CHAPTER 3: Equality NCERT SOLUTION CLASS 11TH Political Science | EDUGROWN NOTES

Short Answer Type Question:

Q1.What are the main features of equality?
Answer:

• Equality does not offer any special privileges in the society to treat every member equal.
• Equality provides adequate opportunities to each and every citizen in the society to develop one’s own potential.
• Every individual must have an access to the basic needs of life in a society.

Q2.Mention political dimensions of equality.
Answer:
Political equality provides equal political rights to every individual. Its dimensions are as follows:

• For the success of democracy, all the citizens should have an equal right to enjoy universal adult suffrage.
• Every individual must have the right to be elected as a representative also to contest elections.
• The citizens must enjoy the right to hold public offices also without any discrimination except qualification.

Q3.“Social inequalities can be minimized by an affirmative action”. Analyse the statement.
Answer:

• Disadvantaged communities should be provided with the facilities of scholarships and hostels, etc. in various institutions
• India has adopted the policy of reservations of seats and quotas to provide equal opportunity.
• SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s require special attention, and protection to create a just society to expand democracy.

Q4.What are positive and negative aspects of equality?
Answer:
Positive aspect:

• To provide adequate opportunities to all.
• Every individual should get equal opportunities to develop one’s own potential upto their best level.

Negative aspect:

• It refers to absence of undue privileges to people.
• To remove man-made inequalities in the society.
• No one should be discriminated on the ground of caste, colour, race, religion, language, etc.

Long Answer Type Questions :

Q1.“Political liberty cannot be imagined without economic liberty.” Analyse.
Answer:
Liberty and equality are contemporary to each other. Political liberty gives a freedom to an individual to participate in the activities of state, i.e.:

• Right to vote to form government
• Right to hold public offices
• Right to form political party
• Right to contest elections.

Economic equality provides equal opportunities to earn the livelihood by an individual i.e.:

• All the individuals must have the means to meet their needs.
• Exploitation should not exist.
• Means of production and distribution should be made for public welfare. Relationship between political liberty and

economic equality:

• A poor man is attracted sometimes to false commitments of politicians as they lack in proper intelligence to identify right or wrong because they could not attain even good education, hence they are unable to use their right to vote properly.
• Sometimes poor voters sell out their votes to rich candidates who trap them by making commitments to fulfill their requirements either in cash or kind, hence the poor voters misuse their right to vote in place of utilizing it for the welfare of country.
• To contest elections is an expensive activity and the poor who cannot afford one day meal easily, it is not possible to contest elections. Hence, the poors are exempted naturally from contesting elections due to the lack of wherewithal.It can be concluded that political liberty requires economic equality also.

Q2.What is the relationship between liberty and equality?
Answer:
Liberty and equality run parallel to each other but sometimes it is presumed that both are opposed to each other.
1. Liberty and equality are complementary:

• Liberty in absence of equality is meaningless.
• Prof. Laski, Powny Polard and Maclver support this view.
• Liberty does not mean the same work and equal wages for all the people.

2. Liberty and equality are opposed to each other:

• Liberty and equality are opposed to each other to curtail individual liberty.
• De Tocqueviflle and Lord Acton are the supporters of this view.
• If equality is established in actual sense, then no one will enjoy the liberty to sharpen one’s own potential.
• Nature has also not created each and every individual equal hence everyone differs in one’s own traits, qualities, capabilities, etc.

It can be concluded that to enjoy them, one requires the presence of others, i.e. political liberty requires equal political status and civil liberty requires equality in the eyes of law to be treated equally. Hence economic equality is of least importance.