NCERT Solutions Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship Rights and Duties

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 8 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 12: Citizenship: Rights
and Duties

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

Part II, 143 – 166 13 37 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 41 pages

Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 8 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 12: Citizenship: Rights and
Duties
This chapter asks what it means to be a citizen — and answers it twice. Legally, a citizen is a member of a
country’s political community; in everyday life, citizenship is what Sonali and Harshada did when they stopped
the teasing and made room for Kruti in their badminton team. Around that idea the chapter builds four
concepts: rights, duties, discrimination and inclusion.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 8) Part II, 143 – 166

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

13 37

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 143
Chapter opener

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 What does it mean to be a citizen, not just legally, but in everyday life?

Legally, a citizen is someone who legally belongs to a country and is a member of its political
community — that is, they can participate in the decision-making of the country. In India, the
Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 set the rules for
gaining or losing citizenship, and all citizens are equal under the Constitution despite
differences of language, religion or culture.
In everyday life, citizenship is something you do. The chapter opens with Kruti, a new student
teased on the playground for her accent. Sonali and Harshada told the bullies to stop — and
then invited Kruti to join their badminton team, so she finally felt like she belonged. No law was
being broken and no court was involved. They were simply being good citizens: they stood up
for someone who needed help and made sure everyone felt included.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the chapter gives two answers: citizenship is both a legal identity and a social
responsibility. As a legal identity it formally connects people to their country. As a
social responsibility it creates a sense of belonging and unites people through
shared values, rights and duties. Drop the second half and citizenship becomes only
a document.

Everyday citizenship, as the chapter describes it, is active participation. It has two halves that
pull in the same direction:

Duties you fulfil — obeying the law, paying taxes, respecting others, helping others in need,
protecting the environment, keeping society safe.
Rights you use — the power to question unfair practices and stand up for what is right,
shaping the future of your society.

Did you know? Living in a place makes you a resident; citizenship is a formal, legal
membership in a country. Not every resident of a country is a citizen — a person can
be a resident without being a citizen, and a citizen can even reside in another
country.

Q2 Why are both rights and duties essential?

Because a right is a claim on how other people behave. It becomes real only when someone
else accepts the matching duty. The chapter states this directly: “Every right has a matching
duty.”

IF I HAVE THE RIGHT TO… …THEN I HAVE THE DUTY TO

be treated with respect treat others with respect

express my opinions freely listen to and respect other people’s views, even when I disagree, and to
do so without causing harm

live in a clean, safe neighbourhood not throw my wrappers on the ground (Fundamental Duty 7)

free and compulsory education, 6–14 years as a parent or guardian, see that the child actually gets that education
(Article 21A) (Fundamental Duty 11)

Notice how the two halves of each row need each other. If nobody carried the second column,
the first column would still be printed in the Constitution — but it would not be lived.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why it happens: the two are enforced in completely different ways, and that is
exactly why we need both. Rights are protected by law — if someone’s rights are
violated, even by the government, they can go to court for help. Duties are moral
and social responsibilities — we are expected to follow them, but not doing so may
not always lead to legal action. A court can order a ramp to be built. No court can
supervise every playground, classroom and street to see that children are not
teased. That everyday work is what duties do.

This is why the chapter opens with Mahatma Gandhi’s line: “The true source of rights is duty.”
Fulfilling our duties helps protect everyone’s rights and keeps society fair and peaceful.

Q3 How can we help build a society where everyone is treated fairly, respected, and
included?

By working at three levels the chapter sets out one after the other — stop discrimination,
move from equality to equity, and then design for inclusion.

1. Recognise and stop discrimination. Discrimination is mistreating a person or group
because of their caste, religion, ethnicity, disability, race, physical appearance, gender,
sexuality or economic background. Much of it is invisible — a jibe, a nickname, not asking
someone into a project. The book warns that invisible discrimination is difficult to prove, and
hence difficult to penalise, so it has to be stopped by people, not only by law.
2. Give support according to need — equity. Fig. 5.3 shows that the same box for everyone
does not give everyone the same view; differences, some carried historically, mean identical
support gives unequal benefit. The chapter’s example of an equity initiative is the Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, which built awareness in society and supported girls’
education.
3. Remove the barrier — inclusion. Inclusion goes beyond just giving reservations; it means
making sure everyone feels accepted and supported, and removing barriers to participation.
In the chapter: ramps for Gaganjit, a tactile map in a school for the blind (Fig. 5.4), braille
books and classroom support, and Smt. Amita widening her reading club to regional-
language books, after which membership grew and all children joined regardless of their
fluency in a particular language.

Why all three are needed: stopping discrimination is not doing harm; equity is
compensating for a difference; inclusion is changing the arrangement so the difference
stops mattering. Fig. 5.14 makes the point sharply — the fence itself is gone, and
nobody needs a box at all.

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At the level of a student, the chapter’s own closing list is the practical answer: speak up against
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LET’S EXPLORE — Page 148
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

EQUALITY — the same box for everyone EQUITY — boxes according to need

top of the fence

cannot see all three can
see

A schematic of Fig. 5.3. The fence is the same in both panels; only the way the boxes are shared out
changes.

Why it happens: the three people do not start from the same place. Identical
support therefore does not produce identical benefit. The book puts it exactly so —
“sometimes providing the same thing to every individual does not provide the same
benefits on account of differences among them. These differences can be due to
inequality and discrimination which may have been carried historically too.”

That is why the chapter introduces equity: “the quality of being fair and just, especially in a way
that takes account of and seeks to address existing inequalities.” Equality asks “is everyone
getting the same?”; equity asks “is everyone getting to the same place?”

Tip: equality is about the input, equity is about the outcome. Both matter — Article
14 guarantees equality before the law for all persons, and equity is how that promise
is made to work for people who begin further back.

Q2 Can you think of other such examples?

Yes. An equity example has a recognisable shape: some group is falling behind for a reason that
is not their fault, and extra or different support is given only to them so that they can use a
right everyone already has on paper. The chapter’s own example is Beti Bachao Beti Padhao,

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

which built awareness in society as well as providing support to girls’ education.
Sample answer: other examples from this chapter and from everyday life —

A tactile map in a school for the blind (Fig. 5.4). The right to education is the same for
every child; a printed map is useless to a blind child, so the map is made touchable. The right
is not changed — the support is.
Ramps at public buildings. Gaganjit, who used a wheelchair, could not enter the exhibition
hall because there was no ramp. Once the ramp was built, he could enter like everyone else.
Braille books and classroom support for children with special needs, which the chapter
lists as ways of removing barriers to participation.
Books in the regional language in the school library. When Smt. Amita added them, the
reading club stopped being only for confident readers of English and its membership grew.
Free and compulsory education for ages 6–14 (Article 21A). Every child has the right to
education, but a family that cannot pay fees cannot use it — so the fee itself is removed.
Childline 1098 — a free helpline, easy to remember by counting backwards from 10, for
children who cannot reach a lawyer or a police station on their own.

Check it yourself: before calling something an equity measure, ask two questions
— who is falling behind, and why? and does this support close that particular gap? If the
answer to the second is no, it is a kindness but not equity.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 149
Right to freedom

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 It’s Sports Day at school. The weather is very hot. Some students are told to wear
full school uniforms with shoes, even though they will be running, playing games,
and spending time outdoors. A few students feel uncomfortable and wonder why
they can’t wear lighter clothes like T-shirts and sports shoes for such activities. One
student starts a discussion at break time. “Shouldn’t we be allowed to wear
comfortable sports clothes on Sports Day?” Some classmates agree, saying that
comfort and safety are important while playing sports. Others feel that wearing the
school uniform shows discipline and equality among all students. A couple of
teachers overhear the conversation and remind everyone that school rules about
uniforms must be followed. Was the student exercising freedom of speech?

Yes. Raising a question about a rule, in a discussion with classmates at break time, is exactly the
kind of thing the right to freedom protects. The Constitution’s Article 19 guarantees freedom of
speech, movement, and peaceful assembly, and the chapter explains that this right “allows

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

people to express themselves, move freely, and choose how they want to live and work.”
But read the very next sentence in the chapter, because it is the other half of the answer: “these
freedoms are not unlimited; they come with reasonable restrictions so that they are not
misused or harmful to others or the nation.”

Why both halves matter here: freedom of speech gave the student the right to
argue that the uniform rule should change. It did not give them the right to stop
following the rule while the argument is going on. That is why the teachers were not
punishing the student for speaking — they were reminding everyone that the rule
still stands until it is changed. Speaking against a rule and breaking a rule are two
different acts.

Notice too that the chapter deliberately gives both sides real arguments, and does not settle
the question:

Comfort and safety matter while playing sports — running in full uniform and hard shoes in
very hot weather can be genuinely unsafe.
Wearing the school uniform shows discipline and equality among all students — nobody’s
clothes reveal what their family can afford.

Both are reasonable positions. The chapter asks you to weigh them, not to be told which one
wins.

Q2 Could they have raised their concern differently?

Yes — not because speaking was wrong, but because a concern travels further when it
reaches the people who can actually change the rule. A break-time conversation among
classmates changes nobody’s mind who has the authority to decide.
Better routes, in rising order:

1. Gather the reason, not just the feeling. “It is hot and we will be running for two hours” is
an argument; “I don’t like the uniform” is a preference. The first can be answered; the second
cannot.
2. Take it to the class teacher, the sports teacher or the student council — the people who
plan Sports Day.
3. Ask for something specific and workable, for example a school sports kit worn only on
Sports Day, so that discipline and equality are kept and the students are comfortable. A
proposal that answers the other side’s objection is far harder to refuse.
4. Accept the decision if it goes against you, and ask again next year with better evidence.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this is a duty, not just good manners: the chapter pairs the right to express
opinions freely with the duty “to listen to and respect other people’s views, even
when I disagree, and to do so without causing harm.” Raising the concern
respectfully, through the proper channel, is that duty being carried out — and it is
also what makes the right effective.

Q3 How should schools handle student opinions?

By hearing them, explaining the reason behind the rule, and providing a real channel for a
rule to be reconsidered — while applying the rules that exist equally to everyone.

Listen first. A student who is told to be quiet learns that speaking is pointless, which is the
opposite of what a democracy needs. The chapter’s closing list says democracy is
strengthened through enabling and facilitating participation of all.
Give the reason. A rule that is explained is usually accepted; a rule that is only enforced is
only obeyed. Here the reason is a real one — the uniform shows discipline and equality
among all students.
Provide a channel — a class discussion, a student council, a suggestion box, a meeting with
the sports teacher — so that opinions do not have to become protests to be noticed.
Be willing to change where the case is good. This is exactly what happens in the chapter’s
opening story: the children spoke to the fair organisers, and slowly changes were made —
Meena joined the debate, Ravi entered the library stall, and ramps were built for Gaganjit.
Apply the rule equally. If some students are told to wear full uniform and others are not,
the problem is no longer about comfort — it is about the right to equality.

Tip: the chapter does not tell you whether sports clothes should be allowed. It is
asking you to see that a school can take student opinion seriously and keep its rules
— the two are not opposites.

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 150

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Right to life
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Because a right is only worth what its enforcement is worth — and a river cannot go to
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 How could this help protect the environment?

By changing who is allowed to complain, and about what. Four practical effects follow:

1. Someone can act for the river. The Uttarakhand High Court appointed legal guardians
responsible for protecting and conserving the Ganga and Yamuna. Without such a guardian,
damage to a river often goes to court only when a human being can show a personal loss.
2. Pollution becomes a wrong, not a cost. If dumping waste harms a rights-holder, it can be
stopped and punished, rather than treated as an unfortunate side-effect of some other
activity.
3. The river’s own needs must be weighed. Its flow and its water quality become things a
decision has to account for, not leftovers after everyone else’s claims are met.
4. It changes how people think. Costa Rica writing Nature’s rights into its Constitution and
New Zealand treating the Whanganui as a living being tell citizens that a river is not simply a
resource.

The honest limit: the chapter records that the Indian order was suspended and
finally overturned as ‘legally unsustainable’, but does not give the Court’s reasoning
— so do not invent it. In practice, India’s rivers today are protected through
environmental laws, through the right to life under Article 21 (which the chapter
says includes a clean environment), and through the Fundamental Duty to protect
and improve the environment, rather than by treating a river as a person.

Think about it: a right always needs three things to work — a holder, someone who
can act for the holder, and a court that will listen. The river-rights debate is really an
argument about the middle one.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 152

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Right against exploitation

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 What would you do if you saw a child working instead of being in school? Discuss in
class, then write one step you could take: Could you talk to your teacher or
principal? Could you write to a child helpline?

Tell an adult who can act, and give them the details. Do not confront the employer yourself
— you could put both yourself and the child in danger, and you have no way of protecting the
child afterwards.
Step 1 — your teacher or principal. Report what you saw with the facts that make action
possible: where (the shop or house and the street), when (the day and roughly the time), how
many children, and what work they were doing. A school can contact the local authorities, and it
can also arrange the child’s admission once they are out.
Step 2 — Childline 1098. The government has a helpline for children called Childline 1098. It is
available all over the country and is easy to remember — just count backwards from 10. It
began as an action project at an educational institution in the late 1990s and soon became a
national-level helpline.

Why a phone call is not a small thing: the chapter gives a real case. In 2015,
Childline 1098 received a call from a concerned citizen about 20 children being
forced to work in a factory that embroidered clothes. A team visited the place and
found the children. Not only were they being forced to work — the room was
congested and unhealthy, and the food they received once a day was not nourishing
at all. The team rescued the children, provided them with medical care and
ensured that they would be taken care of. The culprits were arrested. One call
from one citizen started all of it.

What the law says, so you know you are on firm ground:

In general, children below the age of 14 are not allowed to be employed. They can help
out in non-hazardous family enterprises, and only during vacations or after school hours.
There is a ban on work in places such as factories, mines, or restaurants.
Articles 23–24 ban human trafficking, forced labour and child labour; Article 21A gives the
right to free and compulsory education for ages 6–14.

Sample answer (one step, written out): “I will note down the address of the shop and the time
I saw the boy working there, and tell my class teacher the same day. If nothing has happened
within a week, I will call Childline 1098 with the same details.”

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why children need this special protection: the chapter explains it plainly —
children depend on adults for their safety and wellbeing, and may not understand
their rights or be able to stand up for themselves, or access help against unfair
treatment. And when children are made to work, they lose out on education, play
and a healthy childhood — things that are essential for their growth and future.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 153
Right to constitutional remedies

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 “If I was asked to name any particular article in this Constitution as the most
important — an article without which this Constitution would be a nullity — I could
not refer to any other article except this one [right to constitutional remedies]. It is
the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it…”, said Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
during the Constituent Assembly Debates. Why is it important to have a way to
protect rights?

Because an unenforceable right is only a promise. The chapter says exactly this about the
right to constitutional remedies: it “ensures that these rights are not just promises on paper but
can actually be protected and enforced.”
Follow the chain the chapter builds:

The Constitution gives six Fundamental Rights.

These rights can be enforced by law — if they are violated, people can approach the courts

for justice.

Article 32 is the door to that court: the right to approach courts to protect Fundamental

Rights.

Remove Article 32 and the other five categories become advice, not law.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why Ambedkar called it the soul of the Constitution: Fundamental Rights protect
people from unfair treatment by others — and also from unfair actions by the
government. Think about what that second half requires. The person you are
complaining against is the one holding the power. Unless there is an independent
court you can reach, a right against the government is a right you can never actually
use. Article 32 is what makes the whole list binding on the state rather than a
statement of good intentions.

You can see the same logic in the chapter’s own story, at a much smaller scale. Meena was kept
out of the debate, Ravi out of the library stall, Gaganjit out of the exhibition hall. Their teacher’s
answer was not sympathy but a route: “If any of these rights are denied, citizens have the
right to approach the courts for justice.” Once the children took the matter to the fair
organisers, the changes were actually made — a right that has somewhere to go gets results.

Tip: when you are asked why some right or institution matters, ask “what would go
missing without it?” Without Article 32, every other Fundamental Right stays written
and stops working.

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 158
Understanding duties

DON’T MISS OUT

Q1 Are concepts of rights and duties entirely modern? In the case of India, scholars
have often debated this question.

No — the idea of duty is very old in India; what is modern is the idea of a right that
everyone holds equally and can enforce. The chapter sets out three older terms.

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TERM WHAT IT MEANT
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that parents or guardians must make sure children between the ages of 6 and 14 years get an
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Understanding duties

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Can you name a duty that matches your right to education?

Yes — and the Constitution names it itself. Set the two side by side:

The right: Article 21A — right to free and compulsory education (6–14 years).

The matching duty: Fundamental Duty 11 (added in 2002) — parents or guardians must

make sure children between ages 6 and 14 years get an education.

The chapter gives the example that shows why the duty is needed: a parent wanted to stop
sending his daughter to school; a neighbour convinced him that it is every parent’s duty to educate
their child. The girl’s right had not been taken away by any law — it was about to be lost because
the duty was not being done.
There are matching duties at every level, not just the parents’:

My duty as a student — attend, work, and let others learn. My right to be taught does not
include a right to disturb the class.
Fundamental Duty 9 — protect public property and avoid violence. In the chapter, boys who
wanted to break benches after losing a football match were reminded that it was school
property. Damaging a school damages other children’s education.
Fundamental Duty 8 — develop scientific temper and the spirit of inquiry. The students
who, instead of only memorising notes on the purification of water, showed a disadvantaged
community how to filter and boil water were putting their education to use.
The community’s duty — not to put a child to work instead of school. Articles 23–24 ban
child labour, and near the fair ground the children who were kept busy cleaning were
enrolled in school after volunteers stepped in.

Why this pairing is the clearest one in the chapter: the state can build the school,
train the teacher and remove the fee — and the right still fails if the child is not sent.
The right creates an obligation on the government; the duty creates an obligation on
the people around the child. Education needs both.

LET’S EXPLORE — Pages 159–160

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rights and Duties: Two Sides of the Same Coin

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Ravi decides not to join a protest march at school because he disagrees with it.
Some classmates say they will exclude him from their group unless he joins.

Right involved: Ravi’s right to freedom — the freedom of speech and expression (Article 19).
The chapter says this right “allows people to express themselves… and choose how they want to
live.” Freedom of expression includes the freedom not to express something you do not believe.
Nobody can be made to say what they do not think.
Duty being broken: by the classmates. The duty that matches the right to express opinions
freely is “to listen to and respect other people’s views, even when I disagree, and to do so
without causing harm.” Threatening to throw Ravi out of the group is precisely causing harm.

Be careful about what the problem is not: the classmates are perfectly entitled to
hold their protest march — that too is freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.
The wrong here is not the march. It is the coercion: making Ravi’s membership of
the group conditional on giving up his own opinion. And exclusion on the ground of
what someone thinks is a form of discrimination, which the chapter says creates a
social barrier that hampers people from enjoying their fundamental rights.

Q2 On School Culture Day, Rukmini wants to wear her family’s traditional dress from
her village. Some students laugh at her and say she should wear ‘modern’ clothes
instead.

Rights involved: the cultural and educational rights (Articles 29–30), under which
communities can preserve their language, script and traditions; and the right to freedom,
which lets people choose how they want to live. The chapter’s closing list is explicit:
discrimination based on caste, religion, gender, personal preferences like choice of clothing,
etc., is against fundamental rights.
Duties being broken: by the students who laugh —

Fundamental Duty 6 — preserve culture and heritage. A traditional dress from a village is
that heritage.
Fundamental Duty 5 — promote harmony among all people and respect women.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What kind of discrimination this is: nobody stopped Rukmini from wearing the
dress, so nothing visible has been denied to her. This is the invisible kind the
chapter describes — “taking a jibe at somebody”. It is difficult to prove and hence
difficult to penalise, which is exactly why it has to be stopped by the students
themselves. And notice the irony of the occasion: laughing at a traditional dress on
Culture Day defeats the point of the day.

Compare: in the chapter, two classmates who argued over language differences
were encouraged by friends to learn phrases from each other’s languages —
“showing unity in diversity”. That is the response Rukmini deserved: curiosity, not
mockery.

Q3 During the recess, some children were throwing chocolate wrappers on the
playground, instead of the dustbin. The teacher then reminds them to keep their
surroundings clean.

This one is a duty, not a right. It is Fundamental Duty 7 — protect and improve the
environment and have compassion towards animals. Keeping your surroundings clean is listed
in the chapter’s opening summary of duties as well: “obeying laws, paying taxes, keeping clean,
and helping others.”
But there is a right hiding behind it. The right to life includes the right to live with dignity, and
the chapter states that this covers livelihood, education, health, a clean environment, and fair
treatment under the law. So a wrapper on the playground is a very small violation of everybody
else’s right to a clean environment — including that of the children who threw it.

Why a teacher’s reminder is the right response: duties are moral and social
responsibilities. We are expected to follow them, but not doing so may not always
lead to legal action. There is no court for a chocolate wrapper. What there is, is the
response the chapter shows in Green Park Colony, where residents cleared drains,
swept streets, planted saplings and painted walls one Sunday morning — and the
youngest participant explained it in one line: “It’s our duty to care for our
neighbourhood.”

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 In a mock youth parliament activity, students use a voting app to share their ideas
for improving school facilities. Even those who live in remote areas are able to join
in the discussion online.

This is the one positive situation in the list — it shows a right being exercised and a duty being
fulfilled at the same time.

The right: freedom of speech and expression, and — more deeply — the ability to
participate in the decision-making of the community, which is the chapter’s very definition of
belonging to a political community.
The duty and the principle: inclusion. Distance was a barrier to participation; the voting
app removed it. The chapter defines inclusion as making sure everyone feels accepted and
supported, and says plainly that “it also means removing barriers to participation.”

Why this matters for democracy: a decision made by only the students who could
reach the room is a decision that never heard from the students who live far away.
The chapter’s closing line is exactly this — “Democracy is strengthened through
enabling and facilitating participation of all.” The app did not create the right to
be heard; it removed what was stopping the right from being used.

Notice: this is the third stage of the equality → equity → inclusion ladder. Nobody
was given a box. The fence was taken down.

Q5 Can we demand rights without doing our duties?

Legally, yes — but the demand becomes hollow. Both halves of that sentence matter, so take
them one at a time.
The legal position, as the chapter states it. Rights are protected by law: if someone’s rights
are violated, even by the government, they can go to court for help. Duties, on the other hand,
are moral and social responsibilities — “we are expected to follow them, but not doing so may
not always lead to legal action.” The chapter does not say your Fundamental Rights are switched
off if you fail your Fundamental Duties. A person who litters does not thereby lose the right to a
fair trial.
The practical position. Now look at what a right actually consists of:

Page 18 of 41

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Visible and invisible discrimination

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 The following are two caselets. Read them individually and discuss the questions at
the end in small groups. (i) A group of students makes fun of Rohan’s weight; they
nickname him ‘Drummy’. They make it difficult for him to join their football game,
joking that he would be competing with the football. Everyone around notices this
behaviour of the group. (ii) Mina’s school announced an overnight educational trip
to a historical site. Many of her classmates were excited and enrolled immediately.
Mina, however, did not; she knew that her family would not able to afford paying
for it. When her friends found out, some started ignoring her, whispering to each
other that she “wasn’t fun”, “never joined anything”, or “was not of their status”.
Mina felt hurt and left out. — What are the types of discrimination you can identify
in the examples given above?

Both caselets are examples of the invisible or indirect discrimination the chapter describes,
but on two different grounds.

CASELET GROUND OF HOW IT IS DONE
DISCRIMINATION

Rohan Physical appearance (body A nickname — ‘Drummy’; jokes at his expense; being kept
weight) out of the football game

Mina Economic background Being ignored; whispers that she “wasn’t fun”, “never
joined anything”, “was not of their status”

Both grounds are in the chapter’s own definition: discrimination is mistreating a person or
group because of their caste, religion, ethnicity, disability, race, physical appearance, gender,
sexuality, or economic background.

Why these count as invisible discrimination: nothing was formally denied. No rule
barred Rohan from football and no teacher stopped Mina going on the trip. The
exclusion happened through jibes, through not being picked, through whispering.
The chapter names this pattern exactly — “taking a jibe at somebody, excluding
someone or being unwilling to include someone in a project or a celebration just
because of their social background, physical appearance, or perception of
intellectual ability.” And it names the difficulty: invisible discrimination is difficult to
prove, and hence difficult to penalise.

Two further things are worth noticing, because they are where the answer gets sharper:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rohan’s case has bystanders. The caselet says “everyone around notices this behaviour of
the group.” Discrimination that is watched in silence is being permitted. The chapter’s own
model is the opposite: Sonali and Harshada saw Kruti being teased and stepped in.
Mina’s case begins with a real barrier, not with cruelty. The cost of the trip kept her out
first; the ignoring came afterwards. Her friends turned a problem of money into a
judgement about her character — “was not of their status”. Removing the barrier, not
judging Mina, is what inclusion would mean here.

Remember: the chapter adds a strong line about the person doing it — someone
who discriminates “ethically ceases to be an active citizen of India, because they have
breached the very core of the Indian Constitution, i.e., respect and unity.”

Q2 What would you do if you were part of the groups?

The chapter gives the pattern to follow in its very first story: Sonali and Harshada told the
bullies to stop — and then invited Kruti to join their badminton team. Two steps, always in
that order: stop the behaviour, then include the person. Stopping alone leaves the person still
outside.
Sample answer — Rohan’s group:

Stop using the nickname myself, from that moment, without waiting for anyone else.
Say plainly and without a speech that it is not funny — “Call him Rohan.” A single person
refusing to join in changes what the group thinks is normal.
Pass him the ball. Being picked for the team settles the matter far better than an argument
about it does.
If it does not stop, tell the class teacher or sports teacher. This is not “telling tales”; it is the
step the chapter recommends for exactly this situation.

Sample answer — Mina’s group:

Stop the whispering — say that she has her reasons and that they are nobody’s business.
Do not discuss the cost of the trip in front of her; nothing makes exclusion sting more.
Quietly ask the class teacher whether the school has any support for students who cannot
meet the cost, so that the barrier is dealt with rather than Mina.
Keep including her in everything that costs nothing — group work, games, the class
WhatsApp of jokes — so that one trip does not become a permanent boundary.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the second step is the important one: equality would say “Mina was invited
like everyone else, so nothing unfair happened.” Equity says the invitation was not
usable by her. Inclusion says the trip should have been planned at a cost the whole
class could meet. The chapter’s phrase for this is “removing barriers to participation”.

Q3 Have you faced discrimination yourself?

This is a personal question, so no book can answer it for you — and you should not copy an
answer as though it were your own experience. What a good answer must contain is this:

1. What happened, in plain factual sentences — where, when, who.
2. On what ground — the chapter’s list is your checklist: caste, religion, ethnicity, disability,
race, physical appearance, gender, sexuality, economic background.
3. Whether it was visible or invisible — were you actually stopped from doing something, or
were you left out, laughed at, ignored?
4. How it affected you. The chapter notes that discrimination affects people both
psychologically and physically, and creates a social barrier that hampers them from enjoying
their fundamental rights.
5. Whether anyone stood up for you, and what difference that made.

If you have not faced discrimination yourself, that is a perfectly good answer — write instead
about something you saw, and be honest about whether you were one of the people who
noticed and said nothing, like the students standing around Rohan.
Sample answer: “When I joined this school in Class 6 I spoke Marathi at home and my Hindi
had a strong accent. Two boys imitated the way I said certain words for about a month, and I
stopped answering questions in class even when I knew the answer. Nobody had taken away my
right to speak — I simply stopped using it. A classmate finally told them to stop, and asked me
to read out in a group presentation. That was the week I started answering again.”

Notice what the sample shows: the loss was not the teasing itself but a right that
quietly stopped being used. That is what the chapter means when it says
discrimination creates a social barrier to enjoying fundamental rights.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 What did you do about it?

Answer honestly — including if the answer is “nothing”, which is the most common one and is
worth writing down, because it tells you what you would do differently now. Then set out the
steps that are available, from smallest to largest:

1. Name it to yourself. Deciding “this is not a joke, this is discrimination” is the step that
makes every later step possible.
2. Say so at the time, briefly and without insult. “Don’t call me that.”
3. Tell a trusted adult — a parent, class teacher or principal — with dates and details, not just
feelings. Details are what allow an adult to act.
4. Use the school’s own channel — the class teacher, the counsellor, the student council, the
complaint box.
5. For a child in danger — being made to work, being hurt, being unsafe — call Childline
1098, the national helpline. The 2015 case in the chapter began with exactly one such call.
6. Where a fundamental right is actually denied — for example a government school
refusing admission on the ground of religion, caste, race or language — the matter can go to
court. That is the right to constitutional remedies (Article 32), and the chapter calls it the
reason our rights are “not just promises on paper”.

Why the ladder matters: most discrimination stops at step 2 or 3, and never needs
the law. But knowing that steps 5 and 6 exist changes how you handle steps 1 to 4 —
you are not asking for a favour, you are pointing to something the Constitution
already protects.

Sample answer: “At first I did nothing, because I thought complaining would make it worse.
After two weeks I told my mother, and she spoke to my class teacher. The teacher did not punish
anyone; she made the whole class do a group activity in pairs she chose herself, and I was put
with one of the two boys. It stopped within a week. What I learnt is that telling one adult early
would have saved me those two weeks.”

In-text Questions — Page 163

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Understanding inclusion (Fig. 5.14)
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A schematic of Fig. 5.14. Compare it with the two panels of Fig. 5.3: there, the boxes were rearranged;
here, the obstacle itself is taken away.

Why this is the deeper solution: equity treats the difference between people as the
thing to be fixed — the short person needs more boxes. Inclusion treats the
arrangement as the thing to be fixed — why is there a fence in front of the
spectators at all? When the barrier goes, no one needs special support, no one is
marked out as the person who needed help, and nobody has to keep supplying the
boxes year after year. The chapter puts it in one line: inclusion “goes beyond just
giving reservations; it means making sure everyone feels accepted and supported…
It also means removing barriers to participation.”

Fig. 5.15 makes the same point for a playground. In the upper picture the ground is rough,
stony and uneven; the boy in the wheelchair sits at the edge with his back to us, watching the
others swing, slide and run. In the lower picture the ground has been levelled, the swing has a
proper seat with a back, and the same boy is in the middle of the game with the ball in his
hands. Nobody gave him extra equipment to cope with a bad playground — the playground was
designed so that he could play. That is why the caption reads “Designing and creating
facilities that are inclusive”.

Tip: a three-step ladder is the neatest way to remember this chapter — equality
(same for all) → equity (support as needed) → inclusion (barrier removed).

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 163
Understanding inclusion

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Imagine there is a student in your class who takes a little longer to read or write
because they have a different way of learning. Sometimes during group work,
others do not wait for them or forget to include them. What would you do in this
situation?

Change how the group works, rather than asking the student to work faster. That is the
whole difference between pitying someone and including them.
What I would do, concretely:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Give the group a job that fits. If writing is slow, they can be the one who explains the idea,
draws the diagram or presents to the class — every group task has more than one kind of
work in it.
Read the question aloud before the group starts writing, so nobody is left behind at the
first line.
Set the pace by the group, not by the fastest person. “We’ll start when everyone has it”
takes thirty seconds and changes everything.
Say something when they are skipped. “Wait — Ayesha hasn’t said her part yet.” Forgetting
to include someone is usually thoughtlessness, and it is fixed by one sentence from one
classmate.
Tell the teacher if the group keeps leaving them out, so the classroom arrangement itself
can change.

Why this is a matter of rights, not only kindness: the chapter says the right to life
“also protects children with disabilities, ensuring they receive the support they need
to learn, play or participate fully in all aspects of life on an equal basis with others.”
Being repeatedly skipped in group work is a barrier to participation — small,
invisible, and daily, which is the hardest kind to prove and the easiest kind to stop.

Q2 Could you support them by being patient, explaining something clearly, or making
sure they get a chance to speak?

Yes — and these three are worth separating, because they solve three different problems.

SUPPORT WHAT BARRIER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN CLASS
IT REMOVES

Being patient Time Waiting the extra minute instead of taking the pen
from their hand; not sighing, which tells them they are
a burden

Explaining clearly Access to the idea Saying it a second way rather than louder; using a
diagram or an example; checking “shall I go over that
once more?”

Making sure they get a Voice in the group Going round the group in turn so the confident ones
chance to speak cannot take every turn; asking them directly what they
think

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the third one is the most important: patience and explanation are things
done for a person; a turn to speak is participation by the person. Inclusion, as the
chapter defines it, is an environment where everyone feels “welcomed, respected,
valued, and included, with equal access to opportunities” — and being valued means
your idea shaped the group’s answer, not just that people were nice while you
waited.

Tip: notice that none of these three costs money, needs permission, or requires a
rule to be changed. That is the point the chapter is making about inclusion at your
age — most of it is in how classmates behave.

Q3 What steps can you take to make your classroom more inclusive?

Work down the same three levels the chapter uses — how we behave, how the class is
organised, and what the space and materials allow.
1. Behaviour

No nicknames based on body, caste, religion, language or income — and stop using them
yourself first.
Speak up when someone is left out, as Sonali and Harshada did for Kruti, and then invite the
person in. Stopping is only half.
Listen to a classmate’s view even when you disagree, without causing harm — the duty that
matches your own freedom of speech.

2. Organisation

Rotate groups so the same students are not always left over at the end.
Rotate roles too — reader, writer, presenter, artist — so everyone gets both the easy and the
visible jobs.
Plan class events at a cost everyone can meet, so no one has to opt out quietly like Mina.
Let people use the language they are comfortable in during discussion. Smt. Amita’s reading
club only grew when regional-language books were added; then storytelling and puppetry
from the region came in, and all children began to participate irrespective of their fluency in
a particular language.

3. Space and materials

Check the physical access: is there a ramp, can a wheelchair reach the classroom, the lab
and the playground? Gaganjit could not enter the exhibition hall until a ramp was built; Fig.
5.15 shows a playground redesigned so a child in a wheelchair joins the game instead of
watching it.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Ask for braille books, a tactile map or large-print material where a classmate needs them
— Fig. 5.4 shows a tactile map in a school for the blind facilitating the right to education.
Keep the noticeboard and the class library in more than one language.

Why it must be deliberate: the chapter’s closing list says it in one line — “Deliberate
actions need to be taken to prevent discrimination and ensure inclusion.” An
inclusive classroom is not what you get by simply not being unkind. It is something a
class decides to build.

Questions and activities — Pages 165–166
End of chapter

QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Q1 Why is it important to respect others’ religions?

Because my own right to religion is made of exactly the same material as theirs. The
chapter describes the right to freedom of religion as allowing “every person to choose, practise,
and share their religion freely, while ensuring that no one is forced to follow, propagate or fund
a particular religion” (Articles 25–28). A right stated in those words cannot belong to one
community only — it either protects everybody or it protects nobody.
Three reasons, taken from the chapter:

India is a diverse country where people follow many different religions. In a country like
that, respect is not politeness; it is the condition on which the diversity survives peacefully.
The state itself is required to be even-handed. State-run or government-aided schools are
not allowed to promote any particular religion. This “helps protect India’s diversity and keeps
all faiths equal in the eyes of the state.”
It is a Fundamental Duty. Duty 5 is to promote harmony among all people; Duty 3 is to
protect India’s unity, integrity and sovereignty. Duty 6 asks us to preserve culture and
heritage — and religious traditions are a large part of that heritage.

Why the “no one is forced” clause matters as much as the “free to practise”
clause: respect works in both directions. I may practise and share my religion; I may
not compel you to follow it or to pay for it. Respect for another’s religion is simply
that second clause, seen from the other side.

Page 28 of 41

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

difficult to prove, and hence difficult to penalise.
2. Law binds the state; attitudes are changed by society. Article 15 forbids discrimination on
grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and Article 17 abolished untouchability.
But no article can make a group of students stop whispering. That is the work of duties,
which are moral and social responsibilities.
3. Old inequality carries forward. The chapter says differences among people “can be due to
inequality and discrimination which may have been carried historically too”. A right
announced today does not undo generations of unequal starting points — which is precisely
why equity measures are needed alongside equality.
4. A right has to be claimed to work. You must know you have it and be able to reach
someone who will act. The chapter observes that children “may not understand their rights
or be able to stand up for themselves, or access help against unfair treatment”. That is why a
helpline like Childline 1098 exists at all.
5. Bystanders let it continue. In the Rohan caselet, “everyone around notices this behaviour
of the group” — and nothing happens. Guaranteed rights do not enforce themselves in a
corridor.

The strongest single line to end on is the chapter’s own: “Deliberate actions need
to be taken to prevent discrimination and ensure inclusion.” Guarantee is the
beginning of the work, not the end of it.

Did you know? The chapter’s two historical examples show how long the gap can
be. Savitribai Phule, from the Mali community, was abused and had mud thrown at
her on her way to the girls’ school she had established in the mid-19th century.
Anandibai Joshi, married at nine and a mother at fifteen, faced hostility for going to
the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania to become a doctor. Both were
opposed by society, not by any law.

Q4 Can there ever be a conflict between rights and duties? Give an example.

Yes — and the chapter itself gives one, carefully and without taking sides.
The chapter’s example. On cultural and educational rights it writes: “On one hand, the
Constitution seeks to protect the rights of minorities, while on the other, it also upholds equality
and non-discrimination on the basis of religion. At times, these two aims can seem to be in
conflict. Some people feel that minority protections (the special rights and safeguards given to
groups with a different religion, language, or culture) may go against the idea of secularism.”
Notice how the book reports the debate — “some people feel” — and does not settle it. Your
answer should do the same.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A school-level example. The Sports Day box: a student’s right to freedom of speech ran up
against the duty to follow school rules about uniforms. Both were real, and the teachers’
reminder did not deny the right — it simply said the rule holds until it is changed.
An everyday example. My right to express my opinions freely, and my duty to listen to and
respect other people’s views without causing harm. A student who shouts a classmate down is
using a right in a way that breaks a duty.

How such a conflict is resolved: not by cancelling either side, but by limits. The
chapter says the freedoms “are not unlimited; they come with reasonable
restrictions so that they are not misused or harmful to others or the nation.”
Reasonable restriction is the meeting point — I keep my right, and it stops where it
would take away yours.

Tip: most apparent conflicts are really conflicts between two people’s rights, with the
duty acting as the referee. In Ravi’s case, the classmates’ right to protest met Ravi’s
right not to; the duty to respect a different view decided it.

Q5 How does respecting diversity strengthen democracy?

Because a democracy decides by participation, and every group that is mocked out of the
conversation is a set of views the decision never heard. The chapter’s closing line is exact:
“Democracy is strengthened through enabling and facilitating participation of all.”
Three ways it works, each with an example from the chapter:

1. Better decisions. Smt. Amita’s reading club had only a few confident readers of English.
Once regional-language books, storytelling and puppetry from the region were included,
membership grew and all children began to participate irrespective of their fluency in a
particular language. The club did not merely become fairer — it became better.
2. Legitimate decisions. At the town festival, Meena was told girls should not speak on stage
and Ravi was kept out of the library stall. A debate held without Meena is not the town’s
debate. When the changes were made, everyone clapped as the children came on stage
together — the closing ceremony meant something because nobody had been left out of it.
3. A country that holds together. Duty 3 is to protect India’s unity, integrity and sovereignty,
and the chapter’s illustration of it is two classmates who argued over language differences
and were encouraged to learn phrases from each other’s languages — “showing unity in
diversity”. Respect turns a difference into something shared instead of something contested.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The constitutional backing: Article 15 forbids discrimination on grounds of
religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth; Articles 29–30 protect language, script and
cultural rights, and the right of religious and linguistic minorities to set up and
manage their own schools. The Constitution treats diversity as something to be
actively protected, not merely put up with — because a democracy in which only one
kind of person can be heard is a democracy in name.

Q6 Do you think technology (social media, online platforms) makes it easier or harder
to practise citizenship? Why?

It makes participation easier and self-restraint harder. Both halves are visible in the chapter
itself, so the honest answer is not one word but a comparison.

EASIER HARDER

In the mock youth parliament, students used a voting The same reach makes it effortless to mock
app to share ideas for improving school facilities, and or exclude someone in front of a large
even those who live in remote areas were able to join audience, and to keep doing it after school
in the discussion online — a barrier of distance hours, where no teacher sees it.
removed.

Childline 1098 works because a single phone call Online exclusion is the invisible kind — a
reaches a national system. In 2015 one call from a group someone is not added to, a joke
concerned citizen led to 20 children being rescued everyone else understands. It is difficult to
from a factory. prove and hence difficult to penalise.

Information about rights, schemes and complaints is Something false travels as fast as something
available to anyone with a phone, so a person no true, and freedom of speech comes with
longer has to know the right official to begin. reasonable restrictions “so that they are not
misused or harmful to others or the nation.”

Why the rule does not change online: the chapter’s principle is that every right has
a matching duty. The right to express my opinions freely carries the duty to listen to
and respect other people’s views, even when I disagree, and to do so without
causing harm. A phone does not suspend that duty. What technology changes is
scale — more people can speak, and a careless word reaches more people — so the
duty is needed more, not less.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The answer in one line: technology has made it far easier to take part and rather harder to
behave well while taking part — so it strengthens citizenship exactly to the extent that people
carry their duties online as carefully as they claim their rights.

Q7 Imagine everyone in society enjoyed rights but ignored their duties. What would
life look like?

It would look like a society with an excellent Constitution and a miserable daily life — because
each person’s right is made out of everybody else’s duty. Work through the chapter’s own
pairs and watch each right collapse:

THE RIGHT THE DUTY NOBODY DOES WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
EVERYONE
CLAIMS

To speak and be heard To listen to and respect other Everyone talks, nobody listens; discussion
views without causing harm becomes noise and nothing is decided

To a clean To protect and improve the Green Park Colony’s drains stay clogged with
environment environment (Duty 7) leaves and plastic; the park nobody cleans is
the park nobody can use

To education (Article Parents to send children aged 6– Classrooms empty and the welding shop full
21A) 14 to school (Duty 11); nobody to
employ them

To be treated with To treat others with respect Kruti stays teased, Rohan stays out of the
respect football game, Mina stays ignored

To use public property To protect public property and The benches broken after the lost football
avoid violence (Duty 9) match are not replaced — the school has to
spend on repairs instead of books

Why the rights do not save the situation: the rights would still legally exist, and a
court could still be approached under Article 32 whenever the state violated one. But
courts act case by case, after the harm. They cannot supervise every playground,
street, classroom and family. The chapter’s sentence is the key: duties “are moral and
social responsibilities. We are expected to follow them, but not doing so may not
always lead to legal action.” A society in which only law restrains behaviour needs far
more law — and gets far less peace.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The chapter also names the second casualty: trust. Its picture of a healthy society is the Green
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT YOU DO WHAT BARRIER IT REMOVES

Invite, don’t wait to be asked — put the new or quiet Not knowing anyone. This is exactly what Sonali and
student in your team Harshada did for Kruti

Pick teams so nobody is left standing last; pass the Exclusion from play, as in Rohan’s caselet
ball to the classmate who is usually left out

Stop nicknames based on body, caste, religion, Invisible discrimination, which continues mainly because
language or income — and say so when others use bystanders say nothing
them

Learn a few phrases of a classmate’s language; let Language. The chapter’s own example: two classmates who
people discuss in the language they are comfortable argued over language learned phrases from each other’s
in

Read aloud, share notes, wait for those who write Pace, for a classmate with a different way of learning
slowly, make sure everyone gets a turn to speak

Plan class events and trips at a cost everyone can Economic background — the barrier that kept Mina out
meet; don’t discuss money in front of anyone

Check the space: ramp to the classroom, lab and Physical access. Gaganjit could not enter the exhibition hall
ground; a desk a wheelchair fits under until a ramp was built

Ask for braille or large-print material, a tactile map, Access to the lesson itself (Fig. 5.4)
or classroom support where a classmate needs it

Suggest books in the regional language for the class Fluency in one language deciding who may join — Smt.
library or reading club Amita’s solution

Report bullying that does not stop, to a teacher The silence that lets it go on

Why this is within your power: inclusion, as the chapter defines it, is “creating an
environment where everyone feels welcomed, respected, valued, and included, with
equal access to opportunities.” Ramps and braille books need a school; but
welcomed, respected and valued are decided almost entirely by classmates. That part
of inclusion is yours to build, today, without waiting for anyone’s approval.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q9 What can be done in the following situations? a) A school does not allow girls to join
a mathematics or science club. b) A fellow student has dropped out of school
because they are forced to work in a welding shop.

a) A school does not allow girls to join a mathematics or science club.
This is discrimination on the ground of sex, and it is barred twice over by the articles listed on
page 154: Article 14 — equality before the law for all persons; Article 15 — no discrimination
on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. The chapter adds, under cultural and
educational rights, that no student can be denied admission to a government institution
because of religion, caste, race or language.
Steps, in order:

1. Ask for the reason in writing. Very often there is no rule at all, only a habit that nobody has
questioned. A written request forces the reason into the open.
2. Raise it with the class teacher, then the principal, with the article numbers. A school that
is shown Article 15 usually does not want the argument.
3. Take it to the parents’ body or school management committee if the principal refuses.
4. Complain to the education authorities — a government or government-aided school is
bound by these guarantees.
5. As a last step, the courts. Denial of a fundamental right can be taken to court under the
right to constitutional remedies (Article 32), which is what makes these rights “not just
promises on paper”.

And then the equity step: opening the door is necessary but may not be enough if
girls have been kept out for years. The chapter’s example of an equity initiative is
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, which built awareness in society as well as providing
support to girls’ education. A club could hold its meetings at a time everyone can
attend, and invite women scientists and mathematicians to speak. Remember
Savitribai Phule, who established a school for girls in the mid-19th century when
people believed girls should not go to school — and remained steadfast though she
was abused and mud was thrown at her.

b) A fellow student has dropped out of school because they are forced to work in a welding
shop.
This is child labour in hazardous work — the chapter describes exactly this: “when children are
made to work instead of going to school, particularly in hazardous situations”. A welding shop,
with fire, hot metal and fumes, is plainly of that kind. What the law says:

Articles 23–24 ban human trafficking, forced labour and child labour.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

In general, children below the age of 14 are not allowed to be employed; they may help
only in non-hazardous family enterprises, and only during vacations or after school hours.
There is a ban on work in places such as factories, mines, or restaurants.
Article 21A guarantees free and compulsory education for ages 6–14, and Fundamental
Duty 11 puts on parents and guardians the duty to see that the child gets it.

Steps, in order:

1. Tell your teacher or principal, with the name of the student, the address of the shop and
when they work there. Do not go and argue with the employer yourself.
2. Call Childline 1098 — free, available all over the country, easy to remember by counting
backwards from 10.
3. What follows is shown by the chapter’s 2015 case: a team visits, the children are found and
rescued, given medical care and looked after, and the culprits are arrested.
4. Get the student back into school. Rescue is not the end. Near the fair ground, the children
who were kept busy cleaning “were enrolled in school after volunteers stepped in” — that is
the step that makes the rescue last.
5. Look at why the family sent the child. If the reason was money, the child returns to work
unless the family gets help. The right to life includes the right to livelihood, and a neighbour
or teacher who talks to the parents can matter — as the neighbour did who convinced a
father to keep sending his daughter to school.

Why the child cannot simply be told to complain: the chapter explains that
children need special protection because they depend on adults for their safety and
wellbeing, and “may not understand their rights or be able to stand up for
themselves, or access help against unfair treatment or unsafe situations.” The duty
to act therefore falls on the people around them — which, here, includes you.

Q10 Make a classroom charter that outlines rights and duties, and ensures inclusion
and prevents discrimination.

How to make one. A charter that a teacher writes is a notice; a charter the class writes is an
agreement. So: discuss it in groups, collect the rules everyone can accept, write each right with
its matching duty beside it, keep it short enough to read in a minute, have everyone sign it, put
it on the wall, and review it once a month — striking out what is not working and adding what
the class has learnt.
What a good charter must contain: (i) rights and duties in pairs, never a list of rules only; (ii) a
clear line on discrimination that names the grounds; (iii) at least two concrete inclusion
measures, not just good intentions; (iv) what happens when the charter is broken, and who a
student can go to.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer — Charter of Class VIII-B
1. Our rights and the duties that go with them

EVERY STUDENT IN THIS CLASS …AND THEREFORE THE DUTY TO
HAS THE RIGHT TO…

Be treated with respect Treat every classmate with respect — no nicknames or jokes about
body, caste, religion, language, ability or income

Speak and be heard in class Listen without interrupting, even when I disagree, and disagree
without causing harm

Learn without being disturbed Come prepared, not disrupt the lesson, and help a classmate who has
missed something

A clean, safe classroom Use the dustbin, save water and electricity, and not damage benches,
walls or school property

Follow my own faith, language and customs Let others follow theirs, and never mock a dress, a festival, an accent
or a name

Take part in every class activity Include and invite — pick teams so nobody is left standing last, and
wait for classmates who need more time

Be safe Report bullying, or a child being made to work, to a teacher — or to
Childline 1098

2. Non-discrimination. No student in this class will be treated differently because of caste,
religion, ethnicity, disability, race, physical appearance, gender or economic background. This
includes the invisible kinds — leaving someone out of a group, whispering about them, or not
choosing them for a team.
3. Inclusion — what we will actually do.

Group and team members are rotated every month, and roles (reader, writer, presenter,
artist) rotate too.
Class events and trips are planned at a cost every family can meet; costs are never discussed
in front of the class.
Discussion may be in the language a student is comfortable in; the class library keeps books
in more than one language.
Seating, the noticeboard and any activity are arranged so that a classmate using a
wheelchair, or one who reads or writes slowly, can take part on an equal basis with others.

4. If the charter is broken. Any student may raise it directly with the person, with the two class
representatives, or with the class teacher. The first response is to stop the behaviour and set it
right — not to punish. Repeated breaking of the charter goes to the class teacher.
Signed by every student and the class teacher, ______ (date). To be read aloud and reviewed on the first
Monday of each month.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE THE FACT TO REMEMBER
CHAPTER USES IT

Citizen Someone who legally belongs to a Who Is a Citizen?, p. A person can be a resident
country and is a member of its 144 without being a citizen, and a
political community, i.e. they can citizen can even reside in
participate in the decision-making another country
of the country

Rights Freedoms like equality, free speech, Rights, p. 145; What Actions that cause harm to
religion and education that let are rights?, p. 147 ourselves or others cannot be
people live with dignity — justified considered rights
claims, not simply whatever we
want

Fundamental The six broad categories of basic Fundamental Rights Articles 14–32; the table on p.
Rights rights the Constitution gives every in the Indian 154 lists them article by article
Indian citizen, which can be Constitution, p. 147
enforced by law (Fig. 5.2)

Equity The quality of being fair and just, Margin note, p. 149, The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
especially in a way that takes with Fig. 5.3 campaign is the chapter’s
account of and seeks to address example of an equity initiative
existing inequalities

Right to The right to approach the Supreme p. 153, with the Article 32 — it makes rights
constitutional Court if fundamental rights are Ambedkar “not just promises on paper”
remedies violated quotation

Exploitation Taking unfair advantage of others, Right against Articles 23–24 ban human
often by denying them basic exploitation, p. 151 trafficking, forced labour and
respect, liberty and rights child labour

Child labour Making children work instead of p. 151 Below 14, children are
going to school, particularly in generally not allowed to be
hazardous situations employed; they may help in
non-hazardous family
enterprises only during
vacations or after school
hours

Childline 1098 The government’s national helpline DON’T MISS OUT, p. Easy to remember — count
for children 151 backwards from 10. In 2015
one call rescued 20 children
from an embroidery factory

Page 40 of 41

Class 8 Social Science Chapter 12 Citizenship: Rights and Duties AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE THE FACT TO REMEMBER
CHAPTER USES IT

Fundamental The responsibilities the What are duties?, p. Added in 1976 as Article 51A
Duties Constitution lists for citizens, 156; Fig. 5.8–5.10, (Part IV-A); 10 at first, an 11th
alongside their rights pp. 156–158 added in 2002

Dharma · ṛiṇa · Older Indian ideas: dharma, often DON’T MISS OUT, p. Rights then depended on
adhikāra translated as ‘duty’ but far wider; 158 one’s capacity; dharma
ṛiṇa, the debts we owe by the very implicitly gave everyone the
fact of being born; adhikāra, which right to justice — in theory at
in ancient texts meant capacity, least
competence or authority

Discrimination Mistreating any person or group Understanding Invisible discrimination is
because of their caste, religion, discrimination, p. difficult to prove, and hence
ethnicity, disability, race, physical 160 difficult to penalise
appearance, gender, sexuality or
economic background

Inclusion Creating an environment where Understanding It goes beyond just giving
everyone feels welcomed, inclusion, p. 163 reservations — it means
respected, valued and included, removing barriers to
with equal access to opportunities participation

Page 41 of 41