NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 Notes Public Facilities

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Public Facilities Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 9

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. Water is essential for life and for good health.

2. India has one of the largest number of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera. Over 1600, Indians, most of them children below the age of five, reportedly die everyday because of water-related diseases.

3. The deaths can be prevented if people have access to safe drinking water.

4. The Constitution of India recognizes the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21. In other words, there should be universal access to water.

5. The High Courts and the Supreme Courts have held that the right to safe drinking water is Fundamental Right.

6. Same as water there are other essential facilities that are needed to be provided to everyone, for eg. healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport, schools and colleges. These all are known as public facilities.

7. The important characteristic of the public facilities is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people.

8. One of the most important function of the government is to ensure that the public facilities are made available to everyone.

9. Though private companies provide the public facilities but they provide it with the purpose of profit-making and they provide facilities at a price that only some people can afford. This facility not available to all at an affordable rate.

10. Many people who cannot afford to pay for such facilities will be deprived of the opportunity to live a decent life.

11. The Right to Life that is guranteed in Constitution is for all persons living in this country.

12. There is no doubt that public facilities should be made available to all, in reality we see that there is a great shortage of such facilities.

13. The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly on the poor. The middle class when faced with such shortages are able to cope up through a variety of private means.

14. Apart from the availability of water, access to safe drinking water is also available to some and this depends on what one can afford.

15. The supply of water per person in an urban area in India is about 135 litres per day.

16. A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign of failure of the government.

17. The facts say that:

  • Throughout the world, water supply is a function of the government.
  • There are areas in the world where public water supply has achieved universal access.
  • The cases where the responsibility for water supply was handed over to private companies, there was seen a steep rise in the price of water, making if unaffordable for many.
  • Within India, there are several cases of success in government water departments, though these are few in number and limited to certain areas of their work.
  • Public facilities relate to our basic needs and the Indian Constitutions recognizes the right to water, health, education, etc., a being a part of the Right of Life.
  • One of the major roles of the government is to ensure adequate public facilities for everyone.
  • But progress on this front has taken far from satisfactory.
  • There is a shortage in supply and there are inequalities in distribution.
  • The important fact is, that every citizen of the country has a right to these facilities, and this should be provided to all in an equitable manner.

Public Facilities Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Sanitation: Provision of facilities for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces. This is done by construction of toilets and pipes to carry the sewerage and treatment of wastewater. This is necessary so as to avoid contamination.

Company: A company is a form of business set up by people or by the government. Those that are owned and promoted by individuals or groups are called private companies.

Universal access: It is achieved when everyone has physical access to a good and can also afford it. for instance, a tap connection at home will allow physical access to water, and if the price of water is low or is provided free, everyone will be able to afford it.

Basic needs: Primary requirements of food, water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and education necessary for survival.

NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 8 Notes Confronting Marginalisation

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Confronting Marginalisation Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 8

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 8 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. The choice of struggle depended upon on the circumstances that the marginalized found themselves in.

2. The Fundamental Rights in the Constitution are available to all Indians equally. As far as the marginalized are concerned, they deserve these rights in two ways:

3. Marginalized have forced the government to recognise the injustice done to them.

4. Marginalized people have insisted that the government enforces these laws.

5. Article 17 of the Constitution states that untouchability has been abolish. In vital sense to society, untouchability is a punishable crime.

6. Article 15 of the Constitution states that no citizen of India shall be discriminated on the basis of religion, race, sex or place of birth.

7. The above-mentioned articles from the Constitution help to strengthen the argument against untouchability.

8. Dalits have used these to seek equality where it has been denied to them. They have drawn the attention of the government of India to the Constitution, demanding that the government abide by it and do justice to them.

9. Dalits and other minority groups have particularly drawn upon the right to freedom of religion and cultural and educational rights.

10. By granting different forms of cultural rights, the Constitution tries to ensure cultural justice to the people from different culture.

11. There are specific laws and policies for the marginalized, in our country. There are policies and schemes that emerge through other means like setting up of committee or by undertaking a survey etc. The government then makes an effort to promote such policies in order to give opportunities to the specific groups.

12. Both State and central governments create specific schemes for implementation in tribal areas or in areas that have a high Dalit population.

13. In addition to providing certain facilities, the government also operates through laws to ensure that concrete steps are taken to end inequality in the system.

14. The reservation policy works as Governments across India have their own list of Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and backward and most backward castes. The central government too has its list. The students or person seeking benefits from government are expected to furnish proof of their caste or tribe status in the form of caste and tribes certificates.

15. Our country also has specific laws that guard against the discrimination and exploitation of marginalized communities.

16. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was framed in 1989 in response to demands made by Dalits and others that the government must take seriously the ill treatment and humiliation Dalits and tribals face in an everyday sense.

17. The Act contains a very long list of crimes, some of which are too horrible even to contemplate.

18. The Act does not only describe horrible crimes, but also lets people know what dreadful deeds human being are capable. Laws such as these seek to both punish as well as influence the way we think and act.

19. The Act distinguishes several levels of crimes.

20. Firstly: It lists made of humiliation that are both physically horrible and morally reprehensible and seeks to punish those who:

  • force member of a SC’or a ST to drink or >eat any inedible or obnoxious substance.
  • forcibly removes clothes from the person of a member of a SC or a ST or parades him or her naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity.

21. Secondly: The Act lists the actions that dispossess Dalits and Adivasis of their meagre resources or which force them into performing slave labour. The Act sets out to punish anyone who:

  • wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to a member of a SC or a ST or gets the land allotted to him transferred.

22. At another level, the Act recognizes that the crimes against Dalit and tribal women are of a specific kind and, therefore, seeks to penalise anyone who:

  • assaults or uses force on any woman belonging to a SC or a ST with intent to dishonour her.

23. The 1989 Act is important for another reason-Adivasis activist refer to it to defend their right to occupy land that was traditionally theirs.

24. Constitution guarantees the right of tribal people to repose their land.

25. The government must draw up plans and policies for the tribals to live and work elsewhere in case tribals have been evicted and cannot go back to their lands.

26. Desire for dignity, equality and respect is not new. It has existed in different forms throughout our history. In a democratic society, similar process of struggle, writing, negotiation and organising need to continue.

Confronting Marginalisation Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Assertive: An assertive group or person is one that can express themselves and their views strongly.

Confront: to come face to face or to challenge someone or something.

Dispossessed: to possess is to own something and to be dispossessed is to have to give up ownership or to give up authority.

Ostracise: This means to exclude or banish an individual or a group.

Policy: A Stated course of action that provides direction for the future, set goals to be achieved or lays out principles or guidelines to be followed and acted upon.

NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 7 Notes Understanding Marginalisation

On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 7 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 7 SST Understanding Marginalisation will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Understanding Marginalisation Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 7

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 7 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. To be marginalised is to be forced to occupy the sides or fringes and thus not be at the centre of things.

2. In the social environment, people or communities may have the experience of being excluded.

3. Their marginalisation can be because they speak a different language, follow different customs or belong to a different religions group from a majority community.

4. They may feel marginalised because they are poor, considered to be ‘low’ social status and viewed as being less humans than others.

5. The sense of difference and exclusion leads to communities not having access to resources and opportunities and in their inability to assert their rights.

6. Marginalisation is seldom experienced in one sphere.

7. Economic, social, cultural and political factors work together to make certain groups in society feel marginalised.

8. Adivasis: The term literally means ‘original inhabitants’. They are communities who lived and often continue to live, in close association with forests.

9. Around 8% of India’s populations is Adivasi.

10. Most important mining and industrial centres in India are located in Adivasi areas.

11. There are over 500 different Adivasi groups in India.

12. Adivasi societies are most distinctive because there is often very little hierarchy among them.

13. Adivasis practise a range of tribal religions that are different from Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity.

14. Adivasis have always been influenced by different surrounding religions like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti and Christianity.

15. Adivasi religions themselves have simultaneously influenced dominant religions of the empires around them.

16. During the 19th century, substantial numbers of Adivasis converted to Christianity, which has emerged as a very important religion in modern Adivasi history.

17. Adivasis have their own languages which have often deeply influenced the formation of main stream languages.

18. Adivasis are invariably portrayed in very stereotypical ways.

19. Common people have wrong beliefs that Adivasis are exotic, primitive and backward.

20. Adivasis are often blamed for their own lack of advancement as they are believed to be resistant to change or new ideas.

21. Forests were absolutely crucial to the development of all empires and settled civilisations in India.

22. The continuation of life depended heavily on forests, that help recharge many of India’s rivers and, as is becoming cleaner now, crucial to the availability and quality of our air and water. Forests covered the major part our country till the 19th century and the Adivasis had a deep knowledge of, access to, as well as control over most of these vast tracts at least till the middle of the 19th century.

23. This meant that they were not ruled by large States and empires.

24. Often empires heavily depended on Adivasis for the crucial access to forest resources.

25. In the Pre-colonial world, Adivasis were traditionally ranged hunter-gatherers and nomads and lived by  shifting agriculture and also cultivating in one place.

26. Forest lands have been cleared for timber and to get land for agriculture and industry.

27. Adivasis have also lived in areas that are rich in minerals and natural resources. These are taken over for mining and other large industrial projects.

28. Huge tracts of their lands have also gone under the waters of hundreds of dams that have been built in independent India.

29. India has 54 national parks and 372 wildlife sanctuaries covering 1,09,652 sq. km.

30. Losing lands and access to the forest means that tribals lose their main sources of livelihood and food.

31. Adivasis have migrated to cities in search of work where they are employed for very low wages in local industries or at building or construction sites.

32. 45% of tribal groups in rural areas and 35% in urban areas live below the poverty line.

33. Many tribal children are malnourished. Literacy rates among tribals are also very low.

34. The Adivasis when displaced from their lands, they lose much more than source of income and that is they lose their traditions and customs – a way of living and being.

35. There is an existence of an interconnectedness between economic and social dimensions of tribal life. Destruction in one sphere naturally impacts the other.

36. The term minority is most commonly used to refer to communities that are numerically small in relation to the rest of the population.

37. Size can be a disadvantage and lead to the marginalisation of the relatively smaller communities. Thus, safeguards are needed to protect minority communities against the possibility of being culturally dominated by the majority.

38. According to 2001 census, Muslims are 13.4% of India’s population and are considered to be a marginalised community in India because in comparison to other communities, the Muslims have been deprived of the benefits of social and economic development over the years.

39. Recognising that Muslims of India were lagging behind in terms of various development indicators, the government set up a high level committee in 2005. Chaired by Justice Rajinder Sachar, the committee examined the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community.

40. The social marginalisation of Muslims in some instances has led to them migration from places where they have lived, this process leading to the ghettoisation of the community.

41. Sometimes, prejudice leads to hatred and violence.

42. Marginalisation is a complex phenomenon requiring a variety of strategies, measures and safeguards to redress this situation.

43. There are different reasons for each of the communities that are being marginalised.

44. Marginalisation is linked to experiencing disadvantage, prejudice and powerlessness.

45. Marginalisation results in having a low social status and not having equal access to education and other resources.

46. Marginalised communities always want to maintain their cultural distinctiveness while having access to rights, development and other opportunities.

Understanding Marginalisation Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Hierarchy: A graded system or arrangement of persons or things. Usually persons at the bottom of the hierarchy are those who have the least power.

Ghettoisation: A ghetto is an area or locality that is populated largely be members of a particular community.

  • Ghettoisation refers to the process that leads to such a situation. This may occur due to various social, cultural and economic reasons.
  • Often a ‘Ghettoised’ community has few options of moving out, which may lead to them becoming alienated from the rest of the society.

Mainstream: This refers to the main current of a river or stream. Mainstream also refers to people or communities that are considered to be at the centre of a society, i.e. often the powerful or dominant group.

Displaced: This refers to people who are forced or compelled to move from their homes for big development projects including dams, mining, etc.

Militarised: An area where the presence of the armed forces is considerable.

Malnourished: A person who does not get adequate nutrition or food.

NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 6 Notes Understanding Our Criminal Justice System

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Understanding Our Criminal Justice System Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 6

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 6 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. After a person is arrested by the police, it is a court of law that decides whether the accused person is guilty or not.

2. According to the Constitution, every individual who is charged of a crime has to be given a fair trial.

3. There are 4 key players in the criminal justice system: the police, the public prosecutor, the defence lawyer and the judge.

4. One important function of the police is to investigate any complaint about the commission of a crime.

5. Investigation includes recording statements of witnesses and collecting different kinds of evidence.

6. Based on investigation the police are required to form an opinion. If the police think that the evidence points to the guilt of the accused person, then they file a chargesheet in the court.

7. Police investigations always have to be conducted in accordance with law and with full respect for human rights.

8. The Supreme Court has laid down guidelines that the police must follow at the time of arrest; detention and interrogation.

9. Article 22 of the Constitution and criminal law guarantee to every arrested person the following Fundamental Rights:

10. The Right to be informed about the offence for which the person is being arrested at the time of arrest.

11. The Right to be presented before a magistrate within 24 hrs of arrest.

12. The Right not to be ill treated or tortured during arrest or in custody.

13. Confessions made in police custody cannot be used as evidence against the accused.

14. A boy under 15 yrs of age and women cannot be called to the police station only for questioning.

15. The Supreme court of India has laid down specific requirements and procedures that the police and other agencies have to follow for the arrest, detention and interrogation of any person. These are known as the D.K. Basu guidelines.

16. A criminal offence is regarded as a public wrong that means or that is considered to have been committed not only against the affected victims but against society as whole.

17. In court, it is the Public Prosecutor who represents the interests of the State. The role of the Prosecutors begins once the police has conducted the investigation and filed the chargesheet in the court.

18. A prosecutor must conduct the prosecution on behalf of the State.

19. It is the duty of the prosecutor being an officer of the court to act impartially and present the full and material facts, witnesses and evidence before the court to enable the court to decide the case.

20. The judge conducts the trial impartially and in an open court.

21. The judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the prosecution and the defence.

22. On the basis of the evidence presented and in accordance with the law the judge decides whether the accused person is guilty or innocent.

23. For a trial to be fair several different procedures have to be observed.

24. Article 21 of the Constitution that guarantees the Right to Life states that a person’s life or liberty can be taken away only by following a reasonable and just legal procedure.

25. A fair trial ensures that Article 21 of the Constitution is upheld.

26. It is significant that the judge decides the matter only on the basis of the evidence before the court.

27. Every citizen, irrespective of their class, caste, gender, religions and ideological backgrounds gets a fair trial when accused.

28. The rule of law which says that everyone is equal before the law would not make much sense if every citizen were not guaranteed a fair trial by the Constitution.

Notes of Civics Class 8 Chapter 6 Time Period

Accused: This refers to the person who is tried by a court for a crime.

Cognizable: This refers to an offence for which the police may arrest a person without the permission of the court.

Cross-examine: This refers to the questioning of a witness who has already been examined by the opposing side in order to determine the veracity of his/her testimony.

Detention: This refers to the act of being kept in illegal custody by the police.

Impartial: The act of being fair or just and not favouring one side over another.

Offence: Any act that the law defines as a crime.

Witness: This refers to the person who is called upon in court to provide a first-hand account of what he/ she has seen, heard or knows.

NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 5 Notes Judiciary

On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 5 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 5 SST Judiciary will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Judiciary Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 5

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 5 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. To enforce a rule of law India has a judicial system that consists of mechanism of courts that a citizens can approach when a law is violated.

2. As an organ of the State, the judiciary plays an important and crucial role in the functioning of India’s democracy.

3. Indian judiciary is independent.

4. Courts take decisions on a very large number of issues.

5. The work of judiciary is divided into the following:

6. Dispute Resolution: The judicial system provides a mechanism for resolving disputes between citizens, between citizens and government, between two state governments and between the centre and state governments.

7. Judicial Review: As the final interpreter of the Constitution, the judiciary also has the power to strike down particular laws passed by the Parliament if it believes that there are a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution. This is called Judicial Review.

8. Upholding the law and Enforcing the Fundamental Rights: Every citizen of India can approach the Supreme court or the High Court if they believe that their Fundamental Rights have been violated.

9. The Indian Constitution protects against influencing of the judicial process by politicians or rich people by providing the independence of the judiciary.

10. One of the aspects of the independent judiciary is the separation of power.

11. The courts are not under the government and do not act on their behalf.

12. Appointment of judges has very little interference from the legislature and executive branches of the government. Once appointed to this office, it very difficult to remove a judge.

13. Independent judiciary allows the courts to play a central role in ensuring that there is no misuse of power by the legislature and the executive.

14. Structure of the courts in India:

  • There are 3 different levels of courts in our country.
  • Several courts are at the lower level and only one at the apex level.
  • The courts that most people interact with are what are called subordinate or district courts.
  • Each state is divided into districts that are presided over by a District Judge.
  • Each state has a High Court which is the highest court of that state.
  • The decisions made by the Supreme Court are binding on all other courts in India.
  • In India, there is an integrated judicial system meaning that the decisions made by higher courts are binding on the lower courts.
  • A person can appeal to a higher court if they believe that the judgment passed by the lower court is not just.

15. There are 2 types of laws that are civil law and criminal law:

  • Criminal Law: It deals with conduct or acts that the law defines as offences. For eg, theft, harassing a woman to bring more dowry, murder.
  • Civil Law: Deals with any harm or injury to rights of individuals. For eg. disputes relating to sale of land, purchase of goods, rent matters, divorce cases.

16. In principle, all citizens of India can access the courts in the country implying that every citizen has a right to justice through the courts.

  • While the courts are available for all, in reality access to the courts has always been difficult for a vast majority of the poor in India.

17. Supreme court in the early 1980’s devised a mechanism of Public Interest Litigation or PIL to increase access to justice allowing any individual or organisation to file PIL in the High Court or the Supreme Court on behalf of those whose right have been violated.

18. The legal process have been simplified and even a letter or telegram addressed to the Supreme Court or the High Court could be treated as PIL.

19. For the common person, access to courts is access to justice.

20. There are also court judgments that people believe work against the best interests of common person.

21. Another issue that effects the common person’s access to justice is the inordinately long number of years that courts takes to hear a case.

22. The phrase’ justice delayed is justice denied’ is often used to characterise this extended time period that courts take.

23. Judiciary had played a crucial role in democratic India, serving as a check on the powers of the executive and the legislature as well as in protecting the Fundamental Rights of citizens.

24. The members of the Constituent Assembly had quite correctly envisioned a system of courts with an independent judiciary as a key feature our democracy.

Judiciary Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Acquit: This refers to the court declaring that a person is not guilty of the crime which he/she was tried for by the court.

Compensation: This refers to the money given to make amends for an injury or a loss.

Eviction: This refers both to the removal of persons from land/homes that they are currently living in.

Violation: It refers both to the act of breaking a law as well as to the branch of infringement of Fundamental Rights.