Read the following extract mentioned in NCERT textbook (page 118) and answer the questions that follow:

“We are also human beings”

In 1927, Ambedkar said:

We now want to go to the Tank only to prove that like others, we are also human beings ... Hindu society should be reorganised on two main principles—equality and absence of casteism.

Questions:

(i)Who was Ambedkar?

(ii)How should Hindu society be reorganised?

Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices.

Reformers got full support from all sections of the people of the country.

The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929.

How did the knowledge of ancient texts help the reformers promote new laws?

What were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school?

Why were Christian missionaries attacked by many people in the country? Would some people have supported them too? If so, for what reasons?

In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as “low”?

How did Jyotirao, the reformer, justify their criticism of caste inequality in society?

Why did Phule dedicate his book Gulamgiri to the
American movement to free slaves?

What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement?