapter 9 Notes
Struggles For Equality
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Factors why people are treated unequally in India
Some of these factors are:

1. Poverty and the lack of resources.

2. Discrimination on the basis of a person’s religion, caste and gender.

Struggles for equality

In India, there are several struggles in which people have come together to fight
for a variety of issues. Some of the famous struggles are women’s movement to
raise issues of equality, Tawa Matsya Sangh in Madhya Pradesh etc. Beedi
workers, fisherfolk, agricultural labourers, slum dwellers and each group is
struggling for justice, in its own way.
Tawa Matsya Sangh
Tawa Matsya Sangh (TMS) is a federation of Fisherworker’s cooperatives, an
organisation fighting for the rights of the displaced forest dwellers of the Satpura
forest in Madhya Pradesh. TMS organised rallies and a chakka jam (road
blockade), demanding their right to continue fishing for their livelihood. In
response to their protests, in 1996, the Madhya Pradesh government decided to
give to the people displaced by the Tawa dam the fishing rights for the reservoir.

The Indian Constitution as a living document

The Indian Constitution recognises the equality of all persons. Movements and
struggles for equality in India continuously refer to the Indian Constitution to
make their point about equality and justice for all. By constantly referring to the
Constitution, people use it as a ‘living document’ i.e., something that has real
meaning in our lives.

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