NCERT 8th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Constitution And The Need For Law

Question: What is female foeticide? Discuss the efforts made by the government to curb female foetivide.

Answer: Female foeticide is the practice of killing the unborn or afterbirth girl. To curb the practice of female foeticide, the government has passed the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act (PNDT Act) in 1994. It was brought into effect from 1 January 1996. The PNDT Act prohibits the determination and disclosure of the sex of the foetus.

Question: With the help of an example explain that people can oppose unjust laws?

Answer: The British imposed salt tax according to which the manufacture and sale of salt become a British monopoly. No individual was allowed to make salt. Gandhiji launched Salt Satyagraha against this tax. On 12 March 1930, Gandhiji along with his followers left the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmadabad and walked to Dandi, a village on the west coast of India. He reached Dandi on 6 April 1930. Here, he protested against the tax by making salt. It signified a challenge to the authority of the government. The Dandi March marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Question: Mention any three major constitutional provisions for  the protection of women and children in India.

Answer: Following are the constitutional provisions for the protection of women and children in India:

1. The State will provide within ten years from the commencement of the Constitution, free and compulsory education to all the children upto the age of 14 years.
2. According to the Constitution of India, the children below 14 years of age cannot be employed in a factory or mine or any other dangerous work. It has been done to protect them against any type of exploitation.
3. The Indian Constitution declares that all men and women are equal in the eyes of law. So, there cannot be any discrimination on the basis of sex as far as the law is concerned.
4. There shall be equal pay or wage for equal work for bath men and women.
5. The State  shall establish maternity homes for the welfare of the women.