| Textbook | NCERT |
| Board | CBSE Board, UP board, JAC board, HBSE Board, Bihar Board, PSEB board, RBSE Board, UBSE Board |
| Class | 6th Class |
| Subject | Civic| Political Science | Social Science |
| Chapter | Chapter 2 |
| Chapter Name | Diversity and Discrimination |
| Topic | Diversity and Discrimination CBSE Class 6 Civic Chapter 2 Notes |
| Medium | English |
| Especially Designed Notes for | CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA, UPSC, SSC, NDA, All Govt. Exam |
Diversity and Discrimination
Difference and Prejudice
- There are a lot of things that make us what we are, such as- how we live, what we speak, what we eat and wear, what we play.
- All this depends upon the historical backgrounds and geographical settings of the place we live in.
- We live in a diverse country like India, there are eight major religions in the world and all of these are practised by us.
- There are 1600 languages and more than a hundred dance forms.
- Diversity is not always celebrated because we feel safe and secure with people who look, talk, dress and think like us.
- When we move here and there, we meet many people who are very different from us and thus we find them strange and unfamiliar.
- At times, we have no idea why they are different from us.
Prejudice
- Prejudice’ means judging other people negatively or seeing 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.
- For example, if we think that English is the best among all languages, we start to judge other languages negatively.
- As a result, we might not respect people who speak languages other than English.
- We can be prejudiced about many things: people’s religious beliefs, the colour of their skin, the region they come from, the accent they speak in, the clothes they wear, etc.
Creating Stereotypes
- When we fix people into one image, we create a stereotype.
- The stereotype may be with respect to religion, sex, race or economic background.
- There are stingy and generous people everywhere, as they are found in every country, in any gender, in every community whether they are rich or poor; just because some people are like that, it is not fair to think that everyone will be the same.
- People have unique qualities and skills that make them different from others but stereotypes prevent us from seeing each person as a unique individual.
- They fit large numbers of people into only one pattern or type.
- Stereotypes influence all of us as they stop us from doing certain things that we might otherwise be good at.
Inequality and Discrimination
- Discrimination takes place when people act on their prejudices or stereotypes.
- Groups of people who speak different languages, follow a particular religion, live in certain regions etc may be discriminated against as their customs or practices are seen as inferior or backward.
- Discrimination can take place because of several reasons.
- Some people may experience both economic discrimination as well as cultural discrimination.
On Being Discriminated Against
- People are engaged in different kinds of work for their livelihood, such as teaching, weaving, fishing, farming, carpentry, etc.
- Some people do cleaning, washing, cutting hair, picking garbage.
- However, these are seen as tasks that are of less weightage and are considered as dirty or impure.
- This belief is an important aspect of the caste system.
- In India there was caste system.
- In this system, communities/groups of people were placed in a sort of ladder where each caste was either above or below the other.
- The people who placed themselves at the top of this ladder called themselves as upper caste and people who were placed at the bottom of the ladder called unworthy.
- They were also considered as untouchables.
- Caste rules were set which did not allow the so called untouchables to take on work, other than what they were meant to do.
- For example, some people or groups pick garbage and remove dead animals from the village.
- But the people belonging to these groups are not allowed to enter the homes of the upper castes.
- These people were not even took water from the village well and not enter the temples.
- Children of these groups were often not allowed to sit next to children of other castes in school.
- In other words, the untouchables were not allowed to take on work other than what they were meant to do.
- People maintained distance from them and they were called Dalits.
Striving for Equality
Main events during the striving for equality were as follows:
- People fought against British rule but some deprived people fought against British as well as fought to be treated more equally.
- Dalits, women, tribals and peasants stood against the inequalities they experienced in their lives.
- Dalits organised themselves to gain entry into temples.
- Women organised for demanding equal privilege as men did.
- Peasants and tribals organised for fighting against zamidari system.
- India became independent on 15th August, 1947, but discrimination and inequalities existed.
- Our Constitution makers were aware that this discrimination had been practised in our society and how people had struggled against this.
- Many Indian National Movement leaders fought against such inequalities, in which Dr. Ambedkar was the most prominent; he fought for the rights of Dalits.
- Leaders of our country set out a vision and goal in the Constitution to ensure that all the people of India were considered equal.
- This equality would further lead a united India.
- They took special care to include such provisions in the Constitution that would ensure equality to all the citizens of India.
- Now, untouchability is seen as a crime and has been legally abolished by law.
- People are free to choose the kind of work they wish to do.
- Government jobs are open to all people.
- The Constitution of India specified the right to equality for poor and other deprived communities.
- The writers of the Constitution also advocated respect for diversity and ensured equality irrespective of citizens belonging to different communities, religions, languages etc.
- They further advocated that no one language, religion or festival should become compulsory for all to follow and government must treat all religions equally.
- Thus, India became a secular state where all the religions and faiths have been practised and followed without fear of discrimination.
- That is why we unite and live together and respect each other.
- Equality is a value that we have to keep aspiring for and not something which will occur automatically.
- People’s struggles and positive actions by the government are important to make this a truth for all Indians.
one word meaning
- Prejudice It means to judge other people negatively or see them as inferior.
- Stereotype A stereotype is used to categorise a group of people. A term used to define all people of a certain belief into a mostly negative category that may only reflect a selected few of the racial demographics.
- Generous it means showing a readiness to give more of something, especially money, than is strictly necessary or expected.
- Discrimination It is an action that denies social participation or denies human rights to certain categories of people based on prejudice.
- Dalit It is a term used for the people belonging to so-called lower castes and down trodden on the basis of prejudices and discrimination.
