Class 12 Sociology Chapter 8 Social Change and the Economy The answer to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters SCERT Class 12 Sociology Chapter 8 Social Change and the Economy and select need one.
Class 12 Sociology Chapter 8 Social Change and the Economy
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Long type question and answer
Q.1. Which were the Land reforms that were introduced after independence?
Ans: After independence, a series of land reform acts were passed at the national as well as rate level to bring changes in the agrarian structure. The first important legislation was the abolition of the zamindari system, which removed the layer of intermediaries who stood between the cultivators and the state. Of all the land reform laws, this was probably the most effective measure, which removed the top layers of landlords in multilayered agrarian structure.
The tenancy abolition and regulations acts attempted either to put low tenancy altogether or to regulate rents to give some security to the tenants. The land ceiling acts were also a very important instrument to bring land reforms. These laws imposed an upper limit on the amount of land that can be owned by a particular family. According to these acts, the state is supposed to identify and takes possession of surplus land (above the ceiling limit) held by each household and redistribute it to landless families of S.C and ST categories.
| Sl. No. | CONTENTS |
| PART-1 | Introducing Sociology |
| Chapter 1 | Structure of Indian Society |
| Chapter 2 | Social Institutions: Continuity & Change |
| Chapter 3 | Social Inequality & Exclusion |
| Chapter 4 | The Challenges of Unity in Diversity |
| Chapter 5 | Project work |
| PART-2 | Understanding Society |
| Chapter 6 | Process of Social Change in India |
| Chapter 7 | Social Change and the Polity |
| Chapter 8 | Social Change and the Economy |
| Chapter 9 | New Areas of Social Change |
| Chapter 10 | Social Movements |
Q.2. Explain the social consequences of green revolution?
Ans: The social consequences of green revolution are as follow:
In the first place green revolution increased inequalities in rural areas. Well-to-do farmers who had access to land capital technological know -how and who could invest in the new seeds and fertilizers, could increase their production and earn more money while the poor stagnated or grew poorer.
Secondly, the introduction of machinery such as tillers, tractors, harvesters etc., led to the displacement of service caste groups, who used to carry out these agricultural related activities. This process of displacement increased the pace of rural urban migration.
Thirdly, in many places green revolution led to the displacement of tenants-cultivators. As the green revolution made cultivation more profitable the landowners took back the land from their tenants to cultivate directly. Thus, it led to the displacement of tenants-cultivators.
Fourthly, the green revolution has increased rather than decreased, livelihood in security of the farmers mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, the farmers who once grew food for consumption now depends on market for their incomes. Hence, a bad crop or fall in prices can spell financial ruin for farmers. Secondly, In most of the green revolution areas farmers have switched from a multi-crop system to a mono crop regime which means that there is nothing to fall back on in case of crop failure.
Mainly due to these reasons. Livelihood insecurity of farmers increased in the areas of green revolution. Fifthly, another negative outcome of green revolution, was that it increased the gap of regional inequalities. The areas where green revolution took place, become more developed while other areas stagnated.
These are some of the social impacts of the green revolution.
Q.3. What was the impact of globalisation and liberalisation on rural society?
Ans: Globalisation, for some one may mean new opportunities, while for others it may means loss of livelihood. As for example, Women silk spinners of bihar lost their jobs as Chinese and Korean silk yarn entered the market consumers prefer Chinese yarn as it is cheaper and has a shine.
Similarly, with the entry of large fishing vessels into Indian waters, the livelihood of women fish sorters, dryers, vendors and net makers get affected as there big vessels take away the fish that used to be earlier collected by Indian fishing vessels.
On the other hand, after globalization the IT sectors, infotainment industry etc. got boost and employment avenues of English educated India middle class increased tremendously.
Globalisation infect carry a threat to many indigenous craft, literary traditional as well as knowledge system. As for example, about 30 theatre groups, which were active around the textile mills of area of Parel in Mumbai have become defunct as most of the mill workers are out of jobs in there. Similarly, some traditional manners of Andhra Pradesh home committed suicide while some others discarded this traditional profession mainly because their products are not able to compete with the machine made products.
Thus, indigenous craft is facing hard challenges from big firms. Similarly, various farms of traditional knowledge system especially in the fields of medicine and agriculture is in danger. Contract farming and use of hybrid seeds and fertilizers produced by a MNCs have contributed largely in wiping out local variants and indigenous knowledge of production.
Q.4. Which were the changes that came in rural society after independence of India? Explain?
Ans: After independence, Prime Minister Nehru and his policy advisors embarked on a programme of planned development that focused on agrarian reform as well as industrialization. As a result a series of land reform acts were passed from 1950s to the 1970s at the national as well as state level to bring changes in the agrarian structure.
After independence, a series of land reform acts were passed at the national as well as rate level to bring changes in the agrarian structure.
The first important legislation was the abolition of the zamindari system, which removed the layer of intermediaries who stood between the cultivators and the state. Of all the land reform laws,this was probably the most effective measure, which removed the top layers of landlords in the multilayered agrarian structure.
The tenancy abolition and regulations act attempted either to put low tenancy altogether or to regulate rents to give some security to the tenants.
The land ceiling acts were also very important instrument to bring land reform. These laws imposed an upper limit on the amount of land that can be owned by a particular family. According to these acts, the state is supposed to identify and takes possession of surplus land (above the ceiling limit) held by each household and redistributed it to landless families of S.C and S.T categories.
Q.5. Why land reform necessary? Explain their impacts on Indian agriculture after independence.
Ans: Agricultural land is the most important resources in rural society. But it is not equally distributed among people living in a particular village or region. In fact, the distribution of land holding in most regions is highly unequal among households. In most regions of India, women are usually excluded from ownership of land, because of prevailing patrilineal kinship system. In most regions of India, the major land owing groups belong to the upper castes. In many regions of India, the former ‘untouchable’ castes were not allowed to own land. Under this circumstance, land reform becomes necessary to provide ownership of land to the marginal backward castes and clanes. Impact of land reform on Indian agriculture :
As a result of the abolition of the zamindari system, in most areas the superior rights of the zamindars over land as well as their economic and political power weakened. This law ultimately strengthened the position after the actual land holders and cultivators at the local level.
Under the land ceiling acts, the state was entrusted with the power to take possession of surplus land held by each household, and to redistributed it to landless families belonging to SCs and STs. As a result of there initiatives, agrarian structure changed substantially, though still it remains highly unequal.
Q.6. Migration and lack of job security create poor working and living conditions for migrant labourers. Explain with references to the circulation of labour in India.
Ans: As the demand for seasonal agricultural labour increased in prosperous green revolution regions, a pattern of seasonal migration emerged in rural India. Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas from the mid-1990s, which have forced many households to combine multiple occupation to sustain themselves. As a livelihood strategy, men migrate out periodically in search of work and better wages. Migrant workers come mainly from drought-prone and less productivity regions, and they go to work for part of the year on farms, on brick kilns or in construction sites in cities. These migrants workers have been termed ‘footloose labour’ by Jon Breman, but this doesn’t imply freedom. Breman’s study shows that landless labour don’t have many rights.
For instance, they are usually not paid the minimum wage. The wealthy farmers often prefer to employ migrant workers rather than the local working class, because migrants are more easily exploited and can be paid lower wages. Thus migrant workers don’t have job security and they are lowly paid. As a result they are compelled to live in a very pitiable condition in temporary residing sites. The fish processing plants along the coastline employ mostly migrant single young women. 10-12 of them are house in small rooms and sometimes one shift has to make a way for another.
Q.7. There is a close connection between agriculture and culture. Explain.
Ans: Yes, agriculture and culture is very closely connected. Agriculture is the single most source of livelihood for the majority of rural population still today. In various parts of India, various festivals are celebrated in connection with the harvesting season. As for example in Assam, people celebrate three Bihus namely, Kati, magh and Bohag bihu mainly in connection with the harvesting season. So, there exist a close connection between agriculture and culture.
Q.8. Throw light on the role of labour union in India and discuss about the longest strike of Indian industry?
Ans: In India, trade unions are plagued by problems like regionalism and casteism.
Datta Iswalkar, a trade union once described that the workers sit and chew paan with a lower from lower castes by they don’t drink water from him. The labour unions in India in the early years after independence till the mid eighties frequently resorted to strike as an attempt to fulfill their demand of fair wage and working condition. Moreover,in India labour unions have political background.
Q.9. How machinery creates a problem for workers? What alternative did Gandhi have in mind?
Ans: As the process of industrialization picked up momentum in India, large companies increasingly replaced their old human operated machines with fully automated machines. Machinery also helps to increase production. But it also creates the danger that eventually machines will replace workers. Both Marx and Gandhi saw maximisation as a danger to employment. For Gandhi the craze for labour saving machinery will make thousand wordless and homeless. It also helps in concentrating wealth in the hands of the few.
On the other hand, of Marx mechanization Industrialization, involved the detailed division of labour, where workers don’t see the end result of their work and keep producing only a small part of a product. Thus, the nature of work becomes repetitive and exhausting, yet in order to survive, workers keep themselves engaged in such type of works which is not at all enjoyable for them. Marx described this situation as alienation. Gandhi always instead on small scale Industry. He preferred a home-based industry. For him use of tools like spinning wheel will solve the problem of unemployment as well as the exploitation of the poor by the rich.
Q.10. Describe the 1982 textile strike from the different perspective of those involved.
Ans: The Bombay textile strike of 1982,under the leadership of trade union leader Dr. Dutta Samant was one famous strike which affected nearly a quarter of a million workers and their families. This strike lasted nearly two years. The govt. refused to listen to the workers demands. Slowly after two-years workers started going back to work because they were desperate. Nearly one lakh workers lost their jobs, and went back to their villages. Some people moved to smaller towns like Bhiwandi Malegaon etc. to work in the power loan sector.
The main demand of the strike was better wage for the workers and their right to from their own union. However, According to the Bombay industrial revolution act (BIRA), a union had to be approved only if game up the idea of strikes. The strike was failed mainly due to initiative of the Congress led Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangha (RMMS), which was only approved union. The RMMS brought others workers to the mills and thus helped to break the strike.
Q.11. What are the major from of job recruitment in India?
Ans: In India a small percentage of people gets jobs through advertisement or through the employment exchange. People who are self employed like plumbers, electricians and carpenters at one end and teachers who give private tuitions, architect and free-lance photographers at the other end, all rely on personal contacts.
Job recruitment as a factory workers takes different patterns. In the past many workers got their jobs through jobbers or contractor. In the Kanpur textile mills, these contractors were known as ‘mysteries’ who themselves were workers. Now-a-days the importance of jobbers have come down and both management and unions play a role in recruiting their own people.
However, the contractors system is still visible in the hiring of casual labour for work on construction sites, brickyard and so on. The contractor goes to village and asks if people want work. The contractor by providing loan to the workers bring them to the worksites. The workers work without wages until the loan is repaid.
These are some forms of job recruitment in India.
Q.12. List the consequences of industrialisation.
Ans: Urbanization, loss of face-to-face relationships in the workplace, enormous divisions of labour etc. Are some of the social features of industrialization.
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