Read the passage and answer the questions: Constitution: Real Minorities are the Masses of this Country Welcoming the Objectives Resolution introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru, N.G. Ranga said: Sir, there is a lot of talk about minorities. Who are the real minorities? Not the Hindus in the so-called Pakistan provinces, not the Sikhs, not even the Muslims. No, the real minorities are the masses of this country. These people are so depressed and oppressed and suppressed till now that they are not able to take advantage of the ordinary civil rights. What is the position? You go to the tribal areas. According to law, their own traditional law, their tribal law, their lands cannot be alienated. Yet our merchants go there, and in the so-called free market they are able to snatch their lands. Thus, even though the law goes against this snatching away of their lands, still the merchants are able to turn the tribal people into veritable slaves by various kinds of bonds, and make them hereditary bond- slaves. Let us go to the ordinary villagers. There goes the money-lender with his money and he is able to get the villagers in his pocket. There is the landlord himself, the zamindar, and the malguzar and there are the various other people who are able to exploit these poor villagers. There is no elementary education even among these people. These are the real minorities that need protection and assurances of protection. In order to give them the necessary protection, we will need much more than this Resolution. |
Which of the following is necessary to protect the rights of the tribal people? |
Merchants who purchase tribal lands Role of Money-lenders Control by Zamindars and the Malguzars Constitutional protection of the welfare-state |
Constitutional protection of the welfare-state |
The correct answer is Option (4) → Constitutional protection of the welfare-state N.G. Ranga argued that the real minorities were the poor, tribals, and villagers who were oppressed by merchants, moneylenders, zamindars, and malguzars. Even though laws existed (like protection against alienation of tribal lands), exploitation continued. Thus, he emphasized that mere resolutions were not enough — what was necessary was strong constitutional protection and assurances of protection, which could only come from a welfare-oriented state. |