Constitution of India - Part IV A (Article 51 A) - Fundamental Duties

UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY

11106 - UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY

First Edition

Reprinted

November 2006, December 2007, June 2009, January 2010, January 2011, August 2012, November 2013, January 2015, December 2015, December 2016, January 2018, November 2018, January 2019, August 2019, August 2021 and November 2021

Revised Edition

Reprinted

March 2024 Chaitra 1946 June 2024 Jyaishtha 1946 January 2025 Magha 1946

© National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2006, 2022

Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110016 and printed at VK Global Digital, Plot No. 928, Sector-68, IMT Faridabad, Haryana-121004

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OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT

Publication Team

FOREWORD

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, recommends that children's life at school must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).

The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning. Not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.

These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves for making children's life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Yogendra Singh for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.

RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT IN THE TEXTBOOKS

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.

Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following:

This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying out the changes given above.

TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS AT THE HIGHER SECONDARY LEVEL

Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Kolkata, Kolkata

Yogendra Singh, Emeritus Professor, Centre for the Study of Social System, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Abha Awasthi, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, Lucknow University, Lucknow

Amita Baviskar, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi

Anjan Ghosh, Fellow, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata

Balka Dey, Programme Associate, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi

D.K. Sharma, Professor(Retd.), Department of Education in Social Sciences, NCERT, New Delhi

Jitendra Prasad, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, M.D. University, Rohtak

Madhu Nagla, Professor, Department of Sociology, M.D. University, Rohtak

Maitrayee Choudhari, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Rajiv Gupta, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

Sarika Chandrawanshi Saju, Assistant Professor, RIE, Bhopal, NCERT, New Delhi.

Satish Deshpande, Professor, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi

Vishwa Raksha, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Jammu, Jammu

MEMBER-COORDINATOR

Manju Bhatt, Professor, Department of Education in Social Sciences, NCERT, New Delhi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The National Council of Educational Research and Training acknowledges Karuna Chanana, Professor(Retd.), Zakir Husain Centre for Education Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Arvind Chouhan, Professor, Department of Sociology, Barkatullah University, Bhopal; Debal Singh Roy, Professor, Department of Sociology, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi; Rajesh Mishra, Professor, Department of Sociology, Lucknow University, Lucknow; S.M. Patnayak, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi; Sudershan Gupta, Principal, Government Higher Secondary School, Paloura, Jammu; Mandeep Choudhary, PGT (Retd.), Sociology, Guru Hari Kishan Public School, New Delhi; Seema Banarjee, PGT, Sociology, Laxman Public School, New Delhi; Rita Kanna, PGT (Retd.), Sociology, Delhi Public School, New Delhi for providing their feedback and inputs.

Acknowledgements are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head(Retd.), Department of Education in Social Sciences for her help and support.

The Council expresses its gratitude to Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India; V. Suresh, PGT, Zoology, Sri Vidhya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Uttangari, Tamil Nadu; and L. Chakravarthy, Photographer, Uttangari, Tamil Nadu, for using their photographs in the textbook. Different photographs were also provided by R.C. Das, Photographer, CIET, NCERT. Council also acknowledges his contribution. Some photographs were taken from the different issues of Business and Economy, Business World and Business Today magazines. The Council thanks the copyright holders and publishers of these magazines.

The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Mathew John, Proof Reader and Uttam Kumar, DTP operator and other staff members of the Publication Department, NCERT for their support in bringing out this textbook.

The efforts of Manju Bhatt, Retired Professor, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Achla Pritam Tandon, Associate Professor, Sociology, Hindu College; Seema Banerjee, PGT Sociology, Laxman Public School, Hauz Khas, New Delhi; Abha Seth, PGT Sociology, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi are acknowledged for their contribution in the process of rationalisation of textbooks.

THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

PREAMBLE

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a $^{1}$ [SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC] and to secure to all its citizens :

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all;

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the $^{2}$ [unity and integrity of the Nation];

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949 do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

A NOTE TO THE TEACHER AND STUDENTS

In the earlier book our task was to introduce sociology. We had thus discussed the emergence of sociology, the key concerns of the discipline, its tools and methods of studying society. A central concern of sociology in its attempt to understand society was to understand the relationship between the individual and society. To what extent is the individual free to act and to what extent is the individual constrained?

In this book we seek to understand this relationship better by exploring the concepts of social structure, social stratification and social processes. We try and understand how groups and individuals are located within the social structure. And how they act and initiate social processes. How do they cooperate, compete and conflict? Why do they cooperate, compete and conflict differently in different kinds of society? Proceeding with the basic questioning approach of sociology dealt with in the earlier book we do not see these processes as natural and unchanging. But as socially constituted. We do not accept a naturalist explanation that may suggest that human beings are ‘naturally’ competitive or ‘naturally’ prone to conflict.

The concepts social structure and social processes draw attention to the fact that society is marked both by order and change. Some things remain the same. Some things change. A look at order and change in rural and urban societies help us look at these continuities and changes better.

We then proceed further to look at the fundamental relationship between society and the environment. And drawing from contemporary developments, attempt a sociological understanding of our environment.

In the earlier book we had dealt with the emergence of sociology and its attempt to understand modernity. Here, we are introduced to some of the key concepts that western and Indian thinkers developed to understand the structures and processes of modern societies. The idea is not to deal exhaustively with all their ideas, which would be impossible within the time and space available. But to focus on only some aspect of their work and hopefully communicate some sense of the richness of the ideas that the thinkers were engaging with. For instance we look at Karl Marx's ideas on class conflict, Emile Durkheim's ideas on division of labour and Max Weber's on bureaucracy. Likewise we look at G.S. Ghurye's ideas on race and caste, D.P. Mukerji's ideas on tradition and change and A.R. Desai's on the state and M.N. Srinivas' on the village.

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In keeping with the questioning spirit of sociology, this book like the earlier one continuously engages with the reader to think and reflect, to relate what is happening to society and to us as individuals. The activities built into the text are therefore an intrinsic part of the book. The text and activities constitute an integrative whole. One cannot be done without the other. For the objective here is not just to provide ready made information to be learnt but to understand society. The dates that mark the life and works of the thinkers have been included only to provide a broad sense of the historical context of the thinkers.

This book tries to be interactive and introduces various activities that may help students engage with understanding society in a live manner. However, the most exciting and innovative part rests with the teachers and students. They will perhaps be able to introduce far more apt activities and examples. Indeed the idea is to initiate the interactive debate. This is just a beginning. And much of the most exciting learning process will take place in the classroom. Students and teachers will perhaps think of far better ways, activities and examples. And suggest how textbooks can be bettered.

CONTENTS

Constitution of India

Part IV A (Article 51 A)

Fundamental Duties