A. 1. b. 2. d. 3. a. 4. d. 5. b.
B. 1. Rationalism, equality
- Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain
- Behramji Malabari
- Sati
- Lord William Bentinck
- Widowhood
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
Monotheism - untouchables
- Savitri Bai Phule
- Gulamgiri, equality, caste
discrimination
C. 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. T 5. F
D. 1. d. 2. e. 3. a. 4. b. 5. c. - h. 7. j. 8. i. 9. g. 10. f
E. 1. With the introduction of English
education, schools were opened up
only for the girls which attracted at
least some students from the rich
families. Slowly more girls joined
the schools and they began to get
education which vastly improved
their condition with in the family
and the society. Slowly they also
began to take part in the nationalist
activities and play a big role in the
freedom movement of the country. - The women who wrote about the
society were Tarabai Shinde and
Pandita Ramabai, wrote and
published their critical views on the
role of women in society. - John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune,
along with Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar brought about a lot of
reforms for the education of the
girls. He opened the first school for
girls in Calcutta in 1849. He also
opened many schools between 1857
and 1858 to promote girl’s education. - With change in laws,‘Sarda Act’
1929, increased the age of consent
to 14 for females and 18 for males. - The prime areas where Brahmo
Samaj focused its work were
monotheism, improvement in trhe
position of women and liberation of
society from the illogical rituals and
superstitious practices. Its main
focus was on eradication of ‘sati’ as
well as promotion of widow
remarriage and prohibition on the
early marriage of girls.
F. 1. Widows and widowhood were
considered inauspicious and once a
widow, women were expected to
live a very secluded, austere life,
away from the social celebrations.
Their very presence was seen as a
bad omen. Because they did not
have any access over property,
neither were they welcome in their
parents’ house nor were they given
any respect by her in- laws. In short
their life was miserable beyond
comparison. Their condition was
slightly improved by the passing of
the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856
by Lord Dalhousie and it was only
in the year 1856 that the first widow
remarriage took place. Besides this,
Lord William Bentinck passed the
Anti- Sati Act that banned the evil
practice of sati. - He laid the foundation of the
Brahmo Samaj in 1830. It aimed
to preach monotheism (belief in
one God), improve the position of
women in society and liberate the
s o c i e t y f r o m r i t u a l s a n d
superstitious practices. He led a
campaign against the practise of
sati (sati pratha) through his
journal Sambad Kaumudi and
convinced people that the cruel
practice of sati was not permitted
by the Shastras. His tireless
campaign persuaded the British
Governor General William
Bentinck to abolish sati. - Satya Shodhak Samaj was founded
by the great social reformer Jyotiba
Phule who hailed from a family of
flower sellers. The aim of the Satya
Shodhak Samaj was to improve the
condition of the oppressed classes
and propagate caste equality. He
gave great importance to education
and founded a library for the low
caste people along with a school for
the girls. - The founder of the All India
Depressed Classes Welfare
Association was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
and the reason behind its creation
was upliftment of the lower classes
of the society and promoting
awareness. He believed that
education would help the lower
castes to improve their economic
conditions and one of the important
purposes of the Association was to
spread education among the poorer
sections of the society. - The British rule brought about many
changes in the Indian society which
in the long run helped reduce caste
rigidities. These were-
• No legal discrimination was carried
out by the laws that they made.
• Railways was introduced by them
which brought people
• With the introduction of western
education, the caste boundaries also
were blurred
• Migration of people, specifically
those in the army
• The First World War also caused
people to come together and fight a
war in the foreign land, thereby
blurring the inequalities
G. 1. In pre-colonial India, the social
status of women was very low. They
had no major role in the family.
Till the early 19th century, Indian
women had a very low status. They
were denied education and married
off at a young age. Sati Pratha or
the practice of sati was common and
widows were not allowed to
remarry. - Dayanand Saraswati established the
Arya Samaj in 1875. Like the
Brahmo Samaj, it worked towards
the upliftment of women. As the
founder of the Arya Samaj, he
strongly opposed child marriage and
favoured widow remarriage.
Child marriage was declared illegal
in 1872, largely due to the efforts of
the Brahmo Samaj.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy campaigned
against sati through the Brahmo
Samaj.
H. 1. In pre-colonial India, the social
status of women was very low. They
had no major role in the family. All
major decisions in a woman’s life
were taken first by her father, next
by her husband, and later by her
son. Women did not have the right
to inherit their father’s property. - B. R. Ambedkar was born into the
Mahar caste, whose members were
considered untouchables. So, he
devoted his entire life to fighting
against caste oppression. He
organised the All India Scheduled
Caste Federation for this purpose.
He also organised a number of nonviolent campaigns to assert the right
of the untouchables to enter the
temples and to draw water from
public wells.