In India, women are discriminated and disadvantaged in the following ways:
→  They are not provided adequate education. Thus, the literacy rate among women is just 54%.
→ Most of the labour done by them is unpaid. Where they are paid for their work, they receive lesser wages than men.
→ Due to the preference for the boy child, female foeticide is practiced in many parts of the country.

Different forms of communal politics:
→ The expression of communal superiority in everyday beliefs
Militant religious groups are a good example of this.
→ The desire to form a majoritarian dominance or a separate state
Separatist leaders and political parties in Jammu and Kashmir and Central India are an example of this.
→ The use of religious symbols and leaders in politics to appeal to the voters
This technique is applied by many politicians to influence voters from the two largest religious communities in the country.
→ In addition to all this, communal politics can take the form of communal violence and riots, like the riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Caste has not disappeared from contemporary India.
→ Even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe.
→ Untouchability has not ended completely despite constitutional prohibition.
→ Effects of centuries of advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt today, e.g., Caste continues to be closely linked to economic status.

Caste alone cannot determine election results in India because:
→ No parliamentary constituency has a clear majority of one single caste.
→ No party wins all the votes of a particular caste.

When it comes to representation of women in legislative bodies, India is among the bottom group of nations in the world. Women's representation has always been less than 10% in Lok Sabha and 5% in the State Assemblies.
On the other hand, the situation is different in the case of local government bodies. As one-third of seats in local government bodies (panchayats and municipalities) is reserved for women, there are more than 10 lakh elected women representatives in rural and urban local bodies.

Two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state are:
→ Freedom to practice, profess and propagate the religion of one’s choice.
→ The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.

When we speak of gender divisions, we usually refer to:
(a) Biological difference between men and women
(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women
(c) Unequal child sex ratio
(d) Absence of voting rights for women in democracies

Answer

(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women

In India seats are reserved for women in
(a) Lok Sabha
(b) State Legislative Assemblies
(c) Cabinets
(d) Panchayati Raj bodies

Ans

(d) Panchayati Raj bodies