1. Define fertility rate.
2. What do you mean by maternal mortality rate?
3. Who is dominant caste?
4. Who are panchamas?
5. Why is rising dependency ratio a cause for worry in countries that are facing ageing population?
6. Define Total Fertility Rate? What is required minimum TFR to attain the replacement level?
7. Write a short note on Ayankali.
8. Literacy varies across gender, regions and social groups. Explain
9. The institution of caste underwent major changes during the colonial period. Explain.
VALUE POINTS
1. Fertility rate : number of live birth per 1000 women in the child bearing age group of 15-49 years.
2. Maternal mortality: number of women dying in child birth per 1000 live birth.
3. Dominant caste was those which had a large population and were granted land rights. They were politically, socially and economically dominant in their regions.
4. A significant section of the population composed of the ‘outcastes’, foreigners, slaves, conquered peoples and others, sometimes referred to as the panchamas or fifth category.
5. The dependency ratio is a measure comparing the portion of a population which is composed of dependents (i.e., elderly people who are too old to work, and children who are too young to work) with the portion that is in the working age group, generally defined as 15 to 64 years. Since it becomes difficult for a relatively smaller proportion of working-age people to carry the burden of providing for a relatively larger proportion of dependents.
6. Total fertility rate: it refers to the total number of live births that a hypothetical woman would have if she lived through the reproductive age group and had the average number of babies in each segment of this age group as determined by the agespecific fertility rates for that area. The required TFR is 2.1
7. Ayyankali, born in Kerala, was a leader of the lower castes and Dalits. With his efforts, Dalits got the freedom to walk on public roads, and Dalit children were allowed to join schools.
8. Literacy varies considerably across gender, across regions, and across social groups. . However, female literacy has been rising faster than male literacy, partly because it started from relatively low levels. Literacy rates also vary by social group – historically 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. Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind. The inequalities in the literacy rate are specially important because they tend to reproduce inequality
across generations. Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their children are well educated, thus perpetuating existing inequalities.
9. The present form of caste as a social institution has been shaped very strongly by both the colonial period as well as the rapid changes that have come about in independent India. Scholars have agreed that all major social institutions and specially the institution of caste underwent major changes during the colonial period. In fact, some scholars argue that what we know today as caste is more a product of colonialism than of ancient Indian tradition.
Initially, the British administrators began by trying to understand the complexities of caste in an effort to learn how to govern the country efficiently. Some of these efforts took the shape of very methodical and intensive surveys and reports on the ‘customs and manners’ of various tribes and castes all over the country.
The 1901 Census under the direction of Herbert Risley was particularly important as it sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste –i.e., the social order of precedence in particular regions, as to the position of each caste in the rank order.
Overall, scholars feel that this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself. Before this kind of intervention, caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid; once they began to be counted and recorded, caste began to take on a new life.
The land revenue settlements and related arrangements and laws served to give legal recognition to the customary (castebased) rights of the upper castes. These castes now became land owners in the modern sense rather than feudal classes with claims on the produce of the land, or claims to revenue or tribute of various kinds.
The administration also took an interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed classes’ at that time. It was as part of these efforts that the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state.
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