Question: Who was Soyrabai?
Answer: She belonged to the Mahar caste.
Question: Name two distinct cultural and religious groups in the country.
Answer: Muslims and Parsis.
Question: What did the marginal groups rely on to protect themselves from continued exploitation by other groups?
Answer: Marginal groups relied on the Constitution of India and the Judiciary System to protect them from continued exploitation by other groups.
Question: How does our Constitution ensure cultural justice to minority groups?
Answer: Our Constitution ensures cultural justice to minority groups by granting them Cultural and Educational Rights.
Question: What is government’s reservation policy?
Answer: Government’s reservation policy reserves seats in education and government employment for Dalits and Adivasis.
Question: For admission to collages, especially to institutes of professional education, governments define a set of ‘cut off’ marks. What does this mean?
Answer: This means that not all Dalit and tribal candidates can qualify for admission, but only those who have done well and secured marks above the cut off point.
Question: Why is Kabir’s poetry sung and appreciated by Dalit and marginalised groups even today?
Answer: It is because Kabir’s poetry brings out the powerful idea of the equality of all human beings and their labour.
Question: Who was Rathnam?
Answer: Rathnam was a twenty years old engineering student. He belonged to a Dalit Family.
Question: Which ritual did he refuse to perform?
Answer: He refused the ritual of washing the feet of priests with and then bathing in that water.
Question: What shocked the powerful castes?
Answer: A Dalit young boy like Rathnam dared to refuse to perform the age old ritual.
Question: Why did Rathnam file a complaint under the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act?
Answer: He filed a complaint under this Act to protest against the domination and violence of the powerful caste in his village.
Question: What work does a manual scavenger do?
Answer: He does the work of carrying human and animal waste.
Question: What is Safai Karamchari Andolan?
Answer: Safai Karmchari Andolan is an organization working with manual scavengers.
Question: What is the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act about?
Answer: This act is about the prohibition of the employment of Manual Scavengers as well as the construction of dry latrines.
Question: How does Kabir describe the term ‘untouchability’?
Answer: According to Kabir untouchability is the highest state of knowledge. It means not be touched by narrow limiting ideas.