CBSE Class 8

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 19^th 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 19^th 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.

On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 6 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 SST Understanding Our Criminal Justice System will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

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.

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.

On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 4 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 SST Understanding Laws will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Understanding Laws Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 4

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 4 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. Parliament is in charge of making laws.

2. Laws apply to all:

• All persons in independent India are equal before the law.
• Law cannot discriminate between persons on the basis of their religion, caste and gender.
• Rule of law means that all laws apply equally to all citizens of the country and no one can be above the law.
• Any crime or violation of law has a specific punishment as well as process through which the guilt of the person has to be established.
• In ancient India, there were innumerable and often overlapping local laws. Different communities enjoyed different degrees of autonomy in administering these laws among there own.
• System of law began to further evolve during the colonial period.
• It is believed that it was the British colonials who introduced the Rule of law in India.
• Historians have disputed this claim on several grounds.
• Sedition Act of 1870 changed the idea of sedition.
• Indian nationalists began protesting and criticising the arbitrary use of authority by the British.
• By the end of the 19^th century the Indian legal profession also began emerging and demanded respect in colonial courts.
• Indian judges began to play a greater role in working decisions.
• With the adoption of the Constitution, this document served as the foundation on which our representatives began making laws for the country.
• Every year our representatives pass several laws as well as revise existing ones.
• Hindu Succession Amendment Act 2005. According to this new law, sons, daughters and their mothers can get an equal share of family property.

3. How do new laws come about?

• Parliament plays important role in making laws.
• An important role of Parliament is to be sensitive to the problems faced by the people.
• Role of citizens is crucial helping Parliament frame different concerns that people have into laws.
• From establishing the need for a new law to its being passed at every stage of the process, voice of citizen is a crucial element.

4. Unpopular and controversial laws:

• Sometimes, a law can be Constitutionally valid and hence, legal but it can continue to be unpopular and unacceptable to the people because it is felt that the intention behind it is unfair and harmful.
• In democracy like ours, citizens can express the unwillingness to accept repressive laws framed by the Parliament.
• There is a pressure on Parliament to change the law if people begin to feel that the wrong law is passed.
• If the law favours one group and disregards the other then it will be controversial and leads to conflict.
• The people who think that the law is not fair can approach the court to decide on the issue.
• The court has the power to modify or cancel laws if it finds that they don’t adhere to the Constitution.
• As a citizen one should remember that role does not end with electing our representatives.
• It is the involvement and the enthusiasm of the people that help Parliament performing representative functions properly.

Understanding Laws Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Criticise: to find fault with or disapprove of a person or thing.

Evolution: Process of development from a simple to a complex form and is often used to discuss the development of the species of plants and animals.

Sedition: This applies to anything that the government might consider as stirring up resistance or rebellion against it. In such cases government does not need absolute evidence in order to arrest persons.

Repressive: To control severely in order to prevent free and natural development or expression.

On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 3 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 SST Why do we Need a Parliament will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Why do we Need a Parliament Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 3

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 3 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. Parliament enables citizens of India to participate in decision making and control the government. Therefore, Parliament is the most important symbol of Indian democracy and key features of the Constitution.

2. Why should people decide?

• After long and difficult struggle in which many sections of society participated, India got independence.
• Under colonial rule people lived in fear of the British government and disagreed with the decisions of the British.
• Criticizing the British government was a grave danger at that time.
• During 1885, India National Congress (I.N.C) demanded that there be elected members in the legislatures with a right of discussing budget and ask questions.
• Government of India act 1909, allowed for some elected representation.
• The British did not allow for all adults to vote nor could people participate in decision making.
• Nationalists, after getting freedom decided government will not do what they want but the people should get involved in decision making.
• The dreams and aspirations of the freedom struggle were made concrete in the Constitution of independent India, laying down the principle of universal adult franchise.

3. People and their representatives:

• The take-off point for democracy is the idea of consensus.
• The decision of people creates a democratic government and decides about its functioning.
• Individual gives approval to the government in many ways one of which is through elections in which people would elect their representative for the government.
• The Parliament is made up of representatives together and controls and guides the government.
• In this sense, people through their chosen representative, form the government and also control it.

4. The role of the Parliament:

• Created after 1947, Indian Parliament is an expression of faith and because of it, the people of India have principle of democracy.
• Parliament, in our system, has immense powers because it is the representative of the people.
• Elections of parliament are held in similar manner as they are for the State legislature.
• Lok Sabha is usually elected once every five years.
• Each constituency elects one person to the Parliament.
• The candidates contesting elections usually belong to different political parties.
• Elected candidates become Member of Parliament or MPs.
• The MP’s together make up the Parliament.
• Parliament has following functions:

A. Select the National government:

• Parliament consists of the President, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in India.
• After elections, a list is prepared about how many MP’s belong to each political party.
• For a political party to form the government, they must have majority of elected MPs.
• There are 543 elected and 2 nominated members in Lok Sabha, to have a majority a party should have at least half the number i.e., 272 members or more.
• The opposition is formed in Parliament by all the political parties that oppose majority party/ coalition formed. The largest among these parties is called the Opposition party.
• One of the most important functions of the Lok Sabha is to select the executive.
• The Prime Minister (PM) of India is the leader of the ruling party in Lok Sabha.
• PM selects ministers to work with in order to implement decisions.
• The ministers take charge of different areas of government functioning like health, education, finance, etc.
• The joining together of different political parties who are interested in similar concerns forms coalition government.
• Rajya Sabha functions primarily as the representative of the States of India in the Parliament.
• The members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of various States.
• There are 233 elected and 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha.

B. To control, guide and inform the government:

• The Parliament, while in session, begins with question hour.
• The Opposition parties play a critical role in the healthy functioning of a democracy.
• The government gets valuable feedback and it is kept on its toes by the questions asked by the MPs.
• The MPs are representatives of the people and have a central role in controlling, guiding and informing Parliament and this is a key aspect of the functioning of Indian democracy.

5. Lawmaking is a significant function of the Parliament.

6. The people in the Parliament:

7. Parliament now has more and more people from different backgrounds.

8. It has been observed that representative democracy cannot produce a perfect reflection of the society.

9. It is important to ensure that communities that have been historically marginalized are given adequate representation.

10. Considering this some seats are reserved in the Parliament for SCs and STs.

11. This has been done so that MPs elected from these constituencies will be familiar with and can represent Dalit andf Adivasi interests in Parliament.

12. Recently it has been suggested that there should be reservation of seats for women.

13. The fact that we can ask questions and are working towards answers is a reflection of the strength and the faith that people of India have in a democratic form of government.

Why do we Need a Parliament Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Approval: to give one’s consent to and be favourable towards something.

Coalition: A temporary alliance of groups and parties.

Unresolved: Situation in which there are no easy solutions to problem.