Explain the methods and techniques of Gandhian Social Work. Or Trace the origin and development of Gandhian Social Work in South Africa.

Explain the methods and techniques of Gandhian Social Work. Or Trace the origin and development of Gandhian Social Work in South Africa.

Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. Indians in South Africa were led by wealthy Muslims, who employed Gandhi as a lawyer, and by impoverished Hindu indentured laborers with very limited rights. Gandhi considered them all to be Indians, taking a lifetime view that "Indianness" transcended religion and caste. He believed he could bridge historic differences, especially regarding religion, and he took that belief back to India where he tried to implement it. The South African experience exposed handicaps to Gandhi that he had not known about. He realised he was out of contact with the enormous complexities of religious and cultural life in India, and believed he understood India by getting to know and leading Indians in South Africa.
In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured people. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first-class. He protested and was allowed on first class the next day. Travelling farther on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.
These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life and shaped his social activism and awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question his place in society and his people's standing in the British Empire.
Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote. Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[12][24] and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. He, however, refused to press charges against any member of the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of law.
In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest, for the first time. He urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. The community adopted this plan, and during the ensuing seven-year struggle, thousands of Indians were jailed, flogged, or shot for striking, refusing to register, for burning their registration cards or engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. The government successfully repressed the Indian protesters, but the public outcry over the harsh treatment of peaceful Indian protesters by the South African government forced South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of satyagraha matured during this struggle.

Q. - Discuss the role of Gandhi in national movement.

Q.  - Discuss the role of Gandhi in national movement.

A----- Mahatma Gandhi was one of the tallest leader in Indian Freedom movement. Gandhi arrived
in India on 9 January 1915 from South Africa where he had fought for the rights of the Indians against the racist regime through Satyagraha, resistance to tyranny through mass civil resistance. He
perfected and propagated the philosophy of truth and ahimsa (nonviolence) as a weapon against
repression .
              From 1919 to 1947,Gandhi remained the foremost leader of the Indian national movement and his philosophy and leadership helped India gain independence and inspired inspired millions of people across the world. The Non-Violence, peaceful methods of Civil Disobedience, boycott of British goods , Non-Cooperation movements etc. adopted by Gandhi played a pivotal role in the freedom struggle of India. He inspired many prominent leaders like Nelson Mandela etc across the world, who applied his principles of peaceful demonstrations in their own countries against the tyrant regimes of the day.
               Gandhi first employed and pioneered successfully Civil Disobedience movement, while working as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa for the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the zeal to win Independence for India. The biggest achievement of Gandhi was to make freedom movement broad based by inclusive approach towards every possible community and religious minorities to protest against the oppressive British Government.
               His political engagement started in 1917-18, when he fought for the cause of Indigo farmers from Champaran in Bihar . Britishers, forced farmers to grow Indigo and then trapped them successfully with loans. Farmers wanted the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice instead of Indigo . After successfully fighting for the cause of the farmers, some other noticeable movements that catapulted Mahatma Gandhi as the prominent National leader were Kheda Satyagraha (1918) where taxes were withdrawn after Gandhi ji’s campaign , Ahmedabad textiles mills workers agitation where wages were increased after campaign . He organized protests by farmers, workers , urban laborers concerning excessive land-tax, deplorable human conditions and discrimination.
             After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity among communities , end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to
unite the countrymen under one roof to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from British
domination through peaceful means.
               In 1930, Gandhi started Civil Disobedience Movement, with the historic Dandi March with his 78 followers. He walked from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a coastal village in Gujrat covering 400km and made salt in violation of the law,as making salt was prohibited by the colonial government. This movement was instrumental in defeating the British as repression of peaceful movement caused world outrage, and successfully receiving sympathetic coverage by world
media blemished British hypocritical moral right to continue their occupation of India. To further the
cause of Independence Gandhi launched Quit India Movement in 1942, demanding immediate
independence of India from tyrannical colonial British occupation. Gandhiji is referred to as Mahatma, an honorific title , firstly applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore. In India, Gandhi is also called Bapu and officially honored in India as the Father of the Nation. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Explain food security.

 Explain food security.
A.  "Food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is
Achieved ] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".
Food security as a concept originated in the mid-1970s during World Food Conference of 1974, when the world faced a global food Crisis. Focus of attention was primarily on problems of food supply, of ensuring the availability and the price stability of basic food items at the national and international level. The issues of Famine, hunger and food crisis were also being extensively examined,following the events of the mid 1970s.

Swaras in Indian classical music b.s.h.f 101 Short Note

Swaras in Indian classical music

Solution: The seven notes of the scale (swaras), in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri (Carnatic) or Re (Hindustani), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam (the word is an acronym of the consonants of the first four swaras). Sargam is the Indian equivalent to solfege, a technique for the teaching of sight-singing. Sargam is practiced against a drone. The tone Sa is not associated with any particular pitch. As in Western moveable-Do solfège, Sa refers to the tonic of a piece or scale rather than to any particular pitch.

What do you understand by the term 'human security'? Discuss b.s.h.f 101 Short Note

 What do you understand by the term 'human security'? Discuss b.s.h.f 101 Short Note

 Human security is an emerging paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be the individual rather than the state. Human security holds that a people-centered view of security is necessary for national, regional and global stability. The concept emerged from a post-Cold War, multi-disciplinary understanding of security involving a number of research fields, including development studies, international relations, strategic studies, and human rights. The United Nations Development Programmer’s 1994 Human Development Report is considered a milestone publication in the field of human security, with its argument that insuring "freedom from want" and "freedom from fear" for all persons is the best path to tackle the problem of global insecurity. Frequently referred to in a wide variety of global policy discussions and scholarly journals,

Critics of the concept argue that its vagueness undermines its effectiveness;[4] that it has become little more than a vehicle for activists wishing to promote certain causes; and that it does not help the research community understand what security means or help decision makers to formulate good policies.

Human security focuses on the protection of individuals, rather than defending the physical and political integrity of states from external military threats - the traditional goal of national security. Ideally, national security and human security should be mutually reinforcing, but in the last 100 years far more people have died as a direct or indirect consequence of the actions of their own governments or rebel forces in civil wars than have been killed by invading foreign armies. Acting in the name of national security, governments can pose profound threats to human security. The application of human security is highly relevant within the area of humanitarian intervention, as it focuses on addressing the deep rooted and multi-factorial problems inherent in humanitarian crises, and offers more long term resolutions. In general, the term humanitarian intervention generally applies to when a state uses force against another state in order to alleviate suffering in the latter state (See, humanitarian intervention).

Under the traditional security paradigm humanitarian intervention is contentious. As discussed above, the traditional security paradigm places emphasis on the notion of states. Hence, the principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention that are paramount in the traditional security paradigm make it difficult to justify the intervention of other states in internal disputes. Through the development of clear principles based on the human security concept, there has been a step forward in the development of clear rules of when humanitarian intervention can occur and the obligations of states that intervene in the internal disputes of a state.

These principles on humanitarian intervention are the product of a debate pushed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. He posed a challenge to the international community to find a new approach to humanitarian intervention that responded to its inherent problems.[29] In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) produced the "The Responsibility to protect", a comprehensive report detailing how the “right of humanitarian intervention” could be exercised. It was considered a triumph for the human security approach as it emphasized and gathered much needed attention to some of its main principles

Highlight key issues in modern governance.b.s.h.f 101 Short Note

 Highlight key issues in modern governance.b.s.h.f 101 Short Note

 Governance is currently a key issue not only for higher education institutions but for society as a whole. The way organizations are managed, the directions they take and the values they hold send clear signals about their role and functions in society. For this reason, the governance structures of universities were unquestioned for most of the twentieth century. Yet in the final decades of that century significant changes were starting to be felt. The most important of these changes related to the way universities were viewed by governments. In particular, the role of universities in contributing to national economies was being recognized. Greater accountability and more intense scrutiny from the outside meant that the traditional values of universities were being challenged. The task of universities, and for society as a whole, is to develop strategies that will retain the best of what universities have traditionally stood for while responding positively to new pressures and priorities. This paper advances the concept of `deliberative partnerships'' as one way to reconstruct university governance in a positive way for the future. Key Words: accountability, education policy, higher education, management, organizational efficiency, public sector, university governance

Social structure , b.s.h.f 101

Social structure

Solution: Social structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis within differing sub-fields of sociology. On the macro scale, it can refer to the system of socioeconomic stratification (e.g., the class structure), social institutions, or, other patterned relations between large social groups. On the meso scale, it can refer to the structure of social network ties between individuals or organizations. On the micro scale, it can refer to the way norms shape the behavior of actors within the social system.

These meanings are not always kept separate. For example, recent scholarship by John Levi Martin has theorized that certain macro-scale structures are the emergent properties of micro-scale cultural institutions (this meaning of "structure" resembles that used by anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss). Marxist sociology also has a history of mixing different meanings of social structure, though it has done so by simply treating the cultural aspects of social structure as epiphenomena of its economic ones.

Since the 1930s, the term has been in general use in social science,[1] especially as a variable whose sub-components needed to be distinguished in relationship to other sociological variables.

What role does coordination play in the management of organizations? Discuss bshf 101

 What role does coordination play in the management of organizations? Discuss

Ans:- Coordination is traditionally conceived as an ideal which organizations strive to achieve but may not fully attain. The prior specification of a common organizational goal or purpose is assumed and the degree of coordination is measured in terms of integration of activity towards attainment of the goal.

To achieve business objective, managers has to procure and make best use of resources like money, machines, materials and men. Many of these resources and functions which are under the disposal of managers are inter-related. To attain the common objectives of the organisation efficiently, different activities and efforts must be planned, organised and carried on in an orderly manner. This is possible through coordination only.

Various activities of a business organisation are planned and carried out in different departments. There are divisions and sub-divisions of operation within the departments according to the nature of task involved. The duty of the coordinator is to harmonise the individual and group activities of the different departments to the common objectives of the organization. Coordination plays a vital role in the smooth function of an organisation.

Coordination refers to the orderly arrangement of group and individual efforts to ensure unity of action in the realisation of common objectives. It involves synchronisation of different efforts or actions of the various units of an organisation to provide the requisite amount, timing, quality and sequence of efforts so that the planned objectives may be achieved with minimum conflict.

According to Brech, “Coordination is balancing and keeping together the team by ensuring suitable allocation of tasks to the various members and seeing that the tasks are performed with the harmony among the members themselves. “

According to McFarland, “Coordination is the process whereby an executive develops an orderly pattern of group efforts among his subordinates and secures unity of action in the pursuit of common purpose”.

Discuss the concept of “Digital Divide”. How do you think it can be bridged? bshf101

Discuss the concept of “Digital Divide”. How do you think it can be bridged?

A digital divide is an economic inequality between groups, broadly construed, in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICT). The divide inside countries (such as the digital divide in the United States) can refer to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic and other demographic levels, while the Global digital divide designates countries as the units of analysis and examines the divide between developing and developed countries on an international scale.
Conceptualization of the digital divide is often as follows:^[

1. Subjects of connectivity, or who connects: individuals, organizations, enterprises, schools, hospitals, countries, etc.

1. Characteristics of connectivity, or which attributes: demographic and socio-economic variables, such as income, education, age, geographic location, etc.

1. Means of connectivity, or connectivity to what: fixed or mobile, Internet or telephony, digital TV, etc.

1. Intensity of connectivity, or how sophisticated the usage: mere access, retrieval, interactivity, innovative contributions.

1. Purpose of connectivity, or why individuals and their cohorts are (not) connecting: reasons individuals are and are not online and uses of the Internet and ICTs.

To this end there are many charitable and government run organizations that help to shrink the digital divide by providing computers or funding to get computers to individuals or educational institutions. They may address the divide in a specific country that is developing too. However, this can be problematic. In countries with severe poverty, many feel that first efforts should go toward providing clean water, medical care and food as needed instead of giving people technology access. Moreover, in areas that don’t have electricity sources, digital materials can be relatively useless, and some argue trying to end the digital divide in extremely poor countries may not be possible until these countries achieve certain quality of living standards

What role do non-state actors play in the democratic process? Discuss. Bshf101

What role do non-state actors play in the democratic process? Discuss.

Ans: It is generally recognized that the process of building a capable state requires the participation of all the vital forces of a nation. A capable state is one that has all the attributes of a modern, strong, responsible and responsive state, a state capable of effectively discharging its duties of delivering security, peace, prosperity and other pubic goods to its people. Although the state has traditionally been considered as the focal point of this process, other sectors, including non-state ones, have an important role to play, and the importance of this role has grown significantly over the past couple of decades as the limitations of the post-colonial state in providing for the needs of its people have been made all too clear. It is thus important to identify these other actors and recognize those areas wherein they can contribute, and have indeed contributed, to the process, as well as to appreciate better their nature, their mode of intervention, the constraints hampering their action as well as to explore ways in which their participation can be rendered more fruitful and less problematic. But before we delve into the subject of non-state actors and their role in the creation of the capable state in Africa, it would be useful to look into just what the capable state is and means, and what it has meant for the African continent since the advent of independence half a century ago.

The following factor are as below:

a) Poor governance and managerial practices;

b) Over-centralisation of power in the hands of a small group, or of one individual;

c) Emergence of authoritarian/dictatorial/military regimes;

d) Failure/reluctance to devolve power and responsibilities to local authorities;

e) State corruption;

f) Ethnic bias, nepotism, exclusion of whole sections of populations;

g) Deterioration of terms trade on the world market;

h) Unsustainable levels of state intervention in delivering social services;

i) A crippling dependency syndrome on the part of populations heavily reliant on government handouts, and on the part of governments dangerously dependent on donor handouts.

Kyoto Protocol bshf101 short note.

Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto Protocol treaty was negotiated in December 1997 at the city of Kyoto, Japan and came into force February 16th, 2005.

"The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this target represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs - calculated as an average over the five-year period of 2008-12. National targets range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland."

Ellora Paintings Bshf101 Short note.

 Ellora Paintings: Ellora  also known as Ellooru, is an archaeological site, 29 km (18 mi) North-West of the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. Well known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site. Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 "caves" – actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut temples and viharas and mathas were built between the 5th century and 10th century.

Bharatnatyam bshf101 short note.

Bharatnatyam

Bharatanatyam is a classical Indian dance form originating in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This dance form denotes various 19th and 20th century reconstructions of Sadir, the art of temple dancers. Sadir in turn, is derived from ancient dance forms that include some acrobatic karanas. Bharatnatyam is usually accompanied by Karnataka Sangeetha. It has its inspirations from the sculptures of the ancient temple of Chidambaram. Bharatanatyam, as the name depicts is the combination of:
'Bha' - Bhavam (means expression), 'Ra' - Ragam (means music), 'Ta - Talam (means beat or rhythm) and Natyam (means dance) in Tamil. Bharatanatyam is a reworked dance-form from the traditional "sadir" known for its grace, purity, tenderness, and sculpturesque poses. Today, it is one of the most popular and widely performed dance styles and is practiced by male and female dancers all over the world.

Secularism Bshf 101 Short Note

             Secularism Bshf 101 Short Note

  

Secularism is the principle of separation of government institutions, and the persons mandated to represent the State, from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and the right to freedom from governmental imposition of religion upon the people within a state that is neutral on matters of belief. (See also separation of church and state and Laïcité.) In another sense, it refers to the view that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be unbiased by religious influence.Some scholars are now arguing that the very idea of secularism will change.
Secularism draws its intellectual roots from Greek and Roman philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius and Epicurus; medieval Muslim polymaths such as Ibn Rushd; Enlightenment thinkers such as Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine; and more recent freethinkers, agnostics, and atheists such as Robert Ingersoll and Bertrand Russell.
The purposes and arguments in support of secularism vary widely. In European laicism, it has been argued that secularism is a movement toward modernization, and away from traditional religious values (also known as secularization). This type of secularism, on a social or philosophical level, has often occurred while maintaining an official state church or other state support of religion. In the United States, some argue that state secularism has served to a greater extent to protect religion and the religious from governmental interference, while secularism on a social level is less prevalent. Within countries as well, differing political movements support secularism for varying reasons.

How do you assess the performance of Indian Economy during the initial years of Globalization (since 1991)?

 How do you assess the performance of Indian Economy during the initial years of Globalization (since 1991)?

Ans: Globalisation in India had its impact in terms of a regime change in economic policies since the beginning of 1991. While the immediate factors which had been responsible for a change-over to a liberalised regime in July 1991 included a severe balance of payments constraint and a change of leadership at the Centre, one can trace the beginning of the change to the mideighties since when trade as well as industrial policies have been liberalised to a considerable degree. Economic reforms during the 1990s encompassed the entire economy, covering the external sector, industry, agriculture, services, monetary and fiscal policy and finally, labour policy. Behind these moves was an undercurrent of an uncritical reliance on the ‘efficient market’ hypothesis of mainstream neo-classical economics, which today is subscribed by advanced countries as well as most international financial and trading institutions.

Critics denouncing the universal virtues of a free-market regime have often been pointing at the limitations of the neo-liberal agenda. This , as pointed out, especially relates to the developing countries which are yet to strengthen the domestic economic base, not just to achieve higher growth but also to cater to the teeming millions of people who lack even the bare minimum of subsistence. Instead of enhancing growth via efficiency gains, these policies, as is claimed by the critics, may stall growth in these economies and be responsible for increasing income inequality and social unrest. Countries as above would, as a consequence, be more dependent on the vicissitudes of the global economy, a process which generally contributes to an added degree of vulnerability and instability in their respective domestic economies.

Some Key Elements of the Macroeconomic Landscape

It is well-acknowledged that the period since the early 1990s has witnessed a fundamental repositioning of the State versus the Market in the Indian economy. Essentially, the transition has been characterized by a strong push towards a neoliberal reform programme, resulting in a very substantial degree of internal and external economic liberalization. Although the process had begun in the second half of the 1980s, it was in July 1991 that a rapid and sharp shift in the economic policy regime was officially enunciated, which justifies the view of a transition from a State-led development model to a neoliberal paradigm.

Sure enough, unlike many other countries in the developing world, India’s experience of neoliberal economic reforms, whether in terms of content or pace, is not a simple replica of the classic text book model of big-bang stabilization and structural adjustment, pushed by the Bretton Woods Institutions (i.e. the World Bank and the IMF) in several countries of Africa and Latin America during the 1980s. This is largely due to the substantial opposition to the neoliberal agenda from several quarters. Nonetheless, the trajectory of India’s economic policy has been firmly on the neoliberal track since the early 1990s, with sustained domestic deregulation and a continuous deepening of the integration with the global economy. Through the entire academic spectrum from the left to right – among the observers of the Indian economy, there is unanimity as regards this fundamental break in the macroeconomic policy regime.

CONCLUSIONS

Within the constraints of democratic politics and the relatively 'soft' nature of the economic reforms implemented since 1991, the Indian economy has reaped several welcome rewards from its reforms. These have strengthened the conviction that the broad direction of the reforms is right and, in that sense, made the reform process irreversible. However, India needs to launch a 'second generation' of economic reforms, with a more human face, if it is to reap their full potential. Politicians and administrators need to display greater pragmatism while designing and implementing future economic reforms. The ECONOMIC REFORM IN INDIA.

What do you understand by the term ‘social structure’? Discuss.

What do you understand by the term ‘social structure’? Discuss.

Understanding the term social structure

To understand social structure – it is that enduring aspect of society which has a pattern & which is basically a set of rules that govern actual behavior. Since social structure created by people, they can change over times, despite their enduring character. And social structure reflects some dimensions of interaction such as power, economic resources, prestige, values etc.

Role & status are an integral aspect of the social structure. They are two related concepts of a social structure & they are interrelated & intertwined.

Status 
Status is a position in a social structure. For example, a person is 23 years old, male, student & belong to Hindu community. Each of these social positions is defined by the relationship it has other social position in the society. 
Status is two types – ascribed status & achieved status.

Ascribed status: Status that people are born into, is called ascribed status by the sociologist Ralph Linton. It is a position that is neither earned nor chosen but assigned. Sex, caste, ethnicity & to some extent religion are all ascribed statuses.

Achieved status: Achieved status is a status which is achieved by an individual & which is not given at birth. It reflects personal skills, abilities & efforts. The most achieved statuses are occupation, educational levels & income.

Each status has an expectation of behavior. For instance, men are expected to be strong, rational, aggressive, the bread earner etc. The women, on the other hand, are expected to be nonaggressive, caring, emotional etc. These expectations of different behavior for men & women among others & the difference in upbringing bring us very close to the meaning of the concept of roles.

Role 
A role is a behavior that is generally expected of one who occupies a particular status. As Linton (1936) put in ‘we occupy statuses, but we play roles’. In the course of a day, everyone performs a variety of social roles, each carrying a set of behavioral expectations that are dependent on the social context.

Role conflict 
Every person plays several roles in their life time & sometimes these roles carry different role expectations. These conflicting expectations are called role conflict. For example, a mother may be expected to be a good mother which involves a commitment to her children. This commitment may come in conflict with her role as head of an organization or employer which involves in equal expectations.

Therefore, status & role are most important elements of the society. Society has also other elements. They are social stratification & division of labor. Social stratification & division of labor two interrelated & integral parts of society.

Stratification 
The system of inequality is called social stratification. The stratification system of most societies endures as a pattern for a long time. Social stratification is related in part to society’s division of labor. Some people, including sociologists like Davis & Moore, argue that certain jobs require more skills & specialized training & more difficult to learn than others. Such jobs are rewarded as they are difficult to require long periods of training etc.

In general, conflict theorists argue that inequality exists because the wealthy & powerful make the social system work in such a way that it protects their interest. Moreover, wealth is distributed unequally than income. A large share of wealth is inherited rather than earned.

Division of Labor 
One reason why societies have a wide variety of roles in a social structure is that of the division of labor or specialization. For a society to keep going there are diverse jobs that need to be attended. Basic requirements such as food, shelter, rearing of children etc, have to be attended to. Almost all societies have a semblance of the division of labor & gender based division. For example – men hunt, women gather & take care of children.

The larger & more complex a society, the division of labor becomes more elaborate. Each job can be thought a social role that has a particular set of expectations that must be met. Moreover, in large complex societies, each of these social roles relates in some way to other jobs & status. Thus, the social structure becomes a system of roles that divides labor into specialized tasks, all of which are independent.

So, the elements of the social structure are status, ro

Comment on Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the national movement.

Comment on Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the national movement.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a prominent leader of the pre-independence era. He is best known as ‘Father of the nation’ & ‘Bapu’. From 1919-1947, these times are called Gandhi period. During in this period, when India attained independence, Gandhi remained the foremost leader of the national movement.

‘Satyagraha’ or passive civilian resistance & ‘Ahinsa’ or non-violence was the unique weapons of Indian national movement. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the three major mass movements – Non-cooperation, Civil disobedience & Quit India was launched for the attainment of Indian independence. The movements brought millions of people & made them conscious of their rights.

Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement (Asahayog Andolan) was the major event in India struggle for freedom. This movement started in 1920 & lasted through 1922. Supported all along by the Indian national congress.

Gandhiji was loyal to the colonial government & he helped them in a various way during the first world war. But many incidents embittered Gandhiji’s feelings towards the British government. He said that ‘the British empire today represents Satanism & they who love God can afford to have no love for satan’. And he soon after launches the non-cooperation movement.

Many factors were responsible for the non-cooperation movement, some of the significant causes were:-
a) The high prices of commodities during the first world war.
b) Rowlatt Act: The British government passed the Rowlatt act in March 1919 which authorized the government to arrest any person without warrant & detain him/her without trial for two years.
c) Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919).
d) Khilafat Movement: Around 1919, the Indian Muslims were aroused because the Sultan of Turkey was deposed by the British. The Indian Muslims regarded the Turkish Sultan as their Khalifa & they started the Khilafat movement for the restoration of Khalifa in Turkey. Mohammed Ali & Shaukat Ali were the leaders of the movement. They called upon Gandhi to guide them. Gandhi thought that in this there was an opportunity to unite the Hindu & Muslims against the British. So, he openly supported the movement.

Non-cooperation movement program & policy:
The Indian people were asked to boycott foreign goods & adopt Swadeshi, to boycott government school, colleges & courts & councils, to adopt national schools, colleges, arbitration courts & Khadi. The program also included resignation from government services, non-payment of taxes, removal of untouchability & promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity.

The movement started at an unprecedented level. It was the first large scale movement in the history of India’s movement. Millions of people participated in this movement. Gandhiji also returned all the medals which he had received in recognition of his war services from the British government (Kaiser-I-Hind gold medal). At last, on 5 February 1922, in chauri-chaura, a crowd of peasants burnt the police station killing 22 policemen in retaliation to the police firing, Gandhiji condemned this incident & withdrew the movement & started a 5 day fast as penance. This way the non-cooperation movement came to an end.

Civil Disobedience Movement
On 12 March 1930, Gandhi launched the new phase of the national movement. This new movement is known as the Civil Disobedience movement, started with the historic Dandi March by Gandhi along with his 78 followers. He walked from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a coastal village in Gujarat & made salt in violation of the law. As making salt was prohibited by the colonial government, Gandhi & those accompanying him were arrested. There were massive protests against his arrest all over the country. Lakhs of people came out on the street for the demonstrations & meetings. There were strikes all over. Shops selling foreign goods were picketed, Khadi & Charka were encouraged, hundreds of people left their jobs & thousands of students left their school & colleges. In certain areas, the peasants stopped paying taxes.

Seeing the public mood, the British government invited the Congress for a Round Table Conference to talk about the important issues. But the Round Table Conference failed because the British government did not concede Congress’ demands. The Civil disobedience was started again. But it was not very effective this time as the momentum had decreased. The government heavily repressed the movement. About 1 lakh of Congress activists were arrested, meetings & demonstrations were banned, nationalist literature was prohibited & the nationalist press was suppressed. In that moment, Congress withdrew the movement in May 1934.

Quit India Movement
The Congress announced the ‘Quit India’ movement. Gandhi exhorted the people to ‘do or die’. The British government arrested most of the leader before they organize the movement. But this did not dampen the spirit of the people. New leaders emerged at local levels who led & sustained the movement. As this movement lacked a central command & the government repression was at its highest, violence broke out everywhere. Railway stations-lines, post office, police stations were burnt down. In many areas, the parallel government was set up. Strikes & demonstrations were also organized & people attacked & disrupted the government transport system. The government replied with further repression. Thousands were killed & much more arrested. Although the government was able to crush the movement, it was now apparent that people wanted freedom from the foreign rule & they were prepared to use violence to this end.

What do you understand by the term ‘Renaissance’? Discuss

What do you understand by the term ‘Renaissance’? Discuss

Renaissance

The term “Renaissance” means rebirth, in a narrow sense it is used to describe the revival of interest in the classical civilizations of Greece & Rome. Renaissance was marked by a series of new developments in the field of art, literature, religion, philosophy, science & politics. The period served as a bridge between medieval & modern western Europe.

Renaissance began with the rediscovery of Greco-Roman civilization which had been neglected during the middle ages. It emphasized reason, a questioning attitude, experimentation & free inquiry. This is contrasted with medieval concern with faith, authority & tradition. It glorified the individual & approved worldly pleasures, viewing life as worthwhile for its own sake, not chiefly as a preparation for the after-life. The era focused attention upon secular society rather than the medieval preoccupation with the church & religious affairs. In the 15th century, Renaissance ideas began to spread from Italy to France, the German states, Holland & England.

Humanism 

The chief characteristic of the Renaissance way of thinking was humanism. Humanism is a system of thought holding man to the ethical, giving dignity to man. Humanism controlled man stressed his essential worth & dignity expressed invincible faith in his tremendous creative potential & proclaimed freedom of the individual & his inalienable rights. It was centered on a nation of man that did not reject earthly joys, recognized the beauty & dignity of the human body, opposed religious asceticism & defended man’s right to pleasure & satisfaction of earthly desires & requirements.

The humanists urged man to seek joy on this earth rather than an after-life. Their works were permeated with the faith that a man with an active mind & body was capable of knowing & controlling the world, & fashioning his own happiness. These ideas increasingly narrowed the domain of the divine & extended the domain of man.

Secularism 

The great transformation of thought that had taken place from religious ‘other-worldliness’ to humanistic this-worldliness. The humanist is more interested in the material world around, in the content of the physical universe than in Gods, Angels & Demons. Whereas the medieval men of religion were more interested in Gods, Angels & Demons. The humanist is concerned to make the most of his brief life, whereas the medieval men regarded life as a painful preparation for a happier life which, they thought, would come after death. This transformation which the Renaissance inaugurated may be termed as marking the passage from religion to secularism. The new intellectual & cultural climate which the Renaissance created influenced even the church hierarchy, particularly its upper levels, who were wealthy.

Art & architecture during Renaissance was influenced by classical Greece & Rome. Renaissance painting emphasized realism, attention to detail & a desire for perfection Leonardo Da Vinci was one among the popular artists of the Renaissance period. There were many other popular writers & artists who made their names in the history during the Renaissance.

Write short note on ‘Juvenile Justice Act'.

Write short note on ‘Juvenile Justice Act'.

The Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act was launched in 1986 with a view to providing a uniform pattern of justice to the Juveniles throughout the length & breadth of the country. The Act makes provision for the protection & rehabilitation of neglected children & & ensures that legally no child is lodged in jail or detained in police lock-up. The JJ Act categorizes children into 
(i) those who are neglected, destitute, orphaned & in dire need of care & protection. They are lodged in an orphanage, observation homes or remand homes and 
(ii) Delinquent children who await correctional measures.

Write short note on ‘Family as a social institution’.Bshf 101

Write short note on ‘Family as a social institution’.Bshf 101

A social institution is a set of rules & regulations which are part of an organization which fulfills an important function of society. Such as, a family is an important institution in a society.

The family has been defined as a social group, related by ancestry, marriage or adoption who live together & form an economic unit & cooperatively rear their young. There are two basic types of family. They are the extended family & the nuclear family. The extended family is made up of more than two generations, like grandparents, their children & their grandchildren. And the nuclear family is made up of husband & wife & their dependent children. A family has some functions. They are-

a) Socialization: The family rears the children & gives them the social experience of learning the ways of their respective culture. This process is known as ‘socialization’.

b) Reproductive & Sexual functions: In almost all societies it is the family which is the legitimate institution; it allows the continuation of generations by recognizing, socially & legally, the offspring born to a married couple.

c) Economic functions: Where husband & wife share their resources, own many things together & take up financial burdens together.

d) Identity & Social status: A person acquires a sense of identity directly from the family. And the ascribed status of an individual is transferred from the family to the individual.

e) Emotional security: One of the fundamental functions that a modern family performs lies in providing emotional security & support to its members. The emotional security is still largely taken up by the family.

Thus, the family is one of the fundamental & basic social institutions.